scientist voice: today i will be a dick to this cricketĀ
The phrase āexposed to this spider tormentā will haunt me
People in the notes have entirely misunderstood the point of this experiment and what it entails.
Itās not āproving that crickets can be traumatizedā. Itās proving that *animals can genetically pass on the stress that a dangerous situation causes, and the offspring will instinctually respond to the same situation without ever having personally experienced it.*
And thatās a big deal for many things, including human psychology.
When Nazis invaded The Netherlands, local Dutch peoples were under extreme emotional and physical duress. The Nazi army took their food for the soldiers, starving the population. They patrolled the streets and harshly reinforced their new laws. Existence was horrible and some parents had to give their children away to wealthier families because they couldnāt feed them anymore. This event is known as the Hongerwinter, or Dutch Famine.
One generation later, the children of mothers who were pregnant at the time of the famine have been proven to exhibit intense reactions to stress, and heightened fight or flight responses. They also experience more obesity because their bodies are prepared for starvation.
Some of these children were never personally exposed to the famine. Their mothers gave birth after conditions had improved, or even after moving to another country. But the effects are there, and those people are now adults who can recognize this and attest that they didnāt experience something else traumatic during childhood. It was passed on in the womb.
This is called epigenetics. Itās essential to understanding how the human brain and body works. That our responses to stress can be passed on genetically. That it can show up in how we look physically, our physical health, our mental responses, our instinctual reactions. Itās especially important for people who are in therapy and need to understand *why* they act a certain way before they can actually work on it.
So no, this experiment wasnāt āhaha letās torment a cricketā. Iām not going to argue the potential cruelty of the experiment with people. I just want you to understand what it actually all MEANS.
I think i am going to be working full time for the foreseeable future… whilst going to grad school… idk how I’ll survive but the money is too good to give up !!!
A large strawberry squid, one of three caught on the last trawl of the Deep-See cruise. Photo: NOAA Fisheries
“The strawberry squid, gets its nickname from the berry-like appearance of its bright-red body speckled with numerous jewel like luminescent photophores ” via @octonation
Unpopular opinion but Sweeney Todd is not sufficiently punished by the narrative. He is the title character (protagonist) which means we are supposed to emulate him. He dies before he can explicitly state “Revenge is bad and don’t kill innocent people.” Then the finale says “To seek revenge may lead to hell but everyone does it, though seldom as well as Sweeney Todd” which normalizes murder and revenge. Also even in the finale Mrs Lovett does not get mentioned for her part in the work (anti feminist) but that’s a different post.
