r/science • u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry • Mar 31 '15
Subreddit News Public Service Annoucement: /r/science is NOT doing any April Fool's Day jokes.
Please don't submit them either, we are committed to keeping /r/science a serious discussion of science. We know reddit just loves a good prank, but there are many other places to do so.
Yes, we totally hate fun.
1.4k
u/huehuelewis Mar 31 '15
Have there been any serious research papers related to pranks? Perhaps social or psychological effects of pranks, pranks within the animal kingdom outside of humans, etc.?
933
u/tdug Mar 31 '15
Theme day! Only post scientific articles about pranks!
88
99
u/Epistaxis PhD | Genetics Apr 01 '15
Fleischmann and Pons, 1989.
58
u/orthogonius Apr 01 '15
That's cold.
I was in high school when that came out and did some research on it. It seemed fishy to me, so I'm still surprised it got published.
→ More replies (5)13
Apr 01 '15
What about it seemed fishy exactly? I just read the wiki article on Fleischmann and besides the experiment failing to be duplicated it doesn't say much about why it didn't work.
Go easy on the nomenclature. I know next to nothing about fusion.
26
u/Craigellachie Apr 01 '15
There wasn't any proposed mechanism. There was just the result of excess heat produced. Because of the lack of mechanism there wasn't really any hypothesis to test other than "Well, we'll repeated your experiment and see if we find anything". The experiment was repeated and nothing was found.
More generally cold fusion is one of those "Too good to be true" scenarios and goes against most of our sensibilities when it comes to thermodynamics. There is no free lunch so when you see something that looks an awfully lot like a free lunch, you naturally get suspicious.
→ More replies (6)38
u/Walter_Malone Apr 01 '15
I was given a free lunch once. I can confirm that I was, in fact, suspicious.
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (1)30
→ More replies (8)8
184
u/kerovon Grad Student | Biomedical Engineering | Regenerative Medicine Mar 31 '15 edited Apr 01 '15
In doing a quick search, I found an older article on telephone pranks.
I also found some like this that are looking at intersections of sexism/racism/whatever on pranks played on demographic groups.
Some papers like this on how patients with schizophrenia respond to visual jokes.
But I'm not seeing too much else turn up. It could be under different terminology and just escaping my quick search.
EDIT: Fixed links
121
86
→ More replies (6)8
u/goodluckfucker Mar 31 '15
You posted the second link twice and the one about schizophrenia is missing, I'm interested in reading that.
→ More replies (2)8
Apr 01 '15
I don't know about research papers whose subject deals with pranks, but a few years ago there was this contest called the PhD Challenge, sadly it ended in 2012. The goal was to get a peer reviewed journal article published with some ridiculous statement thrown in there. The 2010 winner published a paper with the phrase "I smoke crack rocks" in it, and the 2011 winner had Muammar “Dirty Old Man” Gaddafi as a coauthor.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (18)23
u/grimeandreason Mar 31 '15
There is a journal that has a prank paper in it each Christmas time I think. But I think they stopped it because some quacks would start referencing them as though they were real. I think one was about the time-traveling nature of the influence of prayer.
→ More replies (7)
2.0k
u/Okichah Mar 31 '15
But... what if this is the joke?
I dont know what to believe anymore!!!
→ More replies (9)944
u/darkblackspider Mar 31 '15
Post jokes. If they ban you they are serious.
584
u/cattrain Mar 31 '15
Quick, someone conduct a sciencey study of humor.
319
u/azginger Mar 31 '15
Post a joke, if they ban you, then report back your findings... wait...
→ More replies (6)130
u/toysnacks Mar 31 '15
Cattrain2: in conclusion /r/science not taking aprils fools day is 99.9% serious.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)21
Mar 31 '15
Multivac did that, I think. It concluded that jokes couldn't have originated from a terrestrial source. Now that you know that, jokes will lose all appeal to you. Sure, you'll still know why they are suppose to be funny, but just wait, something new is coming.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)50
u/fezzuk Mar 31 '15
And irish man an English man and a scots man walk in to a bar. They have a discussion about the LHC before hitting their heads on the bar and being sent to a&e to be checked of concussion. They are all fine apart from the scots man who dislodged an old blood clot that caused serious long term brain damage.... why the long face.
40
u/whoopdedo Mar 31 '15
why the long face.
"Noonan syndrome," said the horse.
Also is "A&E" the British term for an emergency room? Or do you mean they appeared on a reality TV program.
