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October 7, 2008 3:00:46 PM CDT

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Most Bizarre Science Projects

Posted Nov 3, 07 10:32 AM CDT in Arts & Living,  Science & Health 

(Newser) – Ever see an elephant on acid? The Guardian rounds up the most bizarre science experiments of all time, courtesy of New Scientist. Among them: a researcher who injected an elephant with LSD, via rifle, to see if the drug induced aggressiveness. The elephant died. Another involved telling plane passengers they were about to crash, then having them fill out insurance forms—to see if extreme stress impaired cognitive ability. (Yes.)

One of the more grisly experiments came from a Soviet doctor in 1954 who grafted a puppy onto a German shepherd. It lived six days. In the 1930s, a California professor tried to bring dead animals back to life by tilting them on a seesaw. Scientists also discovered that amorous male turkeys would try to mate with a fake turkey, even when the lookalike was gradually reduced to a fake head on a stick.

Sources Guardian (UK), New Scientist

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Turkeys are apparently not very picky when it comes to choosing mates.   (KRT Photos)
In 1962, a zoo elephant was given a dose of LSD 3,000 times larger than a human would take, killing it within a few minutes.   (Shutterstock.com)
Other strange experiments have confirmed that laughter is an innate response to tickling, as demonstrated at the time on the researcher's own young children.   (Shutterstock.com)
Dead animals (not pictured) were once moved rapidly on a seesaw as part of an experiment to try reviving them.   (Shutterstock.com)
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Acid Elephant   (thegreen67 (YouTube))

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science experiment  • LSD  • New Scientist


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