#Enviromental DNA

[mindblowingscience]

A golden mole that "swims" in sand has resurfaced in South Africa after 87 years in the wilderness when many specialists feared it had become extinct, researchers have said. Traces of two De Winton's golden moles have been found under the sands of a beach after a "detective novel search", said Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) senior field officer Esther Matthew on Tuesday. EWT and University of Pretoria researchers covered up to 18 kilometers (11.2 miles) of dune habitat a day as they spent months hunting for signs, said Matthew. The blind moles are cute but excessively timid. They pick inaccessible areas to burrow homes and have extremely sensitive hearing to detect ground vibrations made by anyone who could be looking for them. The last scientific trace dates back to 1936. The team used a scent-detecting Border Collie dog, Jessie, to find traces of the moles' tunnels.

Continue Reading.

[nerdykorgi]

GRIMWALKER BIOLOGY & ANATOMY STUDIES [pt 1 / ?? ]

(aka, my ideas and thoughts on how these bad but sad boys work!)

with pictures :D !

ok for starters! I tried my best to make real life connections with actual biological stuff and yeah but there are some things ima have to bullshit lol

i hope yall like rambling

[ ^ Basic ideas ]

Lets talk about anatomy!

From what i can tell from the grim walker ingredient book they have some pretty ... interesting ingredients...

GALDORSTONE:

Heart and Power apparently. What i can make of this is that the Galderstone not only powers and animates the non-organic materials but acts as a circulatory system, flowing blood and nutrients to keep the body stable by creating magical pulses of pressure that makes the blood flow. Blood is kind of ideal for homeostasis and living and om pretty sure we've seen hunter bleed at least once... Perhaps the Galderston can create an artificial vascular system to carry oxygen, magic, and nutrients throughout the growing body instead of just making veins from scratch. I want to say the Galderstone can generate energy for the grimwalker but that would mean they wouldn't need to eat, and I don't think that's true. I think its main purpose is just activate the magic materials and is like the generator to a car, keeping it running. If the Galderstone were to break or fail, the grimwalker probably come unglued and fall apart to its components (which would be pretty horrifying)

ORTET BONE:

Very key component! The ortet bone kind of helps form the blueprint for the species of the grimwalker, as well as supplying blood, a skeletal system, and components of DNA. The most basic definition of the word ORTET is as follows: the original plant from which the members of a clone have descended. Fun fact: since were using cloning terms, Hunter is to Caleb as Ramet is to Ortet (Ramet is an individual clone) I did research for cloning and as it turns out you kinda need a complete genome for cloning but for bullshitting reasons (which will be explained) we can clone with incomplete DNA and make synthetic dna from scratch! I hypothesis that the reason grims can look different from the ortet instead of just straight carbon copies is due to the bone that is used and how much of i there is. Like example a grimwalker made using just a toe phalange is going to look A LOT less like the ortet compared to a grimwalker made from something like the cranium and bigger bones and such. Basically smaller bones dont carry as much dna info and leads for room to fill in the blanks. Sadly this means alot of Grimwalkers had A LOT of health problems (this can range anywhere from immune system problems to liver failure which is quiet typical in clones, that and it is often that clones appear different from the ortet due to enviromental factors and influences)

[ As the image above shows, subject #103 has a very close resemblance to the ortet due to the bones that are used ] There are pros and cons to using bones! Pros being that they can hold DNA for much longer than tissue, but the thing is bones can degrade really easy if not preserved, and i don't think belos had a bottle of hydrogen peroxide laying around that he could dunk Caleb in, so let's just assume he made sure his brother's corpse was well cleaned and kept. Biggest con is the human body only has so many bones (about 206) I believe that the reason Grimwalker can generate organs is by using the ortet and making the stem cells created from bone marrow. Stem cells are very important because they can turn into different types of cells like blood and tissue cells as well as repair tissue. I believe the process of growing grimwalkers is kind of like "Self-renewal" the process in which stem cells divide and make more of the body

STONESLEEPER LUNGS:

Im just gonna assume stone sleeper had very small lungs because aint no way those t rex lungs fit in a teenage boy. I originally thought The reason that Grimwalkers can stay underground for so long is because the lungs, similar to how a stonesleeper hibernates for centuries (kind of like how wood frogs can basically cryo-hibernate) by petrifying but a grimwalker IS growing and therefore needs resources to grow, like how a baby does in the womb. So it has to be actively getting said resources so it cant be petrified. I now think the reason that grimwalkers have these lungs is because theyre easily compatible to the galderstone, which needs oxygen for the blood and that they can be easily harvested and stored in stone form. But that does give room for cool adaptations like self-petrification! (which i will get into next time :D )

PALISTROM WOOD:

Ok its says that the wood is used for keratin, which is a fiberous protein which can make all kinds of things like scales, hair, nails, feathers, horns, claws, hooves, and skin! And since its also a plant means it can grow 4 times as fast as normal keratin can! This explains why hunters hair grew so ridiculously fast in season 3, was because his hair can produce its own carbohydrates and nutrients on its own... This means his skin and surface wounds can heal quite fast! (down side is it might give him something similar to PSS (Peeling Skin Syndrome ) ...) I think Palisman is very important becasue of several reason! 1 Like palisman, it can "animate" if you will, more or less help pull off the illusion that he is alive. 2 Like mentioned before, Grimwalkers need nutrients to grow and I believe the palistrom wood aids in that! Using a process called cellular diffusion, the grimwalker can take in nutrients from the ground around them (which i theorize to be highly fertilized) through THEIR SKIN! and into the veins and flesh of the grims 3 I believe that in the process of forming, the galderstone "activates" the palistrom wood, forming into skin or hair but this process of rapid growth leaves the skin all undone and fragile because a proper cutaneous barrier was not formed yet (which is useful for being malleable. This is why Hunter's ears are so 1 .god blessed big because they are fake and molded to look like that. Its also why The grimwalker Belos possessed fell apart so easily, like he said "It wasnt ready")

SELKIEDOMUS SCALES:

This one kind of confused me because... well why do we need the seal flesh when the ortet can just regenerate it?? I think its kind of like the stuffing if you will, it also speeds up the process of producing flesh by a lot! Especially if you want to make grown grimwalkers! Im thinking that Grimwalkers don't have a set "age" theyre just as big as however many materials they are given to work with. Even though the book says they can start as babies, if you look closely there is a check mark towards the more adolescent figure, so im thinking that they are not ready to be unearthed until they reach a certain growth ima guess around the age of over 10-ish?? We don't know how young Hunter was pulled out of the floor but it seems like he was fairly young, or atleast younger. This means while Hunter appears to be 16, he might have only been living for around 5 years or so.

