May 11, 2026: We are a bunch of science writers. Yes, yes you know we are the kind who go,” Yay!! Scientists have cured cancer,” or “here, eat this plant, it will lower your depression,” or “oral sex can help you live longer!!!”
As science writers, we have to walk a minefield of crazy science junk to find that one good story to write about. But, hey there are a lot of ‘hits’ in junk science reporting. And, we need hits.
So, most reporters will go for the attention-grabbing, sensational headline.
Like this one for example, where researchers from Sweden and Denmark warned men to beware of the “nut grabbing” fish Pacu. At least one site reported Pacu to be “Penis Amputating Castrations Underwater,” which was created by a “miliant group of lesbian atheists.”
Pacu has its own Wikipedia page– which is the bible for all seekers of knowledge!
Also, the story must’ve come out from somewhere, right? Yes, it came from Copenhagen Museum of Natural History. But, Peter Rask Moller, the guy who was quoted by several articles, later admitted that he was just joking and didn’t realize that his remark would get so much publicity.
LOL all thesis
Okay, enough of dumb, gullible reporters! Let’s talk about Harvard University senior Angela Frankel’s now-famous blog “LOL My Thesis.” (oh, and i hate the word viral but that’s a story for some other day)
For those of you who are too lazy to open the link- the blog is about under-grad and even post-grad researchers passing quirky remarks about their theses. Franknel said that she launched the blog mainly “as a means of procrastination from my own thesis.”
Or, this one- “Cancer: still not cured” from Biology, Stanford University. See, this is how a theses title should be written; it is short; it is mighty sweet and it saves a lot of time and energy of underpaid science writers who were just smart enough to get a grad degree, but not a real job. Seriously, science folks, just stick to simple words, so that the people writing about your work can finish writing and go kill a whale or something.
“Some really old stars pulsate and we can use this to tell how far away things are, mostly by throwing out the ones that don’t fit the relation we expect” from Astrophysics, Pomona College just sums up most of the research on space that gets thrown around every, single, day.
This is how decent science writers see most research articles anyway. We might not be experts in scientific research, but there is a small set of neurons that shouts “bullshit” every time we come across a ‘science article’ that seems to be slapping logic in its face.
In other words, Angela Frankel’s blog has not only helped researchers look at the dumber (funnier) side of research, but has also helped few science writers get over a really, really sad day.
Thanks Franknel!! Hope you find whatever you are looking for without killing too many fish.
NOTE: This was a blog written almost a decade ago by the journalist as a fun post. This came out of a personal experience and as she has put it, going through a ton of science and fiction for that one story that will get decent hits and also keep your brain cells from protesting about too much goss being thrown around.
