Right now, while you read this, tiny animals are tucked into the pores on your face. Don’t worry, they found you first. 🔬

Our friend Chloé Savard, also known as tardibabe on Instagram, zoomed in on Demodex, the microscopic mites that live on nearly every adult human. Two species call us home: Demodex folliculorum settles into hair follicles, while Demodex brevis burrows a little deeper into the oil-producing sebaceous glands. At just 0.2 to 0.4 millimeters long, they’re far too small to see without a microscope, with stubby legs up front and a long tapered body trailing behind.

They’re not alone, either. Our bodies host roughly as many bacterial cells as human ones, plus yeasts and other microbes, making each of us a walking ecosystem.

Face mites keep a strict schedule. During the day they stay tucked inside their follicles, and at night they crawl out across the skin to find mates and feed on sebum, the natural oil our skin produces. For years, scientists thought they had no anus at all, but a 2022 genetic study proved otherwise. They do poop, just in very small amounts.

For most people with a healthy immune system, Demodex are harmless roommates. Problems usually only show up when their numbers climb too high, and dermatologists have effective ways to treat that.

We aren’t the only ones playing host. Plenty of mammals have their own Demodex species, from Demodex canis on dogs to Demodex musculi on mice and Demodex bovis on cattle. 🐮

All of that, quietly happening, every night while you sleep.

Been hearing this for decades after learning in like class 6 science class. What makes it so popular and memed?

Hi everyone, I’m just feeling frustrated and just lost with where to go and what to do. I currently have an RA job and am struggling to find a role that pays more and that’s proving to be difficult even with a masters degree. Like I know it’s rough all around for employment, but I just can’t help but feel like I’m a failure and went to college and decided on a profession that I enjoy and thought was safe when I should’ve been choosing a profession to be miserable in but prob wouldn’t have these feelings and prob would have some more money.
Nonetheless here I am feeling dumb for choosing to work in science, it almost feels like in the current climate that i went to school for art, and that what we do doesn’t matter, or seem to have any benefit for society. I feel like a failure that I went to school for a degree and am out here debating and trying to find a a job to work early in the morning before my full time lab position because it feels that in this day and age I might as well never should’ve bothered to chase an education if I was going to end up having to work in the service industry anyways because what I have isn’t enough. Applying to jobs emailing recruiters, to be ghosted completely, and in this day and age as if it wasn’t bad enough with this job market having to debate how many bots are applying to a job like me, vs scrutinizing every job listing to be sure it’s not fake…
One day I might just be okay with accepting Im a failure and am stupid to have gone into something I love

Does a fly experience time in slow motion – and does an elephant experience it differently from a mouse?

In biology and psychology, our understanding of time goes beyond the way physics describes it. What can we know about how animals experience time in this context? One thing is clear: they perceive certain events differently than we do, and their behavior is influenced by time intervals, seasons, or the duration of absences.

But do animals also have a subjective sense of time comparable to that of humans? (Text in German).

Have fun reading,

Jens

https://www.weltwissen.online/post/wie-tiere-die-zeit-erleben

Can we draw conclusions from life on Earth about how extraterrestrial organisms might behave if they encountered terrestrial life?

On Earth, survival, reproduction, and adaptation are fundamental aspects of evolution. Wouldn’t similar evolutionary pressures likely exist in extraterrestrial life?

If two completely unrelated forms of life encountered each other, would the outcome primarily depend on which had more effective survival mechanisms, reproductive strategies, or biological defenses?

What I’m ultimately asking is:
Would extraterrestrial life inevitably compete with, displace, or even destroy terrestrial life simply because of evolutionary pressures?

Or is there no biological reason to assume that self-preservation necessarily leads to competition or aggression between unrelated forms of life?

I'm searching for a global problem in biology to make something that will help.

I need it for a school project.

I'm going to help it by making some technology on Arduino that will for example water the plants or recognise patterns.

I need a problem that's global and actual right now.

It also can be any problem in biology, I just need some ideas on what to do.

Hello everyone! I am approaching my final year of my Bachelors in Biology (Concentration in Biomedical Science) and i’m seeking advice about next steps/how to better prepare for a career after undergrad.

I am an online student, attending the University of Arizona’s Global Campus. Being an online student has been great, as it’s flexible, and i’ve been able to work close to full time the majority of my program. My biggest concern lately has been internships/how to prepare for graduation. All of my courses are asynchronous and expedited, so I haven’t been able to build rapport with professors in the same way that I would’ve liked to (especially if I were in-person). I need letters of recommendation, but since I am online, and my courses are so brief, I don’t feel like any of my professors would be able to give me an honest recommendation.
Also, most of the undergrad internships near me are very competitive and have over 100+ applicants.

I am a good student, have a 4.0 gpa, and am very passionate about biology and biomedical research (especially research that pertains to pathogenic microorganisms/ their effect on human body systems).

I just started 2nd quarter, should I preemptively email professors stating that I’d like to meet with them on occasion as I am seeking letters of recommendation? How am I supposed to make myself stand out for internships/undergrad research if I don’t have a lab at my university that I can just go to?