Now typically normal seals have a lot of blubber which is a thick layer of fat, also called adipose tissue, directly under the skin of a marine mammals. Its used for insulation. The thing is tho, it says Selkiedomus Scales, not flesh... Dont worry there are mammals that have scales like Pangolins but i dont know if these scales are like thick plated or small and stretchy. Magic bullshitting time, Im goin to assume Selkiedomus scales refers to a layer of scale-like flesh that protect the creature from boiling but is also highly malleable and easy to work with. Maybe the reason they can withstand such heat is due to unsaturated bonds of butadiene molecules mixed into the blubber that are highly heat resistant Selkie domus flesh is molded and into the relative shape of desired body and using the DNA of the ortet the flesh is reshaped and reused into the desired muscles shapes. The vascular system created by the galderstone spreads throughout the flesh and binds with it. healing together and becoming flesh, kind of like a speed up version of skin graft maturation! This is useful for growing them quickly because they don't have to grow an entire adult body from scratch so this speed up the process by eeeerrm 20 years or so lol

Thats only the basics for now, sooner or later i shall get into the more fun stuff, like adaptaions of Grim walker, the growing process, ad more!

Hope you guys enjoyed my ideas, if i got anything incorrect let me know, my research isnt exremly searched through.

last question ill leave you all with, it kind of stumped me while i was working...

i have a theory but i wanna know your thoughts...

(i worked hard on all this btw, i really hope people read it lol /lh.)

[berrychanx]

Tokyo Mew Mew New Ep 18 Toughts

Again this episode left me without words, i don’t know how or where to start. Guess I’ll start by saying what i liked the most

Number one gotta be kid Ryou playing scientist in his dad lab. not that the original depection of him was bad but this time I feel like he’s really into science, his father steps, the mew project everything

The original japanese subs said UMA which stands for Unidentified Mysterious Animal

ACTUAL SCIENCE AND UMA DNA LET’S GOOOOOO

From Keiichiro biography card,

this confirms his adoptation into the Shirogane family

The foreshadowing

Ryo’s father acknolodging his a must better scientist and researcher than him

Knowing the burdens Ryou will have if he continues the follow his foosteps

Aoyama nightmares continue, everything is under this blueish grey atmosphere, Darkness and ugly thoughts are consuming his mind

The Chimeras

They appeared cause Ryou was researching UMA? Or where the aliens already stablished on Earth? I hope we get answers to this

They have a gem, so it’s probably they were infused with an alien parasite by either the aliens or whatever Ryou was researching had escaped the lab

Family

Even though the shirogane family interaction with Keiichiro was short, i loved it, somehow I felt like he was a cared for member of their family and because of that the outcome was more emotional.

THANKS GOD, NEW DIDN’T MADE IT LOOK LIKE A SUICIDE LIKE IN THE MANGA OR A RANDOM FIRE STARTING LIKE IN THE ORIGINAL. She tried ... :( Mew Project The rest develops like in the manga and the original with Ryou having memorized everything but this time we get a glimpse into the research

They went to every spot that had the RDA they needed for research, based. We also see this two characters growing

I never about this because how cat Ryou looks in the original,but IS HE SUPPOSED TO BE A BLUE RUSSIAN?

Having Ichigo mention us, the mews, just  confirms what I’ve been saying, he cares for all the same way

A bit of character development on Ichigo side, she’s feeling guilty for the way she treats him, despite him caring for their safety even if its his fault that they’re in this situation, what a loop.

I love that they keep focusing on green enviromental solutions, more care for the enviroment, animals, plants, etc like we’d seen at the end of every TMM volume with WWF, this is the basic idea of TMM.

Nice plot idea for the aliens

It’s still a enemy of the day kinda of plot but with some truth behind its actions I LOVE IT

Can confirm this, I live near a river (Rio Tejo) and since the waters are more clean now every year we get visits from a dolphin family (will share videos later)

Confrontations

More Pie x Lettuce confrontation, YES YES YES, let’s develop this please, I want them to have a debate with each other

Lettuce stepping up, Ryou worried with her safety,, all it took was for her to stand firm in her belives, she was the best Mew for the job and she belives she can handle it then she’ll try no matter what, I know its hard to see but when Ryou’s looking at the red sea we can see a white thing moving, its Lettuce and Masha being swept away, that’s why Ryou says this line

I love how she relied on everyone trusting her to find the courage to keep going.

Preverance wins

The rainbow detail, thanks to the (mew) aqua and being sunny :’)

MVP, and the day is saved

Having the Nlue Knight not wanting Ichigo to fight anymore and only protecting her keeps following like the manga, I’ll share my thoughts when the reveal episode is released, to avoid spoilers for non-manga readers.

I loved Ryou’s reaction, as far as they all know, he can’t be trusted, he might be a manipulative character. Altough..... this leave little space to Ichigo wondering his identidy, because RYOU AND KEIICHIRO ARE RIGHT THERE

<3, Ichigo seeing her teammates are evolving, its so sweet

Aoyama ruining the mood XD but after what he witnessned on TV is normal for him to think that way.

I intreperted Ichigo line to what Aoyama said before, she’s not wondering about her relationship with him she said she’s happy being near him, she’s wondering about the planet’s conditions

This reverts back to episode 1, what can she do to protect the planet

I wonder what kind of approach will TMMN take to make Ichigo mind at ease, will it end with the final Mew Aqua, will it continue and develop to A La Mode? If she decides to follow alongside Aoyama’s dream, I hope they give us  a glimpse into A La Mode story.

