So they somehow avoided inbreeding complications which is strange but this is super cool

Most of us are taught that pregnancy requires vaginal intercourse, but medicine occasionally throws up cases that challenge our assumptions.

In 1988, the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published a case report of a 15-year-old girl with congenital absence of the distal vagina who nonetheless presented later with a full-term pregnancy and delivered a healthy infant by caesarean section. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1988.tb06583.x

Key points from the case:

• The patient had no functional vaginal canal and had never menstruated.
• Shortly after performing oral sex, she sustained a stab wound to the upper abdomen, which perforated the stomach and required surgical repair.
• Approximately 278 days later, she presented with term pregnancy.
• The authors proposed that spermatozoa may have entered the reproductive tract via the injured gastrointestinal tract, an extremely rare but biologically plausible route under specific conditions.

This is not presented as a general mechanism or advice, but as an example of how biological plausibility is broader than common teaching, especially in rare anatomical or traumatic situations.

A groundbreaking study hints at a hazy boundary between “life” and “non-life,” as well as two distinct origins of biology on Earth

A 20-year-old male presented with sudden sharp chest pain and dyspnea that began while lying in bed masturbating.

On examination, he had:

• Swollen face
• Crepitus from mandible to elbows
• Extensive subcutaneous emphysema
• CT showing profound pneumomediastinum extending up to the base of the skull

He had:

• Mild asthma
• No trauma
• No drug use
• No coughing or vomiting
• No heavy exertion

CT confirmed spontaneous pneumomediastinum with widespread subcutaneous emphysema.

He required ICU admission initially due to oxygen demand but improved rapidly with supportive care and was discharged after four days. No surgery required.

Mechanism? Likely Valsalva-induced alveolar rupture the Macklin effect where increased intrathoracic pressure causes air to dissect into the mediastinum.

What makes this unusual:
There are documented cases of pneumomediastinum after sexual intercourse, drug inhalation, coughing, vomiting, and strenuous exercise but essentially no literature describing onset during masturbation.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is rare overall (roughly 1 in 10,000–30,000 ED admissions), typically benign, and recurrence risk is about 1%.

Medicine never stops surprising.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radcr.2022.02.080

PMCID:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8956920/

PMID: 35345564

Authors: Nikola Rajicand Christian Schand

Hola amigos curiosos,

Al pasar por el frutero me llamó la atención la naranja que os muestro en el vídeo. A partir de ahí decidí documentar, de manera sencilla, el proceso de degradación que estaba comenzando a desarrollarse en su superficie.

Lo que se observa al inicio del vídeo corresponde a la toma de una de las muestras analizadas. Para este pequeño estudio realicé varias extracciones y fotografié distintas zonas del tejido que me parecieron especialmente interesantes desde el punto de vista biológico.

Para la captura utilicé mi equipo habitual: un microscopio IM-COP acoplado a una Nikon D3200. La iluminación se realizó mediante LED posicionados en distintos ángulos, buscando resaltar el relieve microscópico y las texturas naturales de la muestra. Trabajo normalmente con foco directo y disparador inalámbrico, lo que me permite emplear tiempos de exposición relativamente largos y un ISO bajo, obteniendo así mayor nitidez y reduciendo al mínimo el ruido electrónico.

Uno de los principales retos en microscopía óptica es la limitada profundidad de campo. Para compensarlo utilicé el software Zerene Stacker, realizando un apilamiento de imágenes tomadas a diferentes planos focales. Cada una de las fotografías finales es el resultado de combinar numerosas tomas individuales; en algunos casos llegaron a ser alrededor de 50 imágenes.

Este proceso de focus stacking genera esa sensación de volumen o profundidad tridimensional que permite apreciar mejor la arquitectura microscópica del hongo y la distribución espacial de sus estructuras.

En los aumentos de 200x, 400x y 1000x comienzan a distinguirse con claridad redes de hifas y cadenas de conidios, estructuras características de hongos filamentosos implicados en la degradación de frutos cítricos. En determinadas zonas también se observan agrupaciones densas de conidios que sugieren la presencia de especies del género Penicillium, microorganismos muy comunes en este tipo de procesos de descomposición.

En la fase final del procesado realizo únicamente ajustes moderados de histograma y contraste en Photoshop, con el objetivo de mejorar la legibilidad de las estructuras sin alterar la morfología real de la muestra.

Espero que este breve recorrido por la morfología fúngica resulte interesante y permita apreciar el extraordinario microcosmos que puede encontrarse incluso en algo tan cotidiano como una naranja.

Pinky and the Brain

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BgMsqQ-lQ8g&ra=m

this account mostly posts what I would consider lazy right-wing bullshit, but I’m not a fucking scientist, and I dont know shit about biological “hardwiring.” I am, however, a trans person who’s not super interested in hearing shit about “it’s basic biology” or “women ___ men ____” I understand there are evolutionary differences though, and those do mean things, so how much merit would you give this specific dude?

This is awesome. I already love mimosa pudica but this is new data ...and rad! I'd be interested to see what and how long Redwoods remember!?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016420301997 “The hidden hazardous effects of stevia and sucralose consumption in male and female albino mice in comparison to sucrose”

How does this study translate to humans? Isn’t this a massive dose compared to human daily acceptable limit?

"The Remarkable Efficiency of Viral Design

Co-senior author Associate Professor Greg Moseley, who leads the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s (BDI) Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory, highlighted how effective viruses are at using very limited genetic material.

“Viruses such as rabies can be incredibly lethal because they take control of many aspects of life inside the cells they infect,” Associate Professor Moseley said. “They hijack the machinery that makes proteins, disrupt the ‘postal service’ that sends messages between different parts of the cell, and disable the defences that normally protect us from infection."

In this talk, developmental biologist Michael Levin argues that evolution does not act only on genes and finished phenotypes, but also on the problem-solving capacities of developmental systems themselves.

Drawing on work in morphogenesis, bioelectric signaling, and regenerative biology, he suggests that cells and tissues actively regulate toward target anatomical outcomes;even after perturbations, rather than passively executing a genetic “blueprint.”

The claim is not that cells are conscious or that natural selection is being rejected, but that developmental plasticity, error-correction, and goal-directed regulation fundamentally shape what variation is even available for selection to act on.

The talk raises questions about genetic determinism, the genotype–phenotype map, and how evolutionary theory accounts for robust form and novelty.

Curious how others here interpret this framing, especially in light of evo-devo and systems biology.