this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

What's with americans and mitochondria ?

[–] ScrooLewse@lemmy.myserv.one 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's been so ubiquitous for so long that I honestly don't know where it came from. But most of the time when I hear "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" it's being used to take a jab at how impractical our education system is, as though to say, "instead of teaching me about X, they taught me about the mitochondria"

[–] LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Mitochondria are cool and important.

[–] Default_Defect@midwest.social 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

But I'd like to have learned actual practical information as well. Not once has mitochondria come up other than as a meme, but knowing how local and national government works might have been more useful. If it wasn't on the state standardized test, it wasn't taught at my schools.

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Finances are taught poorly everywhere tbf. I was lucky with my precalculus teacher being a huge finance nerd, she spent at least 3 separate full class sessions going over credit cards and loans completely unrelated to our content at the time

[–] LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Understanding the building blocks of life is very important. This is the foundation of how your body processes energy. If you want to lose weight, for example, you should understand respiration.

Reread my comment, I ALSO wanted to learn info more useful to every day life. I never said instead of.

[–] NewAgeOldPerson@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Grew up in Asia. Only moved to the US for undergrad... And this applies. So it's not just the Americans methinks.

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

That's interesting

We don't have that where I live, sure we had to learn the organelles of a cell, but there was no über-focusing on the mitochondria.

(Btw I didn't know about "methinks". Learned a new word, thanks !)

[–] ewo@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

Methinks you have to use the phrase, "methinks" more often!

[–] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 5 points 1 day ago

Our politicians of a Sithian persuasion want to use Force Lightning on their enemies and subjects. Sadly(?), mitochondria are not quite the same as midi-chlorians.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The phrase "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" was coined in a 1957 article by biologist Philip Siekevitz. It apparently rattled around in the English lexicon until 2013, when a tumblr user by the handle apatheticghost posted the following:

what I learned in school

  1. I am a fucking piece of shit

  2. everybody else is also a piece of shit

  3. mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

This blew up in popularity and variations emerged that replaced the first two items with various social commentary, but always kept the mitochondria line. It stood for a kind of universal frustration students have with school, that a lot of the curriculum feels like memorizing game show trivia answers rather than useful or practical skills applicable to adult life. Loads of us have no idea how the tax system works but we can all parrot biology factoids.

The phrase became one of those catchphrase in-jokes. A bit like how you can't say 69 without saying "nice" anymore.

My on personal Mandela Effect: I'd swear I'm from the parallel universe where the phrase comes from the Bill Nye The Science Guy theme song, but apparently I'm thinking of "Inertia is a property of matter."

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the detailed answer !