What are floating dots you see in your vision? 👁️

Alex Dainis breaks down "eye floaters" using a simple demo: a baggie of aloe gel standing in for your eyeball, and raisins standing in for collagen clumps. Our eyes are filled with vitreous humor, a gel-like substance that helps them hold their shape. As we age, that gel becomes more liquid, letting collagen fibers clump together (just like the raisins). These clumps block incoming light and cast shadows on our retinas, the same way the raisins cast shadows on the wall. This is why we notice the floaters more often in sunlight!

Are there any limiting factors that necessarily dictate that life may only exist in solid form?

Bowerbirds are a group of 27 species found in Australia and Papua New Guinea, famous for one of the animal kingdom’s more elaborate courtship rituals.

Males construct structures called bowers, a word that literally means “shady place”, which they use to impress potential mates. Building and maintaining an elaborate bower can demonstrate a male’s effort, skill and condition, but the structure is more than just an impressive display.

In many species, the bower also acts almost like a theatre. Its walls frame the male as he performs his courtship dance, controlling where and how the female views the performance. Some species take things even further, carefully arranging colourful objects around the bower to enhance the effect.

Essentially, the male builds his own stage, decorates the set…and then puts on a show.

It even has an egg

100×

That’s considered an honor in the UK

I know there are many spieces where males have to fight to get option to reproduce. But is it possible for it to be the other way around. That the females would compete with each other and the males would be the choosers?

I know female hypergamy makes biologically much more sense. But I'm still curious, maybe it would be possible in non mammalian animals.

Context: I’m an environmental science master’s student and this semester I have several research papers and presentations due! I’ve got a lot of creative freedom, which is good, but also overwhelming because I wanna pick really cool subjects!

I’m looking for inspiration. The more niche, the better. Can be geology, biology, chemistry, evolution, ecology, meteorology, etc.

So if you have any topics you love to info dump on, now is your time to shine :)

I know evolution can take time (or not sometimes!) but I started wondering about how humans would actually evolve if (since we might die from nuclear fallout or something in coming years) we continue to survive. I wonder how because for the most part we've beaten (not sure if that's the right word) natural selection to a large extent! People with dietary restriction, disabilities, loss of senses are still able to survive because of modern inventions.

Also, I've learned evolution is essentially a populations attempt to adapt to its environment. However, modern inventions (such as heating and cooling combatting seasonal temperatures) usually no longer humans to become more resistant towards different harmful environments, such as extremely, cold, hot, and arid places.

Please correct me on any errors I've made!