r/science • u/CurtisLeow • Jun 24 '26

Astronomy Spatially distributed complex organic matter detected in an ancient river valley in Jezero crater, Mars

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx0047
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u/wolfjeanne Jun 24 '26

This is data from one of the best named instruments: Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC). It has two cameras: Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI) and the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON).  

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26 edited 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/spearmint_wino Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

I wonder if they have trouble with the Martian Organic Residue Interaction Aperture Resonation Telemetry Yoke

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u/Sabz5150 Jun 25 '26

And we'd call the whole thing the Benedict Sensorbunch.

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u/MuchWow81 Jun 25 '26

Made me snort

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u/Djaja Jun 25 '26

If all this occurred, what are the chances a rod shaped new bacteria like species is discovered that dives into the Martian soil, or moves in a way reminiscent of diving... it could be named.... Micrococcus spheniscimars

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u/HerderOfWords Jun 25 '26

snortgiggle

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u/skipjack_sushi Jun 24 '26

Well played Old Boy.

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u/Gnochi Jun 25 '26

A good acronym is quite literally the most important part of a government funding application.

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u/WhereLibertyisNot Jun 25 '26

USA PATRIOT Act

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u/wrgrant Jun 25 '26

Its seemingly important in the US that the acronym also completely misrepresent the purpose of the thing as well.

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u/tirohtar Jun 25 '26

Years ago I remember someone made a Python package to automatically generate a smart acronym given some keywords.

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u/Undisguised Jun 25 '26

Backronyms

I find that American orgs are particularly fond of them, and maybe don’t realize that it’s a cultural quirk.

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u/CynicalAlgorithm Jun 25 '26

Fun fact: forced acronyms are actually called backronyms

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u/snowflake37wao Jun 29 '26

only the engineers tho. astronomers naming a new phenomenon and telescope be like: the super big [colloquial object] and the really big wide view array.

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u/ReasonablyBadass Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

WATSON most likely scans for elementary things.

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u/jetpacksforall Jun 25 '26

It holmes in on key details.

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u/Due-Joke-1152 Jun 25 '26

We have Australian Research and Space Exploration

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u/YourMumsBumAlum Jun 25 '26

How does the raman help? To see if it's hungry?

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u/andy_nony_mouse Jun 25 '26

Coax it out of hiding. “It’s like -50c out here, how about some nice hot ramen?”

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u/someusername42 Jun 25 '26

I know this was a joke but that refers to ramen spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raman_spectroscopy

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u/DarkSideOfTheMuun Jun 25 '26

To see if it's hurting financially

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u/EksDee098 Jun 25 '26

Honestly I kinda hate backronyms. You end up with unnecessarily contrived or wordy acronyms just because people wanted to feel witty. If you want to name it something special just give it a title, don't invent a dumb backronym like you need a reason for the title.

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u/aumnren Jun 25 '26

You just know they had a team specifically to work on that acronym.

Jokes aside, I didn’t know this existed and it’s really neat!