Scientist Stung By 80 Different Insects To Create Pain Index To Find Out Which Hurt The Most

That's exactly what one daring entomologist, Dr. Justin Schmidt, chose to do in his quest to map out the pain associated with insect stings and bites.

If the thought of insects makes you squirm, you might want to brace yourself for what's to come in this story.

Dr. Schmidt embarked on an unconventional journey, allowing himself to be stung and bitten by an array of insects, including bees, wasps, and ants, totaling 83 distinct species.

His goal? To personally document and understand the spectrum of pain these creatures can inflict.

The method behind this madness was to develop a pain scale, rating each sting on a severity scale from one to four.

While you might think a sting from a common wasp or honey bee is bad, rating at a level two on Schmidt's scale, only three species managed to hit the top mark of four—a level of pain so intense, it's in a league of its own.

The Bullet Ant has one of the most painful stings. Credit: Eduardo Justiniano/AGB Photo Library/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

But Dr. Schmidt didn't stop at merely rating the pain; he delved into descriptions with the finesse of a gourmet food critic.

Take, for instance, the sting of the Western Yellowjacket, which he likened to 'hot and smoky, almost irreverent,' a comparison more akin to culinary critique than entomology, placing it at a level two on his pain index.

Not every insect's sting packed a heavyweight punch, however.

Fire ants, for example, merited only a level one, described evocatively as feeling like 'walking across a shag carpet and reaching for a light switch'.

While that might not sound too daunting, the other end of the scale houses some of nature's most formidable adversaries.

Schmidt humorously suggests that upon encountering these insects, one's best course of action would be to retreat, then perhaps consider extreme measures—indicative of just how severe their stings can be.

So, which insects topped this agonizing chart?

The notorious Bullet Ant leads the pack, its name deriving from a sting so excruciating it's likened to being shot.

Schmidt's description is vivid: "Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel."

Dr Schmidt appears on Jimmy Kimmel. Credit: Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

This ant's sting was unparalleled until it was joined by two wasp species at level four.

The Tarantula Hawk Wasp, known for its brutal reproductive strategy of paralyzing tarantulas to serve as living nurseries for its eggs, delivers a sting Schmidt characterizes as "Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has just been dropped into your bubble bath."

And then there's the Warrior Wasp, with a sting so agonizing that Schmidt likened it to "Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano. Why did I start this list?" 

This rhetorical question underscores the extreme nature of the project and the sheer intensity of the pain endured for science.