this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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Science Memes

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



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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.

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[–] WiredBrain@lemmy.ca 54 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Because they don't know the limits of their tools and were convinced they're infallible, and as a result an innocent woman was punished by the state. Just a guess.

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works -5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Nobody knows the limit of their tools until those limits are known. Where did you decide they thought they were infallible? They followed the law they have, as is their job. Justice is not perfect, we don't have all the answers, jumping to such vicious conclusions speaks more about you than them. The entire incident, and her successful appeal after further investigation, was like a year. Nobody threw the woman into prison for a decade or something. Seriously, people are so reactionary.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nobody knows the limit

I'm not sure, but let's say that's true. They usually also don't care to know the limits. Another interesting case is Patricia Stallings (emphasis mine):

an American woman who was wrongfully convicted of murder after the death of her son Ryan on September 7, 1989. Because testing seemed to indicate an elevated level of ethylene glycol in Ryan's blood, authorities suspected antifreeze poisoning, and arrested Stallings the next day. She was convicted of murder in early 1991, and sentenced to life in prison.

Stallings gave birth to another child while incarcerated awaiting trial; this next child was diagnosed with methylmalonic acidemia (MMA), a rare genetic disorder that can mimic antifreeze poisoning. Prosecutors initially did not believe that the sibling's diagnosis had anything to do with Ryan's case. Stallings' lawyer was forbidden from producing available evidence as proof of the possibility. After a professor in biochemistry and molecular biology had some of Ryan's blood samples tested, he was able to prove that the child had also died from MMA, and not from ethylene glycol poisoning.

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

One incident does not prove another.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That kinda depends on the circumstances, but I'll try to stop arguing after this reply

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Respect the self control.