These science emoji could appear on your keyboard soon
The tool section of the emoji keyboard boasts an array of knives, a syringe, a water gun, a beeper, a battery, and a bomb. But when it comes to objects you might find in a laboratory, the options are slim to none.
Scientists are hoping to change that by proposing a slate of science-specific emoji. If approved, items such as lab goggles, a petri dish, a test tube, and a DNA double helix could join the ranks of things you text your friends.
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Industrial giant GE and the American Chemical Society last month proposed 10 emoji to the Unicode Consortium, the organization that oversees the official list of these icons. Nine emoji were deemed candidates for the next selection process, meaning all or some of these could hit keyboards in summer 2018.
Image: GE and american chemical society
Nancy Briscoe, an audience development manager at GE, said the emoji were part of a broader effort to make STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields more culturally accepted.
"Giving people the right tools to express scientific thought is important to keep the subject relevant and accessible in a fast-paced world," she said in an email. "We think it's important that we all be able to communicate about science more clearly, so why not create (emoji) to aid that process?"
Efforts like these could influence more than just our texts. A mainstream cultural embrace of scientists and their work may have political ramifications, as well.
In the U.S., the Trump administration has indicated that government-backed research is a low priority, while top officials have met mainstream scientific findings with hostility and skepticism. Just this week, the White House proposed cutting billions of dollars for basic and applied research funding.
Image: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 would cut total research funding by 16.8 percent, or $12.6 billion, below the 2017 omnibus spending bill. No administration appears to have proposed research cuts this deep in more than 40 years, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) said in a preliminary analysis.
Scientists say they're worried about losing their jobs or running out of funding to conduct crucial research. In April, thousands of people in the U.S. and worldwide joined the March for Science to urge officials and the public to support fact and reason.
A handful of science-themed emoji won't change this. But they could at least begin to demystify and destigmatize science in popular culture.
Image: ge and american chemical society
Image: ge and american chemical society
"Science is definitely having a moment right now, whether it's ensuring access to proper science education, funding of grants, or advancing certain fields like engineering and aeronautics," Briscoe said. "Because of this, the [emoji] proposal covers a wide range of accessible science objects."
The nine proposed emoji aren't the only science-themed icons up for consideration.
At the first-ever Emojicon in San Francisco last fall, science enthusiasts and designers submitted formal proposals to Unicode for other planets in our solar system besides Earth, including the not-to-be-forgotten dwarf planet Pluto.
Craig Cummings, vice-chair of Unicode's technical committee, said in November that the planet emoji proposal could be fast-tracked for inclusion in the 2017 summer update, Nature reported. The path for other science emoji is a bit longer. If approved, those icons could be included in the 2018 summer update.
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