A Space Agency Will Pay You $17,000 to Stay in Bed

Space Job Sleeping France
Shutterstock
Shutterstock

It turns out you don't need to be a scientist to help with space exploration. All you have to do is sleep and cash checks, which is basically what all teenagers dream of doing when they grow up.

Researchers at France's Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (Medes) are searching for volunteers who will to do nothing but go full Rip van Winkle. For their trouble, they'll be paid €16,000 (about $17,071 USD). Unfortunately, like Mr. van Winkle, you won't get out of bed until the world has changed around you.

The study is looking for 24 male subjects between the age of 20 and 45 who will help researchers study the impacts of microgravity. Coordinating physician Dr. Arnaud Beck told French publication 20 Minutes that the study is an effort to replicate weightlessness. At the commencement and conclusion of the study, there will be two weeks of testing. The first two weeks are "followed by a 60-day period during which they must remain in bed, the head slightly inclined downwards at less than six degrees," Dr. Beck said.

Subjects will be totally bedridden. They'll be doing their business right where they sleep. "Under these specific conditions, the cardiovascular system is impacted," Dr. Beck continued. "It is no longer able to provide the same effort as before departure or before bed rest." The Institute offers a few warnings for anyone interested in the relatively fast cash. Subjects are expected to lose lower body muscle and bone density during their prolonged bed rest. Sounds like a real good time.

Those inspired to boldly go to bed may apply here.

h/t Guardian

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Dustin Nelson is a News Writer with Thrillist. He holds a Guinness World Record but has never met the fingernail lady. Follow him @dlukenelson.