#great oxidation event

[mindblowingscience]

The oldest evidence of photosynthetic structures reported to date has been identified inside a collection of 1.75-billion-year-old microfossils, a Nature paper reveals. The discovery helps to shed light on the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygenic photosynthesis, in which sunlight catalyzes the conversion of water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen, is unique to cyanobacteria and related organelles within eukaryotes. Cyanobacteria had an important role in the evolution of early life and were active during the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4 billion years ago, but the timings of the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis are debated due to limited evidence.

Continue Reading.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[katborg82]

I'm gonna try and rush through these next few eras as we're covering a lot of time with not much excitement.

The Paleoproterozoic era started off the Proterozoic eon about 2.5 billion years ago. With the microbial cyanobacteria thriving and photosynthesizing, the world would face some major consequences. The drastic increase of oxygen in the atmosphere would cause the Great Oxidation Event, which would kill off a huge majority of the microbial ecosystem populating Earth. The first mass extinction.

This event also sent earth into a series of ice ages over the next 300 million years. This was known as the Huronian Glaciation. It's a miracle that life pushed through this snowball Earth, but it wouldn't be long before it happened again..

[poondragoon]

Begging you to tell us also about when oxygen nearly sterilized the planet. You have a hypnotic writing style

Stop, please! I'm married!

Hokay, so, a fucktillion years ago (well, between 4 and 2.5 billion years, but at a certain point of imponderability all those big numbers look the same, so let's stick with the funny one, yeah?) nothing alive on earth had ever heard of "free elemental oxygen". They metabolized food anaerobically - by fermentation or CrP hydrolysis or maybe even simple glycolysis, as was the style at the time. The specifics are a bit conjectural, since microbial membrane proteins don't fossilize terribly well, but we have enough anaerobes kicking around to get an idea of what our ancestors probably had to work with.

Not this kind of fermentation, but it gives you an idea of what's up. Thanks, Wikimedia Commons!

Now, breaking food down into energy is one thing, but what about getting it in the first place? Well, the best way is to borrow some energy from the environment and use it to "cook" simple chemicals into more complex ones you can break back down. Basically translating environmental energy you can't use into a form which you can. The earliest way to do this was probably a form of chemosynthesis.

I won't bore you with the details, but this early chemosynthesis would have been...weird. The important part is that the process probably took hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, broke them apart, and recombined the Choice Bits into sugar. Unfortunately, that process would have needed the Weird Earth Chemicals (energy source) and the stupid-high temperatures belching out of hydrothermal vents in order to work, and even then it was slow as hell! There was room for improvement

At some point, some plucky little microbe went "hey, if I use light to excite a pigment, I can use the electrons shot off that pigment to blast hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide apart instead of waiting on Weird Hot Slow Earth Chemicals!" This was huge. The fundamental principle was still basically the same: 12H2S + 6CO2 -> C6H12O6 + 12S + 6H20, but it was faster and easier than ever! Plus it made the earth purple!

There's a joke about Prince in here, I just know it. Thanks, Wikimedia Commons!

But, as is the running theme...we can do better.

Around 2.5 billion years ago, a tiny, subtle mutation arose. A minute riff on the existing form of photosynthesis played out in the genome of one lineage of microbe or another. One that was terribly advantageous: instead of using hydrogen sulfide - which needs to come from marine volcanoes or other microbes' waste - as a hydrogen source, these guys could use water. You know, the stuff that's everywhere. It was H U G E. These new cyanobacteria (so-called because instead of being purple, they're...well...cyan) rapidly began to dominate the marine microbial ecosystem.

However, this nifty new metabolism had a little problem: the byproduct of mashing water and carbon dioxide into sugar was oxygen.

If you've ever seen that post about how "oxygen is secretly killing us", know that it's not a joke. Oxygen is so horrifically electronegative that it freely oxidizes (hence the name) just about anything with an even remotely positive charge. If you're alive, uncontrolled oxidation is very very bad. And in a geological eyeblink, global oxygen levels went from this:

To THIS:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

This may not look like much, but if you've ever spritzed a little Barkeeper's Friend into a 100-gallon fishtank by accident while cleaning up the marine biology classroom you're interning for, you know just how dangerous a little of something can be (and yes, I still feel absolutely terrible, don't @ me). It's hard to quantify because...you know...bacteria don't fossilize too good...but based on isotopic analysis of Archaean sedimentary rock and paleontological technomagic, it's estimated that the oxygenation of the atmosphere killed off some 80% of Earth's microbial biomass. It was that bad.

POV: you're in the Archaean and about to do a war crime.

