I have a thread for this!
Molecular biologist from Texas, here to share my meanderings on nature, science, history, politics, and zombies. Long threads a specialty.
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I have a thread for this!
That is a GREAT question. We'd probably have to look back down the corvid and then passerine lineages for the forces that shaped them. I think you're on a great path with dietary diversity. We also have to consider 'chance' increases that are amplified over time.
Okay, new theory: John C. Raven was just 80 corvids in a human suit who were put on the spot when asked their name. "Name, please" "Uh, John". "Ah, and the last name?" "Uh... Raven?" Amazing, TIL!
Pigeons are *extensively* studied, but corvids have extremely high brain to body ratios, comparable to that of the great apes, and observationally, they demonstrate very complex behaviors and social interactions.
John Ioannidis is a ... complicated choice. Not a fan anymore.
I want to end on a note on animal care, because we OWE these research animals the very best we can provide. The two male corvids were housed in a social environment, allowed access to water during experiments and fed as much as they liked each day after testing. The free full-text paper is here:
So how did they do? Quite well. They demonstrated superior discrimination compared to non-ape monkeys & very roughly equivalent to the ability of baboons at similar tasks. Evolutionary forces have made them problem solvers, shape evaluators, with keen brains able to discern objects around them.
Humans (generally) detect these intuitively, so don't worry that you're not smarter than a crow. You don't need to know the principles at play to pass the test. We're not teaching Pythagoras, just using an innate ability to parse one shape into each of its sub-elements.
Elements of geometric regularity include "parallelism, symmetry, perpendicularity, equal sides & equal angles." How WE parse these things is by breaking out each sub-element (line, angle) of shape & inter-comparing them. But only a handful of animals seem capable of doing this mental task.
Here's what that stimulus-response looks like. The example control-set includes 5 stars and a moon. The moon is our 'intruder'. The lower set is the experimental: What we're actually testing is an ability to distinguish GEOMETRIC REGULARITY DIFFERENCES.
Let's talk about *how we can know* that crows understand geometry. 🧪 The study from Univ. of Tübingen faculty on two male carrion crows (Corvus corone) trained to select "outliers" from a set of shapes in exchange for a food reward. The set member that doesn't "belong" is called the "intruder".
Because... well, I have a thread for this:
Oh! This really had me puzzled.
roses are red gold is the key
The quest to make darker petunias led to a 2006 Nobel & a fundamental tool of modern molecular biology. In 1986, Richard Jorgensen was trying to make a darker purple petunia to get some VC funding. So he inserted additional copies of the pigment gene into petunias. Instead, they turned WHITE.
I'm trying not to get political, but there is something vaguely familiar about an orange parasite that's slowly transforming the nature of their surroundings, wholly consuming a healthy system to serve itself. I guess I'm saying: there's a fungus among us.
So we're happy to eat the now red & delicious mushrooms. To complete its life-cycle, Hypomyces lactifluorum hijacks the spore-producing gills of the host, causing them to produce spores of the parasite, which are then carried by wind and water to other unsuspecting host mushrooms.
So the ascomycete has assumed the SHAPE of the host, but completely replaced all of the cells. Horror-show! Humans, on the other hand, benefit. Many of the species parasitized have unpalatable terpenes that make them inedible. Parasitizing modifies / eliminates those unfavorable taste compounds.
To be more precise, they're a parasitic ascomycete fungi that grow on milkcap or brittlegill mushrooms in temperate wooded areas of the Americas. The host mushroom is slowly "eaten" by the mold. DNA sequencing of a mature lobster mushroom show only trace amounts of host DNA left.
Let's talk about the fascinating myco-doppelgänger we call the lobster mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluorum). It's not a lobster🦞, but has the color of cooked lobster & a seafood-like taste. But it's not a MUSHROOM🍄 either! So what is it? A parasitic MOLD that's has taken over the BODY of a mushroom.
This is part of a general industry trend. Setting to 70 °C reduces energy usage by 10-30%, doesn't have a big impact on sample longevity. The freezers also age better, fail less. ocs.umich.edu/wp-content/u...
They've been doing enormous damage with the *2025 budget*, so while the scientific community are glad to see the funding being allocated by Congress, the impoundments and political appointee interference by Trump will continue. It'll come down to the courts, yet again.
Nice.
40%-60% of colon cancer biopsies are positive for a TP53 mutation, and people with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) (germline TP53 mux) have a 75-100% lifetime chance of a cancer diagnosis.
Bluesky (Reformed).
New tariff hack just dropped.
