Chimpanzees in the Human Family and Trumpeters on a Steam Train: 10 Bizarre Scientific Experiments
Miscellaneous / / November 21, 2021
The ingenuity of scientists will definitely surprise you.
1. Christopher Boyes-Bullot and the trumpeters on the steam locomotive
In 1842 the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler statedD. D. Nolte. The Fall and Rise of the Doppler Effect / Physics Todaythat the frequency and wavelength, and hence the properties of light and sound, can change depending on whether their source is approaching or moving away from us. Today we know that this is indeed the case, and a phenomenon called the "Doppler effect" works for all types of wave emissions.
However, in the middle of the 19th century, Doppler's guesses still needed to be confirmed. The Dutch meteorologist Christopher Buis-Ballot took over in 1845.
He hired a train with a cargo platform on which he placed two trumpeters. Those alternately had to play the note "G" so that the sound would not be interrupted. The train at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour drove past the station between Utrecht and Amsterdam, where observers with excellent ear for music were waiting for it. They needed to determine what notes they heard.
After conducting this unusual experiment, it became clear that Doppler was right. The sound seemed to be higher when the locomotive approached the station, and decreased when the train moved away from it. Relatively speaking, instead of the constantly sounding "salt", the observers heard "la - sol - fa".
2. Walter Reed and the infectious mosquitoes
One of the ways yellow fever is transmitted is through bites mosquito. But at the end of the 19th century, it was believedE. A. Underwood. Walter Reed / Britannicathat the disease spreads differently - through the things used by the infected.
However, there was a hypothesis about the involvement of insects. To prove it, American military doctors, led by surgeon Walter Reid, beganE. Chaves ‑ Carballo. Clara Maass, Yellow Fever and Human Experimentation / Military Medicine deliberately "feed" the mosquitoes. They took mosquitoes that drank the blood of sick people and allowed them to bite healthy volunteers, who were promised $ 100 each.
All subjects signed informed consent to participate in the dangerous experiment. This was one of the first such cases in history.
It was possible to prove the hypothesis, but at the cost of human lives - three volunteers died. As a result, the experiments were terminated. Nevertheless, knowledge of how yellow fever is transmitted made it possible in 1901 to end the spread of this disease in Cuba in three months.
3. Ronald Fisher and cups of tea
In the early 1920s, at an experimental station near London, aP. E. Pfeifer. The Lady Tasting Tea / Darden Case a very unusual and typically British dispute: which is more correct - to pour milk into tea or tea into milk?
One of the employees, Muriel Bristol, claimed that she could determine how the drink was brewed by taste. Therefore, botanists Ronald Fisher and William Roach decided to conduct an appropriate experiment. In the next room they made several cups of tea in various ways and brought Lady Bristol to sample.
Muriel confirmed that she really knows the difference between drinks by correctly guessing enough cups.
Despite the dubious practical benefits and the fact that the results of the experiment were not recorded, the experience made Fischer pause. He began to reason how many attempts would be required for the results of such experiments to be considered reliable. So the scientist createdR. A. Fisher. Mathematics of a Lady Tasting Tea / The World of Mathematics a test that minimizes randomness in experiments with small amounts of data. For example, in the case of the "lady tasting tea" experience, Fischer suggested using eight cups.
4. Winthorpe Kellogg and the attempts to make the monkey human
In 1931, psychologist Winthorpe Kellogg decided to find an answer to a question that had long worried him: if animals are able to raise a person as their own, maybe he and his wife will be able to humanize a monkey?
Kellogg believed that civilization primarily depends on education. Eager to prove it, he tookR. Nuwer. This Guy Simultaneously Raised a Chimp and a Baby in Exactly the Same Way To See What Would Happen / Smithsonian Magazine a seven-month-old female chimpanzee named Gua to his family and began to raise her on an equal footing with her ten-month-old son Donald. The "children" played, walked and ate together, and the parents compared their abilities.
Gua even succeededJ. R. Harris. The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do achieve certain success: she often walked on two legs, learned to eat with a spoon. The chimpanzee was better at performing tasks on quick wits than a child: for example, taking out cookies using a chair. But Donald quickly mastered pencil and paper.
However, after nine months of the experiment, Kellogg abruptly interrupted him and handed Gua back to the nursery. The chimpanzee, despite all the efforts of the psychologist and his wife, did not become human. Moreover, the parents began to worry about their son: he knew only three words and imitated monkey sounds.