Eventually , the descendants of the oxygen-tolerant microbes evolved the ability to harness oxygen's horrific destructive power to help them metabolize food more efficiently. WAY more efficiently. Instead of making sugar from water and CO2 and fermenting it to alcohol, they could use oxygen to break that sugar back down into water and CO2. That's an absolutely ridiculous amount of energy. Life on earth sped the FUCK UP. Everything started living, eating, reproducing, and dying at a more rapid pace than ever, but untold microbial biodiversity was lost forever.

If you take one thing away from this post or my Methanosarcina addition to the Lystrosaurus post, let it be this: If you're an organism on earth who enjoys being not-extinct, DON'T FUCK WITH THE ATMOSPHERE.

[deadstonemasonssociety]

Photosynthesis, which harnesses sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen, might seem like something plants and algae are just doing quietly to themselves over there, but it is the basis for the survival of nearly all living things.

Not only do photosynthetic organisms form the foundation of most food webs, their metabolic processes fill the atmosphere with the breathable oxygen most of us need to survive.

We know that, early in Earth's history, there wasn't a lot of oxygen floating freely in the atmosphere and oceans. However, different lines of geochemical evidence reveal that oxygen levels suddenly skyrocketed some 2.4 billion years ago in what is known as the Great Oxidation Event. It's unclear what caused it, but one possibility is the emergence of photosynthetic organisms.

[beepsnivy]

She doesn’t even know she’s a result of the great oxidation event. Ignorant little beast

[jim-the-simpleton]

We Are The Descendants Of The Amoeba You Couldn't Kill In The Great Oxidation Event

[madmonksandmaenads]

Adoration of the Cyan King

(Prepare a bowl of pond water, stand before a plot of land you intend to sow, raise the water to the noontide sun)

Hail oh, Cyan King!

Great Sire of untold numbers.

First to breath! First to rule!

You whose children multiplied to cover the world.

You whose breath encompassed and rusted the world.

You whose toxins carry the foolish from the world.

You whose legacy is blood and iron. I dig this trench, a canal from past to now (with iron tool dig a small trench in the earth)

Conqueror of Archae

Great Herald of Flora and Fauna

I give you now the fruits of your labor

The children of the world you have borne

(Sprinkle some rice or other grains into the bowl and upon the earth)

I thank you for your oxygenating breath.

I thank you for the nitrogen planted within the soil.

Breath your life into this earth

as you breathed your life into me.

Ignite the fire of generation within this soil.

As you ignited my inner flame upon my birth.

Breath with me,

As I breath with you.

(Pour out the bowl upon the soil trench as you let out a long exhale)

Welcome, oh Cyan King,

to a world of your making.

[gaynaturalistghost]

@marsmarl I hope you don’t feel like I’m putting you on blast but I wanted to explain better (with helpful pics) than I could in the comments.

So the issue is. We are talking about two different things. And they’re related, and you are right. I’ve tried to cut down a lot of the chemistry but I was talking about oxidized iron (looses electrons, doesn’t have to bond to oxygen) and you were talking about oxides (iron bonds to oxygen). I know. Chemistry. Some of those oxides don’t fall out of solution (ocean water) and some do. It’s kind of a lot to explain but I hope this is somewhat coherent.

(Edit: wrong. Will correct shortly)

My favorite part of the “wine-dark sea” conspiracy -romans or w/e described the sea as a red thing so they must have not been able to see blue- is that (a very very long time ago) the oceans were actually red. And cyanobacteria (named IN LATIN for the word ‘blue’) were responsible for oxidizing all the iron out to no longer be red. It’s just fun.

[etirabys]

abiogenesis & endosymbiosis timeline

I put this together after reading Nick Lane's The Vital Question. The proposed timeline:

3.8bya: The earliest evidence for life is isotopic fractionation. The carbon (and iron, sulfur, nitrogen) atoms in graphite in Greenland are non-randomly sorted, which indicates the presence of cells whose enzymes have a slight preference for the lighter forms of each. However, geological processes can also produce non-random sorting, so this evidence is ambiguous.

3.5bya: Less ambiguously, we have microfossils that look like cells, again with isotopic signatures.

We think bacteria and archaea split off really early, close to the beginning of life (abiogenesis) itself. This is because their cell walls and membranes are so different it's hard to see how one could have evolved from the other. They probably emerged in parallel when they became independent at all. (Quick sketch of abiogenesis, and bacteria/archaea divergences.)

3.2bya: We see bacterial activity in rust bands in rocks. When bacteria strip electrons from iron dissolved in the oceans, the oxidated iron precipitates out into rust and sinks down to the ocean floor.

