I recently read a book on the medicinal effects of cannabis, and came across a family of mammalian homologs (to do with genes) called Tribbles, so called because they enter mitosis early and proliferate rapidly. Yes, they are named after these little creatures…
There appear to be other biological discoveries named after pop culture references – there’s a sonic hedgehog protein that can be found in humans. It belongs to a family of hedgehog proteins, so called because they have prickly looking protrusions. There’s also a pikachuran protein, with “lightning-fast moves and shocking electric effects” like Pikachu, and a “Conan the Bacterium“, that survives radiation and is known to be extremely hardy.
It can be fun to be a scientist….
