NASA recruited volunteers for this spend two months in bed.
The research, which took place in Germany, was part of a study into how artificial gravity might affect the body. Participants were paid €16,500 (US$18,500), but not in the way it sounds. The 24 selected subjects spent 60 days lying down, with all experiments, meals, and recreational activities performed lying down.
However, the experiment is just one of many ways you can get paid to help with scientific research.
If you want to help the scientific community (and potentially save lives), there are some unconventional but potentially lucrative steps you can take.
Below is a short list, but be warned: these strategies are not all easy money.
Lying in bed for 60 days at a time as part of NASA research
Payout: $18,500
NASA will pay you to stay in bed.
But there’s a catch: you have to stay there 24 hours a day for 60 days. Bed rest studies are helping NASA researchers see some of the changes an astronaut’s body undergoes due to the weightlessness of spaceflight.
Researchers have already selected participants for their inaugural class, but NASA announced in November 2021, a nearly $50 million contract to continue conducting bed rest studies. (More info here.)
Getting paid for a few months might sound like easy money, but remember that the selection committee is looking for participants who possess the physical and psychological qualities of a real astronaut.
You need to keep your head tilted down always six degrees while you lie there, even if you wash, eat and use yourself the toilet.
As Roni Cromwell, a senior scientist who previously conducted bed rest studies for NASA told forbes: “We want to make sure we choose people who are mentally ready to spend money [two months] in bed. Not everyone is comfortable with that. Not every type of person can tolerate prolonged periods in bed.”
Sell your blood plasma
Payout (per donation): approximately US$50
Plasma is the largest component in human blood. It’s a protein-rich liquid that’s mostly water, but it’s also packed with enzymes. antibody, and salts. This gooey, sticky, yellowish stuff can be used to develop therapies that treat people with bleeding disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even burn victims.
Plasma donation is often referred to as “the gift of life”. according to DonatingPlasma.orgas treatments for some diseases cannot be synthetically manufactured and require this human contribution.
In plasma donation, blood is drawn and an automated machine separates the plasma from other blood components, which are returned to the donor. Plasma donation compensation varies from site to site, but the average payout is typically around $50 per donation.
You can safely donate about once a month american red cross, and a typical session lasts less than two hours. To find a licensed and certified plasma center, click here.
Donate your eggs
Payout (per donation): typically $8,000 to $14,000
Egg donation allows people whose ovaries are not producing healthy eggs to become pregnant using another person’s donated eggs.
In the United States, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine suggested it was “inappropriate” to pay someone more than $10,000 for their eggs, but in 2016 the ASRM overturned that policy in a federal cartel settlement.
Today, at NYU Langone Fertility Center in New York City, the payment per egg donation cycle is accurate $10,000 and includes free medical screening. Weill-Cornell Medicine describes the standard steps for egg donationwhich takes about four weeks.
During the donation cycle, patients are injected with fertility drugs to encourage their ovaries to produce more eggs. (Eligible women are typically between the ages of 21 and 35.) Egg retrieval takes about 20 minutes but may require several days of recovery.
You should be aware of the risks involved in the egg donation process before signing up. Complications can include health problems such as long-term abnormal tissue growth outside the uterus ( endometriosis), moodiness, infection, kidney damage and, in rare cases, death.
donate eggs can even cause cancer although scientists say it will take decades to determine with certainty if there is a link.
And of course, since children born from donated eggs share a common DNA with their donor, women who donate should also be aware that the children they help create may one day want to do so go and get in touch.
Donate your sperm
Payout (per donation): typically $35 to $125
Sperm donation is of course much easier and less risky than egg donation. You can receive anywhere from $35 to $125 per donation. according to SpermBankDirectory.com and The Seed Bank of California.
Many programs require a six-month or year-long donation commitment. Manhattan Cryobank says so pays donors $1,500 per month for her sperm.
In general, sperm banks are picky about donors. They look for men who are healthy, relatively tall (usually at least 5’7″), young (under 40), and educated.
Sperm donors should keep in mind that sperm donation, even anonymous donation, is never really 100 percent incognito. Your DNA always knows who you are, and with the advent of more DNA testing services, your descendants may one day turn to you.
Become a surrogate by carrying a baby in your womb
Payout: $24,000 to $45,000
Women who carry a baby for another couple can earn quite a lot piece of cash for the nine-month incubation period known as “pregnancy surrogacy”.
But recruiting and paying a surrogate is not legal everywhere. State laws surrounding surrogacy in the US are complicated and contradictory.
In New York and Michigan, surrogacy contracts are illegal, and you can serve jail time or pay hefty fines if you contract. However, some states are pushing to change these rules.
Washington State made it legal pay someone directly Carrying a baby in 2018 while California allowed it Surrogacy since 2013.
Sign up for a paid clinical trial
Payout: Varies by program
The National Institutes for Health maintains a searchable database, ClinicalTrials.gov, for human clinical trials around the world. Participants may be guinea pigs for new medical products, such as drugs to treat high blood pressure, or they may take part in observational research, such as a study measuring the impact of different lifestyles on heart health.
Themes are generally paid to be a part of clinical trialsand more often than not, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
If you choose to study, choose wisely and carefully because Not all studies on the site are regulated or tested for safety by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Sign up for a psychological study
Payout: Varies by program
Paid psychological studies, such as those examining human behavior and brain function, may not yield as high a return as clinical studies, but they are generally less risky and require a shorter time commitment.
Most research universities maintain an online database of studies so people can easily sign up.
For example, here is a list of the latest paid research studies offered by New York University. You can Make $10 to identify yourself some colors or $130 to get some “light shocks on the wrist” and Submerge your arm in an ice water bath.
Donate your bone marrow
Payout per donation: a reimbursement of travel and other expenses
Similar to selling blood plasma, you can also sell your bone marrow. For people who need a bone marrow transplant, the wait can sometimes be long and grueling.
Bone marrow is one of the most difficult organs to find when looking for a transplant. The probability of finding a match is 29 to 79 percent “depending on the ethnic origin of the patient”. Be the game.
While Be The Match does not pay for bone marrow donations, they reimburse donors for the cost of the procedure and travel expenses, and may reimburse other expenses on a case-by-case basis.
Give your dead body to science
Payout: A free cremation
That last idea is kinda morbid, but if you’re worried about being a bother when you’re dead, you can donate your body to science. This helps with a variety of types of research and education.
places like BioGift and Scientific Nursing will cover the cost of the cremation, which can be as much as $1,000.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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