Tiny interaction among holobionts on Mastodon:
UvA communicatie via LinkedIn
Updated Friday 13 Sept 2024
De fuik
Het “bureau communicatie” laat in een reactie op de onderstaande mail weten dat ze hier ook intern discussie over hebben gehad. Dat stelt enigszins gerust.
In de communicatie over de voorgenomen bezuinigingen is er toch voor gekozen om zoveel mogelijk aandacht te genereren op LinkedIn, omdat dit het meeste impact heeft op Den Haag.
In plaats van dat medewerkers de video over de bezuinigingen “gewoon” op de UvA server bekijken, bekijken ze ’m op LinkedIn en dat draagt bij aan het succes (en daarmee bereik) van de video.
Carelessly curated selection of the internet
When (doom)scrolling through Lemmy, in the limbo between waking up, and actually having to hurry my ass in order to not be late for that one thing, I occasionally press “download image”. From now on, these images will accumulate on this page: my own, carelessly curated wall of stuff that made me (internally) go “meh”, “ha”, or “wtf”.
Window ecosystem on the 7th floor
Our little apartment in Medellín is on the 7th floor. But that doesn’t prevent nature from doing its thing.
The food chain starts with a banana. We cut it up and put it on a wooden feeder. So far, we have been visited by Guacharacas (see video), Mieleros, Bichofues, Candelarias, Azulejos, Verdulejos, Mayos and today even a Carpintero.
No matter how hard these birds try to scrape the last piece of banana from the feeder, there is always something left. But it doesn’t go to waste! Because, believe it or not, ants find their way up to the seventh floor. And they feast on what is left of the banana.
How much CO2 has been emitted in my lifetime?
(To go straight to the customizable online version of the new graph, click here. But note that 1. it doesn’t work that well on a phone, and 2. it is running on my own server, so it might be a bit slow. For the non-interactive, default image, see below.)
(A small discussion can be found underneath this Lemmy post).
For some years now, I have seen this graph go around on social media. I think it’s a powerful image, because it shows us so clearly that it is happening in our lifetime and under our watch.
Sangre, nitrógeno y la Gran Oxidación
Yo tenía hoy años cuando supe por qué los nodulos que fijan nitrógeno en las raíces de las legumbres tienden a ser rojos cuando los abres. Tiene que ver con la Gran Oxidación, que ocurrió hace unos 2.500 millones de años, y está directamente conectado a la razón por la cual nuestra sangre es roja.
(Este articulo también existe en Inglés: link).
El nitrógeno es naturalmente escaso. Podría representar la mayor parte de lo que llamamos “aire”, pero este nitrógeno existe como N2, y la mayoría de los organismos no tienen ni idea de qué hacer con eso. Digo “la mayoría de los organismos” porque hay algunas bacterias que han evolucionado la capacidad de capturar nitrógeno de la atmósfera, y convertirlo en moléculas biológicamente útiles, como NH3.
Blood, nitrogen and the Great Oxidation Event
Nodules are red, violates are blue
I was today years old when I learned why the nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots of legumes tend to be red when you open them. It has to do with the Great Oxidation Event, which happened around 2.5 billion years ago, and is directly connected to the reason why our blood is red.
(This article also exists in Spanish: link)
Nitrogen is naturally scarce. It might make up the bulk of what we call “air”, but this nitrogen exists as N2, and most organisms have no clue what to do with that. “Most organisms”, because there are a few bacteria that have evolved the capacity to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere, and turn it into molecules that are biologically useful, like NH3.
Losing myself in the greenhouse effect
If you like to go down a Python rabbit hole with me, to explore some of the basic dynamics of the greenhouse effect, Please continue. If not, get out while you still can!
Ok, so this page of Kump et al.’s “The Earth System” (third edition, 2010) briefly presents a simple model of the greenhouse effect: the “greenhouse effect of a one-layer atmosphere”.
It basically shows (with interesting, but ultimately, unnecessarily complex equations) that if…
Shameless gringos in Medellín
The shamelessness with which gringos in Medellín relish in their financial advantage puzzles me.
“I worked hard for the money I’m spending.”
I’m sure you did, but not even close to as hard as you make your Colombian counterpart work for it.
“But I’m helping people by spending my money here.”
If you are serious, stop trying to 1. find the cheapest way to 2. satisfy your preferences and desires, and find ways to make your undeserved comfort alleviate other people’s undeserved discomfort.
Quantum coherence and Zionism
Meeting yourself
Warning: This post contains some spoilers about the movie “Coherence”.
Imagine that, right now, through the door that is closest to you, someone walks in, and it is… you. A complete, full, physical double of yourself. This other you is as perplexed as you: similarly shocked to find a complete, full, physical double of itself.
If you think this would merely be interesting and cool you probably have not seen the movie “Coherence”.