#I am also not a biologist

[bigbroadvice]

I keep seeing this term ‘biological male’ being thrown around. There are lots of reasons why this is an innacurate and unhelpful description, but I’d like to examin just this term for a moment.

What exactly is a ‘biological male?’ The definition of biology is “the physiology, behavior, and other qualities of a particular organism or class of organisms.“ So let’s brake that down a bit. In refference to humans that means organ structures and chemicals that run those organs. So when talking about biological sexes, we’re probably referencing a certain set of average characteristics shared by people with XX chromosomes, XY chromosomes, or other sets of chromosomes which are part of natural human variation like XXY, XYY, XXX, XXXXY, X, XXXXXX, and XXXY (learned about those in biology class. It’s really cool how much more diversity there is to human biology than you generally think about. If we’re basing sex off of DNA, there are indeed WAY more than two sexes).

Now the way that any of those sets of DNA (which are known as genotypes) translate to how the body looks and works (phenotypes), is by making chemicals. Those chemicals are what build all the organs and keep them running the way they do. DNA isn’t the only thing deciding how much of each chemical there is though. Environmental factors like the food we eat, medicine we take, other organisms living inside us like bacteria and viruses, chemicals we absorb from the environment, and even stress massively impact body chemistry, often completely overriding DNA. So sometimes you might have the genotype for one thing and end up with a different phenotype. Like people who were born with tall genes but end up short as adults because during the time they were developing they didn’t have access to adequate nutrition. Their DNA might say one thing but in reality, they turned out as something else. The short person with tall genes is still short, regardless of what their DNA says.

Phenotype can also be directly changed by outside forces, like getting a limb blown off in an explosion, getting your ears pierced, or having surgery. These overide both DNA and body chemistry. A person with the DNA and chemicals to have two arms but had one arm chopped off is phenotypically a one armed person.

When reffering to different sexes, we’re usually talking about generalized groupings of phenotype, like gential organs, bone structure, musculature, hair growth, and fat distribution. These phenotypes are generally determined by chemicals called hormones. Just like any other chemicals, these too are impacted by environmental factors like what we eat and what medicines we take. So when someone takes a medicine that alters their hormone levels, that alters their phenotype. Just like how growing up with healthy foods and vitamins can help kids develop strong and healthy bodies, medicines like puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy lead to bodies developing differently. These phenotypes can of course also be altered through surgery by deconstructing and reconstructing different parts of the body like genitalia and facial bone structure. By changing the chemicals and organ structures they have changed the biology.

So what is a ‘biological male?’ A biological male would presumably be someone with the general phenotypes of the group called males. If someone does not have those phenotypes, it wouldn’t make sense to call them a biological male. So according to the definition of biology, a trans woman whose physiology, behavior, and other qualities align with those exhibited by females is not a biological male. She is a biological female.

[kinstein-art]

sanji's weird

[opens-up-4-nobody]

:-

[sigmastolen]

shower thought: for blue mutants like beast, nightcrawler, mystique, is that blue from pigment? or is it structural? like, there are only a handful of animals that produce an actual blue pigment and iirc they're all butterflies; any blue animal "with a backbone," as NPR put it, uses structural coloration

so if their blue is structural, is it pretty stable, like a macaw or a blue jay? or does it change from different angles, like a morpho butterfly or a hummingbird's gorget?

specifically: what if kurt has been iridescent this whole time ???

[laurelnose]

one of my team members picked up a glass bottle butt only to discover the other side was covered in slipper snails and she was like, oh, I guess I can’t throw this away, and I was like, yeah but at least glass isn’t a big deal ecologically, it’s just habitat surface now. she said, true but I was thinking of kids walking on the beach. to which I said, this is a rocky reef, who the hell is walking around barefoot?? nobody should be barefoot here. the encrusting ecosystem hungers for blood. glass bottles or no glass bottles. foregoing shoes is just ASKING to get shanked by a barnacle and contract a mycobacteria infection. in other news, today i made an unwise choice in pants, leaned against a rock for five seconds, and shredded the inside of my calf

[canisitsnotlupus]

Hey y'all,

We recently found a rabid skunk on the farm today (10/17) and I need to do rabies boosters on everyone. It's caught me off guard, especially in the middle of the month when my SSDI check is pretty much gone, and I just don't have the money to cover this when it's so sudden and pressing to get done ASAP.

