10 Unusual Scientific Scales (PHOTOS) share this story Hand-
waving and estimation are out, and measurement is in. With the
right scale, researchers can measure just about anything--even
things traditionally considered too vague to quantify. In the
slideshow below, we present ten of the most unusual and
interesting scales, whether the weirdness comes from what they
measure or how they do it. Maybe you've heard of the Kinsey
Scale of human sexuality, but how about the Kardashev Scale of
advanced civilization? How about the Waffle House Index of
disaster response and the Riddle Scale of homophobia? Click
through to see more--you can even rate your favorites using our
own scale. The <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_Index"
target="_hplink">Schmidt Sting Pain Index</a> measures the pain
of stings from various bees, wasps and ants on a 1.0-4.0
spectrum. An ordinary Sweat bee scores a 1.0 on the scale, and
the South American Bullet ant scores a 4.0+. The commentary is
particularly specific, an