In a shock move, the Royal Institution has announced its annual Christmas lecture will be delivered by the pop singer Adele.
Entitled "Inflammable Precipitation", the 23 year old will expound on her revolutionary thesis that the rain can be ignited to provide the world with a free source of renewable energy.
"What's often overlooked by the popular press is that Adele Adkins is actually an accomplished theoretical chemist." the Chair of the Royal Institution, Sir Richard Sykes explained.
"We were approached by her record label earlier this year after she became frustrated with the public perception that her song Set Fire to the Rain is about love and emotions, when in fact it's a veiled message to the world's scientists, indicating that she's cracked the long-sought after equation needed to ignite water."
"If she has indeed succeeded in producing a combustion utilising water as a fuel, then this will revolutionise the world as we know it."
However, the move to let Ms Adkins deliver the RI's showcase lecture has been questioned by leading research scientists and others in the chemical field.
"I've been looking for new and sustainable sources of fuel for the last four decades, and for this 23 year old to suddenly suggest that what comes out of the tap or falls from the sky can be put into the tank of the average car, is just preposterous." Professor Ian Roberts, from the Non-Oil-Based Energy is Rubbish Department at Cambridge University said.
"I mean, I went to school and then university to provide the basis of my education in this field, All she's done is write some catchy songs and play on Jools Holland to get her break. Quite frankly, that such a non-traditional approach to research chemistry that I doubt she's the understanding or the equipment to reproduce the results without the power of a ballad."
The Royal Institution has yet to release a draft of Ms Adkins' speech, and the singer hasn't published her research in a peer-reviewed journal.