Space Scientists Need Women Volunteers Who Will Stay in Bed Eating Pancakes for Two Months  

Do you speak German and hate getting out of bed? That could be worth almost 19k to space scientists.

A study commissioned by NASA and the European Space Agency being conducted at the German Aerospace Center needs German-speaking, non-smoking women ages 22-55 to lie in bed for 60 days in order to help understand the impact of weightlessness on the body. In space, muscles and bones deteriorate, and blood tends to rush to the head. Researchers are hoping to simulate that effect by having subjects stay in bed for a continuous amount of time, meaning all eating, showering, and bodily functions will be done lying prone in a bed inclined just six inches with the head pointing downwards.

But that’s not all! You’ll also get to spin around every day in a space exerciser. According to CNN, “the researchers have already created a ‘short-arm human centrifuge’ that generates artificial gravity and corrects the distribution of body fluids. They are hoping to test it out on two-thirds of the study participants each day.”

All this actually sounds like some horrible Hitchcock/Kubrick mashup, but with a Nora Ephron twist: there’s pancakes:

“A team of nutritionists will curate the meals so that participants do not gain weight and have all the nutrients they need. However, the German Aerospace Center says on its website that the meals are not ‘extra healthy,’ and there will sometimes be pancakes or other sweet treats.”

Subjects will be paid $18,522, but I can’t find anything that spells out what the TV situation will be like in these space beds. Surely they’re at least springing for Netflix.