this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
745 points (98.7% liked)

Science Memes

20668 readers
2237 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.



Meta Post Tags



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.


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.

We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.

See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.



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
 
all 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 118 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Researcher: "Well, you see, when hippos run very fast, there are moments when their four limbs are in the air, it's as if-"

Journalist: "HIPPOPOTAMOS CAN FLY!!!! THE FUCKING HIPPOS FLY!!!! A HIPPO JUST HIT THE PENTAGON!"

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 77 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] BossDj@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Ok Georgie boy, you've trained for this. Sit and wait for your handler. Just sit and wait for your handler.

[–] ElJefe@lemm.ee 22 points 1 year ago

And it is now the penta gone!

Ok I’ll see myself out…

[–] ElJefe@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And it is now the penta gone!

Ok I’ll see myself out.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 year ago (3 children)

#Yo dawg.

#I heard you like comments.

#So I prefix every line with a hashtag so I can comment my comment while I comment.

exit 1

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

The user just wanted their post to…

…”take off”.

😎YYEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

just Tumblr Brain things

[–] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
main.cpp:1:2: error: invalid preprocessing directive #Yo
    1 | #Yo dawg.
      |  ^~
main.cpp:3:2: error: invalid preprocessing directive #I
    3 | #I heard you like comments.
      |  ^
main.cpp:5:2: error: invalid preprocessing directive #So
    5 | #So I prefix every line with a hashtag so I can comment my comment while I comment.
      |  ^~
main.cpp:7:1: error: β€˜exit’ does not name a type
    7 | exit 1
      | ^~~~
main.cpp:1:1: note: β€˜exit’ is defined in header β€˜β€™; did you forget to β€˜#include ’?
  +++ |+#include <cstdlib>
    1 | #Yo dawg.
[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 year ago

Sorry, mate. I dropped this.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it even considered running if that doesn't happen?

[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That was in fact what inspired the question

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 32 points 1 year ago
[–] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But can hippos reach escape velocity?

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

They can but not by themselves

[–] perishthethought@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Next time on Smarter Every Day!

One thing I learned from Kerbal space program is that anything flies with enough boosters

[–] lenuup@reddthat.com 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I am very certain that most animals can get airborne, even for prolonged periods of time,when reaching high enough speed. The trick lies in accelerating them to sufficient speed. Safe landing and deceleration can also pose a problem.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, if you're just yeeting animals off a cliff, then they can all "fly".

[–] lenuup@reddthat.com 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The OP said "get airborne". Controlled flight was not part of the discussion.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://www.horsesandus.com/the-4-basic-horse-gaits-explained/

Neat breakdown of walk vs trot vs canter vs gallop, for horses.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/wildlife-biodiversity/hippos-dont-fly-but-the-massive-animals-can-get-airborne-2

Non-nonsensical headline and brief summary of hipoos gaits: evidently they have been observed reaching a trot, which does include moments where two feet are coming up, and two down, thus for that brief moment, the hippo is 'suspended' or... """airborne""".

[–] ftbd@feddit.org 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When I woke up this morning, I didn't anticipate I'd be spending 15 minutes reading about how horses walk, but it was well worth that time!

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Happy to help put a little getty-up in your get-along, haha!

I feel like I am part of a rather rare confluence of relavant demographics here:

Was raised around horses, have dated horse girls, have ridden and cared for horses.

Have been a copy editor for a student newspaper.

Have also done a lot of game modding and aleays been a tech dork, so the kinematics/mechanics of properly animated horses are also interesting that way.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 12 points 1 year ago

Yeah they can fly when they poop and propeller-spin their tails.

[–] LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

That’s why I sleep with a hippo net around my bed

Fun fact: if a hippo runs fast enough they can travel trough time

[–] judgyweevil@feddit.it 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know it's a comment, but they didn't have to comment every line

[–] NoPanko@feddit.uk 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s a screenshot of Tumblr tags, very common on tumblr to hide whole essays in tags

[–] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure, but that doesn't excuse or exclude it from being frustrating, annoying, and just generally unpleasant.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

i've never understood it either, it makes sense to separate out short quips but when it's a full reply it's.. meant to go in the reply field..

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 5 points 1 year ago

Fly, my pretties! Fly!

[–] gens@programming.dev 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ahctually it's not running unless all feet are off the ground at some point.

Only for bipedals. Quadrupedal animals can well keep a leg on the ground at all times even when moving at speed. To borrow from another comment here: Would you call a stampeding elephant "walking"?

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Just to chase flying pigs.

[–] No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago