Other science cartoons

Cartoon about the threat of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI cartoon (Artificial intelligence).

A cartoon about AI, or artificial intelligence. The cartoon shows concern for the fact that it may be impossible to programme safeguards into AI systems, as the AI system will become intelligent enough to find a loophole to overcome the programmed safeguards.
Concern about AI has existed ever since the conncept of AI was thought of – now that AI is becoming a practical possibility the concern is becoming more widely held. People who believe that AI is an existential threat to humanity are sometimes called doomers.

Drawn: 3rd April 2023

Cartoon reference number: a947
The threat of Artificial Intelligence (AI): cartoon

Artificial intelligence cartoon.

A cartoon about the possible dangers of AI, or artificial intelligence. The cartoon is based on the computer cliché that to fix a computer you need to turn it off and turn it on again. The cartoon coveys the message that AI may become so clever that it can thwart our attempts to control it. People who believe that AI is an existential threat to humanity are sometimes called doomers.

Drawn: 3rd April 2023

First published: Private Eye, issue 1596, April 2023

Cartoon reference number: a946
Placebo cartoon

Placebo effect cartoon

A cartoon about the placebo effect.

The placebo effect is the phenomenon of people reacting to a placebo in the same way that they would if the placebo was an active drug.

Drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a925
Cutbacks in science funding – cartoon

A cartoon about science budgets and cutbacks in science funding.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a725
Women in science

A cartoon about women in science and their relationship with the media.

A cartoon about one of the problems that confront women in the workplace.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a724
A dye that changes colour to reflect your thoughts.

A cartoon about a dye that changes colour depending on your thoughts.

A thought-sensitive dye.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a719
Internet dating for scientists

A cartoon about the language that scientists (may) use when internet dating.

A cartoon about the way that different types of people use different language in interpersonal encounters.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a718
Memory-altering drugs – cartoon

A cartoon about drugs that alter the functioning of the memory.

A cartoon about research into drugs that enhance or inhibit brain function.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a717
Scientific research funding

A cartoon about the funding of scientific research.

A cartoon about a clash between scientific research and the vested interests of the funder of the research.

It’s also a cartoon about alchemy and the quest to turn base metal into gold.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a716
Invisible paint cartoon

A cartoon about paint that makes things invisible.

A cartoon about scientific research into the properties of paint.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a714
Arsenic poisoning cartoon

A cartoon about using arsenic as poison.

A cartoon about arsenicosis.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a715
Kekule’s snake dream about molecular structure

A cartoon about Kekule’s snake dream about the molecular structure of benzene.

Friedrich August Kekulé (1829 – 1896) was a German organic chemist.

He is reputed to have had a dream in which snakes held their own tails, giving him a clue to the molecular structure of benzene.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a713
Personality profiling for job applicants – cartoon from Chemistry World

A cartoon about the use of personality profiling in job interviews.

The use of Rorscharch tests for assessing people’s personalities.

The interviewee is interpreting an X-ray crystallography image that resembles a spider
An example from my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A cartoon about espionage, spying, subversion, secret police, state repression.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a722
A quote about science: SCIENCE LIES… at the heart of our search for truth

A science quote about the truth of the scientific purpose.
A riposte to anti-science

Quote playing with the fact that some people misrepresent science as telling lies about the nature of things.
The quote is my own
A typography-based image
This quote is a riposte to the claim by anti-scientific sections of society that science peddles lies and untruths (often at the behest of big business, drug companies, governments and other interested parties). Such critics of science are often unaware of the scientific method.

Cartoon reference number: a631
Thinking cap – a cartoon about cognition

Cognition cartoon

A cartoon showing a person putting on a ‘thinking cap’.
The thinking cap resembles a brain.

An image about thought processes, thinking, the nature of consciousness, cognition, studying, problem solving – illustrating the saying “Put on your thinking cap”

Original version drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a609
Altruism cartoon

Altruism cartoon

An illustration depicting altruistic behavior

The cartoon shows a person spanning a chasm or abyss, acting as a bridge with other people walking across.
The benefits of altruism are sometimes debated in evolutionary terms, sometimes arguing that altruism evolved because the good of the group is more important than the good of the individual. Altruism may also be seen as a form of display, where the altruistic individual is displaying his or her positive qualities to others, thus improving social status.
The illustration could also be interpreted as depicting exploitation, depending on context

Cartoon created: 2010

Cartoon reference number: a616
Professor Brian Cox cartoon – we are stardust

Professor Brian Cox cartoon
We are made of stardust

A humorous comment about the fact that all of the elements apart from hydrogen and helium were created inside stars – so everything is made of stardust, including the less pleasant things

The joke here is that when the tv astronomer Professor Brian Cox says that everything is made of stardust he really lays it on thick in a way that many people, especially women, find very attractive. So here the woman is actually saying that she finds Brian Cox attractive, and it even affects her attitude to slugs

See my book on the nature of the universe

Cartoon drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a586
Illustration – do we live inside a hologram?

