2011-01-10
Explanation
Titled "The Difference Between Human Beings and Geneticists," this comic shows two scientists -- Frank and his female colleague -- who have just gotten official paperwork for a gene they discovered, giving it its own name. The woman is excited, but Frank sheepishly admits: "I hope you don'''t mind, but... I changed it at the last second." She is furious: "WHAT?! Frank, I spent years on this! You can'''t just--" But then she sees the new name on the paperwork, and they embrace. The document reads "Gene Nomenclature: SUSANWILLYOUMA RRYME" -- Frank has used the gene name to propose marriage ("Susan, will you marry me?"). The final panel, captioned "Soon...," shows a science journal headline: "Gene for Syphilis Susceptibility Discovered" -- revealing that the gene they named with a romantic proposal is unfortunately associated with syphilis.
The comic plays on the real-world tradition of scientists naming genes with creative (and sometimes silly) acronyms and abbreviations. Frank'''s romantic gesture of encoding a marriage proposal into a gene name is sweet in isolation, but becomes deeply awkward when you realize the gene is linked to syphilis susceptibility. Every future scientist studying sexually transmitted disease genetics will encounter this romantic proposal embedded in the name of a syphilis gene -- a permanent, published reminder of Frank'''s poor judgment in choosing which gene to name after his proposal.
The votey panel offers a related real-world fun fact: there are actually two genes called "IDO" (Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase), so when your wedding officiant asks "Do you take this man?" you could technically answer with the name of a real gene. This ties back to the comic'''s theme of the intersection between gene nomenclature and romance, and reflects SMBC'''s love of weaving genuine scientific trivia into its humor.