Strange and Unusual Scientific Studies

There are a lot of Scientific studies being conducted every day in different places. And many of these studies are very informative. However, some studies are strange and unusual that sometimes it’s hard to believe that they are actually studied. Here are some of the bizarre scientific studies that will make you question why they are even conducted. But they are also entertaining at the same time.

Sheep Recognition

This study was conducted in Babraham Institute where they investigated sheep’s ability to distinguish and remember faces of other sheep and as well as humans. The researchers trained the sheep to associate one of the pair using food as a reward. There were 20 sheep presented with pictures of 25 pairs of sheep faces. They were able to determine that sheep can recognize the individuals when there is a reward. Based on the study’s result, the researchers have also concluded that sheep could recognize the faces of 50 sheep about 80 percent of the time and they can remember them for over two years.

Look-Alikes

This study was conducted by a Psychologist named Robert Zajonc at the University of Michigan. It is about married couples starting to look alike. There were 110 participants presented with random photos of faces. They were instructed to match men with women who closely resembled each other. Two dozen of the presented photos were couples when they are first married and the other two dozen are the same couples after 25 years of marriage. The participants were able to match husbands and wives better when the couples were older compared to when they were younger. He concluded in this study that people grow to look similar because they are empathizing with each other, therefore, the couple would copy each other’s facial expressions.

Leaning to the Left

There was a study in 2012 which was conducted by a group of psychologists. In that study, they found out that leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower look smaller. When people lean, their ability to estimate things like size is affected because we assume that smaller things go on the left and larger ones on the right. However, its result can be biased among people who read from left to right. There should be a follow-up study on people who read from right to left to see if the same thing happens when they lean to their right.

Women in Red

This study is conducted by the University of Rochester NY. It is about women looking more attractive in red. This study wanted to know if men have different attitudes toward women based on the color of the clothes they are wearing. They showed some men photos of the same woman wearing different colors of the dress. Then they asked them how much would they spend on each of the women. Based on the results, the woman wearing red was more likely to be treated to a more expensive date. One theory that could explain this is due to the biological roots because nonhuman male primates are known to be attracted to females displaying red.

Swimming in Syrup

Based on the experiment conducted at the University of Minnesota in 2004, scientists discovered that swimming in syrup is as easy as swimming in water. What they did was they filled a 25-meter swimming pool with liquid made of guar gum which is as thick as water. When they tried swimming in it, they were able to swim just fine like in normal water.

Being Cool

In the early 2000s, there was an argument on whether the actor Steve Buscemi was cool. This argument prompted researchers Ilan Dar-Nimrod and Ian Hansen on researching about what makes a person cool. They surveyed 353 college students and based on the result, qualities, like being good-looking, successful, friendly, and being the star of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, are the characteristics that make a person cool.

Are You Attractive?

A group of researchers conducted a study in 2013. They asked people at bars to rate their own attractiveness. The result of their study shows that the higher the blood alcohol content of people, the higher they rated themselves in terms of attractiveness.

Good Paintings

In 2010, a researcher has trained pigeons to tell the difference between good paintings and bad paintings made by children. Surprisingly, the pigeons pecked at good paintings and they are able to determine which ones were good through color and pattern observation. Amazing!

Weightlessness

Eleven Russian men spent 370 days lying down in bed in 1986. This experiment was conducted to help future space expeditions because a year in bed can simulate weightlessness.

No Sleep

In early 1900, Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman had six men stay awake for days to see the symptoms. However, he stayed awake longer than them for about 115 hours. This caused his hallucinations. He also spent six weeks underground trying to adjust to a 28-hour day.

Dental Floss

There was a study published in 1990 with the title “Patient Preference for Waxed or Un-Waxed Dental Floss”. If you’re wondering about the result, well, 79 percent of the subjects preferred waxed dental floss and 21 percent preferred un-waxed.

Dogs and Their Owners

There were some studies on whether owners looked like their dogs. And based on these studies, they do. Like a study conducted in 2004, participants matched photos of owners with photos of their dogs and they were right 64 percent of the time. Also, based on this study, it’s easier to match purebreds to their owners compared to mixed breeds.

These are just some of the strange and unusual scientific studies we’ve gathered. Some of them are quite interesting while others seem to be just a waste of time. Well, people have the freedom to study whatever they’d like to feed their curiosity.