[castrateurfate]

i think what's really funny is that the u.s. government has stated that sasquatch are real a number of times but then don't use it as a distraction method like they do ufos

there are laws that protect sasquatch and there are government-backed research into the confirmation of their existence (look up the "washington enviromental atlas") and there has been dna testing on behalf of the fbi that was able to conclude there are non-human apes within the most dense parts of the mid-west.

but you don't see the u.s. givernment shouting "LOOK! A BIGFOOT!" before scurrying away after being confronted about shady dealings.

i think the fact they rely on bullshit about aliens and flying saucers is to me, a better liklihood that bigfoot exists and alien spacecrafts dont

[mojo120]

Yeah so I haven’t read the Light Novels so im not going to comment on the subjective writing quality between them and the anime but a lot of people when it comes to adaptations tend to forget what works in a book will frequently not work on screen, lots of exposition is a lot easier to get into in pure text than it is on screen where it can become ��watch these characters... stand around and talk and describe stuff for 20 minutes” and little else. Like just off the top of my head try to imagine the Lord of the Rings films but they spend as much time on random enviromental details and bits of language as the novels. In the novels that’s awesome it gives you a great visual picture in your head. But on screen would you really want to have Frodo and Aragorn talking about moss on a statue for 5 minutes, do you really just want to pause the plot so the characters can be Linguist? (and yes I know Tolkein was one and that’s a huge part of Middle-Earths DNA)  I have heard some important political scenes were cut and that’s a shame cause what is in the anime is interesting though and more of it would be nice but when I read stuff like “man they condensed the Dragon arc so much IT WAS LIKE 7 CHAPTERS OF THEM FIGHTING” im like.. uhh yeah no I love a good action scene but that be a huge drag that would not be entertaining to watch. There’s just only so much you can do with it before it would become repetitive. 

TLDR a Book and a show/movie are fundamentally different storytelling vechiles and how pacing works in each is quite different.

it's so funny seeing people in the magirevo tag be like 'they're cutting so much worldbuilding from the novel'- yeah not-that-interesting world building overexplained to us despite how simplistic it is via one of the most awkwardly long exposition dumps I've seen in a book, (Anis monologues! for like what feels like a third of the book!) thank god they didn't destroy the pacing with that in this version and just allow the audience to pick most of it up organically.

The first novel had cute concepts but was not well written- it made me not want to pick up another one- and my main hope was the anime would do away with it's pacing issues and focus on the characters. And it's doing that! This is a very smart adaptation, and I'm very grateful.

[saddayfordemocracy]

Fukushima: Contaminated water could damage human DNA !

Contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant contains a radioactive substance that has the potential to damage human DNA, a report by Greenpeace says.

The claim from the environmental campaign group follows media reports suggesting the government plans to release the water into the ocean.

Many scientists say the risk is low but some environmentalists oppose the idea.

The government has not yet responded to the Greenpeace report.

For years Japan has debated over what to do with the more than a million tonnes of water used to cool the power station, which went into meltdown in 2011 after being hit by a massive tsunami.

Space to store the liquid - which includes groundwater and rain that seeps daily into the plant - will fill up by 2022.

The government says most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed using a complex filtration process but one isotope, tritium, cannot be removed.

Japanese media reported that the government had decided to start releasing the water into the sea from 2022. Under the reported plans, the water would be diluted inside the plant first in a process that would take several decades.

In its report Stemming the tide 2020: The reality of the Fukushima radioactive water crisis released on Friday, Greenpeace claimed the contaminated water contained "dangerous levels of carbon-14", a radioactive substance that it says has the "potential to damage human DNA".

The group accused the government of suggesting the water was "treated" giving the impression it "only contains tritium".

Environmental groups have long expressed their opposition to releasing the water into the ocean. And fishing groups have argued against it, saying consumers will refuse to buy produce from the region.

The mangled wreckage of Unit 3 is seen at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. Photo: Reuters/ Kyodo

[dinklebop-manjensen]

arboreal dogs are descendants of defective genetically engineered creatures dumped into the wilderness to die. their dna seems to be nearly identical and so their radically different behaviour and aspect are believed to be product of recessive genes tied to desired characteristics of the original project manifesting due enviromental pressure

[enzodavis]

Smart Buildings Are Creating Smart Cities

Any Smart City has many rising definitions. The flexibility of the definition provides cities the chance to define its programs, policies and procedures according to its own local set of focal points and needs. Smart City explanation frameworks are being designed as well as marketed by teachers, companies, urban organizations and the media, as well as the utilization of technologies like smart properties. Through this cacophony involving frameworks, a foundation has surfaced that help define regions of Smart City interest, actions and measures. Many frameworks use the word SMART as an acronym to imply Specific, Measurable, Possible, Relevant, and Time-based ambitions. These same frameworks provide the concise explaination 10 Smart City elements: • Energy • Water • Waste • National infrastructure • Public Safety • Training • Healthcare • Green Complexes • Transportation • Citizen Services The interesting aspect of Smart City initiatives is the closely integrated method that seemingly disparate components work together. As cities start their transformative process into Smart Cities, it helps to take into account the manner in which cities will need to address the social, monetary, engineering and enviromentally friendly challenges. And this manner will center on Knowledge. As we identify the problems of living in a highly connected, Information grow older world, it helps to relate to our cities because organisms. If the town is a body, we have seen its evolution from the Agrarian Culture to the Information Age through the development of programs. Each city features its own cardiovascular system (traffic, mass transit), bone system (infrastructure), respiratory and also digestive systems (vitality, waste) and even a ancient nervous system (telecommunications). For a city to provide use of its intelligence powering the knowledge and become any Smart City, the development from the Intelligence System that links the central anxious system to a brain is required--enter smart buildings.

