flora_explora
@flora_explora@beehaw.org
- Comment on the living dead 5 days 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 5 days ago:
Surprisingly short list regarding the millions of described species!
- Comment on poaceae 1 week 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 week 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 week ago:
Came here to say this :)
- Comment on If you can't make it yourself, store bought is fine 5 weeks 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…
- Comment on Strawberries are nuts 🍓 5 weeks ago:
Yeah, seems like you’re right about kurz. It’s mostly just walnuts although you can find recipes where they say nueces and use pecans. Almendras seem to be classified as a separate thing from nuts, interesting. Wasn’t aware of that before! I’d just use the term “nuez” like I would in German maybe that’s why I never noticed :D
- Comment on Strawberries are nuts 🍓 5 weeks ago:
I guess things can have multiple names, too. In German you would also say Waldfrüchte (forest fruits) to mixed berries, but they are still Beeren (berries) as well. If you search for “postre de bayas” or “pastel de bayas” many recipes pop up. And sure, Spanish is obviously a diverse language with the divide between Spanish from Spain and from Latin America.
Disclaimer: I’m part of the scientific bubble so that’s why I may here more terms that are botanical in Spanish ;)
- Comment on Strawberries are nuts 🍓 5 weeks ago:
Bayas y nueces… Tubérculo is closer to the botanical definition because it is a tuber (storage organ) and not a fruit (like most vegetables). And I would think that tubérculo could be any tuber vegetable, not just papas/patatas
- Comment on MEN. 1 month ago:
Hm, I’d see the joking about men in this case as a way to blow off some steam caused by the frustration of how the people in our society with the most power and who are the most violent continuously refuse to change anything or make concessions. Men not going to therapy and working on their issues results in heightened patriarchal violence. And it is just utterly frustrating how many decades people have fought for systemic change just to see the vast majority of men blocking any change or even pushing back against it.
- Comment on MEN. 1 month ago:
I get that it’s hard, I was in the same boat multiple times. Everyone experiences the problems you list and I guess women and non-binary people actually have it worse because of on average greater financial instability and dependence on others.
But the issue is, for therapy to work you have to acknowledge you have a problem, be willing to reflect upon yourself and change some own misconceptions. I feel like cis men have great difficulty with that and therefore avoid therapy.
- Comment on 50 shades of green 1 month ago:
I’m trying to understand this figure now. So, on the right in grey is the Phytoplasma bacterium that is hitting the plant with its SAP proteins. What I don’t get, if this is a fifty shades of grey analogy, then the plant must be consenting and enjoying this. But the bacterium is a parasite damaging the plant and even apparently benefitting other parasites. This doesn’t make sense!!
- Comment on There's been a massacre! 1 month ago:
Just think how inefficient most of what we do is. Most of our modern society is based on indulgence or complex societal norms (very inefficient from an energy perspective!). It is frankly absurd to think we would do anything only based on its efficiency… Similarly, an intelligent alligator society may just eat their young out of fun or because of societal norms.
- Comment on Piss off! 1 month ago:
Lol didn’t even see that! :D
- Comment on On trees... 1 month ago:
Yeah, like monocots don’t have secondary growth so they have to use some tricks to get that large. Like palms first grow to a certain stem size on the ground (or below) and only then grow up. I wonder how lycopods grew that large considering they are not really ferns even… Oh and ferns also can grow to be trees!
- Comment on they come 1 month ago:
In some areas and times, cockchafers were served as food. A 19th-century recipe from France for cockchafer soup reads: “roast one pound of cockchafers without wings and legs in sizzling butter, then cook them in a chicken soup, add some veal liver and serve with chives on a toast”. A German newspaper from Fulda from the 1920s tells of students eating sugar-coated cockchafers. Cockchafer larvae can also be fried or cooked over open flames, although they require some preparation by soaking in vinegar in order to purge them of soil in their digestive tracts.[14] A cockchafer stew is referred to in W. G. Sebald’s novel The Emigrants.
- Comment on they come 1 month ago:
TIL calling beetles by the month they appear in is a mess. In Europe, may beetles are Melolontha, june beetles are Amphimallon (or Mimela), july beetles are Anomala (at least in German). Rhizotrogus is also in the mix, but didn’t get a month assigned.
But then in North America, there are different genera for each month. Phyllophaga in may, Cotinis and Polyphylla in june, none in july…
- Comment on Piss off! 1 month ago:
With one data point as sample size, it could have been a baby, a huge bodybuilder or anything. Same goes for the
humancow. All of this isn’t reliable data and we shouldn’t even discuss it here. - Comment on We're good, thanks. 1 month ago:
This reminds me of an unfinished crochet project of Anomalocaris I got lying around… If anyone is interested, here is the pattern I’m using: etsy.com/…/nur-muster-anomalocaris-burgess-shale
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Because no one should give Google any more money! Buying second hand/refurbished is the only way it makes sense for me to get a device by a large corporation like that.
I’ve had a couple of refurbished pixel phones and they’ve each worked well for years. The battery health was at about 95% when I bought them I think.
- Comment on Good to see someone caring about BiLions 2 months ago:
Aw sorry, didn’t get the irony in your original statement…
- Comment on Banananananananana 2 months ago:
The older, nicer version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYbWjJsLymE
The newer, more extreme version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOxP3_HFcM
- Comment on 🔪🔪🔪 2 months ago:
It’s shows a wasp and not a bee…
- Comment on Good to see someone caring about BiLions 2 months ago:
Well, if you look at any animal species, assume variations to occur. There are so many different sexes, genders and sexualities out in the animal kingdom, but our society’s cisheterosexual bias has conditioned us to believe that all animals are straight and cis…
As a reading suggestion you may look into Evolution’s Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden
- Comment on cilanto 🌿 4 months ago:
If you want to know more about this (because in reality it is a bit more complicated) MinuteFood explains it pretty well in this video.
- Comment on Dinosaurs Still Live 8 months ago:
For more info:
- Comment on Haha SO TRUE! 8 months ago:
This is the source, so no, this isn’t real :)
- Comment on STOP. IDING. PLANTS. 8 months ago:
Lol, good one!
- Comment on Sleepy Bees 8 months ago:
I quite often find bees sleeping in flowers in my garden. Especially inside Campanula flowers. Always so adorable to see them :)
- Comment on wrappers 8 months ago:
Cute!!