I am a microbiologist and molecular biologist turned tenured biotech faculty turned bioinformatics scientist turned entrepreneur. My passion is developing instructional materials for 21st century biology (
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Judging from their groans and moans, I think sometimes that it's hard for kids to grow up with two scientists as parents. Still, over the years our kids have come to accept (and ignore) that we seem to babble in some kind of strange code peppered with discussions of DNA, software, and lately something called "Next Gen."
We'll cook dinner and start reminiscing about PV=nRT.
Our youngest daughter will try to mix water and oil for brownies and one of us will contribute cheerfully: "Like dissolves like."
Now that our oldest daughter is taking freshman chemistry, she gets to hear some new cliches. Every time she comes home and starts pushing electrons, my husband tells her that "Eight is great."
And, of course, she already knows from her high-school biotech class, that when you're running gels, you "Run to red."
What are your favorite (or least favorite) science cliches?
Education & Careers
Life Science
Comments
Math, not science:
In grad school the dreaded "this is a trivial proof left to the student/reader"
Posted by: vhurtig | December 5, 2007 4:57 PM
"It's an empirical question." (Said when a- it is an empirical question, b- you don't know the answer, and c-unlike some faculty, you don't feel like just making shit up.)
"The rat is always right." (If your experimental subjects are not behaving the way your theory predicted... your theory is the one that is wrong.)
Posted by: Anon | December 5, 2007 6:15 PM
One of the first sentences a friend's scientist father taught her when she was very young was, "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." Whenever issues involving ontogeny or phylogeny come up now, she invariably starts laughing.
Posted by: deang | December 5, 2007 8:27 PM
Teacher: In our extensive coverage of the periodic table this week, have we discussed the semimetallic element with the symbol "B"?
Student: Yes. Boron, ma'am, boron.
Posted by: Ex-drone | December 5, 2007 8:29 PM
...or favorite science acronyms? like OIL RIG: Oxygen is Loss, reduction is Gain
Posted by: amy | December 5, 2007 9:34 PM
Oh, I had forgotten the "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" line! That sure brings back memories!
We need some physics contributions, too. I bet everyone can finish this line:
"What goes up, must ......"
Posted by: Sandra Porter | December 5, 2007 9:36 PM
I used to use IPMAT to help students remember the stages of mitosis.
Interphase
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
sure it doesn't mean anything, but it's easy to remember.
Posted by: Sandra Porter | December 5, 2007 9:47 PM
Well, this is more from civil engineering courses, but one I heard a lot was "the solution to pollution is dilution."
Posted by: Jason Coleman | December 5, 2007 10:09 PM
Medicine has a tonne of 'em. Some examples:
When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras (diagnosis).
If you don't put your finger in it, you'll put your foot in it (rectal exam).
Internists know everything and can do nothing, surgeons know nothing and can do everything, pathologists know everything and can do everything, but it's too late!
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | December 5, 2007 10:40 PM
Well, I've been thinking about this particular one recently, because I'm just getting over a fruit fly infestation. But I love, "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana!" :)
One that always helped me is something a neuro prof shared about graffiti on a bathroom wall..."While I sit here, wondering what to think about, Sodium rushes in and Potassium rushes out.
Posted by: Jeanne Chowning | December 5, 2007 11:41 PM
"Cells that fire together wire together." (approximation of the Hebb postulate for neural plasticity)
Posted by: mc | December 6, 2007 3:42 AM
One that always helped me keep straight. In radiative transfer theory "What you see comes from tau=1".
Posted by: csrster | December 6, 2007 5:28 AM
for physics..
"assuming a perfectly spherical frictionless mass..."
Posted by: wikinite | December 6, 2007 9:09 AM
More physics:
Pumps don't suck
you can't push a rope
and there's the punchline to that physics joke, "Assuming we have a spherical cow..."
Posted by: Tom | December 6, 2007 9:20 AM
... and the stuff you remember right after you hit "submit"
The laws of Thermodynamics
0. You must play the game.
1. You can't win.
2 You can't break even.
3. You can't get out of the game.
Posted by: Tom | December 6, 2007 9:24 AM
From basic statistics: 'You have a bag containing three red balls and five blue balls . . .' and 'What is the probability of there being two boys and one girl?'
It would be nice to think of alternatives, but unfortunately both are very useful cliches.
