#sci ramblings

[smol-stardust]

Chemistry lectures are great because we get to find out things like how Vicks VapoRubs and methamphetamine are enantiomers and have the same chemical formula, same molecular formula and connectivity of atoms but differ in their spatial arrangement. Specifically, enantiomers are mirror images of each other that cannot be superimposed onto one another (or chiral to each other)

So it’s kinda funny for me to think that they’re the same thing basically, it’s just due to their structures they bind differently to active sites in the body and produce different affects.

But you can also tell if they’re différer cuz they rotate light in different directions if you put them under equipments and observed with polarized light. One enantiomer may rotate polarized light in a clockwise direction (dextrorotatory), while its mirror image rotates light in the opposite, counterclockwise direction (levorotatory).

So meth will rotate light one way, and Vicks VapoRub the other, but some meth dealers will mix the two together so if it’s a perfect mixture of the two they cancel out and no light is observed cuz of the opposite rotations… (which is how the police can tell what mixture of drugs you have btw)

But anyways… Vicks VapoRub and Meth have the same formula and are mirror images, but are also really different…

[lynne-monstr]

still never over how bai chi went to family dinner expecting to be overlooked as usual, but instead zhan yao took one look at him and was like, holy shit this kid is smart. it's what bai chi deserves!

[secondbeatsongs]

for anyone too young to know this: watching The Truman Show is a vastly different experience now, compared to how it was before youtube and social media influencers became normal

before it was like, "what a horrifying thing to do to a human being! to take away their autonomy and privacy, all for the sake of profits! to create fake scenarios for them to react to, just to retain viewership! to ruin their happiness just so some corporate entity could harvest money from their very humanity! how could anyone do something so evil?"

and now it's like, "ah, yeah. this is still deeply fucked up, but it's pretty much what every influencer has been doing to their kids for a decade now. probably bad that we've normalized this experience"

[that-wildwolf]

hey, remember being 18 years old and playing mass effect for the first time and it's got this like intense aura of being very small and very insignificant in a very big, very empty galaxy? remember playing mass effect for the first time and everything all of this is so new and mysterious, and it's 2am and you're sitting in a dark room in the light from your tv and you're playing through feros for the first time and you feel that this is someting very old and very ancient and you are somewhere you shouldn't be and you don't know what's going to happen or where you're going but you keep on. there's a tingling in your stomach and you're playing mass effect for the first time. the thorian is a milennia old sentient plant being. the rachni queen is old and telepathic and a hive mind and in pain. sovereign is an ancient machine that has not been built but is, and has always been, and this is something so alien and so unlike and beyond anything your human mind can comprehend, and this is something unexplainable and huge and as uncaring and indifferent as the empty galaxy around you. you're playing mass effect for the first time and you're walking on the surface of an almost completely empty planet with nothing but your two companions silently walking beside you and everything is so huge and empty and silent and you're so small and insignificant and it's so beautiful and so scary and you feel like you are on a rollercoaster about to drop down. you are playing mass effect for the first time and you're playing the mission on the moon and you stop and just look up at earth visible in the sky. you know this. this is home. you are playing mass effect for the first time, and the galaxy is so big, and you are so tiny, and everything is about to change for you.

[bixels]

What's K.O. CRISIS?

Hey all. Over the past couple months, I've gotten a lot of followers who probably don't know about my OCs and portfolio projects that I'm also working on, so I'm making a quick master-post for it!

K.O. CRISIS is a series of artwork––character designs, illustrations, sketches, and animations––inspired by late-90s/early-2000s anime and Y2K culture.

Set in an alternate-history Los Angeles in the year 2001, the story follows disabled Taiwanese-American Ashley Tang as she fights her way to the top of the bracket in the national augmented boxing championship.

As the youngest female fighter in the championship, she'll have to fight tooth-and-nail to defend her place amongst the heavy-weights. While her rare dual arm prosthetics help even the playing fields, it'll take more than brute strength to prove her worth.

But this isn't a story about an underdog triumphing against all odds. Throughout the story, Ashley will push herself to the limit for the sake of validating her existence under the grinding heel of the sports media machine, in a world that values disabled bodies more than their lives. As the championship rages on, one question seems to linger through the roar: Is Ash strong enough to win, or is she brave enough to quit?