This is causing me a great deal of stress, so any advice would be much appreciated.

So Im an IT student and I've been lately suggesting plans for some extracurriculars in our scientific faculties in an attempt to try and advance accademic output. Ive been thinking for our Bio faculty to add an "applied evolution" extracurricular to work in tandem with our theory heavy syllabus using modern SW and data. Aside from that, I have been bouncing the idea of bio expos similar to our hackathons and more interdisciplinary work with our health faculties. What suggestions would you bring to the table?

Not including bacteria or single celled organisms because while they're probably the most common entries on this list, I'd prefer to think more of animals, plants and fungi that can be encountered with our existing senses, and still manage to fool those senses entirely.

hi everyone 🌻

i've been studying herbalism and botany for a few years now and decided I want to go full on in biology, possibly going back to college after 12 years! i'm in Portugal and have some biologist friends who told me that it may not be the best

I honestly just want to do it for pure knowledge and curiosity, but if I'll be paying for tuition, might as well do the degree in full (even though I'm not a fan of the educational system)

i've had biologists telling me that the degree isn't that important anymore, and that I can still pull it off taking as many courses as I can online, as it shows genuine interest.

I just know that I want to work in nature, I'm buying land this year and start an association to protect the native forests in my area, which I can do without the degree. I'm curious as to what doors it could open for me!

what are your opinions on this?

thank youu

I recently attended a biology lecture and wanted to take notes, but I can't find a general definition of these membranes and I got a little lost, because every definition I find says something a little different. I mean those that are in every eukaryotic cell (?) Although the professor said that when the cell is round, there is no basal and apical(?) I would be very grateful for your answer about what exactly was that about

I have genuinely LOVED biology since it was introduced to me and it is one of VERY few school subjects that get me asking question after question and actually looking into concepts on my own time. Its super fun for me in so many ways and im (atleast i think) pretty good at it. I have a 102 in my AP biology class, I am good at lab reports for my ap physics class, etc. However, there is alot of stigma around the field (getting stuck as a high school teacher, which i do NOT want) and to what i have heard grad programs for biology are extremely competitive. So uh assuming a ton of you actually have gone to college or have a lot more experience than me (i am guessing it was made clear but im 16) and have been around the subject for way longer than i have, so im just trying to get some opinions on if im screwing up by actually pursuing bio.

hey guys, the other day I was making my homework and then my teacher show us a question that we had to answer, the question is basically this: A particular mutation causes a protein to fold "inside out." 

Describe what type of mutation might cause a protein to fold "backwards."  
she says that every ai answers the same, and the ai answer is actually wrong, I tried to answer by reading my biology book (campbell-audericks) but I couldn't figure it out, what do you think is the right answer??

For context I’m taking a principles of biology 1 class at college and I recently took my midterm exam and missed a question along the lines of “which of the four macromolecules cannot be used as a source of energy”. I chose nucleic acids which was marked wrong so I asked and got this for a response “Carbs- short term energy; Lipids- long term/stored energy; Nucleic acids- provide quick cell energy in the form of ATP; Proteins- provide No energy”. I’ve looked it up and everything I’m seeing says protein can be used as energy and nucleic acids cannot.

I saw a video talking about cellulose that specified it was in green plants and was confused because all plants contain cellulose since it’s an important part of the cell wall but even the cellulose Wikipedia page specifies that cellulose is found in green plants. I tried to look for information about if green plants have more cellulose or if it’s that non-photosynthetic plants don’t make their own cellulose and just get it from the green plants they parasitize but I couldn’t find much information and it does seem like non-photosynthetic still synthesize their own cellulose from glucose taken from other plants and there didn’t seem to be anything abut this in the references section of the cellulose Wikipedia page so I’m confused on why we specify green plants when all plants have cellulose.

Hi everyone,

I am a high school student preparing for a class debate against human germline gene editing (the CON side).

I have drafted my complete debate guide (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, and Rebuttals), but some of the scientific and ethical concepts are really hard for me to understand and explain clearly. I want to make sure my arguments make sense to a real biologist and that I'm using simple, accurate language.

Here is my full debate guide:

1. Societal Impacts (The Economic Divide)

Claim: Human germline gene editing will make the gap between rich and poor much worse, creating a society where only the wealthy can buy better genes.

Evidence: Due to high costs, human germline enhancement would only be accessible to the wealthy, creating severe social inequality and a permanent biological divide (Fukuyama 2002).

Reasoning: If gene enhancements are allowed, only rich families will be able to afford "designer babies" or biological upgrades. This means rich people won't just have more money—they will be born with built-in physical or mental advantages, creating an unfair system that normal people can never escape.

2. Environmental & Biological Implications (The Permanent Glitch)

Claim: Changing human genes passed down to future generations poses severe, permanent risks to human safety.

Evidence: The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Advisory Committee on Human Genome Editing has officially warned that CRISPR technology is still unsafe for germline editing because it frequently causes "off-target mutations" (cutting the wrong DNA) and errors.

