It's been a long 2020, and while the majority of the science community was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic a whole lot of research was happening in other areas. Weird areas. In fact, 2020 produced an absolute bumper crop of bizarre science yarns. Thanks to the Australian Science Media Centre we now know - officially and scientifically - the strangest of the bunch. Melbourne researcher gets a worm drunk on vodka and gives it a little jiggle, for science Vibrating a slightly drunk earthworm on a sub-woofer speaker in a rural Victorian backyard shed may sound more like a prank than the kind of activity that wins international scientific awards. But that's precisely what happened to Aussie researcher Dr Ivan Maksymov in September.