Things have changed and the secret is out.
A group of five Swedish scientists have admitted to sneaking Bob Dylan lyrics into research articles for 17 years running, The Local reports.
Two Professors from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, John Jundberg and Eddie Weitzberg, wrote a piece about gas passing through intestines, and decided to title it, “Nitric Oxide and inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind.”
“Blowin’ in the wind” is one of Dylan’s most famous songs.
“We both really liked Bob Dylan and we thought the quotes really fitted nicely with what we were trying to achieve with the title,” Weitzberg told The Local.
The pair decided to see how long they could keep it up.
“We’re not talking about scientific papers – we could have got in trouble for that – but rather articles we have written about research by others, book introductions, editorials and things like that,” said Weitzberg.
When they were caught by other scientists, they decided to just add them to the game. Now it has expanded to five scientists over the course of 17 years and is officially a competition.
The scientist with the most Dylan references by retirement gets a free lunch from the other four.
The group has been attracted a lot of media attention for its stunt, though Weitzberg told The Local he wishes they would focus on the research itself.
“I would much rather become famous for my scientific work than for my Bob Dylan quotes,” he said. “But yes, I am enjoying this!”