No one has to donate, I will definitely try to figure it out, but I was told by friends to ask anyway, so:

COVERED

I will be scheduling the farm vet to come out to do it as that is easiest for me instead of carting 2-3 dogs 40 mins away and taking all day to get everyone done, but it does incur a travel fee. edit: thanks all! got it covered, will be calling the farm vet first thing tomorrow to get him to come out and booster everyone. this has been a NIGHTMARE.

[wazzappp]

Ok @moosemonstrous here we fuckin go.

OK SO. I apologize if it comes off more Evangellion than Pacific Rim but I thought that making The Charger more slender would help to differentiate it and allow for a focus on agility (also helps it to look more skeletal and unsettling).

The Charger is built in layers. An outer layer that constitutes the armor, a thinner covering, metal scaffolding, secondary thin covering, and then finally the essential wiring that makes the 'nervous system' of the Jaeger. Most of the damage (corruption scars, nicks, paint chipping) is just cosmetic, and the structural nature of the Jaeger is intact.

HOWEVER. The same can not be said of the reactor core. At some point (maybe during Eli's death?) corruption made its way behind the main fans of the outer engine and into the main reactor that powers the Jaeger. In theory this should lead to a catastrophic failure, but in this instance Im thinking there was a chemical reaction that essentially stabilized the corrosive nature of the Corruption (were gonna circle back to that).

For the most part my version of Robbies suit is fairly standard. I added an orange tint to his helmet screen for flavor because hey. Why not.

The spine of the suit is probably newly integrated to allow for an updated interface, I imagine theres at least a little development in the technology between the time Eli dies and Robbie comes into play. That would make the suit a weird mishmash of past and new technology which could be VERY fun.

Also I LOVED the white accents @cicada-candy added for their design but I didn't want to steal ideas so I just added it in my own places. Your art fucks severely bro I just wanted to make sure and let you know that <3

TIME FOR MY FAVORITE PART: SPECULATION ABOUT THE CORRUPTION AND ITS THEORETICAL GENETIC EFFECTS IN DOSES ON A SUBJECT!!!!!! (AKA self indulgence part 2 electric boogaloo)

I believe you mentioned the Corruption being a Neurotoxin which would be Very fun and VERY cool but I also have a suggestion. Mainly because you also referenced an increase in Robbies strength, as well as another person who got fuckin deaded shortly after.

A rapid growth in muscle density to allow for this strength would be very interesting, but why would the Corruption cause that? Simple answer; it isn't. At least not intentionally. Whats actually happening is a kind of nerve damage that changes the brains regulation of muscular exertion. Our brains really only let us use a certain percentage of our real strength, because if we just let loose and used it all we would cause significant physical damage to ourselves. Like. ripping your own tendons free from their anchors. you could break your own bones. you would die SO fast bro.

Now it is POSSIBLE to access this strength in situations of extreme stress and thats how you get people lifting cars off of loved ones, but this does still cause damage. It also gets more complicated when you consider Fast Twitch muscle reactions but for the sake of simplicity: You Would Die.

So a release of cortisol and other stress hormones, combined with a lessened ability to control strength. This means they would be USING that strength A LOT against ANYONE AND EVERYONE. But maintaining this sort of metabolism is not reasonable. Someone suffering from Corruption would likely also suffer from Hypoglycemia fatally. So extremely strong, extremely scared, and extremely short lived is the kind of deal we would be talking about here.

SO. Having said ALL OF THAT. WHAT IS ROBBIES DEAL. Well heres my proposal: The Corruption is a virus that causes neurodegenerative disease.

