Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Twitter Thread: The Conditional Immortality Of Lobsters


This Twitter thread from @JUNIUS_64, about the conditional immortality of lobsters is a trip. Apparently the information shared is indeed true. So, digesting the fact that lobsters basically have a cheat code for the aging process (dying of old age), and instead die from either getting perilously squeezed in their shells or those same shells developing parasites, is fascinating. 

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC Follow @JUNIUS_64 lobsters made a deal with the devil for conditional immortality and it backfired on them. you cannot change my mind 11:41 AM - 21 Jun 2018 28,755 Retweets 106,452 Likes 565 t7 29K 106K Tweet your reply labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW, JORDAN PETERSON 7 27 134 O 2.9K

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Photo caption - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 all of Twitter: "would you care to elaborate on that" me: Hahahaha (adultswim.com Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 ok so basically lobsters do not die of old age. the only thing time does to a lobster is make it bigger and bigger, if environmental conditions are good this is because they have a secret molecular trick over all of us senescent rubes: constant production of telomerase 82 27 2.7K 14K

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American lobster - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 this Grade-A Big Boy is massive- 22 lbs, easily 50 years old. but it isn't even as big as the largest lobster ever caught, in 1977- 44 lbs, estimated at 140 years old

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 Telomeres are like shoelace caps on the ends of your chromosomes- a buffer zone, codes for nothing, keeps it from unwraveling look, here's yours, the little white spots on these human chromosomes how do these things relate to our inevitable decline into death? here's the deal

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 It's one sequence, over and over, for humans: TTAGGG every time your cells divide, they lose a little bit off the end of the telomeres, which fails to be replicated. At birth your telomeres are 11,000 bases long, when you're old and gray they're about 4,000 bases long Q 10 27 451 4.8K

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 There's something called the Hayflick limit, and that's why you and I die When the telomeres reach a critical length, the cells just stop dividing guess l'll die

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 "fuck the Hayflick limit, I do what I want" is the motto of cancer, and the motto of lobsters because they produce heaps of telomerase. telomerase is a really nifty enzyme, it carries its own RNA template to build back the lost ends of the telomeres! 3 ,5' TR CAAUCCCAAUC DNA G TERT GIF telomerase.asu.edu 25 27 597 5.6K

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 Humans make telomerase too. But we make less and less as we age. We're coded to just let senescence and death happen, and a lot of people have a lot of theories why If you've got cells that constantly produce shitloads of telomerase and never stop, you've got cancer, my friend O 23 27 451 O 5.1K labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 as a teen I used to like Family Guy (dunk on me, I deserve it Imao) and whatÅ¥'s funny is,

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 Death is still an inevitability though, whether our biology encodes a plan for it or not entropy always comes for its due, and that's what even lobsters must accept 14 27 404 O 4.5K labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 lobsters still lose in the very end. Telomerase tricks buy time, they will never experience senescence- the decline towards death- but it still comes at some point that point is typically molting 27 281 3.

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 Lobsters never age. they keep growing and growing and growing. but their skeleton is on the outside, and it isn't exactly flexible. They need to molt and grow a new shell once they outgrow the old one this is a very, very energetically taxing and dangerous affair O 10 27 385 4.1K labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 - Jun 21 Lobsters molt the easiest in mid-life. molting casualties are highest in the very young and the very old v

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 An ancient lobster colossus may not have as many predator concerns during a molt, compared to the young'uns (still watch out for sea turtles tho) but the energy costs are what kills. Moving out of an enormous shell takes an enormous effort past a certain point they just can't 27 266 3.7K labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 at a certain point, the effort of moving out just cannot be mustered by their metabolism. it's don

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Text - labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 I have not been able to find research on whether it's disease or simply being squeezed in that kills in the end. I would love to talk to an actual invertebrate biologist on this stuff because it's so fascinating ♡ 37 t7 281 5.7K labcoat lesbian @ NYC Pride + AC @JUNIUS_64 · Jun 21 but yeah. it's quite amusing, if silly and unscientific, to think of it in a poetic sense. It's like lobsters have made a deal with the devil, and the devil a

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