I don’t know if anyone out there shares this peculiar hobby of mine (God, I hope not!), but I often find myself scouring the depths of the internet for some truly bizarre academic papers. Though there is an endless supply of such content to keep one entertained (read: distract yourself during those afternoons you planned to be productive but ended up succumbing to the lunch food coma), I’ve managed to compile a short list of the most fascinating ones for your enjoyment!
- The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute (Lim et al, 2005, BMJ, doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7531.1498)
This fantastic and robust study examines the enigmatic phenomenon of disappearing teaspoons in a shared kitchen—an issue of acute importance to all of us who rely on these tiny utensils. The authors reveal the shocking truth about teaspoons’ shockingly short half-life in research institutes. The question remains: does this phenomenon extend to other cutlery as well?
- The Protein Data Big bang theory (Rademaker and Vriend, 2023, Proteins: Structure, Function, Bioinformatics, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/10970134/PROT02023-1680267949.pdf)
In this intriguing study, the authors argue that traces of the Big Bang and the everlasting expansion of matter can be found in all aspects of life, even in the world of structural biology. They propose that the clashes we often scoff about in models deposited in the earlier years of the PDB might not be mere errors in model building but instead artifacts of the universe’s grand beginning.
- A Mathematical Model for the Determination of Total Area Under Glucose Tolerance and Other Metabolic Curves (Tai, Diabetes Care, 1994, https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.17.2.152)
Many a times has a PhD student made a grand discovery, only to realise that someone got there before them. In this case, someone else had already conquered the dizzying heights of integral calculus…
- Dear Reviewer 2: Go F’ Yourself (Peterson, Social Science Quarterly, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12824)
In this delightfully “meta” analysis of scientific publishing, David Peterson explores the universal animosity towards Reviewer 2. However, as the plot unfolds, a Poirot-esque twist reveals that it might be Reviewer 3 who causes all the anguish. The real identity of the dreaded reviewer remains to be defended.
- The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer’s block” (Upper, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1974, https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1974.7-497a)
A situation all too familiar to us. In this gem of a paper, the author shares their struggles with “writer’s block” and the noteworthy reviewer comments are worth a read.
Enjoy these quirky reads from the scientific realm!
