Show HN: TikTok but for Scientific Papers

A new project called Papel is pitching itself as “TikTok for scientific papers”—basically, a way to discover research more easily and use artificial intelligence to help explain it in plain language. In theory, it’s trying to make dense academic studies feel less like homework and more like a scrollable feed. In practice? The community immediately made itself the main event.

The strongest reactions split into two camps: “this is amazing” and “this is the exact sign of civilization collapsing.” One excited commenter cheered, “Love this!” and then instantly ran into the most classic startup plot twist imaginable: the waitlist was already broken with a “Too many signups right now” message. That only added fuel to the hype, with another user joking that “too many signups” at just 13 votes was a full-on ruh roh moment. In tabloid terms: the app wanted to be TikTok, and it got the viral chaos early.

Then came the comedy. One drive-by commenter dropped the brutally silly line, “Show HN: Shit, but for dinner,” which has absolutely nothing to do with science papers and somehow still captures the internet’s mood perfectly. And for peak doomposting, another user groaned, “Just what humanity needed” before escalating all the way to asteroid-wishing despair. So yes, Papel may want to transform research discovery—but in the comments, it sparked the usual online cocktail of hype, bugs, sarcasm, and end-times humor.