TechCrunch | 21.03.2026 00:39
A newly published survey of more than 500 science conference presentations across a two-year period set out to determine whether scientists are funny, which is itself funny, if not the most productive use of time. The results were about what you’d expect: two-thirds of attempts at humor garnered either polite chuckles or straight-up dead silence, and only 9% landed well enough to get most of the room laughing. The biggest laughs, also unsurprisingly, came from technical snafus, like slides malfunctioning and mics cutting out. (Nothing brings an audience together faster than watching something go wrong for someone else.)
