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New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

npr.org

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Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#21

Post by thatguy0900 »

tomcam wrote: post #15
ineedasername wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I've just seen "Little Shop of Horrors" too many times but "interesting" seems a less accurate attitude for me towards these discoveries than kill it with fire! Though as long as insects are the primary target I'm prepared to entertain the option of a cautious cold war rather than all-out destruction.

Sigh. Duly upvoted. If only our friends on HN were a little bit more alert to humor.

If what you want to read is a reddit kill it with fire joke thread you can just go to reddit. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, but there's no need to wish for it or encourage it here.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#23

Post by vmception »

pharrington wrote: post #7

"Nobody would be looking at a flower stalk as the primary mode of carnivory" This is probably exactly what the plant is betting on. It's a nice perceptive check on our own individual intelligence as humans.

> betting

> intelligence

thats not how natural selection works

some mutant blew its load into the wind and the mutant spawns survived, thats the whole story until we find a communication or same generation reaction mechanism that leads to different future adaptations

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#24

Post by dylan604 »

ineedasername wrote: post #12
dado3212 wrote: post #4

> "I suspect," says Graham, "that there might be more carnivorous plants out there than we think" This is a pretty interesting closing idea. From the article it seems they were originally flagged to this by a genomic commonality with other carnivorous plants. What percentage of plant genomes are sequenced that could be searched for this similar deletion?

Maybe I've just seen "Little Shop of Horrors" too many times but "interesting" seems a less accurate attitude for me towards these discoveries than kill it with fire! Though as long as insects are the primary target I'm prepared to entertain the option of a cautious cold war rather than all-out destruction.

However, the Andromeda Strain should also teach to not so quickly use fire.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#25

Post by dylan604 »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #21
tomcam wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. Duly upvoted. If only our friends on HN were a little bit more alert to humor.

If what you want to read is a reddit kill it with fire joke thread you can just go to reddit. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, but there's no need to wish for it or encourage it here.

This clearly wasn't a reddit "Kill it with fire!!!" post.

There was a whole 2nd graph talking about consideration of how a kill-it-with-fire decision would affect other living things, non-human even. Clearly more thought than a reddit post would have given. Seeing how reddit is deem such low class on this esteemed and high class board.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#28

Post by mmaunder »

Interesting that they started with data. Some of the most interesting discoveries I've made have started with me saying "that's weird" while looking at data. From the article:

"Graham's team was doing an unrelated project on plant genetics and noticed that the western false asphodel had a genetic deletion that's sometimes seen in carnivorous plants. The researchers started to think about the fact that this flower grew in the kind of environment that's home to various other insect-eating plants.

"And then they have these sticky stems," Graham says. "So, you know, it was kind of like, hmm, I wonder if this could be a sign that this might be carnivorous."

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#29

Post by ogwh »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #27

The article mentioned that they began to suspect the plant was carnivorous when they noticed it was missing a specific gene. I'd be curious to know what that gene is, and why it's linked to carnivorous plants.

Just speculating but it might have something to do with nutrient absorption. Much in the same way we lost the ability to synthesise vitamin C and now take it in from our diet, these plants may gain a nutrient from their prey that they no longer need to produce themselves.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#30

Post by gweinberg »

bopbeepboop wrote: post #19
libria wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Spun" is a little harsh. It's not easy to say concisely and the shorter version wouldn't capture significantly more audience that the longer version (IMO). "New carnivorous attribute of known plant discovered in Pacific Northwest", perhaps?

“Plant discovered to be carnivorous” I don’t understand why not just say it — it sounds pretty exciting to me.

I actually think it's more exciting this way. Think about it if it wasn't just eating bugs. Which is more exciting: "We've discovered a new species of plant, and it's a man-eater" or "this well-known plant has secretly been eating people all along"?
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