Using science to fund science!

Not wholesome but also interesting: I recall a Russian mafia managed to acquire an Australian slot machine, and reverse engineer it to discover the psuedo-random number generator was effectively a huge but finite list of random numbers, in order, that would just loop back around to the start once it reached the end of the list. So they developed a simple phone app to put in operatives’ pockets, and record the spins (e.g. a cherry-cherry-apple spin might be swiping up-up-left). After a few of these, the app would figure out where in the list the machine was currently at, and the app would vibrate whenever the next one was going to be a winning spin, so they could bet higher amounts on them.