Isn't this more of a philosophy or (more specifically) metaphysics thing?

I think the closest you'll get to a non woowoo answer is that energy is finite, though at a scale of the universe it may not seem it. In any given system within that universe, be it a galaxy, a star system, a planet, a continent, a species, on down to proteins in a primordial soup, the ability to do rather than sit and be acted upon takes energy.

That energy comes from the outside, and is recycled.

Death is the great recycler. Decomposition in once living tissue is the process of returning the resources used back into the system.

Is that Steve Spangler in the photo?

Both. The concept is that hydrogen gets fused to produce power, which creates a self sustaining loop for the spacecraft. The exhaust is then ejected at greater speeds than the intake velocity. In theory that allows us to sidestep one of the biggest issues of spacecraft, the need to carry your own propellant / energy supply.

I thought ramjet was combustion. In space, you just need inertia?

That is essentially the concept of the ramjet, yes.

So that's where star trek got the idea of Bussard collectors from.

It works better if you have dedicated fuel collectors that act as refuel points

Why not scoop up junk and expel it behind you at a greater velocity, using whatever energy source you have.

I love the kind of problems for which fusion reactors are not efficient enough!

A 2021 study found that, while feasible in principle, the practical construction of a useful Bussard ramjet (of the Fishback's design) would require a funnel with a diameter of 4000 kilometers, and thus might be beyond even a civilization of Kardashev type II.

That's just an engineering problem. I'm optimistic. Any day now.

Sounds like you're remembering the Bussard Ramjet, which sucks up hydrogen from the interstellar medium to fuel a fusion reactor. It's technically possible on paper, but not even close to practical for a variety of reasons, among those being that the density of the interstellar medium is too low to provide enough fuel and fusion reactors aren't efficient enough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

The "Feasibility" section is pretty much a litany of big problems.

Oh, you can do the math and make a more educated opinion than just pure guess. Find space "density", rocket size... figure out how much propellant you actually need and how many millenniums you need the get enough to keep your engines work for a few seconds. It actually might be a fun little article.

It’s always random mutation that then ends up being a positive thing and those animals then reproduce more.

Nitpick: evolution is often random mutation that doesn't produce a negative impact. For example, a random mutation in humans producing certain hair colors is not negative, but doesn't necessarily give an advantage either, so we have a distribution of hair colors.

(I'm ignoring people having a thing for people with a certain hair color because I doubt it's statistically significant. If anything, it's probably more an unconscious preference for people with uncommon attributes, meaning more genetic diversity.)

Yes, bed bugs are one species that does it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_insemination

Thanks :) I didn't know it was a moth until the kind people here identified it for me but now I do and what a cool one :)

Moths are not true bugs. True bugs belong to the order Hemiptera, while moths are part of the order Lepidoptera.

here's another shot of the cutie, excuse my pixel 6A lol

Innit? :)

Hehehe

That’s not a bug, that’s a feature!

Beautiful is what it is

ahh I got a reply from mastadon saying hummingbird clearwing moth is that the same thing?

116966955502527049@mastodon.social ohhhh well I did feel pretty special about it, thank you! :)

Snowberry clearwing, maybe?