Due to the implementation involving vast information technology (IT) solutions over the past many years by cities, the world has made a cornucopia of data. This information comes in all shapes and forms and enables a whole world of tasks to be performed more effectively and proficiently. The issue is not if the city has the appropriate data to become a Smart Town, the issue is how. Media and also marketing people are calling this kind of emancipation of data being freed from their silos "Big Data." Which means an enormous body of internet data has the ability to enter the city's body as well as freely circulate. The actual job of today's cities IT department is not to only secure people from engaging in a city's system, but exactly how to control and deal with the glut of knowledge that will be trying to get out. A major issue for a city's IT division is how to manage "Big Files," now that it can be set free so easily. The particular cities that solve this problem will be on the correct path to being a Smart Town. Those that don't may experience what other organisms experience when there is too much congestion in its nervous system, a breakdown. The focus on Big Data and your town's behavior towards their data's management is a essential element towards as a truly Smart City. A smarter, efficient city that will encompass aspects of wise transportation, security, vitality management, CO2 pollutants, and sustainability is contingent on the setup of a Big Data ideal plan to enable determination makers and regulators to perform their careers. In response, some cities took an Open Data way of assist in making its information available to the general public, which includes spawned an emerging industry for the development and selling of "Apps" to enable this kind of Open Data to come alive and provide value to a user. There is a proactive approach involving identifying and managing your city's digital DNA. The building blocks to effectively and efficiently use city data will ultimately reside in any city's ability to repurpose its existing data and also documents associated with the Built Environment, which is the authenticated digital Genetic make-up of all cities. Built Atmosphere data is already seized by city's in numerous formats and processes; Creating Departments, Engineering Sections, Land Departments, Organizing Departments, Tax Sections, Postal Services, each will collect and handle vast amounts of data that when viewed as  a whole, produce the virtual representation of your respective physical city. The truth, authentication and intergrated , of this city data is the key to a practical approach to entering a way to becoming a Smart City. Without proper digital DNA framework and management, the particular connectivity from your municipality's nervous system to the brain will probably be problematic, inhibiting efficiency and the evolution of one's city to a Smart City. Check out about chung cu vinhomes smart city web page: read.

[fuckblizzardbearlover]

the only bad thing about the jurassic park/world franchise is that everytime a movie comes out everyone whos never watched any of the movies wants to give their hot take

“lol dinosaurs dont look like that”-Never once has the series claimed they did. there is literally 10 minutes of the first movie dedicated to discussing how these arent dinosaurs but clones made from a mix of dinosaur and modern DNA. Jurassic World had a dramatic scene where the head bio engineer says that they’ve made the animals like what people expect dinosaurs to look like and the idea of creating ‘scary monsters” is the entire plot of the movie as the park has run successfully for 20 years and people are bored of dinosaurs (at least bored enough to not pay thousands of dollars”

“why didnt they learn the first time”. first of all dinosaurs never got loose in the park, in the first movie the entire island is evacuated and a rival company using a  virus so their mook could steal cloning technology left  like... a half dozen people stranded on the island. the 2nd movie was scientists going to a natural habitat to protect the animals ruined by fighting between the company that caused the problem in the first movie , and an eco terrorist.  the 3rd movie involved 2 people looking for their lost son on an island and lied to some mercenaries and scientists  who had no idea what they were getting into. the 4th movie takes place after 20 years of success and the problem was caused because the head scientist weaponized the creature secretly in order to sell it on the black market and the 5th involved the imminent death of the animals being taken advantage of a corrupt businessman looking to make millions in one night by selling animals on the black market. and now because of that the animals are free

there has never been a movie about the dinosaurs just getting out of control and killing people its always been a corrupt company fucking stuff up due to greed and the issue is that the product in question are kinda big and hungry

“the characters and themes are to silly/stupid” part of the appeal of the franchise is camp humor. in the middle of horrible violence and thrill there is jokes to lighten the mood . Nothing in all of hollywood is as funny as people digging through dinosaur poop to find a cellphone and avoiding a large predator cus he doesnt want to eat things that bath in poop, or that anti heroic moment in jurassic world where the guy is like “i’m going to stay cus someone has to, do you want to go out later” and the girl is like “oh...i have a boyfriend” “oh.uh sorry. Its just i’ve never heard you talk about anyone”  “yea cus we are at work, i’m not going to tell coworkers about my personal life” that was fucking comedy gold.

The movies have good hardcore messages of enviromentalism and anti capitalism, the evil people always get horribly murdered, it has horror and black humor . It has camp and series themes.

the franchise is gold and if you cant like it then just like shut up

P.s. in regards to sexist themes. Get back to me when the rest of hollywood stops its bullshit

[robertdrozdzunit04]

Wider World Research

My Game’s enemies are mutated, zombie like gory flesh lumps, so i need to do some research about parasitic, viruses or mutation in general to create and see how mutants would look like, or even how mutation can affect the brain and actions of creatures when they are mutated.

Mutation:

Mutation is a change of DNA that change range from changing the appearance of creatures to changing how they act, hunt, eat or do. Mutations are normally errors in the DNA that are replicated through mitosis. This will help in creating the enemies since when i think of an error i think, malformed appearance or like double limbs, so i could have the enemies have multiple limbs, or exaggerated faces, that droop to the bottom of the ground. Errors could also be mental such as I could have the enemies be screaming constantly, speaking gibberish but this could also be used for some gameplay mechanics for example, some enemies could be afraid of light sources, or instead of chasing you they would run away from you and all of this could be random adding to the randomness of mutation. There are 4 classes of mutantions that can happen to creatures, the first is Spontaneous Mutation also known as molecular decay.  Its when even a healthy cell can just suddenly get DNA damge that can range by which characteristics the DNA damage does to the creatures, this sort of mutation would be kinda boring and doesn’t allow for a unique theme among the mutations. I kinda want a reason for the mutants if it be a virus, or parasite or toxic radiation. The Second Class of Mutations is Error-prone replication bypass, this basically replicates by accident the DNA damaged cells instead of the correct cells mostly done when the DNA is repairing itself but instead it views the damaged DNA as the repaired Cells. This could work since the DNA Damage is the same and not completely random and more DNA damaged cells are also the same and not just each differently random damaged DNA. next class is Errors introudcued during DNA repair, very self explanatory instead of actually fixing the DNA the DNA repair process accidently damages the DNA causing a likely hood of some kind of mutation happening to the creature. Lastly the most interesting class of mutation is induced mutation basically mutations caused by contact with mutagens and enviromental causes, for example being in contact with specific chemicals like hydroxylamine or radiation like Ultraviolet can cause mutations in the cells, this is the mutation class im gonna do since it also for way more unique mutations and allows for reasons such as radiation posioning and it would allow for mechanics to link back to these like for example a enemy can radiate radioactive material or like throw toxic waste. 

