For Science!: Difference between revisions

# Can we make sure ''willing'' subjects are informed of all the risks involved in testing my dangerous untested invention?

# [[Scale of Scientific Sins|Are]] [[Strapped to An Operating Table|these]] [[Aesoptinum|experiments]] [[Theyd Cut You Up|ethical?]] Is [[Phlebotinum Rebel|Phlebotinum Rebellion]] likely?

# How will I fund my research, and how can I make money off of it? (What? [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|These are legitimate questions!]])

 

'''Dantalion''': I don't know! That's why we do these experiments! }}

* Major motivation of the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Steamboy]]''. The movie leaves some ambiguity over whether he's ''right''.

** Szilard is another example. His entire feud with Maiza is {{spoiler|he wouldn't share the secret of immortality}}. His plotline in 1930s revolves around completing the Grand Panecea. He regularly eats other immortals to acquire their knowledge, and has been known to grant partial immortality to people specifically so he could eat them, too.

* Doc from ''[[Hellsing]]'' explicitly states in the final volume that his whole motive was to push the boundaries of science. In the name of science, he created ghouls, Nazi vampires, cyborgs, weapons, a catboy with a tenuous grasp on causality, and assisted in the near total destruction of London. All For Science.

== [[Comics]] ==

* An issue of the Postboot ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Book)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' features a group of (faux-)suicide-bombing space scientists, the Objective Order, on a rampage against mystical forces, "For science!!"

* In one ''[[Dilbert]]'' comic, Dilbert invents a quantum computer capable of interacting with matter in a parallel universe to solve complex equations. Dogbert points out that according to Chaos Theory, the shifts he causes could very well destroy the other universe. Dilbert's response? "[[Getting Crap Past the Radar|Shift happens]]." (And Dogbert adds "Fire it up.")

* Occasionally the Batman [[Rogues Gallery|rogue]] Scarecrow is portrayed as using his Fear Toxin on people [[For Science!]]. Other times, it is part of his backstory - he ''began'' by studying how fear works simply [[For Science!]], but eventually becomes so obsessed with it that he crosses over into [[Mad Scientist]] territory.

== Fan Works ==

* In the fan-film ''[http://www.returnoftheghostbusters.com/ Return of the Ghostbusters]'', [[Designated Villain]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dr. Konstantine]] tells TV audiences that if the amulet he has discovered does, as theorized, hold the powers of Egyptian god Anubis, he'd like "to harness the power as a weapon... for the benefit of mankind, of course."

* [[Myth Busters]] vs. [[My Little Pony]] on [http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=theartrix#/d3bmtq1 Deviantart]

* Uxie from the ''[[Poke Wars]]'' series joined Ho-oh's [[Kill All Humans]] coalition solely because he believes extinction of humanity would advance the progress of the world. This trope is also the very reason that he's implied to plan on {{spoiler|clone Ash}}, something he's well aware Ho-oh would never approve of.

* In [[Disturbing Behavior]] it is revealed that the [[Ax Crazy]] [[Mad Scientist]] thinks that doing behavioral modifications on high school students (including his own daughter!) is acceptable because "Science is ''GOD''!"

* In ''Bats'', [[Devil in Plain Sight|Obviously Evil]] [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. McCabe initially justifies creating the eponymous (killer and super-intelligent) bats with the words "I'm a scientist. That's ''what we do''. Make everything a little bit better." It's later hinted that it was a {{spoiler|secret government project}}, but still you have to wonder why the protagonists accepted that justification so well...

{{quote| "Joe Dobson. Caught in the wheels of progress."}}

* In [[The Black Hole]], professor Reinhardt {{spoiler|turns the entire crew of his ship into mindless zombie androids}} and tries to kill the crew of the Palomino, just to satisfy his obsession of traveling into a black hole.

* In ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' Ian Malcolm says "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

{{quote| '''Hammond:''' How can we stand in the light of discovery... and NOT act?<br />

'''Larry:''' For Science!<br />

'''Curly:''' For 5,000 Bucks! }}

* While Winston and Venkman in ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' are pretty much [[Punch Clock Hero|Punch Clock Heroes]], this is Stanz and Egon's motivation.

* Subverted somewhat in ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'': the rats have no idea (nor does the audience) why they or the other animals at NIMH were being [[Animal Testing|experimented on]]. Nicodemus surmises that the humans did so simply "to satisfy some scientific curiosity." This is somewhat different from the book, in which it's made clear that the scientists are working to increase the intelligence of the rats and mice in their test group.

