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28 Perplexing Scientific Experiments That Somehow Actually Happened

Who are we to say tadpoles don’t need eyes on their tails?

28 Perplexing Scientific Experiments That Somehow Actually Happened

September 02, 2023

Ever notice how in horror and science-fiction films, there’s a mad scientist who does crazy things like use lightning to resurrect the dead, keep specimens’ severed heads alive, use their children in dangerous experiments or build robots that can do things that robots shouldn’t be able to do. That mad scientist caricature cliché, it turns out, is based on truth. Here are a handful of the most baffling, weird, and downright insane experiments that have all been carried out in the name of science…

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Sergei Brukhanenko tried to keep severed animal heads alive. Brukhonenko arguably helped pave the way for VENOUS PUMP modern heart and lung machines. He advanced medical science in a ARTERIAL PUMP' profound way, and probably saved the lives of countless human beings. Yet history will always remember him as that guy who cut the heads off dogs to see if he could keep them alive. As it turned out, no. He could not. CRACKED.COM — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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SOME PEOPLE CAN'T FEEL FEAR. DUE TO A BRAIN CONDITION. SCIENTISTS TRY THEIR BEST TO SCARE THEM ANY WAY. They eventually discovered even the clinically fearless can indeed be spooked. Just mess with their air. Breathing high levels of CO2 made research subjects feel fear, and then panic. Note that these subjects did not previously know what fear even felt like. CRACKED.COM — 5 Of The Creepiest Science Experiments Ever

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Visual Cliff

TWO PSYCHOLOGISTS BUILT A VISUAL CLIFF. A GLASS SURFACE LOOKED LIKE A SUDDEN DROP. One at a time, they plopped a bunch of babies on the cliff and had their mothers coax them across the glass. In other words, they had mothers tell their babies to do something that the babies believed was certain death. Most crawled away from their mothers. CRACKED.COM — The 6 Cruelest Science Experiments Ever (Were Done on Kids)

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28 Perplexing Scientific Experiments That Somehow Actually Happened — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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Tadpoles

Scientists spawned tadpoles with eyes on their tails. Tufts University researchers wondered what would happen if they transplanted a tadpole's eyeball from its head to, say, its ass. They found that with the help of a neurotransmitter drug triggering new nerve growth, the tail-eye could actually see. Dr. Alphonse Mephesto of Colorado has expressed his complete support. CRACKED.COM — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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Psychology professor Clarence Leuba wanted to know if laughing when tickled is an innate response, SO he performed experiment's on his own children. For seven months after the birth of his son, Leuba and his wife refrained from laughing when tickling their child. The baby would still laugh, proving this is an innate response. Leuba repeated this experiment with his next child, and got the same results. GRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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18th century scientist Stephen Gray had observed that an electric charge can travel great distances through single, or multiple objects. To demonstrate he suspended a child dubbed The Flying Boy who was charged with electricity by means of a rapidly spinning sulfur globe, enabling him to do tricks. Fig.s a These tricks included turning a book page without touching it, and a finale where a volunteer would get zapped by touching the now highly charged-up boy. CRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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CRACKED.COM In 1960, psychologists Eleanor J. Gibson and Richard D. Walk devised an illusory cliff contraption to see if babies' survival instinct would kick in. The mothers stood on the other side of the cliff and asked their babies to crawl to them Out of 36 babies tested, only 3 of them willingly went over the cliff while the rest cried in distress, who probably grew up to have trust issues with their moms. — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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Scientists created remote-contralled (living) beetles. In the never-ending quest to humiliate nature, scientists from UC Berkeley and Nanyang Technological University have turned living beetles into their slaves. By connecting electrodes to the insects' brains, legs, and flight muscles, the researchers can remotely control these biobots for use in surveillance or to search disaster zones for survivors. The beetles emerge from the ordeal completely unharmed, but embarrassed. Probably. CRACKED.COM — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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Newts in Space

SIX DIFFERENT MISSIONS TOOK NEWTS. TO SPACE. WE WANTED TO SEE HOW THEY MATE, AND HOW THEY HEAL. Their fertility- -much like that of humans- went a little haywire, and.the space trip initially seemed to do nothing for their healing abilities. But once they returned to Earth, they actually appeared to heal faster. CRACKED.COM — 5 Real Space Experiments That Are Clearly Horror Movie Plots

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Flatworms

NASA SENT FLATWORMS TO THE SPACE STATION. SCIENTISTS CHOPPED A BUNCH OF THEM UP. One middle segment grew a new head. Then it grew a second head on its other end. Terrified, scientists cut both heads off to study them in isolation. The middle segment then sprouted two additional new heads. CRACKED.COM — 5 Real Space Experiments That Are Clearly Horror Movie Plots

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AMERICA TESTED MUSTARD GAS ON ITS OWN TROOPS. R2BM HD GUE HD GIF HD GAS 155 155H 155H LOT FUO LOT POS LOT POS SHELL SHE SHELL SH 60,000 WWII TROOPS. MOSTLY PEOPLE OF COLOR. Participants kept their mouths shut well into 1980s. It took until 1991 for the Department of Veterans Affairs to create guidelines to take care of them. This coincided neatly with the tests becoming declassified in 1993. CRACKED.COM — 5 Military Experiments That Told Ethics To F*ck Right Off

