this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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Microblog Memes

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 97 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It makes sense.

Not only is it easier to look in someone balls than someone's brain, the fact that it can cross the blood brain barrier is pretty fucking crazy.

It's not like someone said "we gotta find out if this can get inside testicles stat!" It's that between cancer and fertility issues balls are looked at pretty frequently, and we found micro plastics there.

The reason we found it in the brain. Is someone asked if it was possible and that's a big enough deal to go out and look.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 43 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It's much easier to get tissue from testicles than a brain sample. About 10,000 men develop testicular cancer annually in the US. Plenty of test can still be ran on those testicles if the patient consents. Getting a aample of brain tissue usually requires the donor to be dead, and there is a long list of scientists that would loke to stidy brain matter for one reason or another.

[–] bizarroland@fedia.io 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not to mention that gender affirming surgery increases the likelihood that doctors will have access to testicles for research.

I mean, not by a lot but it's a hell of a lot easier to survive donating your testicles to science than it is your brain.

[–] Shou@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

The amount of people who donated theor body to science is overwhelming. So much, that lots of bodies can't be used. Some niche ectomy doesn't increase the samples here.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Loke To Stidy is my new band name.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 31 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I guess that's the burning I smell when I think too hard.

[–] stormesp@lemm.ee 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The balls or the brain ones?

[–] don@lemm.ee 18 points 10 months ago
[–] Rooskie91@discuss.online 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

To be fair, I'd bet that there are more men willing to ejaculate for science than people willing to have their brain analyzed for science.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 29 points 10 months ago

In fact, forget the science

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I’d ejaculate my brain for science

[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago

Sapiosexuals rise up. Then ejaculate.

[–] Blackout@fedia.io 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So we're going to start banning plastic right? Will the last human left please turn off the lights.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

fucking helllll, i pretend a lot that i don't care about the downfall of the human race because i'm trying to fake it till i make it into not caring

but between global warming, microplastics, rise in extremism, late stage capitalism, wars and genocides...

i'm really starting to believe we might be one of the last generations of modern humans left.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

We made plastic for your brain, youre welcome.

[–] thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I grew up with teachers saying the brain is incredibly plastic so it makes sense

[–] And009@reddthat.com 2 points 10 months ago

My mom used to say my brain is monke

[–] Aurelius@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Why do we find microplastics in humans but not other common substances (e.g. steel, wool, etc.)? I'm not too familiar with why this is happening

[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago

Any foreign objects made up of substance that are non-reactive can end up embedded in our bodies. Most obviously, there are medical devices that might permanently be left there: screws, prosthetics, artificial meshes and valves and membranes, etc. There are also some foreign objects that come from trauma, like shrapnel. Even tattoos are foreign pigments placed in a particular layer of skin that the body doesn't have a mechanism for clearing out.

But generally speaking, if our body doesn't have the enzymes to break down a substance into constituent compounds small enough to transport out, or if that foreign substance sits in a place where our body doesn't have a mechanism to actually get to, it stays in the body.

The reason why we're talking about microplastics, though, is that these compounds might actually be more reactive than previously assumed. If the plastics don't break down at all, then there's no chemical reaction byproducts to worry about. But if they break down very slowly, and the products of those reactions interfere with our biological processes in those tiny quantities, then we have a problem.

[–] PixeIOrange@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Because Steel and Wool degrade into their chemical components by chemical reactions (like oxidation or mold). Plastic wont, it gets smaller and smaller but it stays plastic. So Steel and Wool "skip" being really small, they become other chemicals nature can work with.

(this might be wrong, pls correct if so)

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world -4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Specifically steel and wool are manufactured to be what they are. The process probably involves a step to remove micro plastics.

[–] Wasp@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Your reply makes no sense to me.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

It's like that because of the way that it is.

[–] redisdead@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Steel is made by heating up iron and carbon at temperatures where all kinds of plastics would sublimate into gas.

[–] PixeIOrange@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I think he meant the other way, why we humans wont have steel or wool in us

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

(also everywhere else)

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So those chunks of plastic were in a brain, eh? See that's what happens when you grind LEGO in a blender and then snort rails of it.

[–] NaoPb@eviltoast.org 3 points 10 months ago

I just put the small pieces up my nose. No need to grind. Those hand pieces from the little people are ideal. Pull them out the arm and right up the nose. Then a 1x1 block to push it all the way up there.

[–] 1234567ATEUP@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

no, in the ocean.

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Real talk: the balls are kinda important because it's where the sperm is produced. If that is polluted, it may lead to birth defects or infertility.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Not to mention there's a huge number of humans that don't use the other organ we're discussing.

[–] don@lemm.ee 7 points 10 months ago

Even now, regular meghan is still thinking about plastic and balls. Nonstop. I’d think that’d be exhausting.

[–] jmsy@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

There are macro plastics in my sack

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world -5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

"I can't stop thinking about.." is such a tired trope in posts. I never have believed it a single time.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"...I never have believed it a single time" is such a tired tripe in comments. I can't stop thinking about it.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This is in some way clever. So much so I'll die obsessed with it