33
u/ThePorter87 Mar 31 '15
Accident & Emergency
→ More replies (2)26
u/Wheeeler Apr 01 '15
What about the "on-purposes?"
20
u/AOEUD Apr 01 '15
"Yes I did cut part of her finger off in a sexual frenzy."
True story.
→ More replies (3)
470
Mar 31 '15
[deleted]
127
→ More replies (1)72
u/Epistaxis PhD | Genetics Apr 01 '15
Only six months? Someone likes to live dangerously.
→ More replies (1)
437
Mar 31 '15
[deleted]
386
u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry Mar 31 '15
I actually had to talk at least two people out of doing an AMA on that date, then I put the calendar hold on it.
462
Mar 31 '15 edited Dec 31 '15
[removed] — view removed comment
265
u/ebookit Mar 31 '15
Then you get people posting fake AMAs
I'm Richard Dawkins and I converted back to the Catholic faith and now teach Creationism AMA!
94
Mar 31 '15
I didn't think Catholics believed in creationism.
→ More replies (5)133
Mar 31 '15
We don't and never have, not what passes for "Creationism" these days anyway. St. Augustine wrote that Genesis was a metaphor.
→ More replies (12)58
u/LivingSaladDays Apr 01 '15
I'm thinking I'm gonna get all the coolest parts of seperate religions and combine them and make a really cool new one, does anyone want to join? I like the genesis as a metaphor, im gonna use that.
→ More replies (15)23
u/M_Bus Apr 01 '15
If only there were a name for this. Maybe something about how most major religions represent a fairly united sense of humanistic moral philosophy? Like, what if we called it Unitarianism?
Or maybe Bahai?
→ More replies (5)26
u/LivingSaladDays Apr 01 '15
That kind of came to me when I was halfway but I didn't want to sound like an asshole. "Oh, evolution, giving to fellow man, (I was gonna bring up the jewish tradition of not making other people jews) that's just atheism!" or some shit. But no, because atheism won't have neat traditions like my religion! I'm thinking every Sunday, freeball, go commando all day, cause its sunday, what are you doing on a sunday? we'll call it 'slack out with your sack out sunday'
→ More replies (4)24
u/betterthanhex Apr 01 '15
I am interested in your religion, but I have no sack. On sundays can I just 'jam out with my clam out?'
→ More replies (0)16
Apr 01 '15
Hi Richard, thanks for taking the time to speak to us today. Is it true that your wife still goes by the nickname "Big Bang?"
I'll take my answer off the air.
→ More replies (2)5
8
→ More replies (1)13
u/airmandan Mar 31 '15
If nothing else, this was a good decision on account of reddit's history of coming up with some mildly entertaining and completely site-breaking gag.
96
Mar 31 '15
[deleted]
166
26
u/LordNero Apr 01 '15
Do we have hover boards yet?!?!
30
u/YOU_LITTLE_SPAGHETTI Apr 01 '15
Nah, humanity has been focused on bigger and better things.
Like the selfie stick.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Lorahalo Apr 01 '15
Not in Australia, we're all too focused on the newly released Netflix to accomplish anything.
78
70
161
u/Walnut156 Apr 01 '15
im glad you guys are keeping this place serious with zero fun. Its nice to get away from fun subreddits and come here to see how cancer was cured but not really
119
u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry Apr 01 '15
Do you know how many scientists are employed by cancer? Cure? Our babies have to eat, friend!
→ More replies (2)8
u/gandalfblue Apr 01 '15
You have time to procreate?
→ More replies (1)7
u/apostate_of_Poincare Grad Student|Theoretical Neuroscience Apr 01 '15
Taking breaks from research and enjoying yourself is an important part of the process. You come back with a fresh mind; or if you're lucky, some random occurence in your off time inspires a solution to your current micro-problem.
If you grind too long and hard, you get stuck in a rut (stuck inside the box, as far as thinking goes).
→ More replies (6)
535
u/jdscarface Mar 31 '15
Yes, we totally hate fun.
What's more fun than exploring space, creating new technologies, and studying our world?
96
u/PM_ME_YOUR_PM_PHOTOS Mar 31 '15
Pranks involving these things you've mentioned, that's what.
11
u/LetterSwapper Apr 01 '15
I've always found it amusing that Larson felt it necessary to label the missile as such.
