Sometimes Things Get Funny

I over heard this conversation between two of my professors while taking the elevator in my research building: “I just finished writing my grant application, but I am not happy with the title”, said Dr. Lin to Dr. Donald. “It is not catchy. It does not reflect the significance of our study. It fails to convey the grand vision we are trying to propose… Dr. Lin seemed at loss to describe state of quandary he was in. Sometimes I feel that, in U.S at least, all the research boils down to getting a grant funded. It is sucking up all the fun in research. To me research is a creative exercise; it has to be done with joy and passion, just like an artist takes on his profession. ‘I know the exactly what you should do”, quipped Dr. Donald, “just add ‘sex’ somewhere in the title. You will get all the attention you need”. Everyone in the elevator laughed.

It is always good to have a nice sense of humor in all walks of life. It will at least help us to take things in a lighter mood. I am reminded of the above elevator conversation recently by the title of an article I saw in the journal PLoS One. Such title is extremely rare in today’s science. But some of us have a wry sense of humor that brings laughter to the increasingly serious laboratory environment. Of course we cannot always have fun with words in science because we scientists tend to take thing way too literally. This title is literal. It exactly describes the science in the paper, and that is the fun part. Thanks to the authors, reviewers and the editor of the article for giving us some light moments (I don’t know whether it was intentional, if not it is even more funnier).