Also, none of these appear to be a sparkling clean dually pick-up truck with Calvin peeing on the Dallas Cowboys logo.
I have a thread for this!
It's almost Labor Day! Let's talk about labor heroes! My favorite: Emma Tenayuca, a Texas labor union leader who in 1938, at age 21, organized the largest strike in San Antonio history.
You're giving big 'hermit on a mountaintop' energy, and let's be honest: that's what we're all looking for.
Right? We have a bottle of champagne ready to go.
There's an old joke about a man taking his elderly Italian immigrant grandfather to his first baseball game. "Why does this Joe Dimaggio get to walk to the first base?" "Well, he has four balls." "Four balls?! Walk a-proud Joe. Walk a-proud."
Getting past the irony of calling a family study in Utah "BIG-LoVE"😉, it just says what we've all experienced. Kids are sick like ~25% of the time. It also shows how often kiddos are asymptomatic spreaders to the rest of the family & the infection works its way around cyclically.
So they did a study where they prospectively tested families in Utah for respiratory viruses (BIG-LoVE): "A virus was detected in more than 1/4th of weekly samples. Strikingly, children younger than 5 years had respiratory symptoms in 38% of weeks & a virus detected in 50% of weekly samples."
The sad reality is that millions of American Christian Evangelicals believe supporting Israel, regardless of their actions, is what God commands them to do. And that's as far as they're willing to think.
Really going with the theme. 😉
I also want to put to rest any urban legends or Internet hoaxes you may have heard about the child's song being a dark reference to a child-killing muffin seller on Drury Lane. The Muffin Man on Drury Lane was killing those kids the old-fashioned way: with diabetes. 😉
Before any British readers get their metric-unit pitchforks out, I should point out that crumpets and (English) muffins are often confused. A crumpet has a more pancake-like texture, is browned on one side, while an (English) muffin is often larger, bread-like in texture & browned on both sides.
There seems to be a belief that English muffins weren't invented in England: claiming that the Thomas' brand, founded in 1880 in Manhattan by a British baker, were the first. This may be the oldest EXISTING brand, but there are recipes for 'English-style' muffins in English cookbooks from 1747.
So he was a kind of early English ice-cream man, would have been beloved of children, and probably well known for his iconic tray and bell. I think the song's point was to get a little one's attention with something they're excited about. And now you know (about) the muffin man! Some extra notes:
What Americans call "English muffins" were very popular as a tea-time snack, possibly served with butter, jam or honey. So what's this guy on Drury Lane up to? He was probably SELLING the still-warm muffins, door to door, ringing a bell as he went, to the delight of tea-time tots getting a sweet.
Do you know the MUFFIN MAN? Or more importantly, why would there be a children's song about him? First, it's not the kind of muffins you might be thinking. "Muffin" in Victorian England could mean *any* small bread or cake item, savory or sweet. It's what you have with your tea!
The story of how the 1st Akitas came to the US is remarkable. It starts with Helen Keller: She was a world celebrity following her 1903 book, "The Story of My Life", speaking on rights for people with disabilities & equally on pacifism, equality. She toured Japan on a speaking tour in 1937.
Ah yes, the Golden... uh... I'm going with *Eldritch Sigil*?
Great minds think alike! This one definitely started as a 5 AM musing.
Doesn't bode well for my new business venture: "AAA Guillotine Sharpening While-You-Wait"
I am all about Sword-Feminism. Nothing more empowering than holding 4 feet of sharpened steel.
Boxers meet in the boxing RING, which is decidedly & universally a SQUARE. But it wasn't always so. Early fights were street events where a crowd formed a human ring or circle. Later, chalk lines or ropes kept them back for safety. Now you can have 'ringside seats' at the 'squared circle'.
Well, my local taco place, but Kerbey Lane are the state of the art in brunch queso.
Texas' finest contribution to the culinary codex: Breakfast queso. Because you're here for a GOOD time, not necessarily for a LONG time.
*Bubbles in scantron sheet for "True"*
Was really tempted to tag you. 😁
She was the brightest of lights.
I loved the song they did with Robert Smith of the Cure. He doesn't do many collaborations, so they must have made an impression.
I'm not fluent in the ancient texts, but the hieroglyphics on the temple wall suggest this means: F43.0 = "Traumatic event" W59.11 = "Bitten by non-venomous snake"
My favorite evergreen Molly Ivins quote: "I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag."
Happy pup.
What am I saying? This is ICD-10, there's probably a code that breaks it down by snake species.
