Lifelike biochemistry continued to unfold in sterilized soil for six years, pointing to a metabolic theory for how biology began.
For 15 years, Sébastien Fontaine has been trying to kill dirt. The biochemist, who runs a lab at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, wanted to know how much carbon is released by soil — just dirt alone, completely devoid of life. His team sealed dirt into jars and blasted them with sterilizing gamma radiation. Then they waited for the carbon dioxide released by the soil — a sign of ongoing microbial respiration — to drop.
They waited, and waited, and waited some more: weeks, then months. Under a microscope, the irradiated soil showed no signs of life, but it continued to emit carbon dioxide. The soil wouldn’t stop breathing.
Fontaine’s lab repeated the experiments and produced the same results. Finally, convinced that they weren’t dealing with an artifact of the experimental setup, they set out to find the source of breath in dead soil.
Now, Fontaine and his colleagues have reported that their soil samples continued to consume oxygen and spew carbon dioxide (opens a new tab) for six years. In a 2025 paper in Science Advances, they proposed that a metabolic process that powers much of life is also possible outside living cells. Their experiments point to how it could work in dirt, absent the living proteins that would typically organize it. If they’re right, some biochemical reactions, such as those that release the energy of carbon-rich sugar molecules, may not be unique to living things. Such reactions — known as metabolism when performed by cells — could even predate life on Earth, Fontaine said.
The experiments show “what happens to biomolecules when they’re left to their own devices,” said Joseph Moran (opens a new tab), an organic chemist at the University of Ottawa who was not involved with the research. They’re finding that the chemistry of life is not exclusive to life, he added. “It’s the chemistry of geology.”
the relationship between horror and misogyny is intriguing and confusing to me bc the ultimate goal with some of these movies is to treat misogyny as horrifying while simultaneously. being the genre that brutalizes women and treats their reactions to the horrible things done to them as a source of horror
Thinkin' about fat bear week.
Found this tender photo.
Happy Friday.
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"Someday you can win Fat Bear Week. Photo/ K. Stenberg" by KatmaiNPS is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.
It has also enhanced my physical, emotional, psychosexual, and spiritual wellbeing. Cabbage is the king of vegetables and kimchi is the emperor of cabbage. #kimchiposting #MyKimchi
it's actually crazy like kind of unbelievable how much racism ppl just expect you to put up with to be polite. like i have so many little experiences where a friend-of-a-friend said something awful and racist to me and i am very clearly hurt and upset and then the friend just expects me to be polite and not say anything not react not even be angry. like when ur not white ur never allowed to be angry. if ur angry ur being too aggressive. you never get to expect an apology, either. expecting an apology for the racist way people hurt you is always asking too much. you never get an apology. you never get to be angry. you never get to say it hurt you. you're just supposed to pretend you didn't hear it, didn't read it, didn't notice. you let things go because it's the only way to have friends.
🤪 LITERALLYYYYYYYY. ive learned being schizophrenic and native is not a good combination you get this rancid ass combo of like Wise Spiritual Noble Savage or Scary Dangerous Insane Person and u are always one of these things and it will change on a dime depending on ur mood and how much the person talking to u likes u lol
There’s a drawing by Rembrandt, I think it’s the greatest drawing ever done. It’s in the British Museum and it’s of a family teaching a child to walk, so it’s a universal thing, everybody has experienced this or seen it happen. Everybody. I used to print out Rembrandt drawings big and give them to people and say: “If you find a better drawing send it to me. But if you find a better one it will be by Goya or Michelangelo perhaps.” But I don’t think there is one actually. It’s a magnificent drawing, magnificent.
If you're at my funeral and you think it's a little boring, just spice it up. Drink a little too much. Flirt with a few people here and there. Start a fight. It's what I would've wanted
i mean this so sincerely if you are a man in 2026 you should expect to be on thin fucking ice with the women in your life and if this confuses or enrages you then you are part of the reason why
if you aren't even aware that we are right now all of us living in an ongoing worldwide antifeminist backlash, that is not a oh-no-cute-oopsie kind of ignorance. that fully goes past "complicit" and enters "actively part of the problem" territory. it makes me contemptuous of you. it makes me not want to know you at all. i doubt i'm alone in that.
impenetrable cunt @elphamous - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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