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Researchers at a prestigious Swedish research centre have revealed a 17 year contest to slip Bob Dylan lyrics into scientific papers.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm say the game started with a paper called 'Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind'.

The winner will be the researcher who quotes Bob Dylan in the most scientific articles before they retire - and will get lunch at a Swiss restaurant.

The contest started 17 years ago with a paper called 'Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind'

Jon Lundberg and Eddie Weitzberg, today both professors at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at KI, bean the game when they had an article published in Nature Medicine with the title: 'Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind'.

'We both really like Bob Dylan so when we set about writing an article concerning the measurement of nitric oxide gas in both the respiratory tracts and the intestine, with the purpose of detecting inflammation, the title came up and it fitted there perfectly,' says Eddie Weitzberg.

Some years later they saw an article written by Jonas Frisén, Professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, together with Konstantinos Meletis, Research Assistant at the Department of Neuroscience. 

The subject of the article was whether blood cells can change and become nerve cells.

'The title was 'Blood on the tracks: a simple twist of fate'; this is the name of the album on the one hand, and a song of Bob Dylan on the other, and the article contained additional Dylan references,' points out Eddie Weitzberg.

Jon Lundberg and Eddie Weitzberg then succeeded in introducing 'The times they are a-changin' into the title in a separate article and, at the same time, sent an email to Jonas Frisén and announced the launch of an internal competition.

'The one who has written most articles with Dylan quotes, before going into retirement, wins a lunch at the Solna restaurant Jöns Jacob,' explains Jon Lundberg.

The researchers have quoted lyrics from throughout Dylan's career.

Jonas Frisén and a colleague responded with the article 'Eph receptors tangled up in two' in Cell Cycle the same year, 2010, the title of which is inspired by Bob Dylan's song 'Tangled up in blue'.

The following year, Jon Lundberg and Eddie Weitzberg countered with 'Dietary nitrate – a slow train coming' in The Journal of Physiology.

'This article also concluded with a paraphrase of Dylan: 'We know something is happening, but we don't know what it is – Do we, Dr Jones?' where we jokingly addressed a British colleague with the same surname,' says Jon Lundberg.

Moreover, Kenneth Chien, Professor of Cardiovascular Research at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, has also been quoting Bob Dylan but – until very recently – was completely unaware of the articles of the others. 

'Tangled up in blue: Molecular cardiology in the postmolecular era'was published in Circulation 1997; the same year that Lundberg's and Eddie Weitzberg's first article with a Dylan quote was published. 

'The contest is open for everyone,' says Jon Lundberg. 

He goes on to explain that they usually draw attention to one another's new articles via email.

The researchers also point out that it is primarily in review articles and commentaries that it is possible to use quotes since these articles are often slightly lighter in tone (less heavyweight) than others.

'But it's important that the quote is linked to the scientific content, that it reinforces the message and raises the quality of the article as such, not the reverse,' says Jonas Frisén.