Knock knock, no one’s there. Study finds scientists’ jokes mostly fall flat

## Summary
The work is published todayin Proceedings of the Royal Society B . “Humour is a skill that scientists don’t necessarily prioritize,” says Victoria Stout, a co-author of the study who performs improvisational theatre in a troupe called STEM Fatales (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and works at Sacramento City College in California in a science-student support role. “I think they should,” adds Stout, who has some tips for anyone interested in giving it a go (see ‘Just for pun’). “More people will want to collaborate with you if you put yourself out there. Article Google Scholar Download references Reprints and permissions Related Articles What happens in our brains when we're trying to be funny How to give a great scientific talk Public-speaking tips from the experts: what scientists can learn from comics, musicians and actors To make a flat joke funnier, cue the laugh track Top tips for giving an engaging talk Subjects Scientific community Conferences and meetings Human behaviour Latest on: Scientific community Conferences and meetings Human behaviour How I turned online misogyny about my PhD into momentum for my career Career Column 17 MAR 26 Rethinking AI’s role in survey research: from threat to collaboration Correspondence 17 MAR 26 How the Pokémon franchise has helped to shape neuroscience Correspondence 17 MAR 26 AI research deluge: why one conference is asking authors to rank their own papers Nature Index 04 FEB 26 Is the journal legitimate? Aletheia-Probe can help you decide Technology Feature 02 FEB 26 Scientists skip key US meetings — and seize on smaller alternatives News 16 DEC 25 AI can ‘same-ify’ human expression — can some brains resist its pull? News 05 MAR 26 Neanderthal dad, human mum: study reveals ancient procreation pattern News 26 FEB 26 Jobs Seeking Talents: Faculty Positions in AI at Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences Full/Associate/Assistant Professor Positions of State Key Labs are opening.

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The speakers of some 40% of talks surveyed made no attempts at humour, not even puns.
Credit: Getty
Everyone knows that a good joke can
liven up a talk
. Sadly, however, good jokes are in short supply — at least according to a survey of more than 500 presentations at biology meetings
1
.
Two-thirds of the
attempts at humour
during these talks fell flat, drawing either polite chuckles or no laughter at all. Almost one-quarter of attempted jokes were judged as a “moderate success”, eliciting audible laughter from around half the audience. Only 9% prompted most or all of the attendees to laugh enthusiastically. In fairness, 42% of jests were spontaneous remarks relating to glitches in presentations, such as slide malfunctions, that were not intended to bring down the house. And audiences might not have expected jokes, making it harder to get them to laugh.
Why laughter in the lab can help your science
Roughly 40% of the talks monitored were humourless, eliminating the risk of failed jokes, but probably raising the risk of bored listeners. The work is published todayin
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
.
“Humour is a skill that scientists don’t necessarily prioritize,” says Victoria Stout, a co-author of the study who performs improvisational theatre in a troupe called STEM Fatales (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and works at Sacramento City College in California in a science-student support role. “I think they should,” adds Stout, who has some tips for anyone interested in giving it a go (see ‘Just for pun’). “More people will want to collaborate with you if you put yourself out there. It will be memorable.”
Are you kidding?
Stout was working towards a PhD in environmental studies when she started taking notes about jokes made at a conference to stave off boredom. This quickly mushroomed into a full-scale study with subterranean ecologist Stefano Mammola at the Italian National Research Council in Rome and other colleagues.
Between them, the team members attended 531 talks at 14 biology conferences held between 2022 and 2024. They logged 870 attempts at humour, which they identified through signals such as the speaker pausing for a laugh.
How a silly science prize changed my career
Men were slightly more likely to tell jokes than women, perhaps because they felt more emboldened to take risks, the authors speculate. Almost 60% of talks included at least one funny moment.
“That’s higher than I would have thought. Good for the biologists,” says Taylor Soderborg, a physician-scientist and executive director of Science Riot, a non-profit organization focused on communications training, in Denver, Colorado, who was not involved in the study.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00854-9
References
Mammola, S.
et al.
Proc. R. Soc. B
293
, 20253000 (2026).
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Savage, B. M., Lujan, H. L., Thipparthi, R. R. & DiCarlo, S. E.
Adv. Physiol. Edu.
41
, 341–347 (2017).
Article
PubMed
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Heard, S. B., Cull, C. A. & White, E. R.
Facets
https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0079 (2023).
Article
Google Scholar
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---

## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- Almost one-quarter of attempted jokes were judged as a “moderate success”, eliciting audible laughter from around half the audience.

### Areas for Consideration
- Why laughter in the lab can help your science Roughly 40% of the talks monitored were humourless, eliminating the risk of failed jokes, but probably raising the risk of bored listeners.
- Article Google Scholar Download references Reprints and permissions Related Articles What happens in our brains when we're trying to be funny How to give a great scientific talk Public-speaking tips from the experts: what scientists can learn from comics, musicians and actors To make a flat joke funnier, cue the laugh track Top tips for giving an engaging talk Subjects Scientific community Conferences and meetings Human behaviour Latest on: Scientific community Conferences and meetings Human behaviour How I turned online misogyny about my PhD into momentum for my career Career Column 17 MAR 26 Rethinking AI’s role in survey research: from threat to collaboration Correspondence 17 MAR 26 How the Pokémon franchise has helped to shape neuroscience Correspondence 17 MAR 26 AI research deluge: why one conference is asking authors to rank their own papers Nature Index 04 FEB 26 Is the journal legitimate?

### Implications
- And audiences might not have expected jokes, making it harder to get them to laugh.
- The work is published todayin Proceedings of the Royal Society B . “Humour is a skill that scientists don’t necessarily prioritize,” says Victoria Stout, a co-author of the study who performs improvisational theatre in a troupe called STEM Fatales (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and works at Sacramento City College in California in a science-student support role. “I think they should,” adds Stout, who has some tips for anyone interested in giving it a go (see ‘Just for pun’). “More people will want to collaborate with you if you put yourself out there.
- It will be memorable.” Are you kidding?

### Expert Commentary
This article covers research, jokes, talks topics. Notable strengths include discussion of research. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 935.