what-researchers-study
Explanation
The Joke
The comic is titled "What Researchers Study" and shows four panels, each depicting a different type of researcher and what they study. A mathematician studies "What is" (with abstract equations on a chalkboard). A scientist studies "What probably is" (with a bell curve/normal distribution on the chalkboard). An engineer studies "What isn't yet" (with technical diagrams). Finally, a bioenginner studies "What never should have been" (shown next to a terrifying chimeric creature -- a monstrous combination of different animals).
The Humor
The comic builds a logical progression from pure to applied fields, with each discipline moving further from abstract truth toward practical creation. The punchline lands on bioengineering, which takes the pattern to its absurd extreme: while mathematicians discover truth and scientists measure probability, bioengineers create abominations that nature never intended. The horrified expression of the bioengineer next to their grotesque creation suggests even they are disturbed by what they have wrought. This plays on popular anxieties about genetic engineering and biological manipulation, as well as the "mad scientist" trope, while also being a lighthearted jab at the field of bioengineering.
References
The comic references the philosophical distinctions between pure and applied sciences. The hierarchy loosely follows the "purity" scale often joked about in academia (famously captured in the xkcd comic "Purity"), where mathematics is the most abstract and other fields become progressively more applied.