Do we live inside a hologram? Cartoon

A cartoon showing people climbing out of the holgram panel on a credit card.
The caption reads “Bad news. Not only are we living inside a hologram, but we’re nearing our expiry date.”

The illustration is about whether our three dimensional reality is a form of hologram like projection or illusion.
The joke is in comparing a grand theory of a hologramic universe with the mundane hologram on a credit card.
A cartoon about the nature of the universe, virtual reality

Cartoon reference number: a538
Science cartoons: creating mathematical order out of chaos

Science cartoons – mathematics
Creating mathematical order out of chaos

A cartoon showing mathematicians or scientists writing mathematical equations on a blackboard.
One scientist is saying “At last – we’ve created mathematical order in a chaotic universe!”

Part of the joke is that the maths on the blackboard look totally chaotic and incomprehensible, illustrating the common opinion that maths is a difficult subject

Cartoon reference number: a533
Evolution of man from a single-celled organism in the primordial soup – cartoon

Man evolving from a single-celled organism – cartoon

Cartoon of single-celled organisms in the primordial soup – with one that looks like a human being.
This cartoon is about the theory that life on earth started as simple unicellular organisms in chemical rich bodies of water

A cartoon about evolution, Darwin, Darwinism, abiogenesis and the origins of life.

Cartoon reference number: a395
Cave painting of aliens – illustration

Cartoon of cave painting of a ufo or flying saucer
Was God an astronaut? Cartoon

Did life reach earth from outer space?

The ufo in the cartoon is projecting a dna shaped beam of energy down into the water on earth, creating the first life on the planet.
The concept of Was God an Astronaut? (as written about by Erich von Däniken, amongst others)has been revived recently with the film Prometheus by Ridley Scott, and will no doubt be aired again when the sequel is released. In Prometheus there was a scene depicting prehistoric cave paintings, although not humorously as here.

The theory that life may have been planted on Earth billions of years ago by an advanced alien civilization is sometimes known as directed panspermia. This theory was (mischievously?) proposed by Francis Crick (of dna fame) together with biologist Leslie Orgel in 1971. Directed panspermia is sometimes evoked to solve a particular problem in the science of life – science’s current inability to explain life’s origin. Of course the theory simply puts off the explanation, very much in the way that religions do

This cartoon first appeared in BBC Knowledge magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a337
Philosophy cartoon – why do we like sunsets?

Cartoon – why do we like sunsets?

Cartoon about evolutionary psychology

Why do we find sunsets spiritually uplifting?
A cartoon about the fact that sensory stimuli that are of a greater than average intensity often evoke profound emotions. This applies to such things as sunsets and flowers, and is also a factor in our appreciation of the arts, from music to cinema. A comment on spirituality and pseudo-spirituallity (I’m a believer in pseudospirituality myself).
This cartoon first appeared in BBC Knowledge magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a333
Are women more intelligent than men?

Cartoon based on a study showing that women are more intelligent than men

Cartoon about gender differences

Recent scientific studies show that in some ways women may be more intelligent than men
The cartoon shows a man trying to prove that men are more intelligent than women by asking a woman a question that the woman doesn’t know the answer to.
The implication is that the fact that the woman doesn’t know the answer to the question (about football) proves that she is cleverer than the man – yet the man doesn’t realise this.
The F.A. (Football Association) cup is a cup awarded to the winners of a particular football (soccer) championship.
A joke about IQ, intelligence differences, evolutionary psychology and feminism.

Cartoon reference number: a319
Phone cartoon. Study shows that women are more intelligent than men

Cartoon: are women more intelligent than men?

Recent scientific studies show that in some ways women may be more intelligent than men

Cartoon about gender differences

The comic shows a man using a complicated mobile phone. He is obviously very attracted to the complexity of the technology involved. A woman is saying that she’d rather just use a simpler phone.
The implication is that both approaches are valid, although the superficial interpretation is that the woman’s attitude is the more intelligent. It’s meant to be ambiguous, and for people to fall into accepting the interpretation of the cartoon that they first perceive (for instance, many women will think that the cartoon is a straightforward criticism of the male obsession with technology, and most men will either think that the cartoon is just plain wrong or that it is being ironic in showing a woman thinking that she’s superior to men).

Cartoon reference number: a318
Artificial intelligence illustration

Artificial intelligence or artificial sentience cartoon

Illustration showing a robot thinking.
The robot’s thoughts are in the form of a printed circuit

The robot in the illustration is based on a toy tin robot.

A cartoon about sentience, sentient computers, artificial intelligence and the Turing test.

Cartoon reference number: a300
Child development cartoon – small boys are interested in dinosaurs, older boys are interested in girls

Child development cartoon – a small child looking at a picture of a dinosaur, and an older child looking at a photo of a naked young woman.

Child development cartoon. Cartoon showing how children’s interests change as they get older, especially as they enter puberty and adolescence.
The younger boy in the cartoon is looking at a picture of a dinosaur (as almost all young boys are interested in dinosaurs). The older (adolescent) boy is looking at a photograph of a naked young woman, and is dismissively looking down on the ‘childish’ interest in dinosaurs exhibited by the younger child. The older child is acting ‘grown up’.

