flora_explora
@flora_explora@beehaw.org
- Comment on Mood 17 hours ago:
That’s not totally untrue. Iirc the first cat memes were postcards people send each other at the beginning of the last century. I guess the difference is that postcards and letters only reach a single address, tweets can reach many people at once
- Comment on Chicken of the Woods 4 days ago:
I’ve eaten this species many times and liked it every time. But it also depends on what tree species it grows, because iirc some conifers or oaks make it inedible or even slightly toxic.
- Comment on What goes here? 1 week ago:
So having a foot doesn’t count as having a leg also?
- Comment on Baby sized bolete of some sort 1 week ago:
Not artificially, but by taking many photos of differing depths and computationally stitching them together. Various cameras have the in-build ability to automatically take many pictures in sequence with a variable amount of depth (which in itself is calles focus bracketing). And there is software especially designed to then compute a single photo with increased depth of field from a stack.
- Comment on The Bog 2 weeks ago:
Wolf spiders are harmless, so there is hardly any incentive to invest in another solution I’d guess…
I wish they weren’t so shy though, it’s really hard to take good photos of them because they are so fast.
- Comment on Average plant behavior 2 weeks ago:
It’s because of domestication and growing plants outside of their natural habitat that they get sensitive. Also, apparently some sensitivity is by design:
Modern roses emerged in 1867 with the development of the first hybrid tea, according to the American Rose Society. These varieties tend to have a reputation for being fussy, requiring constant attention.
“The conception is that they’re not tough, that they require spraying, that you have to have the perfect culture. And a lot of that has been breeding; to breed these perfect flowers, but they bred out characteristics that made the rose easy to grow in our backyards,”
(From the OP’s article)
- Comment on Molluscs of the Multiverse: molluscan diversity in Magic: The Gathering 2 weeks ago:
I wish there was a queer MTG group in my city where I could play in. I tried playing with some straight cis dudes once and it was just such a strange experience…
- Comment on here there be lions 2 weeks ago:
Actually that’s not true, male lions are usually hunting alone and in dense vegetation. Newer studies show that male lions actually hunt as much prey as female lions! It’s just harder for us to track that.
- Comment on LPT: Go get a shot, now. 2 weeks ago:
Same in Germany. Last year I asked some people who got vaccinated if they think I also should get another shot and all of them told me that I’m not in a vulnerable group (or a caretaker) so I shouldn’t bother. So we basically repeat what we know from the normal flu (influenza) and just vaccinate vulnerable people. I’m not sure if this is the best way to do it, because I think many people die each year of the flu as well. However, death statistics are hard and I couldn’t find any reliable data on this either.
- Comment on Messenger signals that cue plants to ‘eat’ and ‘breathe’ revealed for first time 2 weeks ago:
We know a lot more about plant metabolism including hormone signalling and various different metabolic pathways and strategies. It just isn’t common knowledge to people outside of plant science. So this is less of a new field to research, but rather something new that science communication has been exploring the last few years.
- Comment on Messenger signals that cue plants to ‘eat’ and ‘breathe’ revealed for first time 2 weeks ago:
Hm, I feel like this study does actually fall into the latter “meh” category. Sure, it is great to have the information what molecules in particular control the stomata to open and close. But we do already have so much knowledge of the intricacies of plant metabolism that this is yet just another tiny puzzle piece in the grand scheme of things. So they try to sell their research here as leading to much more open research questions, but I doubt that they actually found any actually new compounds that no one has ever found before.
- Comment on #FGLAE 3 weeks ago:
I would lean more towards focus stacking. If you see for example @alexis_orion’s photos or videos on youtube, you can get even better shots in macro-photography (even handheld!).
- Comment on REDRUM 3 weeks ago:
Wow, great article!!
- Comment on Zotero is still better. 4 weeks ago:
Ah thanks, I needed this to get what the symbols are! :)
- Comment on 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️ 4 weeks ago:
Well, many people are busy, but yeah it should usually work. ResearchGate makes this even easier, because you can directly see who is requesting a paper and sometimes as an author you’ve got the paywalled paper already uploaded in researchgate.
- Comment on Mosquito Sprites 4 weeks ago:
If you read the actual paper, you can see that it is indeed a serious study where they try to understand how mosquito feeding and reproductive behavior works.
