this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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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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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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See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.



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[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mine, nitrated organic compounds will act on fingers that are too close...

It all started, as a teenager, with my mates and I making black powder pipe bombs to let off on the back of a farm. With time these increased in size, and then the chemistry also stepped - to the point that we unplanted a sizable pine tree. This resulted in the local constabulary paying us a visit (for the first time). Thankfully it was a quite visit, no lights, no parents involved, just a stern watch out you could really heart yourselves. As we move on in our endeavors escalated we learnt a few things.

Timing is everything, get the timing wrong and you may need stitches at best. I think one of my mates was very lucky that day and only split the skin of a finger, it could have gone much worse.

Of cause that didn't stop us - and that lead to the cops and AOS being called on another occasion - when the AOS is involved it tends to make the local papers, and parents somehow become involved as well.

All good life lessons.

[–] ClockworkOtter@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Authority On Shenanigans

[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] ClockworkOtter@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 2 points 1 month ago

Generally the cops don’t carry weapons in New Zealand and we have specialist police that respond to armed offenders

The above is over simplified