#nature article

[sleppyhazel12]

Don't leave him in such a cold!

I made this drawing to honor the little Homotherium of only 3 weeks who was mummified inside the ice.

Here is an article published about him:

[orphankin]

[neverquiteeden]

Cool article! Discusses how HRT affects the immune response, indicating that one of the reasons we see different immune response patterns in males and females is primarily due to hormonal influences, rather than genetic ones (fascinating! This opens up a bunch more questions that can be researched in vitro.

This is probably a weird thing to say but: scientifically trans people undergoing HRT represent a massive opportunity as a test population if we were able to survey people better, and moreover, they're putting THEMSELVES in the test population so we don't have to go through the whole "where are we going to find people who will let us fuck with their hormones." These guys are already fucking with their hormones and good on them, now 🥺 please can we run some tests to see what else it's doing?🥺 And that would lead to better health outcomes for everyone because we'd better understand how hormones interact with genetics and we'd be able to flag groups for being at-risk for idk diabetes, autoimmune conditions, heart disease, lung cancer in never smokers, etc, more accurately.

For example, lung cancer in never smokers is more common in women, but we don't know if this is due to social, hormonal, or genetic factors. Personally I think that it's likely due to the fact that women are still more likely to be regularly cooking and thus exposed to chemicals that way, but there's a possibility that hormones influencing the immune response interacts on top of that, due to the fact that tumours require a unique immune microenvironment to thrive.

Thank you to these trans guys on HRT for letting the nerds poke around in their immune systems.

[charles-breaks-beakers]

HETEROSEXUAL CIS-PEOPLE LOOK HERE

Snaps my fingers at you as you scroll past this post

Look at me. Listen.

I'm not the best at serious posts, but that article up there reminded me of how important it is that people like you stand up for us. So hold on while I try to get this out of my mushy end-of-work-day brain.

We could fight this fight ourselves for decades trying to reach the equal laws, gender affirming trans healthcare that doesn't have a 2-5+ soul-eating years of waiting time, medical care with equal knowledge of lgbtqia+ bodies, and, what is often forgotten, inclusion in the little everyday areas of life like our way of speaking or things being set up or designed with the existence of queer people in mind.

But you joining in could get us there so much faster.

The power you have as a hetero cis person is that you set the standard for what is seen as the average way of treating us among other hetero cis people. You have been given the power of deciding what's "normal" and I'm begging you to use it.

Richard Green is a great example of to what extent your actions can help our situation, and smaller ways of support still add up to a great impact on society, and could make the days of the queer people you interact with.

Educate yourself before you speak up, but don't be silent.

[wachinyeya]

https://ktla.com/news/california/goats-unleashed-by-san-manuel-tribe-as-part-of-fire-prevention-strategy/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaJJAE-Kl55wk4vm1cYc0zjGRUEv8w6ps0HX0z-rxwwa7YXnTDCsgIU2vs_aem_0djT-2NoD-E87Ic6UeeqGw

Firefighting goats have been deployed by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to protect tribal land and neighboring property from potentially devastating brush fires.

The goats are unleashed by the San Manuel Fire Department to eat up dry brush and grass that would normally be ideal fuel for fires — a recent fire was actually partially stopped once it reached an area cleared by the caprine crew earlier this year.

The herd, officials said, is about 400-strong and is made up of generations of goat families.

On Tuesday, the goats were treated to a feast of fruit before being sent on their brush-eating mission.

The goats will spend the next several months trimming and thinning out vegetation on the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Reservation and nearby properties in San Bernardino.

Tribal officials said the brush that covers the hillsides in and around San Manuel property is thriving and diverse, boosted by the recent history-making rainy season. The plant life is an ideal food source because goats prefer food that’s at their eye level.

The Tribe has used goats as a natural, environmentally friendly fire preventative tool since 2019; the plants get trimmed in a sustainable fashion, which allows them to survive and recover naturally overtime unlike most chemical sprays.

Tribal officials called the practice an extension of the Tribe’s “culture of lands stewardship.”

“Caring for the land is a sacred duty of the Tribe,” said Lynn Valbuena, chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. “Stewardship is a responsibility given to our people by the Creator. No matter who owns the land.”

San Bernardino County residents shouldn’t be surprised to see the goats in the mountains fulfilling this divine task from now through the end of fire season.

[keeskiwi]

So much more of the natural world feels close and accessible now. When I started birding, I remember thinking that I’d never see most of the species in my field guide. Sure, backyard birds like robins and western bluebirds would be easy, but not black skimmers or peregrine falcons or loggerhead shrikes. I had internalized the idea of nature as distant and remote — the province of nature documentaries and far-flung vacations. But in the past six months, I’ve seen soaring golden eagles, heard duetting great horned owls, watched dancing sandhill cranes and marveled at diving Pacific loons, all within an hour of my house. “I’ll never see that” has turned into “Where can I find that?”

-Ed Yong, When I Became a Birder, Almost Everything Else Fell Into Place

[reasonsforhope]

"Helio da Silva, a retired business executive from Brazil, single-handedly planted over 41,000 trees in his hometown of Sao Paulo over the last two decades.

Flying over the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo, it’s tough to miss the 3.2-kilometers-long and 100-meter-wide green strip of trees wedged between two of the city’s busiest roads. It is known as Tiquatira Linear Park, and it is the work of a single man who worked tirelessly for over 20 years in order to transform a previously dilapidated area into an actual jungle within the urban jungle that is Sao Paulo. Originally from the town of Promissao, about 500km from Sao Paulo, Helio da Silva was a successful business executive for many years, but after retiring, he took it upon himself to transform the degraded banks of the Tiquatira River into a green oasis for his community. He started planting trees there in 2003 and hasn’t stopped since.

73-year-old da Silva recently told AFP that he wanted to leave a legacy to the city that adopted him decades ago. Within the first four years of his epic project, he single-handedly planted 5,000 trees in an area that had long been abandoned and known to be frequented by drug dealers and users. His impressive feat prompted the municipality of Sao Paulo to recognize his efforts and acknowledge the area as the first linear park in Sao Paulo. This only emboldened da Silva, who continued planting native trees.

By 2020, Helio had planted more than 25,047 trees over a 3.2-km-long area, achieving a survival rate of 88 percent. For every 12 trees, he planted a fruit-bearing species in the hopes of attracting birds and animals to his green oasis. His bet paid off, as according to the municipality, 45 types of birds have been identified in the park. Today, the Tiquatira Linear Park numbers over 41,000 individual trees, and Helio da Silva doesn’t plan on stopping planting until he reaches at least 50,000 of them.

“My motivation comes from the trees themselves because trees give us flowers and fruits, absorb rainwater, attract birds and provide us with wonderful shade and fresh air,” da Silva told Common Earth.

The retired executive estimates that he spent about $7,000 per year on his tree-planting efforts since 2022, but the way he sees it, it was a worthwhile investment for himself, his family and the whole of Sao Paulo. Plus, he saved a lot of money by planting the trees himself.

Once labeled as crazy for spending most of his time planting trees in an area most people avoided, Helio da Silva is now hailed as a local hero. He sometimes receives help from like-minded nature lovers, but he is still the driving force behind this amazing project. Every Sunday, he comes to Tiquatira Park to plant more trees.

Over the years, the city gym and playground equipment, tables, benches, toilets, and Tiquatira Linear Park eventually became one of Sao Paulo’s most popular areas."

-Article via OddityCentral, October 4, 2024. Video via France24, September 26, 2024.

--

Note: ONE SINGLE PERSON CAN MAKE A SUCH A DIFFERENCE

[gammaraydeath]

on space wikipedia, reading about space things

[hellotailor]

Instead of resembling the carefully researched ships of something like Master and Commander, the Revenge's deck is a wide, uncluttered stage that rarely moves unless it's caught in a storm. In a relationship-driven sitcom, there's no need to literally rock the boat. Storms exist purely for emotional punctuation, with weather and scenery acting as a kind of mood ring. So when Blackbeard hits rock bottom, his ship becomes a dark, roiling embodiment of inner torment. These emotive scenes are when OFMD's use of the Volume really stands out, suggesting a different philosophy from that of the shows and movies that use it as a catch-all replacement for location filming. In OFMD, it's one of many visual tools that bolsters the larger-than-life tone. For instance, during Lucius and Pete's reunion this season, the LED backdrops display a luminously sentimental peach-pink sunset. And on several occasions the show makes judicious use of a CGI moon, carefully placed above Stede and Blackbeard's heads during romantic moments. How big is the moon in Our Flag Means Death? As big and as close as it needs to be. A real moon just wouldn't work as well.

After complaining incessantly about The Volume (ie. LED backdrops) making Star Wars shows look ugly and fake, I've come to realize that it's best used in contexts where "looking fake" is a feature, not a bug.

[powersandplanetaries]

I know that news stories about Indigenous people leading ecological stewardship movements are very charismatic and heartwarming, and if your heritage or culture inspires you to work towards better care for the environment that is incredible and extremely admirable, but we're clear on the fact that Indigenous rights and Land Back movements shouldn't depend on First Nations people being mystical Noble Savage, Closer To Nature poster children, yes?

Indigenous self-determination applies to the person who becomes a teacher because she wants to help fill a need in underserved northern reservations. It applies to the person who studies engineering because the job market is good and he likes cool cars. It applies to the woman who works a government job because it's a stable job with a decent salary on which to raise her kids, and the woman who works a government job because she wants to represent and be a voice for her people. It applies to the person who is a lawyer trying to correct the over-incarceration of First Nations people, and her son who wants to be a professional baseball player because he loves sports. It applies to the grad student who wants to bring traditional knowledge into field work, and the goth hairdresser who spends every weekend going to punk shows and anime conventions in the city. It applies to the person who considers themself Two Spirit, and the person who uses non-binary instead because they dont feel that umbrella term fits them. None of these examples are hypotheticals- these are all people I personally know, either friends or family friends or even members of my family. All of these people are equally Indigenous, whether or not they fit your image of what a marginalized people's priorities "should" be. They are not gone, and they are not "stuck in the past". Happy National Indigenous People Day. Do better.

[briery]

The four species of lynx; from top-left, clockwise: Eurasian lynx (L. lynx), Iberian lynx (L. pardinus), bobcat (L. rufus), Canada lynx (L. canadensis).

[psychotrenny]

If you want to consistently understand the world in a useful way and come to good conclusions on any sort of issue, Dialectical Materialism is the only reliable approach. Our world exists as a material force in it's own right and not as the pure creation of the ideas in people's heads; this is why we need materialism. And this existence is defined by so much interconnected change and development; constant conflict and contradiction between the old and new. You won't get very far treating the world as a disconnected jumble of things that exist simply as they are; that's why we need dialectics. Most people accept the enormous value that this sort of scientific approach brings to understand the physical world; we need to realise that it's just as important to understanding the social world too

[bogleech]

Bogleech.com article repost:

(image source was once arachnology.be, it seems to be gone)

Click the link for my article about all the major Arachnid groups that aren't spiders, and all the neatest things about them! In the years since I first wrote this page, I also learned about an odd kind of harvestman I didn't know before, so I've gone and added it in!

[grecoromanyaoi]

an interesting n honestly far more prevalent side effect of ppl acting like genocide n colonialism r modern phenomenons is ppl acting like humans causing irreversible environmental damage is a new phenomenon.

[pandemic-info]

A Review of Filtration Performance of Protective Masks - PMC

With H5N1 reported in at least two* humans in the past month, we need to talk about airborne transmission and how masks work. Again.

(*edit: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/oregon-reports-first-h5-case-farm-worker-california-reports-5-more)

Is flu airborne?

Generally yes. Even if it is not the most efficient mode of transmission for every virus.

Citations:

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/testing-transmission-infection-h5n1-cows

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2023/12/clearing-air

"...recently measured how often virus is exhaled by people with the flu. He found that about 80% exhaled some influenza, the virus that causes flu. Most of the virus was found in the tiny airborne aerosols. People didn’t have to cough or sneeze to expel these viruses into the air. The flu virus was detectable in the air after normal breathing and talking."

Do N95 masks protect against viruses smaller than 300 nm (.3 microns)?

Also yes, because masks do NOT work like a sieve:

N95s employ electrostatic filtering to keep viruses stuck to the mask rather than passing through.

Brownian motion (particles moving through fluids / air randomly) also helps them get stuck to the surface.

And this is why you don't want to be touching the front of your mask, nor storing it improperly. For example, if you take it off and put it in your pocket, and then your hand later goes in that same pocket, then wipes your nose...

See also:

For the time being it should be relatively easy to avoid other modes of transmission since we have protective measures for public health — like pasteurization. But certain individuals who entertain "alternative facts" directly state that they want to dismantle such protections in favor of Appeal to Nature fallacy (e.g. "raw milk is best"), and they are currently being picked to lead government agencies.

[utilitycaster]

Various CR characters, the latest of which is Ashton Greymoore: I don't believe in fate

Matthew Mercer, descending directly into the narrative: the interplay of fate and free will is the most consistent culture-spanning theme in the entire universe I built and is set up as the crux of the finale of Campaign 3 so your belief does not actually matter but this is a great character trait for you to have so go off