Science/Tech
Get Paid To Stay In Bed for Sixty Days [VIDEO]
Researchers from Medes or the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology are searching for volunteers who are going to stay in bed for 60 days in experiments on microgravity.
The researchers are trying to simulate the weightlessness that astronauts experience during their stay in the International Space Station (ISS). The institute is set to pay 24 people to stay in bed for 60 days for 16,000 euros, the Yahoo! News reported.
While getting paid to stay in bed for 60 days sounds relatively easy, the volunteers are to do everything while lying down with their heads inclined at least six degrees downwards. The whole study will actually take 88 days with two weeks of testing before and after the experiment.
In the span of 60 days, they are going to be bedridden while they eat, sleep, wash up and do everything in between. They are required to have at least one shoulder in contact with the bed or the frame, The Telegraph reported.
The volunteers they are looking for should be male, between 20-45 years old. They should also be non-smokers and in great shape without any illnesses.
They should also have a body mass index of 22 to 27 and reasonably active in sports. The final list of volunteers will be announced when results from medical and psychological tests are done.
The researchers hope to find ways to overcome the harmful effects of weightlessness as astronauts are often exposed to that state for long periods of time. An astronaut who has stayed in space for a long time usually finds it hard to stand up when he or she gets back because of weakened muscles and bones.
Medes wants to find answers to this problem as the health and safety of the astronauts will always be the primary concerns. These concerns are also foremost in other space agencies like NASA, who have done similar experiments.
NASA did an experiment on twins Mark and Scott Kelly. Scott was sent to space for a year while Mark stayed on Earth. The study wants to compare samples from the twins to learn more how space travel can affect the body.
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