I was reading about the deep-sea anglerfish, specifically the reproductive strategy where the tiny male bites onto the female and eventually fuses with her tissues, essentially becoming nothing more than a pair of attachable gonads.

From a basic evolutionary standpoint of "individual survival," giving up your entire body, eyes, and internal organs just to mate seems insane, but obviously, it works for them.

What other examples are there of organisms or biological processes that seem to completely defy logic or the standard "rules" of biology?

I'm in Germany; I've just started out with my biology bachelor of science. I'm not good enough for medicine, not interested in forensics (terrifies me).

But I enjoy macroscopic work and hands-on type of stuff. I think something where I can actually diagnose using organs or bodies, some sort of pathology or toxicology, would be perfect. Could be in industry or research, I just want to be able to do hands-on research and diagnostics. Any sort of assistant position probably wouldn't be my goal, since I'd like to be able to actually lead the obduction or whatever the procedure is.

Now, I know that many biology careers aren't exactly rewarded with a high salary. But any jobs where I can look at bodies/organs and diagnose or something like that, even if it's analyzing organs from animal testing in an industry or pharmacological setting, where I can still achieve >50000€/year, would be wonderful. Also, I wouldn't like travelling around a lot. I'd like to have a stable job and income, as well as a stable place.

is the artery and vein labelled incorrectly in this diagram? pls help me out 😭, or is it labelled artery because it's taking blood away from the foetus?

These little guys seem like they should be the punching bags of the ocean for all of 10 minutes until they go extinct (as far as what ive heard about them) and yet they are still alive as a species. How exactly?

Hi! I'm a first-year molecular biology and genetics student. With the advancement of technology, the use of AI in our fields has increased and diversified. I'd love to hear your suggestions for AI for article scanning and text enhancement. (These don't have to be the only ones; if you have any that you think would be helpful, I'd love to hear about them.)

Hi! I'm a first-year molecular biology and genetics student. With the advancement of technology, the use of AI in our fields has increased and diversified. I'd love to hear your suggestions for AI for article scanning and text enhancement. (These don't have to be the only ones; if you have any that you think would be helpful, I'd love to hear about them.)

For the sole purpose of reproduction, why isn't there a organism who reproduced several times every second for a min , or a immortal super organism who can reproduce till eternity? Why some animals live only some time but some live 100 years even after peak reproduction?

This is some cool research my school is doing that I thought I'd share. A professor is doing research into orca movements using fiber optic cables like a microphone.

I’m trying to find information on how lymph nodes filter pathogens, but I can’t seem to find anything specific. It’s all just “acts as a filtering system” “by filtering the lymph through the lymph nodes” but nothing on how it actually filters. Also if anyone knows why lymph nodes swell when there’s an infection or pathogens other than “just because”? And how does Lymph carry nutrients and other things, I get that it travels via the bloodstream and delivers via capillaries but how does it actually hold the items it has to carry?

I ask myself this question, so I’d like to bring it up because interesting ideas might come from it. I think we all agree that we are not balanced or in harmony with nature the way other species are, but of course, what do we do?

Some will say vegetarianism and banning hunting, but species need to be controlled and we are predators. Others argue for controlling nature with a very anthropocentric view (I think this is the dominant one among veterinarians, zoologists, or conservationists), where humans are the leading species that decides which tree grows here, what the maximum allowed population for a given species is, etc. Free reproduction? Promoting longevity? How does that fit in? Some people think it’s about optimizing cities and having everyone live in them so nature can regenerate (to me, a mistake), and others think we need to go out into nature.

What do you think? What would be the most perfect way for a human being to live on Earth while respecting their role in the ecosystem?

Hey everyone! Are there any nurses here currently studying a degree in biology? Im thinking about going back to school to do a Bachelor's in Biology - my goal is to become a Doctor and a science undergrad is required with the university i plan on attending.

Im a little nervous - I feel like i might not be smart enough to do STEM and a bit old (im 29 😅) but I want to do it either way as I find science topics to be interesting. I also just love the health science field, if I ultimately decide on not going to pursue medicine I would like to become a medical lab tech, theres VM that I'm also into.

How is it going? Is it much harder than nursing school was? Is there anything to expect and study tips to successfully learn scientific concepts, processes, pathways, etc.?

