r/biology

In the world of facial skincare, I've heard that you shouldn't exfoliate and scrub too hard/too often because that can actually loose the elasticity of your skin and make you age faster.

Assuming this is true, does the same apply to the rest of your skin? If you scrub your skin really aggressively in the shower, will it damage its elasticity? Is body skin thicker/more resilient than facial skin?

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I'm watching a video about leatherback sea turtles and it showed an evolutionary tree that went back 65 million years and said that they appear to have no changed much in all that time. Which this is certainly not the only species to do that. Horseshoe crabs have supposedly also remained largely the same for millions of years.

I know that evolution doesn't have 'optimal'. Everything is always undergoing evolutionary changes.

But is there a term for a species that seems to be highly-locally optimal such that changes are very small over millions of years.

The answer might be no just because people don't feel fossil records are enough to justify a belief of that description. Just curious, thanks

That’s the question!

Hi everyone, does anyone here have a comprehensive roadmap for learning biology from the very start to finish? Like the ones provided by the Mathwizard for learning mathematics, including textbooks or online video lecture resources for each learning stage. I’m aiming to self learn biology for fun😅 and your answers would be very much appreciated, thank you!!!

I read some time ago that lobsters keep growing with no limits and that they technically cannot die of old age but from exhaustion when they shed its shell, is that true?

I apologize if my English isn’t the best, it’s not my first language

I graduated a few months ago and really don't want to do anything related to biology. I've explored many avenues. I began wanting to go to dental school, then realized I didn't want to do that after it was too late to change majors. I have shadowed genetic counselors, done neurobiological research, now forest ecology research. I really shouldn't have become a biology major, because none of this is something I see myself doing. My passions lie in music but I have been so distracted pushing that passion away to try and make biology work. If anyone has any advice, I would really really appreciate it.

I’m curious about common things in biology that most people completely misunderstand or just get plain wrong, like stuff that gets taught wrong in school because teachers oversimplify it until it’s basically a lie, or just random myths that everyone accepts as fact because no one ever bothers to correct them. What are the most annoying or widespread biology misconceptions that drive you crazy?

Why do humans not rely so much on their scent like other animals do, especially to recognize other humans or animals? When was the last time humans depended on their nose to recognize one another?

Not that I want to sniff someone's butt or anything, just curious.

Ever since I did my a levels I knew I liked biology. But since I didn't do very well in all my a levels I was rather demoralised from studying it further, even though I did have a spot in a university if I wanted to go. A year later I've been thinking more about it and I realised, if there was ever anything I did want to study at uni, it would be bio. The thing is, I've never been one to look ahead in terms of what I want as a career and I've never really known what I wanted.

So, if I do go to uni and do biology, I'd like to know what sort of options open up for me, especially since there's no point in going and accruing debt (even with student loans) and learning all this stuff that I love just to get nothing out of it in terms of a job.

And before anyone says anything, no I would never want to be a teacher. That is a horrifying fate. Also I'd suck at it.

Hello everyone. I graduated with a degree in general biology, and it's extremely difficult to find opportunities. I was considering pursuing a master's degree, but due to several factors, I feel that this degree would require a lot of work and preparation.

I would appreciate any advice or experiences from those who have obtained a higher diploma. What difficulties and challenges do you face with this degree? Will it save me from unemployment, and is it okay to study remotely? I care for a family member and cannot leave them. Thanks

I grew up in southern California but now live in a mountain state. Whenever I go back to visit, I've noticed my perception of anything more than 20 feet away feels off, like there's a filter being applied to my vision. Colors are a bit washed out and slightly more red than they should be, while shadows are darker. Another way to think of it is how you can tell what decade media was filmed in based on the color technology, it feels like I'm switching between two decades.

At first I thought this was a pollution thing, but then I visited Hawaii and remote parts of coastal Oregon and noticed the same thing was true there as well. Whenever I've talked to others traveling with me about this, no one has said they have the same thing happen, they all perceive the colors as normal. Searching online didn't reveal anything. I feel a bit crazy because the change is fairly jarring and disturbing to me. The only thing I can think is it must relate to atmospheric differences at sea level versus higher elevations, but I'd really like to know more about what I'm experiencing.

A few notes about me: I am male, so something like tetrachromacy is extremely unlikely. I do not have color blindness and my vision has always been exceptional, with 20/10 vision. I doubt it's relevant, but I do have central heterochromia (blue outer iris with gold inner ring around the pupil).