#with a bit of science and biology

[markscherz]

Oh you like frogs? Name every frog then

Current tally: 90 (1.18% of all described frogs)

[spookygibberish]

I've sort of developed a strange relationship with the concept of "realism" in the things I make.

Something I was very into as like, an eleven year old (im not implying this was immature to be into, just that it was formative for me), was speculative biology specifically for dragons, and now, specifically in the case of dragons I find a lot of attempts to make them biologically plausible fully missing the appeal of dragons at all.

Thinking specifically about the supernatural elements of JoM and where the line is drawn. The dagnyds are made from the remains of godlike entities, and are not entirely earthly animals. They have a supernatural origin. It would be fully justified in giving them magic abilities or making magic an aspect of the setting, but have absolutely zero interest in doing so. It doesn't interest me. I think about shit like healing powers or glowy energy attacks and my reaction is just "what does this even add? Why do I need this? Does this make things more interesting?" And it simply doesn't. Healing is more interesting as a prolonged process, combat is more interesting with teeth and claws and metal and blood. These are options which are more realistic, closer to real life, but the realism isn't what makes them interesting: it's physicality.

When I design a creature for this world, I am not thinking about making it biologically plausible, and yet, I try to design things which look like they could 'move under their own power'. There is a sense of heft and mechanical "soundness" which I value more than realism, but often also aligns with looking 'realistic'.

I would say that it's better to serve a narrative than strive for absolute realism, but I don't actually write stories, although I do have ideas for them occasionally. I guess a version of this which is more relevant and applicable is that i prefer to strive for a particular vibe.

[fleshwizard]

wish me luck for my presentation /exam

[grimaom]

jool in every episode (5/17) “why should i do your selfish and unnecessary work?”

↳ S03:E07 thanks for sharing

[batemanofficial]

can i say something controversial. the way people (especially american liberals but that's a whole nother can of worms) act about animal testing is sooooooooooo unhelpful. like is cosmetic testing on dogs/rodents/primates harmful and unnecessary? yes, in many cases! but does that mean all animal testing - for any application - should be categorically banned? no. animal testing is a vital process in many, many medical and research contexts and is conducted under a very strict set of standards, ergo applying "animal abuse" as a blanket label to all instances of animal testing is reductive at best and shows a flagrant lack of understanding of medical ethics on the part of the population. and don't even get me started on how slippery of a slope it is to go from condemnation of animal testing to just flat out eugenics

[kitkatstu-dies]

Productivity 26/100 [11/28/2024] -> Thanksgiving Day

Lifted weights and went on a walk

Studied physiology for ~ 1 hour

Helped in the kitchen & spent time with family :)

[randomoceanfacts]

Today’s daily ocean fact: corals grow an average of 1 inch/2.54 cm per year!

Even though corals look like plants, they are actually animals- extremely slow growing ones. This is one of the reasons why coral bleaching, which is caused by climate change, is so devastating for the entire ecosystem of a coral reef. Years or even decades of growth can be wiped out in a matter of months. Thankfully, there are many scientists and conservationists working to protect and restore coral reefs. There is still time to save these amazing animals!

[Image ID: A pillar of coral underwater. The pillar is made of multiple species of corals, all of varying shapes, sizes, and colours.]

[vexedallay]

Something that bugs me is how everything Rae does is called science. Like, this man was basically a conspiracy theorist who happened to strike gold with his theory and had a vague notion of scientific method at the start of s1 and at the current point in time he's more of a historian/family drama counselor. The closest he's ever come to science (to my knowledge) is when he was experimenting with the sculk, which probably should've been given to sherb anyways, since they (as an alchemist) are probably the best equipped to handle mysterious substances. Not saying the outcome would've changed but my point stands. The reason Rae is the man everyone goes to with their problems is bc in s1 he was the best equipped to handle the issue, being the one who knew the most abt the end. When we hit s2 stuff, though, the science/research based problems should've gone directly to sherb.

Not to say I don't love with my entire heart what heyhay has done with raes character, but sometimes it feels like everything ic is important for is the problems they have rather than the solutions they can offer, and that hurts my little icarus-obsessed heart

[realcleverscience]

Really glad the iron in our blood is not magnetic. that doesn't sound pleasant.

[fruitsyrups]

ca n we all agree that human bonnie would not be a baker btw

[quiveringdeer]

Got to help out with some birdbanding today!!

Caught last, this feisty lil Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus.

