If you’re a fan of Bill Nye the Science Guy and spent your weekends making volcano experiments as a child, chances are you still have a love for all things scientific. But even if you snored through all of your biology, chemistry and physics classes in school and need some convincing that science can actually be fun, we've got the perfect list to persuade you!
We took a trip to the Science Memes subreddit and gathered some of our favorite, hilarious pics down below. Keep reading to also find conversations with Jill ChaCha of Well... That's Interesting, and Greg Wah and Dan Beeston of Smart Enough to Know Better, and be sure to upvote the pics that tickle your brain and your funny bone!
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Driving A Sugar Cube
Nature Abhors A Vacuum
Now I'm picturing a scared Roomba sweeping along a dark ally, trying to clean but also just trying to find home...
Marine Philosophy
The Science Memes subreddit has been around since April 2012, and it has managed to become one of the largest communities on the entire site. It has 1.2 million members and only a few simple rules that keep the community active and engaged.
And while you might not think science and memes naturally go hand and hand, they’re actually a perfect pair! Intelligence is a great tool to utilize with humor, and there’s no question that scientists are smart. Sarah Wong at PNNL even wrote an article titled ‘Who Says Scientists Can’t Be Funny?’ where she discusses how useful humor can be in the field of science. First, Wong explains that giving presentations and explaining concepts and findings can easily become dull if scientists’ speeches are too dry. But utilizing jokes and word play can help them connect with audiences and be better understood.
“Scientific humor on social media can be a strategic way to communicate science,” Sara Yeo, science comedy expert, told PNNL. “People are more willing to engage with content they find funny. It can open the door for a scientist to have a deeper conversation about their research.”
Australians
In Australia we have to be this way, everything else is always trying to eat us, sting us, bite us, poison us
Armageddon
Poor Scientists
To learn more about how to incorporate humor into science, we reached out to science lover Jill ChaCha, who hosts the Well… That’s Interesting podcast. Jill describes her show as “a weekly comedy sciencey show for people who like learning about weird sh*t,” and lucky for us, she was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda about how it began in the first place. “I created WTI because it’s the kind of show I thought was missing in the podcasting industry: deep dives into scientific discoveries that tell how they came about, using humor and storytelling to make it approachable and memorable,” the host shared.
When it comes to what Jill loves most about creating WTI, she told Bored Panda, “You’ll never know what you’re going to find when doing research for an episode topic: everything from the flat out gross to inspirational. After writing, editing and recording and then finally sharing it with the audience—hearing their responses is a huge joy for me.”
Very Pretty
According to scientific evidence, rainbows turn you gay too. Depending on who you ask. /s
Posted On Curly Girl Sub
Very Awkward
I'm not seeing any cosmic elephants or space turtles.I suspect this may be inaccurate.
We were also curious how Jill decides which topics to discuss on her show. “There are a number of fantastic journals and websites I scroll through,” she shared. “The [topics] that stand out and make it onto the show are usually on the bizarre side, something that makes you say ‘how?!!’ And ‘what?!?’ Like black holes that are ejected from galaxies or parasites that end up in human spines,” the host explained, adding that she uses a number of sources for research including primary sources (case studies) and secondary sources such as the NYTimes, IFL Science, Scientific American.
As far as Jill’s favorite topics to discuss, she says it’s hard to pick just one. “Recently, deep space discoveries have been mind blowing, along with the latest in eDNA,” she noted. “One of my favorite feel-good stories involves researchers finding out a particular turtle isn’t extinct thanks to finding their eDNA—they were just really good at avoiding humans.”
Fungi Appreciation
Specifically arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. OMG while I was typing this on my back porch, a frog just came up and hopped on my foot. Oh, there he goes!
Totally!
No One Is Talking About The Conspiracy Theory That The Moon Is Actually A Helium Filled Seal
Finally, Jill wants to reassure all of you pandas that science is truly for everyone. “It’s not only fascinating, but it’s damn funny and makes for great conversation,” she added. “As an introvert, it’s great to have stories in my back pocket to use. I mean who doesn’t want to hear about the time it rained for 2 million years on Earth and what happened? (Spoiler: it led to the rise of dinosaurs.”
If you’d like to learn some fascinating science facts from Jill, be sure to listen to Well… That’s Interesting anywhere you listen to podcasts!
Classic Anti-Vax Arguments
The plague didn't disappear at all. It was still there, killing thousands of people every year, sometimes wiping out entire towns (in the 18th century, half of the city of Marseille died that way for example), for literally centuries until we generalised the use of antibiotics in the 20th century. Today, it's still there, but we know how to stop its spread so it doesn't spread anymore.
Imperial And Metric System
Do They Use It Still?
We were lucky enough to get in touch with two more science and comedy enthusiasts to get their thoughts on this topic as well. Greg Wah and Dan Beeston, hosts of the podcast Smart Enough to Know Better, “a podcast of science, comedy and ignorance,” were kind enough to have a chat with us about how their show came to be.
“I’ve always been interested in science, but I understand how dry it can be. I find comedy is a great bridging mechanic to draw people in. If you get them to associate laughing with learning you’re on the right track,” Greg shared.
“And I was good at comedy, so at least I could provide one part of the solution,” Dan added.
Agree Or Disagree?
I Hate Flu Season
When it comes to what these hosts love most about creating Smart Enough, Greg told Bored Panda, “My favorite part is being surprised at what comes out of Dan’s mouth. My second favorite part is being surprised at what comes out of mine.”
“I love helping introverted scientists out of their shells and making them realize how much they love talking about what they’re passionate about,” Dan chimed in. “If they’re passionately talking about a subject, suddenly everyone else listening gets passionate about it too.”
Share Your Interesting Science Lectures
haha I still remember when my teacher did this back in 7th grade, everyone laughed their asses off.
While talking about volcanoes spewing "hot gas and ash" into the atmosphere, my middle school science teacher accidentally said "hot a-s-s." That was a wild week for a bunch of 8th grader.
Load More Replies...I’ve seen this before actually! At the time I read it I knew what organism was, but not the other word. And I was older than 13 lol
In sixth grade, the principal taught sex Ed in the auditorium. He started by accidentally saying "today we're e going to have sex" instead of "today we're going to learn about sex.". Someone yelled "do we get to pick our partners?". I still had no idea what sex was, but I knew that must have been funny...
In 6th grade, we were reading out loud and I accidentally said, “his CLOSET friend” instead of “his CLOSEST friend” and I still think about it all the time. I turn 47 this month…
Once, my granny accidentally said, "Let's jack off!" instead of "Let's set off!" before a road trip.
At 13, I probably would have laughed with the others, but having no idea what was funny.
In eighth grade Bio, our teacher, Mr. Tusa, used the term 'masticate' for chewing. So, about ten minutes later, the assistant Dean comes in and asks what we're learning. I pipe up with, "Me. Tusa was just teaching us all how to masticate. '
This happened to a minister at our church! She meant to say "one divine living organism" in a prayer, but she made the same substitution and didn't realize until a quiet room full of dozens of 60 through 80 year olds starting snickering and then guffawing. And it was being live-streamed and recorded. Best Sunday ever!
I once heard a girl who was fed up with the teacher's "quizzies" and accidentally said "If these are quizzies I'd hat to see your testees"
I'm so old that if my science teacher had made that mistake, I'd have thought "what the heck is an orgasm?" Long live good sex education! I certainly didn't get it, back in the day.
Im always scared whenever a science teacher ask me to read the book in fear I will say the word wrong (I read Wattpad and AO3)
Ha! I said that in science class as a 13yo in front of the teacher, by mistake... tactfully she ignored it
One of my classmates last year actually tried to get my teacher to talk about it
Haha! Had a student say that out loud when he was "correcting" another student who was reading something out loud, (her choice). Try to keep a straight face with a bunch of 7th graders!
My social studies teacher wrote public without the “l” and couldn’t figure out why we were laughing.
Oh, don't worry. Apparently I can't even say "it's getting bigger" anymore, so they'll laugh about everything anyway. 🤷♀️😂
I remember being in about y8 and wanting a "passionfruit orchy" from the canteen (it's a juice). Yeah you can guess what came out of my mouth
Life Was Simple Back Then
and they all lived in peace, untill the fire nation attacked
Always The Same
We were also curious how the hosts decide what to discuss on their show, but they informed me that they “don’t discuss anything.” “It’s part of the joy. We surprise and delight each other each episode,” Greg explained.
“We did have an instance where we both brought the same story to the podcast, so now Greg tends to talk about the latest discoveries, the science de jour, and I tend to delve more into the sort of science that has an effect on our lives,” Dan added.