Is there a CPT code for "anxiogenic event, ophidian origin"?
I am REQUIRED by state and local ordinance to post this GIF in response.
They are Triassic superstars. Just amazing critters. So jealous for the Yankees that can see them along the seashore during mating season.
Omigod, my son and I have a running joke about this. EVERY TIME we huff and puff up the side of some cliff, covered in scratches or drenched in sweat, there's ALWAYS a mom with an infant in a Baby Bjorn and a toddler eating snacks at the top. It's ... deflating to our manliness. 😁
I may have only skimmed the material, but it sounds analogous to our pineal gland?
"The most sensible policy would be to repeal the OBBBA and start over—certainly with changing the health provisions if not the entire law.... The failure of the current administration and Congress to pursue these lines does not bode well for future health policy or population health."
Ooh! Did not know about the light-sensing structures on the tail! TIL! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
SO satisfying.
Probably too early to see any color in the maples right now, but the area gets crowded by October. More here:
Here's a hiker for scale. The canyon formed through the action of the Sabinal River on local uplifted limestone, producing some interesting water-carved figures, and even some exposed stalactites from drip-water in overhangs. Guess where I'm going this weekend?!
If you find yourself in Bandera County near Vanderpool, TX, you should check out Lost Maples State Natural Area. Take the East Trail a few miles down, enjoying the rare (for Texas) maples changing colors then ... BAM: ROCK MONKEY. Well, "Monkey Rock", officially. But c'mon!
Something magical about the sounds and smells of the surf.
The CNS stimulant is what brings it all together.
I have just the thread for this!
"Earthrise" photos are almost all taken from low lunar orbit, so that the observer is not close to the lunar surface. This image was taken by Apollo 8 from 110 km above the lunar surface. Why?
Derek has that big 'honey badger' energy.
Dad Joke of the Day: The people of Bahrain don't like the Flintstones, but the people of Abu Dhabi do.
The alternative, "toad in the hole", is a frog-filled doughnut boiled in Darjeeling tea.
In case you haven't heard this lately: y'all do some fantastic journalism.
Jade Helm.
Just because I was curious: Texas Department of Public Health - ~5,000 employees NYSDOH - 'greater than' 5,000 employees California's CDPH - 3,900 employees CDC - 12,000 employees? It's certainly not 1:1 in job function or responsibility, but still an interesting comparison.
I think people would be surprised to see the degree to which the CDC are not top-down administrators of public health, but 'coordinators' of state-level public health agencies.
I have this friend that's a university (you don't know them, they live in Canada) that ended their DEI program & immediately announced a new "Community & Belonging" program on the same day, led by some familiar faces.
Ring, ring, hello? Ring, ring, hello?
He looks like a "Seattle-Classic character" 😁.
I hate this timeline.
Our house still has marks in the laundry room showing how tall each kid was on their birthdays, from the previous owner. Ditto for handprints in the driveway. They both make me smile, and speak to spaces filled with memories of love and caring, even if they aren't our memories.
Ah, the ancient Tupperware. 😁
100%.
I have a post for this!
😁
Yes! Now to install the alleyway blacklight!
Never seen it, but now I KNOW about it. 😬
😀😉
The etymology of entomology! Don't tell the myrmecologists!
It also, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that see it, looks a lot like a crab. Carcinization at the molecular level! In conclusion, stop turning your cat yellow (unless you're getting them ready to attend a Pokemon Convention).
But curcumin has very low bioavailability: almost none of what you ingest ends up in your blood & this is coupled to a low plasma half-life for the active form. So what little you absorb doesn't stick around long. Research is underway to extend the activity & increase absorption.
Turmeric is one of those substances that tends to work well in a test tube, poorly in biological models. The most intriguing molecule present in the spice is CURCUMIN. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinoma, antimicrobial & antiviral properties.
There was a TikTok trend promoting 'turmeric baths' for eliminating flea infestations in cats. It almost certainly doesn't work, but one side effect is that it turns the cat's fur yellow.
Ironically, there aren't any ant genera called "Myrmex". That honor is held by a genus of ant-like BEETLES, but there IS a group of TRUE ants called 'pseudomyrmex'. We're just piling irony on irony 😜. Today, myrmidon still carries a sense of "loyal, fierce, diligent". You know: ant people!
The cultural: The Myrmidons were descendants of a Thessalian nobleman & demigod named Myrmidon. This explanation emphasizes the fierceness of the warriors, willing to give their lives for their group. This also includes a story of Zeus seducing a woman AS AN ANT... because *of course it does*.
