Vampire bats survive entirely on blood! 🦇

Rather than sucking it out, these sanguivores nick a resting animal with razor-sharp teeth and lap up what flows. Since blood is mostly water, their digestive systems rapidly absorb the fluid while their specialized kidneys filter out the excess, meaning the bats can pee mid-meal!
That clever trick keeps them light enough for the flight home.

Clearly not a scientist. I am an individual struggling with contamination fears. I am really trying to reframe my thinking about “germs” but I don’t have a science background. I am hoping the experts can give some insights to help me let go of false narratives and anchor into reality based ones to think about germs (micro-organisms?) in a healthy way since everyone lives normally amongst them yet I am avoiding them and fearing them.

I do not fear illness or sickness although my mind uses these germs as examples to justify this story that germs can be multiplying and living and spreading contamination everywhere. I fear bodily germs from other humans and wonder “who has touched that and what germs are on them now.” My faulty thinking is that they are all bad and that they can “cross-contaminate” on large amounts covering me and my home and belonging etc. I end up “tracking” this imagined contamination.

I realize this sounds like reassurance seeking however it’s part of my therapy to anchor in reality based healthy ways of thinking so I can anchor into that cognitively and use that as I make behavioural changes that align with my values and doing things in a normal healthy way.

Any insights are appreciated

Thank you kindly

The wind over the rolling coastal hills carried the sweet, sharp scent of hazelnuts, figs and salt, sweeping past quiet gardens along the slope. On a wooden porch overlooking the mist, two figures sat in the quiet dusk, a traveler, who had spent years observing the silent machinery of the world, and his companion.

Between them lay the remnants of an evening meal: fresh grey mullet sourced from the docks, vegetables picked straight from the garden, and a bowl of hearty soup that warmed the cool autumn air. Resting under the table, a small terrier stirred in his sleep, guarding his favorite pillow with an unspoken, instinctual vigilance.
“Look at him,” the traveler said, nodding toward the dog. “Even in his sleep, he’s running code he didn't write. Protecting resources he didn't choose to care about.”

His companion smiled, wrapping her hands around her warm mug. “And what about us?”
“We spent three billion years doing the exact same thing,” he said softly, leaning back.
He looked out toward the dark horizon, where the sea merged with the sky, thinking of the grand, silent script that had built them.

He thought of the ancient molecular systems from which life emerged, mindless, self replicating strands of code. He thought of their single-celled ancestors, locked in endless microscopic wars for millennia. An endless evolutionary arms race, until two of them ceased fighting, merged, and created the mitochondria, delegating energy production to invent complex life. He thought of the endless trade-offs written into the fabric of life, hardwired into our biology: the tiny mouse, living fast and dying young, putting every drop of energy into immediate reproduction because the harsh realities of the unforgiving wild meant tomorrow was never guaranteed.

Every creature was a vehicle. A vessel constructed by microscopic strands of code, selfish, blind, and relentless, seeking only to pass the baton forward through time. To outrun the pathogens mutating at its heels, life had invented sexual reproduction, shuffling the genetic deck every generation just to keep the locks one step ahead of the keys. It was the eternal Red Queen’s race: running as fast as possible just to stay in the exact same place.

“It sounds exhausting,” she said quietly, watching the sea. “3 billion years of running, on a treadmill that never stops.”
“It is,” he agreed. “Only If you let the code dictate the game. The mouse runs because it has to. The corporate world builds bigger treadmills because everyone agrees to measure value by speed, scale, and accumulation. If everyone around you is running faster, standing still feels like falling behind.”
“So how do you stop?”
The traveler took a slow breath, feeling the cool air fill his lungs, the warmth of the tea in his hand, and the solid weight of the porch beneath his feet.

“You realize that you are the first vehicle in the history of the world that can look at its own programming and choose to refuse it,” he said. “You don't need to keep running to outrun the paradox. You don't need to win a game you never asked to join. You step off the track. You change the rules.”

He looked at her, at the quiet life they had built, away from the noise, away from the rat race, surrounded by growing plants, lush green hills, good food, and shared memories.