All bacteria and archaea respire (strip electrons from a donor 'fuel' to generate ATP, which fuels cellular activity). Many donors are possible – common ones are Fe2+, H2S, or H2O (which respectively become Fe3+, S, and O2 after the electron is stripped). Water is the last to be cracked as a donor.

2.4bya: It's cracked now, by some bacteria (archaea never manage it), which leads to The Great Oxidation Event. The oxygen is first absorbed by the oceans, the seabed, and land surfaces. It'll take over a billion years before the oxygen 'sinks' are exhausted, and oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere for real.

1.8bya: A bacterium somehow ends up inside an archaeon cell, and somehow they don't die about it. The bacterium becomes a specialized energy-producing unit, allowing the host cell to grow larger and more complex. They become the first eukaryote, invent sex, and spawn all complex life. (You can read my RPF about it btw.)

1bya: This engulfment – endosymbiosis – happens one more time, to produce chloroplasts in plants.

0.5-6bya: Atmospheric oxygen levels are rising for real now. We see large complex eukaryotes for the first time. These creatures have specialized tissues whose failure threatens the entire organism, and it becomes advantageous to separate out the germline (the part of eukaryotes that divide forever, e.g. sperm and eggs) and make the rest of the body just durable enough to last as long as the most failure-prone tissues. Death by design has entered the world.

[mybeingthere]

Heidi Gustafson is an artist and ochre specialist based in the rainy, volcanic North Cascades of rural northern Washington. Her highly collaborative and intuitive projects include an ochre sanctuary with over 600 earth pigments from around Earth. Called the “woman archiving the world’s ochers” by the New York Times, and the “ochre whisperer” in American Craft, her work has been featured in several books and publications.

Heidi Gustafson is the founder of Early Futures, an artistic research site with a current focus on ochre, iron oxides, land pigments, and subtle earth activism.

The Ochre Sanctuary is also included under the Early Futures umbrella: "Ochre Sanctuary is an evolving, living place that serves to protect and care for ochre, ie. iron-based earth and pigment wisdom. It’s currently based in tiny cabin in far north Cascade foothills of Nooksack territory, Washington, USA," explains their site.

"Counsel of ochres includes hundreds of rocks and dusts, across the color spectrum, gathered and offered by citizens around the planet, including spiritual and cultural ochres such as kokowai from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and meaningful planetary ochres like GOE (Great Oxidation Event ) 2 billion+ years old goethite or wastewater vivianite from Taiwanese industrial plants.

https://naturalearthpaint.com/.../researching-for-early...

https://www.instagram.com/heidilynnheidilynn

[organical-mechanical]

In my opinion, anything man-made falls underneath the category of “natural”. After all, humans exist as a part of nature, not in defiance of it.

“Natural” doesn’t mean non-destructive, of course.

Is a beaver dam unnatural because it ends up completely changing the environment?

What about the great oxidation event?

Is tool use unnatural? If only some is, then what’s the line? What makes a sharpened stick natural but a bulldozer unnatural?

[lakemojave]

I know you probably want fun and sexy asks when drunk, but I'm gonna ask one of my favorite questions anyway.

What is your favorite Mass Extinction Event? Mine is the Great Oxidation Event, when bacteria figured out photosynthesis and proceeded to rust and poison all of life with the excess oxygen they made as a byproduct. It just sounds so silly, that bacteria are sunlight for the first time and promptly nearly ended life just as it was starting.

Gotta be the Toba supereruption. My god anyone remember the time the earth just fucking exploded? classic

[yoitsjay]

Fast and What?

Pairings: Band Au bassist! Tech x fem reader

Summary: you and Tech both share an intrest in old cars, so you invite him to a street race to see some other beautiful cars, in hopes you'd win one... and you do.

Warnings: porn with a plot, unprotected sex (p in v), oral sex, cunnalingus, cream pie, techs a dirty bastard

Authors note: I don't know Jack shit about cars, BTW. So if I botched something, cry about it. Also tech has a full head of lucious hair in the modern world, so suck on my nuts.

Word count: 3,468

You had been the Bad Batch’s stage manager for a little over a month, growing close with each of them individually. Each band member had their quirks and flaws but you didn’t mind any of them.

You were currently in the studio garage, listening to some of the batchers practice. They didn’t need you there to oversee that though so you decided now would be a great time to give your 67 firebird a good ol tuneup and wash for your secret event tonight.