Viruses can causes abnormal features on creatures and people and even make them do things they normally wouldn’t, the most famous virus in fiction are zombie viruses that infect humans and change them into cannibalistic monsters, which is based on rabies.

Viruses are submicroscopic infections that replicate living inside cells of an organism. Once the they have control of the living cells they feed off the other cells and replicate, since the virus must having a living husk to survive it keeps killing and taking over the cells. uses an inspirations of how viruses work i could have different kind of enemies for example since viruses need living cells to live the enemies will try to rush the player and try to infect them and the player will must get a specific health item or something, but for example the virus enemies could be very weak and slow since the viruses are eating the body for sustenance.

Mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that changes the genetic material of organisms that come into contact with it, the more amount of mutagen the organism comes into contact with the more frequent mutations are. Mutagens can affect the transcriptions and replications of DNA and in severe doses can cause cell death, the mutagen can causes aberrant, impaired or loss of functions of particular genes and many mutations may even lead to the formation of cancer. Mutagens can even effect chromosomes such as deleting them, inverting or moving them about. With this information i could create some really interesting enemies, since a mutagen can change a chromosomes then the mutants can honestly end up looking completely different while still retaining human features. The mutants could also have different design features for example mutants with abnormal large arms or many arms could carry larger weaponry that needs to be destroyed before the player has a changed to kill the enemy. There are different types of Mutagens Ionizing Radiations such as x-rays, gamma rays etc, Ultraviolet radiations and Radioactive decay. Most of these radiations cause the DNA to break and cause other damages and it can cause failure to replicate the new DNA. The Other type is DNA reactive chemicals, these are mutagens that directly interact with DNA that can cause mutagenetic compounds in the DNA. Reactive Oxygen Species may cause the body to proude strand breaks and crosslinks.

[ask-the-talon-healer]

Mentha

Role: Support

Affiliation: Talon

Occupations: Botanist, Pharmacist, Enviromental Activist.

Basic Info:

Name: Drx. Autumn Azalea.

Age: 37.

Homeland: Forestlands (Bolivia).

Height: 6'0"

Skin: mocha toned.

Eyes: olive.

Hair: dark cocoa.

Abilities:

Primary Fire: Spore Pistol

-pinpoint spread.

-2 shots per second.

-4 second reload

~reload animation: pistol snaps open in a manner simelair to a six gun, but only one round chamber. Menthas left hand pours a dusty green powder into the chamber and snaps the chamber shut to resume fire.

Botanic Capsules: Small round capsules that can be thrown at surfaces to attatch to a sprout plant life to assist teammates and damage enemies.

~Healing:

The bloom is green in color and admits a gold spore that heals 3HP per second upon contact with teammates and Mentha.

~Damage:

The bloom is red in color and admits a purple spore that poisons enemies 3HP per second upon contact.

~Botanic capsules have 50 HP life.

~Only 1 healing capsule and 1 damage capsule can each be active at a time.

~Capsule use has an 8 second cool down.

~Animation: Mentha raises her left arm infront of herself, a small plant sprouts from her wrist to rest on her hand and the player is given the option of Damage or Healing.

Upon selection, the plant produces a capsule (green for healing, red for damage) and Mentha throws it at the desired surface to sprout and take its desired effect.

Voice Lines:

~"Stay close!" (Healing)

~"Nature can be cruel." (Damage)

Vine Dome: A haven made of vines and bark that sheilds Mentha from taking damage for 10 seconds.

~Vine dome has a 15 second cool down.

~Mentha cannot cap while concealed in the vine dome.

~Animation: Upon selection, Mentha assumes a defensive position and the vine dome forms around her tightly, her silhouette is crouched. Once the vine dome disperses, Mentha can move (and take damage) freely again.

Voice Lines:

"I need a small break."

"Let me rejuvenate."

Healing: Mentha self heals 5HP per second upon not taking damage.

Ultimate- Tree of Life:

~Menthas ult phrase is "Nature provides." Or "la naturaleza proporciona."

~A large, green tree that grows and gives maximal health buffs to teammates around its radius when it sprouts and grows.

~disperses after 3 seconds and buffs slowly decrease.

~slow-medium charge rate.

~Can be easily interrupted by other heroes abilities.

Bio/Story:

Hero Bio: Drx. Autumn Azalea was a well respected pharmaceutical drug expert and botanical enthusiast. She searched for a way for human tissue to regenerate at the same rate as plant tissue and tested her breakthrough vaccines on herself.

Story:

As the bio states, Autumn Azalea was renouned for her pharmaceutical research and research in medicinal properties of certain plant types. After witnessing limb loss and fatal injuries to people during the Omnic Crisis, she took it upon herself to find a way for human tissue to regenerate at the same rate as plant tissue with some not so simple alterations to human DNA.

She had a bad habit of testing her vaccines on herself due to her strong opinion about animal testing and she wouldn't dare ask her lab assistant's. Her body reacted badly to one of her breakthrough vacvines and she lost consciousness.

She awoke in the hospital a few days later, to see her left arm shrouded with dark green veins stretching from the injection site to her wrist; doctors are baffled. An attempt to amputate her infected arm is made only to find it grown back the next morning. She had achieved her goal, but at what cost?

She returned to her labs to find out that her funding has been cut and her research, along with her cherished plants destroyed by the medical board. In a fit if hysteria, she promises herself to continue her work; drapping the ruins of her labs in dangerous plant life and slipping into madness in the process. The plant life spreads to several small villages and construction sites around Bolivia, engulfing them in a dense forest; soon Autumn Azalea is ostracised as an environmental terrorist.

Talon learns of her and views her as a powerful asset. A team is dispatched to retrieve her against her will and dub her 'Mentha' due to her mass use of types of mint for her medicines.