If Robbie was exposed to very small amounts of it as a child, it's possible it was inactive or defective, which would have allowed for an immunization point. Its also highly possible that this is a virus that can not survive (well i say survive very lightly. theres significant debate as to wether viruses are actually alive at all but I digress) outside its usual area AKA Inside a demon. He could have been exposed through contaminated water, direct contact, maybe even breathing burned version through the air. Either way, he came into contact with a weakened version of the virus and it helps him later on.

As he comes into DIRECT contact with Corruption via plugging into The Charger this is when we would start to see some more interesting effects. This Corruption would still be different though because of the aforementioned stabilizing chemical reaction in the reactor. Also, because I think Eli's DNA would be integrated into it. This provides Robbie with genetic compatibility for the virus to jump off of. Remember, viruses don't want to kill a host, they just want to reproduce as much as possible (which does end up killing a host but still). And a fun fact about viruses is that we never actually get rid of them, we just get rid of the symptoms. Once you have it its in you forever.

SO. 1. Immune response from Robbies body begins to cause the nervous damage that would allow for his rapid increase in strength. 2.Immune system recognizes the genetic material is familiar (Eli doing something good even inadvertently I guess). 3. Immune system neutralizes the virus and incorporates it into Robbies genetic coding. All good right? Happy ending? WRONG.

BECAUSE WHEN THERE ARE COPYING ERRORS IN YOUR DNA (SOMETIMES FROM VIRUSES) WHAT DO WE CALL IT?? DING DING DING 10 POINTS TO THE MUTUAL THAT SAID ✨MUTATION✨

This virus still carries genetic material from demons, this would also be getting integrated into Robbies DNA. Places like his spine which would have the most regular contact with the Corruption would probably take the brunt of these changes. It's possible that the nerve damage never truly goes away and he continuously tears and then rebuilds those muscles, resulting in overall increased strength thats technically?? stabilized?? Also I could totally see his body going 'oh shit were finally growing with decent access to fuel? BET' and just. Reactivates the growth plates in his bones ('Look! I've fixed his runt of the litter insecurity!' 'YOU FUCKED UP A PERFECTLY GOOD PILOT IS WHAT YOU DID. LOOK AT HIM. HES GOT ANXIETY ABOUT THE STATE OF HIS HUMANITY').

Oh yeah its also worth noting that this would be like. Pretty painful. We're talking constant soreness, cramps, deep aches that just won't go away. General suffering <3

Of course tapetum lucidum OF COURSE TEEF obviously as if I could go without it. You can get funky with mutations because hey. fucky wucky demon genome integration whoop whoop. Also could be interesting to see damaged areas on the Charger manifest on Robbie as damaged tissue. His skin says 'AH. Damage' and copies itself as scar tissue instead of the usual.

Oh god Ive been writing for a solid hour and a half I was supposed to be asleep a while ago ok. Moose I love this au and its making me unwell thank you for sharing with the class I hope you will consider my virus proposal for body horror purposes.

[nelyoslegalteam]

I have a post about dental health in Angband if you want more Silm dentistry content

hi. yes PLEASE???

[linddzz]

also I recently recut and dyed my hair and don't think I don't know that I LOOK like the exact sort of pretentious fucker who has Strong Feelings about the characterization of Odysseus in modern retellings

[thecosmicapple]

@communist-hatsunemiku i misclicked and deleted the ask 😔

this is the video i got most of that info from

as your cells divide the dna can get fucked up due to mutations and usually that’s fine, dna is degenerative and so multiple combinations can code for the same thing to mitigate mutations but sometimes u can get so fucked over that a nessicary part of your dna becomes corrupted, say for example, the part that tells your cell to stop replicating

cancer is just when this happens, and the cell keeps replicating and making more copies of a corrupt cells, creating a tumor. these tumors of corse block things like blood vessels or can spread to places we really don’t want them to be

going back to the fact that blue whales are really big and their cells are really small, this means that they would need a REALLY big tumour to start to be affected. and so a small tumour keeps growing and growing, it’s cells replicating until wait. a mutation!