In general, the road to civilization turned out to be much more difficult than the opposite path to savagery. However, the experience was not completely useless. He clearly showed how much he imposes restrictions on the development of personality. heredity.
5. Nathaniel Kleitman, Bruce Richardson and the 28-hour day
In the 1930s, scientists still did not know whether a person has an internal biological clock or a 24-hour day - this is just a habit and the body can be switched to any other rhythm.
To test this, in 1938, Professor Nathaniel Kleitman and his assistant Bruce Richardson decidedScience: Cave Men / TIME find a place where they will not be affected by the change of day and night. Mamontova turned out to be such a refuge cave in Kentucky. Here the experimenters decided to test a 28-hour day.
Time allocatedN. Kleitman. Sleep and wakefulness so: nine hours for sleep, another nine for personal needs and 10 for work. Richardson, who was 20 years younger than the professor, was able to adapt to such a schedule after a week in the cave. Kleitman, on the other hand, was not used to 28-hour days in 32 days.
The experiment gave no concrete results. Kleitman continued his research - for example, spent 180 hours without sleep. The changes occurring during the day in the human body, scientists have foundS. Daan, E. Gwinner. Jürgen Aschoff (1913–98) / Nature only in the late 1950s. Then it became clear that a person still has an internal clock - circadian rhythms.
6. Michelle Sifre and the biological clock
A similar experiment was carried out in the 1960s by 23-year-old French geologist Michel Sifre. But he did not try to change his regime, but decided to observeL. Spinney. This man spent months alone underground - and it warped his mind / New Scientistwhether he can save it.
He sank aloneM. Siffre. Hors du temps into a large underground glacier and spent two months at a depth of 130 meters, fleeing the cold in a tent. He did not take his watch with him.
Under the terms of the experiment, Sifr calledMichel Siffre et son horloge de chair / Le Monde on a wire phone to the surface every time I woke up, went to bed and ate food. He also used special equipment to examine his pulse and sleep cycles.
Cipher lost count of the days. It seemed to him that he spent 25 days more in confinement than he actually did. Despite this, the researcher woke up at about the same time. The experiment showed that a person's internal biological clock is quite accurate and works even in isolation.
Sifr and his associates, by the way, subsequently repeated more than onceL. Zuccarelli, L. Galasso, R. Turner et al. Human Physiology During Exposure to the Cave Environment: A Systematic Review With Implications for Aerospace Medicine / Frontiers in Physiology similar experiments, conducting in cave isolation for up to six months and studying its effect on humans. In some of them, the usual superficial 24-hour cycle changed to 48-hour.
7. Jose Delgado and the radio-controlled bull
Spanish neuroscientist Jose Delgado believed in brain science and was a very brave man. To prove that stimulation of certain areas of the brain can influence behavior, the scientist entered the bullfighting arena.
An angry, quarter-tonne animal named Lucero threw himselfT. C. Marzullo. The Missing Manuscript of Dr. Jose Delgado's Radio Controlled Bulls / Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education on Delgado, but as soon as the researcher pressed the button, and the bull stopped a few meters from him.
The fact is that radio-controlled electrodes were built into Lucero's skull, which stimulated the brain in the area of the primary motor cortex, basal nuclei and thalamus. By pressing the button, Delgado literally turned off the bull's aggression. As the scientist himself assured, the animal did not feel pain at the same time.
The most striking thing about all this is that the experiment took place back in 1964. Even today, controlling behavior at a distance seems fantastic, all the more incredible it was in the 1960s, when scientists did not even have sensible brain maps.
Such experiments were very effective, they scared J. Horgan. Tribute to Jose Delgado, Legendary and Slightly Scary Pioneer of Mind Control / Scientific American the public the ability to control the mind. For example, with the help of stimulation it was possible to provoke sexual arousal or sociability. Work in this area was curtailed, and only now scientists are trying their hand at it again.
8. Boris Morukov and people who spent more than a year in bed
Modeling the effect of weightlessness on the human body is very important in order to understand that will happen with the body of astronauts during a long stay in orbit.
One of the easiest ways is to put the person on the bed so that their feet are just above the head: at an angle of six degrees. Due to this position, the fluids of our body rushH. R. Smith. Lying Around / NASA to the head; the same happens during space flight. You have to lie down for a long time. For example, NASA launchedH. R. Smith. Lying Around / NASA studies that were supposed to last 90 days, and in Russia were carried outNS. A. Koryak. The influence of passive stretching of the triceps muscle of the leg in humans on its mechanical properties under conditions of 60-day antiorthostatic hypokinesia / Fundamental research 60-day trial.
