this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2026
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Science Memes

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



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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 7 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

Except for the part where they breed captive aphids and corral them to and from plants so they can feed, only to ~~lacerate their exoskeletons~~ [eat the ass] and feed on their secretions while keeping them alive to do it again...

Edit: correction

[–] brown567@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Lacerate their exoskeleton? Do you have a source for that? According to Wikipedia, the honeydew is excreted from the aphids' anus and happens even when the ants aren't involved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid#Ant_mutualism

Edit: I'm not trying to be the guy who yells "SoUrCe!?" whenever presented new information, I'd just like to correct my misunderstanding if I'm wrong but don't want to incorporate misinformation XD

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 hours ago

I coulda sworn I've read somewhere that they make a light incision to get to the honeydew, but it could be a false memory. I'm not gonna go looking for where I read that, but I'll accept "they eat ass" as a correct answer.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Humans do this. I think ants still have the moral high ground.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 hours ago

Yeah, and humans are sociopaths. That doesn't make it right when ants do it. That's antkie logic.

"I'm against XYZ atrocity" "So you support LMNO atrocity?!?!?!"