7 Scientific Discoveries Made by... Licking Stuff?

Remember, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.

"Don't lick the science!" "I have five senses. The 4 I've tried so far aren't cutting it!"

You know that kid in elementary school who ate glue, even though the teachers told him not to? He's probably a geologist now.

You missed stainless steel. After discarding random new experimental alloys into a rusting pile of them one remained shiny so stood out. A casual lick test proved it to have no metalic flavour like all the other alloys did.... which meant it didn't tarnish and remains the perfect thing for making cutlery! Sometimes it is best to be tasteless.

licks one of the most toxic substances in the world "Hmm, slight tingling sensation"

I love listening to Hank just mercilessly mock these people and their awful lab practices

Diabetes mellitus: so named for the honey-like taste of the patient’s urine. Yes, medieval urinalyses involved tasting pee.

This is one of those videos you see on your feed, speed read the title, continue scrolling, hesitate, scroll back up and finally let your curiosity take control.

I'm reminded of Skyrim's alchemy system now. "What does this do?" >Licks it Lingering Damage Health Invisibility Fear Paralysis Alchemy 100

"And suddenly, artificial sweetener! And also, smoking in the lab !" I don't know why, but the way he said this had me in a serious giggle fit. XD

I’m surprised you didn’t mention sucralose as one of the artificial sweeteners. It was discovered by researchers testing derivatives of sucrose, when one of the researchers asked the other to “test the substance”. The other researcher thought he said “taste the substance” and tasted it, finding it extremely sweet.

For approximately 50 years I have watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and I’ve always wondered why Yukon Cornelius would lick his pick axe, and now I finally know! Thanks Hank! 😁👍

Archaeologists also do the 'lick test'. I was on an excavation in my second year of university and a fellow student thought they'd found a piece of animal bone. We all crowded around because it was the first exciting find, and to everyone's horror... You guessed it, our professor licked it and said "Yep, it's bone", with a smile. I've seen her tasting soil too, because we need to find the exact texture and composition of the soil we find an artefact in, and tasting it is a quick and easy way to figure out the texture (or so I'm told).

rule number 1 of science: do NOT lick the science rule number 1 of geology: ALWAYS lick the science (thats how you find how scientific it is)

As my professor always said, the difference between soil scientists and geologists is that soil scientists would NEVER lick their samples, BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT'S IN THEM

"Why so many grad students are licking potentially poisonous materials", you ask? Cause we grad students are desperate to get results... and some do not fear death... only fruitless research! :S

Teacher: why are licking your desk. Me: I got 7 reasons for you.

Wash my hands?! And miss out on my chance to discover the newest strain of e coli??? I THINK NOT!

"Don't lick the science!" I hate that a sentence like that is necessary. Why can't science be lick safe?

"tasted everything on his lab bench" This is very bad. And also why ADHD scientists are needed.