Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Joke

The comic shows a platypus being loaded into what appears to be a large cannon or particle accelerator-like device. The platypus is launched at high speed and there is a "BOOM!" explosion. In the final panel, two scientists discuss the experiment: "Do you think people would pay for open platypus collision data on its true purpose?" The other responds: "If you know a better way to make a platypus travel that fast, I'd like to claim your f***ing Nobel."

The joke is that scientists have built an enormously expensive particle accelerator-style facility, but instead of colliding subatomic particles, they are launching platypuses at high velocities. They justify it with the same rhetoric actual particle physicists use to justify expensive accelerator experiments.

The Humor

The humor operates by taking the structure and language of real debates about big science funding (particularly particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider) and applying it to something absurd -- launching platypuses. The scientists' defensive justification ("if you know a better way...") parodies how physicists respond to critics who question the expense of particle physics research. The absurdity of treating platypus acceleration as a legitimate scientific endeavor worthy of a Nobel Prize is the central gag. It also plays on the platypus's status as nature's most absurd animal, making it the perfect subject for absurd science.

References

The comic parodies large-scale particle physics experiments, particularly the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which accelerates particles to near-light speed and collides them. The phrase "open collision data" references the actual practice of making experimental data publicly available for analysis.

Votey

The votey adds: "What do you do with the negative platypi?" "Shh!" This parodies the concept of antimatter in particle physics (negative/anti-particles), while "Shh!" implies the fate of the "negative platypi" is too disturbing or classified to discuss -- adding a darkly comic layer to the already absurd premise.