Relationships with Talon:

As she is told that the orginzation needs her help, its hard to say if Mentha is unaware of Talons true intensions or if she suffers from Stockholm Syndrome.

She is a dedicated healer, despite the nature of her teams tasks.

Reaper:

Gabe and Autumn tolerate eachother, especially after she introduces him to a type of tea that eases his body pains.

Widowmaker:

They don't talk often, but when they do, it's awkward small talk that they both walk away from at the same time.

Sombra: Major sisterly-BFF love. Olivia has someone new to bug, and Autumn enjoys the company.

Sigma: Seibren and Autumn start off as a complicated pair. Shes not fond of him because all she remembered was it being him who subdued her so she could be taken. They got to know eachother and shortly after that, they are rarely seen apart.

(NGL. I ship it. It's called GravityFlowers :3)

Doomfist: In her entire time with Talon, Autumn has never interacted with Akande once. She doesn't know why. He doesn't know why. Nobody knows why. Maybe they will someday get passed the awkward and scary stares.

Moira: Moira and Autumn are the most complex dumpster fire example of a kinship that shouldn't be. They are either having a civil conversation about the different methods for medicine or trying to rip eachother apart. No in between.

Mentha is just trying to make the best of an odd situation and help people who need it.

This is a blog dedicated to her.

[donewithcapitalistfrayers]

Dear Occupant, I am writing to you because I believe you are one of those special people who care. Although there have been many groups formed to promote the conservation of mountains and forests, nobody seems to care about America's most threatened and neglected habitat, the toxic waste dump. Toxic waste dumps are a truly American habitat. They were not made by the nibbling of ants or the trampling of elephants' feet; they were totally unknown throughout most of our Earth's history; and they ahve not been detected on any other planet. This habitat is the Unique creation of Capitalism and Freedom, bequethed to all other societies as an eternal monument to our initiative. It was on of the first environments to be celebrated by the Romantic poets. To paraphrase Wordsworth's immortal lines: I wandered lonely as a cloud Of sulphurous hydrocarbon fume And not of water vaporized As poets carelessly assume, My eyes atear, my craft all gone And mute the music of my lyres— 'Til my olfaction came upon A mound, a mount of smould'ring tires Beside the lake, where grew no trees In pools of aging PCBs Below, an iridescent spring Did bubble from the sequined sod, It glowed in every spectral shade And colours quite unknown to God! While quite unseen by eyes like mine A billion molecules peruse A billion ways to recombine Unthought of since the Cambrian ooze. How could I not be touched that day In heart. And lung. And DNA. But is this magic place doomed to disappear after so brief a flourishing? We cannot believe a tragic end awaits so special a place, a place not only valuable in its own right but also a great potential tourist attraction for millions of people all over the world who yearn for the American Way. And that means DOLLARS. We believe that millions of Americans appreciate this wonderous place, which is as American as apple alar or superprofits. We believe that if only they knew about the threat to our country's landscape, millions of free-enterprise loving Americans would rally 'round. They would buy our new Calendar featuring the Great Toxic Waste Dumps of the United States. They would send our prefabricated TWD kits, which they can mix with used motor oil, and pour into their backyards to get their own personalized micro-TWDs. You can become part of the only environmental protection movement that also protects the economy, for, as the great Milton Freidman says, "Enviromental protection is fully compatible with the needs of the economy provided you choose the right environment to protect." Remember, no poison is truly wasted if it can find its way home.

Yours truly, Yuno Yalt, Acting Chief Engineer

From Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays On Ecology, Agriculture, and Health 

[faithfulnews]

Video, audio and summary of intelligent design discussion, with Ben Shapiro and Stephen C. Meyer

Stephen C. Meyer and Ben Shapiro discuss evolution and intelligent design

(Re-posting this for those who missed it the first time around)

This is a must-see / must-hear conversation. Famous conservative Ben Shapiro discusses evolution and intelligent design with Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, author of “Signature in the Cell” (origin of life) and “Darwin’s Doubt” (fossil record). These are the two best books on intelligent design. Their conversation covers the most important issues in the origins debate.

So to start, here’s the full video:

And here is a link to the audio. You can download the MP3 there.

Someone actually put out an outline on Youtube, with a time-based index, so I’ll just steal that as a base, and add to it:

1:34 What is your scientific background? Science undergraduate degree, professional geologist, later did a PhD in philosophy of science from Cambridge University.

2:39 What is the difference between intelligent design and creationism? Creationism starts from the Bible and posits a shorter history of the universe. ID starts from the data of the natural world and is neutral about the age of the Earth / universe. Meyer accepts the old-Earth.

3:36 How is Intelligent Design a scientific theory? The discovery of DNA reveals that code is central to living systems. Intelligent design uses the method of “inference to the best explanation” in order to argue that the best explanation for the code is an intelligent agent.

6:10 What evidence would have to arise to make Intelligent Design Falsifiable? If a naturalistic mechanism was discovered that could produce biological information using the probabilistic resources of the universe, and the time available, then intelligent design would be falsified.

7:26 Is religion separate from science or intertwined within it? There are three views: science is totally separate from religion, science is in total conflict with religion, science and religion agree on some issues, e.g. – the origin of the universe and Genesis 1:1. There are areas where science and religion overlap.

9:55 Why are the most prominent Darwinians also militant atheists? Evolution is a theory that tries to explain nature using naturalistic mechanisms, so it is compatible with atheism.

10:45 What does the theory of evolution say? The term evolution has multiple meanings, and should be defined before discussions. It can refer to change over time. It can refer to animals changing slightly to adapt to enviromental changes. It can refer to the idea that all animals evolved from simpler life forms, and that there is a tree of life showing how different types of organisms share common ancestors. And it can refer to the idea that purely undirected processes can explain the history of life using purely materialistic forces. It’s that final view that intelligent design challenges.

13:15 Where is the discontinuity in naturalistic processes in the development of life? The first discontinuity is the origin of simple life from non-living components. The second discontinuity is the sudden appearance of different body plans in a very narrow window of time in the Cambrian era.

15:42 Why does information theory suggest that code requires some sort of designer? DNA is a true information-bearing system identical to the software in computers, e.g. – operating system, applications.

