5 ms·
There are some other examples like that in biology, my favourite being 13- and 17-year periodic cicadas [1] with one theory being that a prime number was select
by puzzlingcaptcha 7y ago
There are some other examples like that in biology, my favourite being 13- and 17-year periodic cicadas [1] with one theory being that a prime number was selected for during evolution to make it more difficult to synchronize with predator life cycles.
Counters in biology are also a thing, for example Hayflick limit [2] which is a number of times a single cell can divide before it dies (partially explained by telomere shortening due to particularities of replication of the lagging DNA strand 3). What is interesting here is that plants from the same clone grown in different climates likely grow at different rates so the counter must be decoupled from cell division. Perhaps accumulation of some metabolite that adds up every season triggers it at some threshold?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere#Shortening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere#Shortening
- jansan 7y agoI thought that circadas thing was made up for the series Silicon Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxh2X6NjuhY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxh2X6NjuhY
- wbl 7y agoComing from NJ I can safely say cicadeads are not made up.
- komali2 7y agoI promise I am not trying to be an asshole here - is there some joke I'm missing about both of your spelling of cicadas?
- sdrg822 7y agoI also have been wondering whether I am out of the loop on some joke...
- sdenton4 7y agoI imagine its just that cicadas - when they finally show up by the millions - also die by the millions, and leave little crunchy carcasses EVERYWHERE.
- Terretta 7y agoIn southeastern seaboard US states, some folks called them cicadas, some called them katydids, and some got the syllables confused and said things like katydeads or similar. Some people claimed the name depended on where you’re from. But they’re not the same: https://zippyfacts.com/what-is-the-difference-between-katydids-and-cicadas-and-how-do-you-tell-them-apart/ https://zippyfacts.com/what-is-the-difference-between-katydi...
- wbl 7y agoI had thought Cicadiads are the waves of cicadas. Turns out people say brood.
- mmanfrin 7y agoEven if it were made up, that bit of lore has been around much longer than the show.
- scott_s 7y agoIt was not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas
- teej 7y agoLife was loud and very buggy in 2004 when Brood X emerged on the east coast US.
- JudgeWapner 7y ago[4] https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/the-facts/creature-features/coral-spawning https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/the-facts/creature-feat...