i’ve been teaching undergrad invertebrate pracs recently, and, let me preface this with the knowledge that i have been a biologist for 7ish years now, i am very rarely surprised by what we find in the natural world
so, yesterday’s prac involved identifying invertebrates from pitfall traps; mostly things like ants, springtails, amphipods & the occasional lost fly
one of my students called me over to help them identify something they’d found in their trap
i peered down the microscope and exclaimed
what the hell is that
dear reader, this is what i saw
now, if i had to guess, i’d say it’s a sawfly larva that has been cut in half or failed ecdysis or something
but honestly i don’t really know
i’m pretty sure it’s not an alien
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A character I made in the late hours of the night.
Was mostly for practice, but I’m happy with how it turned out!
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I'm reading about how Israel, in the immediate aftermath of the 1948 Nakba, deliberately replaced olive trees and other indigenous flora with European plants. This ecological disaster, which is now proudly hailed under the banner of 'making the desert bloom,' was done to 'de-Arabize' the landscape, and to cover up - often with fast-growing European pine trees -the ruins of Palestinian villages that were destroyed by Zionists forces.
And I just need everyone to read this passage from Pappé, because the symbolism of what happened to those European pine trees in the desert speaks for itself:
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappé (2006, p. 227-228.)
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Alien Covenant (behind the scenes)
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nothing makes me go "ooooh we are NOT the same" quite like reading some post about how people talk with their parents about their interests. what do you mean you told your father about stevebucky. what do you mean he asked further questions
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omg imagine being born and you are on a spaceship and everyone aboard is sooo so mad at you just because you burst out of some guy's chest to be born. like um sorry i've not been alive before i didn't even know that's not allowed please be nice to me um the spaceship floor is cold is no one going to knit me some little booties i am calling child protective services
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"We call it vff," said the alien. "It's - it's hard to describe to a species without vffsense. Imagine trying to describe light to a species that never evolved eyes. But there are forms of life that are only perceptible with vffsense, and they've visited Earth and fed on life as long as it's existed here."
There was a pause.
Then the human said, "That's the worst thing you've ever said."
"Don't worry about it."
"I think I have to, now."
"No, because - well - you have a species of spider which pretends to be an ant, correct? It's not capable of understanding the fact that it's mimicking an ant, but it instinctually mimics an ant in order to deter predators."
"Sure?"
"Humans produce a vff to mimic varths, predators only perceptible through vffsense. The organisms that would like to feed on you are terrified of varths, and so they leave you alone. You aren't aware you do it, you don't have the capacity to understand you're doing it, but you evolved to instinctually do it to deter predators you can't see."
There was a pause.
Then the human said in a very soft and thoughtful voice, "And are there varths on Earth?"
"Yes," said the alien. "Everywhere. But don't worry about it."
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hey don't cry... sigourney weaver and winona ryder in alien resurrection okay?
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