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Mad Science

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· A student who investigated whether the five-second rule of eating food dropped on the floor has any validity. (It doesn't. Food picks up floor germs in under five seconds.)

· Japanese scientists who trained pigeons to tell the difference between paintings by Monet and Picasso.

· The author of a paper in the esteemed journal Nature titled "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture."

And, finally, perhaps pushing the limits of what we define as "science":

· Troy Hurtubise, a Canadian who built ultrathick body armor out of discarded sheet metal and then frolicked with a Kodiak bear. He also allowed a car to run him over at 40 mph, and he let his friends push him over a cliff.

The point is, science doesn't have to be boring. There are an infinite number of highly improbable scientific experiments just waiting for some child and/or parent to come along and ask a truly demented question.

But, kids, please don't try anything crazy with body armor. It's been done.

Read Joel Achenbach weekdays at washingtonpost.com/achenblog.

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