14 Scientific Experiments That Would Be Super Interesting But Can Never Happen Because... Ethics

Some scientific ideas are fascinating precisely because they should never be tested. That tension is what makes this list so compelling, because each experiment promises insight while crossing a line that ethics will not allow.

In this roundup, the original post collects 14 scientific experiments people think would be wildly interesting, from human cloning and selective breeding to sealed societies and impossible social tests. The ideas are provocative, unsettling, and in many cases deeply disturbing, which is exactly why they stay in the realm of theory.

Read on for the full list, and see which one feels the most impossible to justify.

#1 A sex-segregated society.

I’d like to see how a completely sex-segregated society would work. Take a group of baby boys and girls, then keep them from all contact with the opposite sex. All of their caretakers would be same-sex, media would be heavily censored, etc. The goal is to give them no concept of biological sex, because there’s nothing to compare yours to.

I’d be interested to see how kids like that end up. Would they still create a concept similar to gender or gender roles? How about romantic relationships? And how differently would it affect the two groups?

That first idea already sets the tone for the rest of the list.

#2 An extra-terrestrial colony.

One of the most cost-effective ways to colonize other star systems could be to send frozen, fertilized human embryos and have replicating machines there to raise them. You could send one probe the size of a car with all the information and material needed to create an extra-terrestrial colony.

#3 Far too dangerous and unpredictable.

A theory states that if we were to lubricate fault lines, like that of the San Andreas fault, we should be able to control movement and reduce the chance of larger earthquakes occurring. In reality, the experiment would be far too dangerous and unpredictable. Resistance and prediction are being experimented on more.

Some of these ideas get risky fast.

#4 The forbidden experiment.

Raising a child in complete silence, with no exposure to any sort of language, is known as “the forbidden experiment.” There are many theories about language acquisition that could be proved or disproved by it, but it’s obviously completely unethical. The closest thing is when people find feral children who have been raised away from humans or severely abused children whose parents have never spoken to them, like Genie.

Pretty much any experiment involving the raising of humans in captivity. There are so many things you could do aside from silence that we’d be able to discover. But raising them like that would be highly unethical.

#5 Test the birth of civilization.

Testing the birth of civilization by placing a large group of people in a closed-off area with no technology and watching what happens over generations. To make it more interesting, you could act like gods with the power to control the experiment and observe as a religion forms.

That one sounds like a dystopian history lesson in the making.

#6 Selective breeding of humans.

Selective breeding of humans solely to produce certain traits. The variety of dog and cat breeds is amazing. It would be fascinating to see how far we could vary humans and introduce that kind of variability.

Well, dog generations turn over in just a couple of years, and they also have large litters. Human artificial selection would take much longer (at least 10 years per generation, 18 to account for moral considerations) and would require fertility drugs to induce multiple births.

This is the same kind of alarm as an investigation finding 111 unidentified chemicals discreetly added to the U.S. food supply.

#7 Analyze poop and intestines.

You start by feeding a large group of people identical diets. You analyze their feces to determine its exact chemical makeup. Then you remove various specific parts of their intestines and analyze their feces again. The goal is to see which parts of the intestine absorb which nutrients.

#8 Harmful during pregnancy.

Basically anything regarding how different substances impact outcomes during pregnancy. Is this drug safe to take during pregnancy or not? How about this herb? It’s amazing how many chemicals, drugs, and herbs are considered “questionable” for pregnant mothers. You look at almost any tea on the market, and there will be something in there that someone says “may stimulate miscarriage” or “may harm the developing baby.” Soap, deodorant, makeup, food, there are potential risks everywhere.

Now, a lot of people have many of these things in small amounts, but it’s still not really ethical to take a large group of people and say, “This stuff MIGHT hurt or kill your baby. We’re going to give loads of it to some of you and something harmless to the rest and see what happens.”

Pregnancy-related experiments are where the ethical line gets even sharper.

#9 Cross-breed humans and different types of apes.

Research into whether it’s possible to cross-breed humans and different types of apes. The level of genetic variation between humans and chimpanzees is about the same as the level between donkeys and horses (which can interbreed), so it’s at least theoretically possible. There was a scientist who did a little bit of work on this in the 1930s, but he got shut down pretty quickly.

#10 Human cloning.

Human cloning to see if it’s possible, also to determine if the clone is physically and mentally as viable as any other person. Would a clone be given or have the same rights as a normally born or reproduced person? Or would he or she be treated like a drone or slave?

#11 Cloning a chimpanzee or human and using it as an organic computer.

Cloning a chimpanzee or human, harvesting the brain, binding it to a life support system, lobotomizing it so that it’s incapable of independent thought, and creating an interface so that it can be used as an organic computer.

By this point, the list has gone from unsettling to outright horrifying.

#12 Simulate a horror movie.

Simulate a horror movie like in The Cabin in the Woods.

This is actually a really good idea and could probably yield a ton of data capturing humans' raw, seemingly uncontrolled fear. Showing people a scary movie isn’t the same as putting them through one.

#13 The Truman Show.

The entire plot of The Truman Show.

I’m sure there’s a small part in everyone that thinks they might actually be in this sort of experiment.

#14 Experimental countries.

Test countries.

Do you have any ideas for an interesting scientific experiment?

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Want another “can’t happen” ethics headache? Read about researchers tracking unexplained tremors near a classified US nuclear weapons testing facility.