this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2025
666 points (100.0% liked)
Science Memes
17039 readers
2208 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Yeah, but its not made out of undifferentiated proteins, its made out of cells.
A human red blood cell is about 6.2 μ wide (though only a couple micrometers thick), so if we assume this little guy is 1.5 cm long that's only 2420 human red blood cells from tip to tail.
IMO that's pretty amazing and you should be amazed.
Nah. You are assuming a red blood cell is a common size. It'd be like aliens coming to Earth, seeing Humans, and assuming life's average scale is that of a human on this planet.
There is a MASSIVE scale of difference between cells of different animals. Some cells can be seen with the naked eye. That doesn't magically mean other animal cells have to also be large.
There are entire living organisms that are smaller than Titin. Several species of eukaryotes are smaller than Titin, and they're single celled orgsnisms by definition. A single celled organism smaller than a human blood cell by an order of magnitude.
That says nothing of prokaryotes, which are also celled organisms that are multiple orders of magnitude smaller still.
Again, it's amazing only because you assume humans aren't fucking insanely huge. An understandable perspective for sure, but a wrong perspective none the less.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC cell size is mostly determined by the necessary rate of diffusion across the membrane and the surface area to volume ratio for a given size.
So, while there are some extreme outliers with more exotic cell biology, organisms having similar cellular metabolisms will generally have similarly sized cells, at least within an order of magnitude. Or in other words, an elephant is much larger than an ant because it has many more cells, not because its cells are much larger.
An exception to this of course being neural cells, which can be very very long, or very wide and branched (like Purkinje cells). But even within the brain this still kinda holds true. I actually know much more about brain anatomy than general biology, and I remember from the book Principles of Brain Evolution that elephant brains are much larger than ours, and actually have a much larger number of neurons, and that strangely intelligence seems to correlate more with the ratio between brain and body size than with absolute brain size. A possible explanation is that it may simply take a larger number of neurons to coordinate a larger number of muscle cells.
EDIT: case in point C. Elegans is about 1mm (or 1000 μm) long and has 1031 cells, including 302 neurons, which lines up with its cells being about as large as human cells when you consider that its a 3D volume and not a single chain of cells lined up next to each other.
Definitely wrong, although I do not have a collegiate off-hand understanding of biology to really fully decribe it.
But it comes down to what does a "cell" mean in biology? Even your case in point specifies an object with many cells in it.
Cell membranes don't use simple diffusion to transport chemicals across. That's the entire point of a "cell". It's a defined region that at least attempts to control its own various chemical balances. Cells do have many gates that allow many molecules across, unfortunately including many viruses and prions. Unfortuntely, cell walls are also not impervious to truly toxic chemicals, either, so a "cell wall" still can absolutely break down with minimal effort with the right chemicals. They do attempt to control their own balances though, including basic ionic content. That's the whole point. The attempt.
I really have to ask... Why do you think humans aren't so big on the scale of life? Your perspective really come across as human-centric. Not "bad" by itself, but still wholly incompatible with reality.
The thing that does change in relation to diffusion at scale is the necessity of circulatory and respertory systems, which is a massive order of magnitude or few increase in complexity than cells.
Well, from reading this its pretty clear to me now that you don't know much about biology. And yet you have really strong opinions on something you have no education in.
What are you even trying to say here?
They do for quite a lot things actually. Simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and active transport all take place and are all necessary for the cell to function. The ratio of cytoplasm volume to cell membrane area is relevant regardless.
By the way, you didn't need to write an entire paragraph about homeostasis or try to define what a cell is.
Your perspective really comes across like you're high on something. You also apparently didn't understand what my comment was even about. It was about this sentence:
I wasn't assuming anything. In saying "correct me if I'm wrong" I was being charitable in leaving the door open that you might know something relevant about cellular scale that I didn't. But I'm pretty confident now that is not the case.
You not understanding what I said doesn't mean I do not understand what I said.
Your understanding is still grossly ignorant and pathetically self-confidant. The main point I was trying to drive home was the DIFFERENT SCALES of life, yet you go off trying to attack me for explaining things in simple terms... You are pathetic.
I think I understand your main point pretty well, that point being "takes bong rip bro, just think about how small an atom is bro, like bro, just think about how many atoms are in your hand bro, dude woah".
Up until my last comment I was trying to have a meaningful conversation with you about things like organization in biological systems, but you've done nothing but talk past me while jerking yourself off over how much more "aware" you are than everyone else, even while you admit you don't even have the vocabulary to talk about about cellular biology.
And by the way, I'm not attacking you for "explaining things in simple terms", I'm attacking you because you said a bunch of stuff that's factually wrong while acting like an ass.
If you know more about biology than me then you should KNOW the HUGE scale differences between life forms.
It's not my fault you're too fucking willfully ignorant to understand the literal truth behind a "bong rip thought".