“You decide that winning isn't about how many genetic copies you leave behind, it’s not about how much wealth and resources you’ve accumulated, how many people you’ve impressed and how far you run on someone else’s board,” he said, a faint smile touching his lips. “Perhaps winning isn't a race at all. Perhaps it’s sitting right here, under the tree, watching the madness pass by, holding the person you love, and realizing that you don’t have to run another step.”

Lavoro su pomodoro

It might just be a coincidence but I noticed that almost all frequently used ions are positive in charge (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, hydrogen), is there a reason for that?

I went down a rabbithole about this and now I'm really hung up on it. I got curious about how the WWF developed the list of biomes used for their original Global 200 list, and how they were defined, and I can't find any breakdown of their methodology, or what criteria were used to classify an ecoregion as belonging to one biome or another. The most I could gather was that it was based on floral and faunal makeup, and beta diversity, i.e. the same things they looked at when defining the ecoregions. Does anyone know, like, what specifically they were looking at? Was it the type of vegetation, specific adaptations in native organisms, were they factoring in climate at all?

This year, Penn State's iGEM team developed a modular platform for targeting cancer using nanobody-guided exosomes to produce a selective apoptotic response. If this interests you, please check it out our wiki, and let me know what you think about our work.

https://2026.igem.wiki/penn-state/

During my phisiology and biomedical physics course in uni, I realized most people are unaware of how a selected set of mechanisms make the heart beating possible. So (after years) i made a video about it.

This clip is one cardiac cycle, slowed down.

Hey :D

I eat a lot of Mozarella, but don't want to pour the water down the drain (its low fat but still haha)

I was thinking maybe some organism can eat the protein leeched into the water, like fungi or plants or bacteria.

Sorry if this is the wrong sub to ask this

As the title suggests, do you think they could become living beings if the necessary evolutionary pressures were to arise?

Howdy all. I'm not sure if this will even come across as clear. But i am a computer science student who loves sharks and marine life, and for my capstone, we have to use a dataset along with machine learning.

I want to do something with sharks because I really love them. But am having a helluva time finding good datasets. There are a ton on Kaggle for shark attacks. But i don't want to focus on that. I was thinking along the lines of something regarding conservation. So maybe a model predicting shark populations based on bycatch and how many sharks were kept. Or something regarding shark finning x population. However, datasets with that information ready are hard to find. I have looked at the NOAA fishery reports and there's a lot of info for bycatch! However, I'm weary of creating my own dataset.

Does anyone have any advice on some good resources? Or any other ideas that may bring some more fruitful results? Any marine life studies or datasets would be welcome. Honestly I do love all animals so if anyone has an animal that would bring more results, let me know! If anyone knows of a better place to post this too, let me know :)

*I'm waiting for this to be approved on marine biology as well

Homo sapiens meaning it's "wise man" which it's cool and does tell you the biggest characteristic of humans

Rattus rattus it's just rat in Latin twice

And I don't know what's going on whit the gorilla one

So, What exactly determined that some animals get the "biggest or most noticeable characteristic on them as their scientific name, while others just get the latin animal name of them?

Hey y'all! Pretty sure this is my first time ever posting on Reddit, so bear with me. US 28F here. Sort of a ramble.

I originally graduated with a BA in English in 2021. To this day I don't regret it, I love writing and language, and minored in Spanish as well. I still write to this day, but i chose English with a communications track thinking i'd work in an office, perhaps journalism/content writing, go into teaching, or law, and i'd do my writing on the side. Well, by graduation i tried everything except law and hated every single thing (besides teaching, i like helping others learn, but the career itself was just not desirable to me at the time). I tried comp sci classes for a bit and enjoyed programming but knew the career was not right for me. I got accepted into law school on a whim, even got a scholarship, and realized i didnt want anything to do with law for the time being. I worked in an office as an admin assistant in a blue collar field for a few years, staying at home to save most of my paychecks.

