A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"
Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.
Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.
We moderate for vibe, not category. Pruning is light, especially where a post creates interesting discussion. Experimenting is encouraged.
See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.
This isn't any more true than it was 15 years ago when I first saw it on imgur. Those are close ups of small shells found in some tropical sand that have been separated from regular sand. Sand isn't fucking magic its small rocks.
Also white sand is fish poop.
And yet if you look at https://magnifiedsand.com/ it is insanely cool and not too different from the images in this post. I don't think that entire website is fraudulent. Glad I didn't see your comment first because it would've turned me off of even looking into this further. When I did look into it further, I was thrilled.
That is very heavily curated to make every picture interesting. Take a scoop from your nearest beach and it doesn't look anywhere near as dramatic. Sauce: I run a lab with fancy microscopes.
Your skin is infinitely more populated. Especially under your fingernails.
Interesting. Have you ever looked at beach sand specifically, under a microscope?
Yes, different types. Including glacial erosion, core samples and other sediments. Some are interesting, most are unremarkable to the layman. To academics, they are interesting for the story they tell (shat out of parrotfish for example)
That said, there are many types of beach sand, and within a single stretch of beach, different types as well, segregated by depth for example. They are very interesting for the story behind them. Sort of like how "everyone is unique".
The pictures that everyone is amazed at are relatively low magnification. If those grains were indeed so varied in their shape and colour, they would be easily visible to the naked eye.
Or Big Magnifier would have you believe.
White sand is calcium carbonate that has been eroded down to sand size particles. One way that happens is by parrot fish grinding it up, but weathering surely created the vast majority of it.
https://www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/why-parrotfish-poop-white-sand-5-358789/
“On the Great Barrier Reef, for example, researchers estimate that parrotfish are responsible for producing over 85% of the new sand generated annually.”
How does that compare to the quantity of sand already in existence? There was a long period of time (millions and millions of years) when there were no parrotfish, but billions of tons of calcium carbonate being eroded by the weather.
Could very well have been other animals over time.
How does that compare to the quantity of sand already in existence?
Seeing as there's now a shortage of water-eroded sand, probably a good portion of it
Are you thinking of sand that's easily accessible (so not under many metres of sea) and suitable for use in concrete?
How much of all the planet's sand is on beaches frequenteeed by humans? Perhaps the interesting samples are over-represented but they're still neat.
What a stupid thing to bicker about. Good work, people on the internet. o_O
I didn't read it as bickering at all, just two people with an interest in sand, trying to get to the truth.
I might be extra cranky. I hate sand.
Fuck off, Anakin.
Then why keep reading about it and then lash out when you don't even understand what you are reading..? There was no bickering.
We've all got our hobbies
And how much of it is at least 50% microplastics now.
Hajabawhat now? How is white sand fish poop? Isn't it just sand? Or do you mean like the white particles in mixed sand are fish poop?
“This fish produces white sand” is pretty far away from “all white sand is produced by fish”.
Shhhhh, let them believe. It is okay
https://magnifiedsand.com/ shows you magnified different sand from different beaches across the world. Youre welcome
That is really cool, thank you. Also it shows that, as some other comments said, the picture of the post are sorted, but also there are beaches with a high shell content.
Something about this reminds me if the I Spy books of my youth:
I miss those tbh. A lot of them had cool Rupe-Goldberg-esque contraptions and I would spend a lot of time trying to piece together how they'd work
Those were awesome. Great now I'm all nostalgic
That makes me think of a mobile game that is somewhat soothing. It's called "A little to the left: Cupboards and drawers" It's an okay game of you like sorting things.
i have the exact same vacuum tube thats on the image
More interesting your skin under the microscope, better for your endorphines.
You are never alone
Boobies
I specialize it viewing your boobies. Don't worry, I'm a scientist
Neurons activated
Endorphins released
Bottom left looks like a friendly chap
they all look so derpy.
Sifl and Olly was an awesome show.
I too have a fondness of tiny worlds.
Do you know about diatoms ?
And there is a guy who makes art with them. https://youtu.be/qxkbSk--EUY?is=mXHpUGS7ghbE_xAM
I hadn't heard of Klaus Kemp, diatoms, or the fact the Victorians were making microscopic art, so thanks for sharing.
It seems he passed away four years ago, but had a fascinating life: https://isdr.org/in-memory-of-our-friend-and-colleague-klaus-kemp/
Here's one I took in Namibia!
and another, how it looks
Very pretty! Why are so many translucent?
Edit: I assume they were ground down from the Glass Mountain, but waiting for an answer, still. :)
I think a lot of it came from the dessert and surrounding areas. Namibia has a somewhat strange condition where the wind moves today the ocean then back inland throughout the day, so some of it I think is from the land. This was also near the famous beach area where the tide comes in very quickly and you may have seen vehicles trying to race the tide to get to higher ground. I think also near there was a salt processing facility. So, I'm not exactly sure, but it was pretty!
oh yayyyy! how delightful! =D
not sure why but these photos creep me outttt
That's interesting, it doesn't creep me out but I can certainly see it, maybe something about the unknown of what the seemingly homogenous sand truly is. A world beyond what we can see, that we are ignorant to but that always has, and always will be there. Almost eldritch in a way.
And I thought the bug sub creeped me out.
It's so much better if u watch it in a (real) binocular microscope so u can see it in 3D and turn it around.