Through the project, I'm hoping to explore representations of prosthetic-users in pop culture as "enhanced superheroes," as well as discussions of trans-humanism under medical capitalism, the fetishization of new technology, and the commodification of disabled people as entertainment.

Accompanying her journey include characters like Noora Balakrishnan, a local transfem prosthetics engineer who doubles as Ashley's ringside mechanical cutwoman.

The project is still in its early stages, especially since I sorta rebooted it earlier this year (meaning I'm no longer using past, outdated art for the project). If you enjoy it, you can find more artwork for the project under the #ko crisis tag!

[gremlingirlsmell]

even in the best faith reading possible of the scishow video on hrt, it is a sloppily put together and lazily researched video repeating harmful medical misinformation that can potentially harm people.

let's all not have a case of Gell-Mann Amnesia about this. dont recommend or trust their videos ever again. and also a takeaway is, take all science communication videos on youtube with a big grain of sand (which sucks if youre Not knowledgable about a topic)

[thefake-red]

I think I've sorta figured out why it bothers me so much when people simplify Harlan Ellison to just being a very hateful man or say that he's "rolling in his grave" about every dumb fandom behaviour (he would not care about you shipping the characters, be serious) or compare him to AM/say he's his self-insert.

lt's bcs this language does not allow him to be viewed as the complex person that he, and every person to exist, is.

I think it's good to criticise creators and Ellison was VERY worthy of criticism, but he's not some being running on hatred and hatred alone as so many "fans", primarily the ones who discovered he existed less than a year ago on tik tok, seem to describe him. Criticise him on his stubbornness to accept his wrongdoings, his underlying misogyny and racism in his writing, his defence of Ed Kramer, etc.

In the same breath, I'd also like to say I think, when it comes to someone as complicated as Ellison, it's also worth noting the good deeds he did alongside his wrongful behaviour.

Ellison, as he would frequently mention, was outspoken about his political beliefs and was a part of many movements. He protested the Vietnam War, he was a part of the civil rights movement, he joined the writers strike, and was passionate about the rights of creators.

He was also a major hypocrite and always believed he was right, and no one was worth listening to even if they had more experience than him in that topic. He was especially reluctant of listening to people's criticisms of his work and it's depiction of minorities.

He was complicated. He was not an especially just or kind person, but he was passionate and outspoken and more than just an angry little man.

[this-dude-over-here]

I think one of the funniest parts about the Humans Are Space Orcs trope would be explaining drugs/alcohol to aliens.

I imagine extraterrestrial kids being taught interesting points of human biology and culture in school as an elective course. Of course, they know that humans can sustain great injuries and still operate relatively fine, can survive dire conditions, have perfected an art of healing to the point where it is normal to feel entertained by watching humans harm and heal one another (enter Grey's Anatomy and House M.D and the alien kids being fully horrified that humans enjoy watching other humans die in detail on screen).

But they are not expecting humans to feel so confident in their bodily strength, to almost an invincible degree, that they find it socially acceptable to poison themselves for entertainment. To learn that some humans enjoy the consumption of poison so much that they actively seek it out, pay for it even. That humans have competitions as to who can drink the most poison in the shortest amount of time while experiencing the least amount of unhealthy consequences. That humans have holidays and traditions dedicated to drinking poison, that it is encouraged, expected even, for new human adults to poison themselves upon coming of age as to prove their worth and strength to the species.

All of this information is learned and followed up with a very understandable, what the fuck is wrong with that species.

[qcomicsy]

Sometimes I feel like only Peter Parker gets how humbling it is to be poor jesus christ. I am enjoying my time despite not being my cup of tea (I am a dialogue person, I love dialogue I love dialogue as a dog loves little delicious treats. 60's comics unfortunately do not have the best kind of dialogues). But I am enjoying it, almost as a concept, hecause Stan Lee and Robin Dikto do not have the fear to show a pathetic little man, they don't have the embarrassment of showing your hero getting rejected by the girl, forgetting to let his suit dry and having to wear a wet scrunky suit, showing him being arrogant, being annoying, a very very antisocial guy.

