Every year Pop Sci Magazine publishes a list of the “Worst Jobs in Science.” I usually read the list and scoff at the people who they have chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. However, if I had a quarter for every time I have been pooped or peed on by a monkey, swarmed by annoying insects (many of them with painful stings), stuck in quicksand like mud, or been in close proximity to venomous snakes, I wouldn’t have to be writing grants. Therefore, it was a strange day indeed when I find someone’s whose job actually might be the worst job in science. The person who wins the award for me is Mosquito Man. Mosquito Man is studying how rates of deforestation influence the transmission of malaria and dengue through mosquito vectors. It is a very important question that has the potential to help thousands (if not millions) of people. However, the work required to collect this important data, sucks (pun intended). First of all, Mosquito Man sits in the forest all by himself from the hours of 5:30 pm to 6:30 am. To the person who likes to be asleep by 8pm, the hours alone sound horrible. However, may I remind you that he is not sitting in an office somewhere; he is sitting alone in the tropical forest. To understand what that means, let me explain to you the night he spent in my forest. First, the forest he was studying became flooded, therefore he was stuck on a 3X3 feet island of trees, as the crocodile infested waters surrounded his previous forest escape path. If that wasn’t enough, he happened to share that island with a 9 inch centipede. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the centipedes of Borneo, their bites are more venomous than many of the scary snakes that also live in the forest (and often visit him). However, that isn't even the worst part of his job. On a good night, he will be bit by a high number of mosquitoes. Remember, these aren’t your run of the mill Wisconsin mosquitoes that produce a nice itchy bite for a few days; these are tropical mosquitoes that carry such fun vectors of malaria (killed 780,000 people last year) and dengue. Since he is interested in the transmission of these deadly diseases, he is actually hoping the mosquitoes that are biting him are carrying these diseases. Talk about having conflicting views about your job. After hanging out with mosquito man, I think I am going to stick to primate research, and am happy to award Mosquito Man as the Worst Job in Science.
