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   MikeF (lycophidion@birds.town)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 06:28:23 JST MikeF

   Streetlights running all night makes leaves so tough that insects can't eat them, threatening the food chain

   https://phys.org/news/2024-08-streetlights-night-tough-insects-threatening.html

   #biodiversity #biodiversitydecline #plants #photosynthesis #lightpollution #anthropocene #urban #insects #insectextinction #evolution

   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 06:28:20 JST 7666

     in reply to
     @lycophidion if you think streetlights are the reason for climate change then your corporate overlords have really done a fine job on your peanut sized brain
     ✙ dcc :pedomustdie: :phear_slackware: and Sick Sun like this.
   • Embed this notice
     MikeF (lycophidion@birds.town)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 06:28:21 JST MikeF

     in reply to

     • 7666

     @7666
     Yeah, motherfucker, you're the reason there's climate change, extinction crisis, etc. Why don't you just slit your own throat and not take the planet with you.

   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 06:28:22 JST 7666

     in reply to
     @lycophidion these are the lights that help prevent me from running over the local drunkard in the street at 2am and/or make assholes think twice about breaking into my car
     
     there are plenty of dark spots all over where bugs can go instead, if these super leaves are an issue then just chop the fuckin things down and plant them elsewhere
   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:17:56 JST 7666

     in reply to

     • the artist formerly known as mer@cdrom.tokyo
     @mer @lycophidion roger that boss
     ✙ dcc :pedomustdie: :phear_slackware: likes this.
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     the artist formerly known as mer@cdrom.tokyo (mer@shrine.moe)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:17:58 JST the artist formerly known as mer@cdrom.tokyo

     in reply to

     • 7666
     @7666 @lycophidion
     turn on your headlights moron
   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:29 JST 7666

     in reply to

     • quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊
     @flisk i will refrain from "missing the forest for the trees" puns but this diverse array of hashtags (a calling card for the quick to anger and slow to understand kind) and the fervor of OP strongly suggests the grand implication that no streetlights = problem solved
     
     with the utilitarian value of streetlights ignored completely it sure does make a case for their removal, yet the article would suggest a much broader scope of general light pollution from urban areas which can be generated by anything - it's just that the eye grabbing headline says "streetlights" (since that's what they exclusively used for their testing) so that's what i focused on too in my defense of the humble streetlight
     
     anyway his responses after the fact escalating streetlights into climate change led to exactly the expected response from a virtue signalling mastodon whore rather than any sort of discourse around ideas that allows bugs and streetlights to coexist which would be the most likely outcome of any research (e.g. replant the trees. or directional lighting. maybe the trees prefer different colors? idk. not my department - good for the next phase of research though!)
     
     i'll leave you with '"Our study was conducted in only one city and involved just two tree species," cautioned Zhang."'
     ✙ dcc :pedomustdie: :phear_slackware: likes this.
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     quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊 (flisk@fops.cloud)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:31 JST quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊

     in reply to

     • 7666
     @7666 what exactly do you mean by "muh streetlights" and when did anyone suggest anything actionable? from my POV you're just yelling at someone for sharing an article on some ongoing research. what genuinely was the point of your first response? are you trying to say there's no possible way to address this so you might as well stop researching it?
   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:32 JST 7666

     in reply to

     • quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊
     @flisk "For both species of tree, higher levels of artificial light meant tougher leaves. The tougher the leaf, the less evidence of insect herbivory. The more intense the light, the more frequently scientists encountered leaves that showed no signs at all of herbivory."
     
     underlying mechanism already existed and is not a mutation caused by humans, meaning it is reversible - how you reverse it is up to debate but "muh streetlights" ain't it
   • Embed this notice
     quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊 (flisk@fops.cloud)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:34 JST quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊

     in reply to

     • 7666
     @7666 you didn't read the article did you
   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:54 JST 7666

     in reply to

     • quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊
     @flisk i didn't find them contemptible in my initial reply, all i said was "hey maybe those streetlights are still kinda useful despite the findings" and wam bam here we are
     
     it is a bit silly and i hope he finds this entire chain and does a fediblock post about me so i can get some mileage out of this
     ✙ dcc :pedomustdie: :phear_slackware: likes this.
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     quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊 (flisk@fops.cloud)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:56 JST quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊

     in reply to

     • 7666
     @7666 idk man from where i'm sitting it just seems like you dunked on someone you find contemptible and now you're declaring victory over a debate that never happened but honestly i should have stopped caring about this conversation like three replies ago
   • Embed this notice
     7666 (7666@comp.lain.la)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:57 JST 7666

     in reply to

     • quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊
     @flisk explicit? no, they did not explicitly make that claim. i'd even go as far as to grant that it's not the fault of the OP that the headline suggested streetlights were the sole cause of this phenomenon simply because the testing was limited to that source and the article latched onto it.
     
     however, it's disingenuous to assume that doing something about streetlights was *not* the intent of the article itself via a preponderance of the evidence here, and I remain vindicated by the nuclear response of OP that their intent was likely also such. I think the research here is sound, if extremely preliminary, but the circus it has generated/will generate around it is certainly not
     
     as for the utility value of streetlights which thus far has been completely ignored by both the article and him, i direct you to justification for the crime portion of my original reply from an old friend ten years ago, photonicinduction: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/engineer-andys-bright-idea-to-15218/
     
     aside: i knew I was kicking a hornets nest via the palestinian flag in their avatar but man.
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     quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊 (flisk@fops.cloud)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Aug-2024 09:18:59 JST quality floof 🏳️‍🌈🦊

     in reply to

     • 7666
     @7666 i'm a bit slow on the uptake right now so: could you explain to me where exactly this person made the explicit claim that street lights should be abolished? because all i can see is you assuming that this is what they meant, serving them up a plate full of snark about it, and then getting called an asshole over it, which, like, does that outcome surprise you?