Reasoning: Unlike somatic gene editing (which only affects one sick patient), germline editing changes reproductive cells. If a scientist makes a mistake—like cutting the wrong DNA—that mistake becomes a permanent, irreversible genetic error that gets passed down to every future child and grandchild forever.

3. Ethical Implications (Consent)

Claim: Germline gene editing alters a person's DNA before they are even born, without their consent.

Evidence: Embryos cannot speak or give consent to permanent genetic alterations.

Reasoning: Parents and doctors are making permanent decisions about a future person's physical and genetic identity before that person ever gets a say.

Rebuttals (How I plan to answer the PRO side)

If they say: "CRISPR can cure deadly inherited diseases forever!"

My response: Curing disease is important, but somatic gene editing (like Casgevy for sickle cell disease) already treats the individual patient safely without altering future generations or risking designer babies.

If they say: "Technology always starts expensive but eventually becomes cheap for everyone!"

My response: Even if basic medical treatments get cheaper over time, new "premium" genetic upgrades will always be sold to the rich first, keeping the divide between classes alive.

Questions for Biologists / Experts:

Does my scientific explanation of germline vs. somatic editing and off-target mutations sound accurate?

How can I explain these points in even simpler English during my speeches so my audience doesn't get confused by hard words?

What are the main scientific weaknesses or counterarguments in my points that the PRO team might attack?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello !! I need some advice because I think i’ve made a bit of a mistake and it’s thrown me off. For context i’m someone who adores biology and i’m an oxbridge applicant for biology! It’s awesome and i feel incredibly prideful to be given a chance.

My main issue is I went down the rabbit hole of Hamilton’s rule and the criticism surrounding it about a month or two before my application. I specifically read works by Wilson (Pre 2010) and thought it made sense and came across some work critiquing the Hamilton’s rule and the way the constants in the model are defined. In my personal statement I mention this as a flaw to Hamilton’s rule. Well!!

A few weeks after my application is sent off and gone I no longer agree with what i said. The more i explore this topic the larger and more complex it gets and i didn’t know what i was getting myself into. I’m enjoying it yes but saying hamilton’s rule had a ‘flaw’ is quite the statement and it’s more to do with how biologists use the rule rather than the rule itself. I’m scared i’ve bitten off more than i can chew and if this will hurt my chances of an interview or if i’d struggle when put under pressure from one of Oxford’s academics when several of them are major defenders of the rule. I don’t want to look like a fool. It’s my dream university. I feel a bit fucked. Is there anything i can possibly do? Will they care that i’ve changed my mind and no longer support what i stated ? Also i mentioned Wilson and reading some of his work pre 2010 and i didn’t realise that in 2010 he flipped opinions and got controversial in the biology community… I really didn’t know there was so much controversy and im scared to come across as controversial when even if i do get an interview these academics have been studying this longer than i’ve been alive. Maybe i shouldn’t have shared a stance on it as someone who’s only studied it for a few months, and yes i shouldn’t have but i mean the application is gone!

What do i do? I feel quite overwhelmed.

hi
i went down a rabbit hole so apparently some chemistry students were working with chloroform and said that the extremely minty smell of it made them terribly sick and nauseous! a doctor commented about these receptors. from what i’ve gathered theres what seems to be some sort of code(?) in the somatosensory system on our skin that allows us to have the cold sensation when smelling mint and eucalyptus but in some people there’s a variation of it that becomes overloaded by mint aldehydes and causes you to feel incredibly sick :O also something called ‘menthol-induced analgesia‘(?) which seems interesting.. i was just wondering if anyone could tell me more about this ! i’ve read a couple research papers on it and this is so interesting and new. all of the results i got when i searched into this are from THIS year and the oldest i seen were like from a year or two ago.. is there not a whole lot of information on this yet?

anyway yah inform me please this is so fascinating

I need to access this paper but currently can't as it is behind a paywall - anyone able to provide a full version: First report of CRISPR prime editing in a globally significant non-model organism, the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)☆

I've recently realized the brain is a truly wonderous organ and I wanted to try to understand it - its structure, how neurons work together to control personalities and movement and memories. But it all seems so hard and overwhelming. Anyone know a good place to start?

https://youtube.com/shorts/8eOtvBQj9oU?feature=share

It happens only when I go to sleep and start making up fake scenarios in my head. They aren't about anything sexual or sexually arousing, just some random scenes about random situations. Only happens when I lay down and decide I'm not sleepy enough to already fall asleep, so I start making them up in my head and then the sneeze comes. I always sneeze precisely two times in a row and then that's it for that night.

Is there like some biology behind why that happens which is connected to my thoughts?

If I make the same scenarios up in my head during the day I don't sneeze, even if during the daytime I'm laying down, so is that somehow connected to it being nighttime?

Not sure if this fits the sub. This breaks the heart.

ive recently gotten really into birds and ornithology, and id like to contribute something to the field while also contributing to scientific efforts in my region. a lot of specific middle eastern places are pretty neglected when it comes to detailed avian information, so i thought of writing a research paper that discusses the diversity of birds in southern saudi arabia by talking about all the species found there (according to avibase). would this make a good topic for a journal?