looking for something to watch this weekend? "Trans People & Biological Sex: What the Science Says" started as a talk I've given at colleges & conferences, now updated & free for YouTube! addresses virtually all trans-skeptical talking points, as well as intra-community debates about "born this way" & "true trans":
https://youtu.be/ZymYiwoRoC0
#trans #transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #science #biology #sex #feminism
biology
Why are there so many snakes? 🐍
@popsci reports: "Thousands of species of snakes slither across the globe. Researchers think this is a product of a mysterious singularity event."
For similar stories, follow "Animals, Animals, Animals" by Mashable: @animals-animals-animals-Mashable
If humans are indeed the most evolved species, why do so many of us suffer from developmental or genetic diseases? Phys.org explains why, unlike our ape ancestors, humans are still paying the price for losing our tails. https://flip.it/DX01o9
#Science #Humans #Biology #Evolution
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel says AI will help scientists understand "most diseases" in three to five years.
@Semafor quotes the executive: “The reason we still have people dying of cancer, people suffering from Alzheimer's, is we do not understand the fundamental biology of those diseases.”
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Disease #Cancer #Health #Science #Biology #Tech
Edited 1y ago
A forest in Utah made of a single tree known as Pando has 47,000 stems and has amassed 6,000 metric tons of life in its thousands of years on Earth. It’s the largest living organism on the planet in terms of mass. Naturally, something that large and old has something to say, and recordings released this year let us “hear” it like never before. More from Science Alert: https://flip.it/PSwxIA
#Science #Biology #Trees #Horticulture #Utah #Forest
American geneticist Nettie Stevens died #OTD in 1912.
In 1905, Stevens published a pivotal paper detailing her observations on the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. She identified that male mealworms had a pair of unequal-sized chromosomes, while females had two X chromosomes. This discovery supported the theory that sex is determined by specific chromosomes, a significant advancement in the field of genetics.
Books by Nettie Stevens at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35315
English biologist & botanical artist Marianne North was born #OTD in 1830.
She was notable for her plant & landscape paintings, her extensive foreign travels, her writings, her plant discoveries & the creation of her gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
#biology #botanics #science_illustrators
I am very happy to announce that our work on hemichordate gene expression and chromatin accessibility dynamics is now published on Nature Ecology and Evolution! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02562-x
#science #genomics #evolution #deuterostomes #transcriptomics #chromatin #grn #nature #evodevo #development #developmentalbiology #biology
Edited 283d ago
Climate change will continue having a major impact on the planet, but here’s one sign of how a multi-pronged approach can take some of the heat off in the future: Selectively bred corals show that it is possible to improve their heat tolerance even within a single generation. While not a panacea, selective breeding could be a tool for nature conservation. @ScienceAlert explains: https://flip.it/rePdLS
#Science #ClimateChange #MarineLife #Biology #Corals #GlobalWarming #Environment
Edited 283d ago
"Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth."
French biologist and philosopher Jean Rostand was born #OTD in 1894.
His work covered a variety of biological fields such as amphibian embryology, parthenogenesis and teratogeny.
A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.”
—
The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude method for identifying research he calls “woke.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/ted-cruz-woke-grants-national-science-foundation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Science #Data #Research #Medicine #Biology #USPolitics
All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a #language is twice as frequent as the second most frequent, three times as frequent as the third, and so on.
The same pattern is universally found across human languages bit also occurs in #whale song.
This complex signaling system, like human language, is culturally learned by each individual from others.
#biology
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-whalesong-patterns-universal-law-human.html
(To my US followers 🤫 ) I wrote: "Obviously, the immensely rich #diversity of choices offers evolutionary advantages for a wide variety of environments." I'm just writing about #moss sex. 😁 Without Newspeak. 💪
I'm proud to use the so-called "flagged" words ▶️ https://steadyhq.com/en/naturematchcuts/posts/00aabadd-63c5-4f3d-93a9-e93ebda61377
Yes, my podcast comeback episode will be about #Moss!
#mosstodon #NatureMatchCuts #podcast #DEI #forbiddenWords #NFI #biology #bryology #ecology #biodiversity #ReconnectWithNature #fascination
Edited 164d ago
Um grupo de professores montou um manual de Libras para as disciplinas de Ciências e Biologia nas escolas. Esse tipo de manual não existia antes e vai ajudar um monte de professores e alunos surdos, assim como a comunidade surda em geral.
Because life can be full of bullshit, here's some pleasant counterprogramming:
Meet 3.3 m/11 ft #InspectorClouseau
(Old people like me will get the #PinkPanther reference)
First spotted off #Australia in 2015
The only #pink #mantaRay we've discovered in the world, now or ever
Researchers have studied him (yes, a he) as to cause
Diet: no. Stress: no. Toxins: no. Infection: no
They now think it is just a rare genetic mutation
Edited 78d ago
#diet trends are always so dumb.
