Tour Through Library Databases Reveals A Funny Thing About Science

About Science Science is the study of that which is odd, unusual, peculiar, suspicious, or curious. In a word: funny. Therefore, science-and scientists-cannot help being amusing, absurd, jocular, whimsical, comical, entertaining, diverting, capricious, droll. In a word: funny. Can this be documented? Yes. Anything can be documented. For this project, I teamed up with Michael Rissinger, a research librarian at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. Rissinger

| 6 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
6:00
Share

About Science Science is the study of that which is odd, unusual, peculiar, suspicious, or curious. In a word: funny. Therefore, science-and scientists-cannot help being amusing, absurd, jocular, whimsical, comical, entertaining, diverting, capricious, droll. In a word: funny.

Can this be documented? Yes. Anything can be documented.

For this project, I teamed up with Michael Rissinger, a research librarian at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. Rissinger and I dug up, and into, some fresh mounds of data. We searched a few databases for articles and books involving the combination of science and humor. We limited our investigation to intentional humor, leaving the other sort for another day, or at least for a few paragraphs farther down the page here.

We began our search with the Online Union Catalog issued by Dublin, Ohio-based Online Computer and Library Catalog (OCLC), a database of ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Marc Abrahams

    This person does not yet have a bio.

Published In

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Discover a serum-free way to produce dendritic cells and macrophages for cell therapy applications.

Optimizing In Vitro Production of Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Macrophages

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with Lipid Nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo