Parody science, sometimes called spoof science, is the act of mocking

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

in a satirical way. Science can be parodied for a purpose, ranging from social commentary and making political points, to humor for its own sake.

Parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

science is different from science humor or from real science that happens to be humorous, in that parody science has little or no basis in real science.

List of parody science resources

* '' Annals of Improbable Research'' – Science humor journal that awards the

Ig Nobel Prizes The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of ...

. * ''

Journal of Irreproducible Results The ''Journal of Irreproducible Results'' is a magazine of science humor. It was established in Israel in 1955 by virologist Alexander Kohn and physicist Harry J. Lipkin, who wanted a humor magazine about science, for scientists. It contains a ...

'' – Parody science journal since 1955. * ''

Science Made Stupid ''Science Made Stupid: How to Discomprehend the World Around Us'' is a 1985 book written and illustrated by Tom Weller. The winner of the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book, it is a parody of a junior high or high school-level science text ...

'' – 1985 parody science book by Tom Weller. * ''Wyoming Institute of Technology: WIT'' – a satirical science website. * ''

Speculative Grammarian ''Speculative Grammarian'' (often referred to as ''SpecGram'') is the self-described "premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics". It is a parody science journal, similar in nature to the '' An ...

'' – "the premier scholarly journal featuring research in the neglected field of satirical linguistics". *

Dihydrogen monoxide parody The dihydrogen monoxide parody involves calling water by an unfamiliar chemical name, most often "dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO), and listing some of water's properties in a particularly alarming manner, such as accelerating corrosion (rust) and ...

, which exploits common fears about science to make people think that

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

is dangerous. * ''

Look Around You ''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in ...

'', a BBC scientific

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

based on school science programmes from the '70s and '80s.
The Journal of Astrological Big Data Ecology
website of satirical science articles, news and clickbait * '' Ask Dr. Science'', a humorous radio and television program. * ''

Worm Runner's Digest The ''Worm Runner's Digest'' (''W.R.D.'') was created in 1959 by biologist James V. McConnell after his experiments with memory transfer in planarian worms generated a torrent of mail enquiries. The ''W.R.D.'' published both satirical articles, s ...

.'' The satirical flip-side of the ''Journal of Biological Psychology'', known for such articles as "A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown." * Null Hypothesis: The Journal of Unlikely Science – a satirical science website. *

Sokal affair The Sokal affair, also called the Sokal hoax, was a demonstrative scholarly publishing sting, scholarly hoax performed by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University and University College London. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article t ...

, physicist

Alan Sokal Alan David Sokal (; born January 24, 1955) is an American professor of mathematics at University College London and professor emeritus of physics at New York University. He works in statistical mechanics and combinatorics. He is a critic of postmo ...

's hoax paper entitled, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" was published in the journal

Social Text ''Social Text'' is an academic journal published by Duke University Press. Since its inception by an independent editorial collective in 1979, ''Social Text'' has addressed a wide range of social and cultural phenomena, covering questions of gende ...

. * ''Experimental demonstration of the tomatotopic organization in the Soprano (Cantatrix sopranica L.),'' a fake research paper by the writer

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Holoc ...

. * ''Artificae Plantae: The taxonomy, ecology, and ethnobotany of the Simulacraceae.", Nat Bletter, Kurt A. Reynertson, Julie Velasquez Runk.'' An article about the discovery of plastic plants, published by botanists in a scientific journal. *

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

wrote several spoof scientific papers about the fictitious chemical compound

Thiotimoline Thiotimoline is a fictitious chemical compound conceived by American biochemist and science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It was first described in a spoof scientific paper titled "The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline" in ...

. *

Proceedings of the Natural Institute of Science The ''Proceedings of the Natural Institute of Science'' (or ''PNIS'') is a semi-satirical parody of a scientific journal that publishes articles in three categories: SOFD (Satirical or Fake Data), HARD (Honest And Reliable Data), and editorials. I ...

– Online-only journal that publishes both satirical and real articles in a scientific journal format. * ''Body Ritual Among the

Nacirema Nacirema ("American" spelled backwards) is a term used in anthropology and sociology in relation to aspects of the behavior and society of citizens of the United States of America. The neologism attempts to create a deliberate sense of self-distanc ...

'', a

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

research by

Horace Miner Horace Mitchell Miner (May 26, 1912 – November 26, 1993) was an American anthropologist, particularly interested in those languages of his time that were still closely tied to the earth and agricultural practices. During World War II, he served ...

. *

The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of "writer's block" ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, an article with literally no content, but cited over 70 times

References

{{reflist

External links

Tom Weller
Official website of the author of Science Made Stupid
Dihydrogen Monoxide
Official site on the Dangers of

dihydrogen monoxide The dihydrogen monoxide parody involves calling water by an unfamiliar chemical name, most often "dihydrogen monoxide" (DHMO), and listing some of water's properties in a particularly alarming manner, such as accelerating corrosion (rust) and ...

Parodies Humour in science

List of parody science resources

See also

References

External links