1976
In the September 2, 1976, New York Times article "Foundations Get Real and Unreal Pleas for Aid," journalist Israel Shenker humorously explores the wide spectrum of grant requests received by philanthropic organizations, with Max Neuhaus serving as an example of a "scientific-minded petitioner" proposing a radical project.
Neuhaus petitioned foundations for an experiment involving human sleep in water.
He argued that fish do not "sleep" in the human sense because their specific gravity is the same as water's, allowing them to rest constantly. He proposed experimenting with a saline solution matched to human specific gravity to allow humans to rest in a similar state of total buoyancy.