Comparisons – Page 60 – Science-Education-Research

monoclonal antibodies are like demented postal workers

An example of simile in popular science writing:

"You don't need to know where all the cells are because your mAbs will do the legwork for you, incessantly scouring the body for their target destination like tiny, demented postal workers without a good union."
Catherine Carver

Carver, C. (2017). Immune. How your body defends and protects you. Bloomsbury Sigma. (Read 'Disease and immunity – a biological myth'.)

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Many examples of science similes are listed in 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

spider webs are found in fly interchanges

An example of simile in science writing:

"Spiders' webs are mostly found in places one could call fly interchanges."
Jakob von Uexküll

Uexküll, J. v. (1940/2010). A Theory of Meaning (J. D. O'Neil, Trans.). In A Foray into the Worlds of Animals; with, A Theory of Meaning (pp. 137-208). University of Minnesota Press.

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suppressing explanation in science is like killing the golden egg hen

"…to demand the suppression of scientific explanation, or even its restriction to subsumptive explanation, is very much like killing the golden egg hen of science."
Mario Bunge

Bunge, M. (2017/1998). Philosophy of Science. Volume 2: From explanation to justification (Revised ed.). Routledge

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physics cannot be distilled by induction

An exmple of simile in scientific writing:

"Physics constitutes a logical system of thought which is in a state of evolution, whose basis cannot be distilled, as it were, from experience by an inductive method, but can only be arrived at by free invention."
Albert Einstein

Einstein, A. (1994). Physics and reality (S. Bargmann, Trans.). In Ideas and Opinions. The Modern Library. (1936)

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nuclear chain reaction is like an avalanche

An example of simile used in scientific writing:

"…it may happen as a consequence of the increasing bombardment of uranium atoms by the liberated neutrons the energy thus released will swell like an avalanche within a very short time. To visualise this, think of the example of chain letters. With the number of available atoms, this chain reaction may reach quite enormous, hardly conceivable proportions."
Plank, M. (1947/1949). The meaning and limits of exact science (F. Gaynor, Trans.). In Scientific Autobiography and other papers (pp. 80-120). Philosophical Library.

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selection theory is like a Tibetan prayer-wheel

An example of simile used in scientific writing:

"Like a Tibetan prayer-wheel, Selection Theory murmurs untiringly: 'Everything is useful.' But as to what actually happened and which lines evolution has actually followed, selection theory says nothing, for the evolution is the product of 'chance', and therein obeys no 'law'."
Ludwig von Bertalanffy

Bertalanffy, L. v. (2014). Problems of Life. An evaluation of modern biological thought. Mansfield Centre.(1952/2014). Problems of Life. An evaluation of modern biological thought. Mansfield Centre. (New York: Wiley. 1952)

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alternative conceptions are like weeds

An historical example of simile in science writing:

"if a loadstone [lodestone] be anointed with garlic, or if a diamond be near, it does not attract iron…the errors have been sedulously propagated, and have gained ground (like ill weeds that grow apace) coming down even to our own day…"
William Gilbert

Gilbert, W. (1600/1900). On the Magnet, Magnetick Bodies also, and on the great magnet of the earth; a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments (S. P. Thompson, Trans.; Project Gutenberg ed.).

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interferons languished in a sort of scientific Siberia

An example of simile used in scientific writing:

"The results of both types of studies were unimpressive, undoubtedly because of the small quantities of impure interferon available; consequently, for years studies on interferons were limited to experiments in tissue culture and attempts to produce and purify sufficient quantities of type I interferon from human white blood cells to carry out significant clinical studies, so that in the early 1970s, interferons languished in a scientific Siberia of sorts.
Professor Robert M. Friedman

Friedman R.M. (2008) Clinical uses of interferons. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 65(2):158-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2007.03055.x.

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leaf canopy captures sunshine

An example of metaphor in writing about science:

"the multiplying tissue cells of the oak will have to organise themselves into organs – in roots, trunk, and leaf canopy, which captures the sunshine…
At the same time, the canopy serves as an umbrella that carries the precious moisture from the sky to the fine roots under the earth."
Jakob von Uexküll

Uexküll, J. v. (1940/2010). A Theory of Meaning (J. D. O'Neil, Trans.). In A Foray into the Worlds of Animals; with, A Theory of Meaning (pp. 137-208). University of Minnesota Press.

The expression "captures the sunshine" seems to be figurative, as sunshine cannot be captured (though in a sense theleave capture the energy it carries). The reference to an umbrella does not seem to be analogy (as the function of an umbrella is to avoid getting wet), but simile.

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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.

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observations are trimmed with theoretical shears

An example of metaphor in writing about science:

"…far from being accepted at their face value, observation reports are trimmed with theoretical shears."
Mario Bunge

Bunge, M. (2017/1998). Philosophy of Science. Volume 2: From explanation to justification (Revised ed.). Routledge.

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neurones speak to each other

An example of anthropomorphism and metaphor in popular science writing:

"…whenever cells were speaking to one another in the act of making memories, reaching out to one another across gaps between neurons to form the bridges that allow memory to exist…"
Lauren Slater

Slater, L. (2018). The Drugs That Changed Our Minds. Simon & Schuster.

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Many examples of anthropomorphism are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

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microbes need quality sleep

An example of anthropomorphism and extended metaphor in public science disocurse:

"Microbes, like us, need a good night's sleep. And if you give them that time to sleep, then they have a cleaning team that comes out at night, they have a shift change, so scavengers come tidying up your gut lining and make your gut this perfectly-oiled machine that our ancestors had but we've lost."

Prof. Tim Spector

Tim Spector (Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London) was speaking on an episode of BBC's' Just One Thing – with Michael Mosley'

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