Biology on Actually Random https://actuallyrandom.com/tags/biology/ Recent content in Biology on Actually Random Hugo en-us Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:35:00 +1200 Why can't humans photosynthesize? https://actuallyrandom.com/posts/why-cant-humans-photosynthesize/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 20:35:00 +1200 https://actuallyrandom.com/posts/why-cant-humans-photosynthesize/ Everyone says we lack chloroplasts. That is the least important reason. A human is a 97 watt appliance wrapped in the wrong shape, and no amount of chlorophyll fixes geometry. No, bacteria do not outnumber your cells ten to one https://actuallyrandom.com/posts/bacteria-vs-human-cells-ratio/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 19:10:00 +1200 https://actuallyrandom.com/posts/bacteria-vs-human-cells-ratio/ The famous 10:1 ratio of bacterial to human cells came from one back-of-the-envelope calculation in 1972. The real number is about 1.3 to 1, and the true story is better.