Often, scientific studies are meant to advance our understanding of the world, providing us with irreplaceable tools to solve our daily problems. Occasionally, though, science goes beyond the necessary and enters the realm of the ridiculous just because the scientists didn’t have anything better to do that day.

Ever hear a child ask stupid questions like: “What if birds pooped lying down?” Although most of us would laugh and ignore those questions, some scientists make a serious face and say, “Well, let’s find out.”

To know what we’re talking about, here are some of the most hilariously unnecessary scientific studies ever conducted.

10 How Different Are Apples And Oranges Really?

We’ve been comfortably using the supposed differences between apples and oranges in arguments at parties ever since someone came up with the simile ” . . . like comparing apples and oranges.” It makes sense, too, as they look and taste quite different and it serves the purpose of the argument well. That clearly didn’t sit well with surgeon James E. Barone, who decided to take a closer look at the whole thing.

As it turns out, according to an elaborate paper that was presented at the Connecticut Society of American Board Surgeons, apples and oranges are actually quite similar. After carrying out experiments—presumably hunched over their work desks for hours and looking all serious—they concluded that the only difference between apples and oranges was in their color and type of seeds. Otherwise, they might as well be the same fruit.

Thanks to them, we’re back to having no phrase to compare two seemingly unrelated things in casual conversations.^[1]

9 How Do Shrimps Fare Walking On A Treadmill?

What do you think when you look at shrimp?

For the foodies, it may be all about their texture and what they could be paired with. For the casual observer, they may look like just another one of the countless marine species that have no significant impact on our lives. For the scientists who carried out this study, though, the first question that came to their minds was: “So what if we put them on a treadmill?”

Under the guise of studying the effects of stress on marine life when they were only trying to decisively answer a ridiculous question by one of their kids, a couple of scientists injected some shrimp with bacterial infections and put them on a tiny underwater treadmill to see what would happen.

In a result that would not surprise—or even interest—anyone anywhere whatsoever, they concluded that uninfected shrimp performed better than their infected counterparts. The best (or worst) part? The study got $682,570 of taxpayer funding from the National Science Foundation.^[2]

8 Is It Better To Smash An Empty Or Full Beer Bottle On Someone’s Head?

Anyone who has ever been in a bar fight would remember the things that were going through his head at the time: “What’s happening?” “Am I bleeding?” “How will I get home?”

These are probably the most common things, though we can surely say that the science of what kind of beer bottles you should use to smash someone’s head wasn’t one of them. For the scientists who went forward and conducted that exact study, however, it was a question worth answering.

They took full as well as empty half-liter beer bottles and conducted a stress test on them in a drop tower, which tells us that they really prepared for this. As they found out, empty beer bottles broke at 40 J of energy and full ones at 30 J.

If that sounds like a significant difference, it’s really not. Both of those are enough to fracture the human skull, something that bar brawlers have known since bars (or beer bottles) were invented.^[3]

7 How To Pee To Avoid Splash Back?

For all the men out there, peeing in unfamiliar washrooms has always been a sort of gamble. One of the reasons is the splash-back mechanics of the pot. You never know how much of it you’re going to get on your shoes and pants, and we’ve all really made peace with the fact.

Is it worth spending resources and conducting a full-fledged scientific study on? No, most men would say—but not these three scientists who believe it’s a problem worth investigating.

In a study conducted at Brigham Young University in the appropriately named Splash Lab, they 3-D-printed a urethra and did all kinds of elaborate experiments to determine exactly what causes the worst kind of splash back. And by “elaborate,” we mean “elaborate”—with a team of scientists and a full-fledged lab setup.^[4]

They determined that the size of the pee droplets or the speed with which you pee doesn’t matter at all. Rather, it’s about the angle, even if most of us would have figured that out on one of our drunk nights without any lab equipment whatsoever.

6 What’s The Mathematical Formula For Perfect Cheese On Toast?

Putting cheese on toast seems like a perfectly straightforward thing to do. You just take the cheese and the toast and . . . put the cheese on top of the toast.

Sure, some people may want it to be perfect and may go to some lengths to incorporate advanced cheese-putting techniques into their breakfast routine. But by and large, people don’t seem to, say, need a mathematical formula to do it.

The Royal Society of Chemistry along with the British Cheese Board vehemently disagrees, though. They actually have a mathematical formula—complete with complex variables and units of measurement that have no business being on a formula for cheese on toast—to perfectly do it.^[5]

They tweaked the different variables—like the temperature and texture of the cheese—under strict lab conditions to come up with it, too, though we still maintain that there was absolutely no need for them to do so in the first place.

5 How To Walk Without Spilling Your Coffee?

Anyone who has ever had to get up from his desk and walk somewhere with a cup of coffee in one hand knows the problems that come with that decision. Unless you’re gifted at the art of balancing—or at least have spent considerable time practicing exactly that—there’s a good chance that you’ll spill some of it.

And for most of us, that’s a trade-off we’re willing to make as the more time that the coffee is in your immediate reach, the more coffee you can drink because coffee is awesome. Is the problem big enough for a scientific study, though? We don’t think so.

However, that’s not true for the scientists who have spent quite a bit of time trying to understand the physics behind coffee spills while walking. Using complex phrases like “fluid-structure interaction of the coffee cup,” “resonance region,” and “maximum spillage,” the study took an in-depth look into how we can optimize our walking-with-coffee experiences.

They concluded—totally without irony and presumably with straight faces—that one of the best ways to walk with coffee is to walk backward, even if you’d look stupid doing it and the spilling thing really is not that big of a problem anyway. They also suggest a clawlike hold of the cup to further improve the results.^[6]

4 Take A Photo Without Anyone Blinking?

If you’re the designated photographer for any family gathering (it’s not because you’re ugly, we swear; you’re just very good at it), you’ll be familiar with the problem of that one person who always ends up blinking in the final image, no matter what you do.

It’s not always the same person, either. It can be anyone, and they probably didn’t even do it consciously (unless some evil person is actually timing their blinks with the click for the kicks).

What’s really a nonissue for most casual photographers, however, is something worth studying for CSIRO physicist Dr. Piers Barnes. He employed probability and calculus to come up with an equation to determine exactly how many photographs you’d need to take (with a 99 percent confidence level) to ensure that you get one without anybody blinking.

He determined that the greater the number of people in the photo, the higher the chances of unintentional blinks. If the number of people is in the mid-range, say somewhere around 20, you’d have to take about six photographs if the light is good and about 10 if it’s not.^[7]

3 How Does Sitting For A Long Time Affect A Cow’s Ability To Stand Up?

We all know that cows are difficult to understand. You’re never sure what they want from just the expressions on their faces as they’re spectacularly devoid of any show of emotion. However, we can’t complain because they provide us with food and milk. They also laze about for a long time depending on how leisurely they’re feeling that day because, let’s face it, they’re cows and that’s what they do.

For the scientists who conducted this study, which was published in Applied Animal Behavior Science, there was evidently some scientific data to be collected among all the sitting down and standing up that the cows were doing, which the researchers set out to find. Data like “are cows that have been sitting down for a longer time more likely to stand up?”^[8]

After recording and studying tens of thousands of instances of cows lying down with specially installed sensors, the scientists concluded that, yes, the longer a cow sits, the more likely it is to stand back up.

2 How Uncomfortable Is Wet Underwear Really?

If you’ve ever found yourself in the rain or jumped into the water without a change of clothes at hand, you’d know the trouble you’re in—wet undergarments. Despite our presumably best efforts to advance underwear tech, not much progress has been made on how to minimize that discomfort. It’s bad, but then it’s also something we learn to live with.

Except for these scientists, who were just not buying it. Does it really make you uncomfortable?

To get to the bottom of it, they set up a study of their own—complete with test subjects and verifiable scientific research. They took eight men, put them in wet underwear, and monitored their skin and rectal temperatures as well as weight loss during a 60-minute period. This included details like the rate of shivering and visible discomfort.

In a result that would not be called surprising in any way, they concluded that, yes, wet underwear does make you colder and more uncomfortable and the thickness of the material played a big role in the results.^[9]

1 What’s Up With Navel Fluff?

The belly button serves no discernible purpose other than being part of the overall look of the body that we’d all look pretty creepy without. The only times we give it any attention are the few days we decide it needs to be cleaned out. Other than that, it’s sort of just there in the background.

If we asked you the exact nature of the fluff that accumulates there, most of us would reply with “probably dirt, who cares?” Though that’s not enough for this scientist from Vienna University of Technology, who spent over four years studying the precise contents of navel lint.

From 2005 to 2009, Georg Steinhauser collected 503 pieces of his own navel fluff and carefully studied it for clues as to what it could be. You can say that it turned into an obsession at some point as he also started asking other people about their navel fluff.

