A scientific fact/tidbit you recently learned that you thought was interesting

[catsmate]

There is great interest in adding nitrogen fixing capacity to other plants.

 

[jadebox]

Conversely, when a plant grows it get most of that additional mass from the CO2 in the air, plus a bit from rain. It only gets a few nutrients from the soil.

Yes, that's how I sometimes continue the discussion once a smart kid realizes that we breathe out most of the weight we lose.

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars ... But, if you understand something about how it works, isn't it amazing, awe-inspiring to look at a huge tree and know that it pretty much grew out of air.

 

[Wudang]

Yes, that's how I sometimes continue the discussion once a smart kid realizes that we breathe out most of the weight we lose.

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars ... But, if you understand something about how it works, isn't it amazing, awe-inspiring to look at a huge tree and know that it pretty much grew out of air.

Yes. I sometimes ask people why they think that being educated about assonance or the development of perspective in art increases one’s appreciation of art but understanding something about fusion and Rayleigh scattering in the atmosphere doesn’t.
My bay tree is a remarkable bio weapon. Not only do its fallen leaves turn hard and cut off light to plants growing near the tree but as they decay they release a growth inhibitor to prevent other plants flourishing.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Mice do not hibernate - but there is a way to trigger a hibernation state in them.
In this hibernation, neural activity is greatly reduced, and synapse connections are broken.
Surprisingly, this does not affect memory retention, suggesting that we have to rethink how many connections are actually needed for retention.
it's a very interesting new animal model for studying memory.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee7004

 

[bigred]

Conversely, when a plant grows it get most of that additional mass from the CO2 in the air, plus a bit from rain. It only gets a few nutrients from the soil.

I think they get much more from soil than that. If not, soil wouldn't be so important to plants.

 

[Planigale]

On a similar theme I ask students where does the oxygen go to be used that we breathe in. Virtually the only use of molecular oxygen is by the mitochondria for energy generation (I think this is Chris Halkides area of speciality) producing high energy phosphate bonds. Mitochondria are evolutionarily intracellular bacteria. So the lungs, heart, blood vessels, blood have all evolved to provide a population of (now symbiotic) bacteria with oxygen. Similarly the chloroplasts that enable plants to photosynthesise and convert atmospheric carbon dioxide in to sugars (releasing oxygen as a (toxic) waste product), are evolutionarily intracellular photosynthetic bacteria. So leaves, and stalks and roots and phloem and xylem have just evolved to allow those bacteria to get more light, and get water, and be protected for dessication etc.

Science can really put you in your place.

 

[Planigale]

I think they get much more from soil than that. If not, soil wouldn't be so important to plants.

I have only one thing to say to you;

Epiphytes

 

[The Great Zaganza]

hydroponics

 

[Planigale]

There are bacteria that live near/in the roots of some plants, especially legumes, that can bind the nitrogen from the atmosphere.
Plants alone can't

Most of the root work in wild plants is done by mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi hugely extend the surface are of the root system and provide nutrients to the plant roots including transporting water in exchange for sugar

Top 10 Mycorrhizal Cool Facts

List of ten amazing ecosystem services mycorrhizal fungi provide

www.spun.earth

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024PlSoi.499..537W/abstract

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35633108/

 

[bigred]

I have only one thing to say to you;

Thank God. I'd hate to think there's more of that coming.

 

[jadebox]

I think they get much more from soil than that. If not, soil wouldn't be so important to plants.

There are plants that grow without soil.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Been very hot here for a few weeks. One of the cousins excitedly reported that Lake Michigan might catch fire in this weather.

We didn't shoot him.

For some reason.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Indeed - plants communicate via pheromones and through chemical interactions in their roots - sometimes mediated by mycelia networks.
They can also exchange nutrients this way.

But a single plant can grow perfectly fine in a hydroponic gel with sufficient nutrients CO2, water and light.

 

[Helen]

Prototaxites may not have been be a fungus, and may actually have belonged to a completely unknown, now extinct, biological kingdom.

Prototaxites - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pixel42]

Yes. I sometimes ask people why they think that being educated about assonance or the development of perspective in art increases one’s appreciation of art but understanding something about fusion and Rayleigh scattering in the atmosphere doesn’t.

Richard Feynman said it best.

 

[bigred]

There are plants that grow without soil.

Never said otherwise.

 

[Blue Mountain]

The 'ballista spider' builds a trap to catapult unsuspecting prey into its web [cbc.ca]

It's Australian, of course.

The newly discovered Australian arachnid weaves a silk-snare trap to throw ants more than 4 metres per second

A recently discovered spider species in Australia’s tropical rainforests has stunned researchers with a hunting technique that launches prey through the air using a spring-loaded silk trap.

A study, published this week in the journal Current Biology, describes how the tiny arachnid builds a cone-shaped snare to catapult green tree ants into its web, earning it the nickname “ballista spider,” a nod to the ancient Roman weaponry used to launch heavy projectiles.

 

[PitPat]

As if the drop bears weren't bad enough....Australia, you never fail to terrify!

 

[a_unique_person]

The 'ballista spider' builds a trap to catapult unsuspecting prey into its web [cbc.ca]

It's Australian, of course.

In the dinosaur days these spiders were was big as a car.

 

[Jim_MDP]

I was going to put this Moreparz short about the Ballista in the newly resurrected Hey Trebuchet thread , but here's just as well

As always, his vids are EXTREMELY NSFW due to a typically filthy Ozzy mouth... so consider yourself ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ warned.