Kyoto U. / INAH / The Daily Citizen / NBC
The weirdest science stories of 2011 include (clockwise from top left) the one about the game-playing chimps, the update on the 2012 Maya apocalypse, a bird-death epidemic and the zodiac debate.
By Alan Boyle
Even with the supposed Mayan doomsday coming up, it's going to be hard for?2012 to match 2011 when it comes to weird science: What other year can boast a bird-killing?"aflockalypse," a chupacabra prowling around?the nation's capital, two Loch Ness-type monster sightings and two doomsday predictions. (News flash: The predictions?were wrong.)
That's why the Weird Science Awards exist: To pay tribute to the strange but scientific (or pseudo-scientific) tales of each year. This year's?winners of the fifth annual Weirdies will take their place alongside glow-in-the-dark cats and dogs, reattached rabbit penises, the 2,700-year-old marijuana stash and the Stone Age sex toy as talismans of this wacky age.
We're offering 30 nominees from the past year, and it's up to you to pick the top 10 award-winners. One of the nominees ? the one about pee pressure ? is a?laureate from this year's Ig Nobel award ceremony, which honors "research that makes people laugh and then think." You can use that as your judging criterion, or you can go for the article that makes you laugh, and then ask, "What on earth?were they thinking?"
Write-in votes and second-guessing are encouraged;?you can register them in your comments below.
The 10 nominees that get the most votes as of noon ET on Jan. 3 will be recognized as the 2012 Weirdy winners, and to mark the occasion, we'll review the year in weird science on Wednesday with Ig Nobel creator Marc Abrahams.
Live Poll
Weirdest story of 2011?
171809
Animals die in 'Aflockalypse'
7%
171810
Pole-shift makeover
4%
171811
13th zodiac sign
4%
171812
Tiny periodic table
2%
171813
Gorilla walks like human
3%
171814
Zombie ants
17%
171815
'Bownessie' pictures
0%
171819
Weird-life debate
2%
171820
Flies on meth
4%
171821
Chimps play games
2%
171822
He-she birds
1%
171823
Nessie in Alaska?
3%
171824
Cryonics founder frozen
2%
171825
Dog's off-and-on glow
4%
171826
Undersea anomaly
1%
171827
Orange goo in Alaska
3%
171828
Chupacabra or fox?
1%
171829
Rock, paper ... win!
2%
171830
Tool-using dolphins
2%
171831
Corpse-dissolving machine
4%
171832
Cleverbot passes test
0%
171833
Tool-using fish
2%
171834
Pee pressure
5%
171835
Doomsayer doubly wrong
6%
171836
Holding hands for 1,500 years
2%
171837
The devil in the fresco
0%
171838
New brick in Maya legend
3%
171839
77,000-year-old beds
0%
171840
Shroud made in a flash?
3%
171841
Samoa skips Friday
3%
171842
None of the above
9%
VoteTotal Votes: 257
Here are the nominees from the past year, in chronological order:
Review the nominees, then cast your vote. We'll?talk about the winners?next Wednesday on "Virtually Speaking Science." In the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with these Weirdies from past years:
More year-end reviews:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9779631-its-boom-time-for-weird-science
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