Hopefully, he added to his readings—or maybe he just weirded some people out for no reason. He concluded that the lint was actually directed by the type of hair found in the belly button and mostly came from the shirt or T-shirt he was wearing that day.^[10]

Himanshu can be found shouting obscenities at strangers on Twitter @RudeRidingRomeo or making amateur drawings on Instagram @anartism_. He has written for Screen Rant, Forbes, Cracked, Modern Rogue, and Arre. Pay him money for writing stuff for you here: [email protected]

An intractable divide has split society in two. People on both sides rail at their diametrically opposed counterparts, hurling insults and blaming them for every evil plaguing the world today. We’re referring, of course, to the rift between Baby Boomers, those born between the immediate aftermath of World War II and the mid-1960s, and Millennials, born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s to early 2000s, depending on who’s setting the definition.

See Also: 10 Reasons Millennials Owe A Thanks To Boomers

Each side has the other’s number. Millennials are irresponsible, disloyal whiners doomed to poverty by their own indolence, and Boomers are meddlesome busybodies, oblivious to the realities of the modern world and how they’ve wrecked it to suit their own needs. If you’re a Boomer or Millennial, perhaps you believe one or more stereotypes about the other generation. Of course, stereotypes rarely hold up across the board, so before the adages and avocados start to fly, let’s take a look at some surveys and studies which contradict commonly held beliefs about Baby Boomers and Millennials.

10 Baby Boomers Aren’t Killing Social Security

Baby Boomers are called what they are for a reason. In the years following World War II, there was a surge (or “boom”) of babies being born, so Boomers are a very populous generation. As of 2019, roughly 10,000 of them are turning 65 every day. The timing isn’t exactly ideal; the US Social Security Administration is currently in a bit of a jam. The Social Security Board of Trustees has projected that the Social Security trust funds will be depleted by 2035 if nothing is done, meaning that people will not receive their full benefits.

Given the sheer number of Baby Boomers beginning to collect Social Security in recent years, many tend to believe that they’re sucking the system dry. A study by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research (CCR) indicates that this is not the case. Baby Boomers, in fact, will receive less from Social Security than they paid into it during their careers. (The opposite is true for those who lived through the Great Depression.) The CCR study cites amendments made to the Social Security system in 1939, before Baby Boomers were even a thing, as ultimately responsible for the current problems.^[1]

9 Millennials Read Just As Much As Older Generations

A common image of Millennials is that of a generation glued to technology, a group of smartphones with hats. They’re always on YouTube or crawling each other’s Instagrams, and let’s not forget the chronic tweeting. Have these people even seen a book? According to a 2014 report by Pew Research, they have.

For starters, 88 percent of Millennials (defined by the report as people aged 16 to 29) reported having read a book in the past year, versus 79 percent of those 30 and older. Forty-three percent of Millennials reported reading books (including e-books) every day, which was about the same as older generations. While 98 percent of them used the Internet, and 77 percent owned smartphones, 62 percent agreed that “there is a lot of useful, important information that is not available on the internet.” Only 53 percent of 30+ adults agreed.

Libraries are certainly places where you can find information that isn’t on the Internet, and Millennials are hardly averse to them, with 50 percent having used a library in the past year, not all that different from the 47 percent of older adults who said the same. However, Millennials may generally view libraries as less important. Fifty-one percent said that the closing of a library would have a major impact on their community, versus 67 percent of those who were older.^[2]

8 Baby Boomers Have Embraced Technology, Too

Speaking of smartphones, they are not the sole province of Millennials. A 2019 survey by Provision Living of St. Louis, Missouri, assessed the smartphone habits of 1,000 Millennials and 1,000 Baby Boomers. The results indicated a number of similarities between the two generations.

As you might have expected, Millennials spend more time per day on their smartphones, but the gulf isn’t particularly wide, with Boomers only using their devices for 42 fewer minutes per day than Millennials (5 vs. 5.7 hours). The daily Facebook and Instagram times for each group differed by fewer than 10 minutes each and by only one for YouTube.

There were certainly differences as well. Millennials still spent considerably more time texting and surfing the Internet than Boomers. Possibly more surprising is the fact that Boomers also spent less time using the phone aspect of their smartphones than Millennials. Boomers were also much more prone to using the Messenger app than their younger counterparts.^[3]

7 Millennials Are More Religious Than You Might Think

Millennials are less likely to claim religious affiliation or go to church, and that’s a fact. A 2010 study by Pew Research found that Millennials (this time defined as people aged 18 to 29) attended religious services less often than older generations, and a solid quarter of those surveyed stated themselves to have no affiliation with any religion. They were also less likely to deem religion to be an important part of their lives. Nevertheless, a closer look at the data shows that Millennials may not be as irreligious as they seem.

Essentially, the differences in Millennials’ responses may be more a function of current age than of generation. Millennials pray less frequently than older adults, but their prayer rates closely resemble those of older generations when they were the Millennials’ age. Furthermore, their beliefs concerning life after death, miracles, and so forth show little difference from their elders. Of those Millennials who did claim a specific religion affiliation, 37 percent described that affiliation as “strong.” Thirty-seven percent of GenXers, that generation seemingly no one cares about if the media is any indication, said the same thing when they were younger. Thirty-one percent of Boomers gave that answer during young adulthood.^[4]

6 Boomers Aren’t Ready For Retirement

Say what you will about Baby Boomers, but at least they’re financially literate. How many uses of the phrase “OK Boomer” have followed unsolicited advice on what Millennials or members of Gen Z should be doing with their money? The question of whether or not it was easier for the Boomers to build nest eggs in their day aside, a recent survey indicates that they may not have done such a good job saving up in the first place.

In 2019, Clever, a home-buying website, surveyed 1,000 Baby Boomers, the average age of the respondents being 62. Their median income was $57,000 a year, and they had $136,779 in retirement savings, on average. The problem is that this falls well short of how much many financial experts would say they should have. An often-recommended benchmark is to have eight times your yearly income in retirement savings by the time you’re 60 years old. For a $57,000 yearly income, that’d be $456,000.

Compounding the issue is the finding that 40 percent of respondents are still paying off credit card debt, and 31 percent stated that they have no emergency fund. The above-mentioned woes of the US Social Security system may very well end up reducing its benefit to retired Boomers as well. On average, those surveyed hoped to retire by 68, though Clever concluded that such a goal may be overly optimistic for many of them.^[5]

5 Millennials Would Rather Keep The Jobs They Have

Why do Millennials change jobs so much? Boredom? Not enough trophies? Here’s another question: Who said they change jobs all the time? Multiple studies say they don’t.

In February 2017, the Resolution Foundation, a British think tank, reported that a mere four percent of Millennials in the UK changed jobs each year. Twice as many members of Generation X did so back in the ‘90s. In April that year, Pew Research released similar findings, namely that Millennials in the US were just as likely to stay with their current employers as GenXers were at the same age. In fact, college-educated Millennials tended to stay longer than degree-holding GenXers did.

In case the dead trophy horse needs any more beating, Millennial loyalty isn’t even being rewarded, at least not in the UK. According to the Resolution Foundation, switching jobs generally leads to a 15-percent rise in income. Raises for those who stick to their jobs, however, have become few and far between. Yet Millennials are sticking all the same. An analyst at the Resolution Foundation cited the fact that many Millennials entered adulthood during the financial crisis of the late 2000s as a possible factor in this. As for why US Millennials aren’t jumping ship at the drop of a hat, a Pew researcher posited that it may be due to a lack of good opportunities for job-hopping.^[6]

4 Boomers Are Accepting Weed

Support for the legalization of recreational marijuana has been steadily growing in the United States in recent years. As of 2019, it is legal in 11 states as well as in Washington DC, and medical cannabis use is permitted in 33 states. You might think that Baby Boomers, rapidly becoming perceived as the grumpy old codgers of American society, would be flat-out against this, but support is growing even among this cohort.

In a study of marijuana use in people over 60, researchers from the University of Colorado examined data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. In 2017, 9.4 percent of respondents aged 60 to 64 reported using marijuana sometime in the past year. In 2007, only 1.9 percent of that same demographic had done so. For those aged 65 and older, 3.7 percent used marijuana in the past year, up from a mere 0.3 percent in 2007.

The researchers found that Boomers’ increased interest in cannabis was largely for medical reasons, based on their survey of 136 people aged 60+ at various senior centers, clinics, and marijuana dispensaries. Many respondents had chosen to buy marijuana from recreational dispensaries due to the difficulty of obtaining a medical marijuana card. Some had doctors who wouldn’t approve them for one, and they didn’t want to find a new health care provider or leave their health insurance network. Others were reluctant to broach the subject with their physicians for fear of stigma. Quite a few wished more doctors were educated in the medicinal use of cannabis.^[7]

3 Millennials Aren’t Automatically Tech Wizards

A phrase that sometimes gets bandied around is “digital native.” Essentially, a digital native is someone who grew up in the digital age, having always known a world in which the Internet and mobile devices are ubiquitous. As such, they are more proficient with modern technology than their elders and are also argued to be better at multitasking.

