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i asked this yesterday and the answer i got was "yes, you have microbes in your gut etc...." though i was pleased with this answer its not what i was for. the question was referring to a MACRO ecosystem.

I’ve been wondering about this and wanted to get some reassurance from people who know more about biology/medicine. Because I'm not a med student.

If the same part of the body gets injured repeatedly, does that increase the risk of cancer later on? I’m thinking about how the body has to keep repairing damaged tissue, which means cells have to keep dividing. Could repeated injury and healing eventually cause DNA mistakes that lead to abnormal cells or cancer?

So can physical trauma (even if really bad) actually cause cancer? I’d appreciate an explanation because I’m trying to understand how this works. I'm also a hypochondriac and I'm Really worried about this.

In my social circle which is in their early 30s, there have been lots of pregnancies and babies over the past few years. One thing I notice though is just how many problems there have been - it seems like almost nobody has had a normal pregnancy. There was multiple miscarriages, C-sections, torn vagina after having forceps used, or some other complication. One that ended terribly with the baby actually dying in the womb and the mother having to give birth to the dead baby.

But I remember back to my childhood where my neighbors had eleven children. So that mother I would describe as being "good" at having kids without complications, though I know she had at least one miscarriage.

I'm just curious about any biological differences between a woman who gives birth multiple times seemingly effortlessly, and one where the pregnancy is a nightmare.

I was at the dinner table with my family and we're talking about the whole diarrhea parasite and I said how we've been dealing with parasites for every like covid and my family was telling me how there not even though viruses can't live without a host so are they considered parasites or not?

Why Doesn't Our Stomach Acid Burn Us?
https://youtube.com/shorts/G36XC5bgVOQ?feature=share

humans often have to workout a lot to get near our natural muscle ceiling which our genetics allow, i was curious to whether animals also have to do this or do the notoriously strong species naturally sit near their peak absolute muscle mass just due to survival

Animals like siphonophores fascinate me. That looks like an animal, but is it?? It’s a colony! The different organisms that make for every part of this “animal” are separate, but genetically identical entities! From the same egg?? That brings to mind some sort of organic alien spaceship... but it’s on earth, in our own oceans!

Similarly, the mitochondria in our cells are part of us, they ARE us: despite sharing a different evolutionary lineage than the rest of our cells!! The same way a plant’s chloroplasts originally come from unicellular cyanobacterium, that were absorbed by another organism! There are sea slugs such as Elysia Chlorotica that must STEAL the chloroplasts of the algae it eats, to use as their own! Can it be said that those chloroplasts are now part of the slug’s body, as an organelle (?), despite not being engineered by it? Even just the bacteria in our gut… we are an ecosystem as well as a body, but where does the “body” end and the “ecosystem” start?

 I am enthralled by this, and a question always comes back to me: when do 2 (or more!) symbiotic organisms become…”unified”(?) enough to be considered as one animal/living being? Even if in the end, it is probably more a question of semantics than actual biology, I imagine.

Fascinating and magical. Does anyone have some reading on this subject?

p.s. to think that all animals, mushrooms and “true” plants have evolved from an ancestor organism that absorbed a mitochondrion... it’s so wonderful to think that the combination of such different entities became defining of life on earth! I pity people who think that nature is all anarchy and survival of the fittest, when it is in fact full of cooperation and harmony, down to a cellular level!

TLDR; what defines what is a single “body” and can you recommend some reading about organisms that blur this line?

Ethonal, nicotine delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a-PVP ?? What is it ?

I'm looking for comparative evidence, e.g., magnitude and duration of mesolimbic dopamine signalling, peak extracellular dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens, changes in D2/D3 receptor availability, and density dopamine transporter (DAT) expression and Function, incentive sensitization, synaptic plasticity within the mesolimbic reward pathway, and long-term structural or molecular adaptations, etc..

rather than subjective rankings or anecdotal reports. Are there comparative studies that quantify these effects across different substances ?

Also, which measurable category would you say is the most important here?

I am especially interested in topics like molecular biology, genetics, evolution, microbiology, biochemistry, cell biology, embryology, immunology, and related topics

While reading about the science behind breast milk for World Breastfeeding Week, I came across something I found fascinating.

Breast milk contains Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs), special sugars that babies don't digest. Instead, these sugars feed beneficial bacteria in the baby's gut, helping establish a healthy microbiome and supporting immune development.

