An example of metaphor used in public science discourse:
"Actually, endorphins, they're cheeky little things. You get an endorphin hit from laughter but you also get it from fake laughter….you get a measurable change in pain thresholds – when you've been to a comedy gig, when you've laughed helplessly or even when you've just sort of gone 'ha, ha, ha, ha, ha'. It seems to be something about, maybe, the endorphin load of the intercostal muscles in the ribs that you are using to laugh."
Prof. Sophie Scott (Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL) was talking on an episode ('Chuckle, Snigger and LOL') of 'Curious Cases'.
Read about metaphor in science
Read about examples of science metaphors
Many examples of science metaphors are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.
