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The progress of science has revolutionized our world in ways our ancestors could never have foreseen. While the meticulous efforts of brilliant minds often lead us toward a future filled with greater knowledge and capabilities, enhancing every aspect of our lives, some experiments delve into darker territories. These are the kind where scientists subject individuals to extreme conditions, driven by curiosity rather than benevolence, simply to observe the outcomes.
10. MIT Deceived Children Into Consuming Radioactive Cereal
During the 1940s, Quaker Oats provided a research grant to MIT. Their rival, Cream of Wheat, dominated advertising by asserting that their product’s nutrients circulated throughout the entire body. Quaker aimed to make similar claims but insisted on verifying them first, as they were committed to ethical practices and unwilling to make unproven assertions.
To achieve this, they recruited 100 orphans, many of whom had mental disabilities, and fed them oatmeal infused with calcium tracers and radioactive iron. By tracking the radiation as it moved through the children’s bodies, Quaker could map how iron was absorbed and distributed within these unsuspecting, vulnerable individuals.
This controversial experiment endangered lives and resulted in MIT paying $1.85 million in legal settlements.
9. Dr. Sanjiv Talwar Developed Remote-Controlled Rats
The State University of New York has been diligently developing something the world could greatly benefit from: remote-controlled rats. These are live animals guided by a remote device connected directly to their brains.
Using a remote control, researchers can command the rats to run, turn, jump, and climb. By transmitting electronic signals to their brains, the scientists can steer the animals through pipes and across ledges. When instructed to turn, the rat perceives a sensation as if its left whiskers are being touched. If it complies, its brain is rewarded with a pleasurable stimulus.
Dr. Sanjiv Talwar, the creator, suggests these rats could aid in rescuing earthquake survivors, though there’s no evidence of them being deployed for such purposes. However, the technology, funded by the US Department of Defense, is likely to find practical applications in the future.
8. Several Children Were Raised in Isolation to Observe the Outcomes
Early researchers were fascinated by the idea of uncovering humanity’s natural language. They believed that if a child were raised in complete isolation, without hearing any spoken words, they would naturally develop speech—and that this speech would mirror the original language of humankind.
Several attempts were made to test this theory. Around 2,700 years ago, an Egyptian pharaoh commanded two infants to be raised in seclusion. When the experiment concluded, one child uttered a sound resembling bekos, the Phrygian term for “bread.” Consequently, the pharaoh proclaimed Phrygian as humanity’s inherent language.
In the 15th century, King James IV of Scotland had a mute woman care for infants in isolation on an island. He claimed the children eventually spoke fluent Hebrew, though most historians argue that the results were fabricated.
Emperor Frederick II took the experiment further by forbidding any physical contact with the babies. These infants, who were only fed and never spoken to or touched, tragically perished due to neglect.
7. Pfizer Caused the Deaths of Up to 50 Children with an Experimental Drug
In 1996, Pfizer administered Trovan, an experimental antibiotic known to cause liver damage, to 200 Nigerian children during a meningitis outbreak. The drug was prohibited for use on children in the US and banned entirely in the European Union, prompting Pfizer to conduct the trial in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government claims it never authorized Pfizer’s experiment, a claim Pfizer disputes. Regardless, the trial proceeded. Nigerian authorities reported that the drug resulted in the deaths of up to 50 children and caused severe mental and physical impairments in many of the survivors.
Pfizer disputes the allegations, maintaining that the children’s deaths and disabilities were caused by meningitis. The truth about the severity of the experiment remains unclear. Without admitting fault or liability, Pfizer agreed to a $75 million out-of-court settlement.
6. Pavlov’s Student Repeated His Experiments on Children
You’re likely familiar with Ivan Pavlov, who conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. One of his students, Nikolai Krasnogorsky, took Pavlov’s work further by applying similar experiments to human infants.
Krasnogorsky successfully conditioned babies to salivate upon hearing a bell, though he noted that humans exhibit greater self-control than dogs. He also replicated experiments that had previously induced aggressive behavior in dogs.
