Weird Science in Action
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}American astronaut John Young (who walked on the moon during Apollo 16's 1972 lunar mission) tests his suit's range of motion with a series of rulers mounted onto the frame of a space capsule, Dallas, Texas, 1964. (Time & Life Pictures/Ralph Morse/Getty Images)
A naval researcher tests the effects on animals of being upside-down for prolonged periods of time. Get <a href="http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27892/weird-science-in-action#index/0" target="_blank">more weird science</a> at Life! (Time & Life Pictures)
Future doctors at University of Michigan's Medical School participate in an experiment testing the mechanism of the inner ear, in 1950. Get <a href="http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27892/weird-science-in-action#index/0" target="_blank">more weird science</a> at Life! (Time & Life Pictures/Alfred Eisenstaedt/Getty Images)
Magnetism is made visible in a 1948 device, parts of which bear a striking, shudder-inducing resemblance to the huge carnivorous worms in Peter Jackson's King Kong. Get <a href="http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27892/weird-science-in-action#index/0" target="_blank">more weird science</a> at Life! (Time & Life Pictures/Al Fenn/Getty Images)
The president of United Helicopters, Stanley Hiller Jr., leads a helicopter with a scarf tied to its front wheel in a demonstration for the company's stockholders. Get <a href="http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27892/weird-science-in-action#index/0" target="_blank">more weird science</a> at Life! (Time Life Pictures/Charles E. Steinheimer/Getty Images)
Director Edward R. Dye oversees skull-cracking experiments at Cornell in the late 1940s, in which researchers used imitation skulls to determine how to redesign aircraft interiors. <i>See More: <a href="http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27892/weird-science-in-action#index/0" target="_blank">Full slideshow at LIFE</a></i> (Time & Life Pictures/Cornell Capa./Getty Images)