Millennials and Generation Z are commonly seen as digital natives. According to a 2017 paper published in the journal Teaching and Teacher Education, however, that phrase needs to die. Millennials, in fact, are no different from older generations in terms of their technological proficiency or multitasking ability. Other studies have backed this conclusion up as well.

Simply put, digital natives do not exist. Unfortunately, the idea has influenced both educational strategies in schools and how businesses structure their work environments. Dr. Paul Kirschner, co-author of the study, argues that assuming all students to be tech-savvy will only hurt the educational process.^[8]

2 Baby Boomers Tip More Often Than Millennials

The stereotypical Millennial knows the plight of wait staff in the US, scraping by as they do on the gratuity of customers, and generously tips accordingly. The stereotypical Boomer, if he tips at all, leaves a few cents and a note on the receipt about how the waitress needs to toughen up. As usual, the reality is much less clear-cut.

A 2019 survey of 2,569 adults by CreditCards.com found that Baby Boomers, in fact, are more likely to tip a wide variety of service workers. Eighty-nine percent of them tip waiting staff, as opposed to 66 percent of Millennials. People who deliver food get tipped by Boomers 72 percent of the time but only 56 percent of the time by Millennials. The disparity was 63 versus 40 percent for cab and rideshare app drivers, 73 versus 53 percent for hairstylists, and 33 versus 23 percent for hotel housekeeping staff, with Boomers on top in every category.

The only time Millennials won out over Boomers was in the size of the tips they leave. When Millennials do tip, they leave an average of 22 percent. Boomers leave 17 percent.^[9]

1 Millennials Are Projected To Become The Richest Generation In US History

Millennials may have hope for retirement after all. Believe it or not, a study by Coldwell Banker indicates that more than $68 trillion in wealth will be transferred to US Millennials by 2030. Where is this massive windfall coming from? Their Boomer parents. Well, add that to the recent list of things Millennials can thank Boomers for, then.

Baby Boomers, on average, are wealthier than other generations. They came up in a good economy, and the values of both their homes and stocks have grown quite a bit over the years. This isn’t to say that every Millennial with Baby Boomer parents is guaranteed to be rich one day. Individual situations vary, and end-of-life costs or changes in economic conditions could certainly still affect what Millennials are left with. Overall, though, the Boomers’ wealth being passed down to Millennials may very well leave the latter richer than any other generation.^[10]

Sheep leap through the minds of insomniacs, and for some, that is about as interesting as these creatures get. However, sheep are not just farm animals waiting to become mutton. They are at the cutting edge of lifesaving technology and revealed a solid clue about a mysterious and devastating autoimmune disease.

Studies aside, sheep stories are often weird. There was the Auschwitz sacrifice, sheep enrolled in a French school, and a dramatic cliff rescue that got up the RSPCA’s nose.

10 The Pit Hybrids

Around 400 BC, an Iron Age group lived in southern England. In 2015, archaeologists happened upon the ruins of their homes and found several pits. In the absence of refrigerators, the villagers had cunningly dug holes in the chalky ground that kept edibles cool.

These “fridges” appeared to have had a life span of about a year. Afterward, they were ritually decommissioned by leaving a sacrifice within. Most offerings consisted of whole animals like dogs and pigs. Others were weird mixes. There was a six-legged sheep and another sheep with a cow’s skull on its behind.

Apart from the sheep-cows, there were horse-cows and a woman. Cut marks on the woman’s shoulder suggested that her throat had been cut. That was not the only thing suggesting that she was also a sacrifice. This could not have been a burial because locals never buried their dead during this era. Also, her facedown body was arranged to match the limb positions of the animals on which she rested.^[1]

9 Methuselina

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest sheep that ever lived was 28 years and 51 weeks old. During her lifetime, she produced 40 lambs. However, she passed away in Wales during 1989.

The next living oldest sheep was Lucky, an Australian ewe that was a Polwarth-Dorchester cross. After she died in 2009 at age 23, Guinness World Records searched for a new champion. As it turned out, it was a sheep called Methuselina. She lived on the Isle of Lewis and Harris, close to the coast of Scotland.

The blackface sheep’s age was recorded on her ear tag. When she died in 2012, she was 25 years and 11 months old. She never received the title of “world’s oldest sheep” because her owner never applied for recognition with the record-keeping organization.^[2]

Sadly, as her demise was not natural, Methuselina could have grown to be a lot older. The sheep fell off a cliff to her death.

8 The Auschwitz Demonstration

Auschwitz was the biggest death camp used by the Nazis during World War II (1939–1945). Located in southern Poland, over a million people were killed because they were “undesirable.” These included Jews, Poles, Romas, prisoners of war, and others. The site is now a museum.

In 2017, a group of people decided that it would be the perfect location for a demonstration. While nude, they gathered at Auschwitz’s iconic entrance and chained themselves to the gate. That was just the tail end of their tasteless act, which started with fireworks in the car park and a huge banner with “love” written on it draped over the gate.

The 12 protesters did not practice what the banner preached. In full view of everyone, they slaughtered a sheep. The demonstrators also filmed the whole thing using a drone. The museum guards eventually pried the naked people off the gate and arrested them.^[3]

In 2018, the group was convicted of desecrating the site. Their claims of protesting against the war in Ukraine did not help. Two were sent to prison for a year, and the rest were fined.

7 The Wales Rescue

In 2019, a ewe took a tumble off a cliff in Wales. She was unhurt, but the animal became trapped on the rocks. A Canadian tourist arrived at the cove in Pembrokeshire and noticed the sheep down below. The unnamed man’s decision to attempt a rescue was photographed by Andrea Williams, a walker who noticed the unfolding drama.

Remarkably, the ewe stayed calm and even allowed the man to haul her back up the cliff by the scruff of her neck. When the photos hit Williams’s Facebook account, people quickly lauded the man’s actions as kind and heroic.

The RSPCA was not so fond of the Canadian, whom they said had performed a “dangerous stunt.” The Coastguard agreed, and both organizations called for people to contact trained professionals in the future.

Williams’s husband, a retired police officer, felt that the man had put himself in minimal danger. The Canadian had climbed carefully, and had he dropped into the sea, the water was only 3 meters (10 ft) deep.^[4]

6 They Go To School

In 2019, French parents heard that a class at a local school might shut down due to dropping student numbers. They were understandably upset. After all, the “drop” was small. For some reason, the national education authority decided it would be the best move after numbers went from 266 to 261.

The primary school, located in the French Alps, served the village of Crets en Belledonne. One of the village’s farmers took his flock of sheep and went to the school. He had a plan.

After arriving at the school, he produced birth certificates for 15 sheep and enrolled them as students. In most other places, the act would have caused a legal incident, a call to the police or animal welfare, or perhaps a psychiatrist.

However, in this case, the woolly students were signed up during a ceremony watched by the school’s staff, children, and the kids’ parents. Although the sheep never sat through a history lesson or received homework, the initiative worked. The class stayed open.^[5]

5 The Dolly Clones

Dolly the sheep was born on July 5, 1996. She was the first cloned mammal. But despite making history, the ewe’s medical problems were obvious. When she was a year old, Dolly’s DNA was already aging. At five, she limped about with arthritis. A year later, she died from a virus. Her six-year-old life was usually twice as long for the rest of her breed.

As time went by, Dolly was often cited as proof of cloning’s failings. To test the rumor, the University of Nottingham cloned 10 lambs from Dolly using the same technique that created her. They were born in 2007, and only four survived longer term.

For health comparisons, the four “Nottingham Dollies” were raised with other sheep. The latter consisted of non-Dolly clones and normal sheep. They were given a peaceful life, and nine years later, the scientists announced that the four Dollies were looking healthy for their age.

Only one had developed moderate arthritis. It would appear that cloning does not accelerate aging as their cardiovascular, joint health, and metabolic levels were the same as other nine-year-old sheep.^[6]

4 World’s Oldest Sperm

In 1968, the University of Sydney froze the sperm of prize merino rams. The batch sat in liquid nitrogen for 50 years. As it was considered to be the world’s oldest sperm, scientists were curious about how time had affected its quality.

Once thawed, the semen appeared to be as active as samples frozen for only a year. To test for fertility, 56 ewes were artificially inseminated. Just 34 gave birth. However, the 61 percent pregnancy rate was higher than the 59 percent average from sperm stored for 12 months.

The lambs were healthy but more wrinkly than normal merino offspring. This trait was inherited from their sires, who lived during a time when merinos were bred to have more folds. More skin meant more wool.

The wrinkles were later erased from the breed because they made shearing difficult and increased pest problems. Having lambs with extinct characteristics was welcomed by modern geneticists. Also, their successful births meant that endangered species—and men undergoing fertility-killing cancer treatments—can have their sperm saved for decades.^[7]

3 The Blood Vessel Experiment

Children with certain heart defects sometimes need to have their blood vessels replaced—in particular, those linking the heart and lungs. The material of current reconstructed vessels cannot grow with a child. This unfortunate mismatch means that patients must receive up to seven surgeries to replace old vessels with larger ones.

