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Midichlorians:  It’s Science!

Posted by Bret on 07/25/17 at 12:49 AM Category: Star Wars Misc
Galaxy's Edge


There is a scourge among us, and at least this time, it's not 6" Black Series figures.

We're all aware of scientific journals. The reputable ones are sources of papers, research, and discoveries, usually in a specialized field. Once accepted, submissions are extensively peer reviewed, and after passing, are published so that the wider community can analyze, critique, support, or debunk them. They are part of he scientific record and can then be forever referenced by researchers around the world. Typically, such journals have a subscriber base who pay for access to the research, while publishing is free to the authors.

A dark side of this process has emerged. A large number of "predatory" open-access journals with few or no credentials reach out to researchers, often through spamming tactics, to lure some to pay a fee to have their papers reviewed and published. Fees (by whoever pays) are meant to go towards the extensive peer review process, producing a reputable journal. Standards at predatory journals are pitiful, and papers are simply published after the most cursory of "peer reviews", if at all.

Stings have happened in the past, in which researchers will purposely submit nonsense in order to expose predatory journals. But in this case, the scientist in question used Star Wars as the basis of his sting.

Neuroskeptic, a Discover Magazine blogger, wrote a paper on midichlorians and submitted to nine journals under the names of the formidable duo of Dr. Lucas McGeorge and Dr. Annette Kin.

The paper was written to appear serious and professional. Neuroskeptic believed most people with a casual knowledge of Star Wars would probably catch the hoax "within 2 minutes", while scientists with no knowledge of the movies might take a bit longer to realize. The paper included these gems, along with the entire Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise:

Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
Neuroskeptic inserted the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.

Beyond supplying cellular energy, midichloria perform functions such as Force sensitivity…”

“Involved in ATP production is the citric acid cycle, also referred to as the Kyloren cycle after its discoverer”

“Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that reside in all living cells – without the midi-chlorians, life couldn’t exist, and we’d have no knowledge of the force. Midichlorial disorders often erupt as brain diseases, such as autism.”


Four of the nine journals accepted the paper. One asked for a fee to publish, but to Neuroskeptic's amazement, the other 3 asked for no money. Three rejected the paper outright. Two journals asked for revisions and resubmission, one of which clearly recognized the joke but asked for a revision anyway. Finally, Dr. Lucas McGeorge received an invitation to serve on a journal's editorial board.

The kicker from Neuroskeptic: "Ironically, I’m not even a big Star Wars fan. I just like the memes."




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