19:45 Can information be created by random mutation, and favorable mutations preserved by natural selection? Just as in software code, instructions must be added in order to develop new functionality. Random additions of characters will almost always degrade biological function. The number of possible sequences that do nothing useful is vastly higher than the number of sequences that perform biological functions. Doug Axe did research on this at Cambridge University, and he found that the number of functional sequences of amino acids is 1 in 10 to the 77th power. Given the probabilistic resources (replicating organisms)and the time available, it is extremely unlikely to find sequences that have functional information by chance.

25:05 What about Stephen Jay Gould’s model of punctuated equilibrium – doesn’t it explain the sudden jumps in information? Gould’s mechanism is accurate according to the fossil record, which shows a lot of jumps. But he did not have a naturalistic explanation for sudden jumps in biological function. Darwinian mechanisms work slowly and would (in theory) produce different body plans gradually. But this is not what the fossil record shows.

27:22 What is the mechanism for injecting information in the theory of intelligent design? The information comes in from an intelligence when new major body plans appear, and minor variations within types could be explained by evolution.

29:25 Does the Miller-Urey experiment provide a naturalistic explanation for the building blocks necessary for the origin of life? The MU experiment only produced a few types of amino acids, it doesn’t say anything about how to sequence the amino acids in order to form protein folds that can perform biological functions. The MU experiment also pre-supposes conditions on the early Earth (reducing gases) that do not match what was there (oxidyzing or neutral gases).

32:00 Is the RNA world hypothesis is a good explanation for the origin of life? Evolution requires that replication already be in place, because evolution assumes that mutations appear during the replication. The RNA world hypothesis suggests that sequences contain information, but also catalyze origin of life chemistry. The problem with RNA world is that it starts with self-replicating systems. And those replicating systems require the scientist to inject information into the system to get even the simplest replication started.

34:56 How do scientists respond to the critiques of Darwinism proposed by intelligent design advocates? By and large, they accept them. They think that mutation and selection works once living systems are in place, but they realize it has no explanation for the origin of life or the sudden origin of body plans. (Tells about the  conference of the Royal Society, where problems with Darwinian mechanisms were discussed, and the 2003 MIT Press book by Muller and Newman).

37:16 Why do people hold to Darwinian evolution in the face of these problems? Many scientists presuppose methodological naturalism, which requires that any explanation for the origin of life and the origin of major body plans involve materialist explanations only. No intelligent agents are allowed. The problems occur when assumption of naturalism causes scientists to propose incorrect explanations for what we observe in nature. It’s also not clear how naturalistic mechanisms could produce organisms who are capable of reason and free will.

40:43 Does naturalistic evolution have an answer for conscious minds, reasoning, free will? No, consider the work of atheist scholar Thomas Nagel, who argues in his book “Mind and Cosmos” (Oxford University Press 2012) that the existence of mind is a disproof of the neo-Darwinian explanation for life. Darwinism stops us from accepting the reality of minds.

42:06 So do naturalistic evolutionists have to explain away the mind as an illusion? First, we humans have immediate experience of consciousness, reason and free will. Second, our whole legal system is based on the idea free will, because you can’t hold someone guilty unless they chose to do something they knew was wrong. Third, we have an epidemic of suicide among young people. This is caused by a crisis of meaning. Intelligent design opens up the possibility of their being a mind behind the universe, who we could have a relationships with.

44:53 Why aren’t schools allowed to be honest about the problems with neo-Darwinian evolution? The intellignt design view is to that teachers should be allowed to teach all the vidence for Darwinian evolution, and also discuss some of the problems with the theory. Students learning science should not be told that everything is solved. Students learn science better when they are presented with peer-reviewed evidence for and against a theory, rather than being indoctrinated.

47:37 Is intelligent design theory connected to God? Intelligent design infers from the information content in nature that a mind with capabilities like ours injected information into living systems. Intelligent design is agnostic about the designer, because in principle, embodied or unembodied agents could inject information into living systems. Intelligent design is friendly to theism, because theists will immediately identify the mind as God. Furthermore, the fine-tuning in the initial conditions of the universe is another intelligent design argument. In that case, since the design occurs at the beginning of the universe, the intelligent agent acting prior to the creation of the universe would have to be supernatural, i.e. – God.

50:53 Can naturalists say that the imposition of “function” on a sequence is arbitrary, in the same way that the English language is arbitrary? This won’t work, because biological function is not arbitrary in the same way as language. Biological function is not arbitrary, because sequences can be tested for function objectively by observing whether sequences can perform functions necessary for life, e.g. – replication.

52:43 Doesn’t the multiverse explain away the improbabilities of the fine-tuning, the origin of life, and the development of life? No, because all models of the multiverse require fine-tuning in the mechanism that generates the different universes.

55:42 What about cosmological models that eliminate the beginning of the universe? The standard Big Bang model and the inflationary model both posit a beginning of the universe. There is also the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theory which proves that any universe that is expanding requires a beginning. The only chance for naturalists is quantum cosmologies, but this doesn’t work because 1) it requires an abstract reality of mathematics to actualize the physical universe, but this presupposes a mind. 2)  The model requires an earlier input of information, which can only have come from a mind.

If you listen to this lecture, or watch the video, and you enjoyed it, then please share. If you have questions, I can try to answer them for you – just leave your question in the comments, or shoot me an e-mail, or message me from the blog’s Facebook page, or direct message me on Twitter. I’ve invested a lot of time in this, and have been studying intelligent design since the late 1990s.

By the way, I listen to the Ben Shapiro podcast, (and the Andrew Klavan podcast), every day. I never miss an episode, and I think if you give them a try, you’ll enjoy them, too.

Go to the article

[eunnui]

I hope you do well on it!! (what's it about? can i ask that? IDK if i'll understand or not, but...)

Im doing honours in biology, but my project reaches into (enviromental) microbiology as well (note: im a microbiology and biology major)

So my project is on 3 newly isolated unidentified strains of cyanobacteria which originate from moss and lilypads from a lake in Wuhan, China. These strains are special because they can make a certain type of chlorophyll called chlorophyll f

So cyanobacteria are cool cos theyre the only oxygenic photoaynthetic bacteria, and also theyre who we need to thank for for making 1) the earth have oxygen and 2) plants (as theyre the origin of the creation of chlorophyll).