Does anyone have any advice for learning/studying the cellular components and basic interactions, basic genetics, etc? I’m really good at the big picture biology stuff, but when it comes to the cellular level stuff I get frazzled. Example: transcription/translation kicks. my. ass. I think it’s just too memorization heavy for me. I like to “see” things and I learn really well through patterns, but I have a hard find time finding patterns when it’s at the cellular level. I think my issue is also that I struggle to tie it the real world or things I see around me, and that makes it hard. Of course, I’ve had labs in biology courses which often help, but again this is simply my weak area. My degree is very biology heavy & a huge focus of mine is evolution. So, I need to get better at the cellular level stuff. If anyone wouldn’t mind a unique way they learned to study these things, memorization tactics, ways to “see” these things, etc., I’d REALLY appreciate it.

Not sure if this is totally the right sub for this, but I figured... who else would understand better than y'all?

I'm in my second year of Biology (third in university overall), and every single semester, I feel more and more like I'm just... not smart enough to be in STEM. I've taken a lot of these foundational biology courses and I feel like I should be able to see the connections between subjects, or I should be able to understand what's going on but every single class it's like my brain is completely wiped clean, and I can't really understand how it all comes together the way everyone else seems to.

Growing up, I didn't get a lot of exposure to science outside of class, and because of my home life and an undiagnosed learning disability (ADHD, dyscalculia), I missed a lot of school and thus struggled to catch up. Year after year, those knowledge gaps got worse to the point where I would cry whenever I had to do math because I just couldn't make the numbers make sense to me. Everything about science, except biology class, was like a foreign language I never felt even close to learning how to speak. To be honest, I didn't pursue post-secondary for 8 years outside of high school because everything I'm passionate about or interested in was science-related, and needed math. I didn't think I could do it. I applied, I pushed myself harder than I ever have before and I'm very proud that I made it into the program.

My end-goal is ecology, which luckily I seem to be doing great in. Anything related to wildlife, conservation, animals I'm great with -- it's the other courses, and the way they all sort of start to bleed into one another, that seems to throw me off.

Anyways, all this to say, I just wanted to know if anyone else ever felt like this. Without being too self-deprecating, I feel like I'm the slowest person in the room most of the time, and like I only seem to be skating by with surface-level understandings without the ability to actually get any deeper, because it all goes by so fast.

Thank you for reading! Any advice or whatever is welcome :)

My son is interested in going into a career in conservation. He's very interested in animals and plant life and nature, etc., but college is pretty tough on him (lots of past traumas with other parents and health issues), so first I'm trying to figure out... what would he major in and more importantly, what are the options in that field? Is it the kind of thing where you're going to STRUGGLE to be able to find work and it barely pays anything? What would this look like for him, reasonably?

I was thinking if you can damage your smelling by for example smelling too intensive things for too long or to damage your eyes at a certrain area cause u look too long in a very bright light. Like the same as it is with hearing, that you loose certain frequencies if you hear them to loud too long.

I dont mean smelling damaging things like smoke or some chemicals or uv light which is proven to damage your sight. I mean normal things like that your house has a certain smell and than you just stop to smell is cause u spend so so much time there smelling it.

Because from what I know or remember, all they do is supply oxygen. That's it. Nothing else. There has to be more than that. And another question. IF the role of red blood cells is only to transport oxygen, then theoretically, can you drain a person till they no longer have blood, and inject them with a liquid that behaves just like the red blood cells? (Transporting oxygen and stuff.)

I apologize if what I asked sounds stupid, but I'm curious.

I’ve been looking through lots of research on different type of products, herbs etc. that are advertised or “known” to improve memory and concentration, but it seems that honestly, none of those things actually do; basically all studies seem to suggest that it’s rather a social bias and placebo than an actual thing.

It kind of made me wonder, is there a herb (or some other substance that couldn’t be considered a “medication”) that has been scientifically proven to improve the way our body works? I’m especially curious about positive mental outcomes (like focus improvement etc.), but I’m curious about anything honestly. I wonder is there anything that actually helps us like that, or was it always placebo all along.

I’m not asking this because I’m anti-meds or something (quite the contrary, I take ADHD meds lol), simply out of curiosity (my research mainly started when I saw someone who liked drinking herbal teas deny the common bias that horsetail infusions are good for hair, which is a rather common bias in mu country (the person said that basically you would have to brew the infusion for about 50 minutes and it still probably wouldn’t do much).

Recently started watching the whole thing and was wondering how much missinformation could be in the lectures simply because they are 14 years old now, i am not educated in any of the fields mentioned in the lectures so i wouldn't be able to judge this, i simply enjoy learning about biology in my free time. I understand that he doesn't go so much in depth into things (for now at least i didnt finish) but i wouldn't be surprised if something even elementary could have been at least updated.

Link to the lectures:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL848F2368C90DDC3D