cancer cells are still body cells and thus just as susceptible to mutations. this means that they are able to fuck up and mutate to the point that suddenly, they start attacking themselves or stop replicating at all (not sure which it is i havnt seen the video for a while). Thus a tumour will destroy itself before it becomes a problem

[a-goumang-ripoff]

Confusion, Uncertainty, and Bafflement: A Rant About Goumang

So I've decided to move on to my next rant and thought that I might as well get my namesake out of the way. Funny enough, Goumang is only my favorite sol because she is such a weird character to think about, none of the sols can get my voice nearly as loud in a rant as Goumang does. She confuses me to no end, and I think that confusion is the most interesting part of the entire game for me to think about. Also, her design is so fucking cool, I love Nine Sols' character designs so much but to literally make this cat person into a harpy via genetic modification and prosthetics is such a badass idea, I wish I thought of it myself tbh.

So, to start off this rant: Goumang's position within Nine Sols. She is intended to be the second boss you face in the game, though can be the third (which I heavily recommend, I hate that fight without air dash) and I believe can be the first boss, but I am unsure about that. She is an early-game threat which we learn quite a lot about in her area, and the game holds back nothing by this point giving her what I would argue to be the most disturbing and gruesome end in the entire game, which almost none of the other sols can compare to. I do believe her status as Eigong's other student was stated in her area, but it was something that was lost on me as I wasn't sure what the game meant, I assumed she was one of several and they just happened to be at odds. However there are little features around the game which really paints her to be Yi's rival.

Beyond being Eigong's other student, she also has a passionate hatred for Yi which is far more intense than any hatred the other sols have with one another, and Yi clearly shares this hatred with how he decides to end her, though he keeps himself level-headed in her presence otherwise it seems. She talks to us about the plan she had if she was chosen over Yi, the way she acts in the holograms at the end of the game is painfully antagonistic, and even that picture Eigong has by her eternal sanctum of the two of them together. It weirdly feels like the game is trying to build her up as Yi's rival, but we know Eigong is the true rival fight in the game, not to mention Goumang is dispatched within the first half of the game. I have to ask why the game pushes this so hard. I understand she is realistically physically weak and lacks combat prowess; as Jiequan says, she's just a farmer. But I think I would have preferred her place in the game to get moved up and to treat her more like Yi's rival. It doesn't feel unrealistic for her to learn the same martial arts Yi did at Eigong's recommendation; if anything, it makes more sense for Goumang to take up the idea granted her past.

Another thing which confuses me about Goumang is the mismatch between her backstory and her behavior in-game. Her backstory consists of her growing up seemingly poor in a place that is already in constant famine, then being implied to pull herself up by her bootstraps and become one of the most skilled biologists in Penglai. Her motivations are shown clear to us: she wants to end world hunger on Penglai and had the means to do it with New Kunlun's aid. The servants she has she shows to have actual compassion for (though the way she views them is very much as lesser beings which is not great) and, in the Nine Sols prequel comic, she is shown to be quite a kind person, giving a little girl food and a ride for a mistake that is hardly even hers. And yet everything we see beyond her memories shows her to not only be a jealous bitch who thinks herself better than everyone and seems to pamper herself at any opportunity, but also hold fascist/fascism-adjacent ideologies.

"Optoberries, apemen, even our fellow solarians... they all need greenhouses and incubators. Sacrificing a little freedom and yielding to your superiors is the path to a perfect society[...] The truth is, the weak fear the truth and cannot make choices for themselves."

