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The French Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology wants 24 healthy males to lie in bed for two months.
What’s the perfect job for you? Sitting at home and making money by watching video clips or perhaps traveling around the world in search of long-forgotten civilization? Everyone has a concept of a dream job, but, sadly, most of us won’t get it. In lieu of something more attuned to your own image of a perfect job, we want to present a most usual job description posted by a team of French scientists from the Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology.
So, according to this job advertisement, the team of French space scientists is in need of 24 volunteers to participate in a study focused on the effects of microgravity on the human body. Now, this ad also stated that the only thing you need to do is to lie in bed for two months straight and, in exchange, you will receive $17,000. Sound very appealing, doesn’t it? However, the French Space Institute’s ad comes accompanied by a fine print.
All participants selected for the trial must be all male, with ages between 20 and 40. Furthermore, the candidates must in an excellent physical condition, be disease- and allergy-free, and not be addicted to nicotine.
If you think that these conditions are strict, wait till you read the actual job description. So, apart from meeting these ‘minor’ requirements, you will also have to spend the next two weeks at the Institute’s infirmary being prodded with various medical instruments. The scientists declared that the purpose of the two-week stay is to determine whether or not the individual’s body is capable of handling space-like effects such as weightlessness and losing bone density.
After the two weeks are over the participants will be asked to remain in bed for the duration of the project (two months). Sounds fairly easy to lay in bed and do nothing, but here’s the twist. You will be placed at a six-degree inclination and, at all times, at least one of your shoulders must touch either the bed or its frame.
This means that you will have to do all menial activities while staying in bed like eating, cleaning yourself up, and, of course, going to the bathroom. After the two-month period expires, you will be required to remain an extra week or two for the follow-up exam.
Furthermore, according to a team of French scientists, during this study they will also test a new type of dietary supplement, one design to counteract effects such as bone mass loss. To test it out, half of the participants will receive it, and the other half will not receive it.
Image source: Pixabay
