i feel like i would get sick spending 3 months like that... i wonder what that does to your body.... I guess we'll find out soon enough... if your not doing anything exerting, which seems like the case, doesn't seem like such a bad thing....

astronaut food for 90 days? pass, thanks NASA.

remember kids, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

Studies have shown that being immobilized for 30 days is worse for your body than 30 years of aging. You experience bone and muscle atrophy as well as huge metabolic changes to name a few.

Paid to hang out in bed. Not too bad.

A little over $5000 a month. Eh. Not a bad temp gig necessarily.

Of course, the sit-and-click I'm on now is paying $8,000 and the Newark sentence paid me over $30,000.

Still, depends on which temp agency this thing is through. I'm registered with most of the temp agencies here in NY and I've never heard of this NASA. Must be new.

I'll ask around and find out what their rep is (i.e. - whether they lie about assignment duration, how often they cancel projects, whether the site leads are a**holes)

Anyone who is willing to spend 3 months restrained in a bed without being able to move, you might as well shoot yourself right now, cause your muscles will shrink, your blood vessel will clog and even if you don't get a heart atack, you'll live 10 years shorter.

17 000 bucks isn't worth it unless you're homeless and starving.

As long as there's no catheters, IV's, or enemas, I'd do it.

@Walter: These poeple aren't immobilized, they're just laying down for LONG periods of time. You can still move your body.

Now that'll do wonders to your health. :P

Let's see... 5000 something bucks a month. Nice!
Minus liberty to walk around when you want to, make some exercises, eat good food.
Not so nice.
Minus the time you'll spend recovering from muscle atrophy and other related problems.
Hmmm...
Minus the time you'll have to spend on a shrink after almost going crazy for spending endless hours looking at the walls... something like Old Boy.
Yeah, I give up.

Hey, I,l do it .... I just got the US franchise on ..I will work for food

$17k for 3 months, is that gross or net? If it's pre-tax (which I'm sure it is) at what rate will they tax you? What am I talking about, it's the gub-mint, you're gonna get boned.

So..... No sex for 90 days??

@litos: Yeah, but you can probably masturbate all you want. I'd think that the effects of microgravity on the libido is of relevance. As least, that's what I'd tell them after getting caught.

If everyone who was in bed with NASA got $17,000, the agency would go broke.

There was an NPR science friday episode about this research, including an interview with one of the testees. Find that and give a listen before you sign up - its not as fun (or as comfortable) as it sounds... and it WILL affect your health in some way.

I wonder if my office would let me telecommute. If I can pull the double salary AND never get out of bed, I'm in.

I don't even want to do something I like for 16 hours a day.

I'd have to admit my felonious past. Pass.

what about pooping? i don't like the idea pooping into a bedpan or whatever there will be, especially with a bed that is tilted towards your head.

Are you going to be in the same room as those gym teachers in the photo the whole 90 days?

lapdances? then maybe

Hey, if someone wants to get me in bed for $17,000 I'm not likely to turn it down. If it's a hot chick, even better.

@vulgrin: hehehe, you said testees.

My school, UT Southwestern is part of the study. We've had flyers about this all over campus, but they didn't put the amount on it. Interesting.

A guy tried to do this and wrote a diary of it on the McSweeney's website. It's still in their archives. He got really sick (I think he got a cold or something while he was doing it) didn't even come close to the full 90 days. You can move around a little, and you get to get up sometimes. For instance, this guy was able to write his diary while he was lying down. I think he had something rigged with a monitor and keyboard, or maybe he dictated it.

I forget whether they paid him in full.

Correction: I just found the diary, and he did actually finish. I must have only read part way through. Still it sounds like he got pretty sick at times.

The title of the diary is "George Viebranz Has Taken to His Bed."

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: nah - those folks in the pic are reading magazines - so I'm thinking iPod/iPhone - PSP - maybe a laptop - and an external HD filled with all the movies you could stand_

It's tempting - but yeah - I'd say this is more a meal ticket for those folks kinda down on their luck and could use the cash_

If they upped the bucks some I'd be game_

If you want to be a guinea pig, these people generally pay more for your time and the studies aren't as grueling. Although, there is the possibility of getting sick from experimental drugs.

Tempting, but MAN, 90 days!?!?!