You were wearing a pair of loose black jeans and a black tank top that already had oil stains in it, and you got comfortable underneath the car. You had all the things necessary in order to detail your car, like oil and spark plugs, all necessary items for an old car like yours, as well as more bottles of nitrous oxide which you had built into your car… for the special events.

Currently you were doing an oil change, laying underneath with an oil catcher beside you underneath the drain cap for the oil tank. You had loosened it up before flicking it off completely, managing to avoid getting a lot of oil on your hands, watching as it drained into the oil catcher.

You moved out from under the car, humming along to the song that the band was currently rehearsing as you grabbed the specific oil you needed from your trunk, placing it by the hood before you slipped back under the car, twisting the cap back on after the oil had all drained out.

You moved the oil catcher off to the side so you wouldn’t trip on it, and walked to the hood of your car, popping it open with one hand while you used the other to clip the metal hood stand onto the top of the hood so it stayed up.

You then found the top of the oil tank and you twisted off the cap, grabbing your oil funnel and sticking it in. “Changing the oil?” Tech spoke up, his voice making you jump as you didn’t even realize that he had walked into the garage. “Yeah, amongst other things. I gotta get her tuned up for the big event tonight.” You chuckled, and started filling the tank with the clean oil.

“What event?” Tech asked, adjusting his glasses as he walked over to you, watching you work from over your shoulder. You glanced at him for a moment as you finished with the oil, removing the funnel and putting the cap back on the oil container, doing the same with the car's oil tank.

you turned to face Tech fully now, hands on your hips as you grinned at him. “Street racing.” You stated, lowering the hood as you tidied up your workspace before grabbing a full tank of nitrous oxide. You entered your car, gesturing for Tech to join you in the passenger seat as you changed out bottles, and gave it a quick pressure test and a test to see if it was actually full, and it was.

“Street racing… that is illegal is it not?” He asked you, watching intently as you changed out the tanks. When you left to put the other tank in the back of your car, he took a moment to admire the interior which was just as pristine as the outside.

“Yeah, but it’s so much fun, and it’s not like I ever get caught. There’s people monitoring police channels, and if they get any news of police headed our way, we get radioed and then we split tail and reschedule.” You explained to Tech as you entered the driver's seat again, staring at him as he admired your car’s design before looking at you.

“Maybe i’ll take you with me tonight.” You suggested, seeing something flash in his eyes as he raised his eyebrows slightly. “I would… I would be interested in experiencing this street racing… but won’t there be traffic?” He asked.

You shook your head. “Nope! We again have more cars to block off the straight shot roads. People get pissed sure but at the time of night we actually race there isn’t much traffic anyway.” You chuckled, checking the time on your watch.

“Well I gotta get home and get ready for tonight… How about I come pick you up at your place around ten? The race starts at eleven so I can introduce you to some friends.” You suggested, leaning back in your car as you grinned at him.

Tech looked away from you for a moment, looking like he was having a conversation in his head before he slowly nodded, looking at you. “yes- i would rather enjoy that i think… i will see you at ten Pm” He replied, getting out of the passenger side, gently closing the door behind him. “Can you let Hunter know I'm leaving for the evening?” You called back to Tech, who nodded to you before leaving the garage.

You started your car, letting it rumble for a few moments as it cycled through the new oil. Afterwards you drive off, speeding down the street, only slowing down to the regular speed when you get to the main roads.

-

Ten o'clock rolled around quickly enough, and you had just pulled up to Tech’s home just as the clock hit Ten. You stayed in your car, having no reason to get out as you already saw Tech exiting his house. He was wearing a darker pair of jeans with what looked to be a new rip forming at one of the knees.

He wore a plain black shirt and a tan leather jacket overtop, along with his glasses of course. But his hair wasn’t slicked back like it usually was and you could see the waves in his hair, and the little curls that fell across his forehead.

Tech climbed into the passenger seat and you beamed at him. “You look good.” You complimented. You were wearing something a little more revealing.

It was a form fitting black dress that stopped at your center thigh, underneath that you had on a pair of black mini shorts, and a pair of fishnet leggings. The dress had long sheer sleeves, and an open collar. You decorated your neck with two different necklaces and wore some bulky rings on your fingers.

“You look stunning.” tech spoke bluntly, and you could feel the heat rise up your cheeks. “Thank you, Tech.” You replied softly, shifting the gear into drive as you checked for any traffic before driving off towards the location of the street race. You could see hundreds of people already, drinking and dancing to the music that played. You pulled up to the temporary parking spots for the racers, getting out and gesturing for \tech to follow as a group of girls, some of your closest friends ran over to you.

