Alright, I’ll do it then.
Who here just lost the game?
There are certain phrases or events which require a ritual response so that my children know all is correct with the world.
If anyone says “Cleopatra”, it is vitally important that I immediately reply “Comin’ atcha!”
If we see a police car, especially if it is running with lights and siren, I must say: “Oh, crikey, it’s the rozzers!”
If we see an ambulance, it is vital that I declare “Ambulance!” forcefully in a bad Welsh accent.
These rituals, and others like them, keep the world spinning correctly on its axis.
Hilariously enough, I’m very Canadian, and the ‘crikey rozzers’ is burnt into my brain too. I have no idea where it came from, but it owes me about 15 years rent.
Gotta say it in the cheesiest British accent you can muster.
Huh. See a police car around here and it’s “ey-up, they’ve found you.”
But I see you. Since kids I have found any phrase that is a song title (or key refrain) gets sung back to them just to be annoying too. Sometimes said track is immediately played in a vain attempt to not seem crazy.
Ours is corre, corre, policia!
I did the same when my kids video talked about electrolytes, with, it’s what plants crave. I don’t think he paid attention.
Best. Movie. Ever.
I did this at climbing recently.
It was really hot and everyone was sweating; someone said “I better have some electrolytes”; without thought:
it’s what plants crave!
Mitochondria are so much more than that!
They have the ability to kill the cell as well as provide power, they can communicate and transfer resources to other mitochondria, and they might be one of the reasons that organisms need sleep.
I heard a science communicator suggest that in some senses, we might just exist to serve the needs of our mitochondria.
Scientists theorize that the mitochondria was an entirely different organism which was captured by our ancient single-celled ancestor and assimilated into itself. I can’t remember what the evidence is for this theory but it’s wild to think about.
Yep! It’s called primary endosymbosis and it’s one of the coolest things around! (I think.) The endpoint of a process where two parts of symbiotic relationship morph into an organ in an organism.
The first case of primary endosymbosis resulted in the mitochondria and thus all multicellar life. That’s pretty cool.
Another time created the chloroplast and thus all plantlife. Again, yay for primary endosymbiosis!
A few years ago scientists discovered that it happened really recently, resulting in an organism with a “nitroplast” for in house nitrogen fixing. So in the far distant future there could be an entirely novel branch of life, potentially as different from what we know as redwoods are from cats.
Mitochondria have thier own DNA, and I think that is the reason for that theory.
IIRC it’s because mitochondria have their DNA and keep it stored in a circular form similar to bacteria. I think also plants having chloroplasts, while animals have mitochondria adds more evidence, given that they are very similar structures.
note that plants have both mitochondria and chloroplasts, while animals have only mitochondria
Yes! It was something like that. It’s been a few years since I took that biology class but that sounds right.
it always bugs me that this phrase isn’t even grammatically correct. mitochondria is plural. it should be “the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell”
Pedantry gone too far!
Mitochondria would be grammatically correct because there are multiple mitochondrion in the cell. Referring to only one of them would be inaccurate.
Then it’s the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell
Unless “the mitochondria” is a singular group noun, like in “The Village People is a band”, or “This [set of] data was collected…”
I, too, love pulling this trick out. :p
But then again British English would still use the plural form so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell
That makes it sound like each cell has one mitochondrion and each mitochondrion equates to one powerhouse while in fact, all mitochondria of a cell collectively are the powerhouse of the cell
not necessarily. for example we say things like “the lion is the king of the jungle,” but that doesn’t mean there’s only one lion per jungle. sometimes we refer to an archetypal singular to convey something about every member of a group
And sometimes we use the etymological plural of a loan word for the singular or mass noun. Like spaghetti (Italian plural of spaghetto), visa (visum), salami (salame), broccoli (broccolo), mitochondria, …
It’s kinda like like the plural form has also become a colloquial singular form
Same with “a bacteria”
Well…a single mitocondrion is not really a powerhouse of anything except really simple single celled organisms.
The number of mitochondria in a cell vary widely by organism, tissue, and cell type. A mature red blood cell has no mitochondria, whereas a liver cell can have more than 2000.
It would be more correct to say “are the powerhouse of the cell”.
Parasite eve taught me all I needed to know about mitochondria. As well as science. Also there were cig boobs on the eve monster which was pretty cool when I was a horny child.
What is that phrase actually from? I always thought it was Bill Nye the Science Guy, but I’ve never actually been able to find a clip.
I was thinking Beakman’s World. Apparently it’s just such a common phrasing in high school science that it became a meme without anyone’s particular influence.
Middle school science class probably. They probably reiterate it again in highschool biology.
Captain America: Winter Soldier if I’m remembering correctly.
Lord of the Rings. It was a famous line from Boromir.
for realz
It was from Billy Madison.
I always just get flashbacks to Clarissa Explains It All.
Mitosis…is…….
I remember that episode! Was it from Clarissa?
Somehow I had forgotten that series altogether, and thought the episode was from Sabrina the Teenage Witch… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Which is the one with her friend ….Harvey?
All I ever think of when it comes to mitochondria is Parasite Eve and spontaneous combustion/mutants.
A+ title
Thanks! I was hoping someone would catch the winter soldier activation
“I must kill… the Queen…”
Hazelnut, Mystify, Cuttlefish, Lark, Lurk, Robert, Anglican, Pheromone
Person, woman, man, camera, TV
