Plus: Even More Offbeat Science and Business News from 2010.

Most Absurd Sci-Fi Films of All Time
Hollywood movies tend to play fast and loose with science, treating the laws of physics, nature and space like suggestions.

At a daylong private conference at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the space agency recently mocked some of the film industry’s most popular sci-fi movies, and praised others.

Here’s the complete list of the most absurd sci-fi films as drawn up by NASA, which “pleaded with Hollywood bigwigs for more rational plots”:

1. 2012 (2009)
2. The Core (2003)
3. Armageddon (1998)
4. Volcano (1997)
5. Chain Reaction (1996)
6. The 6th Day (2000)
7. What the #$*! Do We Know? (2004)

In the interest of fairness, the space agency also praised a handful of films for their plausibility:

1. Gattaca (1997)
2. Contact (1997)
3. Metropolis (1927)
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
5. Woman in the Moon (1929)
6. The Thing from Another World (1951)
7. Jurassic Park (1993)

And while it didn’t make the list, Blade Runner (1982) was singled out as a convincing portrayal of a futuristic Los Angeles that’s just a few years away from now.

Another Year of Odd, Dumb and Strange Things: The Remainders
The past year provided us with numerous examples of innovation and breakthroughs in science and engineering, although not every discovery has the potential to transform humankind. Meanwhile, corporate America managed to spice up the banality of the everyday workplace by being ridiculous.

Some 2010 developments that didn’t make the cut in our second annual Year of Odd, Dumb and Strange Things feature:

• Firing a Thief-Stopping Worker — In May, Wal-Mart customer service manager Heather Ravenstein prevented an attempted shoplifter from walking out of the store with a $600 computer. Although the thief let go of the PC after punching and kicking her, Ravenstein was fired the following day because, according to a Wal-Mart spokesperson, she “violated company policy as it pertains to how we treat people in our stores.” (Source: Wichita Eagle)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Cannibal — Tyrannosaurus rex‘s craving for meat was so strong that it ate members of its own species, according to research supporting that this 35 ft.-long carnivorous dinosaur was a cannibal. (Source: National Geographic)
• Coin Oversight in Chiie Chile — In 2010, the general manager of the Chilean mint was reportedly fired after it was discovered that he had overseen production of a run of 50-peso coins with the nation’s name spelled “C-H-I-I-E.” Even though numerous officials had seen and approved the coins, which had actually been in circulation since 2008, the mistake was only caught in late 2009. (Source: CNBC)
• Decoding the Rubik’s Cube — In 2010, a team of whizzes concluded that no matter how scrambled one’s Rubik’s Cube may seem from any of its 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 starting positions, one is never more than 20 moves from rendering each of its six faces a solid color. (Source: Discover Magazine/80beats blog)
• A Ban on Beards — As part of its energy-saving “Cool Biz” campaign, designed to reduce the use of air-conditioning in offices in the summer months, officials in the Japanese city of Isesaki last year enacted a ban forbidding municipal workers from having facial hair. (Source: Reuters)
• Empathy Dropping, Narcissism Rising — Research published in August found that college students’ self-reported empathy, people’s tendency to care about and share other people’s emotional experiences, has declined since 1980, with a particularly steep drop over the past 10 years. Worse still, students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights during this same period. (Source: Scientific American)
• Introducing Denim-Patterned Diapers — Last summer, Huggies unveiled to the U.S. its Little Movers Jeans Diapers, “a unique, fun and stylish denim-inspired fashion for babies during the summer months.” The product’s slogan: “The Coolest You’ll Look Pooping Your Pants.” (Source: Kimberly-Clark)

  Here’s the somewhat disturbing Huggies ad:

Cheers.