[HN Gopher] If I could dissect a sauropod
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       If I could dissect a sauropod
        
       Author : surprisetalk
       Score  : 92 points
       Date   : 2024-09-12 13:54 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (svpow.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (svpow.com)
        
       | surprisetalk wrote:
       | I recently discovered this blog via Adam Mastroianni's essay
       | contest.
       | 
       | (my submission on "offensive horticulture" did not even make
       | honorable mention haha)
       | 
       | Experimental History, the host of the contest, is a doing amazing
       | work on democratizing science! Check it out
       | 
       | [0] https://www.experimental-history.com/p/blog-extravaganza-
       | the...
       | 
       | [1] https://www.experimental-history.com
        
         | 6177c40f wrote:
         | > (my submission on "offensive horticulture" did not even make
         | honorable mention haha)
         | 
         | Do you have this posted anywhere? I for one would like to learn
         | more about "offensive horticulture."
        
           | surprisetalk wrote:
           | Thanks for asking :)
           | 
           | The original essay was pretty long, so I'm releasing it in
           | chapters here:
           | 
           | [0] https://taylor.town/oh
           | 
           | Chapter 1: "Proplifting, Plant Piracy, and Dumpster
           | Chocolates"
           | 
           | [1] https://taylor.town/oh-theft
        
             | eep_social wrote:
             | If you haven't run across
             | https://www.crimepaysbutbotanydoesnt.com/ you may be in for
             | a treat.
        
             | ljf wrote:
             | Great article! I've just installed an rss reader for the
             | first time in years specifically to subscribe to your site.
             | Looking forward to reading more
        
       | MichaelZuo wrote:
       | How did enough birds survive post-impact in order for them to
       | still exist, if their 'air sack' lungs are so sensitive to air
       | quality?
        
         | HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
         | I'd guess that the inner parts of a forest environment, perhaps
         | especially if wet (trapping dust on leaves) would have better
         | air quality, but I'd expect that limited sunlight due to dust
         | would be more of a problem than air quality. Smaller more
         | generalist animals like birds and mammals understandably did
         | better than large herbivores (and their predators) dependent on
         | a single type of food source.
        
           | deisteve wrote:
           | yeah thats probly right, inner parts of forest would be
           | cleaner air wise dust gets trapped on leaves and stuff but
           | sunlight is probly a bigger issue, less of it gets thru all
           | the dust and thats bad for plants and animals alike,
           | especially ones that need lots of it like big herbivores and
           | their predators, theyd struggle to survive on limited
           | sunlight and maybe even worse air quality than outer parts of
           | forest, generalist animals like birds and small mammals would
           | do ok tho, they can eat lots of diff things and dont need as
           | much sunlight
        
             | HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
             | "rephrase in more casual form" ? What was the prompt to
             | generate that ?!
        
         | shagie wrote:
         | https://www.audubon.org/news/how-birds-survived-asteroid-imp...
         | 
         | ... though it doesn't get into the air quality directly.
        
         | Swizec wrote:
         | > How did enough birds survive post-impact in order for them to
         | still exist, if their 'air sack' lungs are so sensitive to air
         | quality?
         | 
         | The k-pg extinction was instant in a geologic sense, but in
         | terms of individual animals it felt more like a slow decline.
         | It took a few thousand years for the whole thing to happen[1].
         | With effects lasting into the 500,000 year range.
         | 
         | For most birds the air pollution was similar to what you see
         | from large forest fires. Even when skies were orange in San
         | Francisco a few years ago, birds weren't dropping dead. High
         | AQI kills slowly, if you (or a bird) are not inhaling smoke
         | directly.
         | 
         | But yes every bird within a few thousand kilometers of the
         | impact site probably died instantly. Most birds and other
         | animals were not within that radius.
         | 
         | [1]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_e...
        
       | ufo wrote:
       | The blog post recommended the TV show "inside nature's giants",
       | and I second it.
       | 
       | The bit about the recurrent laryngeal nerve of the giraffe is
       | particulary memorable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO1a1Ek-
       | HD0
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-12 23:00 UTC)