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Science is a lot of things. It’s a person in a lab coat experimenting with different materials as well as an astronaut bouncing around in zero gravity. It’s a geologist studying rocks and a mathematician perusing books. It’s an archeologist out on an expedition and a biologist monitoring different animal species. 

That’s the great thing about science—it’s vast. It is also useful because of discoveries that allow us to advance in this world. It is exciting because it gives us new prospects to aspire to. It is ongoing, inspiring, devastating, beautiful and, also, funny.

The list below is all about the funny side of science. The jokes, the puns, the memes, and other ridiculousness that was collected and posted on The Lighter Side of Science Facebook group. Scroll down to see our favorites.

Because science is so vast and multilayered, learning about it can be quite challenging. That’s partly because there’s so much to learn but also because it’s easy to get scared of how much there is to learn. That is where the science communication people come in. They are the ones that combine science and fun to make it appealing to all.

These are passionate people who make it their mission to spread the word of science to the common, non-science related folk. Sometimes they are researchers or medical professionals themselves and sometimes they are well-informed journalists that want the people around them to better understand the world. Either way, they are helping everyone to get excited about science.

#2

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Diane Ohlzen Report

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Panda Kicki
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Our whole attict is a bat sanctuary. They fly around the house at night, catching mosquitoes and we love the little buggers. Sometime they crash in the grass and I use welding gloves to gently put them back. When I grew up a tv tower was built nearby, the poor bats got disorientated and every morning I found dozens in tve grass

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While popularizing science has been a thing since the invention of media and the printing press, the most notable figures emerged in recent years. One of them is Carl Sagan

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Sagan was an astronomer and did a lot of research into the possibility of extraterrestrial lives. However, it wasn’t his discovery or any of his 600 papers that made him famous. It was his show Cosmos that was aired in 1980 that made him undoubtedly one of the most popular scientists back in the day.

Of course, he wasn’t a nobody before he landed the show. The science community appreciated him for his research and advocacy, though some were a little put off by his speculative approach to science. Still, he taught at Harvard and then earned his position as a full-time professor at Cornell. He was also working with NASA since the inception of the US space program in the '50s. He even briefed Apollo astronauts before going to the Moon.

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He became better-known to the public after he published his best-selling science-fiction book The Dragons of Eden, which won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1977. Because of this, he was invited to write and narrate Cosmos. In it, he delved into various different topics related to space and the world around us. He told fascinating stories that got people excited about our universe.

#11

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Steven Downs Report

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Doctor Strange
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Remember, if it bites you and you die, its venomous. If you bite it and you die, its poisonous. If it bites itself and you die, its voodoo. If you both bite each other and neither of you die, its kinky.

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The 13-part series was well received by both the audience and the critics. It won an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and also became the most widely watched series in the history of American television and held that record for a whole decade after. As a result, Sagan became a cultural icon.

#15

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Makenzee Jade Report

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Crybabyartist
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is no point in having these. Unnecessary and messy... time to phase these out... I'm staying inside with all my doors shut tight... and a blow torch in case my chair turns into a spider.

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In the show, he often said “billions and billions” referring to and emphasizing the innumerable amount of things in the universe. This became his catchphrase and a part of the cultural vocabulary in the '80s. Musicians were including it in their songs and comedians were incorporating it into their routines.

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Furthermore, now “sagan” can be used as a unit of measurement that is equivalent to a very large number of anything (at least 4 billion or more). His name is also used when referring to the number of stars observable in the universe. This is called Sagan’s number and at the moment it’s estimated to be 300 sextillion.

#20

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

S Dharma Teg Report

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Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When you put it like that, it makes you wonder what on earth they were doing? Also, what was going through the mind of the first person to milk a cow? I suppose we should just be thankful that they didn't do it to a bull first.

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#21

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

S Dharma Teg Report

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Multa Nocte
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love it when a 4 year old is so much more intelligent than a grown person.

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To this day, Sagan is highly admired by many. He made many people curious about the world and even nudged some towards scientific careers. And sure, this list can never compare to the perfect knowledge and entertainment balance that he achieved in his masterpiece of a series, but, hey, it’s still pretty darn funny. 

