[Ralath]

This one's funny. xD

The 6 Ballsiest Scientific Frauds (People Actually Fell For)

If you've ever taken a moment to read up on the science of transplants or sit through the Christian Slater epic Untamed Heart, you know transplants are tricky things that can go really wrong. Even when one does go right, you're going to have to take drugs for the rest of your life to prevent your body from rejecting the organ.

But then Dr. William Summerlin blew the minds of everyone when he dropped the bombshell that he could transplant tissue from two totally different animals just by keeping them in culture for a few weeks. Then he showed everyone the results, white mice with patches of black fur that had been transplanted from black mice. Wow, ain't that something?



But something was amiss with Summerlin's experiment. Was his data skewed to alter times or the ability of the mice to accept the transplants? Were the new patchy mice prone to day-long erections and spouting profanities? Was something even remotely intelligent sounding going on? Not so much. Turns out a lab assistant grabbed one of the mice and the "black tissue" rubbed off, because all Summerlin did was color part of the white fur black. And he didn't even use paint, or dye, or anything. It was a damn Sharpie.



Summerlin blamed his zany antics on work-related stress, as it's quite common for stress to manifest itself as a desire to paint rodents.