967
Humanity making progress like it always does
(mbin.grits.dev)
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
I'm so dopey. I thought this was suggesting that we'd invented some clever formulation to stop dead bugs sticking to windshields in 2020 and that we'd all have fully autonomous cars by 2050.
There ARE fewer bugs, and that's a problem, but also cars are more aerodynamic and would kill fewer bugs these days regardless.
Hmmm... This article suggests the opposite.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/car-splatometer-tests-reveal-huge-decline-number-insects
What is it about then 0_o ?
It is about how the death of the insects is a precursor to the death of the rest of us. In the 90’s, there were a lot more bugs in the world, and it was very noticeable on road trips. They’re all gone now.
I was outside, next to a park on a lake, and I mentioned to someone the lack of ambient bugs. He was insistent that there were bugs around somewhere but it took me several minutes to locate ONE and it was the only one I could find.
No dragonflies, ladybugs, bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers... I couldn't even see any ants, flies, or mosquitos. The one I found looked similar to a gnat. It's spring here. There should be bugs.
I don’t know where all of you live, but my windshield is still an aria of death in the spring of 2024.
Same
Same
It is probably because newer cars are more aerodynamic and the bugs just fly over
That's a very small part of it. Most of it is that we're destroying our surrounding ecosystem with multiple different pressures.