I think reading so so many comics where it's clear how much the writers are trying to make the hero sound cool, the smartest, handsomest and smoothies guy in the room.

Peter is kind of a breath of fresh air. He gets it, he really does. He's not cool, he's not there yet. He's a kid doing dumb shit. Trying to do better, failing and failing and trying. No wonder so many people who got to read his comics as they were growing up hold Peter so close to their heart.

Because he's the proof you can try again, you can fuck up, in ten, twenty, thirty hell maybe forty years from now it won't matter. Just try again. Stand up. Try again.

@sciderman talks a lot about how Spider-Man is about reaching manhood and I've never get it, sure as a concept yes but I couldn't grasp why. Now I do.

It's not about waking up and being the man you should be, being responsible for having a cool montage of getting better and better. Nah it's the every day thing. Peter isn't (at least what I am getting of the comics while I read at my pace and time) the representation of becoming the power and responsability thing, he is the representation of having this as a goal. And trying each day.

[singing-not-sleeping-beauty]

I am begging y'all to turn out for Strange World next weekend

The new pixar film they're refusing to advertise, that focuses on 3 generations of the same family, the youngest of which is biracial & openly gay

Throw on a mask, scrape together whatever cash you have, and be there, cuz disney wants this movie to flop, and we can't let it

[hdawg1995]

i love the HORROR of City of Blank.

City of Blank is a webtoon about a world where wearing a mask that covers your eyes is how you avoid the unavoidable, ever present, mindless entities known as blanks.

They are weak to water and fire (and electricity), there are parts of the world too humid for them to exist. during winter you can finally see what your friends and family look like. there are parts of the world that never get cold enough, never get rain. The rich and privileged get to live in districts of cities where water curtains the area, preventing Blanks from entering.

imagine you're walking down the street and a strong enough gust of wind knocks your mask off. you're dead. if you're lucky.

Blanks stalk you unknowingly. they aren't aware, they aren't sentient, they are nothing and then suddenly it is a predator. suddenly like a magnet it latches onto your now exposed face.

you have to sleep with a mask, you have to get a mask when you're a child, your school uniform includes a mask and its so fun when it rains, you can see your friend's faces! you didn't know timmy's eyes were blue!

A blank steals your face. Your face. not the flesh of your face but YOUR FACE. it leaves you blind and no way to breathe or call out for help. your eyes stare at you in horror because it doesn't know why it did that, it doesn't understand whats happening, all it knows is thats you and you are dying- sufficating- and they can't do anything for you.

your own face watches you die. you are gone. the blank that stole your face IS NOT YOU. it will become you but it is NOT you. Your name, your voice, your memories, your personality- the blank will inherent them. but it is not YOU and it will NEVER be you.

you just stole someone's face. you went from not existing to existing and your birth was violent and horrific. you become a person. you can feel your organs grow, your bones develop, the memories come back to you but they were never yours.

who are you? who the FUCK are you?? wanted thats who you are, you are wanted and there are people with masks and weapons who will burn, freeze, electrocute you, take your face, and get a reward.

because you killed someone. you are a murderer.

and God forbid you have a child....

because they won't have a face. but they will have a mind. they will have a personality. they will grow and age and god help them if someone they love -a brother, a mother, a aunt, a friend- ever takes their mask off around them because they are a Blank. They are so kind, so sweet, and now they just killed someone against their will, against the will of their own mind and now who are they? who the FUCK are they???

they are wanted. because they just killed someone. they killed someone against their will- not in self defense or to save themselves but because that person lost/took off their mask.

GOD i love City of Blank.

[smol-stardust]

Does our brains have like some sorta of electricity?

Yea! There are ions of molecules in the brain which are charged particles that create signals on the form of electric currents in the brain which we receive in nerves as signals

Basically there are these things called Voltage-gated channels which specialized proteins embedded in the cell membrane, and they respond to changes in the membrane potential (voltage) by opening or closing, regulating the flow of ions across the membrane. In the context of the brain, it’s sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) voltage-gated chan

And cells are polarized, so more negative inside than outside. So when a signal is released, and breaks a certain threshold, voltage-gated sodium channels open, allowing sodium ions to rush into the cell. This depolarizes the cell and triggers an action potential.

