Medical research studies have helped improve human life immensely. We have created cures for diseases, practices for getting those temporarily paralyzed to be able to move again, and more. As time goes by however there’s a need for more clinical study. This could be Clinical drug development or a phase 1 clinical trial for new psychological practices. As we hear of these new practices we sometimes are afraid of the medical research studies, but we shouldn’t be. In fact, here are four examples of strange research studies in the regular science field and not in the medical world to prove that medical research studies aren’t so bad by comparison.

1. Sheep Recognition
   The first example comes from the Babraham Institute. This study was focused on seeing if sheep were able to tell each other apart. The hope of this study was to show the first steps of consciousness within the sheep. This study ended in 2001 and scientists were able to confirm that the fifty sheep tested could in fact recognize and remember the faces of each other 80% of the time. In addition, they found that the sheep were able to recognize and remember the same faces of sheep for up to two years.
2. Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans
   That’s right, this study existed. In fact, that is the exact title of the paper published in 2004 by the Zoology Institution of Stockholm University. Essentially, it seems that chickens have a sense of attraction in humanity. The scientists were able to rate the chickens attraction to people by the amount of times that they would peck the faces of people. It seems that the heavy pecking coincided with whom the scientists believed to be the most attractive.
3. Dogs And Partners Copy You
   The next point is actually a pairing of multiple studies. First, there have been several studies where scientists have tired to show that humans and their pet dogs look alike. For instance, Michael Roy and Nicholas Chirstenfeld did a study in 2004 in which participants tried to match pictures of owners with picture of of dogs. It turns out that they people were right 64% of the time.
   
   Then, in the 1980s Robert Zions had participants match up two groups of pictures. One group of photos was of the couples right after getting married. Participants had to match up the pictures of the husband with pictures of the wife. Then, the second group were pictures of the couples after 25 years of marriage. Participants had a significantly easier time matching the couples when they were 25 years into being together. Apparently, pets after some time look like their owners (or the other way around), and as the years go buy married couples start to look like each other.
4. Syrup Swimming
   In 2004, the University of Minnesota decided they wanted to see if you could swim in syrup. To figure this out, they conducted a physical experiment. The research team filled up a 25 meter swimming pool with a solution twice as thick as water. The solution was filled with guar gum. The scientists then took to the liquid and tried to swim in it. They found that, while more difficult, they were still capable of swimming in the syrup like solution.
5. Classical Rodents Turned to Drugs
   The last study is one that tried to show the relation between music and drugs. First, in 2011 researchers tested to see if rats would like Beethovan or Miles Davis better. First, the rats preferred silence but scientists claimed to at least see that the rats liked Beethoven over Davis. Then the scientists brought drugs into the experiment by having the rats take them. They said that once that happened the rats preferred the jazz music of Miles Davis both while under the influence of the drugs and after.

The strangeness shown in these studies shows that medical research studies and clinical trials are in fact not that bad. We imagine the worst of medical studies when they are in fact possibly the simplest and less crazy studies out there. Plus, they actually have a purpose of helping others and building up health in the world. As such, we shouldn’t be afraid of them.