this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2026
441 points (73.9% liked)

Science Memes

21157 readers
146 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.


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
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 223 points 1 month ago (23 children)

I think this is fake and an AI generated image. The only place I can find this story is on slop YouTube channels (just showing this screenshot), it isn't anywhere else online. The image also isn't anywhere else that the Google image search can find, and this ai detector that seems accurate in my experience finds it suspicious

[–] AspieEgg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 116 points 1 month ago (4 children)

It’s very clearly an AI image to me. Just look at the road lines. A double solid yellow line on the right side of the road is not something that happens in the USA. The double yellow line would be in the center of the road. And if this was a divided highway with the coyote being in the center median, then the yellow line would be a single solid line.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And what kind of pedestrian crossing looks like that?

[–] Quokka@quokk.au 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

And why is there one in the middle of nowhere

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 14 points 1 month ago

I do believe I used to watch a documentary about a Coyote in the desert, and quite a bit of that involved it on a paved road as well. I do believe it understood more complicated things than just pressing crosswalk buttons, if I recall it flat out knew how to place orders from an Acme Catalog an assemble quite a few fairly complex machines.

[–] zaph@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

As someone who lived in the Mojave desert for nearly a decade, that part isn't that weird. Double yellow and weird spacing in the crosswalk are pretty obvious but a crosswalk that appears to be in the middle of nowhere is quite standard where I was at.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Steve@startrek.website 7 points 1 month ago

The sign above the button looks like a 1 hour parking sign, and the big brown sign should be legible even with all the jpeg

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago (4 children)

No... it's totally legit.

Here is another image of the same coyote from a different angle that I totally didn't just render on my PC in 30 seconds.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 50 points 1 month ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 month ago

Cursed timeline 😔

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The road has a solid middle stripe and a double-yellow line at the shoulder.

100% fake.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago

also notice how they try to sound like newspaper article without saying anything specific.

genuine news texts will say "person x from institution y says: >...<" not "biologists believe" and "lead researcher says".

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The language/sentence structure and account name are also very suspicious. I want it to be real so bad though

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I like to think coyotes are perfectly capable of this behavior, but they make the conscious choice to be lawless jaywalkers to stick it to the man.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Wait, look at the placement of the road markings, especially the yellow line. Wtf

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 14 points 1 month ago

All the text is AI blobs.

Lane markings all wrong.

Slop Xing

[–] holy_scroller@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Beyond that, this, "wildlife cam," photo looks like it was taken from a phone held at face level.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I think this is fake and an AI generated image.

Didn't even need to study the picture. The premise alone is ridiculous

load more comments (14 replies)
[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 70 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I have watched the deer in Campbell River walk up the sidewalk single file, wait at a crosswalk for the road to clear, and then cross.

The animals are learning to navigate the new jungle.

But this is definitely AI with those road lines. So a fake story.

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Early morning walking to work, I took a shortcut over a highway. Saw a hare that stopped, looked both ways, and then crossed when the road was clear. It got to the elevated section between the lanes (not sure what this is called in English), stopped, looked both ways, and then continued when the road was clear.

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Aren't hares always looking both ways?

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You mean on account of having their eyes on the sides of their heads rather than in front?

They do, and I honestly don't know how their vision works, but I would guess that they can turn their eyeballs to the front to maybe get some depth perception? At least that's what it looked like to me with this hare. It was a really long, straight road where you could see 1 km or more in both directions, and the hare was being really careful waiting until the road was completely clear in both directions.

It likely also relied a lot on directional hearing, but really was turning its head which I don't think they usually do, since they can easily turn their ears independently.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] starik@lemmy.today 10 points 1 month ago

The story is fake on its face. It involves so much more than a wild animal waiting until it’s safe to cross the street. A coyote supposedly learned the difference between the crosswalk symbols, understood the connection between the button and the symbols, and learned and bothered to use them. Then, when humans gathered hours of video footage of this miracle, they only showed us a single grainy still image.

I’m disappointed in some of the comments here (not you - the whole comment section). People need to be more skeptical.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 47 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] deacon@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] starik@lemmy.today 31 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (16 children)

Even if the picture wasn’t obvious AI, it’s not proof of the story being told. What’s being described is so implausible, you would have to be very ignorant and gullible to believe it.

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

X. Y. Z. Every single time.

Sir you better see this, my slopometer is picking up a reading

Edit: Definitely slop, check out the yellow line and other road markings. Even a solid-white-divided two-lane one-way road, the best "reasonable" match, would only have a single yellow line.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] BeUnique@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Damn the lead researcher is brutal! Using this opportunity to shit on the interns like that.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 month ago

Alas, neither the researcher, interns, not coyote exist.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 23 points 1 month ago (7 children)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] naught101@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

This is science memes, AI slop does not belong here.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Chat, is this real? Because I want it to be real.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 month ago
[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

I can't find anything about it but this same deep fried image

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 month ago

That’s a coyote that knows how dangerous cars are. Smart ‘yote.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

If the coyote ever does jaywalk, are they gonna issue it a ticket? 🤔

Also: Has the coyote been observed constructing engineering projects to catch a roadrunner, but they keep backfiring on him?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Gonna need sauce on this one.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's amazing the amount of things we've never observed before suddenly having endless videos now that AI sludge is clogging up the world.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Metostopholes@midwest.social 11 points 1 month ago

Aw, who's a good boy?

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

Google street view of Route 87 outside Payson looks like this.

[–] doleo@lemmy.one 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

the coyote hasn’t jaywalked once

That’s because jaywalking is not a real thing

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] pseudo@jlai.lu 7 points 1 month ago

In my neighborhood, cats cross on crosswalk and look both way before.

load more comments
view more: next ›