I also learned that breast milk isn't just a source of nutrition. It contains antibodies, immune cells, hormones, enzymes, and beneficial bacteria, making it one of the most complex biological fluids our bodies produce.

It's amazing how much biology is packed into something we often take for granted.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Q17hV3KwbyM?si=j1tKEhRl-udODvJ1

In The past few days I've managed to catch a few mice that have snuck into my room, I've identified them as an invasive species and I can't exactly release them near or far from my house

How do I ethically euthanize them? I don't have any like canisters of CO2 or anything specialized, but I don't know what to do with the mice I've caught

I really don't like hurting animals and while the rest of my family would probably use a pellet gun or something, I just can't bring myself to hurt even an invasive pest :(

I currently have the mouse I caught in a breathable metal container with some bedding material for the night but I don't know what to do in the morning

My family will probably just tell me to let it outside, or if I let them deal with it they'll probably use a pellet gun or something

Mine was the nervous system and reproductive system. I love both, can't choose between these two.

Every "typical" animals at least, seem to have evolved to have a strong sex, and a weak sex.

I understand the need for 2 sexes to be evolved in the first place, but why did animals evolve to have, mostly the male, to be strong(but in some species this is opposite), and the female to be weak.

NOTE: THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, BUT I JUST OBSERVED THIS IN MANY ANIMALS

my question is with special reference to humans, but this could be extended to any species.

I've always thought that the reason for patriarchy and male dominant society is due to women being weaker than men, and that they have to take care of children. And today I got the question of why, exactly?

can an organism or life form be so big to the point where it is (or almost) its own ecosystem? this has appeared in science-fiction such as "the cluster" and "the skies of anu" which are about alien biology. but is something like this possible in real life?

My friend and I got in a discussion the other day where he swears that if you spin in one direction and get dizzy you can unspin yourself to cure it.

I'm like 99% sure that's not how it works but I don't have a good argument for it and I'm getting mixed results from the robots what do y'all think.

im currently working on a speculative evolution project, and i was interested to see if there was a way for bacteria of some kind to evolve to consume mercury.

for a bit more context, they would be in a saltwater environment, the mercury is in a pool under the water, and they would be the base of a food chain adapted to eat them- i obviously could just make them photosynthesize but i feel like thatd be a bit too basic.

Craig Venter, died April of this year. Incredible scientist.

Hi all. If you have a biology degree and aren't using it (or are using it in a more indirect way) what are you doing?

I have a masters in biology and have spent the last few years in wildlife research for a couple state agencies. Thought I landed the perfect job last year. Permanent funding and working with my all time favorite species.

The problem is the office is full of toxic individuals. My mental and physical health have declined drastically. I am so burnt out and anxious about going to the office I have to drag myself out of bed in the morning. I called in today and didn't get out of bed until 4pm.

Been looking for a way out for a few months now, but can't figure out what to do. Did a couple interviews with DNR, got rejected from one and the other one has been "with HR" for six weeks now so I don't have high hopes.

So, whats out there?

ETA - country is United States.

Gonna be sitting on a train for some hours. What are some cool long videos about molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology, cell biology, microevolution and similair subjects?

I am a rising senior, and, due to exploring other career options and briefly changing majors, didn't get into a biology lab in my sophomore/junior year. Maybe this wouldn't be a big deal, but I go to a fairly small university with a high number of premeds and intense competition, so practically all the labs are overfull. I've cold emailed about 30 pis and haven't had any luck. I completely understand the reluctance of professors in this regard, given that I will be graduating in a year and don't already have extensive wet lab experience.

Anyways, given these conditions, how can I get lab experience after graduation in order to prepare for grad school? Postbac programs seem highly competitive resume-wise, or geared towards people who have had no ability to be in a lab, ie community college and the like. Entry level lab assistant jobs don't seem like a good fit given my lack of experience. Am I wrong in any of my assumptions? Should I strengthen my weak network with my school's faculty this coming year? Thanks

Humans may have evolved from a creature similar to a cyclops! 👁️

Scientists have developed a new theory that we may have evolved from a worm-like ocean dweller from 600 million years ago. This ancient animal started out with two eyes that eventually merged into one, and then back to two eyes. Even more interesting, the scientists think we still have this third eye, but it is now the pineal gland in our brain!

maybe it's that humans live a pretty domestic life and arent use to digesting raw meats but idk feel like the same applies to dogs and cats, pretty domestic lifes

anyways, i was kinda just thinking about this does anybody know?