Teh One Who Knocks
11-14-2013, 12:08 PM
By David Harding / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
http://i.imgur.com/ianDwbs.jpg
For most people, finding a flea in your foot would induce panic, terror and probably a little nausea.
But for German doctorate student Marlene Thielecke it was a great opportunity for research.
So fascinated by the parasite was Thielecke that she decided to keep the sand flea alive for two months.
In fact, she was so excited that she even took regular photos and kept a video diary of the flea living inside her, all in the name of science.
It helped that Thielecke is a parasitologist at her university, Berlin's Charite-Universitätzmedicin. Her job is to study ways of preventing a skin disease caused by fleas, called tungiasis.
At first there were no problems, but Thielecke released the flea was discharging a liquid which caused her foot to become sore and hindered her walking.
"I started to get uneasy," she said, finally deciding it was time to expel the flea from her body.
Despite her unusual response, a blog on the Smithsonian website reports she was far from being the first to try something so radical in the name of science.
Isaac Newton stabbed himself in the eye with a needle to see what would happen, Ralph Steinman, a Nobel Prize winner in 2011 tested himself with his own pancreatic cancer treatments, and scientist called Barry Marshall deliberately drank a bacteria soup to give himself ulcers in order to prove that bacteria were to blame for the ailment.
http://i.imgur.com/ianDwbs.jpg
For most people, finding a flea in your foot would induce panic, terror and probably a little nausea.
But for German doctorate student Marlene Thielecke it was a great opportunity for research.
So fascinated by the parasite was Thielecke that she decided to keep the sand flea alive for two months.
In fact, she was so excited that she even took regular photos and kept a video diary of the flea living inside her, all in the name of science.
It helped that Thielecke is a parasitologist at her university, Berlin's Charite-Universitätzmedicin. Her job is to study ways of preventing a skin disease caused by fleas, called tungiasis.
At first there were no problems, but Thielecke released the flea was discharging a liquid which caused her foot to become sore and hindered her walking.
"I started to get uneasy," she said, finally deciding it was time to expel the flea from her body.
Despite her unusual response, a blog on the Smithsonian website reports she was far from being the first to try something so radical in the name of science.
Isaac Newton stabbed himself in the eye with a needle to see what would happen, Ralph Steinman, a Nobel Prize winner in 2011 tested himself with his own pancreatic cancer treatments, and scientist called Barry Marshall deliberately drank a bacteria soup to give himself ulcers in order to prove that bacteria were to blame for the ailment.