What’s so funny about science?
Not much, it seems. Science is notorious for taking itself seriously, and scientists for being isolated and oblivious to everyday matters such as cheap laughs. This recent article in the Guardian laments the lack of funnies in science:
If science - or any form of scholarship for that matter - is important, then it is also important enough to provide a bit of innocent fun for the confused.
Right now, science is probably more important than ever, but where’s the mockery? Scientific debates have multiplied, and many of them have been bitterly fought, but these days they rarely serve to generate giggles or goad guffaws in the public prints.
While it’s true that the goings-on at NASA don’t spur public parody as often as the Bush Administration, science humor might be a little bit more under the radar. In today’s podcast, I spoke to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell about what he finds funny about science. He said science humor amounts to an “in-joke” among scientists - they use their own secret language of terminology to “talk in a humorous vein about science,” just as any group of friends or co-workers would use their own obscure references and terms to make jokes. McDowell said this casual water-cooler joking might actually help push along creative exploration and discovery.
You’re unlikely to find a “Laugh Corner” in Science or Nature. But still, science humor is out there, and it’s in journal form. The Journal of Irreproducible Results was founded in 1955, and offers the same laughs, chortles, and guffaws that the Guardian article claims to miss. Particuarly worth reading is an argument for National Geographic as a Doomsday Machine, due to accumulated weight of archives in American basements and thrift stores.
Improbable Research is a behometh of science humor both in print and on the web. They publish the Annals of Improbable Research, in which they peruse thousands of articles of serious, yet silly scientific inquiry, and feature their own research such as Feline Reactions to Bearded Men (also see Adult Male Reactions to Boxing Felines). They host the popular Ig Nobel awards, which “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They’re awarded to people like Buck Weimer of Pueblo, Colorado “for inventing Under-Ease, airtight underwear with a replaceable charcoal filter that removes bad-smelling gases before they escape”, and to papers with titles such as “The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers”. My favorite honoree is a study of the five-second rule, which actually has made me think. A lot.
After completing this research, I conclude that science humor is about context. If you like science and overly intellectualized explanations, especially for common phenomena, you might giggle, or even guffaw. You could channel that energy into a Mad Scientist Laugh Competition, or you could provide the theory with some data and add what you find funny about science.
Go Lindsay! Showing the humorous side of science is long overdue …
Deborah
Wow, they really went at it about the whole “National Geographic as Doomsday” thing! It’s good to show people who may not already know how fun science can be.
The reason we think of science as serious is because there is alot of facts involved. But there is still humor in it and it helps to lighten up the whole subject.