#22

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

greenisneon Report

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BrownTabby
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me, a Japanese speaker who has heard a love song that mentioned being “only 10cm apart”: sounds like a you problem

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#29

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Alanna Marie Fresquez-Apodaca Report

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Bookworm
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In all seriousness, the regenerating teeth would be awesome but wouldn't be feasible, because permanent, non-replacing teeth were actually one of the great innovations in the evolution of mammals. If your teeth are always falling out and growing back, you never run out, but you also can't develop feeding strategies that rely on your teeth meeting up in a certain way, a.k.a chewing. Permanent teeth allowed the first mammals to start specializing teeth to do different jobs; if their teeth were all in different stages of development, it wouldn't work, because once you get beyond simple plant-tearing pegs or sharp points, your teeth have to make contact with each other the same way all the time to be useable. ('The Rise And Reign Of The Mammals' is a fascinating book if you have any interest in evolutionary history.) Edit: book title

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#31

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Christine Nicole Bagley Report

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Bec
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unlike most Internet trolls, most scientists are open to new ideas and possibilities

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#39

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

S Dharma Teg Report

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Crybabyartist
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dont go sticking your hands in those pockets, there is no loose change and if you touch me afterwards I'm gonna puke on your shirt... mucus is gross!! ITS A MUCUS pocket!! worse than a sweaty pocket!!

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#41

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Diane Ohlzen Report

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Fat Harry
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Entirely numeric passwords are a terrible idea because they're so easily brute-forced.

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#42

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

S Dharma Teg Report

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#44

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Gowtham Prithvi Report

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Jack Burton
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is actually a great answer but sadly they will tell you back how Youtube is free for people and not edited by pedo socialist satanists like the washington post

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#54

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Danielle Lawson Report

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PlatinumThe8-BitCat
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am 1 on this scale, also can anyone else imagine different sides of something they’ve seen before without seeing the sides? Because if I see the side of say a bottle I am able to imagine what all other views of the bottle look like, I can also do that with rooms and I can imagine a room from a bunch of different angles and all of the people and objects in that room

Queeqec
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same here, the bottle wasn't a well picked example as the look pretty much the same from every side except if you look down on it or at the bottom. But yes, I can easily make a picture in my head form rooms, landscapes, various objects from different angles. I am still confused when realizing that thats not 'normal'.

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Norm Gilmore
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My brain is having conniptions trying to imagine being a 5 and NOT seeing objects as I think of them!!🍎

Averysleepypanda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tbh, I'm not sure where I fall on the scale. Like I THINK I seea red apple but it's not super clear like if I were actually looking at a picture

Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a 1 on this scale, I also "hear" words when I'm thinking. I was amazed when I found out that's not the case for everyone.

Norah
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an artist, I imagine my paintings before I put brush to paper. I don't know how I'd be able to paint if I was a 5 on this scale! I wonder whether there are many artists who are 5s.

Tysha DivinationDragon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to be a 5, but I had health episode which means I'm now a 1, except when I'm dreaming 😔

Lunakadi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does this mean that when 5’s dream it’s just a bunch of words whizzing through the darkness?

SadieCat17 (she/her)
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People with aphantasia usually dream, we just can't do it intentionally or while waking.

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SadieCat17 (she/her)
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a 5 but I've developed a neat workaround for this. I really like calculus and abstract spacial concepts like minkowski spacetime which are very hard to comprehend without visualization. I can't see inside my head, but I can render things and "feel" where they are. It's like the sense where you close your eyes but you can still tell where your limbs are. If I want to picture what a certain graph would look like or transform a plane in a 3 dimensional space (or higher which is a real trip to think about), I generate that concept and focus my eyes on a point to busy my vision while I go inside my mind to feel what I'm thinking of. It's a lot less complicated than it sounds and I can only do it with simple colorless shapes that have no visual properties, let alone something complex like an apple. I also have no words to narrate my thoughts so I think in essentially data and information with a background process that randomly cross references the things I know to make more connections.

