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posted by takyon on Tuesday December 18 2018, @10:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the scat-ado dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Boffins don't give a sh!t, slap Trump's face on a turd in science journal

A pair of boffins are in hot water after the image of President Donald Trump made an unexpected cameo in a paper on how to gather animal DNA from their poop at scale.

The paper [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20427-9] [DX], which was published in Nature Scientific Reports, discusses the difficulties of gaining high-quality DNA samples from wild animals in a non-invasive way. Feces is the obvious option, but it is dominated by DNA from other organisms, such as bacteria – so the authors proposed a way to enrich the desired animal's DNA from the sample.

However, the pair also buried an Easter egg in a figure depicting the method, which shows a baboon sitting next to an average-sized turd. And on that turd, is a tiny image of the leader of the free world.

[...] Here's a close-up of the image in question:

— Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) December 17, 2018

[...] "The editors have become aware of unusual aspects to the 'Extract fecal DNA' illustration in figure 1. We are investigating, and appropriate editorial action will be taken once the matter is resolved," a note said.

Here is the graphic referenced:

Figure 1: | Scientific Reports


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday December 18 2018, @12:28PM (2 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday December 18 2018, @12:28PM (#775798) Homepage Journal

    I saw a turd with a guy's face on it. And a 2nd turd with the face of a dog. Named Kenny and Christina. Real mature, folks! It's not mature, it's the opposite. So disapointing that somebody from my alma mater was part of this one. Too bad for Penn State. Because they won't be seeing my magnificent "endowment." And it really says so much that the editors of Nature Scientific Reports let this one go through. That could be why the magazine business isn't so great. Anyway, who cares?

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 18 2018, @02:51PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 18 2018, @02:51PM (#775842) Journal

    Be sure to check carefully.

    People say that it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a face on a turd and a turd on a face.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.