I know that having a shitty past doesn't automatically make you not become a shitty person, but to hammer in the idea that she had an awful childhood filled with suffering and holds a variety of selfless aspects of her character only to make her act childish and needlessly bitchy just doesn't feel right, it feels like there's really something that we aren't being told. I would be happy to shrug it off as potentially seeing Yi as someone who doesn't deserve the position he got because he had much kinder beginnings than her, but between her childish behavior before the game's confrontation and the fact that she doesn't bring that up in her monologue (instead simply mentioning that she wanted to be chosen over Yi, making it jealousy rather than simple hatred) makes it just feel weird.

On a lighter point, it feels quite a bit odd that she is The Sex Character in the game, especially with how heavy they lean into that. Everything about her just feels sexual. I mean, firstly, she is the only solarian I've seen to wear literally no pants, and her legs tend to be blocking her crotch in a weirdly intentional way. Like, it'd be one thing to do that but have her not have anything between her legs, but it makes it way weirder that her crotch is being constantly blocked, it feels like it's trying to imply her pussy is just out there at all times (and no one cares, which makes it funnier). The two times you can actually see her crotch, there is shading which makes it way too harder to discern anything (yes, I looked, this was a traumatizing realization and I needed to confirm it fully). She also is clearly dominant in both an almost hierarchical sense and a sexual sense, you can literally make Yi call her out saying "you just dominate people for pleasure," and she won't even deny the pleasure part, just corrects Yi on the fact that she's "protecting" instead of dominating. How much more on the nose can you get?

Also, I'm not sure if this is just me or not but doesn't her 'death' scene have a really odd vibe about it? The fact that it's a mind control collar is bad enough, but the way Yi tilts her head up and the gasp from her that plays all makes it even weirder.

The echoes of "mama" from her servants make it only worse. Normally I'd think it's a funny coincidence that ignores sexual contexts around the word, but that quote about dominating people for pleasure makes it feel intentional. The whole thing just feels like a Guro scene and it really twisted my stomach when that got combined with my own issues over leg injuries (I can't believe there's TWO leg injury scenes in the game, not a fun time for me).

Though the weirdest part for me is that I feel like there's a much more prominent candidate for being The Sex Character, that being Nuwa. The drug club she runs genuinely feels a step away from being a sex palace, especially with all the pink imagery (and those dancers). The instrument she plays looks genuinely phallic and the way it's played, with her mouth against the tip, doesn't help. Yet I feel like they leaned away from it quite a bit compared to Goumang. Though, I suppose the incest stuff that surrounds Nuwa and Fuxi may have pushed them away from doing that. Lady Ethereal even seems to have a bit of that stuff going for her... okay I'm starting to realize most of the prominent women in this game have sexual stuff related to them.

Moving on from that startling realization, the last thing I want to talk about is some of the reasoning I've gathered on why a lot of these choices may have been made and how I think Goumang could be improved as a character. One of the major reasons why I think there's such a mismatch in backstory and personality is that I believe they started to write her character and backstory, but then determined how they wanted to use her afterwards. Her fascist ideas and the literal slaves she owns makes her especially gruesome death feel like a jab towards fascist governments and more than likely directed towards the Chinese government (see my previous rant for more context on this). Another reason that mismatch might be present, potentially in combination with the previous one, is that RedCandleGames may have realized that she was being made too good of a person to be one of the sols that are killed, so a sudden shift occurred to make her seem just as crazy and evil as the rest of the sols are.

As for her odd implications of being Yi's rival? My main theory is that it was unintentional, obviously Yi's mentor should be his actual rival, Goumang may have just been placed as her other student to give more reason for her gruesome death or as another way to put her in a more evil position, and then an unintentional rival dynamic was built from that. It also possible she may have just be intended to be a rival fight or have more presence than she does (though, the sols seem to all have a pretty equivalent presence overall). But this is just speculation pretty much.

