nature
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Why are some worms such lazy lovers: a reprise
Even earthworms seem to experience feelings strong enough to overcome the natural tendency of living things to avoid wasting energy.
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Why are some worms such lazy lovers, and why on Earth should we care?
For an experienced partner, worms pull out all the stops. Okay. Gross, maybe, but okay. And yet, knowing this helps lead us to a feminist reappraisal of other animals’ behaviors … including humans.
Alberto Velando, animal behavior, animal behaviors, animal desire, animal studies, biology, care, caretaking, caretaking and sexuality, cooperative equilibrium, coral, earthworm, earthworm erotica, earthworm sex, evolution, evolutionary biology, evolutionary game theory, fish, game theory, game theory in evolutionary biology, Grove & Cowley, male care of babies, male care of offspring, Marah J Hardt, mating habits of worms, nature, parenting, paternal care, red worm, science, semicooperative equilibrium, Sex in the Sea, sex life of earthworms, sex life of worms, sperm competition, stickleback predator inspection, sticklebacks, sticklebacks stealing eggs, Velando Eiroa & Dominguez, Velando et al, weird science, worm, worm mating, worm sex -
On the toothy origins of our inner fire.
With one weird trick, morganucodon kept our kind from being killed by saprophytic fungi.
ancestor worship, ancient fossils, biology, blight, chewing, Chicago, climate change, cooking, decline of reptiles, dinosaur, dinosaurs, Emily Monosson, evolution, fall of dinosaurs, Fire, fire myths, first mammal, fossils, fungal epidemics, fungal infections, fungal pandemics, fungi, global warming, inner fire, mass extinction, mastication, metabolism, morganucodon, nature, proto-mammal, protomammal, rise of mammals, saprophytic fungi, science, Steve Brussate, teeth, The Field Museum, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, tooth, warm blood, warm bloodedness, wildlife
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On skin color and sexual selection in humans.
Somehow, many male biologists failed to notice that whichever sex does more caretaking typically has more control over mate choice …
aesthetic preferences, agrarian, agrarian cultures, agriculturalists, agriculture, ancient human diets, ancient human evolution, ancient human skin color, animals, birds, bowerbird, caretaking and mate access, caretaking and mate choice, caretaking and sexual choice, childhood mortality, club winged manakin, club-winged manakins, cultural differences, Dawn of Everything, depigmentation, dietary influence on the evolution of skin color, epidermal melanin, evolution, evolution of beauty, evolution of cuteness, evolution of depigmentation, evolution of epidermal melanin, evolution of skin color, evolutionary theory, evolutionary trade-offs, female mate choice, fitness costs, folate, gamete size, human attraction, human caretaking, human culture, human evolution, hunter-gatherer cultures, hunter-gatherers, inequality, male control over reproductive success, male mate choice, mate choice, melanin, nature, peacock mating, peacocks, reproductive success, resource control, resource distribution, science, sexual attraction, sexual dimorphism, sexual dimorphism in human skin color, sexual selection, sexual selection of skin color, skin color dimorphism, skin color hypothesis, skin tone, smooth guardian frog, tamarins, Vitamin D, why are babies cute
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On ants and infection.
Punishing young people for socializing doesn’t just hurt young people, it will cause more vulnerable people to die.
ant, ant epidemics, broad immunity to coronaviruses, college, college dating, college during covid, college students, college town, coronavirus, coronavirus vaccine, Covid, covid research, covid spread, covid vaccine, Covid-19, Covid-19 epidemic, Covid-19 research, Covid-19 science, Covid-19 vaccine, cross-reactivity, Dana Hawley, demographic exposure, epidemic, erika meitner, frat, frat guys, frat party, fraternities, frats, harm reduction, helping young people, herd immunity, how to protect vulnerable groups, immunity, immunization, Indiana University, infectious, infectious disease, influenza, IU, managing risk, masks, nature, Pandemic, party, pediatric eschatology, pre-immunity, preventing deaths, protecting others, protecting vulnerable groups, risk, science, scientific research, shifting demographics of exposure, shifting exposure, social distance, social distancing, social immunity, social pod, T-cell immunity, university, university students, unrealistic expectations, vaccination, vaccine, vaccine approval, vaccine development, vaccine efficacy, vaccines, who is at risk, young people, zombie ants
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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 extraction.
