Poll of the Day > Have you ever done a science experiment on your own body?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well, getting the brain out was the easy part

What's up with all these weird polls you're making?

Sarcasthma posted...

What's up with all these weird polls you're making?

I dunno.

I've thought about it. A lot. But if something goes wrong and I have to go to the hospital they label it as self harm and send you to an institution which I really don't want to deal with right now

Depends what you mean. Any instance of saying "I think it hurts when I do *thing*," then doing *thing*, then drawing a conclusion about whether or not it huts to do *thing* is technically a science experiment, though most people wouldn't necessarily think of that when considering this question.

I thought about it. Used to be a website where people would take drugs and document how they felt every 15 minutes and post it to the site along with height weight sex age dosage etc.

I thought about contributing but most anything I was willing to do already had multiple entries.

I typically used the site to try and figure out if I wanted to try something or not. I knew drugs where bad but I'm a person who likes to know what to expect.

adjl posted...

Depends what you mean. Any instance of saying "I think it hurts when I do *thing*," then doing *thing*, then drawing a conclusion about whether or not it huts to do *thing* is technically a science experiment, though most people wouldn't necessarily think of that when considering this question.

I think that counts now that I think about it....

PikachuMaxwell posted...

I think that counts now that I think about it....

Well then... a friend and myself where high on something one day and felt it made us numv to pain. So we decided to take turns slapping each other in the face. I also accidentally burnt myself.

Conclusion we could feel it but it didn't register as pain just a odd sensation.

More like a medical one but my jaw used to ache on the side I didn't chew on (because having my wisdom teeth removed left a pocket on that side that was a pain to clean food out of). I hypothesized that if I could exercise that side of my jaw it would get better, so I started chewing gum on that side for a few minutes daily. Sure enough, the pain went away.

I used to do a lot of experiments to see just how much seminal fluid you can squeeze out of a man before he passes out from anemia.

Blue_Thunder posted...

More like a medical one but my jaw used to ache on the side I didn't chew on (because having my wisdom teeth removed left a pocket on that side that was a pain to clean food out of). I hypothesized that if I could exercise that side of my jaw it would get better, so I started chewing gum on that side for a few minutes daily. Sure enough, the pain went away.

Less formally, this is in the same vein as "this muscle is stiff, I'll wiggle it around a bit to see if it helps." Often it does, sometimes it doesn't, and it's when it doesn't that we start to wonder if there might be a deeper problem like an injury that needs further attention.

Really, we do this sort of thing all the time without formally identifying it as "science experiments." We're constantly aware of and observing the state of our bodies and subconsciously comparing that to how we expect it to respond to our surroundings and recent experiences. That's pretty much the scientific process: Establish expectations, make observations that test those expectations, evaluate how those results line up with your expectations and draw conclusions accordingly.

maybe I'm being too broad but I think almost everything we do could fit this. something like touching water (or anything) to see what temperature it is. but even more than that. the concept is: question about the world, gather information from the world to answer question. so, turning your head to look at what is causing a noise, looking outside to check the weather or time of day. even looking at your watch or a clock to see the time of day. (basically taking a reading from a measuring device to tell you about the state of the world.)

ok the question is on your body not with your body... hmm... my brain is alternating back and forth as to whether those are similar or different

I think they are actually the same, we just wouldn't think of light hitting our retina as "on our body". but using your finger to test water temperature is. and something like testing sharpness with your finger definitely is.

Sahuagin posted...

ok the question is on your body not with your body... hmm... my brain is alternating back and forth as to whether those are similar or different

I think they are actually the same, we just wouldn't think of light hitting our retina as "on our body". but using your finger to test water temperature is. and something like testing sharpness with your finger definitely is.

I would say the distinction boils down to how what you're doing relates to your body. If you're testing water temperature to see if it's a comfortable temperature for your bath, that's an experiment on your body: you are experimenting to see how your body will respond to conclude whether or not you should get in.

If you're testing water temperature to see if it's the right temperature to dissolve Jello, you're conducting an experiment with your body: your body is simply the tool you're using to determine whether the water is suitable for a purpose that does not directly relate to your body. Effectively, your body's just a thermometer in that case.

ok I think yes we should be the subject of the experiment. that would exclude looking outside or at a clock. but I think it would include things like: looking in the mirror, feeling your leg with your hand after banging it into the coffee table; pretty much any inspection of yourself, visual, touch, measuring your heartbeat, listening to yourself inhale, etc.

Yes, any attempt to learn something about yourself could count as experimenting on yourself, provided it's framed as "how am I responding to the experimental conditions?". To that end, I'm not sure simply looking in a mirror would count, but looking in the mirror after putting on makeup or doing your hair could (since then you're collecting data on how your efforts made you look and how that look makes you feel).