“Hey sexy! who's the cute toy you brought this time?” One of the girls asked, you rolled your eyes and nudged her playfully. “This is Tech, and he's not a toy and NO you may not touch him.” You answered quickly, gently grabbing his hand so he could stay close to you.

Tech’s cheeks flushed upon the contact, but he was grateful for it too, seeing just how many people littered this place gave him a bit of anxiety. You gave his hand a slight squeeze before leading him to some of the booths that were set up and selling easy foods like burgers and hot dogs. “Hungry?” You asked him as you approached one of those stands. “No thank you.” He replied, gripping your hand still as you ordered a hot dog.

It didn;t take you long to dress it in whatever condiments you wanted, and you turned back to look at him with a smile. “It's pretty crazy isn’t it?” You asked him before taking a bite into the hot dog, accidently getting some of your lipstick on the bread. You wiped it off, but when it did not come off you just gave up and kept eating before it was finished.

“We can wait in the car until the race starts if you want, and just listen to some music.” You offered, not wanting the man to get too stressed out before the race even started. However Tech shook his head. “No- no i should be okay… I appreciate your concern however.” He told you, and you offered him a smile before squeezing his hand again, this time leading him to where the other racers were.

“hey look who it is! Morticia Adams in the flesh.” One of the racers joked, and in return you rolled your eyes. “Yeah well unlike a fictional character who can't hurt you, I can and I will geld you. I got the shears in my trunk.” You jested, but made your tone sound serious. The man gulped, and looked away from you.

You rolled your eyes, and turned to the third racer, another woman. But her attention wasn’t on you, she was looking Tech up and down like she was a piece of candy.

“I have a proposal.” She spoke up suddenly, staring at you directly now. You raised an eyebrow, but nodded for her to continue. “If you win you can have my car. But if I win… I want a week with your boy toy.” She giggled, licking her lips as she winked at Tech, who squeezed your hand a bit tighter.

You stepped forward, somewhat shielding him with your body. “Absolutely not- Tech isn’t an item to be traded.” You hissed. But the woman just rolled her eyes before whistling, and the crowd cleared, revealing a sleek and absolutely stunning dodge charger, with some powerful mods added to it too.

you bit down on your lip, and was about to speak up to decline when Tech decided to speak up instead. “You have a deal… only because I have faith that Y/n will leave you in the metaphorical dust she will kick up.” Tech stated, and your eyes went wide as you turned to look at him. “Are you sure? if i lose you-”

“You won't lose to her, Y/n.” Tech stated, like he already knew the outcome of the race. You bit your lip again, staring into his eyes. Tech nodded, and even smiled a little bit. You sighed, and then turned to the woman, letting go of Tech’s hand to shake hers. “It’s on.”

And with a deal struck, the race started a bit early, and now only consisted of two racers, you and that woman, who’s name you discovered to be Natalie. Tech sat in the passenger side of your car, holding onto the handle on the roof just in case. You revved your engine, and made sure everything was primed and at your disposal. One hand rested on the wheel, the other on the stick shift beside you.

You stared directly ahead, not bothering to look at the woman who was blowing Tech kisses which he also ignored. And instead he stared at you, placing his hand on yours. “You will be victorious, Y/n.” Tech muttered to you, and you tore your eyes away from the road, looking into his instead.

“I don’t know why you have so much faith in me.” You muttered to him, but he only smiled. “I only request that you trust me.” He stated, and you nodded before looking at the road as the flag girl walked out between the two vehicles.

You revved your engine again, switching your car to drive, pressing down on the break. And as soon as the flag girl signaled to go, you stepped on the gas and sped down the road. You switched gears as soon as you needed to, but not a minute before or a minute later. And for a long part of the race, you and Natalie were neck and neck.

You glanced over at her, and she flipped you off, flashing a quicked smile as she started to prep her nitrous oxide, before flipping whatever switch she needed to give her that short boost. “Too soon.” you muttered, and switched gears again, hitting near the max speed of your vehicle, already catching up to her as you neared the finish line.

you reached out to the switches connected to the oxide tank, and counted down in your mind… two… one…

you flicked the switch, and you got the boost you needed to send you flying past Natalie and past the finish line. You didn't stop, but you did slow down as you drove away from the race, circling back to the starting line. Natalie did the same, and when she got out of her car she let out a shrill string of curses, storming over to you as she handed you the car's registration.

You grinned, and walked over to your brand new car, a giggle leaving your lips as you looked over at Tech, who was leaning against the door of the firebird. “Thank you.” You spoke up. tech raised an eyebrow before replying. “For what?” He asked, and you snorted, walking up to him, grabbing his hands in yours. “For believing in my capabilities.” You explained, staring down at the ground.

