Just two months ago, I had the distinct pleasure of acting not as a science scholar but as a research participant. Instead of having my face in a book, I willingly offered it to a woman who diligently scraped my forehead in search of Demodex mites. I know that it's everyone's humble dream to contribute their own exquisite arachnological flora to Science with an S and so, yes Reader, I can feel your oozing envy.
I spent the last weekend of January in Raleigh, North Carolina attending the incredible Science Online 2013 conference and one of the events at the opening reception included an opportunity to "Meet Your Mites" from the Your Wild Life team. As you can imagine, I quite literally squealed for joy. Demodex is one of my favorite parasites and I was eager to contribute my own special brand of commensal to a subject that is little studied. While waiting impatiently in line, my fellow participants and I gazed at a video of a squirming captive mite recently scraped with spatula from a very lucky individual and excitedly wondered if we too would see our own Demodex under the microscope.
