Orgot
Orgot t1_jeb4i87 wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why do people grow plants in greenhouse ? Is it more efficient than growing plants outside ? by dellive
Lots of plants from tropical climates have minimum temperature and humidity requirements. Gardeners and farmers in temperate or even polar climates cannot grow these plants outside at all, but greenhouses let them re-create those conditions indoors while still giving plants access to sunlight. Even plants that can survive outside often grow faster under the controlled conditions in a greenhouse. Pest management is also easier in the controlled environment. Some greenhouses can even have extra CO2 piped in for even faster growth.
Orgot t1_j8n9ork wrote
Reply to comment by youngbarbarian in What are some good books that feature non-humanlike AI? by youngbarbarian
For me, nothing at all. Murderbot reads as an introvert who may not be neurotypical, but their motivations and actions are hardly alien.
Orgot t1_ixmd6hi wrote
Reply to How can a feather keep it's color for so long, when other parts of many biological things tend to fade after they are no longer alive or part of said thing? by bremstar
Many feathers' colors come from their structure, rather than the more common route of molecules like melanin. These molecules break down, like when chlorophyll disappears from leaves in autumn. The microscopic ridges that structurally select for reflected light of a certain range of wavelengths may be more resilient. Apparently Lexus spent 15 years developing a paint that uses the same method, called Structural Blue, that shouldn't fade in the sun.
Orgot t1_ixmbq5j wrote
Reply to How do we know that reducing mosquito populations (such as by introducing genetically engineered ones) won't end up collapsing an important part of the food chain? by BeefTeaser
We can infer that it will do less damage than broadly spraying chemicals or draining wetlands. A quick Google search found lots of animals that eat them, but none that rely on them exclusively. A few boreal orchids seem to depend on them as pollinators more than any other insect. Given that they kill more humans than any other non-human animal, adding a few more bog orchids to the list of species we're driving to extinction probably won't derail these mitigation efforts.
Orgot t1_ixm9jxx wrote
Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction that has been documented in turkey, condors, and quail, so one of them. If you restrict the query to animals who reproduce ~primarily~ asexually though, it's probably stick insects or thrips.
I'm just getting this from the Wikipedia article on asexual reproduction, if you'd like to read it for yourself - until checking it I would have said whiptail lizards.
Orgot t1_jecwjyr wrote
Reply to comment by northof420 in ELI5: Why do people grow plants in greenhouse ? Is it more efficient than growing plants outside ? by dellive
Good question! I don't know, but it should be possible to multiply the standard CO2 proportion of air by the density of air at your altitude by the volume of air in the greenhouse (216 cubic feet for a 6'x6'x6' greenhouse with nothing in it) to get the mass of CO2 inside at a given time. If you wanted to raise that by 10%, you'd just add that mass of dry ice - it has the same mass whether solid or gas.
But, air exchange with the outdoors will equalize that concentration gradient eventually, perhaps even as fast as the dry ice sublimates. Even in an airtight greenhouse, the enhanced CO2 levels will benefit some plant groups more than others, in a way that changes with day length and temperature. Timing probably matters too, with some plants shutting their stomata in the day.