Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Research of mites and men

It wasn't great literature, not even remotely Steinbeckian, but veterinarian Robert A. Lopez's courageous report, “Of Mites and Men,” finally answered a question: What happens when you stick cat ear mites in your own?

In 1968, Lopez did just that, inserting roughly one gram of ear mite exudates from a cat into his left ear.

Twenty-five years later, he published his findings in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

And what did he discover? That mites generally slumber during the day but at night become incredibly active, creating so much ruckus and itchiness from biting that he found sleep to be impossible.

For his insights and heroism, Lopez won the 1993 Ig Nobel Prize in entomology.

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