this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

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[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 61 points 2 years ago (2 children)

All of our best data on the impact says that it really wouldn't matter. Sometimes a species is a linchpin for the ecosystem, and sometimes it isn't.

Sucks for mosquitoes, but there's a very real chance that we'll smallpox them, and the biggest concern will be our confidence that the virus we use doesn't impact other species unintentionally.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 33 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Hopefully we can do the same for bedbugs. Fuck bedbugs. I can smell the little fuckers

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Hey, at least pubic lice are going extinct!

[–] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I read that as public. I was pretty confused as to what you were talking about

[–] zerofk@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

Just imagine what would happen if all lice were privatised.

[–] TrenchcoatFullofBats@belfry.rip 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Oh no! My patriotic merkin startup plans are ruined! I guess 'MericaMerkins was never meant to be...

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Don't let Trump hear this idea

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Haven't read closely on it, but I've seen plenty of articles about the lack of effect we'd see over killing off mosquitoes. I have a feeling that, along with what you said, it's because they're tiny.

Consider the dragonfly. They hunt mosquitoes efficiently. But relative to their size, a mosquito is like us eating a candy bar, or even less. Meanwhile, they could snatch about anything else and it would be like a 3-pound steak.

[–] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Now that you say that, average us candy bar contains 200..250 kcal a piece. That's about 1/7th of BMR of an average healthy male.