• Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 hour ago

      The phrase “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” was coined in a 1957 article by biologist Philip Siekevitz. It apparently rattled around in the English lexicon until 2013, when a tumblr user by the handle apatheticghost posted the following:

      what I learned in school

      1. I am a fucking piece of shit

      2. everybody else is also a piece of shit

      3. mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

      This blew up in popularity and variations emerged that replaced the first two items with various social commentary, but always kept the mitochondria line. It stood for a kind of universal frustration students have with school, that a lot of the curriculum feels like memorizing game show trivia answers rather than useful or practical skills applicable to adult life. Loads of us have no idea how the tax system works but we can all parrot biology factoids.

      The phrase became one of those catchphrase in-jokes. A bit like how you can’t say 69 without saying “nice” anymore.

      My on personal Mandela Effect: I’d swear I’m from the parallel universe where the phrase comes from the Bill Nye The Science Guy theme song, but apparently I’m thinking of “Inertia is a property of matter.”

    • ScrooLewse@lemmy.myserv.one
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 hours ago

      It’s been so ubiquitous for so long that I honestly don’t know where it came from. But most of the time when I hear “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” it’s being used to take a jab at how impractical our education system is, as though to say, “instead of teaching me about X, they taught me about the mitochondria”

        • Default_Defect@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          13 hours ago

          But I’d like to have learned actual practical information as well. Not once has mitochondria come up other than as a meme, but knowing how local and national government works might have been more useful. If it wasn’t on the state standardized test, it wasn’t taught at my schools.

            • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              11 hours ago

              Finances are taught poorly everywhere tbf. I was lucky with my precalculus teacher being a huge finance nerd, she spent at least 3 separate full class sessions going over credit cards and loans completely unrelated to our content at the time

          • LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            13 hours ago

            Understanding the building blocks of life is very important. This is the foundation of how your body processes energy. If you want to lose weight, for example, you should understand respiration.

    • SabinStargem@lemmings.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      13 hours ago

      Our politicians of a Sithian persuasion want to use Force Lightning on their enemies and subjects. Sadly(?), mitochondria are not quite the same as midi-chlorians.

    • NewAgeOldPerson@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 hours ago

      Grew up in Asia. Only moved to the US for undergrad… And this applies. So it’s not just the Americans methinks.

      • Owl@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        13 hours ago

        That’s interesting

        We don’t have that where I live, sure we had to learn the organelles of a cell, but there was no über-focusing on the mitochondria.

        (Btw I didn’t know about “methinks”. Learned a new word, thanks !)

        • ewo@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          14 hours ago

          Methinks you have to use the phrase, “methinks” more often!