NASA needs guinea pigs willing to stay in bed for 90 days in exchange for $17,000. I'm sure some people will read that and think "easiest money ever!", but I wonder how many participants will actually see the experiment all the way through?
Well, pack your bags for Houston because NASA wants to pay you $17,000 to stay in bed for 90 straight days.The bed-rest experiment, to take place in the Human Test Subject Facility of Johnson Space Center, is designed to allow scientists to study some of the effects of microgravity on the human body. We read on the Bed Rest Study website:
Participants will spend 90 days lying in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their body slightly tilted downward (head down, feet up). Every day, they will be awake for 16 hours and lights out (asleep) for 8 hours.
I certainly wouldn't do it... the health consequences could be severe.
Many people are forced to go on bed rest for medical reasons. Certain pregnant women, for example. It seems strange that they would need to generate a problem that's already pretty common.
It's been done before (I think the Russian's did it?). The important thing with these experiments is to be at a slight incline with the feet above the head, so it's not quite the same as being on bed-rest. Also, I expect they want to start with healthy subjects, and control their diet, do regular experiments etc.
How would you like the NASA job where every time a space shuttle launches you man a control panel and are entrusted with the responsibility of asploding it if things go FUBAR.
Wired had a follow up Q&A to the original article.