In 2016, researchers tested a new technique on five-week-old lambs. They replaced the animals’ own heart-to-lung blood vessels with something grown in a tube. The graft began as sheepskin cells that grew into a sheet. After a while, the cells were flushed out and left behind a protein-based structure that was implanted in each lamb.

The first success came when their immune systems accepted the transplants. Best of all, the blood vessels grew with the maturing lambs. When they were a year old, the vessels functioned almost like normal adult arteries. Once refined to meet human standards, the procedure could reduce the operations for children to a single surgery.^[8]

2 The Multiple Sclerosis Link

Multiple sclerosis (MS) interferes with spinal cord and brain communication, often with devastating symptoms. Doctors do not know the triggers, and there is no cure.

Past research already showed that MS patients had more antibodies to a toxin called epsilon. In 2018, a study tried to gain more clarity on the matter. The University of Exeter analyzed 250 volunteers, half of whom had MS. Once again, they found a massive toxin difference between the two groups.

Around 43 percent of those who had the disease displayed antibodies for epsilon. The MS-free group’s level was at 16 percent. Interestingly, the toxin is created by the bacterium Clostridium perfringens.

The organisms mainly live inside the gut of sheep. Statistics also showed that the MS rate is usually higher in areas with large numbers of sheep. However, this does not mean that hugging a lamb will cause multiple sclerosis.

All researchers can say for sure is that a link exists between the toxin and the disease. If proven beyond a doubt, the information can help researchers to design a vaccine capable of preventing or curing the early stages of MS.^[9]

1 Artificially Born Lambs

In the United States, the leading cause of infant mortality is extremely premature births. Such babies are born before the 26th week of pregnancy. In 2017, scientists tested an artificial womb designed to save early infants. Eight lambs were chosen as test subjects. They were also premature, having only reached 100–115 days of a normal 152-day sheep pregnancy.

In terms of human babies, their lung development was the equivalent of an infant at 22–24 weeks of pregnancy. Survivors that age often have chronic lung problems for life. The aim was to keep the animals alive for long enough to ensure healthy organ development.

After the lambs were placed inside the artificial womb, they lived in and breathed a liquid like amniotic fluid and received nutrient-rich blood. Some survived as long as 28 days, opened their eyes, and developed normal organ function. Most of the lambs were euthanized for investigative reasons, but two of the sheep are still alive and living on a farm.^[10]

The artificial womb worked. However, years of additional tests are required before it can receive the first human baby.

Most of us just want to pee and flee the bathroom. Urine does have its fans, though. Scientists are coddling the warm liquid to grow vegetables on Mars and generate electricity from pee-powered batteries.

The fluid is also central to several weird moments and studies. From walls that nobody wants to urinate against to advertisements that readers can pee on, our bladder brew is far from boring.

10 The Pool Pee Test

People like to pee in swimming pools. Unfortunately, chemicals in urine react to compounds in the water and form by-products that can be harmful. There is no effective way to know how much urine visitors deposit in your pool with a straight face.

However, in 2017, toxicologists from Alberta found a way to track some of it. First, the team needed a chemical excreted by urine that did not change within the body or water. They chose an artificial sweetener called acesulfame potassium, a packaged foods mainstay.

The study scooped water from 22 swimming pools and eight hot tubs from two Canadian cities. It also collected tap water, which had been used to fill the pools and tubs.

The concentration of the sweetener was up to 571 times greater in the pools and tubs than in the tap water. Based on the levels of acesulfame potassium, the pools contained 30–75 liters (7.9–19.8 gal) of urine depending on their size.^[1]

9 The Urine Database

Pee is a chemical wonderland. In 2013, after seven years of investigating the chemical composition of urine, scientists finally had the full picture. As it turned out, human whiz holds a staggering amount of chemicals. The team logged over 3,000 compounds and published an online database for anyone interested in the unusual encyclopedia.

Bacteria brewed the least, around 72 chemicals. The body produced 1,453, but the most—around 2,282—came from outside influences. Their composition came from drugs, diet, cosmetics, and environmental exposure. Together, the compounds represented 230 different chemical classes.^[2]

The total tally and variety surprised even the scientists. The study also identified over 480 chemicals unique to urine, which dispelled the belief that blood was the better option for analyzing a patient’s chemical profile.

8 The 21-Second Rule

In 2014, researchers timed how long it took for mammals to urinate. The team stared at animals at Zoo Atlanta and watched YouTube videos. Incredibly, any mammal bigger than a rat took roughly 21 seconds to urinate. The size of the animal made no difference. Cats to elephants all peed within the same time frame even though elephants dump around 18 liters (4.8 gal) of urine while cats tinkle about a teaspoon’s worth.

The unexpected discovery made sense when researchers looked at the urethra, a tube that carries urine from the bladder to the bathroom. In another unexpected twist, the tube kept a length-to-width ratio of 18 in all mammals and this caused the strange time rule.

What fascinated engineers was that volume did not matter and that the pressure pushing the pee forward increased with a longer urethra. There is no reason why the phenomenon cannot one day be applied to large artificial water systems.^[3]

7 Full Bladders Create Better Lies

Fibs and bladders are secret friends. As it turns out, people holding in their pee make more convincing liars. During a 2015 study, 22 volunteers were either given a small or large amount of fluid to drink. They were asked to wait for almost an hour. The group then completed a survey and spoke to a panel. By then, some already longed for the bathroom.

The panel questioned the volunteers about moral and social issues. The participants had to lie and argue for viewpoints entirely different than their own. Interestingly, those with ballooning bladders told epic lies. They were more convincing, came up with more elaborate details, and appeared more truthful.

The latter, researchers believe, could be tied to the self-control we need when suppressing an overwhelming urge to pee. The theory suggests that the brain’s cognitive regions are not truly separate. The so-called “inhibitory spillover effect” (ISE) starts with intense control in one area (suppressing the bladder) which then spills over into another (better lying).^[4]

6 Pee Bales

Wimpole Hall is a National Trust property in Cambridgeshire. A group of people caring for Wimpole decided to go greener. In an effort to save water and make compost, male workers are encouraged to urinate on straw bales. Women need not feel left out. One suggestion mentioned doing business in a bottle and then tipping it out onto the straw stacks.

It might sound weird, but there is a method to the madness. The straw is destined for the compost heap, and the pee is an excellent pretreatment. Urine is a known compost “activator” that is packed with nitrogen.

The initiative also saves water because Wimpole’s loos are flushed less often. The whole thing comes with a big caveat, however. Workers only pee on the bales, which line the walled gardens, when visiting hours are over. One staff member aptly explained, “We don’t want to scare the public.”^[5]

5 Space Fertilizer

Mankind’s dream of colonizing Mars includes urine-fueled food. The Red Planet is too distant for deliveries from Earth. If Mars is going to become a successful territory, it needs its own vegetable garden.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is apparently having some success with tomato plants and a tank of human urine. The recycling of bodily fluids is nothing new. Astronauts already donate their sweat and urine to a recycling system on board the International Space Station.

But to sprout a Martian harvest requires an Earthlike biological system that includes fluids, microbes, and oxygen. One of the experiments saw pumice stones placed in urine. The porous volcanic rocks contain bacteria that flourished in the urine and turned the pee’s ammonia into fertilizer elements such as nitrites and nitrate salts.^[6]

Ultimately, the scientists plan on using greenhouses aboard satellites to simulate Martian gravity and see if bacteria in synthetic urine can fertilize tomatoes.

4 Urination Electrocution

In 2013, Matthew Zeno left a bar in the early hours of the morning. When nature called, he decided to find relief at the G-train subway line. He reportedly died after tinkling on the electrified rail and electrocuting himself in the process.

Years prior, Joseph Patrick O’Malley had undergone an autopsy after being struck by a train. Electrical burns on his privates, thumb, and forefinger suggested that 600 volts had traveled up O’Malley’s urine stream and electrocuted him after he peed on the rail. He was probably dead before the train arrived.

The television program MythBusters bravely decided to test the plausibility of such cases. They found that peeing on railway lines would rarely result in electrocution because the urine stream tends to separate into drops. This should prevent a current from traveling up the stream.^[7]

However, they found that peeing against an electric fence was asking for trouble. As the fence is higher up, there is no time for the urine to separate into drops.

3 Pee Power

In 2015, scientists used urine to generate electricity. The technology is called microbial fuel cells (MFCs), and it uses organisms that thrive on organic material. Urine allows the microbes to feed and grow, a process that releases a tiny amount of electricity.

This biotechnology can already charge phones and fuel lights. Additionally, specially adapted loos at fairs have successfully turned pee into power. This promises upliftment where power grids are not always functional, like in rural regions, disaster areas, and refugee camps.

