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Oddballs


Toxn

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  • 4 months later...

Several unusual bacterial species in the Atacama Desert of Chile are being hit hard by rain; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35051-w

 



Here we show that the sudden and massive input of water in regions that have remained hyperarid for millions of years is harmful for most of the surface soil microbial species, which are exquisitely adapted to survive with meager amounts of liquid water, and quickly perish from osmotic shock when water becomes suddenly abundant. We found that only a handful of bacteria, remarkably a newly identified species of Halomonas, remain metabolically active and are still able to reproduce in the lagoons, while no archaea or eukaryotes were identified. Our results show that the already low microbial biodiversity of extreme arid regions greatly diminishes when water is supplied quickly and in great volumes. We conclude placing our findings in the context of the astrobiological exploration of Mars, a hyperarid planet that experienced catastrophic floodings in ancient times.

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  • 2 months later...
6 hours ago, Collimatrix said:

It seems plausible. The idea that failing to eliminate mtDNA might be a genetic disease of some sort makes sense given how rare and concentrated the phenomenon seems to be.

 

We'll have to see if this ends up being an interesting curiosity or the start of something bigger.

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I remember being struck by the idea of an alien ecosystem (in a book whose name I absolutely cannot remember and cannot find online) where multiple ecosystems exist on the same planet as effectively giant organisms in their own right. So the characters are traipsing through and amongst what amounts to the cells of a continent-sized body.

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10 hours ago, Toxn said:

I remember being struck by the idea of an alien ecosystem (in a book whose name I absolutely cannot remember and cannot find online) where multiple ecosystems exist on the same planet as effectively giant organisms in their own right. So the characters are traipsing through and amongst what amounts to the cells of a continent-sized body.


I remember in Star Wars legends that there is a planet where the surface is covered in a type of algae, or other similar organism, which all basically function as individual neurons, making the entire planet essentially a brain. I don’t remember if it could communicate or not. 
 

Warhammer’s Tyranids also come to mind when talking about organisms acting as cells to a larger entity (I hesitate to say hive mind because I don’t fully understand the concept). 

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12 hours ago, LoooSeR said:

Both of those are fairytale stuff. Would like to see more serious take on that concept.

I've actually wanted to have a go at a more scientifically-grounded version of Tyranids/Zerg, but I suspect that once you try to do so the result looks nothing like the material it is based on.

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Relatedly, I've seriously thought about trying to found high-energy biology as a field:

https://xkcd.com/2656/

 

As a post-graduate, I looked into the possibility that plant nitrating enzymes (eg: the whole nitrate reductase pathway) along with plant tissue specific promoters could be used to effectively grow a bomb. It wasn't very serious enquiry or anything, but as far as I can tell it's a perfectly feasible project to carry out.

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On 8/18/2022 at 3:20 AM, Toxn said:

Relatedly, I've seriously thought about trying to found high-energy biology as a field:

https://xkcd.com/2656/

 

As a post-graduate, I looked into the possibility that plant nitrating enzymes (eg: the whole nitrate reductase pathway) along with plant tissue specific promoters could be used to effectively grow a bomb. It wasn't very serious enquiry or anything, but as far as I can tell it's a perfectly feasible project to carry out.


Wasn’t this the plot to iron man 3?

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6 hours ago, Lord_James said:


Wasn’t this the plot to iron man 3?

No, that was more "mumble mumble virus.... mumble infinite energy... blah blah regeneration... bullshit".

 

Dudes regrowing limbs on the fly and heating up hot enough to palm-slice through steel is solidly on the fantasy biology end of things.

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6 hours ago, Toxn said:

No, that was more "mumble mumble virus.... mumble infinite energy... blah blah regeneration... bullshit".

 

Dudes regrowing limbs on the fly and heating up hot enough to palm-slice through steel is solidly on the fantasy biology end of things.


I probably don’t remember enough of the movie to comment, but I do remember that a major plot point was the bad guy was making people blow up with his “miracle cure” or whatever. I may or may not have fallen asleep for the rest of the movie. 

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On 8/20/2022 at 5:24 PM, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

I hope it is time for this men in tights movies, this super hero bullshit, to die, like Vampire and Zombie movies.  

 

We need more movies like Topgun Maverick, where the airplane is the hero, not some degenerate in tights.

I haven't seen the new one, so I can't comment on that, but I thought that shirtless volleyball was the hero in Top Gun?

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