pancake

@pancake@lemmygrad.ml

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨where's my damn plume⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  DNA contains coding and control regions. Changes to the coding regions are rare, most of the evolutionary stuff is happening within those control regions instead. Mutations there are more likely to result in interesting effects by affecting the way genes activate and interact, while the coding regions do the heavy lifting.

  Losing some feature could be as simple as a mutation that permanently switches off the control region of a gene, even if the gene itself and the interactions formerly coded around it still work. Over time, those accumulate mutations and degrade, since they are not useful and therefore evolution doesn’t preserve them, but they are still there. For example, we have an inactivated gene that used to make an enzyme that would break down uric acid. So we get gout, but our ancestors didn’t.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨if statement == false⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Underrated comment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YEET⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The atmosphere is just about 10 kg/m^2 in sectional density; the manhole cover was very likely higher than that, wouldn’t that mean the cover’s mass should have come out at the other side, intact or not?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨alpha⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m a beta-lactam antibiotic.

  Good for many tasks, but rapidly becoming useless.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Shape of the Heart⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It starts out as a tube and folds into its final shape, but I’m suprised it can be reversed, holy crap…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[Thread] Mental Math⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The overwhelming majority of all neurons in our body are just for controlling movement. Ironically, things like language or creativity require very little of our computing power and might be replicated by machine learning and a sufficiently beefy computer. But complex motor tasks? We’re way ahead of our current tech on that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Guerrilla Women⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Only the first human was natural, every one after that was created by humans.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Cheeky⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No, the vagina is topologically a hole, as the uterus with the Fallopian tubes has two direct openings into the abdominal cavity (another objectionable “design” choice).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Oxygen⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Chemical damage to our bodies mostly consists of both oxidation and Maillard-like reactions. So we’re both slowly burning and getting cooked!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨dopamine detox⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Proceeds to ingest my entire stock of dopamine-depleting medication

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When Irony and Science Collide: Expect the Unexpected⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a public modlog with all removed posts and comments along with the reason, so you can get the pitchforks when a mod goes authoritarian (or, more often, have a look at what a complaining user actually meant by “freedom of expression”).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Serotonin⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Interestingly, malfunction of cortisol signaling has been very strongly linked to depression. High-dose corticosteroids can produce an array of mood effects, including depression and mania, as well as other psychiatric symptoms. Relatively recently, psychoactive steroids have been approved for postpartum depression.