434
Lichens are things (files.catbox.moe)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

image transcript:

the lichen knowledge iceberg i have constructed on request.

jhanettesticle replies:
we cant make lichen happen in a lab? have we tried taking the parts that make up a lichen and throwing them together in a petri dish?

bogleech replies:
The deranged fucked up dark sided thing about lichen is that the exact species comprising it don't even necessarily determine the type of lichen. You can have what seems to be the same lichen in two different locations using different symbiotes, or two different looking lichen turn out to have the very same symbiotes. So it's not even that they form when the right component species meet up, because that doesn't always have a predictable result. Something in the environment tells them to build a lichen. Something that makes sense to them but has no meaning to us yet. Whatever it is cannot be imitated by us, in fact if you move a lichen indoors - or move it at all, really - it's all but guaranteed to stop being a lichen or just due, even if you try to recreate the climate you found it in!

Only one truth is certain:

Lichens are things.

end of transcript

reposted from tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/bogleech/756047802259341312

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[-] randomsnark@lemmy.ml 58 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

For anyone else who was curious about lichens covering "a not insignificant amount" of the earth's surface, a quick google tells me it's about 7% (according to e.g. new york times, scientific american, etc)

Edit: oh and estimating the age of an exposed surface by lichen diameter is called lichenometry. I'm seeing stuff about it being used in geological contexts but it makes sense that it could work for old buildings too

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 52 points 10 months ago

We can't even grow most bacteria in labs. It's a pretty small subset that work with the traditional agar petri dish set up.

[-] stelelor@lemmy.ca 29 points 10 months ago

Gotta love oligotrophy. Some lichens grow inside rocks... definitely can't replicate that in a lab (although not for lack of trying).

[-] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 19 points 10 months ago

We can't even grow most bacteria in labs.

And that doesn't even get to the level of Archaea. Some of which we only know about because of genetic material.

[-] voracitude@lemmy.world 48 points 10 months ago

And I thought mushrooms were complicated...

[-] Draegur@lemm.ee 45 points 10 months ago

i imagine alien hivemind organisms looking at earth and our cities upon it and thinking "what are these growths and why aren't the samples we collect producing them?"

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 42 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I would like to propose an addition to the Forbidden Knowledge list:

  1. Do not teach crabs how to read
  2. Do not tell any lichen that “red wunz go fasta”
[-] thegreekgeek@midwest.social 20 points 10 months ago

Will we get Orkz one day when some mad scientist decides to cross lichen with Florida man?

[-] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 12 points 10 months ago

I'm sure it's not unusual for Florida men to have lichen growing on them, so we're probably halfway there already.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago

Whispered:

synergy

[-] Generous1146@beehaw.org 41 points 10 months ago

Id watch a 2h youtube video about this 👀

[-] deuleb_biezelbob@programming.dev 27 points 10 months ago

I'd sink a months worth of time and ADHD medication on this

[-] deuleb_biezelbob@programming.dev 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

oh my god @nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone what gave you done. here goes my free time

[-] nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 10 months ago

i'm sorry, i know not the power i wield

[-] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago
[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 56 points 10 months ago

The short answer: fungus and algae work together and create a multi-organism structure.

The medium answer: [this meme]

The long answer: [years of graduate school]

[-] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 48 points 10 months ago

It's a thing that grows on trees and rocks mostly, but can and does grow on basically anything in the goldilocks conditions. They feel like crispy moss if you touch them.

[-] dogsnest@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

They thrive in graveyards...

[-] anarchrist@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
[-] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 10 months ago

To those unfamiliar, this is the translation from goth to non-goth. Any non-goths hearing Robert Smith here make this statement would perceive someone closer to:

~me too~

Subscribe for more fun facts from "Too Sad to Sack Rome: Understanding Goths"

[-] brisk@aussie.zone 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If

*off screen* me too!

makes more sense to me than

~me too~

Does that make me a goth?

[-] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 10 months ago

I'm sorry but, I'm not a physician and thus am not qualified to provide medical advice.

[-] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago

Just need to build a lab in a graveyard then. Checkmate lichens!

[-] aStonedSanta@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

What if it’s how our souls are released. Man I’m high and that thought still gives me the call of the void lol

[-] kartoffelsaft@programming.dev 35 points 10 months ago

I'm no biologist, but I'm pretty sure that this photo I took a while back has a lot of lichen:

That flakey & coral-looking stuff growing on the branches should be lichen.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 18 points 10 months ago

It’s the opposite of not lichen.

And that’s both a pithy retort, as well as an accurate reflection of the ultimate gist of the infographic lol

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

A containment protocol for an ancient plague.

[-] thejoker954@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago

I've never thought about it. I always just assumed lichen was just a specific type of moss.

[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 22 points 10 months ago

Same. The more I learn about fungus and their related kin, the more I realize I don't get them lol.

[-] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 16 points 10 months ago

To be fair, based on mycology memes I’ve seen nobody gets fungi or their kin. (Nobody who knows enough to listen to, at least.)

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[-] scrion@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

For anyone interested, I really recommend the book / audio book Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake.

I liked the book so much that I later on bought the audio book. It's entertaining, filled with facts, but not overly scientific to a degree where it can't be enjoyed by a layman.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52668915-entangled-life

[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

Thanks! Definitely saving this comment for future reading.

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 21 points 10 months ago
[-] nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 10 months ago
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[-] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 10 months ago

Is a forest with a good mycorrhizal network a huge lichen..?

[-] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 5 points 10 months ago

Technically? Maybe.

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[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 13 points 10 months ago

Meanwhile, it's BFF moss is something like 90% dead plant matter and just a derpy slow sponge. Pinky and the brain.

[-] Shhalahr@beehaw.org 11 points 10 months ago

So, I opened this without looking at the source community. I'm on an RPG meme community as well. I was actually predicting a pun on a certain phylactery-using undead. Only as it was loading did I realize I had a chance for the science memes sub instead.

[-] nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 10 months ago

i did try to work a lich joke in the title but i couldn't think of anything natural or forced enough to be funny. submissions are open though

[-] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

I fucking hate the fact that this 100 story tall image format has become the default on the internet...

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

For fun related fiction viewing, I recommend the horror films:

Both are about "what would happen if nature got mad?" No, not like The Happening

[-] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Does "The Last Of Us" count here?

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Probably should, right?

[-] aStonedSanta@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

The happening. Man I’m still mad I spent time watching that. And I really don’t value my time lmao

[-] JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago

Omg thank you, I've only seen Gaia once but I loved it and I forgot the name!

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
[-] friendly_ghost@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

What I got out of this is that Dax from DS9 was probably a lichen

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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
434 points (98.0% liked)

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