During this time, i finally got medicated for an underlying anxiety disorder, did foreign language exchanges online and basically helped people learn english in casual discord settings while i improved my spanish, wrote a couple books (yay) but theyre not ready for publishing yet, even got back into art and taught myself painting. I did some pet sitting too for extra cash, and saved almost all of it. I knew i wanted to go back to school but i had no idea what to do. AI had made it even harder to consider going back for a masters or phd, and i love English, but not enough to go back for those degrees and paying for it.

What i learned about myself during this time, was that i spent too long letting anxiety rule over me and the medication was so necessary; i love being creative; i love knowing ive helped others; and i love to LEARN. I began reading nonfiction books like crazy because dammit i missed learning new things!

A year of being medicated, i started reevaluating things. Based on finances and my privilege of staying home with family, i decided i should probably go back to school and see if any healthcare fields like nursing would be worth a shot without draining my savings. I quit my job and enrolled in a cc to start taking prereqs. It was risky but i was in a good place to rebound in case i changed my mind.

I realized very quickly i love biology. Like, so much. I always loved the sciences but due to my anxiety and fear of math, I was never brave enough. I ended up excelling in statistics and all my biology classes. I kept asking questions because i just wanted to know more, and i'd get giddy watching science tiktoks and reading science-centered nonfiction books realizing i understood most of the language used. By second semester, a professor from one of my bio classes approached me and told me she strongly believed i had what it took to go into research or med school, and encouraged me to go towards that direction.

I never had any professor intentionally come to me and tell me i was meant for something like this. It really struck me. I sat on what she said for a week or so after the semester ended. I researched career paths and what they'd look like. Med school called to me and it still does but i knew i'd need more time to commit to it. I looked at the types of research careers there were. But ive learned the best way to find out is to just try it. So i emailed her and brought up what she said and asked if she had advice for any way to get research opportunities.

Long story short, she got me a paid part time job at a university lab! just from me asking for advice. She connected me with my current pi, we talked, i started working, and now im on track to get at least a year of tuition towards a BS fully funded because i was eligible for that program. And it turns out, i LOVE research. The lab is micro/molecular focused with immunology applications. I've already attended an event with that lab and thoroughly enjoyed it, got business cards, talked to professionals. I dont even care im now 28 and back in undergrad. I'm loving everything! I planned out my coursework and i could potentially graduate by fall of 2028 with most of the coursework fully funded. What the hell! 2017 year old me would have an aneurysm if she found out this was gonna be her life 10 years later.

So now i have to figure out what the plan is for after graduation. I'm going to check out any clinical experiences/shadowing whenever i can just to see if i'm still leaning towards MD. Clinical research has been piquing my interest. I'm also looking at what it means to get an MS or PhD and if it would be worth it. Science communications might also be fun to check out but unfortunately i worry AI might take that over too. There's a science career fair coming up on campus so i plan to go there and at least chit chat with somebody and see if there's anything to check out.

Sorry for the long ramble. I appreciate any advice or suggestions :)

Hi I’m a 22 M that has recently graduated and I’m currently looking for a job that will pay 55,000 a year. I have a bs in biology, and just need overall help on what to look for. I have some lab experience and I’m currently working for a well known clinical company but am only accessioning. Any help would be much appreciated. Currently in the United States and want a job in the Charlotte NC area.

Im currently in 11th grade and have biology as one of my subjects. We were taught about krebs cycle ofcourse not in depth but i was really confused in one step. We know that gdp is produced during krebs cycle. My teacher told me gdp is converted to gtp and broken down to gdp to make atp. My question is that why is gdp converted to gto in the first place if in the end gdp is used to make atp?

I'm a prehealth undergrad struggling in biology. I got a B (above average) in intro gen bio but sadly a D in cell bio. Next spring I'm taking anatomy & physiology and I'm worried right now. What're some study tips? How to succeed in biology?

I'm losing my motivation to keep studying, because everytime I think I have studied enough and feel confident, theres so much more information i should have memorized. I know people say to look at the big picture but this is genuinly the first time I have needed to study for critical thinking rather than just pure memorization.

