Recent comments in /f/science

tehSlothman t1_j7tkygv wrote

Are you from a wealthy background yourself? Looking at examples of people we know is pretty fraught with bias because most people won't be surrounded by a particularly representative group of people, we usually hang around people from roughly similar socioeconomic backgrounds as our own (with some variability and exceptions, obviously)

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Seawolf87 t1_j7tjkm3 wrote

I'm curious about this branching of research like this into liver and biliary tract diseases. The article says

>They teamed up with scientists in Germany to investigate the role of IL-11, which is known to trigger scarring in other organs, including the liver, lungs and heart, in acute and chronic kidney disease

I have sclerosing cholangitis, I wonder if I'll see a drug trial soon about this for PSC patients.

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faern t1_j7tj1h6 wrote

human also put a negative pressure toward size. We shoot big animal as trophy, we compete for land with those animal. Land that used to feed large animal are now soybeans farm feeding us.

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modsarefascists42 t1_j7tifgl wrote

Nothing, we just killed most of the species bigger than us when we evolved. Only ones we kept on purpose or ones that evolved alongside us in Africa were the main survivors.

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Cloverleafs85 t1_j7tee15 wrote

Depends on place, time, presence of competition and how long since a major extinction event, and what else is around. Enough big prey animals to support sustainable groups of large predators, not enough major apex predators around to limit herbivore size etc.

Most extinction events hit the large species harder because they need more food to sustain their bodies, and a major hit to their diet goes very badly. In the time after though, after whatever went wrong is over or stabilized to a new normal, some of the smaller species start to grow to fill the gap left behind.

One reason for a marine animal to get bigger is insulation. Even warm water can draw heat from a body. It makes it easier to regulate your own body temperature and that means you can stay in the water for longer and travel further, and may reach harder to access food sources.

The time for giant penguins was between 60-23 million years ago. There were more than this one species. But they all died out.

Their fall coincides with the diversification of dolphins who might have competed for the same spot in terms of diet and size and they were much better at it, or they may have acted as predators to the penguins. Or both.

As for place several of these giant penguin species have been found in or near new Zealand. At their time there was also the Zealandia continent, which since around 23 million years ago is almost completely submerged. Besides new Zealand itself and some islands poking out. But for many millions of years there was more land, and as it sunk it brought nutrients that could support rich fishing grounds, but not low enough to make it very passable for major marine animals that couldn't go in shallow waters. Which could have made a very roomy and rich niche for something like a penguin. Until it sank even further down. And that is when dolphins and whales hit their stride in this region.

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Outrageous_Union_756 t1_j7t8waa wrote

When are we going to realize the epigenetic effects poverty has. We are literally setting fetal development up for failure for some, and wonder why people have long-term illness, higher health risk, mental disorders, drug addiction etc. How blind can we be to the destruction of future generations.

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Vivi36000 t1_j7t8fns wrote

They can trigger it, absolutely. I found out I have exercise induced asthma, had asthma as a baby, and coincidentally had a hard time falling asleep in a roach infested hotel one time. Didn't realize that connection, but I do remember my sinuses and throat being swollen, like I was having allergies.

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Throwway123452 t1_j7t5n8v wrote

I need this test as well, I miss being as active as I used to be. I have a home gym but I simply just don't seem to have the energy anymore to do anything in it even if I try.

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