Most Bizarre Science Projects

Elephants on acid, fake plane crashes among the worst
By Asta Hostetter,  Newser User
Posted Nov 3, 2007 10:32 AM CDT

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. (More LSD stories.)

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