this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Personally I find it pretty neat that as megafauna we are host to entire little ecosystems. It's a calming thought to imagine yourself like some large tree, home to little families of various creatures, bacterial and fungal colonies growing on you. We are thoroughly integrated into the ecosystems in which we live.

They're not harmful, they're just living their mitey little life.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

I, personally, am wholly against most of my DNA existing solely it can replicate itself. So what if getting rid of it is more effort than keeping it? I want it gone from my body. Goddamn freeloaders...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Pretty much everything looks horrifying on a scanning electron micrograph.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 months ago (5 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demodex

My fave parts (edited for brevity):

The adult mites are 0.3–0.4 mm (3⁄256–1⁄64 in) long. Each has a semitransparent, elongated body that consists of two fused parts. Eight short, segmented legs are attached to the first body segment. The body is covered with scales for anchoring itself in the hair follicle, and the mite has pin-like mouthparts for eating skin cells and oils that accumulate in the hair follicles.

... and ...

The mites are transferred between hosts through contact with hair, eyebrows, and the sebaceous glands of the face.

Ohhh good.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Wait, 0.3mm is huge, you should be able to see that. I don't think this is right.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Maybe we do see them, but mistake them for bits of skin or dirt.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Agreed. 1/64th of an inch is .016". An average human hair is .003" in diameter, that would be as long as five hairs wide. You wouldn't even need a magnifier to see the largest ones.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

3⁄256

Who uses inches at this scale? I mean, really, Wikipedia.

"Hand me my 1/256th inch ruler." --nobody

[–] brown567 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I learned recently that machinists used to use fractions to indicate tolerance, like a dimension given as 5/16 could be ±1/32 of an inch, because anything less than 9/32 would round to 4/16, and anything more than 11/32 to 6/16.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

It can still happen, but usually at the customer's request/requirements. We actually use inches at a much smaller scale, but use decimals instead of fractions.

[–] Classy 4 points 3 months ago

3⁄256

Please don't let the Amish at my work know that such small increments of size exist. They'll ask me to cut my trim to that level of tolerance

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

mouthparts

Josh & Chuck just got a tingle down their spines

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Found out about these when I was a kid. I was thrilled. When I was very little, my mom owned a grooming shop, and I basically had 1 million pets. Then she closed down, and we just had our dog and a cat. Weird little 5 year old me loved the idea that I had thousands of little pets that's slept on my face and came out to play while I slept

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's the best possible reaction to this :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I will admit that since I've started wearing glasses, my eyes often burn really badly (I don't know if they're related or just weird timing), and I sometimes wonder if my little friends are pissed about the change and getting into my eyes. Lol

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You may be allergic to the metal (IIRC nickel) in normal metal glasses if that's what you have. For people with that, which is common, titanium is the only metal kind that will work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They're from Zenni, but they have no bottom frame. I have no idea what metal they're made of. I'd really never considered that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Almost all contain nickel and nickel allergies are common. I have it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I figure you'd also have a rash if it was a sensitivity strong enough to make your eyes burn, but the only other things I could think of I feel you'd already have figured out... Not blinking enough cause no wind on your eyes to help trigger blinking, eyelashes getting in your eye, or eye fatigue from the correction and not taking breaks to look at something far away..

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if the lenses are off gassing? They're a type of plastic. But most likely I think I just have a face that the US would try to deliver democracy to if they found out about lmao

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

lmao that's a funny way to put it. I honestly have no clue about outgassing, I've worn glasses my whole life and I don't recall ever having issues. I also have no allergies or sensitivities whatsoever though. My partner is sure that it's just eye strain or adjusting to the new "biome" of stale air you have for your eyes now, she just got a pair after needing them for years and she had a lot of trouble adjusting to them and still never wears them all the time.

I never would have thought of burning as a way to describe it but I looked it up and apparently it is a fairly common concern if you never wore glasses and got a large prescription, the glasses focus the light in on your eyes and your eyes aren't used to that. I actually do have trouble in daylight cause of my extreme prescription and never thought it could be possibly related to the glasses, I just thought it was that way due to my silver irides.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Maybe you're allergic to something in your glasses

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's interesting. I hadn't really considered that. It really only happens towards the end of the day, I just assumed it was a buildup of oils/skin cells/daily detritus that isn't getting either blown away by air, because the lenses are blocking it, or dried out for the same reason. They're Zenni frames and lenses

[–] Classy 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Do you wear a belt? Do you develop a rash on your underbelly where it touches the buckle?

Can you guess how I learned I was allergic to nickel?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Nope, no rashes that I've noticed. But I stopped wearing a belt last year. No good for my body shape. Lol. Swapped it for suspenders, so now I look like a simple country lawyer. Lmao

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago

that picture is actually a cute silk worm: https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.32CF9LC

[–] southsamurai 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Little homies up in there cleaning things and living their best lives. I ain't mad at that.

Besides, all the yeast and bacteria maken good company for them, so it's all good.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Just make sure you wash your face still, otherwise they build up and cause problems

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Looks just like me if I don't shave. :3

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

He looks like a cute lil garbage pail kid type of thing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Ugly cute. I like the little guy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I can’t stop laughing, I’m going to share this with so many people.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago

Time to scrub my face with a cheese grater

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

AaaaaAAaaaaaaaAaaAAaaaaaaaaAAAAaaaaaa

breathes in

AAAaaaaaaAaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaaaa

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

lovin u is complicatED, lovin u is complicated 🎵

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

It's cute, like a version of the tardigrade.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Ballsack looking ass

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

How come there's never little ape like creatures?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Because the fanfic would lead us further away from our path to god.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Is it too late to drown myself in napalm?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I am a world god! Civilizations have risen and fallen on me!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I am the planet now

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

friend shaped

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Adorabibble.

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