Ten Strangely Cruel Science Experiments

aalobode writes "The Times of London has a current story based on the review of a book by Alex Boase, Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments. There they list the top science experiments — including the one from which the book gets its name — that were conducted by otherwise sane humans who tragically or otherwise ignored the effect of their research on the subjects themselves. Nowadays, most institutions have a review board for research on human subjects which would flag most proposals that could lead to harm for the subjects, but not so in the past. 'Another 1960s experiment, in which ten soldiers on a training flight were told by the pilot that the aircraft was disabled, and about to ditch in the ocean. They were then required to fill in insurance forms before the crash -- ostensibly so the Army was not financially liable for any deaths or injuries. They were actually unwitting participants in an experiment: the plane was not crippled at all. It revealed that fear of imminent death indeed causes soldiers to make more mistakes than usual when filling in forms.'"

Comments

Re:We musn't forget..

[Anonymous Coward]

but we should be careful about criticizing experiments that have contributed to our understanding I disagree. Just because an experiment has contributed to our understanding, doesn't mean that it should be above criticism. We miss out on a significant number of learning experiences if we only criticize our failures. We should critically review our successes as well. What did we learn and how did we learn it? How could it have been done differently to get similar results with minimal negative impact? What can we do in the future to continue to make progress while being more sensitive to the effect we have?

Okay, now I have to go back and critic my post...

Re:We musn't forget..

[ACS Solver]

No way. It's great to get more understanding of the world and of humans. But that's exactly the pretext on which Mengele or Unit 731 operated. The logic was that, since these experiments contribute to our understanding, moral issues could be overlooked.

Re:Fill out a Form?

[glazener]

That works right up until you are diagnosed with a potentially expensive medical condition. Not when you have treatment for it mind you but when you are diagnosed. Try getting affordable private health insurance with rheumatoid arthritis. Or having ever had a bout with clinical depression. Or even something like severe excema. Your individual insurance premium for any of those conditions can run into multiple thousands a month, something you very likely won't be able to afford on 32K a year.

None of these are lifestyle diseases, there is nothing you can do to avoid them except be lucky. If you're unlucky, and don't have employeer provided health insurance, you're pretty much screwed.