The scientists also tested previous studies that suggested MFCs had disinfecting properties. They dumped the Salmonella bacteria—a pathogen responsible for food poisoning—into an MFC system. Water tested at the end of the purification process showed that the Salmonella had been reduced to levels acceptable in conventional sanitation practices.^[8]

Overall, in a world trying to move away from fossil fuels, MFCs are a prize. The batteries can now treat waste, generate power, and kill pathogens at the same time.

2 Revenge Against People Who Urinate In Public

St. Pauli sees more than its fair share of al fresco urination. It is the red-light district of Hamburg, a city in Germany. Additionally, the area is one of the city’s main party zones.

The income potential is marred only by plenty of drunk folks who consider the place a giant latrine. Those who have to live in St. Pauli often gag at the smell of soiled walls and alleyways. The cost of daily cleaning became so high that something had to be done.

In 2015, a wicked solution was devised. After identifying the walls that were the most frequented by people urinating in public, the surfaces of these walls were sprayed with hydrophobic paint, which strongly repels any liquid. Pee hard enough, and the wall instantly returns the favor, most likely on the person’s shoes.^[9]

1 Pee And Get A Discount

Advertisers are a creative bunch. However, few can beat the crew tasked by Ikea to design an ad that targeted new parents. In 2018, the Swedish chain placed the finished product in a popular magazine and invited readers to pee on the page. If you were female, that is.

If the woman was pregnant, the ad changed and revealed a sale on cribs. To achieve this effect, Ikea partnered with an agency called Akestam Holst and Mercene Labs. They chose the normal pregnancy strip test as the foundation of the project.

During the development of the page, the team focused on mirroring the pregnancy test’s ability to react to the antibodies known to grab onto hCG, a pregnancy hormone. Once the antibodies were detected, the page “knew” the woman was pregnant and offered her a discount on a crib.^[10]

Researchers are inquisitive creatures. They leave no stone unturned. Especially the weird ones. In recent times, studies were sprung on volunteers and the unsuspecting alike.

Tests to determine their neuroticism, honesty, and appreciation of bad jokes were borderline strange. The answers even more so. They also threw the common cold at cancer, considered chocolate’s extinction, and took Godzilla’s growth rate very seriously.

10 Correct Way To Pet A Cat

Some cats are confusing. One second, they love having their heads scratched. The next, they claw irritably at their owners to make them stop. A recent study blamed their ancestry.

Felines have been mewing for a saucer of milk for the past 4,000 years. While cozying up to humans, their genes stayed similar to those of their ancestor the African wildcat. As domesticated as cats are, one foot stays firmly planted in their feral past. This clashes with human nature. People touch their pets to show affection. The African wildcat is solitary and actively avoids its own kind.

The solution?

The cat must be in the driver’s seat. The study found that when kitties initiated bonding, they allowed their owners to bestow physical affection upon them for longer. They also enjoy having their chins, ears, and cheeks scratched, although not as much their backs, stomachs, or tail bases.

The owner must also watch his fuzzball’s body language for negative signs and then back off. In the end, it all comes down to respecting your cat’s wild-at-heart boundaries.^[1]

9 Canned Laughter Helps Bad Comedy

Television critics are not fond of laugh tracks. They view it as a decades-old relic that should have disappeared with the time’s bad actors and mundane story lines. However, viewers still hear laugh tracks as a cue to comedy.

In 2019, a study picked 40 jokes. They were all bad. The researchers wanted to see if canned laughing could improve their fun factor. First, 20 students were tormented with the flat lines without any prerecorded giggles. Predictably, the jokes were given low scores. On a scale of 1 to 7, none rated higher than 3.75.

Eventually, 72 adults rated the jokes without laughter, then with obviously faked laughter, and finally, with spontaneous laughs. Ratings were boosted about 10 percent with forced humor. But the best spike—between 15 and 20 percent—happened when volunteers listened to laughs that communicated real enjoyment.^[2]

The kinder ratings could have been triggered by people’s reactions to what laughter is—a primitive signal critical to human bonding. Inherently, it was more about joining the group than enjoying a bad joke.

8 Tempting People With Wallets

In 2015, a group of behavioral scientists decided to test people’s honesty. More specifically, the better side of civic workers. The scientists went all out. They traveled the world and visited 40 countries, dragging along over 17,000 wallets, a lot of cash, credit cards, and around 400 keys.

Research assistants pretended to be tourists who picked up a wallet. They handed it to staff from 355 cities’ banks, museums, police stations, and other institutions—and requested that the staff member must find the owner.

The study attempted to answer two questions. Do certain countries return more wallets, and does the amount of cash inside influence the decision?

When the outcome was published in 2019, it surprised 300 expert economists who predicted that people would swipe the wallets with more money. However, those entrusted to return the wallets were more likely to do so when they contained larger amounts of currency. The country made no difference when it came to this unexpectedly wholesome behavior.^[3]

7 Phone Movements Reveal Personality

A trusted way to determine someone’s personality is to measure that individual against the Big Five test. Originally from the 1980s, the test relies on five main traits. They include openness (curious vs. cautious), extraversion (outgoing vs. reserved), agreeableness (compassionate vs. detached), conscientiousness (organized vs. easygoing), and neuroticism (confidence vs. nervousness).

Starting in March 2010, scientists followed 52 volunteers for over a year. The group tried a different spin on the Big Five—seeing whether their personalities could be determined by the way they handled their phones.

Each phone was equipped with an accelerometer to track physical movements as well as software that logged the calls and messages. Interestingly, the method matched certain traits captured on a Big Five survey that the participants had completed.

The data was good at predicting extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. These traits produce more physical activity, which could explain why the phones failed to analyze openness and agreeableness.^[4]

6 Spiders On Drugs

In 1948, spiders annoyed H.M. Peters. The zoologist studied spiderwebs at Germany’s University of Tubingen. The orb-web spiders in his study were early birds. To watch them spin, Peters had to wake up between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM.

He asked pharmacologist Peter Witt to dose the arachnids with something that would make them spin at later times. To delay their webbing hours, Witt fed sugar water to the spiders. The sweet drink was laced with caffeine, amphetamine, mescaline, strychnine, or LSD.

The drugged spiders happily changed the patterns and sizes of their webs, but they stuck to the ungodly hours of the morning to do so. Peters gave up, but Witt continued his study on spiked spiders.

In 1995, NASA successfully replicated Witt’s work. This time, the spiders produced certain patterns after gorging on caffeine, marijuana, speed, or chloral hydrate.^[5]

The severity of the web’s deformity hinged on how toxic the chemical was. This reaction might change how laboratories test poison. Using spiders instead of complex mammals like mice is a cheaper and more humane alternative.

5 Chocolate Extinction

Chocolate addicts reacted with horror when news outlets claimed that their favorite snack could be extinct by 2050. The reason was that cacao trees, the source of chocolate, continue to face an uphill battle against the usual evils.

Several studies tracked fungal diseases as they destroyed Central America’s cacao trees and suggested that these diseases might spread to the world’s other cacao patches. As a harbinger of epic weather events, climate change can also throttle the plantations.

Worryingly, half of the planet’s chocolate is produced by two African countries. If Ghana and the Ivory Coast experience a climate shift, it could leave the entire industry vulnerable.

Cacao trees are sensitive to temperature changes and love to roost in a rain forest environment. As predicted for 2050, an increase in temperature and dryness could spell trouble for chocolate lovers. Scientists are exploring the avenue of genetically strengthened cacao trees, but then chocolate would no longer be as natural as some might like.^[6]

4 Climate Apartheid

A scary study in 2019 suggested that climate change could divide humanity. This future hypothetical scenario is called “climate apartheid.” The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) released a report detailing how the dark side of human nature would rise once nature goes to hell.

The consensus is that climate change would eventually affect every living thing on Earth. A frightening thought considering that the cards predict famine, widespread death, and natural disasters. As conditions worsen, people will be divided between those who can afford to protect themselves and those who cannot.

The HRC report was the concentrated opinion of over 100 studies focused on how climate change threatens the basic necessities for human life. These included housing, food, water, and health.^[7]

The conclusion warned that millions are doomed to die without a radical shift in environmental policies and immediate plans to safeguard the vulnerable. Ironically, these citizens live in the poorest countries which are least responsible for the pollution driving climate change.

3 Anxiety Makes Godzilla Grow

In 2019, scientists pondered Godzilla’s growth rate. The monster has grown considerably from the first movie in the 1950s when it stood 50 meters (164 ft) tall. In the latest 2019 release, it towered 120 meters (393 ft) high. This spurt is 30 times quicker than anything alive on Earth. Had the creature been real, it would have smashed growth and evolutionary records.

The study looked at several possibilities to explain why the creature seemed to grow bigger with every movie. It concluded that Godzilla was a metaphor for people’s existential anxiety. Politics, environmental issues, and personal problems keep stress alive and well.^[8]

Apparently, Godzilla represented major problems that humanity must unite against—like climate change and terrorists. However, Godzilla could just be competing against itself. With moviegoers demanding bigger and better, the classic creature must evolve to please.

