r/biology • • 10h ago

article Mexico Eviscerates Vaquita Protections

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60 Upvotes

Not sure if this fits the sub. This breaks the heart.


r/biology • • 22h ago

fun I built Anima - turn any biology idea into an interactive scientific visualization

66 Upvotes

I've always found it frustrating that we explain complex biological mechanisms using static diagrams.

So I built Anima.

It's an open-source Claude Code skill that generates detailed, interactive figures covering neurobiology, pharmacology, anatomy and molecular biology.

One of the examples lets you switch between cocaine and amphetamine to see how their mechanisms differ at a dopamine synapse.

Another visualizes D1 and D2 dopamine receptor signaling with interactive controls.

It currently has six working examples, scientific references, interactive animations and optional WebGL/3D support.

The entire project is MIT-licensed, and the demos run directly in the browser.

GitHub: https://github.com/Garinmckayl/anima

Demo: https://anima.arcumet.com


r/biology • • 1d ago

discussion I got a 91 on my bio test and I’m really proud after studying hard!!

223 Upvotes

Got a 91 on my bio test and last time I got a 69 which I was really sad about , knowing science is one of my f subjects. I just started high school and things are rough for me, but I am really proud and have improved since middle school and have all A’s.


r/biology • • 15h ago

discussion I’m worried about the "Biology degree Regret"

12 Upvotes

Hey everyone

Like many of you, my absolute passion is biology, and I really want to pursue it. My current plan is to go all the way to a Master’s degree, specifically focusing on biotechnology or bioinformatics.

However, seeing how frequently biology is cited as one of the most regretted degrees makes me very nervous. I don’t come from a wealthy background, so I don't have a financial safety net to just blindly "follow my passion" I need this degree to yield a stable, well paying career

Before I fully commit, I would love to get some honest insights from those already in the field:

- How difficult were your undergraduate and graduate studies? What is your biggest piece of advice for surviving the coursework?

- How is the hiring market looking right now? Do you predict things will improve or worsen over the next 5 years?

- Which specific field of biology is performing the best on the job market?

- Is the field stable? How much flexibility do you have regarding rwork, work life balance, or pivoting to other industries?

- Do you think it’s relatively AI-resistant?

I’m sorry about the amount of questions. I want to be 100% sure about my path, and if it doesn’t suit me I’ll stop looking into it now. I truly love biology, but I don’t wanna make it hard on my future self.
I appreciate any blunt, realistic feedback you can give me!


r/biology • • 7h ago

academic I signed up to a science fair with no plan

0 Upvotes

Title says it all TvT

I love science, biology, zoology and ecology. Soooo when I heard there was a science fair a raised my hand immediately. There's going to be all sorts of college professors there looking at my work and it will be an awesome opportunity for my future.

One small problem... I have no clue what to do.

I've heard of all these kinds of highschool students making ground breaking discoveries for their science fairs but I dont know shit. My only plan was something ecology related but I have no clue what. Im good at art so no matter what bullshit I make it'll at least look cool but that's not gonna get the attention of college professors when they see my dorky looking ass. And, it's not like I could make some epic robot or do some crazy experiments, I'm broke!

Idk what to do or what I'm even expecting by posting this TvT

(Edit, it's due March 1st so I've got time :p)


r/biology • • 1d ago

question Urine culture

6 Upvotes

Can someone explain what exactly urine culture does? is it possible to identify more than one organism? Why some people have to take two different antibiotics at the same time?


r/biology • • 13h ago

discussion Opinions on Richard Dawkins?

0 Upvotes

I am a Biology/Chemistry dual major within my University, and during my Sophomore year I took evolutionary Biology, which included some readings from Dawkins's work The Selfish Gene, which was extremely eloquent, and I enjoyed it greatly. I will admit that while reading Dawkins's work, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole in regards to the man himself, and discovered that he was once celebrated as a leading intellectual of the "New Atheism" movement and a very well-respected scientific communicator.

I attempted to look deeper into Dawkins's more recent work (as Selfish is from 1976, I believe), but it seems as if is scientific competence has become moreso as a 'science popularizer' than anything else, and he has been militantly spewing anti-religious rhetoric, which I personally have no problem with as I am not religious, but could be offensive to some individuals. I was then horrified by the man's recent alignment with more bigoted and hateful organizations and schools of thought, and saw that a lot of his comments on transgender people were quite disgusting considering his background and education.

All of this being said, do we still feel as though Dawkins's work (and his words) hold up? There are more than a few extremely important quotes from that perfectly summarize the fashion of science ("science is the poetry of reality"), and he has had some great contributions to the field of Biology, but is he still well-respected nowadays? I am curious because of how much I enjoyed his early work, and his thoughts on science.


r/biology • • 1d ago

academic transferring to a biology bachelor's or restarting with a biology associate's degree?

0 Upvotes

hi! i was wondering if anyone possibly had any input regarding a previous associate degree's credits and transferring those, and if anyone has some experience. i know this definitely depends on the college and classes, but just wanted any input or personal experience if possible!

i currently am on track to complete a criminal justice associate's degree in the spring, but have shifted to wanting to go to med school and complete a biology degree prior. originally, i planned to complete additional science and math classes to transfer for a biology bachelor's. however, upon further research i've found that miracosta community college has really good biology courses and professors. they also have a good transfer rate for uc san diego. my main question is if it would be a good idea to get another associate's degree and hope some credits transfer, or if i should apply to a 4-year instead of getting another associate's. i would prefer to attend a school in the san diego/oceanside area if possible, and have done minimal research since i'm a bit lost on what to do. any help is appreciated!

for context, i want to work as a dermatologist. i know this requires an extensive amount of schooling and is very competitive, so i'm looking for an option that offers good connections and education.


r/biology • • 2d ago

fun For Moths, Lamp is not Life!

795 Upvotes

Moths and light bulbs: nature’s greatest love story? Not quite. 💔💡
Turns out, for moths lamp is not life and artificial light is quite disruptive to their routine.


r/biology • • 17h ago

question Why is bio long?

0 Upvotes

I don't understand if Bio was shorter that maybe the contents will stick with me.

I don't like when ppl overexplains things....

Even calculus is easier that bio.


r/biology • • 1d ago

video Why Is Cancer So Hard To Treat?

Thumbnail youtube.com
4 Upvotes

Why are cancers so hard to treat? Because a tumour isn't a single enemy. It's a population of our own cells that keeps evolving, and every treatment we use is a selection pressure.

I'm Alex, a genetics PhD at UCL researching cancer evolution.


r/biology • • 1d ago

question Why are mycoestrogens considered mycotoxins but phytoestrogens not considered phytotoxins?

1 Upvotes

As the title says, i was reading about xenoestrogens and i cant find anything on phytoestrogens being toxic, whats so different between them and mycoestrogens?


r/biology • • 2d ago

discussion I built a tool that matches researchers to funding opportunities. Looking for feedback from biologists, especially those without institutional access to Pivot or GrantForward.

6 Upvotes

I have been in research administration for 12+ years and I am currently an Associate VP for Research. One of the things I see constantly is that researchers at institutions without Pivot, GrantForward, or Cayuse subscriptions are on their own when it comes to finding funding. They manually check Grants.gov, NSF, NIH, DOE, USDA, foundation pages, and whatever newsletters they happen to be on. It is time-consuming and most of what they find is not relevant to their work.

I built a tool called CONVERGE to address this. It takes a researcher's profile, their field, prior funding, publication history, and research interests, and matches them against federal, state, and foundation funding opportunities. It delivers matched opportunities with a fit analysis so the researcher can see which ones are worth pursuing and which to skip.

I am posting here because biology faculty and postdocs, particularly at primarily undergraduate institutions, and smaller schools, are one of the groups most affected by this gap. NSF divisions across BIO, NIH institutes, DOE, USDA NIFA, and private foundations all post biology-relevant funding, but finding the right match is a weekly manual effort without institutional tools.

I would genuinely value feedback from working biologists. Does this kind of matching solve a problem you actually have? What would make it useful in your workflow? What is missing from how you currently search for funding?

The tool is live and free to try. Link in my profile. Happy to answer questions in comments or DM.


r/biology • • 1d ago

article Where can I find a good paper on the harmful factors that affect the skeletal system?

1 Upvotes

I got an essay to do about the anatomy and hygiene of the skeletal system. I've found a lot of stuff about the common conditions and diseases and whatnot, and they all describe the causes briefly, but I need a source "purely" about the factors that can affect the skeletal system, and I can't seem to find anything of the sort online. Can anyone help? Official verified sources, obviously. Thanks a lot in advance!


r/biology • • 1d ago

fun Topics of ecology that would be cool for a research proposal

2 Upvotes

Okay I know i'm asking for homework help here but I want some cool topics for this class where we have to find a topic and come up with a proposal on how we would research it. Pretty please I have a few ideas down already: How is climate change altering the geographic range of Collared Pika, and what are the ecological consequences for the native species already living in that ecosystem?


r/biology • • 2d ago

question We are working on an Innovation project and want to figure out which liming device or neutralizer to prevent water acidfication is the most eco friendly safe, and kid-friendly

5 Upvotes

Hi there

We are having Biology Innovation Project(for Robotics) and me and my team were looking through some issues in Biology and we came across freshwater acidification. We want to figure out ways to neutralize this without affecting marine life, without releasing Co2, and should not cause some chain of chemical reaction. We looked at Magnesium Hydroxide but we noticed that all hydroxides cause a sudden jump in PH. Do you guys have any ideas?

Thank you in advance!


r/biology • • 2d ago

question How much of a threat are biologically engineered viruses/bacteria?

6 Upvotes

There has been a lot of talk recently on bioweapons.
And it got me thinking, how likely is it that a country right now is developing a supervirus/superbacteria with the explicit reason inflict as much death as possible?

If there is one being developed, how deadly can a genetically engineered weapon theoretically get?


r/biology • • 2d ago

question I’m curious about hyenas’ difficult births!

10 Upvotes

Hey!

I recently came across the fact that spotted hyenas have really difficult births because of their anatomy, and now I'm curious to learn more about it.

Does anyone know any good resources on this, or would anyone who's familiar with the topic be up for discussing it? I'm also curious if there are other wild animals that have similarly difficult births.

Thanks!


r/biology • • 2d ago

question How much of a threat are biologically engineered viruses/bacteria?

2 Upvotes

There has been a lot of talk recently on bioweapons.
And it got me thinking, how likely is it that a country right now is developing a supervirus/superbacteria with the explicit reason inflict as much death as possible?

If there is one being developed, how deadly can a genetically engineered weapon theoretically get?


r/biology • • 3d ago

fun I used to think that Kidneys was where babies came from.

15 Upvotes

Cause it said KIDney, so like a kid comes from there.

It also didn't help that the kidneys sort of looked/shaped like a foetus.

I thought in women it got like fertilised and then it got bigger and when its time for birth it'll just fall off like an apple from a tree and move downstairs.

And it was dormant in men, cause they can't get pregnant.

I also thought that twins are born when both kidneys are fertilised.

This was when I was younger btw.


r/biology • • 2d ago

question Can someone explain this interview question on the lungs?

1 Upvotes

Im referring to this cambridge interview question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44rE02W0m0&t=585s

My question is

  1. What do they mean when you are upright your ribs are sloped at an angle?

How does that cause the front to back diameter to increase?

Im a little confused on the dogs part, ribs are horizontal to your spine, so movement of ribs isn't going to help your chest diameter, so whats the point of the ribs? part. Why woudl movement of ribs not help chest diamter? Im really lost from 7:30 - 9:30 part.

Anyone got a simpler explaination, or can point me to some i.e youtube models that show it in action?

https://ibb.co/Rkm4Yvjw - is this drawing semi accurate, aside from the angles bit?


r/biology • • 3d ago

fun “At precisely what point does chemistry become consciousness?”

64 Upvotes

The human brain operates through electrochemical processes. Plants also use chemical and electrical signals to sense their environment, process information, and respond.

We call one system capable of consciousness and generally assume the other isn't.

But if both operate through physical and chemical processes, what exactly separates complex chemistry from conscious experience?

I'm not claiming plants are conscious. I'm questioning whether we actually understand where consciousness begins — or whether we're defining it by what resembles ourselves.


r/biology • • 3d ago

question Is this a tiny Caterpillar?

60 Upvotes

Not sure if its a worm or a caterpillar couldn't see if it has a tiny clwas .. it kinda moves fast which shock me I didn't realize it was on my foot setting in a public place.. and found other ones which wasn't there when I arrived.


r/biology • • 3d ago

fun What kind of bear dissolves in water?

84 Upvotes

A POLAR BEAR


r/biology • • 2d ago

question Did the ancestor to the colonial cnidarians already have zooid specialization?

2 Upvotes

New question also related to the project from yesterday’s question. Like did the ancestor to the Portuguese man o’war already have the specialized zooids for the sails, the tentacles, and the mouth? (As well as others) or did they have to evolve to have the different zooids being different?

Bonus question, do each zooid have a “stem cell” stage where it’s undifferentiated? And if so, how does it know which one to become?