Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

michaelvsaucetookdmt t1_jdpeouk wrote

Reply to comment by Xyrus2000 in TIL, the placenta that forms with a fetus isn't created by the mother. It grows from the fertilized egg and some fetuses actually develop outside the uterus attached to the intestines in the body cavity. by darw1nf1sh

Bro shut the fuck up lmao. You’re too high on your own supply to realize that you ARE biased.

Yes, the fertilized egg does whatever it can to grow and gain resources. Thats literally all life. You know what I call that? Efficient. A parasite is when ANOTHER SPECIES takes nutrients from its host. It is not a parasite. You’re putting your own little slant on it, using very charged language.

Pregnancy is NOT parasitic by nature. It is reproduction. The animal WANTS to give resources so that it can pass on its genetic information. That is not parasitism, which is an unwanted attack on the host.

I said you think its freaky because of the charged language you use when talking about standard biological facts.

“Voracious parasite” “vampire” “ravenous appetite”

You don’t think those carry any sort of negative connotation? You think you’re just speaking straight facts?

What i meant is i don’t want middle schoolers to hear those things specifically. Sure you said some factual things, but you don’t have to use phrases that carry such negative connotations. Thats far from how a scientist would describe these things.

Teenagers should understand how this works, but they should also not be told that a fertilized egg is a “vampiric parasite that has a ravenous appetite and will kill you if it gets the chance.” Sure, that is a possibility, but those cases are very rare and you don’t have to make it seem so scary.

You can explain that fertilized eggs/fetuses suck nutrients from their mother in the controlled environment that is the uterus. If they exist outside of that controlled environment, they can develop incorrectly and harm the mother. You see how the way i said it and the way you said it are very different?

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Stevenntrann t1_jdpa5lv wrote

Reply to comment by darw1nf1sh in TIL, the placenta that forms with a fetus isn't created by the mother. It grows from the fertilized egg and some fetuses actually develop outside the uterus attached to the intestines in the body cavity. by darw1nf1sh

Im sure im not the only one who thought about abortion. It might be an unpopular opinion in reddit. To be frank, I’m for abortion in dire circumstances like rape. I also think life is sacred and if the baby can be birthed, it should.

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jimfazio123 t1_jdp8dvy wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL, the placenta that forms with a fetus isn't created by the mother. It grows from the fertilized egg and some fetuses actually develop outside the uterus attached to the intestines in the body cavity. by darw1nf1sh

Does the mother build the baby once it's out of the womb? It still requires nourishment, and historically that would be in the form of breast milk for many months. The baby continues to grow and develop outside the womb and doesn't reach maturity for decades, at what point is it being built by itself and not by something else?

The mother feeds the fetus through the placenta, a parasitic organism, same as she feeds the baby once it's born, same as the child feeds itself into adolescence and adulthood. She doesn't build it.

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jimfazio123 t1_jdp7pwe wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL, the placenta that forms with a fetus isn't created by the mother. It grows from the fertilized egg and some fetuses actually develop outside the uterus attached to the intestines in the body cavity. by darw1nf1sh

Except I said at the very beginning, including with my own analogy, that the nutrients come from elsewhere. I never said anything about it being an isolated system, because that would clearly be a) impossible just as a general rule but also b) against the concept of parasitism.. Clearly you have never read anything about parasites because "host" is the other half of the parasitic relationship. If I was a "dumbass Republican" I wouldn't be calling it a fetus, nor would I point out its parasitic nature, now would I? In this context it's purely scientific nomenclature, not political, for me to refer to parasite and host.

And do the hosts build the parasitic organism?

No. They supply the nutrients for the organism to build itself. It's not magic, it's biology.

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