Ecologist
Joined December 2020
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4 Oct 2025
Vanity of vanities
All is vanity
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
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The Earth's oxygen mostly came from stars. The early universe was basically hydrogen, helium, and a little lithium. Oxygen was made later inside stars by nuclear fusion, especially in massive stars, then scattered into space by stellar winds and supernovae.
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The GOE may have triggered major climate disruption.
Oxygen reacted with methane, which was an important greenhouse gas. Less methane likely cooled the planet and may have contributed to severe ancient ice ages.
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It changed Earth’s rocks and oceans. A lot of early oxygen reacted with dissolved iron in the oceans, forming iron oxides—basically rust—which helped create major banded iron formations. That is one reason geologists can “see” the oxidation of Earth in ancient rocks.
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ZM retweeted
Jun 15
The human eye is an extraordinary example of complexity and precision
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Jun 15
Some relationships have natural lifecycles. Not every relationship is meant to be permanent. Some are built around a specific life stage, shared mission, need, attraction, crisis, job, community, or version of yourself.
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Jun 15
Mission relationships: business partners, activists, collaborators, or creative partners who are deeply aligned around a project. When the mission changes, the relationship may change too.
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Jun 15
Lifetime relationships: these adapt across stages because the underlying respect, care, repair capacity, and compatibility are strong enough.
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Jun 15
Biological evolution has no built-in final purpose, destination, or plan.
But there is a weaker sense in which evolution can look "teleological". Organisms become well-fitted to functions because natural selection preserves traits that help them survive and reproduce.
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Jun 15
Drift and accidents matter. Some traits spread not because they are optimal, but because of chance: founder effects, population crashes, bottlenecks, storms, fires, disease outbreaks, asteroid impacts, human introductions.
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Jun 15
The environment is always changing which changes the “fitness landscape”. A trait that is useful now may be harmful later.
Climate, predators, competitors, food sources, parasites, and humans all keep changing the payoff table.
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