"Good natured but highly irreverent" is pretty much The Register's house style.

To be fair, "boffin" usually implies someone has relevant (usually scientific) expertise, but nerd doesn't. Henry Legg has the relevant credentials to give weight to his claims, he's not just some random basement nerd.

The Register is highly irreverent, as a rule.

It's typical of the Register. They always use the word "boffin" for expert/scientist. It's a british word used to describe a clever person.