this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
303 points (99.3% liked)

Science Memes

11453 readers
496 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 19 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Scipitie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The"single cell pet" gets me even more... Like isn't that a tad specific? Dogs? No prob! Rabbits? Be my guest. Amoeba? Fuck off, weirdo!

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago

do NOT keep amoeba as pets!

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago

Some guests have the stomach to hide their pets there

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

$525/mo for a 2 bedroom apartment? I'm going to cry.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Any idea the area based on the phone number?

Not American so not sure how your area codes work and I can’t remember the Ludacris tune about hoes in different area codes.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's a meme paper. The genetic observer. No single cell pets, 13721 Genome way, etc

[–] we_avoid_temptation@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

As others have said the paper is fake but 813 is a real area code, specifically Tampa, Florida.

[–] sparky1337@ttrpg.network 5 points 1 month ago

The middle number 555 is used in fake adverts in the US. It’s not used anywhere.

[–] janNatan@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Wait wait. What would happen if a long half-strand of DNA tried to pair with another but there was one letter wrong in the middle?

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 6 points 1 month ago

Something called a "lesion" around a base mismatch, basically a bubble in the strand pairing. It can introduce kinks in the helix, and generally is the result of mutation in one strand.

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If that's how DNA worked, I imagine it just wouldn't pair, but that's not how DNA works. However there can be and are many mistakes in the transcription and translation of genes, they're called mutations and they're the mechanical cause of cancer. The kind of spontaneous mutation your imagining is unlikely to lead to cancer without other contributing factors, and the body has numerous control and correction mecahnisms, but there are billions of base pairs (i.e. A—T is one base pair) in each cell of the body getting transcribed and translated over and over and over, so quite a few mistakes get through.

[–] weed_scientist@mander.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

It is how DNA works in the case of PCR, for example. The denaturation cycle splits double stranded DNA into individual single strands, which can be thousands of base pairs long. Primers are short sequences that bind to these single strands. If there are only one or two mismatches, the primer can easily bind to the wrong part of the DNA strand, if the temperature during the annealing step is low enough. This causes messy gels and incorrect DNA products in the PCR.

In some cases, if the temperature is very low, the primer can bind to sequences with many mismatches. This results in the scientist crying and finding god.

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 0 points 1 month ago

Alas, it could never be

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

The Page d12 would put this straight in D&D territory

[–] nis@feddit.dk 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Single-stranded? Wouldn't that be RNA?

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nope. RNA is chemically different: different sugar in the backbone, and there are wayyyy more than 4 RNA bases (like 12 iirc)

[–] nis@feddit.dk 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nice. I learned something new today 🙂

Not sure where I picked up my belief that RNA was just one side of DNA.

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 2 points 1 month ago

It is how it's generally taught in schools, which is unfortunate.

[–] DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes, some viruses are single strand RNA (+ssRNA or -ssRNA) the textbook Microbiology: with Diseases by Taxonomy by Robert W Bauman is a good reference with a section for both. (Does have sqeemish pictures though.) (And its on zlib.)