The 10 worst jobs in science

try collecting semen and embryos on cattle horses deer dogs sheep goats ect

try being a science teacher in a public high school.

Bus washer. I had to scrub the outside, and clean the bio hazards inside. Puke, pee, spit, blood and poop. I saw it all so the public didn't have to. I had annual blood bourne pathogen training, hospital grade sterilizing compounds and Nitrile gloves who's pores are so small not even Hep B could get through... absolutely thankless job, and every day was a 'do over'.

I had been cleaning the barns of a pig farm until the owner had me neutering piglets within days of their birth. And when it is done, you never know if the piglet will survive the shock of the "operation" or not, as no type of anesthetic is used.

You just cut them off, and that is that. I ended telling the owner I'd rather be cleaning, and was told no, either "cut 'em or leave", so, I left.

Try cleaning up Buzzard Puke from a gut wagon

When I was a Biological Science Graduate Student many of us were employed by our Major Professors to conduct research in their laboratories. Although some of my assignments were pretty unusual (one semester we collected scorpions, centipedes, and millipedes for classes, bringing us in rather close personal contact with rattlesnakes), but none was as unique as that of a Grad Student I will call Bill. Bill's Major Professor was a Bacteriologist, who was looking at the unusual adaptations of carrion feeding birds like Turkey and Black Vultures, which seek out and eat rotten flesh carrying a huge load of potentially dangerous bacteria. Such vultures have a defense mechanism called "projectile vomiting", which occurs when they are startled. Well, the vomit from a vulture is as horrid as you can imagine, but collecting it is an easy way to get stomach contents without handling the bird. Bill's job was getting samples of this unique product for research. He would approach the bird's cages, wave his arms and shout, and then collect the result of his labors. Soon, the birds learned what he was likely to do when he came up to their storage area and would begin emptying their stomachs as soon as they saw him, without the need to be startled.

Thus, Bill was proclaimed as the "only guy on earth who can make a vulture vomit just by looking at him". It was a great line after a few beers, but Bill never did appreciate it very much, and putting: "Vulture vomit collector" on your resume wasn't a great career builder.

EJ

I have crawled in the mud and dirt under homes for foundation inspections, crawled through 80 year old dust, dirt, and whatever else in a couple of old building attics to report on their stability, or lack of since one was falling apart (I'm sure the hardhat would not have helped), and there is always the measuring up of animal feedlots to build a cover. The feedlots are smelly and DEEP, if you get my drift. They are occupied mostly by nosy dairy cattle, but also by a big old bull from time to time. I'm known as the Queen of Poop around here. Good thing I'm a farm girl!

I know it's on the list already, but I have done forensic entomology tests at UC Davis on four dead mountain lions and one human being (left for 21 days in the sun... hey, it's what you get for donating your body to science... the lions were taken from poachers), and trust me: the decay smell eats through anything you could possibly wear, and it stays on you for a day or so and on your breath for longer. It's the nastiest, foulest thing I can think of. Digging maggots from dead things, drowning a few of them in ethanol, and saving the rest to grow into flies. I even had to eat rice for dinner one night after a day in the field. Needless to say, it wasn't fun.

What they didn't tell you about "cheese skippers" (piophilidae) are that their maggots can actually "jump" by grabbing their own tail-end and building up a ton of pressure and then *boing*. I've seen them in action. For more grossness, look up "casu marzu" from the isle of Sardinia (try Wikipedia).

God bless ALL teachers!

One time at lunch, I asked my team to tell what their worst job was, and we would buy dessert for that person. The very first guy who started (John B.) said that when he was just out of High School in CA he got a job at a water/waste treatment facility. Since he was low man on the totem pole, he was the one who had to row his skiff out to the middle of a big lake of $#!7 to hose off the the big wheel valves in the middle so they didn't get so fouled they would not work. What did he use to hose them off with? Why, a pressure washer that sucked up the wastewater he was floating in of course! He said that to actually clean it off, he had to get close to the valves and of course the stuff he was spraying would bounce off and coat him in the mist and droplets.

I asked him if they provided a hazmat suit or anything. He said "No, they were okay with him wearing a T-shirt and cutoffs. This was back in the early 70s. I guess OSHA was not as concerned back then...lol.

Needless to say, the rest of us immediately paid for dessert.

The headline should be revised to the dirtiest jobs. The worst jobs are done by our regulatory agencies!

My brother in law has a patent for a particular brand of feminine sanitary napkins. They have to be tested for absorption efficiency, capacity, leak through, etc after real life use, so they can get their patent. Somebody has to do it. My bro's the guy! Thanks bro, you can keep your job!

My brother in law has a patent for a particular brand of feminine sanitary napkins. They have to be tested for absorption efficiency, capacity, leak through, etc after real life use., so they can get their patent. Somebody has to do it. My bro's the guy! Thanks bro, you can keep your job!

I would think crime scene clean-up has to be the worst.

To this list, I would add the people who clean up body parts/fluids from crime scenes.