Think 'science experiment' and you'll probably imagine sombre looking men and women in white lab coats peering into microscopes. Or a wild-haired professor with crazed eyes pouring bubbling green liquid and cackling into a Bunsen burner.
While we’re certain the scientists of 2014 look and dress normal enough, some of their experiments do seem like the kind of research you might expect the Nutty Professor or Doc Emmet Brown to carry out in their spare time.
According to the Altmetric Top 100 list, which measured the academic research that got the most attention online in 2014 across mainstream and social media, scientific studies this year have been anything but stuffy.
“There is often a misconception that scientific research only focuses on medical breakthroughs and other serious topics,” says Euan Adie, the Founder of Altmetric.
He tells Huff Post Create: “I think the Altmetric Top 100 clearly demonstrates that scientists have a sense of humour and that scientific research can apply to more fun, light-hearted topics.”
“That said, this type of research is not to be dismissed; sometimes such studies contain important findings that stand up to further academic scrutiny and have real societal benefits,” he adds, and of course, in most instances, scientists have been busy doing vital research such as establishing the origin of the Ebola virus and transmission during this year’s outbreak.
But it’s these more creative scientific studies that tickled our fancy the most in 2014…