I think there's quite a few ways to improve her character. For one, I think she could be leaned over towards a less evil standing. I feel as though Yi could have started the game off a lot more evil than he did, it feels like a major portion of his character growth occurs with his time in peach blossom village before the game starts, we don't really get to see him go from hating humans to wanting to protect them, it's an implied shift. I'll likely touch more in depth on this when I rant about Yi, but if he were to be placed in a more evil position, he would have better reason for deciding Goumang is worth killing if she is put in a better standing. Alternatively, go a little more in depth on her backstory, it feels like it's only one step away from being fully believable, if they showed us something which actively made her change ideologies or gain new ones that orient her where she is in the game, I wouldn't feel that mismatch would be as strong as it is.

Overall, I find Goumang's writing to be quite shallow, her personality in-game doesn't feel like anything unique, it feels like a character I've seen several times in the media I've consumed (ignoring the whole fascist thing). If her backstory and personality weren't so mismatched, I believe her writing would have a lot more depth to it and I would feel much less confused about her. I also feel as though she could have been utilized very well as a rival to Yi, though that is a much farther-reaching concept than the changes I've suggested for her writing.

I'll be honest I didn't think I'd talk for 3 paragraphs purely about sex, I was intending to leave it at one but it's just so weird to me that she's used that way. Not that I'm complaining, check my blog's title. More than likely I'll post a follow-up rant on this one which is more about a lot of my less serious thoughts on her, ideas I have of remaking her character and such, just fanon/headcanon bullshit.

[jimin-nothing-stronger]

I’ve long joked that Python is a slightly demonic programming language, but I just realized — Python, like the serpent of Eden! Python, like Crowley!

Anyway, my new headcanon is that Python is one of Crowley’s demonic innovations, designed to generate low-level discontent and petty bitterness among programmers and scientists around the globe. I cannot be convinced otherwise. (This is possibly the only way I can trick myself into actually appreciating its serpentine wiles.)

[sirensskai]

I have gone to the level of insane that is thinking about cross-fandom relationships

[blood-mocha-latte]

15 because I neesd to know about biologist babe

I beg you 🥺🥺🥺💕

afjdsalfjsd so this is a New one that is more thought than words but basically @whollyjoly said something about biologist babe here and it melted my face off and i made this stuff SO FAST you would not believe. the muses were With Me. also asked by the wonderful @educationalporpoises :)

from this tag (ask) game :))

15. baberoe modern au; biologist babe

"These are gonna be the death of me, I'm telling you." Babe tells Eugene, trying as best he can to not stuff another beignet into his mouth. He brushes his hands together, trying to dislodge powdered sugar. "I think I've put on, like, a literal ton since I moved down here."

Eugene smiles at him, just the corner of his mouth crooking up. He takes a bite of his own pastry, with decidedly much more grace than Babe.

"If this is you with a ton put on, trust me, you needed that ton." He says, and as with everything he says, it makes Babe smile.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

what kind of cratures do you think the trigun gang would be?

CREATURES IN GENERAL OR SEA CREATURES. BECAUSE MY FRIEND MONTY N I WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT TRIGUN FURSONAS THE OTHER DAY. but i am the sea creature guy at heart so im gonns give u those i hope that is ok 😌 there are many benefits to being a marine biologist.

Vash: he is... so very shark coded to me. everyone looks at him and sees a dangerous killing machine. frequently covered in scars. do u see the connection here. he is specifically a thresher shark to me because of the whole sharpshooter thing and also the sad sad puppydog eyes 💙

Wolfwood: i am torn between two different types of eels for him. giant morays are more aesthetically pleasing but personally i have to go with a wolf eel both for the name and because ive worked with these guys before and theyre sooooo cool so im biased

Meryl: not technically a sea creature because she is just so bird coded to me. White-Tailed Tropicbird

Milly: is it cheating to have two cephalopods on this list. because i think i really want to say giant pacific octopus for milly. either that or a whale shark 💙 yes those are two completely different animals no i will not be taking criticism at this time

bonus Knives because i love him and i feel the most strongly about this one:

BOBTAIL SQUID.

... and also a bristle worm . for what i hope are obvious reasons

[th3wizardoz]

I love field work so much but I am more mosquito bite than man at this point