this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
940 points (97.3% liked)

Science Memes

18093 readers
1419 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 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

I always suspected that the discussion about letting Pluto stay a planet is especially relevant in the US since Pluto was the only planet to be discovered by US scientists ... so it's a point of national pride.

[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

It's likely most of us Americans don't know about this fun fact.

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I've certainly not seen anyone frothing at the mouth about it in the francosphere. It's a non-subject, we just updated our textbooks and moved on. Whereas in English-speaking media even reasonable actors mentioning Pluto in passing will pointedly remark on its status one way or another. Americans won't admit it but the only reason that's a thing is chauvinism.

It's funny how being bilingual one spots a lot of small semantic or cultural differences that amount to large paradigm shifts between languages. Like how most French people were taught the hydrocution myth (swimming after a meal supposedly being deadly), older Koreans believe fans to be dangerous to use while sleeping, and English speakers associate vanilla flavour with blandness because of the (English-specific) synonym even though the flavor itself is very powerful and no less overused than e.g. strawberry flavoring.

What's less funny is how when you point out such a difference some people get Big Mad about it because they can't admit that some core belief from their childhood is actually a specific sociolinguistic quirk not shared by the rest of the world. People get tribal about the weirdest, most inconsequential shit.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Koreans believe fans to be dangerous to use while sleeping

tbf i believe that too (but about ACs and not fans) and i'm not korean. the reason i believe this is because of my real-life experiences. When AC is running, it typically gives me the sensation that the air it gives off is not just cold, but creepy cold, like an iron rod is not just hard, but hard enough to smash somebody's skull with it. The same intensity is the coldness from the typical ACs that i've experienced. At least some of them.

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 days ago

That's just because it's dry by nature. Monitor your indoors humidity and adjust accordingly with a humidifier.