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The Russian Sleep Experiment. Russian researchers in the late 1940’s kept five people awake for fifteen days using an experimental gas based stimulant.

The Russian Sleep Experiment

They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the gas didn’t kill them, since it was toxic in high concentrations. This was before closed circuit cameras so they had only microphones and 5 inch thick glass porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The chamber was stocked with books, cots to sleep on but no bedding, running water and toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month. The test subjects were political prisoners deemed enemies of the state during world war II. Everything was fine for the first 5 days, the subjects hardly complained having been promised (falsely) that they would be freed if they submitted to the test and did not sleep for 30 days.

After nine days the first of them started screaming. So did the whispering to the microphones. After 3 more days passed. 10 More Enigmas That Defy Explanation. Mysteries What is it about the bizarre and mysterious that piques our curiosity?

10 More Enigmas That Defy Explanation

It entertains our sense of wonder and excites our imagination, for sure. Luckily for us, history is marked with strange, logic-defying occurrences to amuse us. Here is a list comprised of 10 more unexplainable and interesting phenomenon and incidents that we crave so much. This list is made up of a mixture of two submissions to the Christmas competition which shared some items, so it seemed a good idea to combine the two to give us ten things never before shown on the site. Nature performs many astonishing feats, yet it is a different matter altogether when we human beings push past the boundaries of normal. The hospital staff did everything possible, yet the situation was dire. Iron, the king of metal, is used for just about everything from the skeleton of your house to the chains on your bike.

Is it just me or doest that stain on the wall look like a person staring at you? Jamie Frater. Thankyou.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object) 7 Man-Made Substances that Laugh in the Face of Physics. The universe is full of weird substances like liquid metal and whatever preservative keeps Larry King alive.

7 Man-Made Substances that Laugh in the Face of Physics

But mankind isn't happy to accept the weirdness of nature when we can create our own abominations of science that, due to the miracle of technology, spit in nature's face and call it retarded. That's why we came up with... #7. Ferrofluids What do you get when you suspend nanoparticles of iron compounds in a colloidal solution of water, oil and a surfactant?

A ferrofluid is a liquid that reacts to magnetic fields in trippy ways that make you think that science is both magical and potentially evil. Tell us that didn't look like the birth of the most sinister dildo ever. What happens is that when a magnetic field is applied to the fluid, the particles of iron compound inside align to it. What the Hell is it Used For? #6. It's not the brick in the picture up there, it's the stuff under the brick. Every once in a while, science rules. #5.