After about 5 I'd start losing it!! you def. would want a gaming console and Xanax!

Faslane

what do you do if you need to go #2!?

2000lbs people rejoice!
can you do this and still collect welfare?

seriously, why subject yourself to this kind of inhuman testing?

"So..... No sex for 90 days??"

Damn, if they paid you only for that, I'd be rolling in it.

I would totally sign up if I were a paraplegic.

Beds are SO over-rated in general....

I don't think luring is a word. Perhaps lurid. And leering, which certainly has deviant connotations, but I don't think it really works here.

No thanks.

Over $5k/month isn't too shabby for doing nothing but lying down.

In a lot of these studies, mostly sleep studies, you need to spend the entire duration of the study with a rather large thermometer placed in your rectum. No joke; this is the best way to keep track of your body's core temperature. These thermometers aren't wireless, either, BTW.

I'm not sure how this passes IRB ethics standards. At least with shady drug tests there's only a chance that you'll be negatively affected. Here it's pretty much a guarantee. It seems like it'll be hard to find people who will really give informed consent to this sort of thing.

@OMG! Ponies!: God, I hope not ever hearing about NASA is a joke that I'm just not getting.

@LindsayJoy: ok, I have to ask - why over-rated?

Very fast connection to the internet, and it's no problem. There is enough good TV series to last me for three months. And while you are there getting bored, you can even study and finish a year of college if they allow you to do it remotley. so instead of loosing 3 months you gain 1year(-3 months)

Wow, looking into this it seems like something I'd actually want to do. I've always wanted to have some part in NASA... hell, I'd be the damn janitor if they let me. I found a blog and Flickr past participants, which is interesting stuff. They seem like really young kids, I'm sure NASA would like to get a hold of some late 20s or 30-somethings which is more accurate for an astronaut's age.

The only thing I wouldn't look forward to is having to get muscle biopsies and learning how to do "Number 2" in bed. Other than that, I'm all in! Though, I should probably run this past my family and girlfriend. They might notice if I go missing for three months.

I do wonder how many applications NASA gets for this thing. Of those, probably 98% of them don't pass the entry physical or drop out once they really find out what is involved. Of the remaining 2%, probably only 0.5% actually get selected for the test, and even less make it the whole duration.

Is it weird that I'm genuinely excited about this?

Give me a 360 and some good games and i'd do it in a heartbeat.

$17,000 to be a human guinea pig... yeah, I'm not that desperate for cash.

@RobotVampire: When you work for the government they tend to take care of you, it's those of us who aren't part of "the man" who get screwed.

Example: My grandfather worked at the Hanford Nuclear Facility (not as a technician mind you, just general maintenance), for the Government, my Dad ran a service station, for Shell, during the same period of time, in the 1970s, my grandfather got to write off more than my Dad made. The tax breaks are nuts for people who have government jobs. Plus they get more vacation time than most people, health care, retirement plan... etc, etc.

11-15 days living in the Galveston facility followed by 90 days bedrest per the NASA site's description, followed by another 2 weeks in which it is unclear if you will have to be on site. Assuming you're not, that's 105 days, or 21 working weeks, at $161.90 a day. No bloody thank you.

For all those who think it's more than 5K a month, I've got some bad news...it's only about $4,200 a month. More bad news...it's a 115 to 120 day study, the 90 days is for the bed-time part.

I'm just guessing, but I'd imagine that would also put you in the 33% tax bracket for those four months so you're only going to be brining home about $2,833 a month. What's more troubling is that it's a 30 day month, 24 hours a day. So...looks like you'll be pulling a whopping $3.95 an hour, ($5.90 before taxes.) Not even minimum wage...sounds about right if you've ever worked for the government by enlisting in the military.

@OMG! Ponies!:Yeah...if you don't mind being in the position to give yourself a great money-shot.

@OMG! Ponies!: It's cool though...you could always tell them it was a ghost. A spooky ghost.

Can you imagine how many homeless people they could help with this? Maybe war veterans who are in a bed who could help with this research? Why are they even mentioning it, so many war vets would like to be paid for laying in a bed they are in anyway...

@Hello_Newman: They need healthy people for a good "before and after" result.

In other words: like blogging, but even more boring.

DUDE this is like writing a mail to your boss with jokes on how easy-boring your job is, I love your job then :)