Science Memes

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submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 171 points 5 months ago (3 children)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19568753/

They do indeed have more protein. The conclusion that it's for them to fall slower seems to be just a hypothesis

[–] [email protected] 36 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The explanation feels very much like a "just so" story to me, as much as I want to believe it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I think this is why it's helpful to think of it, not as a 'why', but as a 'how'. There are tons of things about our bodies that do not make sense, but which hasn't killed us enough to not spread. These can still have an effect on us, and that's what's interesting to me.

Trying to get a reason out of evolution can be useful sometimes, when we actually want to know what lead to a trait becoming common, but for most things, especially concerning humans, the 'how' is so much more interesting, because we can actually get concrete answers to that.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

I can imagine it to be the opposite.

Maybe irritant tears have less protein to not clog your vision when in a fight or threatened?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

You rock.