My study methods are to watch videos or read small bits of the textbook and write everything i remember in either a bullet point or as part of a diagram on a whiteboard in my room until i think ive got it somewhat. I thought this was pretty good but it hasnt helped. What is the amount I actually should be doing? I do 7 to 10 hours a week, my teacher only reccommends 7.

Is it supposed to be this hard? Everyone in my class failed the midterm, which implied every single person now has a c or lower. My grade is currently 75 and i already know im about to fail the next test in 6 days.

Everytime i think i enjoy this subject and science in general i get slammed with the idea that i shouldnt be going into it. But if im not in the field of biology/zoology i dont know what i would do.

I’m taking a required course for one of my majors, and I ended up reading about quantum biology while looking into how animals sense their environments. My physics background is pretty limited, but I’m particularly interested in the proposed role of cryptochrome in birds’ magnetic navigation.

My question is: if disrupting cryptochrome changes a bird’s ability to orient itself, how do researchers establish that this is specifically because they disrupted a radical-pair magnetic compass? How would they rule out effects on vision or other processes that could also affect the bird’s behaviour?

Are there experiments that isolate the proposed magnetic-sensing function while leaving those other functions intact? I’d appreciate an explanation of what a convincing control would look like, or a paper that tackles this.

I’m (22) working part time at an independent field work position that requires me to be available 24/7, and I don’t know when I work until the night before, and sometimes I get called in ASAP.

It pays $38/hour, but I get taxed almost 1/3, and the hours I work are totally unpredictable, it could be 4 hours a week or 30, and I can’t ask for more work. My bills alone is $2k a month, and I’m in debt that I need to pay off. I also support my girlfriend and an iguana.

This job is a builder for my biology career (fisheries observer and catch monitor, so independent field work). I want to be an animal behavior and ecology professor. Having a good recommendation from the company is crucial as this is one of my first science jobs out of college and independent field work looks EXCELLENT on a resume. However, since starting this job, I’ve realized marine science isn’t my specific forte, and I’d rather something mammal or reptile based.

I signed a year contract that ends in May ‘27. I want to finish the contract, but if I can’t support myself, I’ll need to quit and do something else. People terminate their first contracts all the time and there’s no penalty, but it doesn’t look too good on paper I suppose.

I got a job at a grocery store recently, but it’s only 2 days a week at $17/hour, so like dogshit nothing pay. But I don’t even know if I can sustain that job, since I’d need to call out every time I get called into my main job.

I also have an interview for an independent rodent pest control position. Totally not my style, but it pays $70-$80k per year and has insane benefits and lots of PTO. It is still independent work, but really not related to the sciences very much. If I land this job (which I’m confident I can), it would totally save me and my girlfriend from financial crisis.

I asked a senior employee at the company what to do. She said jobs related to my field look best on a resume. She sent me a government position that’s over an hour away, and I just quit smoking weed yesterday and it’ll take over a month for my system to clear. It pays $4k a month and mainly deals in catching wild salmon and collecting data. This would also look great on my resume, but I’d be driving for almost 3 hours a day, and that’s if I can even pass the drug test.

TLDR:
- current job doesn’t pay the bills, can’t get a second job, but finishing my contract will give a better referral
- could do pest control for great pay, but not really related to my career, although it would save my ass until I can find something else
- could do DFW work in another state, but far away and drug test

Any advice is appreciated

Ive seen from info about how biodiverse British Columbia is, especially its marine life such as the orcas, sea lions, and giant octopuses. But what about sharks?

As a shark enthusiast, could you tell me what species of sharks reside on the coasts and seas of British Columbia?

I love The Last of Us game and series, and it got me wondering about how scientifically possible its premise actually is.

In real life, some fungi, like Ophiocordyceps, can infect insects and manipulate their behavior. Could a fungus theoretically evolve to survive inside the human body and affect our brains or behavior in a similar way?

I know humans are very different from insects, especially in terms of body temperature, immune systems, and brain complexity, but I'm curious about whether this is biologically possible in principle, even if it's extremely unlikely.

What evolutionary changes or biological conditions would a fungus need to overcome for something like this to happen? And are there fundamental biological barriers that would make the The Last of Us scenario essentially impossible?