2 An Unknown Shape

Epithelial cells form our skin, line organs, and help embryos develop their myriad structures. As important as these cells are, scientists could never pin down their shape. For lack of a better understanding, they were assumed to resemble tubelike prisms, or a frustum—a kind of bottle-shaped pyramid.

In 2018, scientists decided to conduct a study to see which one it was. They turned to computers to unravel the shape of epithelial cells. The result was weird. Not only was it neither suspect, but the shape was unknown to mathematics and science.

Bizarrely, it resembled a Y-shaped prism. The top of one branch had five surfaces, and the other had six. The new geometric shape was named the scutoid. The data suggested that the peculiar form helped epithelial cells to bend with curving tissue.^[9]

The discovery has wider applications than merely adding a new shape to science. Understanding how scutoids construct tissues could refine the production of artificial organs for transplant patients.

1 The Common Cold Beat Cancer

The idea to attack cancer cells with a virus is almost a century old. However, it was not until 2019 that the hunch proved to be correct. A study gathered 15 patients with early-stage bladder cancer. Using a catheter, each person was infected with coxsackievirus A21. This is one of the viruses that slaps people with the common cold.

They kept the catheters in for an hour before repeating the procedure. This was to pump higher concentrations of the virus into the bladder than a natural infection would normally give a person. Then the patients were carted off to surgery to remove their tumors.^[10]

Throwing a common cold at cancer sounds flimsy, but the results were stunning. In many patients, the coxsackievirus severely damaged the tumors and drew a legion of immune cells to attack them. Best of all, one patient’s tumor was completely destroyed.

Overall, beating cancer could be as simple as using a virus that occurs in nature to refine effective treatment. Interestingly, none of the study’s superinfected patients developed a cold.

There is a world of weird hiding inside your Maltese—or any other dog for that matter. In recent years, scientists have uncovered the strange things that dogs use.

Besides having special muscles to manipulate people, they tap into the planet’s magnetic field to poop. Then there are the dogs that track killer whales, shoot hunters, and return from extinction as the most primitive canines on Earth.

10 The Dog That Shot A Hunter

In 2019, ex-LSU player Matt Branch and his friends went duck hunting. They took along a Labrador named Tito. The former lineman for Louisiana State University left a loaded shotgun in the back of his pickup. The safety was on, rendering the firearm safe.

The group moved a few yards away to prepare for the start of their hunting trip near Eagle Lake in Mississippi. Tito the dog decided to jump onto the bed of the truck. In doing so, he managed to step on the 12-gauge shotgun’s safety and pull the trigger.^[1]

The blast went through the side of the truck and hit the 29-year-old Branch in the left thigh. He underwent several surgeries, but the damage was too severe. Doctors eventually had to amputate his leg.

9 The Oil Rig Rescue

In 2019, oil rig workers were stunned to find a dog in the water. Their workspace, a Chevron oil rig, was 220 kilometers (135 mi) from the coast of Thailand. The lost creature managed to paddle toward the rig where it desperately clung to the bottom. The crew fashioned a loop and fished for 15 minutes before they got it around the animal’s neck and hauled him to safety.

Some spoiling was in order. The dog was dried, fed water and meat, and given a flower garland to wear. The crew also gave him a kennel and the name “Boonrod.” In Thailand, the term is used for survivors with good karma.

Once Boonrod returned to land, veterinarians declared that he was in good health and homed him with an animal rescue group. One of the oil rig workers, Vitisak Payalaw, said that he would adopt Boonrod if nobody offered him a permanent home. It remains unclear how the dog ended up miles from land, but he probably fell off a fishing vessel.^[2]

8 Dog Owners With Broken Hearts

In 2016, Joanie Simpson from Texas went through a rough patch. The 62-year-old’s son faced surgery, her daughter’s husband had lost his job, and a property deal was turning hairy. Worst of all, her beloved Yorkshire terrier had congestive heart failure. Joanie doted on the Yorkie, but her pet’s health failed so much that a euthanasia date was arranged.

When the day arrived, Meha the dog seemed fine and Joanie canceled the appointment. The Yorkie died naturally the next day but in a terrible manner witnessed by her owner.

One morning, Joanie woke with all the symptoms of a heart attack. She was airlifted to a hospital in Houston where emergency personnel were preparing for her arrival. However, it turned out that Joanie never had a heart attack. Instead, she experienced a real medical condition called “broken heart syndrome.”

The sometimes-fatal condition mimics heart attacks and can be triggered by emotions like grieving. Since dog owners often mourn their pets intensely, it should come as no surprise that Joanie’s was not the first recorded case where somebody developed the dangerous condition after a dog’s death.^[3]

7 Loving Dogs Could Be Genetic

In 2019, researchers wondered if a fondness for dogs was genetic. Sweden was the perfect place to find out. The country holds the largest twin registry and requires all dogs to be registered with the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Twin studies allow scientists to compare genetic, behavioral, and environmental data among people who share 50–100 percent of their DNA.

The 2019 study was thorough, combing through the data of 85,542 adult twins. Next, the team riffled through 15 years’ worth of dog ownership records. Only 8,503 people owned a canine pet. Remarkably, computer models found that genetics and environmental factors could equally predict those more likely to adopt a pooch.^[4]

While the exact genes remain unidentified, the dog-loving DNA patterns were slightly higher in women. The study added an interesting layer to previous research into the health benefits of dog ownership. It suggested that health perks such as better fitness and mood could be partially explained by genetics.

6 Robotic Mail Dogs

Boston Dynamics is a Google-owned firm that specializes in technology. One of their fields is robotics. In recent years, the company revealed plans to use robot dogs to deliver packages to clients. Unimaginatively called “Spot,” one machine indeed resembled a dog. It walked on four legs, traveled upstairs, and was nimble enough to resist a shove.

The company was unclear about combating the theft or abuse of the metallic mutt once it meandered off to deliver somebody’s mail. Spot had a smaller sibling named “SpotMini” which looked like a dog-giraffe hybrid. This smart creature mapped the world around it, which allowed SpotMini to skirt around obstacles.

Boston Dynamics also tested the two canines as workers at factory production lines. In retrospect, this might be a safer option for the robots.^[5]

5 A Surprising Neolithic Dog

In 1901, researchers investigated a Neolithic tomb. The burial was located in Scotland’s Orkney Islands at Cuween Hill. Around 24 dog skulls were discovered inside. A later study found that the animals were interred around 4,500 years ago when the tomb was already 500 years old.

As unusual as that seemed, the real surprise came in 2019 when one skull was reconstructed. Scientists wanted to know what Scotland’s dogs looked like during the Neolithic period. After a 3-D scan measured the skull’s particulars, the details were used to craft a “real” head using forensic techniques.^[6]

The result was a wolflike creature. As the dog was domesticated, its resemblance to the European gray wolf was unexpected. The animal, which was about the size of a collie, also lacked the high forehead of modern dogs. Besides providing a curious glimpse at ancient Scottish dogs, the skull also showed their importance in ritual burials.

4 Rarest Dog Rediscovered

For decades, nobody saw the New Guinea highland wild dog. General opinion declared the canines extinct. Nevertheless, two unhelpful photographs taken in 2005 and 2012, respectively, suggested that the dogs might still be alive.

Then, in 2016, a doglike footprint surfaced in the New Guinea highlands. Trail cameras were rigged all over the place, and within two days, the devices took 140 images of at least 15 different wild dogs.

Even better, the researchers encountered the animals face-to-face. Males, females, and playful pups proved that there was a viable population. Most had golden coats, upright ears, and tails curling toward their backs.

The DNA samples returned interesting snippets. The wild dogs are officially the world’s most primitive and ancient canids in existence, having lived on the island for around 6,000 years. They are also related to the Australian dingo and the New Guinea singing dog. Only 300 singing dogs still exist, and they are the captive-bred version of the highland wild dog.^[7]

3 Dogs Have Manipulative Eyebrows

Fido destroys the couch. While sitting between swathes of sponge and being berated, the dog gazes up at the owner with a certain look. The raised eyebrows make the chair killer look confused, regretful, and vulnerable. It creeps underneath our best defenses.

In 2019, researchers discovered that dogs evolved to manipulate humans with their eyebrows. They mimic human emotions to trigger a nurturing response. This was not an evil plot against humanity but more likely natural selection driven by owners.

For thousands of years, people would have better cared for the dogs to which they felt connected. As a result, dogs developed special muscles around the eyes. Completely absent or underdeveloped in wolves, the muscles allow dogs to lift their eyebrows intensely to pluck at human heartstrings.^[8]

The Siberian husky is excluded from this behavior. As a close relative of the wolf, the husky’s “puppy gaze” eye muscles are also underdeveloped.

