this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
825 points (98.9% liked)

Science Memes

20022 readers
2312 users here now

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.



Rules

  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.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] janNatan@lemmy.ml 162 points 3 months ago (9 children)

It's short for spermaceti whale.

Spermaceti is the name of the oil they produce for buoyancy/echolocation. Why is it called that? Because it was originally thought to be whale semen. Yes, really.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 103 points 3 months ago (5 children)
[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 18 points 3 months ago

Only during transit.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)