* Becomes somewhat of a gag in ''[[Back to The Future Part III]]'', where Doc and Marty hijack a train at gunpoint, which they need to make their time machine reach the speed needed for the travel. When the unimpressed driver asks if it's a robbery, Doc hesitates and then answers "It's a science experiment!".

* The only conceivable reason why [[Herr Doctor|the doctor]] in ''[[The Human Centipede]]'' would think to {{spoiler|sew three people [[Squick|mouth-to-anus]] to create the titular human centipede}}.

{{quote| "I can't do it! I can't destroy Frankenstein's creation. I've got to see it at its full power!" }}

{{quote| '''Dr. Fuji:''' We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...and we succeeded.}}

 

* ''[[Discworld]]'''s [[Expy|Leonard of Quirm]] is a strange mix. He is appallingly naive about human nature, declaring that an effective nuclear bomb would have no military application, though it might be useful in the mining industry(a nod to Alfred Nobel inventing dynamite, and who was also unable to forsee people wanting to use it for anything other than mining). He is scathing about Colon and Nobby's pipe dreams about a weaponised version of his <s>submarine</s> Going-Under-The-Water-Safely Device, and then subsequently designs one himself, just to see if he could. Perhaps a little less naive following his conversation with Colon and Nobby, he then destroys the plans.<br /><br />He's spoken trustingly at least once of how, if people tried to use one of his destructive devices for evil, "the government would put a stop to things before they went too far."<br /><br />Quirm's faith may not be misplaced, considering the government consists of [[Magnificent Bastard]] lord Vetinari who does not even slightly desire war and conquest(having actively stopped it in one story). He does however desire things to run smoothly and with as little fuss as possible, and would indeed put a stop to Quirm's inventions being used for evil ends.

* Dr. Qwi Xux in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' embodies this trope: she's the genius scientist behind the Death Star, the Sun Crusher, and the World Devastators... but she has ''no idea'' that they're weapons, and simply takes joy at the creation of works of scientific genius. This is [[Lampshade|lampshaded]] when Han points out that the names probably should have been a clue.<br /><br />Qwi thought the Death Star could be used on uninhabited planets and thus their ores mined much more easily, inexpensively, and safely, the Sun Crusher could be used for planned detonations of unstable old stars that might otherwise supernova unexpectedly and be a hazard to navigation, and so on. She's still a bit flummoxed at trying to explain the names, with the best she can do being "Well, they were just code names!" It was less that she was just doing science for science's sake, and more that she was so in love with science and so [[Genre Blindness|massively naive]] that she didn't pick up on what she was actually doing.<br /><br />It's also because she was taken, taught and brainwashed as a child to the point of being fairly broken psychologically -- she's almost a sort of [[Cloudcuckoolander]]/[[Bunny Ears Lawyer]] scientist.

* While Dr. Quincy Wyatt of Nancy Werlin's novel Double Helix does have an intention to use his research to some better end, he remarks, after being asked of the legality of his work, "What a stupid thing to focus on Eli. I thought you'd be interested in the ''science'' here."

* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]: While Captain Nemo motivation is For [[Revenge]], [[The Professor]] Aronnax is willing to sacrificing [[Professor Guinea Pig|his own freedom for the rest of his life]] [[For Science!|for the rare chance to discover all the sea’s secret in the Nautilus]]. Thankfully, he is not [[Guinea Pig Family|willing to sacrifice his friend’s freedom]].

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* [[Sherlock]] is constantly doing some kind of experiment, usually with body parts in the fridge.

** "We're about to shoot an [[Education Through Pyrotechnics|M-16 into a swimming pool]]! For Science!"

** "I'm going to jump into [[Shark Pool|shark-infested waters]] For Science!"

** And lest we forget Adam's infamous "I [[Extreme Omnivore|Ate a]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|radio]] for science!"

* And before the Mythbusters, [[Bill Nye]] was showing off [[For Science!]] tricks on [[Almost Live]].

** "Scientific methods": where some aliens experiment on the crew... by randomly changing their genes. There are even lethal cases. They make B'Elanna and Paris [[Aliens Made Them Do It|horny too]]. I'd hate to think what that was in aid of...

** In the episode "Jetrel", Neelix encounters the scientist who developed the weapon of mass destruction that destroyed his personal homeworld.

