Experiments
Top 20 Bizarre Experiments
After the publication of Elephants on Acid (around 2007), I decided that it would be a good idea to have a website to help promote the book. Something where I would feature some content from the book, as well as post new stuff related to weird science.Most of the good domain names (including, at the time, ElephantsOnAcid.com) were already taken. So I ended up creating a site at MadScienceMuseum.com.
I added some content to the site, and then, after a while, I stopped. The site lay dormant, without updates, and largely without visitors.
Fast forward to the present. It recently occurred to me that it was stupid to keep paying to keep MadScienceMuseum.com online when hardly anyone visits it, and all the content on it would be perfectly appropriate for WU, which does have visitors.
So I'm getting rid of the "Mad Science Museum" and migrating all the content over to WU. It'll be a slow process, but if you notice me doing additional posts about weird science stuff, that's the reason.
The first thing I've migrated is my list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 30, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Science, Experiments
40-year-old Twinkie
At the George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Maine, a Twinkie has been kept on display for 40 years.
Back in 1976, chemistry teacher Roger Bennatti placed the Twinkie on top of the class blackboard in response to a student question about the legendary shelf-life of Twinkies. Eventually, the Twinkie was moved into a glass display box, but it remains at the school as a perpetual experiment on Twinkie immortality. More info: abc news.
Related Twinkie posts:
Twinkie Facts
Twinkies Art
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 01, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Food, Junk Food, Experiments
Fetal Soap Addiction
June 1988: Australian researcher Peter Hepper reported in the medical journal The Lancet that fetuses often appeared to learn to recognize the theme tune of their mother's favorite soap opera. As a newborn baby, hearing this tune would then calm them down.He tested this hypothesis by playing the theme tune of the Australian soap "Neighbours" to a group of newborns whose mothers watched the show. Upon hearing it, he reported, six of the seven babies promptly adopted a "quiet alert state."
The Lancet - June 11, 1988
Des Moines Register - June 29, 1988
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jun 07, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Science, Experiments, Television, 1980s
Three-Winged Chickens
1950: Scientists at UCLA breed three-winged chickens. More buffalo wings on one bird!
Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Oregon) - Nov 9, 1950
The Eugene Guard - Nov 15, 1950
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 21, 2016 -
Comments (9)
Category: Animals, Science, Experiments, 1950s
Martian Radio Silence
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 07, 2016 -
Comments (10)
Category: Aliens, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, Technology, Experiments, 1920s
Punching Cadavers
University of Utah researchers rigged up a "pendulum-like apparatus" in which they placed cadaver arms, and then proceeded to make the arms punch a padded dumbbell with clenched or unclenched fist. The idea was to test the theory that the human hand evolved its shape so that men could "fistfight over females" — aka the "pugilism hypothesis of hominin hand evolution."The researchers believe that their experiment supported the pugilism hypothesis.
More info: Science Daily and the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 24, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Death, Experiments
Парк Юрского периода
A lab in Russia is working on cloning a wooly mammoth. China and South Korea are supposed to participate in the project. Perhaps they will build their own Парк Юрского периода.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 01, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Experiments, Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Creatures
Drunk-O-Meter Test Fizzles
A great moment in the history of science. Arkansas, 1956.
Corsicana Daily Sun - June 8, 1956
HOT SPRINGS, Ark., June 8 — An attempt to test the accuracy of the "Drunk-O-Meter," a device used to measure the degree of intoxication of a person, ended in failure at Hot Springs.
The reason—the man engaged to get drunk for science passed out before he could be measured.
The experiment was conducted by police at the request of the judges' council, an official unit of the Arkansas Bar Association.
The man drank over a 20-hour period. In that time he consumed four half pints of wine, two half pints of whiskey, four half pints of "moonshine" liquor, and a half pint of vodka.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 19, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inebriation and Intoxicants, Science, Experiments, 1950s
Strange Volunteers
My latest about.com piece: 6 insane experiments that people volunteered for.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 11, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Science, Experiments, Alex
Zero Gravity Frog
NASA footage of experiments with frogs in a zero-g environment, performed on the Space Shuttle Endeavor, 1992.
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 24, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Science, Experiments, 1990s
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |