#nature article

[radical-fire-vixen]

so i found this article in Nature. i think it’s worth a read, and the results seem quite promising

[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

[lifebuoyjournals]

New animals just dropped. E.g.

EDIT: for similar articles you may wish to browse the tag #aslzoology they won't all be of cute animals but it will be mostly environment or nature related news

[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!

[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

[bmpmp3]

sorry to be a bit of a hater but i do wish youtubers weren't so scared of making their videos just like, "reviews", whys everything gotta be a "video essay" all the time. every day my recommendations are filled with 40 minute videos titled "_____: An Underrated Masterpiece" where the first like five minutes are reading the wikipedia definition of "masterpiece" in a somber voice with dramatic themed text on screen. please just tell me how good or bad you think something is and use the rest of the runtime to explain why. you dont need to put on all these airs

[phantom-0-writer]

The Justice League had finally given the go ahead to officially form the Young Justice. Not that any of them were going to stop regardless of having permission. Since the Justice League had opened up their slots for more than the original six earlier that year, Batman thought it would be a good opportunity to use the Young Justice to help reach out and recruit some other heroes without drawing too much attention by going themselves. With protégés of most of the originals in the roster it was a solid plan.

They had been told about their newest "assignment" (if you could even call it that) earlier that day and they would be leaving in the morning. They were supposed to go meet a duo in Illinois (it was their base of operation even though they'd worked in other place). Phantom has been in the vigilante/hero scene for almost 10 years now, and Red Huntress started a few months after him.

Their names were well known, Dick had known of them even before he became Robin. But despite their national (maybe even International fame) little was actually known about the duo and the rumored Team Phantom that alluded to there being more than just the two. Dick had been a big fan of Phantom, and modeled a lot of his moves off of the super-powered hero.

Batman told them that they had already reached out the Phantom (Red Huntress had deferred them to him, and refused to speak with them afterwords) and he agreed to meet the YJ team and mentor them for a designated amount of time. There had been rumors in certain forums that the JLA had reached out to Phantom to be one of the original members of the league but he had turned them down. When Kid Flash had brought it up during the meeting, Batman refused to confirm or deny (which was proof enough).

The plan was for the YJ would stay in Amity Park for 15 days and learn from them, they would check in after that to see weather their stay should be extended. Specifically citing that their legendary teamwork would be incredibly beneficial to learn from to strengthen them as a team. The other plan, and equally as important, was to warm them up to joining the JLA ranks since a direct invitation hadn't been received favorably.

All that was thrown in the window when, three days in, the YJ, Phantom and Red Huntress get portaled to an unknown destination, with strange and unknown life(?) forms, with no supplies, no working communicators, and worst of all, no way back.

[cypherpunkism]

on a happier note, trying to get back into writing with a bucktommy fic but i need opinions

what would tommy's dream car be ,,,

[lifebuoyjournals]

Octopuses are usually solitary, but the gloomy octopus Octopus tetricus live in very high densities. Perhaps due to this living arrangement, scientists have captured footage of octopuses throwing stuff at each other, everything from silt to shells to algae. A few evidence to suggest this throwing is deliberate (not just octopus coincidentally flinging something in the direction of another octopus):

Throwing requires an unusual positioning of the siphon (think jet water propulsion device)

The things that get thrown make pretty strong contact with the receiving octopus

Throwers often exhibit uniform dark/medium colour, suggesting that these throws are linked in some way (not random throw events)

Octopus in the receiving end have been shown to try and dodge the missile

Choice of missile is often silt, and not random

Throwing is often done using a specific set of arms

Scientists think it might be some sort of communication. But it's not clear what sort, e.g. whether antagonistic or not, or is it play, enrichment etc.