• All over the world, billions of dollars are invested into the development of new companies,
technologies and theories.
But are all these things good for humanity?
And who exactly is paying for some of these weird things?
Here’s the 15 organisations that have funded crazy ideas.
15 - , Nankai University – Mind-Controlled Car
• Researchers at Nankai University in the Chinese city of Tianjin have been developing
a system for driving a car with nothing but the power of the mind.
The team spent two years creating a headset which scans the electrical patterns of the
brain and tells the car to stop, go, turn left and right and even lock the doors.
Funded in part by a Chinese automotive company, the car may open doors for the disabled.
14 - , University National Bank – The Kardashian Kard
• To capitalise on the internationally-renowned image of the Kardashians, the University National
Bank in Minnesota teamed up with the sisters to create a pre-paid credit card.
Aimed at teenagers and featuring images of the family, the debit card seems like a good
idea until you look at the costs to purchase the card, the monthly fees and the cash withdrawal
fees, all of which came to nearly $200 a year.
The card was cancelled after three weeks with only 250 customers.
13 - , Google – Human-Powered Monorail • In 2010, Google invested one million dollars
into an innovative new transport idea.
Shweeb is a New-Zealand based project that aims to create a monorail system which is
totally pedal-powered.
Passengers lie in clear plastic pods which hang suspended from a metal track and push
the pods with pedals and a number of gears.
There are plans to install Shweeb in resorts and hopefully, one day, in cities.
12 - , University of Bristol – Biscuit Dunking • Who else but the English would have funded
a study into the best biscuit (or cookie!) to dip into your afternoon cup of tea?
A study in 1998 by the University of Bristol sought to determine the best speed and angle
to dip your chocolate cookie, and another piece of research in 2016 by the Institute
of Physics looked at the best biscuit for optimal dunking.
The winner was the Rich Tea biscuit, a result that shook the nation.
11 - , NASA – Robot Balls • Perhaps the best candidate for extra-terrestrial
life in our solar system is Saturn's moon Titan.
It has water and hydrocarbons, but also a treacherous terrain of rocks and methane swamps.
This makes normal exploration difficult, so NASA has been working on a system of interconnected
rods called the Super Ball Bot.
The spherical robot can bounce when dropped from a height and roll over solids or through
liquid.
It is also very light and requires no parachute. 10 - , Kickstarter – Molecular Scanner
• Crowd funding is the next big thing in investment, and websites like Kickstarter
are getting public investments of over 600 million dollars a year.
One project, Scio, is portable molecular scanner that analyses the chemical composition of
whatever you point it at.
It can tell you what medicine you're taking or even tell you how much fat is in your slice
of cheese.
A smartphone with a Scio integrated into it's system has also been announced.
9 - , Colgate – Frozen Meals • The frozen meal has been around since
1945, and is a highly competitive market.
In a risky move, the dental company Colgate entered the business in 1982 with their range
of kitchen entrees.
The company hoped that the snacks might lead to even more sales of their toothcare products.
However, it seems that consumers could only think of toothpaste when they saw the Colgate
brand and assumed that's what the chilled goods would taste like.
8 - , British Ministry of Defence - Cloud-Seeding • A long-running conspiracy theory in the
UK claims that the 1952 flood in South West England, which killed 32 people, was caused
by a military experiment.
There is some evidence that the Royal Air Force was testing technology known as 'cloud-seeding'
where aeroplanes would drop chemicals in clouds causing them to rain immediately.
The British military have denied any interference, but accounts from pilots show that they really
did figure out how to 'make it rain'. 7 - , University of Minnesota – Swimming
in Syrup • Imagine two swimmers; one of them is in
a pool of water and the other in a pool of thick syrup.
Who do you think would swim faster?
The University of Minnesota tested this question by filling a 25-metre pool with water and
gum and it turns out that both swimmers would move just as fast.
Although the gloopy syrup creates more drag on your body, it allows you to push yourself
harder through the liquid.
6 - , Nasa – Squid Rover • In another effort to find the best vehicle
for exploring moons like Europa or Titan, NASA has turned to nature for design inspiration.
The soft robotic rover resembles a giant squid with a flexible body and light-up skin.
It also has the potential to generate its own energy from the water itself.
Perfect for navigating oceans under the ice of cold moons, this tentacled technology has
so far received $100,000 in funding.
5 - , The Pentagon – Beef Jerky • Military spending in the US has often
come under heavy criticism, and a good example of this is the 1.5 million dollars that the
Pentagon invested into developing a special roll-up beef jerky.
It sounds like the perfect snack for an agent with an appetite, even if the money did come
out of the weapons program.
Although tastier and cheaper than alternatives, I'm not sure I want my jerky in rolls like
toilet paper.
4 - , The Vatican – Animal-Human Hybrids • In 1600, the Catholic Church burned a
man at the stake for suggesting that the universe was infinite and attacked Galileo for stating
that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
So it may be surprising that today the Vatican has a research fund that includes space exploration
and medical studies using stem cells.
Pope Francis is said to have approved a study that injects human cells into pig embryos,
creating a pork-person chimera. 3 - , Albany Medical College – Coked-up
Jazz Rats • Albany Medical College received grants
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to test rats' appreciation of jazz and classical
music.
They found that rats didn't care much for the sounds until they were given cocaine.
The results suggest that the drug-fuelled rodents choose Miles Davis over Beethoven
when they're high, but prefer silence when sober.
Some people have criticised the experiment as a waste of money...
but it sure sounds fun.
2 - , Kickstarter - Potato Salad • in 2014, Zack Brown posted his idea for
investment on kickstarter.
His page said “Basically, I'm just making potato salad.
I haven't decided what kind yet.”
Zack was asking for $10 for his potato project but he ended up receiving well over $50,000
from amused investors.
Of course, Zack made the dish and even released a potato salad cookbook.
It goes to show that sometimes, if you want something, all you gotta do is ask.
1 - DARPA - The Mecha-Elephant • In 1966, DARPA, the US Defense research
agency, was studying how to improve mobility over the cross-country terrain of Vietnam.
The research lead to a project to develop a mechanical elephant that would stomp through
the jungle on powered legs.
The director of DARPA called it a “damn fool” idea and cut funding before the public
found out.
It probably would have been cheaper just to use real elephants.