SERIOUS MISCHIEF
Do Scientists Have A Sense Of Humor? 10 Proofs Of Existence
Published on January 19, 2025
Image: National Cancer Institute
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.
Mini Frogs
Image: Sergiu Nista
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.
A Cosmic Joke
Image: Greg Rakozy
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.
The Bob Dylan Conundrum
Image: Brett Jordan
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?".
Chemical Danger
Image: Imani
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.
The Weirdest Tribe
Image: Vince Fleming
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.
Evolutionary Advantages
Image: Zach Lucero
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.
A ‘Real’ Danger To The Public
Image: SwapnIl Dwivedi
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.
Homages And Puns
Image: Sonika Agarwal
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.
Pranking Academia
Image: Scott Graham
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.
Cute Chemicals
Image: Derek Oyen
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.