'''Neelix:''' So you did it for science.<br />

'''Jetrel:''' For my planet, and yes, for science. To know whether or not it could be done. It's good to know how the world works. It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that all the knowledge of the universe and all the power it bestows is of intrinsic value to everyone and one must share that knowledge and allow it to be applied, and then be willing to live with the consequences. }}

* Almost every scientist on ''[[Eureka]]'' does this at some point or the other. Unattended consequences have almost destroyed the town/nation/''universe'' on several occasions.

* This seems to be Topher's primary motivation in ''[[Dollhouse]]''.

* Alton Brown, of ''[[Good Eats]]'', says this trope word for word when trying to coax his cameraman into getting into his "Vomitron" machine to test the effects of ginger on motion sickness.

* Stuart Radzinsky (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Dharma Initiative) on ''[[Lost]]'' lives this trope to the core. How does it end? {{spoiler|With the Swan Incident. Although, to be fair, it's not clear that Radzinsky alone caused the Incident - the atomic bomb probably helped.}}

* ''[[Regenesis]]'' wonderfully inverts this. People in it [[For Science!]] tend to be patient and reasonable regarding their studies. Almost every disaster is caused by people who have some practical real world application in mind because they are either under pressure to get results or convinced that the world is suffering without the benefits of their ideas.

{{quote| '''Sheldon''': That was not a betrayal, that was an experiment to determine at what concentration food starts tasting "mothy".<br />

'''Leonard''': You put moths in my food?<br />

'''Sheldon''': For science. }}

* [[Mr. Show|Thank you very much, we have an announcement to make.]] [[Eagle Land|On July 4th of this year, America]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csj7vMKy4EI will blow up the moon!] [[We Can Rebuild Him|We have the technology]], [[For Science!|the time is now, science can wait no longer]], [[Think of the Children|children are the future!]] America can, must, should, and ''will'' blow up the moon!

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Gond the Wondermaker, the deity of invention in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'', is the one the Forgotten Realms have to thank for gunpowder, primitive firearms, grenades, and all the other joys of scientific progress. Somewhat unsurprisingly, most players choose to ignore the existence of his creations, if not the deity himself. Given alignment is [[True Neutral]].

** Although the nWoD's Free Council has its moments, being a cross between the Sons of Ether and Virtual Adepts.

** Just to add promethium to the fire, they also caused ''an entire [[Space Marine|Space]] [[Super Soldier|Marine]] chapter'' to go renegade by stealing its holiest relic for back-engineering and threatening them with orbital artillery in the hope of getting them to back down. {{spoiler|And then yet another [[Eldritch Abomination]] turned up to take it off them before they were able to figure out how it worked}}.

 

* The Great Beings in ''[[Bionicle]]'' are living examples of this trope. Honestly, how else would you justify ''putting laser cannons on giant scorpion monsters''?

** [[Rule of Cool|How do you justify NOT doing so?]]

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Minecraft]]'', as demonstrated [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkovIuMzz0I here]. Redstone and various mods allow the player to impersonate [[G La DOS]] indefinitely.

* The Umbrella Corporation from [[Resident Evil]] - in fact, pretty much the entire [[Resident Evil]] series - is the poster child for this trope. Even their attempts to commercialize all their zombie-making uberviruses were just a way to keep the real objectives of the founders going, which range from insane to comically insane but mostly center around reformatting the human race into an ideal species. Pretty much everyone employed by Umbrella also uses this as an excuse for committing murder about as often as regular people get haircuts. William Birkin's a particularly egregious example, what with the whole G-virus thing.

* This is the motivation -- or at least the excuse -- of Caulder/Stolos from ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin''; indeed, until the last chapter it's his only real characteristic.

{{quote| '''Caulder:''' Have you ever watched yourself die? It's '''[[Catch Phrase|FASCINATING!]]'''}}

* Everything that Hojo from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' has ever done EVER. {{spoiler|Lucrecia Crescent, Dr. Hollander, Grimoire Valentine}}, and a few others fall under this as well.

* Vernon Von Grun from ''[[City of Villains]]''.

** Then there is his mentor, Doctor Creed, and his boss, Doctor Aeon.

** His name is a pun on Wernher von Braun, see Real Life Examples.

** There's some bit of [[Truth in Television]] to this, as various arms developers have indeed been experimenting with tanks with legs, on the principle that they can move on certain terrains other heavy vehicles can't, often leave less impact on said terrain (and thus would be harder to trace), and can be positioned for firing more easily. Having your nuclear option small, mobile, and relatively unrestricted by terrain is a pretty big tactical advantage.

