this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I dunno, seems to have worked out for the chillis - there’s more of them now than ever before

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago

That's because evolution is a results-driven process. All that matters is making viable offspring. Doesn't matter how it gets done.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

meanwhile chinese cooking: i'll have all 3 at once please

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

And it's so. Damn. Delicious.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (21 children)

Life wouldn't be the same without Tabasco. How could I ever eat my cotton candy or cereals without copious amounts of it?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago

I’m actually surprised that I’ve never found cotton candy coated with tajin, now that you mention it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is a low shenanigan..

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Are you calling shenanigans?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How fortunate then that the same species resistant to their defense actually goes on to cultivate it

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Oh, we’re not resistant, we’re just crazy enough to like the pain. Birds are resistant and don’t feel it at all, they can eat chilis like fruits.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's just relative. Most mammals don't pay rent, taxes, or have to deal with the TSA. Once you do those things, spicy plant chemicals become a frivolous game.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I eat peppers just to feel something

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

There's a book called The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan, which is about this. Looking from the plants eye view of things, they have manipulated us into growing them in a huge variety of environments. The book focuses on tulips, cannabis, apples, and potatoes, iirc. Fascinating book.

Two quick examples from the book:

Pot gets us high, now we grow it in closets, warehouses, yards, basements, attics, etc.

Apples don't reproduce true from seed, so Johnny Appleseed brought readily available cider to the Americas. (You need a cutting of an apple tree to grow that type of apple.)

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Tobacco plants: produce nicotine, a toxic alkaloid

Humans: imma smoke that shiiiiit

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Humans: I will now cultivate you, export you, protect you and make sure you're growing well so I can keep smoking you despite a 50% chance of dying from it.

Tobacco clearly has the last laugh in this story.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Tobacco clearly has the last laugh in this story.

Well, it's not like we're immortal if we abstain.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

With a name like The Fartographer, I'm inclined to believe you. 👍

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

We like our poisons in just the rights amounts.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

It's funny if you think about it: Plant makes chemical (capsaicin) to help it thrive > humans love the painful spice, start growing and propagating peppers > Peppers spread grow like crazy. Evolution working exactly as it should

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

If no eat, why so delicious?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Does anyone have an explanation for why they would evolve to prevent being eaten by mammals? I would think having mammals help spread their seeds would be beneficial?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

Found the answer myself. Protects against fungal attacks. Also birds don't have the same receptors to capsaicin.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Birds eat them without feeling the heat. And they can spread seeds more effectively as you can imagine.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is it ironic that those two sauces aren't really that hot? 😂

Delicious, yes! But very low on the Scoville scale for hot sauce.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Sriracha is now completely random from bottle to bottle. It goes from Tabasco to Carolina Reaper with no visual indicator. Turns out fucking over your loyal farmers and having to constantly scrounge has negative consequences…

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Is Tabasco delicious? I find the Sriracha from couple of years ago delicious (the current one is much worse), but Tabasco always tasted like a white vinegar mixed with capsaicin.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Tabasco sauce, and the peppers, are good for some foods, not so much for others. There is no ULTIMATE hot sauce, just what works.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

If not delicious then why delicious shaped?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

HUMANS: Hey peppers, we like what you're doing, a-

PEPPERS: HOW‽‽ IT'S SUPPOSED TO HURT Y-

HUMANS: -nd we wanted to produce as many of you as we can in a controlled environment.

PEPPERS: ... Blinks in disbelief Go on...?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Well, not all of you. We'll massacre and purge your more moderate siblings and cousins, but we really like YOU, so we're gonna clone you as much as we can.

You're welcome.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Butt also go Brrr after eating to much spicy

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

You get to enjoy spicy food twice.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

It's sort of what happens though. A plant gets a defense mechanism, it becomes more abundant, something will target that abundant food source.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Sometimes it also makes your ass go brrrrrr...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Plant: "I will let you feel pain". Humans: "Jokes on you, I'm into that shit"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

In the meantime, birds be like: "ultrahot? nom nom fruity"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Why is the chili wearing a cape? Or is that... hair?

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