SERIOUS MISCHIEF

Do Scientists Have A Sense Of Humor? 10 Proofs Of Existence

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Who said scientists can’t have a bit of fun? While we often picture those dedicated to scientific inquiry as extremely serious people with no sense of humor, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Scientists, like the rest of us, love having a good laugh. And in fact, it could be argued that they love it so much that it often spills into their work, leading to whimsical names for new species or astronomical phenomena, or go so far as to make elaborate hoaxes that fool even their peers. From bizarre names to outrageous pranks, here are 10 of the weirdest scientific jokes and the fascinating stories behind them.

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Studying tiny frogs smaller than the size of a thumbnail is no easy feat. Much less so when these frogs live in the lush jungles of Madagascar. And once they have been captured, it comes the even more complicated job of identifying them!

If distinguishing between normal-sized frog species can already be a daunting task, imagine when these frogs are scaled down to the size of a housefly. So, we can cut these hard-working scientists some slack for naming three of these tiny frog species as Mini ature, Mini scule, and Mini mum. The frogs certainly won’t mind, and we can smile at the silliness of it all.

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Playing April Fool’s pranks on unsuspecting victims never gets old, and it seems most scientists couldn’t agree more. What better way to teach everyone to be less gullible (and to check the laws of physics once in a while) than by completely fabricating scientific phenomena?

On April 1, 1976, BBC astronomer Patrick Moore claimed that a rare alignment of Jupiter and Pluto would decrease Earth's gravity, allowing people to briefly float. This prank, known as the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect, fooled many listeners, some of whom even called in to report having experienced the phenomenon.

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In 1997, when John Jundberg and Eddie Weitzburg of the Karolinska Institute published a paper on measuring intestinal gas to detect inflammation, they didn’t waste the opportunity and titled the article "Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The Answer Is Blowing In The Wind," inspired by Bob Dylan’s iconic song.

But it didn’t stop there. This playful homage sparked a bet among a group of fellow scientists to incorporate Dylan quotations in their own papers. Over 17 years, this led to numerous references to "the voice of a generation" in all kinds of scientific papers, such as "Dietary Nitrate – A Slow Train Coming" and "Blood on the Tracks: A Simple Twist of Fate?".

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In 1983, a weekly newspaper in Michigan reported that the chemical dihydrogen oxide had been found in the city's water pipes, and warned of its many dangers - including the fact that it could be fatal if inhaled. To make matters worse, this dangerous chemical seemed to be everywhere!

A closer inspection, however, reveals that dihydrogen oxide is simply two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, also known as H₂O — water! This amusing hoax has been used many times to demonstrate how scientific terminology can be misleading if not properly understood.

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In 1956, anthropologist Horace Miner published an article describing the strange rituals of the Nacirema, a "tribe" obsessed with body purity. Miner claimed that the underlying belief of this culture is that their bodies are inherently ugly, so they perform various rituals to make them more acceptable. The Nacirema were particularly obsessed with rituals related to their teeth, believing that neglecting these rituals would lead to disgrace and the loss of friends and lovers.

If you haven’t noticed already, the mysterious Nacirema are none other than Americans ("Nacirema" spelled backward), and the rituals were everyday activities like brushing teeth and visiting the dentist. Beyond being hilarious, the genius of Miner’s satirical report lies in its ability to show that while we may view ourselves as civilized and rational, most of our everyday practices can seem ridiculous and nonsensical from another culture’s perspective.

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There’s such an abundance of odd theories in the field of evolutionary science that a yearly prank contest has been initiated to poke some fun. Dubbed "The Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses" or BAH!, participants vie for an award by presenting the most well-argued, thoroughly researched, yet completely unhinged evolutionary theory.

One recent winning entry argued that infant distress vocalization, commonly known as "crying," provided prehistoric warriors with a competitive edge in battle. Allegedly, strapping these crying infants to their backs helped warriors "perform significantly better on violent motor tasks." So, next time you hear a baby cry, perhaps it’s the perfect moment to tackle those long-postponed, mildly aggressive emails.

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In the 1990s, a British television program called "Brass Eye" aired a satirical segment featuring a fictitious drug named "Cake." The segment humorously portrayed Cake as a dangerous new substance with absurd side effects, such as impossibly swollen necks and overstimulation of a fictional brain region called "Shatner’s Bassoon," causing users to perceive time much, much slower.

Despite the outlandish claims and explicitly stating multiple times in the spoof report that Cake was a "made-up drug" with "made-up" chemicals (sic), several public figures and even government officials were fooled into issuing warnings against it.

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In 2011, scientists named a rare horsefly species Scaptia beyonceae in honor of singer Beyoncé. The fly, noted for its golden rear, was discovered in Australia. However, this type of homage is more common than one might expect.

While sometimes names are deliberately humorous or quirky to garner public interest in scientific research, often scientists simply wish to pay tribute to their favorite artists or inject a bit of fun into their work. There are even hidden palindromes (like Orizabus subaziro), anagrams (like Rabilimis mirabilis), and numerous puns that only those in the know can appreciate.

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In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal perpetrated what became known as the Sokal affair - a notorious academic hoax that targeted postmodernist philosophy and cultural studies. Sokal, frustrated by what he saw as a trend of pseudoscientific language creeping into these disciplines, submitted a deliberately nonsensical paper titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" to the journal Social Text.

To his surprise—and one could imagine, delight—the jargon-filled, entirely fabricated research paper was accepted and published. Sokal promptly revealed his prank in the journal Lingua Franca, igniting widespread discussions about scholarly publishing standards and causing considerable embarrassment within academic circles.

