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The 10 Most Absurd Scientific Papers

Posted by samzenpus on from the burning-potential-of-fire dept.

Lanxon writes "It's true: 'Effects of cocaine on honeybee dance behavior,' 'Fellatio by fruit bats prolongs copulation time,' and 'Are full or empty beer bottles sturdier and does their fracture-threshold suffice to break the human skull?' are all genuine scientific research papers, and all were genuinely published in journals or similar publications. Wired's presentation of a collection of the most bizarrely-named research papers contains seven other gems, including one about naval fluff and another published in The Journal of Sex Research."

5 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Are full or empty beer bottles sturdier by DJ+Jones · · Score: 4, Funny

    Um, I've been in many bar fights.

    Never once has there been a full beer anywhere nearby.

  2. Beer research by Spitfirem1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whoever got a study funded that allowed them to buy large amounts of bottled beer on someone else's dime was a very smart person indeed.

    1. Re:Beer research by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah yes, sounds like the perfect job: "We've got 100 bottles of beer here, and we need half of them emptied... can you handle that?"

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  3. Re:Some of these might be interesting... by Bob_Sheep · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm surprised this paper from Inorganic Chemistry didn't get mentioned

  4. Re:Some of these might be interesting... by sdpuppy · · Score: 5, Funny
    Wow - I wonder if the folks at the ACS will wonder why the paper "{trans-1,4-Bis[(4-pyridyl)ethenyl]benzene}(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) Complexes and Their Supramolecular Assemblies with -Cyclodextrin" suddenly became so popular

    and then be disappointed to find out it was the SlashDot effect.

    My question, as a chemist, is what is the equilibrium constant - how fast does it go from product to reactant and back ?

    Also, is the reaction reproducible?

    Are there any degenerate orbitals involved?

    Is it reproducible, even with protecting groups attached?