this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2024
737 points (99.1% liked)

Science Memes

11217 readers
2757 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.

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.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

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 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Sal@mander.xyz
fossilesque@mander.xyz
SciBot@mander.xyz
737
Asshole Lab Rat (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They do not take rats from say a maze solving study, then give them diabetes for a different study, then give them a brain tumor before putting them in the decapicone (a real product).

I figured, but in the meme story this is pretty explicitly what is happening.

[–] NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org -1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

They're probably studying effects of diet on cognitive function.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The diet experiment is presented as present tense. The cat smell experiment is described with "I once ran an experiment", part of the speaker's "thesis", which is in the past. They are clearly keeping #42 alive to be used in totally separate research, in this fictional The Onion esque scenario.

[–] NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It could be made up. Probably really.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago

I found a source that includes the second half which makes it more obvious:

Dr. Macho believes #42’s behavior is intentional and aimed specifically at him. “I caught him laughing at me once while I was trying to sort data he’d fucked up. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Can rats even laugh? And what would it look like?’ Trust me, when a rat laughs at you, you’ll know.”

When asked why he doesn’t simply exchange #42 for a less malicious rat, Dr. Macho explained, “You can’t just use an infinite number of lab rats. They start to think you’re a psycho if you keep asking for more.” Dr. Macho sighed. “I feel like I’m living in an annoying Pixar movie where I’m the bad guy – oh, wait….I’m the bad guy. I’m the evil scientist performing experiments on a sassy, smart rat. And my name is Dr. Stu Macho? Oof, yeah, I’m the wrong one here.”

Just behind Dr. Macho, #42 winked and walked directly into his food bowl.

[–] NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

huh, this story is really old and of dubious origin but afaict the original websites are down and I can't be bothered going into archives.