this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Science Memes

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top 24 comments
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[–] mr_account@lemmy.world 71 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Don't even need to go that far. History has shown us that just throwing a non-radioactive rock at someone is a weakness

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 37 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I argue that the entire history of weapon development has been "figure out better way to throw better rock".

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 29 points 3 weeks ago

It’s funny when you learn that an ‘advanced weapon’ in hypothetical interplanetary warfare is ‘fling an asteroid into their planet’.

[–] officermike@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

For conventional weapons, sure. But I don't think your description fits flamethrowers, sonic, or laser weaponry.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

flamethrowers

Flamethrowers use oil products, which are part of petrochemistry. "Petro" comes from the Greek word for "rock".

[–] mr_account@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

plankto-rock, if we want to pedant (and we do)

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

Flamethrower - throw burning rock Sonic - throw tiny rocks Laser - throw even tinier rocks

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 21 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

You could even argue that throwing rocks is (one of) the human superpower(s).

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 27 points 3 weeks ago
[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Most dudes are weak against any rock. Rocks are very good at inducing skull fractures if you're not Superman, and stone knives were a thing, too. There's a reason why stone tools were popular for literally millions of years.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago

we're also quite weak against.. most things, on the whole. It's more a matter of what doesn't instantly kill us

[–] cyberslask@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

According to some evolutionary scientists, the art of throwing rocks is the reason our brains needed to get so large. Here is one source:

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/696721

[–] RustyShackleford@piefed.social 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Don’t quote me, but that’s pyrite or chalcopyrite, right?

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Chalcopyright.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would have chosen arsenic as human weakness

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah, if you hold arsenic in my general vicinity, I'll feel extremely emotionally uncomfortable, but physically fine.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Now I'm thinking there has to be an element where all isotopes are radioactive, because uranium doesn't radiate all the time

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 6 points 3 weeks ago

I never claimed to have super powers.

[–] ech@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's really bugging me that the title is missing a word. It doesn't track with the music.

[–] Nima@leminal.space 3 points 3 weeks ago

I noticed it as well. "If I go crazy then will you still call me super man?"

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That picture is NOT Uranium:

Uranium is a chemical element; it has symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table.

[–] bisby@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That picture is uranium though? In the picture it has yellow oxides forming on the outside.

In the same way that if someone posted a picture of a rusty piece of iron, we'd still say it was iron, even though iron is a silvery-grey metal, but in the picture, it would be reddish/brown.

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Thanks, I did not know that!