this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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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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[–] Signtist@lemm.ee 115 points 2 days ago (4 children)

It was ruined for me when I was getting my masters in genetics and learned that "mitochondria" is plural, and the singular is "mitochondrion." So, it's either "the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" or "the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell," and neither feel right.

[–] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I feel like the leading "the" is what's messing that up.

"Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell" sounds fine to me.

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[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I refer to one piece of broccoli as a ~~broccolus~~ broccolo.

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Except its Italian, not Latin, so the singular is broccolo . If you want to use the Latin word,.it's broccus

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[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I have one die which gives one datum at a time.

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why have you done this to us?!

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

A grammatical error in a translation from a foreign galactic basic to English is what ruined the force for you? Lol. If we can believe in defying gravity, I think we can believe "The iceburgs is the ship's fear."

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[–] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 93 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It's mental how this is pretty much known worldwide, like drawing that S thing. The one similar to the Suzuki logo

[–] TheEntity@lemmy.world 42 points 2 days ago (6 children)

As a non-native English speaker, I still have no idea why this specific phrase is so significant and at this point I'm afraid to ask.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was born in the 1970's and it is lost on me too, I think its something that became a thing to the generation after me

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I took biology in 1996; it wasn't a thing yet. Someone else claimed it was already widespread by 2001. I don't think I encountered it in the wild before 2005, but it could have been much later than that.

KnowYourMeme suggests the phrase originated in a textbook from 1957, but it didn't reach memehood until 2014.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I think it comes from an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and exploded as a meme.

[–] fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s not from any specific media reference, it’s just essentially what every child was taught, verbatim, in grade school.

[–] wander1236@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the meme originated from tumblr. the quote itself is older than color tv.

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[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago

Lol that's like saying a joke originated on the Family Guy

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[–] xpinchx@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I think it's just the most simplified you can get talking about cellular biology, specifically when teaching organelles. So most primary science textbooks use that terminology and it's more memorable than all the other organelles so it just stuck and it got repeated and reviewed every year and it sorta became a pre Internet meme and part of a shared consciousness if you were schooled in the US.

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[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The S was known worldwide pre internet though. Was the powerhouse line?

[–] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 36 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They are both universal knowledge passed down through generations

[–] Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

...maternally via mitochondrial DNA

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

we are the self-preservation society.

[–] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The exact origin of the symbol (cool S) is unclear; however, it is generally considered to be an artifact of childlore, meaning that it is taught by children to children over the course of generations.

TIL
Cool S wiki

Childlore

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[–] Yoga@lemmy.ca 68 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Can we take a step back and just appreciate how good Bluey is?

  1. Challenging but accessible

  2. Inclusive

  3. Emotional depth

  4. Grounded

  5. Not disgusting annoying

I really appreciate when kids shows are made with parents/guardians in mind (ie will watching the same episode 50 times make you want to off yourself or not)

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's really amazing. The only (not really) downside is that certain episodes make me tear up.

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[–] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What's interesting to me about that phrase is that no one uses the word "powerhouse" for anything else any more, except maybe to call something powerful.

Since it's not the 1920s any more and we have an electrical grid and centralized power generation. We still sometimes do use temporary off-grid generators, but we no longer have any need for a dedicated word that means "building or shed that we keep our generators in".

[–] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] frigidaphelion@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lmao I was watching an episode of ST: Voyager the other day and a little girl learning about mitochondria said they were the "warp core of the cell". That phrase is ridiculously pervasive

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[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 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 !)

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[–] 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.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] neatobuilds@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago

She's mighty-mighty, just lettin' it all hang out

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)
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[–] snekmuffin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 days ago

Inertia is a property of matter

[–] BlursedTarot@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] biscuit@lemdro.id 8 points 2 days ago

Damn, I haven't thought about that 90's Sabrina show since, well.. the 90's!

[–] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Why does everyone know this, but still think the definition of "metabolism" is solely built towards fake weight loss regiments? Bit of a tangent.

Its so ubiquitous that LLMs will always say it like that when it comes up.

[–] SeboBear@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 day ago

Same here in Germany - immediately came to my mind!

[–] CreatingMachines@fedia.io 5 points 2 days ago

the mitochondria is the energy center of the cell

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