If an experiment is any good, the process needs to be replicated. That requires some details on the methods researchers used.
But, uh, how detailed, exactly?
Scientists have been playing off that idea, tweeting the TMI parts of their methods with the hashtag #OverlyHonestMethods.
Here are some classics:
Water stress was applied to the plants until we felt we had achieved an odd sort of victory over them #overlyhonestmethods
— Hope Jahren (@HopeJahren) January 8, 2013
We used jargon instead of plain English to prove that a decade of grad school and postdoc made us smart. #overlyhonestmethods
— Ethan Perlstein (@eperlste) January 8, 2013
We had to pause our ag stream expmt b/c beavers took a walk thru a cornfield & turned our stream into a pond. #overlyhonestmethods #real
— Holly Menninger (@DrHolly) January 8, 2013
The instrument was inoperable during this period because somebody hit one of the switches with their arse. #overlyhonestmethods
— Will Morgan (@willtmorgan) January 8, 2013
"Our results were non-significant at p>0.05, but they're humdingers at p>0.1" :) #overlyhonestmethods
— Richard L. Vance (@RLombardVance) January 8, 2013
You can download our code from the URL supplied. Good luck downloading the only postdoc who can get it to run, though #overlyhonestmethods
— Ian Holmes (@ianholmes) January 8, 2013
A detailed sedimentary log was carried out at this locality, because there was a comfy rock to sit down on beside it #overlyhonestmethods
— Christopher Jennings (@chrsphr) January 8, 2013
AND: Many more are collected in this Storify from Beckie Port:
[The Node]
140 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
For our annual How It Works issue, we break down everything from the massive Falcon Heavy rocket to a tiny DNA sequencer that connects to a USB port. We also take a look at an ambitious plan for faster-than-light travel and dive into the billion-dollar science of dog food.
Plus the latest Legos, Cadillac's plug-in hybrid, a tractor built for the apocalypse, and more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor:Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email
Scientists are overrated, they are humans with all the failings of every other human, don't turn them into the gods they're not.
"Experiment was repeated until we had three statistically significant similar results and could discard the outliers"
How do you think they got the 'evidence' that man is warming up everything?
I can't pick a favorite - they're all funny as he11! True, true ...