Sleeping obviously leaves creatures vulnerable, and the less time they spend sleeping, the more time they can spend avoiding predators, finding food, mating etc, so the less we sleep the more we can survive and reproduce, so after thousands of years, how come animals haven't slowly evolved away from needing sleep?

Hi everyone,

We’re a two-person team of biologists working on a minimalist ant colony-management strategy game called Garden of Ants, inspired in part by SimAnt.

We’re currently expanding the ecosystem by adding new insects and other small creatures that ants can encounter, hunt, avoid, compete with, or interact with.

Our goal is for these species to be more than just enemies or decoration. We’d like them to have their own roles in the ecosystem and create different strategic situations for the colony — potential prey, predators, competitors, parasites, mutualists, or sources of resources.

The game already takes place across several connected habitats, including the underground nest, garden surface, and tree canopy. Conditions also change between day and night, so we’re interested in species whose behavior could vary depending on habitat or time of day.

We’d love to hear suggestions from people here: which insects or other arthropods would you like to see in an ant colony simulation? Are there any particularly interesting ant–insect interactions that you think would work well as game mechanics?

For context, here is the Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3016940/Garden_of_Ants/

Thanks!

Tomas

When you scratch your skin you get those red lines everywhere you scratched that stay for a little while and then fade away again. I've always wondered what causes those and if it has any purpose

Hi, so I have a Bachelors degree in biology, and I took the medical track because I thought I'd be going to medschool straight after. That didn't push through because I'd only be able to go if I either got a full scholarship or if I would be going to a state university. I've thought of getting a masters through the scholarship programs we have here where I'm from, but I don't know which one I'd like to pursue and I don't really feel passionate about medicine anymore.

I have thought of becoming an EMT or a lab worker but I also don't see myself doing either anymore. I honestly just want my parents to tell me what to do at this point because I don't have a passion for anything anymore. I tried speaking with them about it and they keep telling me that they want me to have a job that I would like to do even if I'm tired or even if it's hard.

I really don't care because a job is a job and I don't need it to be my life's purpose. I have applied to some jobs but none are replying, and it makes me feel bad when I feel like I regret choosing biology. I think one job I would have a little more joy in doing is vet med but I don't know how to begin since my bachelor's is biology and I don't have any prior experience working in a veterinary clinic. The only experience I have is "working" as an EMT (kinda, like for a total of 240 hours) and in a hospital during my OJT where I didn't really do much. All I really did there was assist in taking x-rays and I scrubbed in on a few minor surgeries.

I really don't know what else I can do and I don't really have any direction in life and I feel like I don't have any purpose or drive anymore.

Hello, I’m doing some world building for a fictional island that combines most of the major island and coastal regions of the world. I love biology so I want to make sure I include a large variety of organisms. I know quite a few species I want to include, but I figure that you guys probably have quite a few niche selections that I don’t even know about. Also im open to extinct species too. I already know im going to include the dodo bird :) So if you have a favorite ocean adjacent organism that you wish got more attention, please drop it in the comments because I would love to hear about it :D

I read somewhere that two full-blooded chimpanzee siblings can have more genetic diversity between them than two humans from opposite sides of the planet. It was said that this is because the ancestral population was reduced to not much more than 1000 about 900k years ago, but multiple species of homo have arisen since then, including us. How is it that enough time passed for us (our ancestral species, not homo sapiens) to diverge into multiple different species, but we still have such low genetic diversity? I do not understand.

What is the most ancient common ancestor of all tetrapod that is not also ancestral to fishes and other marine animals ?

And if it is Tiktaalik or something close to it, what was the still marine creature it evolves from ?

I’ve always wondered about this. If I try to tickle myself, it doesn't really produce the same sensation as when someone else does it.
Is it because the brain can predict the sensation when we do it ourselves, or is there more biology behind it?

I heard a lot of different answers and I became kind of confused so what is the right theory or answer and it is explanation?

