That Time Drunk Scientists Made a Major Discovery

image via Gigaom

The National Institute for Materials Science in Japan was working on a science experiment that involved dipping a compound into various combinations of heated water and ethanol to see if its superconductivity was improved. It's important, complex science that among other things could lead to shit like hover cars.

So it's amazing that despite the complexity, perhaps their biggest discovery only occurred after someone decided to crack open the booze and hold an office party.

image via Pixgood

"We've got a few too many brain cells anyway."

Typical high jinks that you would expect from really smart drunk people ensued. And while drunken high jinks at a laboratory would seem a perfect equation for the accidental creation of Godzilla, these high jinks resulted in things like a major scientific discovery.

With everyone drunk, it was only a matter of time before someone asked the question “What happens if we pour booze on it!” What resulted was the discovery that, holy shit, their compound loved booze as much as humans. The superconductivity of the compound was measured at sixty-four percent for red wine, as opposed to fifteen percent for water and ethanol.

image via Nileguide

"Good for fancy parties, great for major scientific discoveries!"

And red wine wasn't the only genius juice tested on their compound. Sake, Chochu, and Japanese beer were also all put through the test and all found to increase the superconductivity anywhere from twenty-three to the aforementioned sixty-four percent.

The scientists later released their discovery via formal scientific journal, hopefully with a prologue narrating how they only made this discovery only with the help of the very liquids tested.

image via Allposters

“In layman's terms, we were all smashed.”