Talk:3046: Stromatolites

Yay, another Beret Guy appearance! 42.book.addict^{Talk to me!} 03:46, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure if I'm trying to remember Bloom County and the penguin (Opus) or Snoopy by Schulz because of the last panel. Shrug. Prolly both. Warm is good. 172.70.175.208 06:08, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

Add Zonker to this list? 108.162.245.39 17:29, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

Zonker Harris, yes! 172.70.175.106 18:16, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

How can anybody be related to rock formations? Stomatolites are not organisms, they are the product of organisms. 141.101.105.88 08:12, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

This might be one of Randall's weaker offerings in terms of scientific accuracy. I think that "stromatolites" as here used refers to the cyanobacterial component of stromatolites, which is the component detected in ancient fossils and is the one responsible for oxygen-evolving photosynthesis (responsible for what was perhaps the first global environmental catastrophe - an element of ancestry of which it might be wise not to boast). Modern stromatolites have both cyanobacteria (ancestors of plastids) and alpha-proteobacteria (ancestors of mitochondria) in their microbial mats, and it's reasonable to assume that alpha-proteobacteria were present in the fossils. So the "cousins" would be of cyanobacteria in the stromatolites, not the stromatolites themselves (in which both were, presumably, cohabiting). Beret Guy also appears to be confused about the proposed sequence of events leading to the origins of mitochondria and eukaryotic cell nuclei. 108.162.245.39 17:29, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

I've seen the surviving microbial mats in Australia referred to as "stromatolites" as well.Nitpicking (talk) 12:39, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

I wonder if he is related to any specific dinosaurs or whether he bypassed that branch of the tree completely. 09:48, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

I think there's a joke (or at least a reference) here about the relatedness of life. All currently-known organisms are related by descent from a common ancestor, which in English makes us all cousins, of various distances. Mitochondria in plants and animals, for instance, must descend from the same bacterium-like organism that became an endosymbiont in a proto-eukaryote.Nitpicking (talk) 12:39, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

Since mitochondria and chloroplasts were both originally distinct organisms that were absorbed into the host cells, that makes most modern life descendants of cannibals. Barmar (talk) 15:37, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

By that logic, eating pretty much any food except salt (and maybe dairy?) is cannibalism. 172.68.70.87 16:09, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

I immediately thought of Fabulous Pedigree, which does include ancestry (and side-branches) going back to (and past) mitochondria, though from a quick check it doesn't seem to specifically include stromatolites. Obviously the listing has lots of (mostly implied) gaps. --162.158.217.72 13:55, 4 February 2025 (UTC)

The What If? article index project

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I'm not sure if you noticed the banner of the site, but for the last few weeks a group of incredibly talented editors have been redesigning the index of What If? articles from the ground up. Among other things, we've merged two huge tables, added a TON of additional info, created complex templates, and made dozens and dozens of other improvements. I believe that, as a wiki, we should have a complete and detailed index of all what if? articles, just like we do for the comics, and we're getting so close to that goal! We mostly only need to add the missing explanations, improve the existing ones, and add the questions and answer summary from the books (plus other things).

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Clicking and clicking and clicking

I've added a bit about the length of time it would need to take to click that far back in the past. I'm sure I have got the amount out by several orders of magnitude, so I would appreciate it if anyone fancies a go at estimating how long Beret Guy would have taken. 172.71.241.27 10:49, 4 February 2025 (UTC)