Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2018 February 7

= February 7 =

Follow-up on butterfly question
Which species of the Pieridae family are common in the Nashville area? I'm fairly positive that the first species I asked about (the small greenish-yellow one with the black wingtips) is one of these, but I can't tell which one. 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:61B1:2817:FCB1:9B27 (talk) 11:53, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * This webpage may help you research the answer for your question. -- Jayron 32 12:01, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * I'd rather not go there, for reasons I outlined in the previous question. (In fact, I've just been burned by this -- I was scrolling through the images for the mimosa yellow (I needed one with the wings unfolded), and scrolled right down to a photo of a yuge yellow-and-black swallowtail, and I'm just getting over the shakes now!) 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:61B1:2817:FCB1:9B27 (talk) 12:14, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Anyway, I have already narrowed it down to 2 possibilities -- either the mimosa yellow or the Statira sulphur. I know the first of these is common in Tennessee -- how about the second one? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:61B1:2817:FCB1:9B27 (talk) 12:18, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Nope. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:10CD:7D7C:14A0:8C3D (talk) 00:26, 8 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks! They're probably mimosa yellows, then. 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:61B1:2817:FCB1:9B27 (talk) 03:32, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

Macro biology
According to Marcus terentius Varro what was his contribution to macro biology — Preceding unsigned comment added by Okwushi (talk • contribs) 16:47, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Marcus Terentius Varro. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:41, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you sure you mean macro biology? The article suggests he had an idea about nature which would today be called microbiology, but as he wrote works on agriculture almost anything in those would be considered macrobiological in some way. Wymspen (talk) 22:37, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * You can read Macro's Life for his biography. His contribution in the end was probably a question of whether he was buried, burned, put in a spike, or thrown in the Tiber. As a suicide was considered honorable, he may have been interred in his family crypt. μηδείς (talk) 04:07, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

pivotal trials
I listen to a lot of corporate puff from drug developers, and I keep hearing the phrase "pivotal trial" (sometimes "pivotal Phase III trial"). Does the word "pivotal" mean anything, i.e., can one confidently say these Phase III trials are pivotal and those are not? If it's merely a synonym for "important" or "decisive", it's strangely consistent. —Tamfang (talk) 17:06, 7 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Pivotal trial. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:40, 7 February 2018 (UTC)