Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2022 October 14

= October 14 =

Human surrogacy of animals
Basic idea: if you implanted a fertilised animal egg into a human womb, could it grow and be birthed (whether naturally or via cesarean). I think something similar was done with dogs and wolves, which are obviously closely related. My guess would be that you couldn't do it with say a human and a cat because of differing hormones, blood chemistry, etc. -mattbuck (Talk) 15:18, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Dogs and wolves are not merely "closely related", they are different varieties of the same species. Dogs were domesticated from wolves, and can readily interbreed with them; the distinction between dogs and wolves is largely linguistic, with dogs being "wolves who we bred and trained to not eat our babies".  All that being said, WHAAOE, see Interspecific pregnancy.  That should help direct you to your answers.  -- Jayron 32 15:46, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * That is the best description I have ever read about the domestication of the dog. I may have to steal it. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 18:06, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. The wit there was inspired by CGP Grey's video on animal domestication.  See Why Zebras are Terrible Horses.  If my quote gave you a chuckle, CGP Grey's video will have you rofling your waffles.  -- Jayron 32 18:18, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Article: interspecific pregnancy. Unless the species are closely related, it doesn't work because the purpose of the immune system is to identify and attack things that are "not-self", and a fetus trying to xenograft itself to the host qualifies. Successful mammalian pregnancies involve a complex dance between the fetus and parent that establishes parental immune tolerance, and this is very species-specific. For instance, different mammal lineages have different types of placenta: see placentation. Even within the same species, it frequently fails, leading to things like miscarriage, premature birth, and preeclampsia. There is the theoretical possibility it could work if the prospective parent's immune system were suppressed enough, but obviously this would be hideously unethical. --47.147.118.55 (talk) 04:21, 17 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Human surrogacy of OTHER animals. Imagine Reason (talk) 00:30, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

mushy cough drops
I bought a bag of cough drops earlier this year. They are basically hard candies with menthol or something like that added. Since then there has been a heat wave here in CA (temperature reached maybe 33C on some days) though I don't know if that relates to the current situation: the cough drops are now somewhat mushy, like hardened chewing gun, underneath the outer layer but above the center. They are still usable but it is a bit annoying.

Any idea what has happened? Can they be fixed, such as by putting the bag in the freezer for a while? Current indoor temperature is reasonably cool. The cough drops are individually wrapped and idk if moisture could have gotten into them. The outer bag is not sealed. Maybe I should have put them into a sealed container. Thanks. 2602:24A:DE47:B8E0:1B43:29FD:A863:33CA (talk) 19:57, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * ObPersonal: in my experience (over three decades, in the UK) this always happens to such cough drops if left long enough, even in a fairly stable environment. 'Long enough' might be a few months on an open shelf or similar in a hot summer, or a few years inside a more enclosed cupboard. I don't think the softening (and eventual leakage) materially effects the cough drops' effectiveness, but it does make them considerably more difficult to use. Freezing them might help with the latter (if you don't mind spitting out bits of wrapping paper).
 * In this recent Covid-enforced regime, with limited social contact and (until recently) mask-wearing in the proximity of others, I haven't had a cold or cough for nearly 3 years, so all my stored cough drops have deteriorated in this way. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.195.172.49 (talk) 20:50, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Hard candy mentions that it's harder if amorphous and softer if crystalline. That sounds similar to what can happen to liquid honey over time. You might try heating them up, rather than freezing them, and then letting the result set again, although that will give you a single bar of something like cough toffee, unless you get fancy and create a lot of little molds somehow. Card Zero  (talk) 00:26, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks both. Hmm hard=amorphous soft=crystalline is the opposite of what I would have guessed.  I will try heating them still in the wrapper.  I hope the wax in the wrapper doesn't melt all over.  I'll try with one or two of them first.  Might use hot water, or a heat gun, or microwave.  I wonder why they crystallized to start with.  I see the bag they came in is the resealable type, but I haven't been sealing it because I figure that's to carry the bag around without spilling them, and this bag is sitting in one place.  But, I may try sealing it, or making a point of keeping the next bag sealed.  This is unfortunately a pretty large bag that will last a while, but it is ok. 2602:24A:DE47:B8E0:1B43:29FD:A863:33CA (talk) 05:53, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Cough drops are mostly sugar, and most sugars are hygroscopic. Particularly hot days also tend to have a higher dew point, which may lead to additional absorption of water by the sugary cough drops.  -- Jayron 32 11:58, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * This sweet manufacturer agrees. Alansplodge (talk) 12:40, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Decline in insect populations
Could it be caused by microplastics? Rich (talk) 22:13, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Microplastic Polystyrene Ingestion Promotes the Susceptibility of Honeybee to Viral Infection, Deng et al (2021) thinks it might be, at least in honeybees. It's the first paper listed here (NB: it's a pdf that will want to download, which I have, but I haven't read it in full yet). There are other relevant papers in the list (not surprisingly) – have a browse!
 * You will have seen that the Wikipedia article Decline in insect populations doesn't mention microplastics (yet). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.195.172.49 (talk) 03:16, 15 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Most insects don't eat plastic or small particles of plastic as many will use smell to decide if it is food. There are exceptions though, like wax worms eating polyethylene. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:39, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * But microplastic particles can be so small that they permeate some foods that insects do eat, and therefore are ingested anyway, just as if you or I eat any fish, we are certainly ingesting plastic microparticles within it, without noticing. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.195.172.49 (talk) 08:21, 16 October 2022 (UTC)


 * The extinctions started way before plastics. Consider the way honeybees are replacing wild bees. Imagine Reason (talk) 00:29, 22 October 2022 (UTC)