Notorious squirmers known for escaping the bag when you try to take them out for measuring but we got our data from this one and a lil paparazzi moment!

Caught two Carolina Chickadees, Poecile carolinensis.

We believe they were a mating pair, didn't get photos of the second which was a lady but she was building an egg which we could see through her brood patch!! It was wild! We let her go pretty quickly after.

And also our lil Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina.

Our permit allows us to play calls under very specific conditions and when I played one from my phone before setting it up on the blue tooth speaker this lil dude dive bombed my head! He was stays ready apparently!

[marsmarvel02]

In my astronomy class, we did a project on the planets of the solar system. One part of the project was coming up with a hypothetical alien that would live on your group's planet.

Each group member would make their own design (with the features that would help your alien survive on your planet's environment being labeled), the group would vote on which design was the best, and then that design would get added to the group's final presentation.

And OH MY GOD did this turn out hilariously.

For reference, this was my alien design (the blocked-out part is where I wrote my name).

I think I did pretty well, even though I'm not sure why I chose to surround the thing with microscopic rock fragments instead of just putting it in a crevice, and that missing close-parenthesis will forever haunt me.

And this was my partner's alien design.

NOTHING WAS LABELED, he clearly watched too many sci-fi flicks, and my dad thinks it looks like He-Man with a praying mantis head, a pharaoh headdress, and a mankini.

How did the other groups fare, you might ask?

Venus: Two different, but nearly identical, alien angels. (The one on the left won the vote.)

Mars: Two boring aliens

AND

The Snurtle (which won, as it deserves)

Jupiter: The Space Bee

And this thing.

This isn't even an alien, it's a pterosaur.

Also, the Jupiter group didn't put either of their aliens in the final presentation. READ THE DIRECTIONS, PEOPLE

Saturn: Was hilarious, because only one student did a drawing, they didn't label it, it didn't get put in the presentation, and it looked like this

Why is it standing on a solid surface? Saturn is a gas giant!

Uranus: Only one sketch, but at least it looks good this time

This one WAS in the final presentation, but the presentation also had a slide with "Voyager 2" as the title and nothing else written on it.

Neptune:

And there's also this, which won:

Nice atmospheric drawing, but YOU DIDN'T LABEL ANYTHING

And finally "Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects"

This one won.

This one my dad called "a bird with squiggles". (Yes, I know you can't read the text, they uploaded the image like this.)

[iftitah]

my mom's college is sooo nostalgic 😭

[hopeheartfilia]

ive been switching lanes waaay too fast this week. Anyway having some mini identity crisises over how little i actually understood about nuclear fusion

[jayjamjary]

Istg the second I get to college (soon) my eyes will be peeled for research opportunities. LET ME IN THE LAB LET ME IN THE FEILD AND BY GOD LET ME INTO THE MORGUE!!!

I was literally jumping and dancing because the college I'm going to sent everyone with an email for their college (including people who haven't actually gotten their yet like me lol) something about like a fair or something for presenting research like YES LET ME IN THERE PLEASEEEEEEE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

I love science so much pleaseeeee let me in pleaseeeeeeeeeee I have not spent every single year of school up to this point looking like a total nerd for nothing let me innnnnnn I want the scienceeeeee.

Clawing at the door. Clawing a hole through the door. Let me in. I'm in the honors college so hopefully that will lead to Opportunities!!!

[thebananasaurusartblog]

Decided to recycle an old species of mine; Vraelith.

They are an omnivorus intersex designer species on the planet Vrael. They have several subspecies of varying niches and vast colonies across the planet, reigning as the only species with complex reasoning and technological advancements. They were engineered specifically to populate Vrael, with almost all of the fauna closely related to their genetic sequences but forcibly evolved to fit specific niches. Most the creatures evolved overtime to adapt with a great many extinctions as their designers succeeded and failed. Eventually the planets designer abandoned it's creations, leaving everything to adjust and fight for itself.

Despite the sci-fi, Vrael has it's magics… though not in the typical spell casting methods. Everything exists on a little-understood energy, highly charged energy, which the planet's non-liquid crystalline core is made of. Energy can be 'used' through only the most adept Vraelith who are born under extraordinary circumstances- but they don't fully understand it. When something is made or born, energy from the planet is transferred into it and when it dies, said energy returns to the planet's core, keeping it charged.

I'm still working on refining all their world, lore, and species info, but I have 6 pages and a billion sketch pages. I'm no biologist or science wizard but I'm having a good time again lol.