Michael Smith stung himself on the penis using a bee (Picture: Cornell University / Department of Neurobiology and Behavior)

A university student stung himself on the genitals using a bee and it was all in the name of science.

When Michael Smith started on his journey to find out the worst place to be stung by a bee he probably wasn’t thinking it would be in his nostril.

But that’s the conclusion he came to after purposefully barbing himself in numerous positions on his body, including his genitals.

Surprisingly that wasn’t the most uncomfortable place to be stung, the student at Cornell University, in New York, said.


‘We speculated it probably really would hurt to get stung in the testicles. Two days later, by chance, I did get stung there. It didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to,’ he told the Independent.



He chose a total of 25 places to be stung around his body, with some hard to reach areas requiring him to get creative.

He added: ‘Some locations required the use of a mirror and an erect posture during stinging (e.g., the buttocks).’

Mr Smith’s study was posted in scientific journal PeerJ.