Tech’s hand reached up to your face, hesitating for only a second before he cupped your cheek, sliding his thumb under your chin as he tilted your head up so you were looking at him. “I told you, trust in me, didn’t i?” He questioned, and you nodded with a slight chuckle. “Yeah I suppose you did.”You muttered, pulling away from him as you walked to your brand new car.

“You can drive the firebird… but i have a place i wanna show you before we head back to my place, and before i take you home.” You explained, getting into the driver's seat, letting out a low whistle when you did so.

The old muscle car was beautiful, and powerful too. And soon you were driving away from the race, Tech following behind as you drove to the upper parts of Los Angeles, reaching a hill that overlooked the city, but was far from any other people.

You parked and shut off your engine, perching yourself on the hood of your new car, admiring the shining lights of the city underneath you as tech pulled up and parked beside you. He walked over to where you were, leaning against the front of the charger beside you, admiring the same thing you were.

Tech eventually turned his head to look at you as you spoke up, still looking forward.

“beautiful, don’t you think?” You asked him as the lights of the city reflected across your face. Tech sighed in agreement, but he wasn’t thinking about the city. “Yes, you are.” He blurted, and your head turned sharply towards him, eyes wide as you stared at him, lips parted slightly. ‘What?” You asked him, noticing the red tent creep up on his own cheeks.

Tech cleared his throat, moving to stand in front of you, running a hand through his hair. “I said you, Y/n, are stunning.” He stated, staring into your eyes as your jaw dropped wider. The man moved to stand between your legs, gently placing his hands on your hips as he leaned into you.

You did the same until your lips were practically milimetres away from each other. You let your eyes flutter closed, your hands sliding up his arms before finding purchase atop his shoulders. “May i?” He whispered, and you couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course.” You muttered, only waiting a second before Tech’s lips landed against yours in a surprisingly heated kiss.

You slid one of your hands up, cradling the back of Tech’s head as you pulled him closer, spreading your legs wider to feel more of him against you. Tech squeezed your thigh, nipping at your bottom lip which elicited a soft moan, which gave him access to the deeper parts of your mouth.

You both started getting hot, even in what little clothes you did wear.

Tech broke the kiss only for a moment as he shedded his leather jacket, and your hands immediately slid up his shirt, a soft gasp escaping your lips when you felt up a solid abdomen, and the fault outline of abs on his stomach. “What have you been hiding from me?” You questioned, lifting his shirt up and over his head, tossing it onto the ground beside his jacket.

Tech simply shrugged. “I hid nothing, you just simply did not look” He concurred, and you rolled your eyes in response before lifting your hips, pulling your dress upwards so it bunched around your waist. You then hastily pulled down your shorts, but Tech was growing impatient.

His hands flew between your legs, grabbing ahold of the fishnets before he ripped a hole and exposed your pussy to the cold night air. You shuddered, and Tech paused before bending down and grabbing his leather jacket which he then wrapped around your shoulders.

Your face heated at the gesture, and you gripped the leather as tech got down on his knees in front of you. What he did next basically sent your soul flying into orbit as he began eating you out. And it was safe to say he was the best at going down on you than any other man, as he pulled moan after moan from your lips before that coil had built up and then snapped as you came on his tongue.

When Tech believed you were wet enough he got back up to his feet, unbuckling his belt as he let his pants drop, followed by his boxers which loosely hung from his knees, but he didn’t bother taking them off fully.

Instead, Tech grabbed your hips and he pulled you towards him, his tip nudging against your entrance which made you gasp in delight. But, Tech had paused, and the anticipation you had been building up was getting close to overflowing.

So, without a second thought you wrapped your legs around his hips and you pulled him forward, a loud moan falling from your lips as his cock found purchase inside of you.

You dug your nails into his shoulders, but because of your sudden movements Tech decided that you deserved no time to prepare, and he pressed your body further against the hood of your car, his hips snapping against yours, slow, but hard.

“Faster- please baby-” You begged, and the way your pussy tightened around him, he really couldn’t do anything but give you what you were begging for.

So he thrusted faster, wrapping his arms around your torso as he pulled your body against his, sucking deep red hickeys into your neck, drawing out more and more moans until he made you cum again.

Tech continued pumping his cock inside you, his own grunts and moans escaping from his lips as he muttered something to you. “What?” You choked out, and Tech spoke up again, louder this time. +May i- hng- may i cum inside you?” he asked breathlessly, his request driving you mad with want as you nodded frantically. “Yes! yes please-” You groaned, dragging your nails down his back as he snapped his hips forward.