SadieCat17 (she/her)
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can read fast and am really good and pattern recognition, but my working memory is very lacking since I have no way to easily hold concrete information in words or images. Memorizing scripts and speeches is absolute hell for me and I have issues with not being very well spoken on the spot, but I can write pretty well since I understand words intuitively. Life is pretty interesting like this, I blame the neurodivergence for making me think like a computer lol.

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Lisa T
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never understood it when people would say “the mind’s eye” or “picture this”, or people would daydream. I just thought it meant thinking about it. I also don’t have an inner monologue. Like what is that? Do people hear a voice saying “You need to get up and go to the kitchen”. Is it like a voice in their head giving them directions? On the plus side, I have very vivid lucid dreams

Caroline Fraser
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I assumed everyone had intense visual imagery. I can smell and taste food as well- I’ve dreamt up flavours and made cakes etc from scratch. Not always successful!

Mimi La Souris
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i'm a 3 and i visualize it in my brain to, not in front of me or in my hands

Alicia M
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a one. I just think of how it really looks and picture it. I recently learned my 19 year old son cannot picture anything mentally. Kind of mind blowing.

Monstarr the Divisive
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So that's why I never could explain, how I do math in my head - I was the only one with a half-way visual approach.

kath morgan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hm, maybe 3. Not all thoughts are visual and I can have some trouble developing details. But there are some 2 days.

Zaphod
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first day of organic chemistry I, my teacher said that eventually we would be able to "see" the chemical reactions in our minds. It finally happened to me half way through O Chem II.

Zaphod
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, I see maps in my mind. Whenever I hear a geography question, I zoom in on the map in my head

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Ace
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The thing is, for us fellow aphatasiaists, that it doesn't seem odd that we can't do this, but just mind-blowing to realise that some people can.

SheHulk
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My thoughts are more like flavours?! The closest way to explain them.

Jared Robinson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think you can develop it. I can turn off visualization and internal monologue, ya'll just gotta figure out how to turn yours on.

Verena
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Being a 5 is not dramatic, but might require some attention to how to deal with this. Sometimes it has effects on a wide range of skills, from being able to navigate up to social skills

PolymathNecromancer
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes!!!! I am very sad that the fallout effects of these gifts are often looked at as lunacy, lies, making stuff up, handicaps, etc..., all the way up to mental illnesses!! WTAF

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keyboardtek
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And many people do not have an inner dialogue at all. They do not think in words,, just images. I guess that explains how logical thinking is not universal.

SadieCat17 (she/her)
Community Member
12 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The audacity to think this. Imagine assuming that because someone thinks in a way different than you it means that they're unintelligent.

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#56

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Jennifer Hammond Report

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Andy Cran
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

pmsl that should be the UK storm warning scale 😆😆😆 along with "inside out umbrella" alerts

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#57

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Stevie Perry Report

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Multa Nocte
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It always amazes me when people complain that they "aren't going to need something later in life." Sometimes knowledge is just good to expand your brain capacity and enlarge your knowledge base. I have never regretted having learned something and I have been surprised over my life how many things I thought were "useless" at the time have turned out to helpful later.

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#59

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Tiffany Welsh Stevenson , daviddeweil Report

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pinkpie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A pound! You never know when there’s a yellow flag hiding in the beige ones lol

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#60

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Charlie Waite Report

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Mark
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The world is dictated by Schrödinger’s laws. We all base our comments on the reactions of other people

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#66

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Bo-James Morey Report

#67

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

So I get the shadow, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around the circular rainbow

Rob Lahoda Report

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Gandalf the Pink
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is mistaken for a circular rainbow but it's not. Rainbows are much larger. This is what's called glory. It's an optical effect due to sunlight interfering with small droplets, so things like clouds, mist, fog. It appears on the antisolar point, which means the opposite end of a line going through you from the sun. So naturally, it ends up right at your shadow.

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#69

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

S Dharma Teg Report

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Andy Cran
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

when they removed my eye (retinoblastoma) I did ask if I could keep it 😏,I was 13 at the time (almost 40yrs ago) but it had to go off for biopsy....I was an odd kid 😁

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#70

Humorous-Light-Science-Memes

Elisabeth Neda Scott Report

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Jack Burton
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah mens are so affraid of women we never heard about men hitting, raping or killing a woman like ever !

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