Blog #11 - Annotated Research 1

Bogod, David. "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?." Anaesthesia 59.12 (2004): 1155-1156. Web. 8 Apr 2011

This article is all about the experiments that Nazis performed on its prisoners. Considered to be some of the worst scientific testing to date, this article primarily focuses on the hypothermia experiments performed by Sigmund Rascher. People were often submerged in cold water, or stranded naked in a blizzard. As they froze to death, their vitals were recorded, and most were left to die. This article goes on to describe several other experiments as well. Several chemical tests were performed on women, men, and even children (particularly twins). They were pumped full of various chemicals, and had the results recorded, even in the most obvious of tests. I chose this because I find it to be similar to the testing that Alliance from Firefly did on the planet of Miranda. The Alliance tested a new pacifying drug on the planet, and ended up killing over 99% of the population. The small remainder became the feral Reavers, and now terrorize the solar system with their disgusting deeds. It provides interesting insight as to how such scientific data is treated, and somewhat why the Nazis performed these tests. Regardless of how cruel the tests were, most were seemingly done in an attempt to “better” one group of people. The hypothermia tests were done to help freezing pilots; the chemical tests were done to try and genetically engineer a master race. This is similar to the reasoning that the Alliance seemed to have about testing the drug on Miranda; they wanted to make a drug that would calm people down. However, both had a very poor approach in the application of their tests.