	Book Search by:

So you're into sci fi? But what about sci fact? Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction...

Each month our very own Voyager Science Queen* will bring you interesting, quirky and downright bizarre tasty morsels from the world of science. And its all completely, totally, 100% true!

Science Page July 2011

Amusing Science

This isn’t going to be a straightforward science page this month. It started off being an article on wallaby intestinal emissions (farts) containing less methane than cattle emissions. However, as I started my internet search, something struck me – there were dozens of news articles relating to this research. DOZENS! And yet, when I have investigated research with far greater scientific impact, such as the discovery of organic compounds in other solar systems, I will be lucky to get three or four news articles. I tend to refer back to the original science article for my facts … often because I HAVE to and not just because that is the best and most correct method for science journalism.

So, welcome to the phenomenon of Amusing Science.

I have noticed this disturbing trend is gaining in popularity. Reporting science means reporting facts for the people who are interested in the actual science. The article can still be entertaining … but the main thrust of the article should be about science. However, it appears that some journalists consider straight science too bland, too dry or elitist for a general audience and some articles are pandering to the lowest popular denominator (fart humour).

Now humour does have a part to play in science reporting. Nothing helps the acceptance of a new concept like humour, because something humorous isn’t too scary or strange. As well, there is no rule that says science can’t be funny and respectable at the same time. Anyone who has followed my science pages knows I am all for lightening a topic with a pun or a joke (or two or ten). It is when the humour overshadows the actual topic is when things are running out of hand.

Humour shouldn’t be used to ‘dumb down’ a topic. I found a great many of the wallaby fart articles were more interested in the actual fact that scientists were studying these emissions rather than focussing on the results of the study. That is when is stops being funny for me.

Isaac Asimov, in his day, and now Dr Karl Kruszelnicki manage to popularize science without forgetting to supply solid reliable science facts. Dr Karl managed to win an Ig Nobel in 2002 for his study on belly button fluff … a bizarre topic, but it was still studied with proper methodology and real facts were discovered; this supports my assertion that science can be both serious and silly at the same time. However, in many of the articles covering Dr Karl’s achievement there are very few discussions about what he actually discovered.

Science reporting should be – at the most basic level – about science. It doesn’t matter if the science is presented in a serious academic manner or a light-hearted one; there should be some meat in the article. Amusing Science is when the facts are pushed to one side and forgotten, which is why I used the word ‘amusing’, with its condescending overtones. Science reporting should be enlightening, interesting and exciting … and never talk down the topic.

For those who were hoping to read about wallaby farts … a quick search of the Internet will supply you with an embarrassment of riches.

*The Voyager Science Queen is also known as Lynne Lumsden Green

So, who is this woman who attempts to entertain us with Science?

Lynne Lumsden Green lives on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, and attends the University of the Sunshine Coast. Ever the perpetual student, she is adding a B.A. in Creative Writing to her B.SC. in Zoology (Jennifer Fallon is her role model). As one of the founding members of Scriber Space, the site for USC creative writers, she hopes to create a writing community as lively and as close as the Voyager writing community. She spends her non-study hours volunteering for writing-related events, writing, reading, and – oh yes – looking after her family. She is still passionately interested in anything and everything, and enjoys the opportunity to share this passion via the Science Page. Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, Neil Gaiman, and all the Voyager authors are her favourite people on the planet...and one of her goals is to meet all of those authors, well, at least those authors still in the land of the living. Recently, her own writing efforts have been meeting with better success. She is putting this down to her excellent lecturers and persistence, and to the fact that you can eat chocolate while typing.

Read previous Sci-Facts

Looking for more scientific oddities? Have you checked out Dr Steven Juan's website? He is, quite literally, the wizard of odds!