Krasnogorsky designed the sound signaling food to be as ambiguous as possible. While Pavlov demonstrated that confusing dogs with unusual noises irritated them, Krasnogorsky showed that the same method could also agitate children.
The children in his study became so agitated that they responded with aggression. Most eventually withdrew from the experiment. Concluding his research, Krasnogorsky boasted that he had successfully induced experimentally triggered neuroses in the children.
5. A Doctor Infected a Four-Year-Old with Gonorrhea to Prove It Was Possible
In the 19th century, a heated debate arose over whether gonorrhea could be transmitted like a germ. Scientist Henry Heiman argued that experiments on lab rats wouldn’t suffice, so he chose to use mentally disabled children for his research instead.
Heiman selected two boys with mental disabilities—aged four and 16—and injected them with gonorrhea. He also administered the disease to a terminally ill 26-year-old man, pushing the limits of what his body could endure.
Heiman’s experiment was undeniably successful, if success is measured by infecting children with gonorrhea. Regrettably, Heiman lacked the knowledge to cure the disease.
4. The Soviets Attempted to Impregnate Women with Orangutan Offspring
Throughout his career, Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanov harbored a desire to witness the impregnation of a human woman by an ape. When he proposed artificially inseminating women with ape sperm, the Soviet government funded his project, and France’s Pasteur Institute agreed to provide chimpanzees.
Ivanov traveled to Paris to carry out his plan, but he faced an unexpected obstacle. French women were unwilling to be impregnated by primates, leaving him without volunteers.
Ivanov proposed secretly inseminating unsuspecting women under the guise of gynecological treatment, but French authorities rejected the idea. Undeterred, he returned to the Soviet Union with orangutans, where human rights concerns were less stringent. There, he secured five willing participants.
Unfortunately, his last orangutan died before the experiment could proceed. Ivanov himself passed away soon after.
3. The Canadian Government Denied Essential Nutrients to Indigenous Populations
Beginning in 1942, the Canadian government carried out high-risk experiments on Indigenous communities living on reservations. This initiative followed a near-fatal starvation incident in a Manitoba community.
Scientists aimed to determine the critical role of vitamins and nutrients by conducting a series of tests on Indigenous populations nationwide. One experiment involved restricting a community to 1,500 calories daily without vitamin supplements to observe the effects.
In another study, researchers deprived 1,000 malnourished children of milk for two years, reintroducing it later to assess its impact on their health. To prevent interference with results, participants were denied access to dental care throughout most experiments.
While the researchers likely thought their work was groundbreaking, their findings were ignored for years. When the results were eventually discovered, the public was outraged, and the scientific community dismissed the data as 'largely irrelevant.'
2. Gustav III Forced a Prisoner to Drink Three Pots of Coffee Daily
When coffee was introduced to Sweden, it was viewed as a deadly toxin that could reduce one’s lifespan. During the 18th century, laws and taxes were implemented to restrict the consumption of coffee and tea, eventually leading to an outright ban on coffee.
King Gustav III was convinced that coffee was lethal, so he devised an experiment. He pardoned two death-row convicts under two conditions: they would remain imprisoned for life, and one would consume three pots of coffee daily while the other drank three pots of tea.
Gustav aimed to demonstrate that their lifespans would drastically shorten, but the results contradicted his expectations. The tea drinker passed away first at the age of 83. The coffee drinker’s death date remains unrecorded, but it is known that he outlived both the tea drinker and Gustav III himself.
1. Jean-Antoine Nollet Electrocuted a Group of Monks
In the 18th century, Jean-Antoine Nollet, inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s work on electricity, sought to determine the speed at which electricity traveled. To achieve this, he arranged a line of monks stretching 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) and instructed them to hold hands. He then had the monks at each end grasp live electrical wires.
Nollet’s objective was to measure the speed of electricity as it passed through a human chain. When the entire row of monks simultaneously leaped and cried out in pain, he concluded his experiment. He proudly documented his scientific observation: electricity travels 'very fast.'