** Curiously enough, Sigint said in one of the radio conversations that creating a bipedal tank was pretty expensive, not to mention impractical and it wouldn't have as many applications in war as it would a tank with threads. It wouldn't be so bad {{spoiler|if it wasn't for the fact that he was Donald Anderson and would be revealed to be the DARPA Chief many years later!}} Y'know, for a technology expert, Sigint was rather narrow-minded with this.

{{quote| '''[[G La DOS]]''' I think we can put our differences behind us. [[For Science!|For science]]. [[You Monster!|You monster]].}}

** [[Half Life|Black Mesa]] aren't exactly that different either. Pretty much everything that goes on there isn't so much for the benefit of mankind as a whole but for the sole purpose of tearing physics a new one. Give me one good reason why they gave their theoretical physicists fairly comprehensive firearms training if the result of their insane meddling was going to be naught but sunshine, puppies, and candy.

** [[Fridge Logic]] kicks in when one begins to wonder exactly what they expected to ''learn'' by doing this, and how it could possibly have any application. [[Your Head Asplode|Superhot brain chips]], Cave? Seriously?

** Johnson actually [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this at one point. "I'll be honest, we're throwing science at the wall here to see what sticks. No idea what it'll do". He then suggests the best and worst case scenarios being superpowers and tumors ("Which we'll cut out!") The hidden joke for people who are actually familiar with science is that every single one of their tests violates both scientific ethical standards, ''and'' basic scientific testing protocols. Also, several of their inventions would make them millionaires, if they bothered to use it in anything other than testing.

* The witch Deneb from ''[[Ogre Battle]]: March of the Black Queen''. She created the creatures that have later been re-used, one way or another in every other ''Ogre Battle'' game: the Pumpkin Head. Which is a man whose head has been replaced with a Jack-O-Lantern. By the time you get there she has stopped experimenting on humans and is apparently doing large-scale experiments on the lands around her castle instead. (With large areas on the map being purple instead of the normal brown for hills/mountains.) And the only reason given for why she did any of the things she did is that she was "researching some new magic" and "you know how important research is to Deneb". In short, she did it FOR <s>SCIENCE</s> MAGIC!

* This is all the motivation [[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet]] has for his little tinkerings, including, but not limited to, electrified underwear --"Stunderwear".

* If ''[[Fallout]] 3'''s resident [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. Lesko is attacked, he shouts a number of phrases like "science always triumphs!" and "I strike this blow for science!" while fighting. While she never actually comes out and says it, Moira Brown's motivation is basically For Science, never once losing her veneer of optimism while asking you to perform increasingly perilous tasks all for the sake of gathering information for her Wasteland Survival Guide.

* ''[[Time Splitters]]: Future Perfect'' has the {{spoiler|1=Brotherhood of UltraScience}} which is dedicated specifically to science, with the only goal being {{spoiler|the achievement of immortality, no matter how many zombie byproducts it takes.}} They succeed... sort of. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]] is still not immune to bullets}}.

* In ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal'', when you are in the Marquis de Singe's lab. If you examine the Vole-Powered Generator, the doctor will explain that it is a machine that uses rodents to make lightning. Guybrush will then exclaim "Why would you do that?" to which de Singe naturally replies "''Science''!" This is practically the Marquis' catch phrase. His one weapon you see him with is labeled in the concept sketches as the "Porcelain, Bronze, and Wood Gun of Science!"

** The proclaimed motive of Lieblich Pharmeceuticals in ''[[Ever 17]]''. Except it's really just For Money! and For {{spoiler|Immortality}}!

** Again in ''[[Remember 11]]'', where Lieblich is swapping people's minds For Science! {{spoiler|and so that they can contact a being that exists beyond the concept of time}}

* Like Caulder above, this is the only excuse Izuka (from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'') has for [[Moral Event Horizon|brainwashing countless Laguz into a blood-thirsty rage and trapping them in their Beast forms]]. This is also why he {{spoiler|[[Complete Monster|performs the same experiment on Duke Renning, Elincia's uncle, creating the psychotic Bertram in the process.]]}}

* The game ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' is still in development, and is already incredibly complex, with all its ins and outs being far from fully documented. Because of this, members of the online fan community regularly share their discoveries of new idiosyncrasies and/or awesome things you can do in-game. For example, there is an ongoing effort to find a way to sink a capsule full of dwarves to the bottom of an ocean without crushing or drowning them; no success yet. Anytime a person posts on the forums asking if something is possible, and that thing has not been tried yet, the poster is implored to try the thing out "for [[Incendiary Exponent|!!]]SCIENCE[[Incendiary Exponent|!!]]" and report the results.

