#macro tardigrade

[cherryflight]

Also, in other things I play…these guys belong to the group clustered at that other beacon over there. They just decided to come along and steal my kills help me out.

I can't be mad though. How can I say no to giant tardigrades? Look at them, they just wanted to help!

[dyad-dragon]

What species would the squonk be?

The squonk gives me vibes of like a macro microorganism? Some depictions somewhat resemble a tardigrade, it lives mostly in water and seems to be constantly "moist", it's body can apparently completely dissolve into liquid, one article I read said it reproduces through binary fission? I see it as being related to tiny multicellular organisms like tardigrades, flatworms, or hydras (although it does not appear to venomous at all like cnidaria, but a hydra can reassemble it's body after being blended up into mush so). It's "constant crying" kind of reminds me of crocodile tears, keeping it's eyes and body moist out of water. Overall this was a very strange cryptid to read about lol.

[blast0rama]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023): A Review

I know, long time since I’ve reviewed, right?

Welcome back.

The year is 2023, and the nerds have, unabashedly, won. It seems every week brings us a new Star Wars/ Star Trek / video game adaptation / comic book movie. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has hit its 31st film1, and began its fifth phase, with this release — Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

And how bizarre is that? When I started this blog in February 2008, we were all just hoping that Iron Man would defy the odds and be a great adaptation of a B-Level hero and The Dark Knight would be a decent follow-up to the shockingly good Batman Begins.

Now we’ve got dueling comic movie universes, with DC looking like it might finally have its shit together with new leadership, and Marvel starting another phase of its (perhaps?) long-in-the-tooth franchise with a third Ant-Man movie.

That’s where we’re at now, people. THREE. ANT-MAN. MOVIES.

Dig into the power of Paul Rudd all you want, but this should not be. Ant-Man has been lucky to string three issues together, let alone three movies.

And who would have thought that this would be the lynchpin of this series of Marvel movies, introducing the awesome Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country) as Kang — yes, the guy whose action figure got dusty on pegs in stores nationwide for YEARS.

It’s a surreal mix to hang $200 million on.

And that’s the odd background that this perfectly fine movie lands in. It’s fine. Not great. Good at best. But fine overall. It’s not a disaster, it’s not the misfire that Eternals was, it’s not going to become a meme joke of a bad movie like Thor: The Dark World was (which I kinda thought was OK, honestly), it’s capital F, Fine.

The setup is actually pretty simple. It’s a few years after Avengers: Endgame, Scott Lang (the eternally cool Paul Rudd) is sort of a cult hero. Not the superstar a Tony Stark or Steve Rogers is, but he can live his life. His love interest, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly, whose political opinions you shouldn’t google) is running an incredible science division of the reborn Pym Van Dyne company, along with her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas, happy to be here). Hope’s long lost mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) has returned from the Quantum Realm (basically, where Tardigrades live), though she doesn’t want to talk about it. Scott’s even written a book about his life, Look Out For The Little Guy!

It’s a shame he’s just having some issues reconnecting with his daughter Cassie, now an adult (thanks, The Blip®!). It seems that Cassie (Kathyrn Newton) is striking out a bit, but showing some scientific prowess. So much so that she’s building a way to map the Quantum Realm! Which sends Janet’s blood running cold…just in time for them all to get sucked into the Quantum Realm themselves.

The worry? A quiet spoken, green and purple jumpsuit wearing man named Kang, who also calls himself A Conquerer. Who you may recognize from — though, really don’t need to have seen — the Disney+ series Loki.

Seems he has a history with Janet, he wants out of the Quantum Realm, and it’s gonna take the whole Ant-Man family to figure it out.

And that’s where the problem of this movie really lies.

There’s two fighting elements here, one micro, one macro.

On the micro (heh) side, there’s a really fun Journey to the Center of the Earth-by-way-of-Rick and Morty adventure here, filled with grumpy telepaths (William Jackson Harper), flashlight headed beings, Broccoli Men, and some weird goo guy obsessed with holes (voiced by David Dastmalchian, the only of Scott’s old crew to return, though as an entirely different character.)

It’s in this mode that the movie really sings. Amazing visuals, stunning creature and character designs that I only would’ve loved more if they were practical. I would love to just see a romp with the Pym Van Dyne Langs in this world.

But on the macro level, it’s time for the MCU to establish a big bad. And though he is performed admirably by Jonathan Majors, and I cannot wait to see him in more, bigger movies ahead…this is not the movie for this weight.

Ultimately, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania starts to sag whe these elements collide, and more than anything, I just wished they had picked a lane. And that’s sort of the issue with where we’re at 31 movies into the this franchise. A movie cannot stand alone, it must feed into the bigger world. And Scott Lang, Avenger though he may be, cannot anchor an Avenger-level adventure.

Sometimes, small is best, and I thought that 3 movies in, Marvel recognized what they had here. Instead, we get stuck with neither side getting what they want, as hard as they try.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now.

31. Like the flavors at Baskin Robbins. Get it? I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but, well done, Marvel.

[eternal-gromnommer]

@iamthekaijuking

I've had a similar idea for Bulborbs being gastropods, my take on them is that they are descended from a form of secondarily-terrestrial sea slug that internalized its shell and evolved a pair of swimming fins during an aquatic intermediate. Over time, the internal shell became segmented and became similar to a pseudo-vertebrate skeleton, with one segment becoming part of the head as an "upper jaw" to hinge with a modified radula as the "lower jaw", while other segments migrated to the fins, forming jointed "legs" when it returned to a terrestrial lifestyle. In the eusocial Empress Bulblax, these legs are more or less atrophied, as well as being undeveloped in the early-stage Bulborb Larva.

Blowhogs as macro-tardigrades fits too well (they are after all just a few inches long but massive for a normally microscopic tardigrade) though they would probably keep the eight legs.

Dweevils most resemble harvestmen, but with only six limbs they don't look like arachnids. They're probably insects, and the four eyes are two compound eyes and two enlarged ocelli.

Snagrets are most certainly birds: likely a descendant of cormorants and other diving birds that developed fused legs much like a seal's fluke as they became increasingly aquatic and flightless. However, at some point, they returned to land, and adopted a burrowing ambush predator role, losing their vestigal wings and developing scale-like scutes from modified feathers as protection against the abrasion of soil and sand, though more typical feathers are retained on the head as display.

Pikmin themselves are as anon suggested quite sensible as an insect parasitized by a Cordyceps-like plant. But instead, it's a mutualistic partnership as opposed to a parasitic one (which may have been the case for the initial ancestral forms), so much so that the two have long co-evolved like with eukaryotes arising from ingesting smaller microbes that since became chloroplasts and mitochondria.

The insect in question is likely a eusocial hymemopteran, as the Winged Pikmin display transparent bee-like wings and are probably a basal form that other types which are more derived have since lost. The symbiont plant has taken over the insect's body, with a stem emerging from the head that produces food via photosynthesis and rootlets growing through the limbs that allow for the absorption of moisture and sugary nectar for nourishment. The insect itself has thus become very simplified, losing its mouthparts like mayflies and moths, but being sustained by the plant instead of dying after a few days, and the resulting appendages becoming specialized in different species: the Red Pikmin develop a sharp proboscis used for attacking enemies, the Yellow Pikmin modify their antennae into "ears" that act as gliding surfaces, and the Blue Pikmin repurpose their oral cavity and digestive tract into a makeshift gill for underwater respiration. Rock Pikmin deposit minerals into their hardened outer exoskeleton, making them very sturdy.

The Onion is a motile triradially-symmetrical plant that may be related to the Quaggled Mireclops. Similar to a fig, it bears fruit and flowers that bloom inside the outer bulb, with the Pikmin taking a role akin to fig wasps in aiding its pollination. Somewhere in its evolution, the plant's seeds began parasitizing its resident pollinators as a means to spread, but over time it became a mutualistic relation now with neither plant nor insect able to survive without the other. The life cycle thus takes place with the all-female insects laying eggs within the bulb, which hatch into larvae. The larvae are fed with food the adult Pikmin carry back to the Onion, but at the same time, they are implanted by the Onion's seeds. Once the seed begins to grow in the larva, it then pupates, is ejected from the Onion, and plants into the ground, and the pupa is the sprouts that the captains pull out of the soil to emerge as an adult Pikmin. Most of them spend their entire life as a motile insect-plant composite, but from time to time, given proper pheromone and hormonal signals, specialized Pikmin eventually have their plant component absorb the insect component which dies in the process, allowing it to metamorphose into a new Onion and start a new colony elsewhere.

The Hocotatians are likely bona fide aliens, given their inability to breathe oxygen. I picture them more as fuzzy tiny koala-esque creatures because that's the vibe I get from their character design. The "rescue pups" are likely aliens as well, though probably from a different planet than Hocotatians as they can breathe oxygen just fine, and here they have a more jerboa-eque build that better fits them being bipeds. Their good sense of smell, but lack of a visible nose, could suggest that what appear to be "ears" are in fact olfactory antennae capable of picking up scents in the air or on surfaces.

So it's pretty much confirmed that PNF-404 from Pikmin is Earth in the distant future. Any thoughts on what the native creature enemies are descended from? I hc Bulborbs as some kind of derived gastropod that convergently evolved a pair of vertebrate-like legs (since the Bulborb Larva is legless), and the Pikmin themselves as a composite organism between a highly-specialized social insect and a Cordyceps-like plant that, rather than being parasitic is instead mutualistic.

Most of the creatures aren’t too different from their inspiration so it’s pretty easy to tell what they are. The grubs and beetles are grubs and beetles, the clamclamps are clams, the wollywogs are frogs, the mites are mites, etc.

Others are just completely out there and impossible to truly tell what they are. Like the wraiths, mamuta, honeywisps, and the Longlegs and Gatling groink. The last two honestly feel like leftover biotechnology.

Some we’re actually told what they’re descended from or related to, which is also usually believable. So like the Hermit Crawmads being hermit crabs or the skitterleaf being a water strider.

The “Scarpanid” family I’d hesitantly call beetles.

The Goolix is just a giant amoeba, which isn’t too out there considering there are plenty of giant unicellular organisms IRL (algae, seaweed, slime molds getting ready to reproduce, Xenophyophores, etc).

Snagrets are likely very strange birds. They could be descended from any number of burrowing birds or even passerines, which make up 60% of all birds and owe their success partly to a genetic code that is predisposed towards speciation.

Blowhogs I’ve always been unsure of but the tusked blowhog in 4 indicates that they’re possibly pigs. While the tusked blowhog isn’t a true blowhog it could be a primitive close relative that lies just outside of true blowhogs. I think Porquillion could also be related.

Vehemoth seems like a weird aerial salamander.

The meerslug is probably descended from a fish of some kind. One that burrows.

Dweevils I’m not entirely sure on.

There’s so many pikmin enemies that I’d be here all day covering them so I’m just skipping to the Bulborbs.

I’ve mentioned that I love @just9art’s slugborb theory even if it had to handwave that breadbugs are canonically not too closely related to grubdogs. I also just love the artwork and am so sad that their renditions of the grubdogs are not real animals I can hold. However, Bulborbs and breadbugs are so nondescript that people have purposed that they’re possibly terrestrial mud skippers or anglers (specifically ones like handfish) and they all work. Some people think they’re frogs, and @aphid-kirby covered it in a series of YouTube videos. https://m.youtube.com/@fictionalbiology1921/featured

As for pikmin, I do think a lot of the mobile plants form a family, which includes pikmin. But pikmin themselves are very weird (from here on is spoilers for PIKMIN 4).

Pikmin seem to be composite organisms, but apparently they can also force horizontal gene transfer onto other organisms as seen in the bad end for pikmin 1. This is also a main plot point for the fourth game as the main antagonist is actually Olimar being pikminized. All of this means that pikmin might not even be a species in a traditional sense.

Speaking of spoilers for 4, the final boss is a giant dog like Oatchi and is heavily implied to be a feral version of the ancestor of Oatchi’s kind. Meaning that they might actually be earth canines. However, the various spacemen of the games are also said to have had these canine companions for a long time, which could also mean that Olimar and co aren’t actually aliens, but descendants of humans who took dogs with them to space. While they evolved to be tiny (just barely big enough for their inner ears to still work), they selectively bred their dogs to be like jerboas. Humanity has been away from home for so long they don’t even remember it.

[youneedone2]

Tardigrade by SPL

[oflgtfol]

honestly i feel like in any piece of media that’s set in space, they never explore the sheer opportunity in design and culture between species. literally just look at the diversity in species on earth alone, diversity in CULTURES just within humans as a species alone!

there are so many planets out there and each has its own unique conditions that can mean that life could be wildly different from how we know it.

i feel like every single design out there for aliens always operates on a bipedal alien with at least 2 arms (maybe if they’re feeling wild there’s 4) and 2 legs and a human like face. overall the design is reminiscent of a human just with different coloring and different features added on/taken away.

and it’s just... why?? out of the trillions of planets in the universe why would you think that all intelligent species would all look like humans? maybe it’s more successful on an evolutionary level, but again, out of TRILLIONS of planets, there’s gotta be many many cases where the intelligent species does not look like this.

it’s like get me some fucking WACKY aliens dude. give me some WACKY fucking planets. give me some aliens that speak not just gibberish, but sounds that humans could never replicate because our bodies are just literally not physically meant to do that. give me some aliens that speak at frequencies that humans can’t even hear. 

give me some aliens with five limbs. give me aliens without discernible faces. give me aliens with no mouths but breathe out of like, air holes on their ribs or something. give me aliens with eyes on like their arms or something

give me aliens that can see more colors than humans. give me aliens that have more than the five senses. give me aliens that see light on another spectrum than visible light. give me aliens that breath carbon monoxide or something. give me silicon based life forms. give me life that needs liquid methane and not liquid water to survive.

give me lifeforms that we as humans wouldn’t even recognize as other lifeforms because they’re so radically different from us

literally there’s SO MANY POSSIBILITIES and it’s like yall are such cowards for sticking with the same human based formulas

[mnemehoshiko]

*stares into the abyss that is Star Trek: Discovery*

i want to love you and yet you treat me like this

[8-bit-ch]

Now imagine a giant (bigger than microscopic at least the size of a small dog) fluffy tardigrade with big derpy eyes. That knows nothing but love, cuddle, and eat. Call them Macro-grades or Macro-bears.

Best part? They can eat anything! (And I mean anything) AND they can't die!!! Tardigrades irl can SURVIVE SPACE!!!

Imagine this.

An axolotl that lives on land and in water. Can get to to the size of a komodo dragon. And can be fluffy.

The puff-olotl

[frostfireez]

Could Shiki Cause Quantum Entanglement and Create Black Holes and How Could It Help the Crew If He Could?

I was thinking about the Schrodinger’s tardigrade experiment, and a friend of mine brought up something similar to what I was thinking and I went off on a long tangent on why quantum entanglement likely already existed in the Eden’s Zero universe and why, but it quickly made me realize some cool things about Shiki’s ether gear and it’s potential on a micro and macro scale. This is that tangent simplified and condensed as much as possible, but there is a lot of speculation and thinking out loud. 

Also if you know more than I do about either of these topics, feel free to correct any of my information and/or add to the theories! Even if you don’t know more about it, I would love to hear your thoughts and other applications you think Shiki could use these for!

First a quick rundown on quantum entanglement: 

Quantum entanglement is the state where two systems are so strongly correlated that gaining information about one system will give immediate information about the other no matter how far apart they are. It breaks the law that information cannot be transmitted faster than light. 

Currently, Quantum entanglement is only possible by putting what they plan to entangle (usually a qubit, which is used for quantum super computers) in an extreme vacuum and lowering their temp to as close to absolute zero  (-273.15 C/ 0 kelvin) as possible, so that the atoms cannot vibrate. Electrons can still move, but the rest of the atom is frozen in place. This creates a  Bose-Einstein condensate within the matter of the qubit.

Qubits can work in more than just pairs, however, so its possible to create entire quantum entangled systems. Such is the case with The Eagle, which is currently the most powerful quantum processor in the world with 127 qubits. 

Now that that’s out of the way, how does this related to Eden’s Zero? 

Well, first and foremost, the internet! Depending on planetary positions, it can take anywhere between five and twenty minutes to send a message to the rovers are Mars. In Eden’s Zero, we know the entire internet is connected and that messages are instant and stable enough for video calls regardless of where people are in the universe, this suggests the consistent and stabilized use of quantum entanglement on a mass scale. 

But how? Quantum supercomputers must be kept at that extremely low temperature in order for the information transmissions to be instant or even within a respectable amount of time. Is all the technology equipped with tiny quantum entangled qubits and a system to keep them cold? Is it only some tech? Does every planet have one quantum super computer that everyone connects to with signal, an advanced form of Bluetooth, or maybe even their version of wifi? But then how would spaceships out in the middle of nowhere connect since space is mostly empty? 

We also know that this information passes instantly across different cosmos as well, so I can’t think of anything besides quantum entanglement that would allow for information to behave that way. I mentioned how long it takes information to pass just from Earth to Mars, and with mine and a friend’s personal theory being that each cosmos is probably about the size of individual observable universes(because the actual universe is estimated to be about 150 sextillion times the size of the observable universe, which is about 93 lightyears across. Number’s are based on Alan Guth’s theory of cosmic inflation), then without quantum entanglement, messages wouldn’t reach outside of one cosmos for a very very very long time. (If you’d like to know more about the theoretical real size of the universe, I recommend this video by reallifelore on youtube)

Quantum computers would be incredibly difficult to keep everywhere like that, especially since the moment they become too warm, the quantum entanglement would be ruined.

So, since there’s no way to back instant messaging in the Eden’s Zero universe with pure science, what about ether gear? 

The reason things can become quantum entangled is because when matter is in the Bose-Einstein condensate state of matter, they’re predictable due to the natural disordered movement of the atoms disappearing at the low temperatures. 

So what if they don’t need to be cooled to as close to absolute zero as possible to be predictable? 

The solution is gravity, and in the case of Eden’s Zero, Shiki’s ether gear.

If you compress water with enough gravity, it turns into a solid because the compression causes less possible movement and disorder. There’s several forms it can take depending on how much pressure is applied, but ice VI through ice XI are the ones I know anything about. Once you get to ice VII (said as “Ice seven”) the temperature is irrelevant. There’s so much pressure and gravity affecting the water that it is now a solid without because frozen. Gravity packs the atoms as tightly together as a natural solid.

So could gravity cause something to hit absolute zero and for qubits to function for quantum entanglement? I think it could, which is where we finally get around to using it practically in a way that doesn’t involve the internet. 

Everything I’m about to say is entirely theoretical in nature so please take it with a grain of salt. 

If Shiki or other gravity users could learn to contol their gravity so acutely that they could create small quibits, they could do so many different things with them. 

Firstly, the more updated and stable the quibits, the more they could update their technology. Imagine if the entire ship was set to function with quantum entangled functions designed to facilitate commands faster and stronger! Imagine if the androids could all update their tech to be constantly connected to everything without the need for outside processors! This could leave them at risk for getting hacked, but how many people could hack a quantum super computer, especially if they have measures against it, and when the state their hacking is instantly predicted by the other parts of the qubit system? How could Weisz update arsenal with the inclusions of quantum entangled systems?

Secondly, since Bose-Einstein condensates are usually made of gasses, could the gasses neurotransmitters in the brain be affected by quantum entanglement? Could Shiki learn to control other people’s nervous systems but linking their brain’s frequency with something else? Could he use to directly transmit thoughts or choreographed movements the same way a super computer transmits data? I think these are among the least likely to be possible, but I still thought about them, so I’m sharing anyways.

Thirdly, how could he use this in a fight? Personally I think using it to upgrade the technology beyond what seems scientifically plausible is much cooler than the other stuff I’ve listed, but what if he could make anything denser with the same set of skills he could use for quantum entanglement by pulling the atoms themselves closer together instead of making them heavier? It’d be incredibly useful for defense since he’s usually a more offensive fighter. Could he create new elements by smashing different protons and neutrons into an atom? How could other people on the ship use those elements to better their technology and give them an edge against Ziggy? Could he properly stabilize new elements? 

Could he go even further and do things like this on a macro scale to create super dense objects like black holes? Additionally, would he be able to fluctuate time by using the event horizon of that black hole to his advantage? Would he need Rebecca’s help to do that? Could they used this so reverse the damage caused by chronophages in any way?

According to the information and theories we have about black holes, space and time partially trade positions at the event horizon of a black hole. While normally time is linear, once you meet the event horizon, Space becomes linear due to intense gravity warping space time to such a degree that the velocity of an object would need to move faster than the speed of light to escape. Which brings another question to mind. Could he use quantum entanglement to get back on the right side of the event horizon?

And finally, can he cause Spaghettification (the act of an object stretching and compressing perpendicular to an object with extreme gravity as it gets closer to it)?

That’s all my thoughts for the time being. Thank you for reading! 

[rosiefmp]

Tomas Saraceno

I saw this at Saraceno’s ‘Aria’ exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi. The whole exhibition was amazing but I particularly loved this room: ‘A Thermodynamic Imaginary’. We are told to interpret the structures before us not as metal but as “matter, emptiness, light, shadow”. The dark surroundings certainly lend an ethereal quality to the shimmering metal, primarily illuminated by an eclipsed sun at the end of the room - it reminds me of Olafur Eliasson’s ‘The Weather Project’. The sun is positioned on the back wall and we are guided towards the light as we move through the space. 

^Use circular projection to reference the sun - necessary for sustaining even the most resilient of life forms

BACTERIA SECTION - circle representing a cell viewed through a microscope - would fit with the language such as “a macro picture of a micro form”

The light on the back wall in the bottom right reminds me of the film I projected onto my tardigrade-human hybrid performance and onto my recent plaster experiments. I think that subconsciously, this influenced my work as for me, the dappled light feels ethereal and beautiful and references change through rippling, fluid lines.

Reference:

From the wall text at the exhibition

[xignis]

theres something deep about such a small animal being drawn on such a large scale like do they know does the tardigrade know of their own portrait that is comparable to thousands of universes in length on their scale? a portrait drawn by beings that they know nothing about, but whom know so much about them? beings who live in an entirely other world, yet still admire the small tardigrade? admiration enough to give a tardigrade a glimpse of a micro and macro world in mirror, to let the tardigrade feel what is felt by those who know them? im not crying about the tardigrade cornfield, im not 

Tardigrade corn maze at Treinen Farm in Wisconsin.

[ulfwolf]

Macro Mind Micro Mind

Once upon a time Macro Mind, while retaining its Macroness, fragmented into a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion micro minds, micro minds just like mine, like yours, just like the cat’s, the dog’s, the dolphin’s, the seaweed’s, the hawk’s, the owl’s, the eagle’s, the finch’s, the swallow’s, the sparrow’s, the starling’s, the hummingbird’s, just like the spruce’s, the birch’s, the beech’s, the sequoia’s, the redwood’s, the elm’s, the aspen’s, the juniper’s, just like the slug’s, the snail’s, the roach’s, the ant’s, the fungus’, the mushroom’s, the tardigrade’s, the copepod’s, the phage’s, just like the micro mind of every little life alive.

And how we love our micro minds. After all, it’s the micro mind that makes me me, you you, the cat the cat, the dog the dog, the dolphin the dolphin, the seaweed the seaweed, the hawk the hawk, the owl the owl, the eagle the eagle, the finch the finch, the swallow the swallow, the sparrow the sparrow, the starling the starling, the hummingbird the hummingbird, the spruce the spruce, the birch the birch, the beech the beech, the sequoia the sequoia, the redwood the redwood, the elm the elm, the aspen the aspen, the juniper the juniper, the slug the slug, the snail the snail, the roach the roach, the ant the ant, the fungus the fungus, the mushroom the mushroom, the tardigrade the tardigrade, the copepod the copepod, the phage the phage, after all, it is what makes every little life alive its own unique little alive life.

And we won’t let our micro minds go for anything, no sir, we cling and cling to them, for I like being me and you like being you, the cat likes being the cat, and the dog the dog, the dolphin the dolphin, the seaweed the seaweed, the hawk the hawk, the owl the owl, the eagle the eagle, the finch the finch, the swallow the swallow, the sparrow the sparrow, the starling the starling, the hummingbird the hummingbird, the spruce the spruce, the birch the birch, the beech the beech, the sequoia the sequoia, the redwood the redwood, the elm the elm, the aspen the aspen, the juniper the juniper, the slug the slug, the snail the snail, the roach the roach, the ant the ant, the fungus the fungus, the mushroom the mushroom, the tardigrade the tardigrade, the copepod the copepod, the phage the phage, yes, every little life alive loves its own unique little life.

However, unbeknown to most, suspected by a few, and known by but a handful, rather than no more me, no more you, no more cat, no more dog, no more dolphin, no more seaweed, no more hawk, no more owl, no more eagle, no more finch, no more swallow, no more sparrow, no more starling, no more hummingbird, no more spruce, no more birch, no more beech, no more sequoia, no more redwood, no more elm, no more aspen, no more juniper, no more slug, no more snail, no more roach, no more ant, no more fungus, no more mushroom, no more tardigrade, no more copepod, no more phage, no more every little life alive, letting go of the micro mind blends you back with Macro Mind—and what a glorious place to be.

And what’s even more glorious, from here, now we have only Macro Mind to let go before we’re back home again.

Ulf Wolf (c) Wolfstuff

[fumpkins]

Glimpse this year’s magnificent tiny wonders caught on video

Humans may be creatures of vision, but overall, our visual capabilities sort of stink. So, we’ve used lenses—microscopes, macro camera attachments, and more—to extend our powers of sight. And through that, we’ve enabled a new photographic art form.

Officially dubbed photomicrography, the practice of taking pictures through lab-bench instruments has taken off in the past few decades. The captures are often taken candidly: by a medical expert examining a bacterial culture or a science student trying to suss a water sample. Regardless, they’re worthy of recognition, which is exactly what the Nikon Small World in Motion competition aims to do. Now in its ninth year, the annual award identifies astounding videos and time-lapses taken through a microscopic perspective. The 2019 winners were announced earlier this month; here are a few of PopSci’s selects.

First place

Philippe P. Laissue

University of Essex School of Life Sciences; Colchester, Essex, UK

Custom-built light sheet fluorescence microscopy; 10x objective lens magnification

A staghorn coral polyp emerges. The coral is stained green, and attached algae is stained magenta.

Second place

Richard R. Kirby

Plymouth, Devon, UK

Darkfield; 1x objective lens magnification

Growing Vampyrophrya parasites dance around inside the corpse of a copepod host.

Fourth place

Hunter N. Hines

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute; Fort Pierce, Florida, US

Differential interference contrast; 10x objective lens magnification

Two freshwater tardigrades cannibalize one of their own.

Honorable mention

Caleb Foster

Jericho, Vermont, US

Light microscopy; 4x objective lens magnification

A snowflake sublimates from gas to solid in a reverse time-lapse.

Honorable mention

Caroline Pritchard

Lehigh University Biological Sciences; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, US

Brightfield; 4x objective lens magnification

The chromatophores, or pigment cells, on a longfin inshore squid “bubble.”

New post published on: https://www.livescience.tech/2019/12/30/glimpse-this-years-magnificent-tiny-wonders-caught-on-video/

[mudlobster]

I've been watching Star Trek: Discovery, because of course I have been, I will watch anything with Star Trek attached to it. But this isn't Star Trek. I mean, it kind of is, because there's this laughable bit where there's a giant tardigrade (water bear). But nothing about this show is very Star Trek. And even the Klingons, there are subtitles but they're in serif font (designed to slow down reading), which they go through too fast to read. But it's OK because I don't care enough to rewind it and see what they said. Because what I've managed to read is inconsequential anyway and everything else is leading to a long, cringy bunch of shit war I don't care about.

This show is pretty crap, but I am going to keep watching it anyway because I guess I hate myself and maybe sci-fi in general. I don't know. Just, damn, is Gene Roddenberry getting rugburns from how fast he is spinning in his grave?

Fuck's sake though, mushroom spore drives and macro sized tardigrades? C'mon. Also the spores helpfully glow.

Oh, and that spy from the Expanse was on the prison ship, but that never came to anything, dammit.

I also hate that growth on Michaels' roommate's terrible, stupid, timid, and obiously ADHD (even though they should have eliminated that by this time), forehead. Did your shitty healthcare not allow for removing distracting shit from your head?

And since when do people have roommates on Starfleet ships anyway? Doubly so if one of them is a fucking prisoner.

But my complaints aside, episodes titled shit like "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry" are not only pretentious, it's very un-Star Trek.

[awajid673-blog]

Top holiday gift picks for hard-core science geeks in 2016

Everybody likes getting a thoughtful, warmly intended gift. For this year’s winter holiday season, put a sparkle in your favorite STEM enthusiast’s eye with one of these science-minded picks. Whether you have a bench scientist, a programmer or a science fiction lover in mind, here we try to find a little something for everyone. First things first: labware for around the house

Physicists, it’s been said, are merely machines for converting coffee into theorems, but why let the academics have all the fun? This elegant walnut and brass pour-over coffee stand ($189) looks exactly like an elegant ring stand with a glass funnel, because it is a ring stand with a funnel — except that you can use this one to make coffee at your desk and not have to worry about what the 9AM freshman chemistry lab section spilled on it. It reminds me of Gale Boetticher’s mathematically ideal coffee-brewing rig. The included Hario V60 glass dripper fits into the ring, and the ring itself can of course be adjusted to match the height of your mug, flagon or beaker. Aesthetically, it looks like something you might find in a steampunk lab, assuming steampunk labs have much better sources of funding than their real-world counterparts. While Gale’s vacuum-brewing rig has been the subject of much loving scientific debate, you can make a rich, fine cup of coffee using the pour-over method. Unlike a French press, too, this rig can make coffee just as fast as you can pour water through the grounds. Filter paper circles not included, but you can probably find a new box in the chemical stock room. 

Following the theme of using lab glass for coffee, which everyone should already know is actually a terrible idea, here’s a mug that looks just like a beaker. It comes in two sizes, 350mL ($5.99) and 900mL ($7.99), and it’s made from tempered borosilicate glass, just like real labware. Maybe you need a modestly priced gift for a Secret Santa exchange. Maybe you want a beaker mug labeled in the metric system. Maybe, like me, you just think borosilicate glass is superior to most others for use in your own secret science lair. No matter what your reasoning, this lab beaker mug lets you drink coffee in style. Bonus: it stands a good chance of making your principal investigator double-take. It is said that in ancient Persia, to be sure of an argument’s value, thinkers would debate it twice: once sober, and once drunk. If it stood up to debate both ways, it passed. For those 21 and over, what better way to get your scientific drank on than out of tiny beakers or culture tubes? No sense shelling out for a kitschy giftware “test tube shots” set you know will break when you can get real lab glass for way cheaper. These are actual borosilicate lab glass, whether you prefer to take your shots from test tubes or beakers. Each test tube ($11.19 for six) holds 36 mL or 1.27 fl oz. Each 25mL beaker ($4.49) holds, uh, 25 mL, or just barely shy of one fluid ounce. And you can even mark them for parties. Alternatively, try this Adagio Teas simple mug ($15.76) suitable for hot or cold drinks, which is also made of tempered borosilicate glass — that is to say, just as light and strong as lab glass, with the same clean lines, but in a form factor that won’t make it look like you actually stole your mug from the lab supply cabinet.

It is by the beans of java that the mind is set in motion. Smartphone toys Your smartphone outperforms the computer that powered the Apollo spaceships. Time to use it for something cooler than Candy Crush Soda Saga. Whether you tend to be looking through a microscope, a telescope, binoculars or any other lens-y apparatus, this is a useful phone adapter mount ($19.99) that lets you use your smartphone to capture what you can see through the eyepiece. This adapter is designed to fit on to a huge  variety of optical instruments. It has an adjustable clamp to fit different types of hardware, and is compatible with a range of Apple, Samsung, and Sony devices. It can fit instruments with eyepieces from 28-47mm in diameter and should be extremely useful for photography where you need to shoot through another optical device, but need a stable, secure mount with which to do it. 