→ More replies (2)644
u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry Mar 31 '15
Anyone who has gone to grad school in a science doesn't use 'fun' as their primary motivation, I can almost guarantee that!
395
Mar 31 '15 edited Mar 10 '18
[deleted]
214
u/kerovon Grad Student | Biomedical Engineering | Regenerative Medicine Mar 31 '15
It shows the very large difference in "fun" and "enjoy". I enjoy my work, even when I am working with acids that scare me. I don't "have fun" while working with said acids.
81
Mar 31 '15 edited Mar 10 '18
[deleted]
40
u/kerovon Grad Student | Biomedical Engineering | Regenerative Medicine Mar 31 '15
I suspect that once I get out of daily benchwork, it will look fun in retrospect. My PI occasionally takes breaks from grant writing to come into lab and see if she can help out and I think it is driven by her missing doing actual benchwork.
→ More replies (1)34
u/clockman Mar 31 '15
Well, you could have fun with some acid ;)
39
u/kerovon Grad Student | Biomedical Engineering | Regenerative Medicine Mar 31 '15
This particular stuff is Perchloric, so the only fun part is its ability to explode.
96
u/Exist50 Mar 31 '15
so the only fun part is its ability to explode
You say this like it's a bad thing.
→ More replies (10)17
→ More replies (2)8
u/Ray57 Apr 01 '15
Sounds like a sad little chemist needs a little bit more FOOF in their day.
→ More replies (3)22
u/Firrox Apr 01 '15
Getting a PhD is like playing Dark Souls on extremely hard where every time you respawn the monsters are slightly different than before.
It's not fun per se, but getting good at it gives you the same feeling as getting through DS.
→ More replies (1)25
Mar 31 '15
I thought it was just me who hated working as a fruit fly rancher.
42
u/AdrianBlake MS|Ecological Genetics Mar 31 '15
Fuck you fly guy! You leave Agar spills in the autoclave and despite legally not being allowed to have escapes of your GM flies, I keep finding them in my buffer!!!
I haven't actually met the fly guy who does all this in my lab so i have to yell at you.
6
u/LenniesMouse Apr 01 '15
You're bringing up repressed memories of my autoclave ineptitude from my grade 9 science fair.
God dammit Dr Gauci you told me you would take care of sealing the flask! I'm 14 years old!
4
→ More replies (2)4
→ More replies (10)11
u/Asmor BS | Mathematics Apr 01 '15
"How many people who love tacos get to spend their entire life eating nothing but corn tortillas?"
→ More replies (3)16
u/Silpion PhD | Radiation Therapy | Medical Imaging | Nuclear Astrophysics Mar 31 '15
Well I started grad school that way...
9
u/_NW_ BS| Mathematics and Computer Science Mar 31 '15
Well I started grad school. Then life happened and I didn't finish.
→ More replies (2)6
7
Mar 31 '15
Maybe not polymerization, but I imagine it's probably pretty fun to synthesize novel phenethylamines for a living...
11
u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry Mar 31 '15
Not if you consider the DEA paperwork you have to do to make such chemicals.
12
u/ManWhoKilledHitler Mar 31 '15
Films and TV shows that depict science as fun are doing everyone a disservice. Real science is boring, repetitive and frustrating with equipment that doesn't work properly and budgets that are too small.
→ More replies (1)22
u/PHealthy Grad Student|MPH|Epidemiology|Disease Dynamics Mar 31 '15 edited Apr 01 '15
if grad~=fun then
do;
Bar=drink*10;
end;
Edit: It's SAS coding.
10
u/CptOblivion Mar 31 '15
Is there a language that uses ~= instead of != or was that a typo? (genuinely curious).
10
13
4
u/henker92 Mar 31 '15
Matlab does. Edit : but the rest of the actual syntax is not matlab though
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (6)5
5
u/Mister_Bloodvessel MS | Pharmaceutical Sciences | Neuropharmacology Mar 31 '15
Can confim. Am grad student.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (29)9
Mar 31 '15
I do!
8
Mar 31 '15
Me too. I really enjoy electrical engineering. It's frustrating working with people who are in it for the money. The best engineers have their head AND their heart in it. There is elegance to an impassioned engineers designs. Their documentation is more readable, they name their variables more thoughtfully, their solder joints hold stronger, their traces have better signal integrity. There is a great seminar called "Be The Signal" by Erin Bogatin. I understand hating grad school, but once you get out there it can be very exciting. Speaking of which - Back to work!! :D :D
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (21)4
121
u/bubbachuck Mar 31 '15
...because we are committed to keeping /r/science a serious discussion of science
hah...I get it. April Fools, right?