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Penguinone is a whimsical name given to a chemical compound whose structural formula resembles a penguin. Officially known by the less whimsical name 3,4,4,5-tetramethylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone, it's likely scientists chose creativity over grappling with its cumbersome designation.

Besides, the playful moniker not only sparked interest and engagement in organic chemistry—a field not typically known for its accessibility to laypeople—but also demonstrated that even the most technical and obscure disciplines can embrace a sense of humor.

Remember these?

Get nostalgic with these 10 vintage tech items that once ruled

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From cell phones and laptops to electronic payments and smart TVs, technology is a constant in our daily lives, no matter where we go. But things were different a couple of decades ago. Remember when TVs were huge boxes or when landline phones were the norm? If you want to take a trip back in time to remember these vintage tech items and many others, this article is for you!

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If someone asked you to mime taking an imaginary phone call, you'd probably lower the three middle fingers of your hand, leaving just your thumb and pinky extended, and hold that "phone" up to your ear. Are we right?

If so, it means that -just like us- you're still honoring the legacy of the true king of 20th-century communication: the landline telephone. Whether push-button or rotary dial, the home phone was indispensable in those days.

Of course, they're still around, but we have to admit that their reign has been overtaken and surpassed by cell phones.

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While many modern personal computers come with touchpads, the fact is that many of us still prefer using a separate handheld mouse. Today, most mice are optical or laser-based, but they have an iconic predecessor.

Although it wasn't the first computer mouse, the ball mouse -also known as the mechanical mouse- is well remembered. We are talking about that mouse that had a little ball inside, which rotated on the surface of the table or desk to make the cursor move on the screen.

Many of us have memories of disassembling our mice to remove the ball and clean it manually. Do you remember doing that?

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Most of us have a TV in the living room today, and it wasn't much different in the '70s. In those years, if you had a TV, you probably also had a VHS player (and maybe you're one of the lucky ones who still has one.)

Though it's a far cry from Netflix, the iconic Video Home System came into our lives to make everything more exciting and fun; everyone wanted one! And, honestly, it was no wonder: recording shows and watching movies anytime you wanted, all from the comfort of your home, was a whole new world of entertainment.

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If you're reading this, you've probably held a floppy disk in your hands at least once. Also called "diskettes" -or "floppies," if you were really cool- these little squares were the trendy way to store data back in the '70s. And not only that, they were also one of the first portable storage devices, making them a sensation at the time!

While they are considered vintage items today, their legacy lives on. The iconic floppy disk image is still widely used as the icon for the "save" functions on many of the modern devices we use every day.

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While your cell phone camera might be hard to beat in terms of definition and quality, there's still something special about holding a physical photo in your hands, right?

And when it comes to physical photos, the iconic Polaroid camera is hard to forget. Not only is it a treasure in terms of design, but it's also older than you might think. In fact, the first model, the Polaroid Model 95, was launched in 1948! The Polaroid Model 95 was the first commercially successful instant camera, which allowed people to get a photo just minutes after taking it without the need to go to a photo processing center. Imagine such a change!

Although it suffered a decline during the rise of the digital era, its popularity resurfaced in recent years with much more modern designs, features, and functions.

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If gaming is your thing, you were probably expecting the iconic Atari 2600 to appear on this list.

One of the first and most iconic video game consoles, the Atari 2600 emerged in 1977, bringing our favorite games into our living rooms. Classics like "Pong," "Space Invaders," and "Pac-Man" were just a few of the memorable games you could enjoy.

Although discontinued in 1992, the Atari 2600 played an important role in the development of other popular consoles and was a pioneer in the world of home entertainment. If you were one of the lucky ones who owned one, you probably remember it fondly!

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The Walkman is undoubtedly one of the devices that came to change everything.

Launched by Sony in 1979, the Walkman was one of the first portable music players. Suddenly, people could enjoy their favorite music anytime, anywhere, whether shopping, running, or taking a walk. It was barely bigger than a cassette and came with a pair of innovative headphones.

Everything about it was cool: design, size, and functions. Even today, it's one of the best-remembered vintage tech items. Did you and your friends have Walkmans?

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A few decades ago, TV tables were placed much further from the wall. It wasn't a matter of trend; it was because there was no other option.

From the mid-20th century until the early 21st century, TVs and many computer monitors used CRT technology. Box TVs were the norm back then, but bringing one home could be a challenge, especially because of their weight!

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, box TVs were replaced by flat screens and LCD TVs, but no one can deny that the classic TV provided us with decades of fun and entertainment.

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Nowadays, it’s pretty uncommon to meet someone without a cell phone. We use them for almost everything, carrying them everywhere. But before cell phones, there were beepers.

The beeper -as it was called because of the sound it made- was formally known as a Pager and was the first commercially successful mobile device for sending and receiving text messages. While this might not seem surprising today, it was unbelievable at the time.

Early versions of devices similar to the beeper existed already in the 1950s, but it was during the 1980s that they gained popularity, becoming tech icons.

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Next up is a tech item that might not have been as popular as some of the others on our list. Before cell phones, there was a groundbreaking way to make calls on the go: car phones.

Although they were often seen as luxury items, many people ended up having them installed in their vehicles. And that installation was far from easy. Car phones were large and heavy and required a power source and an external antenna for signal reception.

Maybe their time in the spotlight was brief, but we can't deny that they were an important step toward modern mobile telecommunications.