If the cell phone adapter mount is meant for people who want to attach an iPhone or Android device to a different piece of equipment, this lens kit ($16.99) is for those doing the photography with their smartphones in hand. It gives you both a 10x macro lens and a wide angle lens for mounting on basically any smartphone. At this price, these lenses aren’t high-end professional grade, but if you’re just trying it out or your needs are modest, or you’ve got a budding photographer just starting off, these basic kits are a great way to increase your hardware’s flexibility without breaking the bank. So many gorgeous macros. When getting and keeping your image in focus is key, you can’t afford to have your camera jostling around. This is especially important for getting pics of what you’re viewing through your telescope viewfinder. With a compact tripod and remote shutter button ($24.99), you can be sure that your photos will be crisply focused with little wait or hassle. Bonus: you can use the shutter button when your phone is mounted on the microscope or telescope, to get perfect shots of the gorgeous slide you just stained and fixed, or the nebula you just found. If you’ve ever wanted an infrared camera add-on for an Android or iOS device, Flir is the company to check out. Both the iOS and Android variants cost the same amount of money ($215), and the camera captures temperatures ranging from -4F to 248F (-20-120C). This particular kit is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and S6, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10.5 and S8.4, HTC’s One M8, and the LG V400. The Flir One has its own battery so it won’t hit your smartphone’s battery life. Where Flir lenses attach to your phone, the CAT Phone S60 ($599.99) is a unique device with a specific use-case — it’s the only smartphone on the market with a built-in thermal camera combined with a highly rugged design. At $600, this isn’t a cheap piece of equipment, and as with most rugged hardware, you can get faster smartphones for much less cash if speed is all you’re looking for. What sets the CAT S60 apart is its ability to take a beating and the integrated Flir. That said, the Snapdragon 617, 720p display, 32GB of storage, and 3GB of RAM do put this device in competitive midrange territory. If you need a thermal camera already and a rugged smartphone suits you, the CAT S60 is worth consideration. Gifts for academics and scientists Whether your giftee is a programmer, a mathematician, a bench chemist, an engineer, or a field archaeologist, scientists deserve some love, and there’s a snazzy gift out there that’ll make them wonder how you knew just what they wanted.

Tardigrades are made of indestructible win. Indulge my your giftee’s mild obsession with water bears, and they’ll always have a conversation starter with this tardigrade necklace ($24.99), no matter where they go. Live tiny, die never. This lab notebook ($19.99) is the single best one I have ever touched. True story: my lab partner had one, I saw it and demanded to know where she had bought it, I bought my own, and now I’m a convert. VELA notebooks are better than Moleskine for lab or engineering notebooks, and I am aware that that’s fightin’ talk among those who keep field notes. Its hard binding is sturdy and rejects fingerprints. Its pages are lightly but clearly numbered and laid out in a 5x5mm grid. It has a gorgeous index, and if you mash it down so it lays flat on your desk, it still closes tight and square. If you are mildly, or more than mildly, obsessive about how your project notebook is numbered or laid out or how it feels in your hand; if you’re the kind of person who will lay everything out in pencil before going over it in ink, even in your field notebook; if you hesitate to commit to an organizational scheme because it might be difficult to convert that to an intelligible table of contents later; this notebook is for you. Give this to any science person and it will be a hit.

At $200, this Omax compound binocular microscope is an investment, but it’s every bit the quality you’d expect in a university lab, with up to 2,000x magnification via the oil immersion lens. If the recipient doesn’t know how to use an oil immersion objective on a microscope, don’t buy this for them. If they do, though — and you can safely ask them that question without giving away that you intend to give them a microscope, just say you saw a thing online — this is a bold, durable gift that will make a big impression. The iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit ($69.99) has a ridiculous array of bits and tools for wrangling consumer electronics. According to ThinkGeek, it’s standard issue for some FBI and CIA teams. Can any FBI or CIA sources confirm, or is that classified? Finally, pick up a copy of Make: Electronics ($19) and your giftee can dig into electronics and electrical engineering, whether they’re a layman, an EE major, or an experienced professional. Comprehensive and plainspoken, this book is an exceptional beginners resource, and it enabled me to play around with a RasPi B. Click to Post

[rosiefmp]

A poem I wrote at the start of my FMP

I found this poem and quite like it. I like how I link the micro size of a tardigrade with humanity’s small-mindedness. I want to reflect how we have a micro understanding of the world compared to the macro whole, challenging anthropocentrism through pointing to the gaps in our knowledge. 

Written from the perspective of a tardigrade who has arrived on Earth from space (attached to a comet or spaceship?). PANSPERMIA is the theory that life spread throughout the universe on an interplanetary level - in theory, a tardigrade could hitch a ride on a comet, survive the cold by going into a ‘tun’ state, the vacuum in space and survive the heat of re-entry into the atmosphere. I’d love to think that this is real - the knowledge of tardigrades as not only different from our own knowledge of Earth, enriching it if we could tap into it, but also interplanetary knowledge!

Though I am small 

Your mindedness is smaller.

Your perspective as microscopic 

As the cells that form my feeble form.

Yet I can see the glory 

Of your long-lost planet Earth

Where fertility rejoices

In the cradling of newfound life

Yet the water that sustains

Now plasma riddled with worms.

Oh humanity you are dumb

Your intelligence lower than the tardigrade

Mull over what you’ve done.

Take yourself down a peg or two

Where ignorance is no longer guised

By your four-walled pedestal.