Research Risks
Research Risks
[A chart with two crossing lines with double arrows. Each arrow is labeled:] Y axis top: High Y axis bottom: Low X axis left: Low X axis right: High
[Near each of the "high" ends of the two axis there is a label written in gray, with a line pointing to the relevant axis:] Y axis: Risk of your research being used by a supervillain for world domination X axis: Risk of the thing you're studying breaking free from your facility and threatening the local population
[The following points are on the charts upper left quadrant (in reading order):] Prosthetics Neuroscience Laser Optics Pharmacology Materials Science Sociology History Psychology
[The following points are on the charts upper right quadrant (in reading order):] Robotics Genetic Engineering Chemistry Microbiology
[The following points are on the charts lower left quadrant (in reading order):] Geology Linguistics Paleontology Astronomy Molasses Storage Dentistry
[The following points are on the charts lower right quadrant (in reading order):] Botany Entomology Mycology Marine Biology Ornithology

This is a comparison of the possibility of the subjects of various sciences being a threat to humanity. It can either be an autonomous threat to the local population (i.e. by escape from a lab), or as part of a supervillain's scheme to rule the world .
In general, areas of study that could be used by supervillains, but are unlikely to "break free" refer to technologies that are unlikely to be self-propagating or self-maintaining, but could be used as weapons or for some other form of control. Subjects that could break free, but are unlikely to be used by supervillains are all living organisms (which could presumably breed and multiply without human intervention), but which have little potential as weapons.  Areas of study that fall in both categories are either more controllable forms of biology (microbiology, genetic engineering), forms of technology that could become self-propagating (robotics), or a study where a release could be dangerous without being self-propagating (chemistry).
The category of a low risk of either could, of course, contain many fields of study, as most research fields have limited potential for weaponry and little danger of going out of control on a large scale.
See the chart below for detailed explanations of each scatter point.
There have so far been several similar comics with such scatter plots . See for instance 1242: Scary Names , 1468: Worrying , 1501: Mysteries and 1701: Speed and Danger .
The title text is related to the Molasses Storage entry at the bottom left of the chart, and references the Great Molasses Flood , also known as the Great Boston Molasses Flood. It occurred on January 15, 1919 in the North End neighborhood of Boston , Massachusetts (the state in which Randall lives). A large molasses storage tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The joke in the title text is that in 2031 (14 years after the release of this comic) the Canadian Space Agency has an even more serious disaster, which will be known as the orbital maple syrup delivery disaster. The title text claims that this disaster then became the deadliest confectionery containment accident, thus killing more than 21 people.
Note : percentages refer to the position of the center of the smallest enclosing rectangle around each name. 0% and 100% correspond to the low and high arrow tips, respectively.
[A chart with two crossing lines with double arrows. Each arrow is labeled:] Y axis top: High Y axis bottom: Low X axis left: Low X axis right: High
[Near each of the "high" ends of the two axis there is a label written in gray, with a line pointing to the relevant axis:] Y axis: Risk of your research being used by a supervillain for world domination X axis: Risk of the thing you're studying breaking free from your facility and threatening the local population
[The following points are on the charts upper left quadrant (in reading order):] Prosthetics Neuroscience Laser Optics Pharmacology Materials Science Sociology History Psychology
[The following points are on the charts upper right quadrant (in reading order):] Robotics Genetic Engineering Chemistry Microbiology
[The following points are on the charts lower left quadrant (in reading order):] Geology Linguistics Paleontology Astronomy Molasses Storage Dentistry
[The following points are on the charts lower right quadrant (in reading order):] Botany Entomology Mycology Marine Biology Ornithology