He set a ruthless pace against you, and you ended up cumming for a third time just as his own orgasm broke through him, and he came deep inside you.

He rolled his hips into you, helping you ride out your own orgasm as well as his. He pressed gentler kisses to your skin, raising his head as he pulled you into a gentle kiss on the lips, pulling his cock out of you, watching as his cum and your juices leaked out onto the hood of your brand new car.

You chuckled, breathless. “I have some clean rags in the backseat of the firebird.” You muttered, and Tech nodded, leaving momentarily as he grabbed the clothes, coming back to clean you up, which you were grateful for.

When you were both dressed again Tech helped you to stand up properly, holding you close as he pressed some more kisses to your neck which was littered with hickeys. “I’m going to have a hard time explaining this tomorrow.” You muttered to him, hearing his honeyed chuckle which lit a fire in your core all over again.

“I think we have some unfinished business at my place.” You breathed out, and Tech nodded in agreement, letting you go when he knew he could stand on your own.

“I'll be right behind you.”

And oh boy was he… the shy bassist, a fucking menice in your sheets. Who would have thought.

➺

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@moomoog017

[balkanradfem]

So, I've decided to start learning biology.

My education left me with only primary school biology knowledge, because I had zero biology lessons in high school, and now I find myself sorely lacking in knowledge. Which is inconvenient, now that I'm sick and have no idea what to do. I didn't know where to start, but my roommate is in high school right now, and I borrowed her biology textbook to get myself started.

The biology textbook was so misinformed and outdated it made me worry for the education system. Not only they didn't update any info from the last 40 years, some of the info was completely wrong. For instance, it claims there's 6 billion people on the planet (there's 8), and that there's 6 empires of all living things (there's 8, and some of the old ones have been renamed and disputed). I learned quickly to fact-check every bit of information on wikipedia, and this is where I found some truly astounding info that I had no idea about.

If you all have learned this in highschool and it's common knowledge, please excuse me, but I am shocked.

One of the first topics the book covers is evolutionary history of the planet, and it explains how blue-green algae were the first historic plants to produce a lot of oxygen, which sounds like a positive development for us, because most of the living things right now thrive on oxygen. But, looking it up wikipedia uncovered that it was in fact, an extinction event. Most of life on earth was at that point, thriving in non-oxygen environment, and the introduction of oxygen killed 85% of all living species on earth. It was a huge disaster that happened! It's called 'Great Oxidation Event', or the 'Oxygen Catastrophe'.

But that's not all, I found out that it was not only that which destroyed almost all life on earth, but there's been 5 different events in the history that destroyed close to 80% of all species on the planet, and for some of them we don't even know why. We only found proof that lots of species disappeared at all times and the dominant species on the planet rapidly changed, but no idea why, for some of them it's assumed it has to do with volcanoes or ice, and of them that is well known is the meteor, that ended the big dinosaurs.

I never realized how much of evolution was destruction and then starting over, this was shocking to me. It was also fascinating, I found myself following links and learning more about extinction events, also that we're currently in the extinction event caused by humans who are driving lots of species into extinction by taking over their habitats, which made me sad.

At this point I started reading other, biology-related materials, for example, I read a book named 'What an Owl Knows', which is written by Jennifer Ackerman, an owl scientist who studied owls her entire life; now I know more about owls. I also started listening to an audio book about the ocean, and this one proved to be very difficult to follow, but I'll tell you what I learned from both.

The owl book was charming, I found out that owls are the most quiet, soundless birds when they fly, because their wings and feathers are the biggest part of their bodies. This is how they manage to swoop up prey without anyone hearing a single flap. They're also very silent and subtle. Unless you're studying owls, you won't be able to tell if the owl is startled, or scared, because she will sit very still and not give you any clues. Smaller owls can go into their 'freeze' response easily if they're being hunted, because their instinct is to be still and not move when in danger! It can make you feel like the owl is not scared, since she's not moving, but she is most likely not comfortable if anyone is approaching her.

Owls have similar faces to our faces, and they're very charismatic to us; this is why baby owls, and injured owls in human care, can sometimes imprint on humans. This is bad news for the owls, because once it happens, they can never again be released into the wild, they'll either never learn to hunt, or they'll act towards humans, like they do to other owls - brawling, attacking, aggressive, territorial. Even if they really like us, they will keep acting like we're other owl, not a different species. They see us similarly to how we see them.

