BBC Science
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 07 Sep 2024 14:59
https://mander.xyz/post/17747088

#science_memes

threaded - newest

icerunner_origin@startrek.website on 07 Sep 2024 15:23 next collapse

Do plants die of old age though? Now that question has been put in my head, I need to know.

Be back in a bit, going down a rabbit hole.

icerunner_origin@startrek.website on 07 Sep 2024 15:26 next collapse

Given the right conditions, some plants can live indefinitely. Others die shortly after seeding.

Malgas@beehaw.org on 07 Sep 2024 15:49 collapse

There’s a bristlecone pine tree in the White Mountains of California that is nearly 5000 years old.

fossilesque@mander.xyz on 07 Sep 2024 15:40 next collapse

Vine plants are especially weird.

Late2TheParty@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 16:20 next collapse

You gotta tell us some fun things you learned!

frank@sopuli.xyz on 07 Sep 2024 16:52 next collapse

Subscribe to plant facts

Kanda@reddthat.com on 07 Sep 2024 17:14 next collapse

So… Do they?

9point6@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 17:15 collapse

Should we send someone after him?

iheartneopets@lemm.ee on 07 Sep 2024 17:57 collapse

Dammit, this is why you always secure your lifeline before entering the Rabbit Hole

Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de on 07 Sep 2024 18:18 next collapse

Depends how you look at it. If you keep raising off-shoots from cuttings, you are essentially producing extensions of the very same plant and you can do that indefinitely. Think about it like cloning: an individual plant will eventually die, but it’s clone will survive and can still propagate.

Plants are not biologically immortal like some lobsters for example.

9point6@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 18:40 collapse

Tell me more about these lobsters

Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de on 07 Sep 2024 20:22 collapse

Chromosomes are essentially packages of DNA and each end of a chromosome is extended by a protein called telomere, essentially sequences of “junk data” that protect the actual data (the DNA) from degradation or randomly fusing with other chromosomes. When cells split to renew, these telomeres are not fully copied to the new cell and thus shorten with each split. When they get too short, cells cannot split anymore, so there is a natural end to the renewal process (the so-called Hayflick limit).

Lobsters possess an enzyme called telomerase which can repair telomeres and thus their cells can, in theory, divide indefinitely. They will still die naturally tho due to diseases or growing too large to sustain their body size and die of malnutrition, but they don’t age the way we do.

9point6@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 23:54 collapse

That was super interesting, thanks for the response

thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org on 07 Sep 2024 21:00 collapse

wait until you get to the part about the Ginkgo tree

icerunner_origin@startrek.website on 09 Sep 2024 09:57 collapse

It is the horseshoe crab of trees

aramis87@fedia.io on 07 Sep 2024 16:03 next collapse

If BBC Science Magazine was texting me at 1.29am to ask "Why do the British talk about the weather so much?", BBC Science Magazine and I would be having words - especially if they texted me six hours later to ask about plants!

ByteJunk@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 16:50 next collapse

There’s a science article that investigated why the Brits discuss the weather? I’m now mildly curious to know their methodology and conclusions…

SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 17:24 next collapse

I like that it’s a foregone conclusion, not just weather or not they do.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 18:37 collapse

It is? I hadn’t the foggiest!

thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org on 07 Sep 2024 20:57 next collapse

they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea

toynbee@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 22:50 next collapse

I like this reference.

flerp@lemm.ee on 08 Sep 2024 00:37 collapse

I still think mechanical watches are a pretty neat idea. I also never forget my towel so there’s some hope for me yet.

Kusimulkku@lemm.ee on 08 Sep 2024 00:18 collapse

Sociology

saltesc@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 17:58 next collapse

It’s like being subscribed to a toddler in the “why” phase.

BenReilly97@lemmy.world on 07 Sep 2024 21:12 next collapse

Same energy

AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com on 08 Sep 2024 01:17 collapse

No. Not this time. It’s fiction. We made it up. This one was invented by a writer. We got you. It never happened.

BenReilly97@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2024 01:37 collapse

You’re right. A similar event took place. Yes, it was. You were correct. It’s fact. This one took place. Right again. A similar story happened to a young man in the Pacific northwest about twenty years ago. Yes.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 08 Sep 2024 00:15 next collapse

because you shook your neurons…

there wouldnt be tides

they lose a bit of energy every time they bounce

some do some dont

because their weather is awful go to sleep right now timmy im losing my patience.

[deleted] on 08 Sep 2024 01:37 next collapse

.

XTL@sopuli.xyz on 08 Sep 2024 19:44 collapse

But it’s the target audience (people who might subscribe to BBC notifications) as smart as a little 12 year old?

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2024 16:01 collapse

That second one may do a lot more than just no tides. The planet may not be habitable without the moon. I don’t remember the specific details right now, but those tides have something to do with levelling out our weather patterns.

weker01@sh.itjust.works on 08 Sep 2024 00:23 next collapse

I love talking with kids in that phase. The raw curiosity and interest in the mundane is so refreshing.

Sometimes I feel like many adults hate to learn new stuff and even get offended by the idea. It’s heartbreaking seeing those interact with inquisitive children, when they answer honest curiosity with indifference or worse anger.

Amanduh@lemm.ee on 08 Sep 2024 00:53 next collapse

Kids can be annoying sometimes, especially if you let them live in your house

OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml on 08 Sep 2024 17:56 collapse

This is why I choose not to have kids. Actually because current state of affairs and their like a boat anchor to freedom.

Agent641@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2024 18:07 next collapse

I like it when they are circling a question where the answer is "Nobody knows yet.’ And when they get there I can hit 'em with the finishing move, “Maybe you’ll be the first person to find out!”

Hooks them every time.

pyre@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2024 18:44 collapse

my kid has been teaching me shit constantly. either by having facts about animals i didn’t know before (which i have checked and verified) or asking me questions where my answer was “i don’t know, let’s look it up”.

i was always a curious person myself and constantly asked questions as a kid as well, but as you grow up you sometimes take things for granted and forget to ask why something is the way it is or how it came to be so. now my kid looks at the world with fresh eyes and asks questions i haven’t asked, so we can both learn. it’s awesome.

reminds me of the monologue that woman delivers in Love Death and Robots episode Pop Squad.

Slovene@feddit.nl on 08 Sep 2024 16:07 collapse

Yeah, he thought it was a different kind of BBC notifications. ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ

hakunawazo@lemmy.world on 08 Sep 2024 17:32 collapse

Big black co… corporation?