this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
292 points (99.0% liked)

Science Memes

13427 readers
3909 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

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



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

top 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 7 points 17 hours ago

Why the fuck even make a selection. It's called an eco-SYSTEM for a reason.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 23 hours ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours ago

Their skeletons might though

[–] [email protected] 17 points 23 hours ago

Only very temporarily.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Bees and ants are in the wasp ~~family~~ order.

If wasps go, so to does much of the biodiversity among pollinators.

Edit: specificity in language is important

[–] LaLuzDelSol 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Bees are not in the wasp family (although ants are)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago

My bad, I meant order, they're distant cousins in the Hymenoptera order.

[–] RBWells 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I was a wasp agnostic until I saw them pollinating the flowers in my yard. They aren't all assholes. Some hornets are aggressive but most wasps are chill and helpful. Everyone loves bats though, don't they?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

There are 100,000+ wasp species, and many usually dont sting or target specific species / bugs, or are solitary

[–] irish_link 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

TIL that wasps are pollinators. Not sure why but growing up I was always informed that they are not. They were predators who did not provide honey and so there was no need for them to be near flowers for pollen. Either I’m old or I grew up in a really shorty education system. (WhyNotBoth.gif)

Thanks to this image I looked it up and learned something. Thanks for teaching me something new today!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago

You're probably thinking of the big guys, like hornets and paper wasps. Most wasps are tiny, and the average person would likely confuse them with a fly. There are thousands of wasp species ranging from top-level predators to tiny parasites

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

If you wanna learn about some more wasp pollination, look up fig wasps (Agaonidae). Wasps are legitimately one of the coolest groups of animals.

[–] UltraMagnus0001 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Now tell me something nice about flies and mosquitoes so I don't go on a murder rampage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

Some species of flies and mosquitoes are also pollinators. One cute example of pollinating flies are the Bombyliidae. Mosquito larvae are also important food sources for aquatic and semi-aquatic species like frogs and fish.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i mean that's a pretty unusual pollinator/plant relationship

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

If you study wasps, you'll find that they very frequently have odd symbioses from species to species, most often as parasites/parasitoids or hyperparasites. Some even have symbiotic relationships with viruses that assist them in their parasitism - ichneumon and braconid wasps have symbiotic viruses called polydnaviruses.

[–] Admax 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Indeed very cool, but also quite disturbing the more you learn about less common wasps…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Haha there's a reason why the Xenomorph from Alien is in part inspired by parasitoid wasps.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 21 hours ago

Wasps in first line are predators, also needed in an healthy environmentm same as any other predator. Are only agressive when are in risk their nest or in selfdefense. It is typical in a picnic, a wasp can also appear to inspect food, but then it is also common for people to hit the wasp and it is normal that then defends and itchs. If he had left him alone, nothing had happened.

Aggressiveness is a human invention, an animal is never aggressive by default, when its nature and its territory are respected. There even existing videos abut hornets as mascot.

[–] MeatPilot 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I had mason bees living in the brick around my garage. Instead of murdering them all. I put out an insect house on a nearby tree, than cemented over all their homes well they were empty.

They promptly redirected to the new home, everyone was happy. Sometimes you have to be creative and put in a tad more work to redirect supposed pests.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

(If anything we humans are the “pests” and “invasive species” ahaha)

[–] chonglibloodsport 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Do you mean you cemented over the weep holes in the brick around your house? Those gaps in the brick mortar are necessary for proper drainage. Brick is porous so it will absorb water and then accumulate behind the bricks unless the weep holes are there to allow the water to drain.

[–] MeatPilot 3 points 18 hours ago

This is where the cement chipped off at the top of the garage door and the inside of the brick was exposed from below. Not a weep hole.

[–] Droggelbecher 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Too many people believe that keeping honey bees is good for the environment, when in fact it damages biodiversity since they outcompete native pollinators.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Honey bees also actively take pollen back to their hive, meaning relatively little of it is spread to other flowers. They're also often involved in pollen theft, where they take pollen, but don't spread it appropriately at all.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

@Ephera @Droggelbecher I preface this by saying I do not disagree... and I don't want to distract from a constructive conversation...