The womb-suckers are trying to eat your children. Poke a soda straw into the future and sluuurp, away they go. Hopes and dreams, metabolized today into so many dollar bills. I spend a fair bit of time with drug dealers. Most are ethical people – they wanted to ingest drugs, and they knew some other people who…
45, alternative energy, ancient sunlight, anti-life, arctic drilling, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, arctic refuge, atmospheric science, big government Republicans, Bolsonaro, Brazil, carbon, carbon neutral, chemical energy, children, cigarettes, climate change, climate destabilization, CO2, coal, coal industry, combustion, diet for a healthy planet, Donald Trump, drill, drilling, drug dealers, eating the future, ethics, extraction, feedback loop, fossil fuels, future-eater, gasoline, global warming, gold mines, greenhouse gases, hamburgers, hydrocarbons, Jair Bolsonaro, laziness, lobbyists, meth, methamphetamines, national parks, natural wonders, nature, oil, oil subsidies, peril, petrolium, PotUS, pro-life, propaganda, rehab, renewable energy, routine, self-destructive behavior, selfishness, solar energy, solar power, starvation, starving future children, stored sunlight, Trump, vegan, Venus, wildlife refuge, womb sucker
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On ‘The Overstory.’
Trees made our world livable. Will we show gratitude … or destroy all the forests, wrecking our own chances of survival in the process?
AI, algorithms, artificial intelligence, atmosphere, bees, biomass, book review, brains, carbon, carbon cycles, chemical communication, climate, climate change, cognition, Collapse, communication, computers, consciousness, cycle of life, deforestation, Earth, environmentalism, environmentalist, evolution, extinction, forest, Fruitful Labor, global warming, Go, greenhouse gases, Jared Diamond, Mike Madison, nature, neural networks, neurology, neurons, old growth forest, origin of consciousness, oxygenation, plant communication, Richard Powers, robots, science fiction, smartphones, speed of life, sunlight, tech, technology, technology addiction, The Overstory, The Overstory review, tree communication, tree talk, trees, vegan, Walden, woodlands, woods
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On nature.
Nature heals, but we yank the world away from people in need.
boaters, boats, cell block, concrete, contraband, domestic violence, drug use, evolution, finding a way to survive, forest bathing, Greazy, Grow, growing a tree in jail, heroin, human evolution, human instincts, incarceration, instincts, instinctual behaviors, instinctual urges, jail block, jail boats, jail poetry, life inside jail, mass incarceration, medicine, methamphetamine, nature, nature bathing, nature walks, opiates, our man, Our Man Grows an Orange Tree, plants, poem, poetry, prison poetry, stress, teaching poetry, teaching poetry in jail, withdrawal
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On Tao Lin’s ‘Trip,’ targeted advertising, and finding scraps of life in books.
Psychedelics could help you change your life, but our government insists that they have “no accepted medical use.”
A Really Good Day, abusive relationships, addiction, advertising, Ayelet Waldman, Best of Photojournalism, better living through chemistry, body, book review, business cards, capitalism, corporations, dimethyl tryptamine, ditch your phone, DMT, domestic violence, drug rehab, drug use, drugs, entheogens, finding shit in books, hallucinogens, healing power of nature, healing power of psychedelics, incarceration, inner space, jail, jail poetry, LSD, lysergic acid, lysergic acid diethyl amide, magic mushrooms, Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project, mind, murder, mushrooms, nature, Pages to Prisoners, Perdue Meats, pharmacology, photography, prison, psilocin, psilocybin, psychedelics, psychonaut, recovery, rehab, rehabilitation, relapse, review, scientific method, self-discovery through drugs, sending books to prisoners, shrooms, slaughterhouse, smartphone addiction, spirit, state-mandated rehab, stuff inside books, Tao Lin, teaching in jail, Terrance McKenna, trip, tripping, tryptamines
Frank Brown Cloud 