this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
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Science Memes

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top 29 comments
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[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 40 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

Dendrologists: [heavy breathing]

In all seriousness, isn't it pretty unlikely that alien life could interbreed with terran life even if they also used DNA with the same bases?

[–] ajmaxwell@lemmy.world 39 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

We won't know until we try

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 21 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Scientist 1: "How are things coming along with our test subjects?"

Scientist 2: "I don't know, it's about time to check back in with them."

Scientist 2: "Hey, Mike? How's it going?"

Mike: "Not too bad. There have been some challenges, but I think we got a few things worked out."

Scientist 2: "Oh...my. was that it's--"

Mike: "No, I don't think so, but it seems like it was mutually enjoyable, though, so write that down."

[Trilling noises in the background]

[–] vrek@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

But think of the splinters... Oh god... Think of the splinters... Mike should get hazard pay

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Bold of you to assume Mike isn't paying for the privilege.

[–] vrek@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

True, all I'm going to say is if you look up videos on "cbt therapy" make sure to put therapy in the search and/or have safe search on, as a result I believe Mike may enjoy the splinters

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The upsetting part about this is the 't' already stands for therapy. And nothing else

[–] vrek@programming.dev 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'll give you a more complete response after I go to the atm machine where I'll enter my pin number. 😜

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

sighs in overwhelming redundancy

Actually I loved that haha

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's extremely unlikely that their DNA has the same translation semantics into proteins.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Not unless there is a common ancestor, which is theoretically possible. But yeah, extremely unlikely.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Wow. So I went looking if people actually knew when our codon system appeared.

Turns out that there are 26 slightly different systems on Earth right now, and there are good reasons to expect random alien life to have a system that looks like ours, but is different enough to not be compatible.

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Incredibly. Even very closely related organisms can have a hard time breeding

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I know I'm having a hard time breeding

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Well it seems safe to say it's at least as unlikely as a terran species being able to breed with some randomly selected other terran species.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

Even when possible, it's often inadvisable as we learned from the monkapotamus in Drew Carey's famous documentary: https://youtu.be/BLbJC7LeC8E

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 38 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Some plant aliens land and discover the air itself gets them pregnant from all the pollen freely flying around from such numerous and primitive plant life. Terra is the plant equivalent of an unbridled sex planet.

[–] DeltaWingDragon@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

I've got a relevant SMBC for that

[–] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you like the idea of alien plant based fiction check out Semiosis by Sue Burke. Recommend going in blind

[–] Barrymore@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Or the Infected trilogy by Scott Sigler

[–] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Ooh, I'll add it to the list

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 weeks ago

Xenophytophilia is my favorite word in the English language

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What would happen if I crossbred with citrus? 🤔

[–] the_mighty_kracken@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I once had a short-lived romance with a Hanks Hard Lemonade

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

Doctors hate this one simple trick

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 7 points 4 weeks ago

Serious question: I know many oaks can crossbreed with each other, but do oaks actually crossbreed with non-oaks?

then they will try to domesticate us. I've read the literature

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 4 points 3 weeks ago

Plants don't want to they just do. The human experience is wanting the freak, not being born into it.

[–] Phoenix3875@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

How do you know if this hasn't happened already?