Ecology
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On dangerous air & the damnation of cyanobacteria.
Like us, cyanobacteria flourished! And in their exuberance, they poisoned their world.
air pollution, anthropocene, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, atmospheric composition, bistability, buffered systems, calamity, carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, carbon emissions, carbon tax, climate change, climate destabilization, climate justice, CO2, Covid, Covid-19, cyanobacteria, divine retribution, endosymbiosis, evolution of early animals, evolution of life, extinction, global warming, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases, invisible dangers, justice, mass extinction, More Dangerous Air, oxygen, oxygen concentration, pollution, punishment, retribution, stromatolites, tipping point
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On cicadas and perception.
Here on the ground, we rarely saw the cicadas who were off living their best cicada lives.
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On cooperation and cons: Our theft from young people.
We demanded sacrifices from younger people to fight Covid-19, but we’re not making sacrifices to help them in return.
buy less, carbon emissions, climate change, climate crisis, climate destabilization, climate inequality, closing schools harms children, consumerism is killing us, coronavirus, Covid, covid epidemic, covid pandemic, covid vaccination, covid vaccine, Covid versus flu, Covid versus influenza, Covid-19, global warming, health care rationing, plant-based diet, rationing, rationing health care, re-opening schools, reopening schools, risk demographics, school closure, school equity, schools, seasonal influenza, stealing from children, stealing the future, vegan, when is the pandemic over
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On octopuses and family gatherings.
Octopuses are brilliant! They solve puzzles, use tools, and plan ahead. And they’re no closer to us than worms??
all babies are scientists, anglerfish, blanket octopus, cartoon, cartoon earthworm, cartoon family reunion, cartoon octopus, cartoon worm, deuterostome, earthworm cartoon, family reunion, jellyfish stingers, jellyfish whip, octopus, octopus at a family reunion, octopus brains, octopus cartoon, octopus tool use, octopus tools, octopus using jellyfish stingers, octopus using tools, octopuses, our ancestors were scientists, protostome, science, scientific method, tool use, we are all scientists, what is science, who is a scientist
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On hubris and climate change.
I probably should’ve known this already, but climate science is REALLY hard!
atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, atmospheric modeling, atmospheric science, burden of proof, carbon dioxide, chaos engines, climate, climate alarmist, climate alarmists, climate change, climate change alarmists, climate change education, climate change skeptics, climate destabilization, climate education, climate research, climate science, climate science education, climate simulation, climate skeptic, climate skeptics, education, environment, environmentalism, extinction, feedback loops, global warming, Global Warming Policy Foundation, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, human extinction, ice core, ice core data, ice cores, Jonathan Safran Foer, Lindzen, meteorology, political correctness, Richard Lindzen, science education, science teaching, simulation data, teaching, teaching climate, teaching climate change, thermodynamics, thermodynamics of life, two degrees, two degrees Celsius, uninhabitable Earth, vegan, veganism, Venus, warming planet, was Venus habitable, We Are the Weather, weather
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On noticing.
Even now, when many of us feel so powerless, we’re in control of our choices. And they matter.
animal cruelty, animal welfare, choice, death, dominance, ethical living, ethics, fences, harm reduction, mortality, nature, nature observation, parenting, plant based, rabbit, rabbit aggression, rabbit violence, raising children, talking to children about death, talking to kids about death, teaching children about death, teaching kids about death, territorial violence, territory, the ethics of eating, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, violence, walls
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On worms.
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. But what happens if you ask again?
animal cognition, annelid, annelids, Charles Darwin, earthworm, earthworm cognition, earthworm intelligence, earthworms, Eileen Crist, mole, moles, schooling during the epidemic, schooling during the lockdown, schooling during the pandemic, schooling during the shutdown, The Inner Life of Earthworms, TikTok, trolling students, worm, worm cognition, worm experiments, worm intelligence, worm loves worm, worm thoughts, worms
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On domestication and Sue Burke’s ‘Semiosis’
With every generation, our species changes. If we found ourselves on the cusp of survival, an alien world could easily reshape us to fit its needs.
aggression, alien life, artificial selection, Belyayev, coevolution, conscious plants, directed evolution, domesticated foxes, domestication, evolution, flowering plants, fruiting plants, future humans, human domestication, human evolution, intelligent plantlife, intelligent plants, Russian fox experiment, science fiction, selective breeding, selective pressure, self-domestication, Semiosis, Semiosis review, Sue Burke
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On birds watching.
We humans have massive brains, but will our kind be more successful than the dinosaurs?
animal cognition, animal communication, animal intelligence, animal research, animals, bird brains, bird cognition, bird intelligence, birds, brain soup, chickens, corvids, crow communication, crow facial recognition, crow intelligence, crows, dinosaur, dinosaur brains, dinosaur cognition, dinosaur intelligence, dinosaurs, evolution of birds, evolution of dinosaurs, extinction, facial recognition, how smart are birds, how smart were dinosaurs, jail, lab animals, laboratory animals, neuron counts, neuron density, oncology, pigeon, pigeon diagnosing biopsy, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, teaching in jail
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On Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘We Are the Weather.’
A lot of climate change is caused by cheeseburgers. Killer superbugs are, too.
animal agriculture, antibiotic resistance, antibiotic resistant bacterial, antibiotic use in animal agriculture, antibiotics, antibiotics in animal agriculture, carbon emissions, climate change, climate destabilization, cognitive bias, cognitive biases, concentrated animal feeding operation, cutting carbon, emotional understanding, energy conservation, energy use, energy use in animal agriculture, environmental veganism, environmentalism, ethical diet, ethical veganism, ethics of eating, existentialism, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, human cognition, human extinction, Jonathan Safran Foer, low carbon diet, meaning of life, moral diet, MRSA, philosophy, plant-based diet, Saving the planet begins at breakfast, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, We Are the Weather
Frank Brown Cloud 