2 Professional Poop Trackers

In 1997, the Conservation Canine program was founded. Also known as CK9, it trains dogs to find the poop of wildlife. Most of the dogs are rescues with a strong ball drive. This ball obsession is the key requirement for picking new CK9 candidates. The toy serves as both a training tool and a reward.

The program offers a noninvasive way to gather information about threatened and endangered animals. Scats are unusually crammed with personal details. A single deposit can reveal the animal’s gender, stage of pregnancy, diet, and health. It can even allow scientists to recognize individuals.

Some dogs track caribou, cougars, and owls. Rarer species like the giant armadillo, tiger, and Iberian wolf also have ball-addicted pooches after them. The most remarkable tracking feat involves orcas off the shores of Canada. While standing on the deck of a research boat, CK9 dogs have located the floating (but quick to sink) scats of orcas on multiple occasions.^[9]

1 Dogs Use Earth’s Magnetic Field

It is a well-established fact that birds migrate by using the planet’s magnetic field. In a study that concluded in 2014, researchers announced that dogs also tap into this field. However, what they use it for is weird.

The study ran for two years, observed 70 dogs from 37 breeds, and recorded their bathroom habits. In an attempt to find a link between canine relief and the Earth’s magnetic field, the team watched 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations.^[10]

Bizarrely, the dogs preferred their business to be done along a north-south axis. This was most obvious when the Earth’s magnetic “weather” was calm. The strangest find was that the dogs actively avoided squatting along the east-west axis. Despite suffering through thousands of bathroom moments, the researchers cannot explain why dogs do this.

The traditional image of a psychological study involves a bearded fellow observing and waving inkblots at someone lying on a couch or pondering the movement of rats through a maze. Look more deeply, and you can encounter the much more sinister Milgram or Stanford Prison experiments…but psychology can get a lot stranger than that.

Here are 10 psychology studies you might not have heard of…

Related: 10 Reminders Of The Realities Of Mind Control

10 Brain Hacking

Virtually every website and bank tells customers not to write down their passwords, instead recommending you keep them locked in the safety of your head. Unfortunately, this might be less secure than you would think. Using an EEG (electroencephalogram) cap, researchers were able to detect a P300 response—a large spike of brain activity that occurs when we recognize something. It sounds harmless until you consider the fact that you would recognize your phone number, credit card number, address, passwords…all kinds of personal information. By comparing these spikes in brain activity to what you were currently looking at, an unscrupulous individual could extrapolate many of the security details you would want to keep hidden.

To make things worse, other researchers have created a prototype glucose fuel cell that could sit in (and feed off) your cerebrospinal fluid, potentially powering a small computer or sensor. Implanting someone with a P300 sensor and fuel cell could let you steal personal data without the victim ever knowing they were being observed.^[1]

9 Animal Mind Control

Researchers at Harvard have developed a brain-to-brain interface that uses an EEG to read specific brainwaves from a human whenever they look at a pattern. These brainwaves can then be transmitted to a rat using focussed ultrasound. By aiming the ultrasound at a specific part of the rat’s brain, the human can force the rat’s tail to twitch. It is not that impressive as “mind control” goes, but it does demonstrate the potential of the technology. There is even talk of performing the procedure in reverse, though it doesn’t seem appealing to be piloted around by a rat.

A more invasive procedure has been tested on sharks, allowing dogfish, a small shark species, to be piloted by manipulating their sense of smell. Because sharks use scent to find both food and mates, activating the part of the brain responsible for detecting scent can pilot the shark, causing it to seek the source of the smell. Mounting a camera on a remote-controlled shark could potentially let it act as a biological drone, great for naval espionage.^[2]

8 Remote Killing

The advent of drone warfare has raised questions about the ethics of remote control missile strikes—and the effects on the psychology of an operator. Researchers at California State University, Northridge, looked at the willingness of people to (purportedly) kill ladybugs with a remote-controlled machine. Participants were told that the device would help produce dyes or biological samples and were asked to operate it. The machine was a conveyor belt that fed boxes of “ladybugs” into a grinder. In one condition, participants sat in the same room as the machine, while in another, they remotely operated it via a Skype call.

Participants who believed they were operating the machine at a greater distance were willing to “kill” more of the harmless creatures and reported fewer negative emotions—guilt, for example—after the experiment. Just to clarify, the machine didn’t actually kill any insects. But they did gain some insight into a human’s connection with a moral dilemma based on the distance from the subject.^[3]

7 Split Brain

One particularly extreme treatment for epilepsy is to sever the corpus callosum or the bridge between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Psychologist Roger Sperry conducted a series of experiments on eleven individuals that had undergone the procedure.

Human brains are cross-wired, with objects seen in our right field of vision or held in our right hand processed by the left hemisphere of the brain. Sperry set up a tachistoscope (like a wooden frame with a “focal point” suspended in the middle) that his participants would stare at. He would then present unusual objects or symbols to either the left or right visual field. He would then show the object again, either in the same or the other visual field. Participants would only recognize objects if they appeared in their original visual field.

A second experiment obscured vision entirely, relying on the participants’ hands to explore an object. He found that participants could describe objects held in their right hand (and thus processed by their left brain) using speech or writing. The same objects held in the left hand resulted only in guesses or denial that they were holding anything. Perhaps strangest of all, Sperry gave each hand an object to hold before burying them in a pile of other objects. Each hand was able to seek out the object they had held, recognizing it by touch. It was as though two separate people were in the same body.^[4]

6 Animal Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder characterized by sleepiness and the sudden onset of muscle atonia—the paralysis of skeletal muscles that occurs during REM sleep—when in an emotional state. In effect, an individual suffering the disorder may slump to the ground and be rendered unable to move, simply from meeting someone they like.

What is less well-known is that the disorder occurs in animals as well—Stanford University even collected a colony of narcoleptic dogs to study, with the poor creatures collapsing as soon as they met each other or were presented with a treat. Despite looking like it was just researchers trying to make funny videos for YouTube, the dog colony did serve a purpose—not only were they useful for modeling the disorder, they could help explain and demonstrate narcolepsy to young sufferers.^[5]

5 False Witness

Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer were interested in the reliability of human memory. Their study was based on Bartlett’s schema theory, which claims that a person’s prior knowledge can affect their memory. To support their idea, they showed people films of traffic accidents, then asked them how fast they thought the cars were going. They changed the verb used in the question between each person to see what would happen. For example, they asked, “When the car ‘smashed’…” vs. “When the car ‘contacted’….”

The results showed that estimates of speed were affected by the verb used. More dramatic verbs led to higher estimated speeds. A second experiment involved showing 150 people a short film of another traffic accident, followed by one of the following question conditions: 1. How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? 2. How fast were the cars going when they smashed each other? 3. No question asked.

A week later, the participants were asked a few follow-up questions, including “Did you see any broken glass?” It turned out that participants who were initially asked the “smashed” question were significantly more likely to report the presence of broken glass, despite seeing the same video.^[6]

4 LSD

Psychologists supported by the Beckley Foundation dosed 20 participants with LSD on one day and a placebo—something inactive like plain table salt—on another for a point of comparison. Scans were taken of the brain activity of each participant to see the effects of LSD on the brain.

It turns out that the stereotypical “open your mind” speech may have some basis in reality. The results indicated that LSD seemed to increase the “connectedness” of the brain, with normally separate sections influencing each other. The visual cortex, in particular, seemed to be thrown into overdrive, perhaps explaining some of the hallucinations experienced by LSD users.

Funnily enough, this along with a review of other LSD studies suggests that the drug could have some therapeutic uses in the treatment of some mental illnesses.^[7]

3 Foster Monkey

Psychologist Harry Harlow wanted to investigate the effects of social isolation in monkeys. He offered young rhesus monkeys (separated from their kin at birth) a choice of surrogate mothers—one made of metal mesh attached to a milk bottle and one made of warm, soft terry cloth. He found that the young monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother, despite the lack of milk. In fact, a monkey would only go to the wire mother when hungry.

In further experiments, he found that the infant monkeys would grow up socially stunted if they were stuck with the wire surrogate rather than having something they could cling to for comfort. Needless to say, this (along with his other work) is considered a very ethically suspect study.^[8]

2 Sleep Deprivation

There have been a large number of studies by psychologists looking at sleep deprivation. A review (Link 17) found that sleep deprivation has a severe negative effect on both working memory and attention. It also seems that younger people deal with sleep deprivation less easily.

It is often said that sleep deprivation can kill you, but it turns out that humans have an inbuilt safety measure called a “microsleep.” These consist of a few seconds of sleep (typically, the sleeper doesn’t even notice it occurred) and can help us stave off some of the damage caused by deprivation. Other animals aren’t so lucky—multiple experiments have found that dogs and puppies develop lesions in the brain and die within a matter of weeks of forced wakefulness.^[9]

1 Primate Junkies

This bizarre study in the 2000s involved putting a monkey in a stressful situation and seeing if they would choose food…or cocaine. The subjects were placed in a cage surrounded by the cages of unfamiliar monkeys. This meant they were physically safe but surrounded by aggression as the surrounding monkeys tried to establish dominance.