It was impossible to get up at this time: wash, eat, read, watch TV and go to the toilet had to lie down.
But all these experiments cannot be compared with the experiment carried out under the guidance of doctor Boris Morukov in 1986-1987. Then 10 healthy volunteers layE. NS. Sigaleva, E. AND. Mantsev, Yu. AND. Voronkov and others. Retrospective analysis of the clinical and physiological adaptation of the human body to the conditions of 370-day antiorthostatic hypokinesia / Aerospace and Environmental Medicine in bed 370 (!) days.
To some, such an experiment may seem like a slacker's dream, but not everything is so rosy. First, lying down without getting up is not so psychologically difficult: acute stress can develop. Secondly, it is unhealthy. Due to the lack of physical activity, muscles atrophy, blood clots form, and heart rhythm may be disturbed.
Nevertheless, thanks to "bed" experiments, it was possible to improve the criteria for selecting cosmonauts and make record-long orbital flights.
9. American scientists and the artificial biosphere
In 1985, several American enthusiasts teamed upK. Cornelius. Biosphere 2: The Once Infamous Live ‑ In Terrarium Is Transforming Climate Research / Scientific American with an ambitious goal - to recreate the biosphere of the Earth. As a result, a huge 1.3 hectare complex of concrete, steel and glass was erected in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, where plants and animals from all over the planet were brought.
The large-scale project received a loud name - "Biosphere-2" (the name "Biosphere-1" was already taken). It was assumed that this will be the first self-sufficient biosphere after the earth.
Complex "Biosphere-2" in 2011. Photo: Johndedios / Wikimedia Commons
Inside "Biosphere-2". Biome "Tropical Forest". Photo: Jesuiseduardo / Wikimedia Commons
Inside "Biosphere-2". Between the Savannah and Ocean biomes. Photo: Colin Marquardt / Wikimedia Commons
Took place hereK. Cornelius. Biosphere 2: The Once Infamous Live ‑ In Terrarium Is Transforming Climate Research / Scientific American an experiment, the purpose of which was to study whether it is possible to create an artificial biosphere for long-term space flights or during natural or anthropogenic cataclysms.
Eight people - bionauts - lived in the complex for two years in complete isolation. Everything that is necessary for life was to be provided by "Biosphere-2". Oxygen - found inside the plant; drinking water - an artificially created "ocean" and "rivers"; food - indoor garden and plant fruits.
In September 1991, the bionauts "locked up" inside the complex. And problems began almost immediately. The weather inside "Biosphere-2" was not what the researchers expected - too cloudy. Because of this, the plants received less sunlight and produced less oxygen.
Interior garden gave lessS. E. Silverstone, M. Nelson. Food production and nutrition in Biosphere 2: Results from the first mission September 1991 to September 1993 / Advances in Space Research harvest than calculated. The bionauts began to starve and suffocate. As a result, it was necessary to add oxygen and food from the outside. Only thanks to this, the participants were able to spend two years inside. In addition, they also quarreled.S. Rose. Eight go mad in Arizona: how a lockdown experiment went horribly wrong / The Guardian between themselves.
The ecosystem also failed: many species of animals and plants, including pollinators, became extinct, but cockroaches and ants multiplied. These problems were partially succeededB. D. V. Marino, T. R. Mahato, J. W. Druitt et al. The agricultural biome of Biosphere 2: Structure, composition and function / Ecological Engineering avoided in a repeat experiment in 1994, but investors withdrew from the project.
10. Hungarian scientists and attempts to make robotic dogs with real
In 2003, researchers from Budapest decidedE. Kubinyi, Á, Miklósi, F. Kaplan et al. Social behavior of dogs encountering AIBO, an animal-like robot in a neutral and in a feeding situation / Behavioral Processes check if the animals can distinguish the AIBO Robop from their living counterparts. The experiment took place on the basis of Sony - the manufacturer of AIBO - in France.
The experimenters monitored the reaction of the dogs to a radio-controlled car, a simple AIBO, AIBO wrapped in wool-like material with the scent of a two-month-old puppy. Scientists simulated two situations: meeting in a neutral setting and during feeding.
The experiment showed that the reaction depended on the age of each particular dog and the circumstances of the meeting. For example, the "furry" AIBO most of all reminded animals of a real dog. The dogs reacted especially violently when AIBO tried to steal food.
However, in general, scientists have come to the conclusion that animals may well distinguish a real dog from a robot.
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