Then the action poetical travels along this bit in the neuron, the axon, and the signal is sent in an electric signal. Other channel gates open once the signal is done and depolarizes the cell back to normal… and the electric signal carries through the brain til it reaches the point it needs to reach…

So yea, electricity and charges are always happening in the brain :)

[lynne-monstr]

forever thinking about my favorite post-canon bai chi headcanon where he eventually leaves sci to head his own independent analytics team that both supports sci and regular cases. he spent his whole upbringing being compared to bai yutong and found wanting. it was a good step for him to work with bai yutong and have him as a mentor, and start to see him as a real person and not just an unattainable goal.

i'd love to see the culmination of his character arc being successful in his own way. he doesn't have to be out in field physically fighting people, he can be successful by crunching numbers and finding patterns that no one else sees, and that's just as valuable. please give him his own team of nerds, he deserves it and so do i.

[whereserpentswalk]

People always say we're like ants to eldritch horrors. But that's weird to say because enough ants have killed people by working together. And the main thing we are to ants is just bigger. Are we smarter? We're also smarter then fish by any metric than we're smarter than ants. And sharks are deadly to us, not as much as you'd think but they can be, they kill us without wanting to, without malice, they just think we're other things that they want to eat, things that also aren't human, they only hurt us when they're wrong about us. When someone's attacked by a shark it's not like being attacked by a bear, it's somehow less than that, they know nothing. Sweet innocent angels of the the sea, they dont know what we are, they dont know why were here. We are incomprehensible to them. We operate on a timescale a sharks will never understand. We know things sharks will never know. And it won't protect us. Even though we kill more of them it can't protect the individual. Mabye that's what it would be like to kill an eldritch horror, to see a creature at the edge of the sea, that you could never truly understand, and strike it down mistaking it for a demon, thinking its humanity's cosmic prey, because you don't know what it is, because you can't know what it is. Even when it's just peacefully resting your heart knows there's something deeply disturbing and dangerous about it, and your heart is entirely wrong.

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

I always see this pretty common g/t horror trope (and sci fi trope in general) about something Big and Scary coming to a colony of Littles (usually humans) and subsequently using them as a farm source for food despite having to eat like 50 people for a single meal or whatever

But what about the reverse?

Depending on the size, a giant could easily feed an entire city of tinies, never mind the fact that if they only take chunks at a time then their meat source could continually regenerate. 5-10 giants could sustain a full country whereas hundreds of tinies would only fill up on giant for a couple days. Remember those gnarly movies where a character would get swarmed by insects and be cleaned down to the bone in a matter of minutes?

"well the giant could easily kill the tinies--" sure, initially, yeah. But you get locked in a room with 500 hungry rats, your chances aren't great even if you reduce it down to 300 before you give out because of their constant attacks.

Can you imagine the horror of realizing you're about to become a living food source, continually and painfully harvested by little chunks at a time to ensure your meat stays fresh and you can heal parts of it back? Being kept alive by the bare minimum, helpless and restrained in some foreign place, kept in the most inhumane conditions because you're nothing more than a supersized livestock? Given injections and specialized feed that are only meant to make you tastier, regardless of how they actually affect your health?

Unsure of the day you'll finally be slaughtered by something smaller than your fist, losing parts of yourself down to the bone, having less and less hope that you'll be rescued while hearing the consumption of your friends just a few bays away. And that's only if you're being used in an intelligent society that can keep you locked up for manufactured processing. There's very much a chance you could simply be held down and devoured bite by bite by a colony of tiny things in either 20 minutes or 20 hours.

At least in that case, you could hope that after a few days of open wounds, your meat would spoil enough that they'd stop eating whatever is left of you and grant you the mercy of escape. If you don't succumb to the infections.

Oh and that's just being eaten like nibbling on a chicken wing. Do I even need to mention being eaten from the inside out?

[lunemoths]

kiss ryuji week day 4: sports / hangouts / post-canon !!

they are the eepers