A cartoon about child development, adolescence, puberty, emerging sexuality, childhood innocence, testosterone, hormones kicking in.

Cartoon reference number: a081

Other science cartoons

AI cartoon (Artificial intelligence).

Drawn: 3rd April 2023

Cartoon reference number: a947

Artificial intelligence cartoon.

Drawn: 3rd April 2023

First published: Private Eye, issue 1596, April 2023

Cartoon reference number: a946

Placebo effect cartoon

A cartoon about the placebo effect.

The placebo effect is the phenomenon of people reacting to a placebo in the same way that they would if the placebo was an active drug.

Drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a925

A cartoon about science budgets and cutbacks in science funding.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a725

A cartoon about women in science and their relationship with the media.

A cartoon about one of the problems that confront women in the workplace.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a724

A cartoon about a dye that changes colour depending on your thoughts.

A thought-sensitive dye.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a719

A cartoon about the language that scientists (may) use when internet dating.

A cartoon about the way that different types of people use different language in interpersonal encounters.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a718

A cartoon about drugs that alter the functioning of the memory.

A cartoon about research into drugs that enhance or inhibit brain function.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Cartoon reference number: a717

A cartoon about the funding of scientific research.

A cartoon about a clash between scientific research and the vested interests of the funder of the research.

It’s also a cartoon about alchemy and the quest to turn base metal into gold.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a716

A cartoon about paint that makes things invisible.

A cartoon about scientific research into the properties of paint.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a714

A cartoon about using arsenic as poison.

A cartoon about arsenicosis.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a715

A cartoon about Kekule’s snake dream about the molecular structure of benzene.

Friedrich August Kekulé (1829 – 1896) was a German organic chemist.

He is reputed to have had a dream in which snakes held their own tails, giving him a clue to the molecular structure of benzene.

This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a713

A cartoon about the use of personality profiling in job interviews.

The use of Rorscharch tests for assessing people’s personalities.

The interviewee is interpreting an X-ray crystallography image that resembles a spiderAn example from my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A cartoon about espionage, spying, subversion, secret police, state repression.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

Cartoon reference number: a722

A science quote about the truth of the scientific purpose.A riposte to anti-science

Cartoon reference number: a631

Cognition cartoon

A cartoon showing a person putting on a ‘thinking cap’. The thinking cap resembles a brain.

An image about thought processes, thinking, the nature of consciousness, cognition, studying, problem solving – illustrating the saying “Put on your thinking cap” Original version drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a609

An illustration depicting altruistic behavior

Cartoon created: 2010

Cartoon reference number: a616

Professor Brian Cox cartoon We are made of stardust

A humorous comment about the fact that all of the elements apart from hydrogen and helium were created inside stars – so everything is made of stardust, including the less pleasant things

See my book on the nature of the universe

Cartoon drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a586

Do we live inside a hologram? Cartoon

A cartoon showing people climbing out of the holgram panel on a credit card. The caption reads “Bad news. Not only are we living inside a hologram, but we’re nearing our expiry date.”

The illustration is about whether our three dimensional reality is a form of hologram like projection or illusion. The joke is in comparing a grand theory of a hologramic universe with the mundane hologram on a credit card. A cartoon about the nature of the universe, virtual reality

Cartoon reference number: a538

Science cartoons – mathematics Creating mathematical order out of chaos

A cartoon showing mathematicians or scientists writing mathematical equations on a blackboard. One scientist is saying “At last – we’ve created mathematical order in a chaotic universe!”

The interviewee is interpreting an X-ray crystallography image that resembles a spider
An example from my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A science quote about the truth of the scientific purpose.
A riposte to anti-science

A cartoon showing a person putting on a ‘thinking cap’.
The thinking cap resembles a brain.

An image about thought processes, thinking, the nature of consciousness, cognition, studying, problem solving – illustrating the saying “Put on your thinking cap”

Original version drawn: 2011

Professor Brian Cox cartoon
We are made of stardust

A cartoon showing people climbing out of the holgram panel on a credit card.
The caption reads “Bad news. Not only are we living inside a hologram, but we’re nearing our expiry date.”

The illustration is about whether our three dimensional reality is a form of hologram like projection or illusion.
The joke is in comparing a grand theory of a hologramic universe with the mundane hologram on a credit card.
A cartoon about the nature of the universe, virtual reality

Science cartoons – mathematics
Creating mathematical order out of chaos

A cartoon showing mathematicians or scientists writing mathematical equations on a blackboard.
One scientist is saying “At last – we’ve created mathematical order in a chaotic universe!”

Cartoon of single-celled organisms in the primordial soup – with one that looks like a human being.
This cartoon is about the theory that life on earth started as simple unicellular organisms in chemical rich bodies of water

Cartoon of cave painting of a ufo or flying saucer
Was God an astronaut? Cartoon

Illustration showing a robot thinking.
The robot’s thoughts are in the form of a printed circuit