* The city of [[Crystal Spires and Togas|Hallifax]] in ''[[Lusternia]]'' has an entire organization of [[Mad Science|mad scientists]] devoted to "expanding scientific knowledge", called The Institute. It's divided into six parts: the laboratory of [[Functional Magic|Arcane Metaphysics]]; the laboratory of [[Magitek|Aethereal Astrophysics]]; the laboratory of the [[Time Travel|Temporal Continuum]]; the laboratory of [[Rewriting Reality|Metaplanar and Transdimensional Physics]]; the laboratory of [[Mad Doctor|Natural Sciences and Higher Energies]]; and the laboratory of the [[Power of the Void|Void]]. And they're '''all''' ''nuts''.

* Hallifax actually has an organization called [[Time Police|The Sentinels]] wholly devoted to cleaning up the Institute's various messes - ranging from [[Mix-and-Match Critters|monsters]] to [[Time Paradox|paradoxes]].

{{quote| [Heavy is having open-heart surgery, but isn't under anesthetic, and Medic is holding his heart in his hands, trying to see how it will react to the Beta Medigun. The heart explodes, knocking Medic's pet dove Archimedes off his perch with a piece of flesh. Heavy's head is down, but he picks it up when he hears the noise.]<br />

Heavy: "What was noise?"<br />

* A [http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_051.html flashback] in ''[[Dresden Codak]]'' demonstrates Kimiko's [[Gadgeteer Genius]] potential:

{{quote| '''Young Kimiko:''' I must find a thing called "biscuits".... I will do science to it.}}

* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' sends up ''[[Myth Busters]]'' For Science tendencies on a fairly regular basis. Examples [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1654.html here] and with "for science" used literally [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1915.html here], [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2087.html here], replete with a [[The Rant|footnote]] reference to this very page and [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2329.html here], with the same link. But one has to keep in mind that [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi]] science is [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|one step further]] and [[Catch Phrase|Nazi science sneers at]] TV Tropes.

* ''[[Mezzacotta]]'' also features many scientists, such as [http://www.mezzacotta.net/archive.php?date=1703-04-18 here]. Also, the resident [[Most Definitely Not a Villain|Most-Definitely-Not]]-A-[[Mad Scientist]] Scott [http://www.mezzacotta.net/archive.php?date=2011-09-18 here].

* [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=192 This strip] from ''[[VG Cats]]''. If you like ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'', [[Crosses the Line Twice|don't read it.]] [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=271 There's also this one.] HIGH FIVE!

* The Elegant Nova of Progression of ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' is the embodiment of this trope. She performed experiments in a high-fantasy world to make cyborgs, developed a way to SCIENCE!!! herself into a giant cat, and owns a Friction Beam. Her [[Catch Phrase]] is "Science!"

** Also illustrated quite nicely [http://xkcd.com/242/ here].

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]:'' (And For Art!) Why else would Genoworks Exotica genetically engineer people like winged kangaroos, potpourri skunk people and psychic raccoons.

* ''[http://stringtheory.nfshost.com/comics/pagenine/ String Theory]'' uses it here to great effect.

* In ''Accursed Dragon'' Doctor sharpe is seen holding a turtle over a candle to see if it sweats. Why? [http://www.accurseddragon.com/site/index.php/archive/samples/ "Science, my dear. SCIENCE!"]

* [http://www.nicky510.com/comic/impure-research/ "Now that's what I call doin' some SCIENCE!"]

* Revisited in Nicky510 [http://www.nicky510.com/comic/science-do-it-because-its-there/ here].

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' helpfully points out the versatility of the phrase in [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1202 this comic].

* ''[[The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage]]'': Isambard Kingdom Brunel at one point convinces Lovelace to return to Babbage and the Difference Engine because without it science would be dull and time-consuming and totally without flying ironclads or [[Buffy-Speak|whatever it is Michael Faraday does]]. She immediately returns with a cry of "FOR SCIENCE!!"

