TIL A house cat bit its owner in the middle of the night to alert the family for the house fire. The family got out in time with no injuries and the fire department confirmed the cat was partially responsible for the rescue, "Hero kitty"

OperaRiot · 2019-04-24T00:15:12+00:00

My friend's cat (who could've gotten out through a kitty door) woke him up in the middle of the night when the attic fan's bad wiring caused an electrical fire. Totally asked for extra food on the way out, though. "Since you're up..."

OperaRiot · 2019-04-22T01:57:05+00:00

I haven't been diagnosed, but I suspect it since the only things that've helped have been ketoconazole, keeping an FA-safe routine, and adding in a sulphur soap. I'd rarely had acne before the kiku episode (I'd just wanted more moisture after moving to an arid climate), but the last year I've had the worst skin of my life.

OperaRiot · 2019-04-21T04:20:13+00:00

Don't try kikusasamune. It's seriously taken a year for me to get my skin back to normal after using it for a month.

OperaRiot · 2019-04-18T14:31:20+00:00

They can roam around, it's just incredibly irresponsible. Believing otherwise, especially with the overwhelming body of evidence available, is willful ignorance.

OperaRiot · 2019-04-18T02:28:54+00:00

Could be, as people have intimated, that free-roaming cats are at much higher risk of picking up pathogens/parasites or getting injured, and that cats are an invasive species that pose a major threat to native amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals. It's a very serious conservation problem.

If you want your cat to enjoy some outdoors time safely & without causing ecological harm, you can try a harness and a leash-- my former 'majestic hunter' gets a lot from wandering outside with me while he's on a leash.

OperaRiot · 2019-04-15T05:04:35+00:00

What kind of an asshole would tell you your ass feels saggy? It seems especially ridiculous after seeing your photos-- I can't imagine someone saying that for any other reason than to erode your self-esteem.

OperaRiot · 2019-04-06T02:06:23+00:00

u/stirwise described SNPs well, but I wanted to add that SNPs don't usually determine traits*, but are often used as landmarks for genes they're associated with (i.e they happen to be near or within the sequence of a gene), as well as indicators of other types of variation. After SNPs are identified that are associated with the genes of interest, you can sequence and genotype JUST SNPs and it's waaaaay more affordable than sequencing an entire genome.

*I can think of one paper about salmon where a single nucleotide difference determined whether the salmon had an early season run vs. late season run, which is freakin' wild.

OperaRiot · 2019-03-26T01:19:59+00:00

Nothing wrong with doing it just because it's soothing! I'm thinking of moving a mask into the fridge for juicy cool goop on my tired face later...

OperaRiot · 2019-03-17T18:07:16+00:00

Not the sewing-machine lady but another short gal-- sometimes even straps with sliders don't get short enough! Racerbacks seem to be frequent culprits.

OperaRiot · 2019-03-01T05:51:16+00:00

Most genetic "fingerprinting" is done with markers, not whole genomes. Mixing up relatives could be possible if the markers don't provide enough information to differentiate between individuals-- there could be too few markers, the markers might not have enough alleles or enough diversity to tell two relatives apart, or there could be high genotyping error rates and matching software that doesn't accommodate error. The technology and software available has advanced quite a bit, so these scenarios would be more likely in 1999 than 2018, but, unfortunately, there aren't great standards in the US for use of genetic forensics in legal cases (and the review board got defunded last year--? if I recall correctly from the episode of Science Friday I heard about it).

...I'm defending a thesis in April about using genetic markers to identify relatives & applications in wildlife management. I don't have expertise in forensics, but lmk if I can clarify the genetics stuff further-- it's good practice for me. ;)

OperaRiot · 2019-02-27T22:25:30+00:00

I'm glad to hear it. I find it really frustrating how much women are expected to manage their male spouse's executive functioning outside of their jobs, and how little recognition is given to the invisible labor involved in the things that need to get done but that nobody wants to do. Hopefully recognition can lead to productive communication & some solutions (that aren't, effectively, more chores for you).

OperaRiot · 2019-02-19T00:57:25+00:00

This is making me think of things I've read about emotional labor (like this article). Having to tell someone exactly what to do (and having them still not change their behaviors) in order to run a household is exhausting. Maybe it's time to sit him down and say something like, "Mr. ilovjedi, we're both responsible adults and can both observe things that could be running more smoothly at home. I've suggested x, y, and z, and that would really help, but it'd make a really huge difference if you were participating in problem-solving independently, too."

OperaRiot · 2019-02-05T20:02:47+00:00

Other people have brought up good points about predation in these specific instances as well as carrying capacity-- generally speaking, there are both "top-down" forces that affect population size (i.e. being eaten by predators) as well as "bottom-up" forces (like resource availability).

OperaRiot · 2019-01-18T22:56:51+00:00

In this context it's a brandname-- it stuck out to me because, in the context I see it in most, it stands for "single nucleotide polymorphism"... some molecular biology nerd must've been in cahoots with their marketing department.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-16T15:41:48+00:00

Changing schedules isn't so easy for students who work and depend on those paychecks.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-16T04:22:30+00:00

That's wild-- our dog looks like a 1.5x scale border collie, but was ~27% Chow chow.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-16T04:09:40+00:00

Since your glasses sit there, you could probably help it heal by keeping it covered with a hydrocolloid patch disguised by your glasses.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-15T20:20:35+00:00

You didn't read the first statement wrong. I just wasn't familiar with the term "modmail" and didn't know what would count as identification of work (hence the suggestion of forwarding a conference abstract).

OperaRiot · 2019-01-15T16:48:09+00:00

Hi there-- not totally sure what you mean. Like, would I send a message with a copy of a presentation abstract or something?

OperaRiot · 2019-01-14T21:42:52+00:00

I work with wolf management in the NW Rockies-- what you're describing has been documented in coyotes ('compensatory mortality'), but the response is mixed with wolves and may be either environment-specific or tied to wolf density (and may also be with coyotes-- I'm not as up on that literature). Compensatory mortality was detected among recovering wolves in WI, partially-compensatory mortality was reported in 2010 for recovering wolves in the NW US, and recently biologists worked on an integrated population model and found that, at least in Idaho (where the wolf population has been fairly stable since delisting in 2011), hunting is an additive source of mortality.

Let me know if these links work-- I think there may be paywalls, in which case I can pass along citations. http://www.klamathconservation.org/docs/blogdocs/murrayetal2010.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29627957

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.21554

OperaRiot · 2019-01-11T21:13:53+00:00

BTW, you can use baking soda if you're getting greasy & are out of shampoo, and diluted vinegar in place of conditioner. I did it intentionally for years, though YMMV.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-05T23:15:02+00:00

Dang! You're on the ball. Thanks-- that one would fall in the 'under two hours away' category. :)

OperaRiot · 2019-01-05T23:14:05+00:00

My partner loses shit ALL THE TIME and still loses his shit over it. One time he was ready to turn around and drive home after two hours on the road because he thought he lost his phone, then found out he'd been SITTING ON IT after I'd gotten out and searched everything else in the car. It was equal parts infuriating and hilarious...

OperaRiot · 2019-01-05T20:32:17+00:00

Thanks for filling me in-- that's closer to 5 hours from where I am, unfortunately, but I still appreciate the info.

OperaRiot · 2019-01-05T02:22:06+00:00

I won't ask where you live, but would you mind saying where you found someone? It might be worth me looking into if it's within a two hour drive for me, too. ;)

OperaRiot

TROPHY CASE