Also dunno if ya know this but theres different structurally distinct forms of chlorophyll. Almost all oxygebic photosynthetic organisms have chl a. So chl a can’t absorb all light wavelengths, especially light wavelengths beyound 700nm. This is where cool chlorophylls like chl d and f absorb light called ‘far red light’.

So ya anyway back to my project

So first i had to see at least what genus my strains aka my babies belonged to. I sewuenced their 16S-23S Internal Transcribed Spacer region (ITS) gene region and then searched and compared the sequence to their identified closest related strains available on the NCBI database (its this massive database with many things including gene sewuence and functioms and proteins and organism sequences). Also i got certain domains (its like sections of its dna sequence) and folded it and compared isolates with their relatives to see if they were similar (thus belonged to that genus) or ver different (thus did not belong in that genus). And ye so:Strain 1 belongs in Leptolyngbya. Strain 18 belongs in Chorococcidiopsis. And Strain 10 is still unknown.

So next i had to grow my strains into healthy stock cultures for further studies. I 'optimised’ the culture conditions to make my strains have higer growth rates and stuff. So that means i tested different light intensities, salinities, pH, and temperatures to see what combo each of my babies liked. Omg so when i got them they were on thr brink of death!!!! Like i thought i was killing or contaminating them but in fact they were suffering under thr initial conditions! So initially they were being grown under light intensity of 20 microeinsteins (uE) of white light, at 27oC, 0% salinity BG-11 freshwater media, at pH 7.5-8.And like almost all my strains liked this except the BIG FACTOR to photosynthesis: light intensity! My strains came from a super shaded environment, so it wasnt surprising that they liked low light conditions between 5-10 uE. Aka from them on in order tk grow them good i had to place a piece of fabric on top of cultures to grow them!! My picky little NEETs ;u; so proud of them theyre too cute!

So after optimisimg them, they grew so happy to the point rhat one of them was contaminating cultures of anothrr lol

So next i exposed cultures to different qualities of light (different wavelengths) aka different colours of light in order to see how light quality effects growth and photopigments. Btw photopigments are proteins that harvest light.Ok so i tested white light, blue light, green light, orange red light, and far red light. Strain 1 was so wild sjsvhshsh the cells changed colours dramatically across each loght treatment! Like in blue light it looked pink, white light it looked brown, orange red light it looked green. Later found out from pigment analysis that this was cos it was altering something called its phicobiliproteins which are special proteins of the phycobilisome antenna that absorbs different colours of light.

All strains made chl f only under far red light CONFIRMED

All strains made thr most carotenoids in blue light and far red light. Ok so this is cool cos carotenoids play lotsa roles in photosynthetic organisms like it harvests blue-green light, it acts as an antioxidant so it takes away reactive oxygen species which can damage the other photosynthetic proteins, also quenches overexcited photosynthetic proteins so they dont hurt themselves, and they also play a role in cell wall and protein structure stability 👌👌👌 think of them as sunscreen for chloroplasts 👏👏👏 so strains 1 and 18 grew alright in blue light meaning that they were using carotenoids for protection AND harvesting. Whilst strain 10 almost died in blue light, so it was only using carotenoids for protection.

I also got some coll fotos from confocal microscopy feel free to drop an ask and ill post some pics of them 👌👌👌 that machine hates me and its a miracle i even got these pictures lol

So ye! Characterised lotsa things for these newly isolatex strains! Cbb going through my discussion section so heres some dot points

- strains like low light and freshwater conditions- syrains show particularly 2 types of chromatic acclimation far red light photoaccilamtion and complementary chromatic acclimation- their ability to grow under low light and alter their photopigments in respinse to the light environment means that they could be strains for biofuel production- strain 1 can be used as a teaching aid for classes on phycobilisome function cos it changes its phycobiliproteins so dramatically in response to light quality

[evoldir]

Job: Montana.LabTech.eDNA

Job announcement/advertisement LAB TECHNICIAN FOR ENVIROMENTAL DNA (eDNA) RESEARCH & MONITORING Project: Detecting invasive species using qPCR & novel water sampling methods Principal Investigators: Gordon Luikart, Steve Amish, & Brian Hand, Flathead Lake Biological Station and Montana Conservation Genomics Laboratory, Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana. gordon.luikart@umontana.edu; Steve.Amish@umontana.edu (406-872-4517). Start Date & Duration: May 2019; 1 year with likely extension Project Description/Summary: Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) such as rainbow trout, bass, and zebra mussels are spreading across North America causing massive economic and ecological problems. To help prevent spread, new environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling and laboratory qPCR tests are now available for early detection and monitoring AIS. This lab position will involve optimizing real time qPCR assays applying them to track spread of AIS. Much of the work will involve testing water samples from Montana, Idaho, and adjacent states. The successful applicant could help collect water eDNA samples in national parks and wilderness areas across Montana. Sampling would include use of a mobile qPCR on lakes (from a speed boat), and the use of autonomous sampling instruments that collect multiple samples daily (automatically, with no human on site) from streams. We are especially concerned about stopping the spread of zebra mussels which were discovered in Montana in 2016 (Fig. 1). The successful applicant will also test for invasive rainbow trout, brook trout, and bass (Fig. 2). Skills required: The applicant should have experience applying qPCR assays (e.g. TaqMan) to eDNA samples or difficult/ancient DNA samples. The successful applicant would ideally also have a Master's degree or equivalent experience in writing reports or publications, working as a team, and collaborating successfully with natural resource agency field biologists. The applicant will participate in planning and publishing model projections of AIS spread. Experience with metabarcoding and next generation sequence data analysis would be helpful. Applications: Send a brief letter (

[elbiotipo]

Tbh why stop there lets be trilobites

Trilobites... too complex, too dependent on enviromental variablesLet's be prokaryotic cells, everybody has their own DNA, no need for anything else, and if we want to party we form biofilm colonies baby!