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote| '''Dr. Insano''': Ha! Your super-conductor electromagnetism is no match for SCIENCE!<br />

'''Nostalgia Critic''': But, it is science!<br />

* [[Raocow]] uses "Science" as a [[Catch Phrase]] when exploring areas of levels in his [[Let's Play|Let's Plays]]. Specifically, he says "science" before jumping into potentially deadly pits/spikes/munchkins to check for hidden areas.

* Gordon Freeman brings this up in ''[[Freemans Mind]]'' regarding the development of the atomic bomb, and how the scientists pressed on despite fears that it would "catch the atmosphere on fire and burn up the whole planet." In reality, they had already determined that this was impossible by the time they actually tested the bomb.

 

 

{{quote| '''Sevarius:''' For science, which, as my associate Fang indicated, must ever move forward. Plus, there's the money. And I do so love... THE DRAMA!"}}

* In the pilot episode of ''[[Time Squad]]'', the eponymous squad has to deal with a horde of flesh eating robots created by Eli Whitney (seriously). When Otto asks Whitney why he did this, he replies "I wanted to do something to help mankind". How rampaging flesh eating robots could accomplish that is a question not even Whitney himself could answer...

* This seems to be the motivation behind half of Professor Frink's inventions in ''[[The Simpsons]]''.

{{quote| '''Grampa Simpson:''' What the hell is that?<br />

'''Grampa:''' But I want to help people, not kill them!<br />

'''Frink:''' Oh, well to be honest, the ray only has evil applications. You know my wife will be happy, she's hated this whole "death ray" thing from day one. }}

** Whatever motivates Dr. Weird is up for grabs -- this one ''might'' explain it. Some of it. The saner ones, anyway.

** In one of the earlier scripts for the first episode, this ''is'' what motivates Dr. Weird. You can see it on the first season DVD.

* [[Futurama]]: Good news everyone! I've invented something crazy! For Science!

* Kowalski's usual excuse in ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' when he's about to do something that will endanger them all.

{{quote| Raven: I am a scientist! My experiment dictated that I take that risk!<br />

Judge: A sense of humanity would have bid you not to! }}

** The head doctor of Unit 731, General Shiro Ishii, was a monster extraordinaire. He was known for having sex with the female prisoners and impregnating them, and when these women later ended up on the operating table, he would cut open their stomachs and use his own babies for the experiments. [[Karma Houdini|This creature received a full pardon in exchange for handing over his research data to the Allies.]]

* It is worth noting that the "science" performed by Unit 731 and Mengele ''et al'' was likely motivated in a large part by [[For the Evulz|sheer sadism]] - Aushwitz survivor Alex Dekel said that: "I have never accepted the fact that Mengele himself believed he was doing serious work – not from the slipshod way he went about it. He was only exercising his power. Mengele ran a butcher shop – major surgeries were performed without anaesthesia. Once, I witnessed a stomach operation – Mengele was removing pieces from the stomach, but without any anaesthetic. Another time, it was a heart that was removed, again without anaesthesia. It was horrifying. Mengele was a doctor who became mad because of the power he was given. Nobody ever questioned him – why did this one die? Why did that one perish? The patients did not count. He professed to do what he did in the name of science, but it was a madness on his part."

** It's not as impractical as one would think. The boson is what scientists think creates mass. If we find that it exists, we can start tinkering with it. For what applications this can be used for, see every technology from interstellar space travel to telekinesis to nearly [[Bottomless Magazines]] in ''[[Mass Effect]]''.

*** For that matter we could probably have the eponymous [[Mass Effect]].

** Pretty much all "for world co-operation!". It's far easier and cheaper to use unmanned space craft for science in space, except for studying the effects of the space environment on humans.

* Parodied by many message board users, who will request various pictures of scantily-clad women "for homework" or "for research".

{{quote| "If enough people try these dangerous experiments, the government will try to outlaw '''''any sort of legitimate private experiments with radioactivity or possession of any radioactive minerals or materials''''' (thus '''''spoiling all of our fun''''')."}}

** Frankly, most private experiments with radioactivity probably count under this trope by definition, as even the mildest radioactive materials of the sort you can find in a high school science lab are an extreme health hazard if improperly stored or handled. Experimenting on such materials with whatever equipment you can find on eBay or improvise from the junk in your garage is likely to [[Go Horribly Wrong]].