More science humor

ß-galatosidase is an enzyme that has been co-opted by researchers as a reporter gene for successful molecular ligations and senescence assays. We often shorten the name of the assay to ß-gals. A friend of mine who did salmonella research, used to do so many of them that even his wife knew what they were. As a matter of fact, he talked about them so much that his wife called herself his "α-gal". Rather clever, I thought, also funny.

Scientist do have a sense of humor

More often than not, scientist are accused of being a humorless bunch. Most of us, with the possible exception of fruit fly genetists, are indeed somewhat too serious for our own good. For example, we tend to name proteins after how much mass they have. P53, a pivotal tumor suppessor protein is named so because it is a protein (the p) with a mass of 53 kilodaltons (the 53). Fruit fly guys on the the other hand, think they are clever. They name genes things like frizzled, son of sevenless, wingless, hedgehog, and so forth. Just to prove the rest of us do have a sense of humor here is a table for your viewing pleasure. It may not mean too much to anyone who hasn't spent much time in the lab but I think it is spot on and drop dead funny.