TLW Science Thread

[Mudface]

I think it's probably simpler than that- snakes are horrible cunts.

[VladimirIlyich]

23 minutes ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

Yeah but so are a lot of vegetarians. 

Maybe snakes should eat vegetarians? Or vice versa?

[Lee909]

4 hours ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

I think there are parallel pressures at play; adapt to survive and adapt to thrive. Snakes have enough food so the former doesn’t apply but that doesn’t negate the latter. We didn’t evolve big brains becuase of a lack of food for monkeys but the genetic accident that happened enabled us to thrive. So I think my question is still valid, a snake that had a genetic mutation to eat fallen fruit would have thrived. This really good article blames their parenting style and inability to transmit the gut bacteria which can eat cellulose to their offspring : https://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/2012/10/why-are-there-no-herbivorous-snakes.html?m=1

There are not many reptiles that are full on herbivores though is there?

I imagine part of it is digestions as they are simply not built to feed on vegetation, especially the snakes head and teeth. 

Add to that,most grazing animals are eating for a large portion of the day which isn't likely to be a great thing for a cold blooded reptile. Snakes are set up perfectly really to do what they do and its unlikely that small rodents will ever be in small supply or hard for them to catch. I mean most snakes only eat once a week, maybe once in two weeks. older snakes less and younger snakes only twice a week. They have had no need to evolve past what they are now. they have changes and are generally smaller and the venomous bastards are constantly evolving new venom.

 

Great documentary this on venom

 

The bit i'm referring to is at the 30 minute mark. The rattlesnakes venom is evolving as the Ground Squirrel has built a partial immunity to the venom. 

 

 

[Strontium]

Is it possible they meant the sum total of everything humans have ever created, much of which will have been recycled over and over again.

 

EDIT: ah, what they meant was that human-made materials outweigh total global biomass.

 

Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass – study | Environment | The Guardian

[Mudface]

27 minutes ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

A guest on Lorraine this morning claimed that human's had created so much stuff that it is was equivalent to the weight of the whole planet. Nobody challenged her, Lorraine just nodded sagely and looked a bit sad. How the fuck did these people leave school with so little knowledge of basic science ?   

Equal to the planet's biomass, not Earth itself- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-made-stuff-now-outweighs-all-life-on-earth/

[AngryOfTuebrook]

On 14/05/2021 at 19:01, Colonel Kurtz said:

Catching up on my massive back log of new scientist magazines now that I’m starting to travel again. Read a great article about evolution today, one of the big mysteries is why there are no plant eating snakes ? An obvious niche with a huge source of food but no snakes have evolved to take advantage. Any ideas ? 

Snakes survival strategies depend on sneaking around undetected. 

 

Fruit and veg makes you fart. It'd be a dead giveaway. 

 

(And with that insight, I expect the Nobel Prize is in the bag.)

[Strontium]

53 minutes ago, Colonel Kurtz said:

They are pretty bad parents (fuck off after egg laying) so there isn't a transmission mechanism from parent to offspring (no regurgitated food, breast milk etc)

 

This can't be true, I have seen repeated references to snakes with tits on this forum.

[mars]

If this isn't faked then it is very cool.

 

 

[dockers_strike]

Pangea?

[Strontium]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-across-globe-are-evolving-to-eat-plastic-study-finds

 

Microbes in oceans and soils across the globe are evolving to eat plastic, according to a study.

The research scanned more than 200m genes found in DNA samples taken from the environment and found 30,000 different enzymes that could degrade 10 different types of plastic.

The study is the first large-scale global assessment of the plastic-degrading potential of bacteria and found that one in four of the organisms analysed carried a suitable enzyme. The researchers found that the number and type of enzymes they discovered matched the amount and type of plastic pollution in different locations.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I watched a YouTube video on the most realistic humanoid robot yet. Some scary shit being made by the likes of Boston dynamics.

[Bjornebye]

3 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I watched a YouTube video on the most realistic humanoid robot yet. Some scary shit being made by the likes of Boston dynamics.

Yeah they need to fuck off we've seen this script before, back then it was Viacom fucking with our imaginations. This shit's too real

 

 

 

 

 

 

And look at this cunt

 

 

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

They've got faces now and can hold conversations. Fuckers hot stepping into our shoes.

[Bjornebye]

50 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

They've got faces now and can hold conversations. Fuckers hot stepping into our shoes.

You wait till I find my birds battery pouch. Party time 

[TheHowieLama]

Damn robots, coming over here and stealing our jobs.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Kenneth Williams explains thermocouples.

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Captain Porkheart

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59944889

 

[polymerpunkah]

Reading the vegetarian thread, I was wondering about the ethical implications of that, religious proscriptions, etc. 

 

I see the BBC has got there ahead of me.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59951264

 

 

 

 

 

[Strontium]

If it's a matter of actual life or death, pretty much any veggie is going to put their life above that of a pig. It's not really a dilemma. 

 

Edit: the religions with prohibitions on consuming pigs say basically the same thing in that article: preservation of human life comes first 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

I'm currently reading "Life Changing: How Humans Are Altering Life on Earth" by Helen Pilcher.

 

This is where I got up to two days ago.

 

[cloggypop]

Leiden is the first ever European City Of Science. 

 

Get in. 

[VladimirIlyich]

9 hours ago, cloggypop said:

Leiden is the first ever European City Of Science. 

 

Get in. 

Is it pronounced 'lay-den' in English or 'lie-den' or thereabouts?

[TD_LFC]

On 15/12/2021 at 17:21, Bobby Hundreds said:

They've got faces now and can hold conversations. Fuckers hot stepping into our shoes.

Just wait until basement dwelling nerds get hold of them, gonna be hard to overthrow the human race when you're chained up in a basement and used as a neck beards play thing.

[cloggypop]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Is it pronounced 'lay-den' in English or 'lie-den' or thereabouts?

Second one but the locals don't pronounce the n. So more like Lie-duh. 

[VladimirIlyich]

9 minutes ago, cloggypop said:

Second one but the locals don't pronounce the n. So more like Lie-duh. 

Strange pronunciation from those Dutchies.