Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and the Apocalypse: 2012 had it all. But only 10 stories about the past year's strangest scientific research can make it into our Weird Science hall of fame — so we're going to need your help.

Past winners of the Weird Science Awards include glow-in-the-dark kittens and puppies, a 2,700-year-old marijuana stash, meth-crazy fruit flies, reattached rabbit penises and the corpse-dissolving machine. The Maya apocalypse came in for honorable mention last year and the year before, but this could be an even bigger year for end-of-the-world weirdness.

There are lots of other contenders from 2012, however. It's hard to beat the story about the sex-starved flies who drowned their sorrows in alcohol while researchers watched. That covers sex and drugs. It also can make you feel sorry for the scientists who had to watch all that fly-sized heartbreak. (They might want to compare notes with the researchers who studied why alcohol makes people feel good.)

The sixth annual Weird Science Award competition follows the precedent we've set in past years: We offer up 30 nominees from the past year, and it's up to you to pick the top 10. We've included a couple of studies that have won Ig Nobel awards — which are given annually to recognize "research that makes people laugh — and then think." That's a fine criterion for the Weirdies as well. Or you can go with research that makes you laugh — and then makes you wonder, "What on earth were they thinking?"

Write-in votes and second-guessing are encouraged; you can register them in your comments. If a write-in vote gets enough support from commenters, the research in question will be added to the ballot.

The 10 nominees that get the most votes as of noon ET Jan. 2 will be the 2013 winners of the Weirdy Awards. Later that day, we'll discuss this year's crop of weird science with Ig Nobel creator Marc Abrahams on "Virtually Speaking Science," a talk show that plays out on the Web and in the Second Life virtual world. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET Jan. 2.

Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

Maya shamans take part in a ceremony on Dec. 21, celebrating the end of the calendar cycle known as Baktun 13 - and the end of the hype over a 2012 doomsday. Click on the image to watch a video about the phenomenon.

Here are the nominees, in chronological order. May the oddest science stories be ever in your favor!

Leonardo da Vinci ... fashion designer?
'Rapunzel Number' brings math to ponytails
Legless amphibians could win weirdness prize
Sex-starved flies drown woes in alcohol
Earliest painting of transvestite uncovered
Zoo chimp devises elaborate plots to attack humans
Ancient 'Loch Ness monster' suffered from arthritis
MIT engineers solve stuck ketchup problem
Rock music compared to animal distress calls
Turtles' sex act frozen in time
Scientists explain why people wear pants
Three-hour sex sessions exhaust squid
Shark teeth have built-in toothpaste
Bizarre fish has penis on its head 
Researchers create a sneeze-free geranium
Scientists figure out why coffee spills
How physics can tilt the odds in roulette
Mice can change their (ultrasonic) tune
Bizarre turtles pee from their mouths
Puppies learn to catch yawns as they grow
'Finding Nemo' fish talk their way out of a fight
750-legged millipede sets world record
DNA report claims that Bigfoot is part human
Help out researchers: Send them your poop
Scientists make brain cells from urine
Is reality 'unreal'? Scientists aim to find out
Did magic mushrooms inspire Santa saga?
Maya apocalypse fizzles out
'Alien'-like skulls unearthed in ancient cemetery
Scientists unravel secret behind Rudolph's red nose

Still more weird science:

• 10 weirdest animal discoveries of 2012
• 10 stories that made us blush in 2012
• A dozen obvious findings for 2012
• 2012 Weird Science Awards
• 2011 Weird Science Awards
• 2010 Weird Science Awards
• 2009 Weird Science Awards
• 2008 Weird Science Awards

For more serious looks back at 2012, check out The Year in Science and The Year in Space, as well as our Year in Space slideshow.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence.

To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Kyoto U. / INAH / The Daily Citizen / NBC

The weirdest science stories of 2011 include (clockwise from top left) the one about the game-playing chimps, the update on the 2012 Maya apocalypse, a bird-death epidemic and the zodiac debate.

Even with the supposed Mayan doomsday coming up, it's going to be hard for 2012 to match 2011 when it comes to weird science: What other year can boast a bird-killing "aflockalypse," a chupacabra prowling around the nation's capital, two Loch Ness-type monster sightings and two doomsday predictions. (News flash: The predictions were wrong.)

That's why the Weird Science Awards exist: To pay tribute to the strange but scientific (or pseudo-scientific) tales of each year. This year's winners of the fifth annual Weirdies will take their place alongside glow-in-the-dark cats and dogs, reattached rabbit penises, the 2,700-year-old marijuana stash and the Stone Age sex toy as talismans of this wacky age.

We're offering 30 nominees from the past year, and it's up to you to pick the top 10 award-winners. One of the nominees — the one about pee pressure — is a laureate from this year's Ig Nobel award ceremony, which honors "research that makes people laugh and then think." You can use that as your judging criterion, or you can go for the article that makes you laugh, and then ask, "What on earth were they thinking?"

Write-in votes and second-guessing are encouraged; you can register them in your comments below.

The 10 nominees that get the most votes as of noon ET on Jan. 3 will be recognized as the 2012 Weirdy winners, and to mark the occasion, we'll review the year in weird science on Wednesday with Ig Nobel creator Marc Abrahams.

Here are the nominees from the past year, in chronological order:

• Animals die in 'Aflockalypse'; technology gets blamed
• Pole shift forces makeover of airport runway
• 13th zodiac sign causes stir, but astrologers shrug
• World's smallest periodic table inscribed on shaft of hair
• Gorilla wows spectators by walking like a human
• Fungus turns ants into zombies to do its bidding
• Picture of 'Bownessie' monster causes a stir
• Microbes in lake and meteorite spark weird-life debate 
• Sugar wards off death for flies hooked on meth
• Chimps play video games with a sense of self
• He-she birds cross the animal world's gender lines
• Loch Ness monster-like beast filmed in Alaska
• Father of cryonics movement frozen for the future
• Dog's glow-in-the-dark effect has an on-off switch
• UFO fans latch onto report of underwater anomaly
• Mysterious orange goo gunks up Alaska shore
• Chupacabra? It's probably a mangy old fox!
• Science reveals how to win at 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'
• Dolphins learn how to use shells to catch fish
• Corpse-dissolving machine invented
• Cleverbot chats like human, passes Turing test
• Tool-using fish caught for first time on video
• Ig Nobel Prizes: Judgment clouded by pee pressure
• Preacher's doomsday prediction goes wrong ... twice!
• Roman-era couple held hands for 1,500 years
• Spot the devil that's hidden in Giotto fresco
• Mexico adds another brick to 2012 Maya legend
• These beds haven't been made in 77,000 years
• Scientists say Shroud had to be created in a flash
• Just this once, Samoa drops Friday from the calendar

Review the nominees, then cast your vote. We'll talk about the winners next Wednesday on "Virtually Speaking Science." In the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with these Weirdies from past years:

• 2011 Weird Science Awards
• 2010 Weird Science Awards
• 2009 Weird Science Awards
• 2008 Weird Science Awards

More year-end reviews:

• 11 scientific twists from 2011
• The biggest ancient mysteries of 2011
• The year in space | 2011 slideshow
• Who's on the A-list for bad celebrity science?

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.