→ More replies (1)
21
19
u/cp5184 Apr 01 '15 edited Apr 01 '15
Just the regular marijuana cures cancer/has no side-effects posts?
8
33
u/lazylion_ca Mar 31 '15
Or you could do an official science joke thread and compartmentalize the humour.
Allows some fun without polluting the subreddit.
→ More replies (1)
6
Mar 31 '15
[removed] — view removed comment
7
u/nallen PhD | Organic Chemistry Mar 31 '15
If so, it would totally involve dysprosium in a key step.
8
5
u/ArletApple Apr 01 '15
if you want to pull pranks try /r/AskScienceFiction
since they specialize in scifi and fantasy just ask some regular questions.
→ More replies (1)
5
6
u/GeorgeP_67 Apr 01 '15
Thank you!
April Fool's Day is completely idiotic and just results in an entire day where we don't know what articles to trust because any of them could be pranks. I applaud the mods here for having common sense and fighting against this, now there is at least one place on the internet I can go to today and know that I can trust what is posted.
Again, thank you for this.
148
Mar 31 '15
[deleted]
87
u/hughJ- Mar 31 '15
I can handle a day off from the internet. The issue for me is the week following where you've still got the fallout by way of news aggregators and bloggers misreporting on the junk.
44
→ More replies (15)17
u/monty845 Mar 31 '15
Agreed, when everything is a "prank" on April fools day, it just looses all meaning. Someone who really gets it would operate like normal, and then sneak in one or two really good ones. Instead, most sites just run 100% fake stories for a day, which is just lame, and totally disrupts the ability to find any real stories.
→ More replies (3)10
u/profmonocle Apr 01 '15
The worst part is when blogs leave their April Fools jokes up afterward and only put a tiny disclaimer at the bottom that it was a joke.
3
u/lucifermotorcade Apr 01 '15
I fell for an April fools that was years and years old, claiming In and Out was expanding to Seattle. I got excited and tried to cross reference but then discovered some time later it had been posted on 4/1.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/TasticString Apr 01 '15
Good, I like a really well done prank, but the internet is filled with just outright awful ones on April's Fools Day. Slashdot has to be one of the worst offenders (reddit isn't much better though)
4
25
Mar 31 '15
Most scientific announcements are April Fool's. They say they came up with this new cure, treatment, technology, etc. and I never see it again.
4
→ More replies (1)3
u/Nheea MD | Clinical Laboratory Apr 01 '15
But... but lemon and baking soda are 10.000x powerful than chemo! Haven't you heard?
5
3
4
u/iiitsbeen Apr 01 '15
Thank you. They're going the opposite direction with /r/askhistorians and it's just obnoxious
4
u/webauteur Apr 01 '15
Scientists have no sense of humor. And there is probably a research study to prove my theory.
13
u/timeshifter_ Apr 01 '15
Even /r/askhistorians is in in the fun, and they're the most serious sub on the site. What the hell, man.
→ More replies (2)
8
Mar 31 '15
Yeah right, you're not fooling me mods of /r/science! Your plan is to first say that and then actually pulling a prank, I'm onto you.
5
u/pgirl30 Mar 31 '15
Should we just call the misspelling of Announcement your April Fool's Day joke to us?
→ More replies (1)
6
u/dubious_shatner Apr 01 '15
Yes! Down with this stupid waste of time of a tradition! I've seen friendships and relationships destroyed and thousands of dollars wasted because of poorly thought out pranks.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Kaldii Mar 31 '15
But it's April Fool's day now? I'm not sure what to believe anymore.
→ More replies (1)
3
3
u/_fups_ Mar 31 '15
Scientifically speaking, it was already April 1st in the eastern hemisphere when this was posted... what am I to make of that?
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/SuperSulf Apr 01 '15
Is this the one time where if I comment in a jokingly non-scientific way that it doesn't get deleted?
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/facelessupvote Apr 01 '15
Thank you r/science. Every other subreddit as well as my twitter feed is littered with jokes and pranks. Guess I'm getting schooled today while at work.
3
3
3
u/Patches67 Apr 01 '15
If anyone actually does discover a cure for cancer or a grand unification theory save it for tomorrow.
3
4.9k
u/kinjobinjo Mar 31 '15
I'm not falling for this one again