Science, we all know, is serious stuff. If it is to retain its cultural and cognitive authority, it must be seen as an objective, dispassionate and value-free enterprise. But science, at its core, is a human enterprise populated by all types of people. Some, to be sure, are rather austere - practically agelastic. Newton, it's been said, only laughed once: when asked if there would be any use in reading Euclid. But science and scientists can also be awfully funny - without jeopardising the objectivity of what comes to count (however provisionally) as certified knowledge.q
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