Like the paleo diet, which claims eating raw meat and #food is good for you, and the way it's meant to be.
Cooking food is why humans became humans.
It takes a HUGE amount of calories to digest raw food, which is important before food stability.
A brain uses a GIANT amount of calories, so by cooking food, calories were made available to develop a larger brain.
So it's less a paleo diet, and more a Homo Erectus diet.
#ICYMI: The Kaçar Lab, led by Dr. Betül Kaçar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is challenging the assumptions about life as we know it, its origins, and its future. Beth chatted with Dr. Kaçar in this week's #SETILive, and wow, we all learned a lot! Watch the full interview: https://youtube.com/live/hLw4olNyBng
Sooty Oystercatchers (Haematopus fuliginosus),natives of Australia and New Zealand.If an oyster or other bivalve is slightly open, the oystercatcher quickly, precisely insert its bill to snip the adductor muscle that holds the two halves together. Then it's lunch. #birds #birdsofmastodon #biology #nature #photography #wildlife
Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus
In the 18th century, the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus set out to classify life, creating a system of taxonomy that still endures. But, as Firelei Báez explains, his work included hierarchies of humans based on race that were ‘sheer nonsense’, embedding racist ideas into science that echo to this day.
Carl Linnaeus at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/9516
Especially for the #Labour administration in the UK; the Supreme Court in the UK, all the #TERF and Terf adjacent people out there, the media, especially the #Guardian.
#Rights #HumanRights #ProChoice #Autonomy #Biology #Facts
Once again, for those still quoting primary school level science:
Rebecca Helm, a biologist and an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville US writes:
"Friendly neighborhood biologist here. I see a lot of people are talking about biological sexes and gender right now. Lots of folks make biological sex sex seem really simple. Well, since it’s so simple, let’s find the biological roots, shall we? Let’s talk about sex...[a thread]
If you know a bit about biology you will probably say that biological sex is caused by chromosomes, XX and you’re female, XY and you’re male. This is “chromosomal sex” but is it “biological sex”? Well...
Turns out there is only ONE GENE on the Y chromosome that really matters to sex. It’s called the SRY gene. During human embryonic development the SRY protein turns on male-associated genes. Having an SRY gene makes you “genetically male”. But is this “biological sex”?
Sometimes that SRY gene pops off the Y chromosome and over to an X chromosome. Surprise! So now you’ve got an X with an SRY and a Y without an SRY. What does this mean?
A Y with no SRY means physically you’re female, chromosomally you’re male (XY) and genetically you’re female (no SRY). An X with an SRY means you’re physically male, chromsomally female (XX) and genetically male (SRY). But biological sex is simple! There must be another answer...
Sex-related genes ultimately turn on hormones in specifics areas on the body, and reception of those hormones by cells throughout the body. Is this the root of “biological sex”??
“Hormonal male” means you produce ‘normal’ levels of male-associated hormones. Except some percentage of females will have higher levels of ‘male’ hormones than some percentage of males. Ditto ditto ‘female’ hormones. And...
...if you’re developing, your body may not produce enough hormones for your genetic sex. Leading you to be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally non-binary, and physically non-binary. Well, except cells have something to say about this...
Maybe cells are the answer to “biological sex”?? Right?? Cells have receptors that “hear” the signal from sex hormones. But sometimes those receptors don’t work. Like a mobile phone that’s on “do not disturb’. Call and cell, they will not answer.
What does this all mean?
It means you may be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally male/female/non-binary, with cells that may or may not hear the male/female/non-binary call, and all this leading to a body that can be male/non-binary/female.
Try out some combinations for yourself. Notice how confusing it gets? Can you point to what the absolute cause of biological sex is? Is it fair to judge people by it?
Of course you could try appealing to the numbers. “Most people are either male or female” you say. Except that as a biologist professor I will tell you...
The reason I don’t have my students look at their own chromosome in class is because people could learn that their chromosomal sex doesn’t match their physical sex, and learning that in the middle of a 10-point assignment is JUST NOT THE TIME.
Biological sex is complicated. Before you discriminate against someone on the basis of “biological sex” & identity, ask yourself: have you seen YOUR chromosomes? Do you know the genes of the people you love? The hormones of the people you work with? The state of their cells?
Since the answer will obviously be no, please be kind, respect people’s right to tell you who they are, and remember that you don’t have all the answers. Again: biology is complicated. Kindness and respect don’t have to be.
Note: Biological classifications exist. XX, XY, XXY XXYY and all manner of variation which is why sex isn't classified as binary. You can't have a binary classification system with more than two configurations even if two of those configurations are more common than others.
Biology is a shitshow. Be kind to people."
Many thanks to Traci Drake for finding this.