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28 Perplexing Scientific Experiments That Somehow Actually Happened — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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A RESEARCHER TOLD KIDS HE TREASURED A TOY. HE GAVE EACH KID THE TOY, WHICH WAS RIGGED TO BREAK. When it broke despite the child's carefulness, the researcher just stared at the kid for a full minute. Interestingly, kids most traumatized by the experiment went on to have the fewest behavioral problems over the next five years. CRACKED.COM — The 6 Cruelest Science Experiments Ever (Were Done on Kids)

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Fifty First Nations students at Brandon's Indian Residential School, some as young as six, were tested on their ability to read ESP cards which were held behind a screen. These hungry and malnourished kids were bribed with candy to encourage them to take part. CRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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1960S KIDS VIEWED A VIDEO OF A CLOWN BEING BEATEN. THEN THE PSYCHOLOGIST SENT IN A REAL LIVE CLOWN. Sure enough, the children happily assaulted the man with punches, kicks, and hammer blows, proving not only that kids imitate aggression, but also that they have a somewhat limited grasp of consequences. CRACKED.COM — The 6 Cruelest Science Experiments Ever (Were Done on Kids)

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In 1962, Laurel Children's Center in Maryland used children to test experimental acne medications. The researchers continued testing even after half of the kids developed severe liver damage from the experimental drugs! GRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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28 Perplexing Scientific Experiments That Somehow Actually Happened — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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PURDUE BUILT A CRAWLING TINFOIL ROBOT BABY. THE GOAL? TO INVESTIGATE DUST INHALATION. Turns out breathing in floor debris isn't SO bad. Purdue also carefully analyzed the movements of the robot baby itself... presumably for potential weaknesses, should we find one speeding toward us in the dead of night. CRACKED.COM — 5 Real Science Experiments Straight Out Of A Horror Movie

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SOUTH AFRICA TRIED TO CONVERT GAY SOLDIERS. TREATMENT COMBINED GAY PORN WITH ELECTRIC SHOCKS. After this horror movie method, there was always the ultimate solution: forced sex changes. They tried that on an estimated 900 people, sometimes at the pace of 50 surgeries a week. The operations were... not always executed with the utmost skill. CRACKED.COM — 5 Military Experiments That Told Ethics To F*ck Right Off

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RESEARCHERS PHOTOGRAPHED A BUNCH OF CHIMP BUTTS. THEN THEY ASKED CHIMPS TO MATCH THEM WITH FACES. The chimps could indeed recognize their peers just by looking at their hindquarters. This is apparently important, because the concept of whole body integration was thought to be something only humans can do. CRACKED.COM — 6 Elaborate Science Experiments Done Just for the Hell of It

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Laszlo Polgar believed that anyone can become a genius with early training.' TO prove this, he tested his hypothesis on his own daughters: Susan, Sophia, and Judit, by teaching them how to play chess at a very young age. The three later became chess grandmasters and Judit became the top-ranked female chess player in history. CRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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In the 1990s, low income minority families in Baltimore, Maryland were GRAON offered federally funded subsidized housing if they would agree to regular blood lead testing for thein children. That all sounds great until you realize that the homes were known to be contaminated with lead and that the Krieger Institute was researching abatement methods. Can you say GUINEA PIGS? — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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Scientists at England's University of Sheffield made 6-month-old babies stare at different faces of macaques to see how well they can recognize faces. As it turns out, they can recognize faces better than-adults. The babies looked at pictures of new, unknown macaques longer compared to pictures of macaques they had already seen. This suggests that babies can recognize monkeys based on their facial features, a thing adults can hardly do. CRACKED — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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In 1939, researcher Clara M. Davis let 15 babies select their own food for 6 years without adult intervention. They were allowed to choose from a total of 33 food items that contained various nutrients. At the end of the study, it was found that all of the babies were healthy, and those who joined the study undernourished were healthy again. GRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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High school teacher Ron Jones started an experiment that snowballed into a school- wide fascist movement called 'The Third THE wave' WAVE Meant to demonstrate conditions that led to the Holocaust, it involved Nazi-like salutes and secret police. More than 200 students joined, peaking ill a political rally, before Mr. Jones shut it down. CRACKED.COM — 23 Disturbing, Real Experiments Done On Children

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THE MILITARY LOOSED 330,000 MOSQUITOS UPON GEORGIA. THEN THEY RELEASED TWICE AS MANY IN FLORIDA. The experiment was known as Operation Big Buzz. The aim was to find out how disease- bugs would fare in militarynte they'd use fine), and how many bite (answer: many). CRACKED.COM — 5 Military Experiments That Told Ethics To F*ck Right Off

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Scientists built tiny 3D goggles for praying mantises. This mantis isn't just fashionable with its slick little goggles - it's a boon to science. Mantises are the only known invertebrates with 3D vision, and can accurately strike moving prey even when the image beamed to each eye (via the goggles) is different. This mantis-vision research could help future worker robots navigate the world. Or more effectively murder enemies of the hive mind. CRACKED.COM — Sci Fi-Grade Experiments That (Somehow) Happened

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