In the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters, a E. V. Tsiper of the George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC managed to slip by what I consider to be the funniest citation that I’ve ever seen make it into a staid scientific journal.

In the opening paragraph, a citation is given for the following sentences:

Water is a very fundamental substance.

Oh, like what isn’t a statement of the bleeding obvious. Why, then is there a citation for this sentence, usually used to back up otherwise unsubstantiated statements with the work and authority of others?

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