The monkey would then be allowed to choose between two levers, one of which they knew from experience would dispense food, the other cocaine. Monkeys that were less dominant in their own social group were more likely to choose cocaine than they normally would. Meanwhile, the more dominant animals didn’t seem as stressed and typically chose food.

Other experiments have found that monkeys can get addicted to morphine, caffeine, and more. Perhaps this primate cocaine habit isn’t as strange as it sounds—animals have been known to indulge in substance abuse in the wild. Given a chance, many animals seem to enjoy consuming fermenting fruits.^[10]

Research can get a little… boring. But every now and again, a challenge comes along that cannot be solved with run-of-the-mill experiments. That’s when scientists get creative and, daresay, a little weird. From teaching fish to drive (on land) to peeing on crops, here are some of the strangest quests researchers have embarked on!

10 How to Spot a Creep

What makes someone creepy? In 2016, a team of psychologists pondered this important question. Their goal was to draft a list of traits that could identify someone as an unsettling weirdo. To understand what people find creepy, the study interviewed 1,342 volunteers and asked them what made their skin crawl when meeting a stranger. Some of their answers were unexpected.

Sure, the participants found others creepy when there was an element of physical danger or when the people worked as clowns or looked unkempt. But other traits were more random. People who collect dolls, insects, or reptiles also made the list. Bird-watchers too. Laughing unexpectedly, smiling strangely, or licking your lips frequently can also make others want to keep their distance.^[1]

9 Enduring Brazil Nut Mystery Solved

When thinking about physics mysteries, a person might expect quantum stuff, invisible influences, and perhaps a particle or two. But some physicists wonder about nutty snacks. More specifically, why do large nuts, like Brazil nuts, always find their way to the top of the packet? Shouldn’t the heaviest nuts work their way down instead?

In 2021, scientists gave a bag of nuts a couple of good shakes. After each shake, the packet was scanned to get a 3D view of the contents. Incredibly, this revealed that size or weight had nothing to do with Brazil nuts rising to the top.

It’s their orientation. When a packet moves, say, while it’s being transported to a shop, the horizontal Brazil nuts eventually point upward (it took the scientists 50 shakes to achieve this). This provides more space for smaller nuts to consistently move downward and force the larger nuts up.^[2]

8 How to Echolocate

Researchers have known for a while that a small group of people can echolocate. In other words, they use tongue clicks or finger snaps—and not sight—to find their way around. But could this skill be taught to others, and how long would it take? The answer was surprising.

This study, which was published in 2021, discovered that both legally blind individuals and sighted people could be taught within 10 weeks to navigate with echolocation. Not only could they move around in a maze, but by interpreting the echoes that came back from their clicks, the volunteers could also recognize the orientation and size of objects inside the maze.^[3]

7 The Lost Letter Experiment

In 2012, anthropologists sprinkled 300 letters on the pavement of 20 neighborhoods in London. The idea was to test the altruism of people. If someone found a letter, would they go through all the effort that was required to deliver the mail to a total stranger’s house? These addresses were, in reality, the homes of the researchers who sat back and collected the letters as they rolled in.

Interestingly, about 87% of letters scattered in wealthier neighborhoods found their way back. In contrast, only 37% in poorer areas returned. The study found that ethnicity and population density had nothing to do with altruism. Instead, it was socioeconomic factors that needed more investigation to fully understand.

But for now, the scientists believe that fewer letters returned from disadvantaged areas—not because people care less—but because the hardships of life make them wearier and, therefore, less likely to pick up random letters on the pavement.^[4]

6 Pigs in Suitcases

Killers dump a lot of bodies in suitcases. Just like other crime scenes, the police need to know when the victim passed away. This triggered the world’s biggest experiment to learn more about the forensics of this harrowing habit. In particular, the researchers were interested in carrion insects.

When a corpse is left in the open, these insects colonize the body and provide a host of information. These flies and beetles can give forensic entomologists the time of death, reveal the presence of drugs, and whether the victim died elsewhere and in what type of location. A suitcase disrupts this process by hampering normal insect colonization.

To better understand this interference, a 2022 study placed stillborn piglets in nearly 70 bins and suitcases and left them outside. Remarkably, the carrion insects still provided critical information, just differently. By assessing how bugs and eggs clustered on the outside of the containers, which larvae made it inside, and the dead insects within, researchers could glean the basics of toxicology, body relocation, the circumstances and time of death, and how the weather influenced the pigs’ decomposition.^[5]

5 Peeing on Crops

Few people might eat a loaf of bread when they know the farmer peed on the wheat. But that’s a rather modern revulsion. For thousands of years, people used human urine as a fantastic fertilizer for crops. The practice vanished and now only exists in a few areas in Asia.

In recent years, scientists wondered if this ancient solution might help rural farmers. Especially those who live on nutrient-poor land where commercial fertilizer isn’t an option. Pee is free and packed with phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen—everything a hungry plant needs. They launched a large-scale experiment in the Republic of Niger where they trained female farmers on how to use urine safely as a fertilizer.

After three years and 681 trials, these ladies produced millet crops that were 30% more bountiful than normal. The results were so well-received that years after the experiment ended, over a thousand women farmers in Niger continued to fertilize their crops with sanitized urine.^[6]

4 This Test Will Last 500 Years

A couple of years ago, a researcher found a petri dish he’d forgotten about for 10 years. Once he realized the dried bacteria it contained could be revived with a little hydration, it sparked an ambitious study. In 2014, it brought together scientists from Scotland, Germany, and the U.S. to figure out how long bacteria can survive. Thus, the 500-year experiment was born. (link 7)

It works like this. Two bacteria species were chosen and hermetically sealed in 800 glass vials. About 400 were encased in lead to reduce DNA damage from natural radiation. For the first 24 years, scientists will open a couple of vials every other year and examine the bacteria’s DNA health and viability. For the rest of the time, the remaining 475 years, vials will be opened and tested every quarter-century.

The chances that the bacteria samples will stay alive for 500 years are good. But the experiment might not survive. It requires the continuous collaboration of the UK, the U.S., and Germany. Who knows if future scientists will even stay loyal to the study? The box containing the vials might also get lost before the experiment is over.^[7]

3 Brains with Eyes (Sort Of)

Stem cells can be manipulated to turn into any type of cell. This trait allows scientists to create smaller versions of human organs, or organoids, to test and learn more about diseases. In 2021, researchers wanted to find a way to treat early retinal disorders. For this, they needed a tiny brain with eyes.

Past experiments have separately created brain organoids and eye organoids (not eyeballs but an earlier developmental stage called optic cups). But nobody has ever created a combination of the two.

In the new study, experiments eventually produced several brains with eyes. This organoid resembled a yellow blob with a pair of black dots. The latter were the optic cups that the researchers needed. Incredibly, the cups were light-sensitive and developed at the same rate as eyes in a human embryo. They even had corneal tissue and lenses. In the future, this somewhat creepy-looking organoid can help scientists to study eye disorders, treatments, and brain-eye interactions during embryonic development.^[8]

2 Turning Water into Metal

In theory, most materials can become metallic—if you squeeze them hard enough. When mightily mushed, their atoms or molecules crush together so tightly that they swap electrons. This, in turn, can give a substance metallic properties like conducting electricity. But turning water into metal faces special challenges.

First, it needs a big squeeze. About 15 million atmospheres’ worth. This kind of pressure is not something that most scientists have lying around the laboratory. Secondly, such an experiment requires alkali metals like sodium and potassium because they share electrons quickly—and they remove the need for ridiculous atmospheric pressure. The problem? Alkali metals tend to explode when they touch water.

In 2021, an experiment managed to do the impossible. They turned water into metal by slowing the explosive reaction to give the metals the time to share their electrons with the water. This was achieved by working inside a vacuum chamber and exposing the two alkali metals to water vapor. The resulting metal droplet only lasted a few seconds, but it resembled gold and conducted electricity.^[9]

1 The Fishmobile

Can fish avoid obstacles on land? Okay, fish and land don’t gel. But this didn’t stop researchers in Israel from building a car for goldfish. Kind of like an aquarium on wheels. The goal was to understand how fish learn to navigate and if their brains could handle a trip on land.

Six goldfish were trained to pilot the fish-operated vehicle or FOV. At first, the fish swam erratically but then seemed to grasp the situation and their movements became more deliberate and relaxed. Indeed, the goldfish quickly learned how to make the FOV drive forward, but it was harder to teach them to think outside the tank, so to speak.

But with simple obstacle training and a lot of treats, the fish stopped driving aimlessly around the room and headed straight for targets. Once they reached a target, they were rewarded with a snack. When obstacles were placed in their path, the fish learned to drive around them to get to the target—and something yummy. This proved that fish can be remarkably resourceful in challenging environments in order to find food.^[10]