I decided, that the only way for me to pass the finals will be to gather some fun facts about stuff I find interesting and put them into the actual topics. I hope this works out, otherwise I'm screwed :) Nevertheless I think it'll be way more interesting than reciting taxological system or all possible reactions of a certain element.
You may not find them interesting, but I'll share some of them with you anyways. These are not all of them, of course, but I just cba to recall and write down all of them.
- The eldest, largest and heavist living organism is Pando, a single tree that spreads as underground rootlings, occasionally growing into full-grown tree again, thus creating what appears to be a forest made of identical trees. It's 80 000 - 1 000 000 years old, weights about 6600 tonnes and covers like 43 hectars.
- Pafish (well, that's the czech transcription anyway, they don't have similar category in english system as far as I'm informed) have like 10 times larger brain-to-body ratio than regular fish. This is caused by very low density of neurons in their brains and allows them to function consuming less energy.
- Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are divided into these two categories according to their reactiong to Gram's coloring using crystal violet (trisphenylmethane).
- The way branches grow out of pines, that are not circles, those are actually very tight spirals. I don't think I need to tell you about the Fibonacci sequence relating to nature in general :)
- You can cut apart some worms and some polypoda and they will regenerate back into working condition, thus reproducing. It's like with cells and protoza, only with large animals. I think it's cool!
- Human (and other) liver can regenerate too! Up from 75% mass loss (you cut away 75% of the liver) it regenerates into working, 100% condition.
- A veliger (larva of some molluscs) looks like rastafarian head atop an octopus-like tentacle bottom...and it floats in the water! I'd snatch you a picture, but then again, do you deserve it?
- The largest snail (way, in a way, the sea one) can be as big as 60cms, like a hare.
- Well, axolotls... Those are one big fun fact ;)
- Birds are gimped! They have no alveoli.
- Did you know this? The phases of mitosis (interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase) can be abbreviated as IPMAT, which can be easily remembered as "I Passed My Awful Tests" :D Only after finding this out I could remember it correctly.
- Protozoa have a neural system! A series of tubes that supposedly function somewhat like nerves.
Peace,
out.
Adam
> The way branches grow out of pines, that are not circles, those are actually very tight spirals. I don't think I need to tell you about the Fibonacci sequence relating to nature in general :)
ReplyDeleteClose, but not quite.
Fractals (and self-similarty in general) are teh awesome.
Also as far as I've been able to glean, the class you're looking for are Chondrichthyes, whom the English-speaking world seems to lump under the general category of 'fish'.
ReplyDeleteOh, chondrichthyes. I accept that one, thanks
ReplyDeleteAs for the pines, I'm not sure what are you disagreeing on.
Concerning the symmetry of nodes -> "The branches are produced in regular 'pseudo whorls', actually a very tight spiral but appearing like a ring of branches arising from the same point."
Concerning the Fibonacci -> "The spiral growth of branches, needles and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios."
I don't exactly know what do they mean by that, but there you go.
The L-system you pointed out is interesting indeed, but unfortunately I don't have enough time to endulge in researching such things.
That being said, did you even find any of the things I posted about even remotely interesting? You don't sound that way.
ReplyDeleteI'm not disagreeing per se, it's more of a specification - a spiral (or Fibonacci) arrangement is a special case of the more general L-system, much like the growth of pine branches is a special case of branch growth in general.
ReplyDeletePut another way, the growth of trees and weeds (for instance, pine branches) can be described using a specific L-system (for instance, the Fibonacci sequence).
> You don't sound that way.
Touche. I'll be sure to leave positive comments as well.
Clonal colonies (such as pandos) FTW. It's certainly awe-inspiring when you enter a forest like that and realize that it's literally a single organism. Seems like certain fantasy writers weren't too far off.
The bit about the liver is also interesting; haven't heard that one before. I'll be sure to write this down for when I meet the Maker - I mean, some of the more vital organs (such as, I dunno, the heart) sure could use this sort of redundancy.
The L-system and Fibonacci -> Oh I see. You explained the difference rather well so there's no point in further discussion on that matter. The only thing that is to be done now is me taking time to go through the article and trying to understand it.
ReplyDeletePlease don't consider what I said a force exterted upon you in the direction of leaving positive comments. I merely expressed my confusion about your feeling, so you are free to leave no comments at all, should you choose to do so.
The forest is...yes, awesome. I wonder if that thing isn't actually sentinet on some level. I mean, yes, we are all "scientifically thinking" people here, but come on. Tens of thousands of years of being alive...
The problem with liver is that you can't obviously use this regenerative abilities to cure various liver conditions, such as cirrhosis for instance. It seems that cirrhosis patients have certain proteins and genes suppressed which in turn hinders the regeneration. It might be also of interest, that this is actually the only inner organ that is able to regenerate like this. Funnily enough it's also one of the most important ones (not that I'd throw away any of them, but liver is liver).
>I'm not disagreeing per se, it's more of a specification - a spiral (or Fibonacci) arrangement is a special case of the more general L-system, much like the growth of pine branches is a special case of branch growth in general.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is. But do you know what? Occam's Razor! You have to use it, 'cause it's totally like science, dude!
We don't need no L-Systems, let the motherfucker burn!
Describing floral growth systems as special cases of a single system does not violate Occam's Razor. Unifying theories never violated Occam's Razor.
ReplyDeleteUnless you're trying to propose 'OH ITS ALL UNCONNECTED AND RANDOM DURR' as the theory, which is a street neither of us really wants to walk down.
> You have to use it, 'cause it's totally like science, dude!
False. It has always been a rule of thumb at best.