Ask a Biologist Thread

[ScholasticSpastic]

On the bright side, many prokaryotes do have en-vagina-nated membrane folds, it's just a matter of number of layers really.

[Psi Wavefunction]

On the bright side, many prokaryotes do have en-vagina-nated membrane folds, it's just a matter of number of layers really.

I was trying to keep it quiet 5min before his exam... but yeah, planctomycetes are awesome!

Apparently there's also bacteria with a very tubulin-like cytoskeleton and interesting morphology as a result...

[Psi Wavefunction]

Done
The bitch didn't even ask about eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Wtf. Instead I blanked on "Under what conditions can mitosis occur?"

Must say it went well though, considering my D- in Bio and the fact that usually I'm completely clueless.

As in, what conditions of the cell cycle, or environmental conditions? Kinda vague/crappy question IMO...

[Chinaski]

Done
The bitch didn't even ask about eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Wtf. Instead I blanked on "Under what conditions can mitosis occur?"

Must say it went well though, considering my D- in Bio and the fact that usually I'm completely clueless.

As in, what conditions of the cell cycle, or environmental conditions? Kinda vague/crappy question IMO...

Yah, it was probably in my studying material, I just missed it... Doesn't matter though, I didn't know it anyway

[Psi Wavefunction]

Done
The bitch didn't even ask about eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Wtf. Instead I blanked on "Under what conditions can mitosis occur?"

Must say it went well though, considering my D- in Bio and the fact that usually I'm completely clueless.

As in, what conditions of the cell cycle, or environmental conditions? Kinda vague/crappy question IMO...

Yah, it was probably in my studying material, I just missed it... Doesn't matter though, I didn't know it anyway

Was the exam oral or written?

[Chinaski]

Done
The bitch didn't even ask about eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Wtf. Instead I blanked on "Under what conditions can mitosis occur?"

Must say it went well though, considering my D- in Bio and the fact that usually I'm completely clueless.

As in, what conditions of the cell cycle, or environmental conditions? Kinda vague/crappy question IMO...

Yah, it was probably in my studying material, I just missed it... Doesn't matter though, I didn't know it anyway

Was the exam oral or written?

Written.

[Psi Wavefunction]

Was the exam oral or written?

Written.

So you won't know whether you passed yet or not? Well, good luck anyway!

Exams suck... I totally blank out on them nowadays... developing a nice juicy case of exam anxiety, courtesy of undergrad

[Chinaski]

I won't know until next week, probably, it'll take her a while to grade them.

Oh, and it wasn't an actual official exam (those are in 2 weeks), but more of a normal school "test".

[Animavore]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

[ScholasticSpastic]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

Which feature? The venom or the rattle? Or the whole damned package?

I can think of several reasons why we might consider the rattle of greater survival value than their venom, actually, especially if we take their cryptic coloration into account.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

Which feature? The venom or the rattle? Or the whole damned package?

I can think of several reasons why we might consider the rattle of greater survival value than their venom, actually, especially if we take their cryptic coloration into account.

Interestinglyless enough, the American rattler is starting to appear more frequently without a rattle.

[Animavore]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

Which feature? The venom or the rattle? Or the whole damned package?

I can think of several reasons why we might consider the rattle of greater survival value than their venom, actually, especially if we take their cryptic coloration into account.

I clearly said the rattle.

[Animavore]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

Which feature? The venom or the rattle? Or the whole damned package?

I can think of several reasons why we might consider the rattle of greater survival value than their venom, actually, especially if we take their cryptic colouration into account.

Interestinglyless enough, the American rattler is starting to appear more frequently without a rattle.

Interesting. Maybe they threw it out of the pram?

[ScholasticSpastic]

How did the rattle of a rattle-snake evolve?

Which feature? The venom or the rattle? Or the whole damned package?

I can think of several reasons why we might consider the rattle of greater survival value than their venom, actually, especially if we take their cryptic coloration into account.

I clearly said the rattle.

Do not make presumptions about my reading comprehension which I am unable to corroborate!

A rattlesnake baby is born with what's called a "pre-button" at the end of its tail. When the rattlesnake sheds its skin (which happens about 10 days after birth and every few months thereafter), the skin gets caught on the pre-button and a button is formed. At the second shed, the first segment is formed and can now rattle slightly against the button. Each time the snake sheds, a new segment is added and the rattle gets longer and louder. The segments knocking against each other create the sound and allow a rattlesnake to rattle its tail in the air rather than beat it against the ground.

http://ask.yahoo.com/20050809.html

I chose to quote this source for reasons of succinctness rather than veracity. It is easy to imagine that a "deformity" of a mutant pit-viper might have resulted in a structure which might, like the "pre-button" have caught skin with each shed. Such a mutant would be able to produce a rudimentary rattle, very much like Dawkins's example of the rudimentary eye, which would provide more benefit than no rattle at all.

Venom is expensive to manufacture, much more expensive, metabolically, than shaking your tail around. So it makes sense to presume that a snake which was able to devote fewer resources to producing venom by developing a system for passive defense such as a rattle would have more energy to devote to producing young.

Over the generations we should expect to end up with a more developed form, as we observe in modern rattle snakes.

I find it odd that we're seeing fewer rattlers with rattles now. Could this be because of novel selection pressures due to the proximity of modern human settlements? It's probably a safe bet: We weren't around very much for most of rattle snake evolution.

[Psi Wavefunction]

Oh oh, Spaz, why did meiosis evolve? Didn't Evolution realise that it'd later cause horrific assrape for thousands of suffering biology students all around the globe? Bad design there, Evolution, bad design!

/'evolutionary creationist' (my term, I coined it. Please cite kthx )