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An example of simile used by a scientist to eplain a scientific idea:

"…there are trillions of these microbes in the lower part of our gut, that are community, and they are really like a community of chemical factories, and if you think of them in that way, like mini-pharmacies, that change the food you eat into amazing chemicals that have all these effects, all over our body…"

Pof. Tim Spector

Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London was interviewed on an episode (Professor Tim Spector, scientist) of the BBC's radio programme/podcast 'Desert Island Discs'.

Read about similes in science

Read about examples of science similes

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.

An example of metaphor used to discredit a scientific theory (the idea that the species found on isolated islands had arived by chance from continents separated by sea):

"It has been objected to Mr Darwin's theory – of Oceanic Islands having never been connected with the mainland – that this would imply that their animal population was a matter of chance; it has been termed the 'flotsam and jetsam theory', and it has been maintained that nature does not work by the chapter of accidents. But in the case which I have here described, we have the most positive evidence that such has been the mode of peopling the islands."

Alfred Russel Wallace

Wallace, A. R. (1869). Malay Archipelago

An example of an analogy used by a scientist:

"At the eastern extremity of Sumatra, and separated from it by a straight about fifteen miles wide, is the small rocky island of Banca, celebrated for its tin mines…were found several species distinct from those of the adjacent coast of Sumatra. …

There were also two new ground thrushes of the genus Pitta, closely allied to, but quite distinct form, two other species inhabiting both Sumatra and Borneo, and which did not perceptibly differ in thee large and widely separated islands. This is just as if the Isle of Man possessed a peculiar species of thrush and blackbird, distinct from the birds which are common to England and Ireland."

Alfred Russel Wallace

Wallace, A. R. (1869). Malay Archipelago

An historical example of a metaphor used by a scientist:

"The objections opposing, not the inoculation of the tubercle which is undeniable, but its virulence and specificity, have been raised not only against glanders, its first cousin, but also against syphilis, which is more distantly related. The syphilis virus, just like the glanders and tuberculosis viruses, has had its sworn enemies, and the arms used to oppose it were none other than those recuperated by the adversaries of the specificity of tuberculosis. The first line of argument was also to deny inoculability and to oppose negative or contradictory experimental results against positive results."

Jean-Antoine Villemin

Villemin, J. A. (1868/2015). On the virulence and specificity of tuberculosis [De la virulence et de la spécificité de la tuberculose]. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

An historical example of an analogy used by a scientist:

"The concept of infectious disease. This is based on the notion of the organism as a closed unit and of the hostile causative agents invading it. The causative agent produces a bad effect (attack). The organism responds with a reaction (defence). This results in a conflict, which is taken to be the essence of disease. The whole of immunology is permeated with such primitive images of war. …

It is very doubtful whether an invasion in the old sense is possible, involving as it does an interference by completely foreign organisms in natural conditions. A completely foreign organism could find no receptors capable of reactions and thus could not generate a biological process. It is therefore better to speak of a complicated revolution within the complex life unit than of an invasion of it."

Ludwik Fleck

Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact [Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv] (F. Bradley & T. J. Trenn, Trans.; T. J. Trenn & R. K. Merton, Eds.). The University of Chicago Press. (1935)