One of the best information I've learned, is that in Serbia, there's the biggest gathering of owls of all species, there can be more than 300 owls in one place at the time. The reason for this is common use of old-fashined methods of harvesting grains, which leaves a lot of leftover corn and wheat on the ground, attracting mice, rats, and other small rodents, which creates a great food source for owls. Serbian farmers don't use rodenticide, so owls don't get poisoned. Owls so beloved and appreciated there, that they have an owl festival every year, and the whole month of november is called 'Sovember', because owl in serbian is 'sova'. I never knew about this, even though it's my neighbour country! I looked this up, and I found a website for the international owl festival, but I couldn't find any more info. I would appreciate it so much if any serbian followers could write me about this and tell me their experiences with it, I've never wanted to visit Serbia more!

The book contains information about owls used in Harry Potter movies, including the names of the owls, as well as discussing how the books made owls popular, and how it made people want them as pets. Owls do not make good pets, because they're predators and will destroy things and be very difficult to care for, but the book encourages readers to find the local owls and keep them safe, to leave old trees with holes in them standing, so the owls could nest in them, or to hang up baskets that can also be used as nests. It was a lovely, charming book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about owls.

The ocean book is named 'How the Ocean Works', by Helen Czerski, and I haven't finished yet, but it opened up a lot of questions for me. The funniest part of it was the breakup of what people used to think about the ocean; apparently before research, people assumed that the sea is salty because it's been left in the sun for too long, and that's just what you get from sun exposure, they believed that deep down it was not salty anymore. They also believed that the sea water cannot go putrid if left standing. It took a scientist checking this to confirm it was not true; sea water did go putrid left in a bucket in the sun, and non-salty water did not turn salty when left in the sun for months. It was interesting to know that for the longest time, people didn't realize it was the salt in the sea that made it salty, I then wondered how they got salt, and it turns out they just got it from the salt mines, which are leftover from the long-dried up seas.

Now new information that I didn't know, was that the salinity is different between the oceans, the Atlantic is saltier than the rest. The book also explained about how the salt is connected to the currents, and to the movements of the sea, and also changes the density of the water. One thing that had me taken aback was that the ocean waves are not only caused by the wind, but the water is reacting to earth's rotation, and this rotation is constantly moving the water. It feels like the ocean is being pulled both by the earth and the moon, constantly being driven by planetary forces, which is interesting, because it's difficult to tell that just by looking.

The book calls ocean the 'blue machine', because it's always moving, and filled with energy. Sun is always warming up the surface, making it a great reservoir of solar energy, and the book goes on about how it's possible to harvest this energy, using hot water, and cold water, apparently there's already buildings being cooled down by the ocean power, but I never managed to figure out how! I tried looking it up, and also found nothing. I wish the book explained the physics of it, so that I could try it out, it's a great thing to be able to get power jut by using hot and cold water, and the water is already heated by the sun, while you can get cold water from the bottom of the sea.

I think I might understand this book better if I read it, rather than listening to the audiobook, which as you can see, just has me puzzled because I do not catch details. Still I wanted to share my new learnings, and ask if anyone can tell me more, or if this is all knowledge that people who had biology in high school already have. I'm having a great time learning, especially because I can just divert in any direction that has my interest, and I can seek out information that gives me useful, practical knowledge. Wish all learning processes could be free and inspired like this!

[sakuraswordly]

The Banded Iron Formation (BIF) near Gairloch, Scotland, is an ancient geological feature dating back to the Paleoproterozoic era, around 2.4 billion years ago. BIFs are distinctive sedimentary rocks consisting of alternating layers of iron-rich minerals and silica (typically in the form of chert), and they hold key clues to Earth’s early atmospheric and oceanic conditions. In Gairloch, the BIF is part of the Loch Maree Group, which is a sequence of metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks. This BIF formed during a time when the Earth’s oceans were rich in dissolved iron due to the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere. When oxygen started to be produced by photosynthetic microorganisms (such as cyanobacteria), it reacted with the iron in the oceans, precipitating out as iron oxide minerals. This process led to the formation of these alternating bands of iron and silica over millions of years. The Gairloch BIF is significant because it represents evidence of some of the earliest stages of oxygenation on Earth, known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). This event fundamentally changed the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, allowing for the development of more complex life forms. The BIF also provides insights into the tectonic and volcanic activity during the early Proterozoic, as it is associated with volcanic rocks in the region. Due to its age and the tectonic activity that occurred in the area, the Gairloch BIF has undergone significant metamorphism. Despite this, the iron bands are still evident, and geologists study these formations to understand early ocean chemistry, the nature of ancient life, and the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere.