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New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

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Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#41

Post by CobrastanJorji »

ajkjk wrote: post #33
mmaunder wrote: post #28

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 gre…

I've long felt that the American school system's version of the scientific method (formulate hypothesis, run experiment, collect data, draw conclusions) is totally wrong and turns people off of science. The real procedure that we should teach kids is: collect data, ask questions about it, hypothesize some answers, and only then do a experiment to test your theory. The question formulation, based on observational evid…

Isn't that exactly how we teach the scientific method? I've been out of school for a good while, but I'm pretty sure I learned "Observe, Hypothesis, Experiment, Conclusion, Tri-Fold Poster Session."

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#42

Post by ineedasername »

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.

Very true. We must never deviate from strict adherence to strict seriousness at all times on HN to avoid any appearance that we're a community of human beings that occasionally enjoy humour or meme-ish content. It's the only way to maximize our useless internet points.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#43

Post by iammisc »

IntrepidWorm wrote: post #31
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.

Not a geneticist or a botanist here, but I would assume that because it is carnivorous, it gains a particular set of nutrients from the fruit flies and thus does not need to absorb these compounds through the root system. The gene or set of genes responsible for processing nutrients through the root would thus not be needed and would eventually be deactivated or disappear entirely over the evolution of the species.

Carnivorous plants turn carnivorous because they can't get enough nitrogen from the soil usually. Thus, in these populations, it's likely that the additional genes favoring carnivory evolved first and then, with that in place, the genes for nitrogen absorption would not confer any advantage or disadvantage so would be slowly lost by genetic drift.

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#44

Post by hwayne »

> "We had no idea it was carnivorous," says Sean Graham, a botanist with the University of British Columbia. "This was not found in some exotic tropical location, but really right on our doorstep in Vancouver. You could literally walk out from Vancouver to this field site."

Fun fact: Venus fly traps are native to the Carolinas. Carnivorous plants are everywhere!

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#45

Post by thaumasiotes »

I like how the article goes straight from this:

> "We had no idea it was carnivorous," says Sean Graham, a botanist with the University of British Columbia. "This was not found in some exotic tropical location, but really right on our doorstep in Vancouver. You could literally walk out from Vancouver to this field site."

to this:

> Fewer than 1,000 plant species are carnivorous

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#46

Post by AussieWog93 »

ajkjk wrote: post #33
mmaunder wrote: post #28

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 gre…

I've long felt that the American school system's version of the scientific method (formulate hypothesis, run experiment, collect data, draw conclusions) is totally wrong and turns people off of science. The real procedure that we should teach kids is: collect data, ask questions about it, hypothesize some answers, and only then do a experiment to test your theory. The question formulation, based on observational evid…

>The real procedure that we should teach kids is: collect data, ask questions about it, hypothesize some answers, and only then do a experiment to test your theory.

Apparently lots of interesting discoveries have followed the formula of "get drunk with other PhD students, wait for someone to ask "what if...", do experiment, pretend idea wasn't suggested in a bar at conference"

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#47

Post by ineedasername »

dylan604 wrote: post #24
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.

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

Wow, yes. It's been too long since I've read that book. It was very formative for me when I read it in school long ago, and at least twice more since, but it has to have been nearly 20 years.

Have you happened to read the recent sequel, and if so how was it? I was kind of put off of Crichton by his later works after the original Jurassic Park (as usual, better than the movie)

I know the sequel was not completely Crighton's own work, but I did mostly enjoy Robopocalypse, so I'm wondering if it's worth my time ( and money: I mostly do audiobooks these days, which are a lot more expensive)

Re: New carnivorous plant discovered in Pacific Northwest

#48

Post by stirfish »

ajkjk wrote: post #33
mmaunder wrote: post #28

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 gre…

I've long felt that the American school system's version of the scientific method (formulate hypothesis, run experiment, collect data, draw conclusions) is totally wrong and turns people off of science. The real procedure that we should teach kids is: collect data, ask questions about it, hypothesize some answers, and only then do a experiment to test your theory. The question formulation, based on observational evid…

I went to school in America. When we learned the scientific method, formulating a hypothesis was the fourth or fifth step. I believe the first step we were taught was to make an observation.
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