40 years later, and we still don't have a good answer. (original article is quite fun: www.jstor.org/stable/24084...) - ThreadSky

jrossibarra.bsky.social • 188 days ago

40 years later, and we still don't have a good answer. (original article is quite fun: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2408423?seq=1)

1 / 2

Comments

richmeisel.bsky.social•188 days ago

Never a bad time to post about the most awesomest exception to this rule
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.202000049

dileep31.bsky.social•188 days ago

I recently had a question on similar lines - why do kids like to play?

pabloredux.bsky.social•188 days ago

Don't adults?

dileep31.bsky.social•188 days ago

yes, but it's so universal in kids, unlike in adults. My question was more on what evolutionary trait makes play so universal in kids

pabloredux.bsky.social•188 days ago

Maybe adults begin to disguise it as something more respectable, play with different sorts of things, or are constrained by others' games. But perhaps raw play is also nearer the surface when developing.

djmmeeg.bsky.social•188 days ago

Working’ on it. It’s hard!

dylanpadilla.bsky.social•188 days ago

Well, I feel I’m missing something here. Wouldn’t physical constraints partially explain offspring size? For instance, a small female may be unable to produce an offspring of the certain size when this size exceeds the physical constraint.

dylanpadilla.bsky.social•188 days ago

That constraint results in a positive relationship between maternal size and offspring size, in which each female produces the largest egg possible for its body size. What am I missing here? (Genuine question)

jrossibarra.bsky.social•188 days ago

Remember not all maternal/offspring is live birth or eggs. What's to keep a plant from producing a seed bigger than it is? Norm also notes examples where size differences in the sexes mean the offspring *is* bigger than one parent.

dylanpadilla.bsky.social•188 days ago

Right, my view was biased towards certain domains of life. However, something similar might happen in some plants. Seed size might be limited by the size of a pod, or the availability of resources, etc. I can see how the complexity increases though.

dylanpadilla.bsky.social•188 days ago

What might be required to produce an offspring larger than its parent is a great availability of resources beyond what the parent could pass down. A parent can’t supply more than its natural reserve to an offspring based on physics. Not trying to answer the question but wanted to throw a thought.

tomospotter.bsky.social•188 days ago

They never did the proposed follow up: why are offspring younger than their parents?

pabloredux.bsky.social•188 days ago

I've no idea any more what "information" is - can an organism produce something with more "information" than there was to start with? @svalver.bsky.social @wiringthebrain.bsky.social ... somebody?

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply