this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
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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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[–] dave@feddit.uk 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is that why bees can't wear contact lenses?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, it's because they have compound eyes. Even if they could afford all the different lenses they need, they'd never have enough time to put them in and take them out, while still working a full day.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

surely they could just make one big lens with facets in it? sure they're gonna be hellishly expensive but at least they're usable

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly, I was already out of my depth with the entomology and ophthalmology discussed here. The economics of bee optometry might be a bridge too far for me. Can a bee make enough honey to afford such lenses? If so, does it improve the bee's ability to make honey enough to justify the cost? I have no idea and no clue regarding how to investigate this issue.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

perhaps we're coming at this from the wrong direction, does a bee even need lenses? maybe what they actually need is just eye protection, which would make everything much cheaper

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

Correction or no, it seems something like goggles is the solution. Boggles?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting hypothesis. I guess the best way to test it would be to try to sell bee safety glasses to beekeepers.

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can alway upsell them on bee ears to hold the glasses on

Genius. Genetic modification of bees. What could possibly go wrong?