This really is the gift that keeps on giving.
It’s @juliet_turner6, an ecologist & evolutionary biologist and newly-qualified DPhil at the University of Oxford who really got some people’s backs up when she went on Twitter to celebrate this.
I passed my viva exam!
After ~4 years of research, I successfully defended my thesis.
You can call me Doctor pic.twitter.com/U9UUKucGxX
— Juliet Turner (@juliet_turner6) November 14, 2025
And when we say ‘people’ what we really mean is men, obviously, with one man in particular getting brutally owned after suggesting that men don’t find women with degrees attractive.
And it didn’t end there – of course it didn’t – after this anti-woke warrior of sorts stumbled blindly into the discourse to offer up their own thoughts, such as they are, suggesting the real reason people (men) had their backs up was because it was such a useless qualification.
People are not seething because you earned a PhD. They are seething because, after all the self congratulation and the glitter emojis, they discovered the grand achievement you are flaunting is… about ants.
Most people can accept someone celebrating medical research,… pic.twitter.com/NqdLopszn9
— Tartarian Empire (@SanguineChester) November 18, 2025
Just in case that’s tricky to read, Juliet Turner studied the ‘evolution of cooperation and division of labour in insects’.
Here’s what @SanguineChester had to say in full.
People are not seething because you earned a PhD. They are seething because, after all the self congratulation and the glitter emojis, they discovered the grand achievement you are flaunting is… about ants.
Most people can accept someone celebrating medical research, engineering breakthroughs, or something that clearly improves the world. But when they see someone behaving as though they have unlocked the secrets of the universe only for the punchline to be “I studied ant chores”, it lands very differently.
It feels less like academic excellence and more like elite insulation. Ordinary people are drowning under rent, tax, debt, and collapsing public services, and then they watch an Oxford biologist triumphantly posting about insect labour division while describing their “beautiful office”.
The resentment has nothing to do with education. It is the tone deafness of boasting about a life of academic comfort while researching a topic that most people instinctively place somewhere between trivia and hobby.
The fury is not directed at your success. It is directed at the mismatch between the scale of the celebration and the subject matter. In short: people are annoyed because it is about ants.
And we’re glad he did – in a way – because the comeback was absolutely first class. With honours.
The irony behind all the criticism of my research is that you would struggle to find a topic more fundamental or widely applicable than my DPhil thesis. ♀️
To give a few examples, by studying the evolution of cooperation and division of labour, we inform:
• Pure science. All… https://t.co/ygSGsp5gkf
— Juliet Turner (@juliet_turner6) November 19, 2025
The irony behind all the criticism of my research is that you would struggle to find a topic more fundamental or widely applicable than my DPhil thesis. ♀️
To give a few examples, by studying the evolution of cooperation and division of labour, we inform:
• Pure science. All complex life depends on cooperation & division of labour e.g. genes in a genome, cells in an organism. This field helps explain how life transitioned from single cells to complex multicellularity.
• Cancer biology. Cancer is a breakdown of cellular cooperation. The same rules that maintain stable cooperation in superorganismal insects underlie the stability (or collapse) of multicellular systems like our own bodies.
• Tech. Swarm robotics: decentralised control, signalling, efficiency optimisation. All informed by the principles governing insect societies.
• Economics & Sociology. Role specialisation & allocation, why different societal structures evolve, how national/international conflicts get resolved, how cooperation can persist despite incentives to cheat.
Not to mention that insects form the backbone of all terrestrial ecosystems and amount to more than half of all known species, performing countless essential ecological roles.
But yeah, why bother studying ants.
Boom!
And here is just a little bit of the love people had for that.
HMS Beagle returns to the UK.
Some bloke on X, if it existed back then:
“Oh, there he is, Charles Darwin, back from his bird watching trip – do some proper science!”
— Dave (@thomson_xyz) November 19, 2025
Thanks for this. Most people don’t know that the purpose of a doctoral thesis is NOT to find a scientific breakthrough. It’s to demonstrate that you’re capable of making contributions to the field.
In the US, we’ve been propagandized to believe education is bad.
— Kristen (@KrissyQuark) November 19, 2025
The beautiful irony of all this is that I got to know about this beautiful research thanks to the awful backlash. And I’m sure that I’m not the only one.
That treatment isn’t fair but it got a positive side.
— Marta Noya (Martouta) & (@MartoutaTech) November 19, 2025
When Darwin was collecting beetles, I’m sure everyone thought he was wasting his time. But it led to the most profound realization of his time. Similarly, no form of curiosity driven study is a waste – they all lead to peeling the many layers of ignorance we’re steeped in.
— Hitchhiker (@hitchhiker_2) November 19, 2025
I think particle swarm optimisation originated from studying flocks of birds and schools of fish! Where can I read your thesis?
— Lee Morris (@itsleemorris) November 19, 2025
So many amazing sources of inspiration in the natural world! My thesis isn’t out yet but I’ll be sure to share when it’s published 🙂
— Juliet Turner (@juliet_turner6) November 19, 2025
Dr. Turner, you singlehandedly prompted a cool discussion about ants in my TL, which led me to reading some cool things! I would say you’re already doing massive public service, and you’ve just started out. Not that you need to justify knowledge production in any discipline!
— Swati Moitra (@swatiatrest) November 19, 2025
And just in case that’s left you in the mood for a little bit more …
How can we learn more about the evolution of complex life by studying ants?
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my research since the viva post went viral! My thesis isn’t out yet but you can learn more by checking out our recent paper! https://t.co/gyMgJ5JS0o https://t.co/qK1e3JM1mk pic.twitter.com/cADQr30bGO
— Juliet Turner (@juliet_turner6) November 19, 2025
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A bigoted manbaby tried to belittle this woman’s academic achievement and her epically brutal response was simply first class
Source @juliet_turner6