The hosts explained that they discuss “kitchen sink science,” or science that “everyone interacts with every day, whether they want to or not.”
Why You Try To Analysis All Probability Possible
If the moon's up it take you about 9minutes. 8for the light to stop reaching the day side, and on for someone to tweet about it.
Very Good, Kid
“I read through plenty of articles and papers and even Wikipedia looking for new and fancy stories,” Greg noted.
“I start with a question and do a search for a simple answer to my question,” Dan added. “Then I learn the big words involved and search for those on Scinapse or Google scholar. That throws up several other questions that I pursue across the web, and then suddenly I have 4 dozen tabs open on Firefox and I’m trying to link together a piece of info from every single page.”
Sugar Pill
Safety And Science
As far as the hosts’ favorite topics, Greg says, “Space is the place. All astronomy all the time.” And Dan said that his favorite episode that they’ve recorded is ‘The Paperwork’. “It’s from almost ten years ago when I reached out to the International Astronomical Union and tried to persuade them to change the name of the Earth’s sun. They refused, and I still haven’t gotten over it.”
This Is Beyond Maths
Life Makes No Sense
My Turtle Is 0.10 Carlos Long
And when it comes to why we should all be interested in science, Greg says, “Learning about science is like learning the cheat codes to the universe. You learn about what things do and even when you can’t control them, knowing how they work makes it all less scary.”
Dan, however, added that perhaps we shouldn’t be interested in it. “Science has ruined my life,” he told Bored Panda jokingly. “Now, whenever I want to do something hedonistic, I know what the experts have to say about every single thing… I had to GIVE UP DRINKING ALCOHOL. It was a nightmare! Do you know how many leafy greens I eat every night?”
If you’d like to learn more about Dan and Greg or check out their hilarious show Smart Enough to Know Better, be sure to visit their website right here!
Literally No One Asked!
Tldr For Temperature Scales
We hope you’re enjoying these hilarious science pics, pandas! If you’ve learned something new and you’ve giggled at a few of them, we’ve done our jobs. Keep upvoting your favorite memes, and then if you’re interested in checking out Bored Panda’s previous articles featuring the Science Memes subreddit, you can find them right here and here!
Discovering Something New
Priorities Of Nuclear Research
Antarctica
I'm Better
Come on, I need to stop laughing, my tummy hurts now, are you all happy
**nothing Against Ppl Who Wash Dishes, We All Deserve A Livable Wage
Lmao
You know when you say Jupiter, my mind goes to Percy Jackson. And translates it to the Greek word, Zeus. And wonders how Hades/Pluto feels about being kicked off the planet list.
‘Happy Weekend’
There You Have It; The Real Power!
What Is What
God is love. Love is blind. Ray Charles is blind. Therefore, Ray Charles is God.
We Were So Close To Eradicating It. But Then Humanity Became Dumb And Started The Anti-Vaccine Movement. Smallpox Remains The Only Disease We've Eradicated
And we were SO close to eradicating polio but the US messed it up by prioritizing (ultimately lost) military gains in Afghanistan over global health and well-being. (Like yes obviously terrorism is bad, on the as record anti-terrorism, but we almost single-handedly made eradicating polio infeasible for the next 25 years minimum, in the meantime afghan and Pakistani children will get sick, disabled, and die)
Let The Battle Begin
Is This How Cats Are Made?
Ab+ People Are Lucky
So I wonder now if sometimes vampires are allergic to certain blood types. Like how certain people are allergic to peanuts or whatever.
True
Fight Or Flight?
I Didn't Make This Meme
I think I have to clarify something concerning the famous double-slit experiment. First of all: double slit ≠ scissoring! Words like "looking" or "watching" tempt us to regard them too literally. After all, the moon is there, even if I can't look at it because I am sleeping, right? Right! In terms of physics,maybe "measuring" makes more sense. After all, no human eye is able to see single quantum particles. Whenever something's getting measured the quantum system is destroyed by this process, it's collapsing and forces the particles into a final state, even if the measuring device was only installed and not even activated.
So So True :’(
Double Standards
This is something I really struggle in in the lab. I use 50 micro pipette tips for a single flight of samples and that is sooo much single use plastic. What I study matters but there must be a more sustainable way
Visceral Fat Has Entered The Chat
Nobody Likes To Hear The Truth (Got It From A Phd Student In My Lab)
Kidney Stones
Note: this post originally had 84 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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