Using emoji in work emails may look unprofessional ... the most popular include a happy face with tears of joy, thumbs up, the Lul meme, a smiling Barack Obama, and crying Michael Jordan.

Researchers who use Twitter took to the internet to tweet descriptions of their work using a language that's theoretically now the argot of the people: emoji. They used the hashtag #emojiresearch.

The meme seems to have kicked off when Twitter user @psthursm posted a five-piece animal emoji band. Setting aside the logistics of how a snail would play a violin, the adorable musicians struck a ...