- Comment on Broccoli Blooms 4 weeks ago:
Wait till it flowers! It has a really nice inflorescence, although I think other Lactuca species are more beautiful overall :)
- Comment on Actors that have been the least believable scientist castings, I’ll start. 4 weeks ago:
Oof, this was extremely painful to watch. I hadn’t seen this actor actually acting in anything before and didn’t realize how bad he was…
- Comment on I hope you like TICKS 5 weeks ago:
Well, it’s both though. Sone days it is really rough to keep working just because you can’t take all the abuse by the all insects anymore. And some days you’re just in a state of bliss because you spend so much time in nature and feel connected to it. And even more days you realize how fucking repetitive field work really is and that you need to do the exact same thing for the next weeks/months over and over again…
- Comment on I should call her. 5 weeks ago:
Yes! When I did electron microscopy, we had to cover the fix the samples and cover them with a very thin gold layer beforehand.
- Comment on born 2 l8 5 weeks ago:
Well, I’m crocheting one so jokes on you :)
- Comment on Expert here. 5 weeks ago:
Isn’t it
3
2
1
4
in this example?
- Comment on When life gives ya lemons. 5 weeks ago:
It is different if it is a passive or active process though. The initial question is, in how far lemons benefit from this evolved trait. The benefits might be very different between passive or active evolution here. If it were passive, lemon plants might benefit by avoiding some disadvantageous animal species feeding on them. As it is active though, the benefit is that they are grown more by humans. The feedback loop between evolution and trait selection is very different if it is active or passive I’d say.
- Comment on Magic Rocks 1 month ago:
When I started paying closer attention to all the small insects around me, I felt like I was in an alien world. There are so many otherworldly and bizarre looking creatures just outside your door, you just have to get used to looking for them :)
- Comment on the living dead 1 month ago:
Hm no, the problem is much more at the roots of science than you think. Most of biology is based on humans’ biased assumptions and expectations. For example, only when queer theory was developed did biologists really grasp how much deviant the animal kingdom in regards to sex, gender and sexuality actually is.
Just think how many layers deep this is: humans exist -> develop social structures -> develop social constructs that feel essential -> try to describe their own biology through the lense of all the prior layers -> develop awareness about some social constructs -> revisit their own biology but still with a lot of biases
What you express by saying that it isn’t possible anymore to just speak about biology is imo rather an expression of denying certain advancements we’ve made. Our ideas and models of biology a few decades ago may have been simpler, but not more true. We’ve just realized to some extend how complex biology is and how our prior models have made many poor assumptions.
EO Wilson is having his own concepts and biases of human societies and projects them onto this pseudoscientific narrative. He is obviously not aware of his own position in society and how it shapes his assumptions.
- Comment on you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals 1 month ago:
Surprisingly short list regarding the millions of described species!
- Comment on poaceae 1 month ago:
What kind of fruit a plant develops is something entirely different to what a grass is though. And these are all taxonomically different groups (palms, bananas and grasses).
- Comment on poaceae 1 month ago:
At least both Musaceae (Bananas) and Poaceae (Grasses) are both monocots. But that’s where their taxonomic proximity ends. They are not even in the same order (Zingiberales vs Poales)…
- Comment on Thoughts?? 1 month ago:
Came here to say this :)
- Comment on If you can't make it yourself, store bought is fine 2 months ago:
From Wikipedia on dopamine:
The brain includes several distinct dopamine pathways, one of which plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.
So it is a neurotransmitter but has many different functions as such. But also:
Outside the central nervous system, dopamine functions primarily as a local paracrine messenger. In blood vessels, it inhibits norepinephrine release and acts as a vasodilator; in the kidneys, it increases sodium excretion and urine output; in the pancreas, it reduces insulin production; in the digestive system, it reduces gastrointestinal motility and protects intestinal mucosa; and in the immune system, it reduces the activity of lymphocytes. With the exception of the blood vessels, dopamine in each of these peripheral systems is synthesized locally and exerts its effects near the cells that release it.
So dopamine is important for all kinds of cells to function correctly. So just chugging a bunch of dopamine would do all kinds of stuff to your body…