If you've ever read any legitimate scientific journals, you know that the material held within is over the heads of even the most educated readers (educated in outside topics, of course). If you read any articles from some professors at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, you may understand at least one bit: the Bob Dylan lyrics hidden within. At least five researchers at the school have apparently been competing in an inside-joke competition for years according to a report from Swedish newspaper The Local

It all started when colleagues John Jundberg and Eddie Weitzberg wrote the article "Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind." A librarian on campus informed them that another pair of medical professors had carried out a similar stunt with "Blood on The Tracks: A Simple Twist of Fate" (the first article was about flatulence so the joke title was called for...we have no idea what the second story is on). Those four invited more researchers to take part and now it's become a contest: The winner, or individual who slides the most Dylan references into his work, gets a free lunch. 

Members of the scientific community are no doubt shaking their heads and taking this way too seriously but they shouldn't worry: The Dylanisms can only be placed in articles describing others' work, not in official scientific journals detailing original research. We find that kind of lame but can understand...we suppose science is kind of important. 

"I would much rather become famous for my scientific work than for my Bob Dylan quotes," Weitzberg told the Swedish paper. "But yes, I am enjoying this."

EDITOR'S NOTE: We've obtained information that Ryan Book, the author of this blurb, filled out the short answer section for his course review of Journalism History while in grad school with lyrics from "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." However, while Book may claim to have been influenced by Dylan, the fact that he filled in "<guitar solo!>" as an answer leads us to believe he was in fact citing the Guns N' Roses

See More Bob Dylan
Join the Discussion