From evolution 'Eohippus was the size of a fox terrier' is less useful.
Posted by: Richard Simons | December 6, 2007 9:31 AM
I sort of like, " 186,000 miles per second! It's not just a good idea, it's the law!"
You may even try to quote it to a Police Officer who is trying to give you a speeding ticket, but I am not sure how far that will get you! LOL!
Dave Briggs :~)
Posted by: Dave Briggs | December 6, 2007 10:35 AM
ontology recapitulates phylogeny? I'm assuming you're taking cliches that are factually inaccurate.
Posted by: RPM | December 6, 2007 3:29 PM
RPM: accurate or not, I've heard people repeat this over and over and over and over again.
Posted by: Sandra Porter | December 6, 2007 3:36 PM
More math here--I love it when my professors try to say their favorite acronyms as words instead of sequences of letters, like WOLOG (without loss of generality), TFAE (the following are equivalent), and everyone's favorite, every PID is an UFD! (principal ideal domain, unique factorization domain)
Posted by: MC112358 | December 6, 2007 7:36 PM
It is almost too demeaning to call it a cliche, but here goes...
Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution
Posted by: guppygeek | December 6, 2007 9:30 PM
Xylem up, phloem down.
FOIL in math
This was a good one I learned in botany this year:
CHOPKNS CaFe. Mighty Good, Not always Clean. CoMe in, CouZin MoB
To remember the essential elements in plants.
Posted by: Cassidy | December 7, 2007 9:29 AM
Ever since I learned this jingle as a tech, I've never been able to get it out of my head: "DNA makes RNA and RNA makes protein" - sung to the tune of "Mairzy doats and dozy doats".
Also, a pneumonic for the cranial nerves: "On old Olympus' towering tops, a Finn and German vend some hops". (Olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, auditory, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory (sensory), hypoglossal)
Posted by: Christie Robertson | December 8, 2007 12:30 PM
Ooooh! you evil person! Now, I'm going to hear that song all day!
Posted by: Sandra Porter | December 8, 2007 12:36 PM
paramino dimethyl benzaldehyde--sung to "the Irish Washerwoman"
To err is human, to check is Science.
If you cannot express it mathematically, you don't really understand it.
Figures don't lie, but liars figure.
To determine if someone is a chemist ask them to pronounce
" UNIONIZED", to see if they are a mathematician, the same
for "INVALID"
Right hand rule, left hand fool.
Fair, fat and forty--medicine
If at first you don't succeed, analyse your procedure.
Add acid to water ( except when you shouldn't)
Never trust outliers, small data sets of uncertain distribution, or tails of distributions
To build an oscillator, build an amplifier--it's sure to
oscillate;To build an amplifier, build an oscillator--it's sure to fail to oscillate.
How much math should a young theoretical physicist learn?
Answer: More
One theorem a year, you'r out on your ear;Two theorems a year, have no fear--tenure process
Touch the red, you'll be dead.--high voltage
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Scientists are from Missouri.
Posted by: penny | December 9, 2007 3:54 AM
Do as you oughta, add acid to water.
Posted by: makita | December 9, 2007 8:31 AM
Mine's both more general, and visual:
http://xkcd.com/242/
Posted by: Luna_the_cat | December 9, 2007 4:17 PM
nearly all the processes of my day are seen in terms of what is the:
"rate-limiting step"
it's the cashier in the check-out line.
it's the merge point of two highways on the drive to work.
it's my thinking of a third item for this list before I click "post" on this comment.
Posted by: yajeev | December 9, 2007 10:49 PM
yajeev: we use that one all the time, too. At home, the rate-limiting step is usually our 13 yr old daughter.
Posted by: Sandra Porter | December 9, 2007 11:43 PM
I love pneumonics!
This was the one I used for cranial nerves, though it appears to be out of order. Did some nomenclature change, or did I just learn them wrong?
'Oh, oh, oh! To touch and feel slimy, grimy vomit! Ah!'
(olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, s??, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory (sensory), hypoglossal)
Then there are the classics for remembering taxonomic structure:
'Kings play chess on fine green silk'
(kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)
I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that although 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny' was disproved for embryology, other fields like sociology have adopted it and applied it to areas of their work. It's still one of the best 'cliches' ever!
Posted by: Julia | December 12, 2007 9:55 AM