this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



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  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.

See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.



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[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The name, the instance, and the commenting behavior all sort of add up to something odd. Then you take the specifics of each comment and how they just seem... bland and vague enough they could have been in reply to anything.

Just, for instance, look at the two comments made in this post.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Their comments never contribute anything to the posts, either. Very weird, most bots I see these days are a lot more convincing than this. Curious what's going on here. Maybe it's just performance art.

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 8 points 7 months ago

The author(s) may just be learning what the reactions are to the comments. Here for instance, the comment elicited downvotes. This may be used to teach a model to avoid the style of the comment