this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

So if I understand you correctly, if I remove my lungs, I’m a bee? My aunt had lung cancer, so they’ll probably kill me, anyway. I’ll report back on the results.

Edit: left wiggle, right wiggle, left wiggle, buzz

[–] tahoe@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (5 children)

No because you’re likely too big (no offense) :(

I think insects have little holes all over their bodies, in which air gets inside by itself through some physics shenanigans. It doesn’t need to be actively sucked in like with lungs, it just happens because they’re so small.

This method doesn’t scale up though since if you’re bigger, you need more air, and having little holes all over your body won’t cut it. Thats when you know you need lungs, and that’s why you don’t see insects the size of a dog these days (thankfully).

There used to be times in the Earth’s history (Carboniferous) where the air’s composition was different though, and since it had more oxygen in it, insects could grow a lot larger.

[–] wisely@feddit.org 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So theoretically if we terraformed the Earth we would be free to genetically engineer humans to survive without lungs?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

They wouldn't be human. So much of us is built around our lungs, including our ability to speak that anything adapted to survive without them would be as different from a human as a human is from other lung-less animals. Even if they were more intelligent, they would not look or act remotely like a human.

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[–] Metz@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Fun fact: Cutaneous respiration (aka "Skin breathing") is something we humans do too. But it accounts only for 1% to 2% of our oxygen input.

However, the cornea of ​​our eyes doesn't have its own blood vessels to supply it. Therefore, it relies on direct gas exchange with the environment—in other words, skin respiration.

Our eyes breath like bees.

[–] dave@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is that why bees can't wear contact lenses?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, it's because they have compound eyes. Even if they could afford all the different lenses they need, they'd never have enough time to put them in and take them out, while still working a full day.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

surely they could just make one big lens with facets in it? sure they're gonna be hellishly expensive but at least they're usable

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Honestly, I was already out of my depth with the entomology and ophthalmology discussed here. The economics of bee optometry might be a bridge too far for me. Can a bee make enough honey to afford such lenses? If so, does it improve the bee's ability to make honey enough to justify the cost? I have no idea and no clue regarding how to investigate this issue.

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[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

I like this fact. That's why it's so important to take out certain kinds of contacts at night.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

So what you're saying is I have two eyes in my beeholes?

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago

1-2% is more than I'd have imagined!

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Adding to this, the holes (spiracles) connect to the tracheae, which connect to air sacs. While respiration is almost entirely passive in smaller species, larger species actually force air through the system to aid the otherwise passive process.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_system_of_insects

Side note: Spiders have book lungs. They're not insects, but like insects, they are arthropods.

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[–] trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That is almost how it works, but to really become a bee you'll have to turn the lungs into wings. Good luck. I'm looking forward to seeing the result.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Angelusz@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] Nougat@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Then, when your spouse hugs you, they’ll have beauty in their eye.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Yeah, and if you pluck a chicken, it will be a human, because it's featherless and stands on two legs.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But what came first, the human or the egg?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

I don't have a clever response, so I'll just point out that eggs predate vertebrates by millions of years.

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Nah-ah, that makes it a dinosaur!

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[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you like reading, maybe a half-way solution could be achieved with book lungs like a spider.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Non-insect arthropods FTW!

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[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

"fall asleep" sounds like a nice way to say ded

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If they "survived the fire" then they probably dont die from oxygen depravation or at least not quickly.

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[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just let the old ticker get some time off.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Honestly i wouldn't mind "fall asleep" now.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sorry but we need you to do your part. Can't do it without you ;)

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[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To bee, or not to bee, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The stings and sparrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep

No more; and by a sleep, to say we end

The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks

That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,

To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the buzz,

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,

When we have fluttered off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.

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[–] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Beekeepers intentionally use smoke to make bees docile during collection time, transfers, etc

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[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I remember the first time I heard bugs dont have lungs. Like wtf? Just no internal ventilation pumping air as needed. Seems wierd but also thx God. They are annoying enough.

[–] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

They also have no blood or blood vessels, just a little heart and blood-like stuff splashing around.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 0 points 1 month ago

I didn't know that either wow. Really freaking and interesting

[–] scbasteve7@lemm.ee 0 points 1 month ago

Bugs are fucking weird.

[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You wouldn't not have a car.

You wouldn't not have a handbag.

You wouldn't not have a television.

You wouldn't not have lungs.

Lacking lungs is not having them.

Not having lungs is against the law.

Lunglessness, it's a crime.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)
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[–] match@pawb.social 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

they don't have circulatory systems either they've basically just pushing things through themselves and tryna make it work

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Pedant here. They absolutely do have circulatory systems. They have what's known as an open circulatory system, whereas we have a closed circulatory system.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Hold on, wait a minute, pause. There are people who think that bugs have lungs?

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

To be fair, while bugs and other insects don't have lungs, some arthropods do. The differences among arthropods, insects and bugs aren't exactly common knowledge.

[–] TomasEkeli@programming.dev 0 points 1 month ago (22 children)

some have book-lungs not true lungs. Only us fish have "true" lungs

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[–] T156@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Usually not lungs as they exist in mammals, though.

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[–] Alpha71@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] AppleTea@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Not just bees, it's true of all insects.

Consequently, the amount of oxygen in the air determines how big bugs can grow. Get too big, and the oxygen can't diffuse into the body fast enough. This even shows up in the fossil records, with larger bugs being found alongside evidence of eras that had more oxygen in the atmosphere.

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[–] LordOfLocksley@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Huh, the Greek hero Spiracles saved the bees

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (6 children)

And, for the most part, humans' lungs don't have bees!

I somehow forgot about bees not having lungs. I knew some other small things didn't.

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