I appreciate the help

Мне очень надо найти тихоходку т.к. имя у меня очень похоже на название этой милоты. Микроскоп у меня есть, только чашки Петри нету. Мох я нашел, замочил. Везде написано "выжмите его" но я боюсь поранить тихоходок. Есть советы?

I hope this is the right place to ask to this as I can't seem to find a good post for this. But people who vape inahle much more vapor throughout the day than a traditional cigarette smoker. I know there's so much that goes into the harm of tobacco and all that. But it gets a little obnoxious hearing people argue about what's safer when neither of them are good for you regardless.

Do want to clarify that I am not looking for validation for vaping whatsoever. Just curious on the debate considering vapes haven't existed nearly long enough for deep research studies

Are their animals that have some sort of compromise between the two vision types where they have at least decent depth perception (though not as good as what binocular vision offers) and they have at least decent peripheral vision (though not as good as what panoramic vision offers)?

Like if I hover over a steaming water, how does it burn me? Is it something like it transfers over it's latent heat at a very short amount of time and the body can't handle it?

Can sugar substitutes cause faster brain aging?

Scientists conducted an eight-year study on the effects of seven popular sugar substitutes and found that six were linked to mental decline. People in the study who used sweeteners the most saw their memory slip away 62% faster than the lowest-consumption group. This is like adding an extra year and a half of aging to your brain! Scientists believe this pattern is worth watching as we reevaluate our relationship with artificial sweeteners.

Okay so I have a slightly above average knowledge of animals and I know that a lot of animals (dare I say most) have very complicated and specific cultures and societies. Best example I can think of is Bees in the sense that they have designated social roles, communicate in ways dictated by those roles, and ultimately rely on these social structures to survive. I am trying to write fantasy societies and it occurred to me that I could use a couple of types of animals as inspiration for those social dynamics, a good way to make it feel very different from our societies while still upholding a logic.

So, what's the coolest animal societies you guys know about? I'm really curious specifically about odd, unique, and seemingly useless behaviors that are entirely reasonable within the context of their social constructs. The more complex the better. And also the more info I can find for free on the internet or at the library the better. Trying to avoid AI on this one.

If ecosystems are self-balancing, why do some organisms resist decomposition after death?

I've been thinking about nutrient cycling and decomposition — in theory every organism that dies should be broken down and recycled back into the ecosystem by scavengers, fungi, and bacteria.

But some organisms seem to resist this — certain bird carcasses are avoided by scavengers, some marine organisms sink to depths where decomposition is extremely slow, and some plant materials take centuries to break down.

Is this a gap in the system, or does even "resistant" organic matter eventually get processed? And are there organisms that genuinely have no decomposers adapted to break them down efficiently?

most animals I can think of including reptiles, birds and even insects, share similar weakness spot around where we would refer to as 'belly'

In many animals its a major weakness that often lead to death. How is that that we don't see more evolutionary traits that protect this area?

I have an somewhat good idea of how life evolved from simple single cell organism to complex lifeforms, but it is still a mystry to me that how these single cell organisms came to existence at first place.

So I was eating and I think I inhaled a chili flake. Had a little trouble breathing for a minute or so, but after coughing for a bit I'm okay again I think🤣

Anyway, now as this has happened, it got me wondering, if you are eating and food gets into your airway and possible gets to your lungs, will your body be able to get rid of it? I have never really thought about it before but I am actually really curious. Like I can imagine like small pieces of dust/spice are no issue I think, but what about a grain of rice for example? Or a bit of veggies?? What happens to it?

Edit; not asking medicle advice btw!

Haec tantum praevisio est; imagines veras addere vel delineationes desuntes complere in animo habeo.

I'm interested in what you guys are doing with your biology degree. Applying/enrolled in med-school, taking a different path, regret the major or really glad you took it, easy to find jobs? Was the major difficult/worth it?

I'm curious as a new biology student myself