Fabian GiesenFeb 4
You ever think about how wild it is that modern humans have existed for like 300k+ years, and for approximately all of that time precisely zero of them had any idea how chemistry actually worked, but meanwhile your body is made of literally trillions of cells that somehow understand and remember everything you eat, so they're able to translate a weird very specific micronutrient deficiency into a food craving without you consciously being any the wiser?
Show threadFabian Giesen

E.g. a story my mom often tells is that when she was pregnant, she suddenly had a craving for pickled herring, despite ordinarily not liking fish.

On the surface this is just a random anecdote but the implications about how your body works are kinda staggering

Feb 4 at 2:30amWeb
Show threadPer VognsenFeb 4
@rygorous Also, pregnancy is really fucked up. The developing fetus is constantly fucking with the host's biochemistry to get what they want.
Show threadPer VognsenFeb 4
@rygorous I guess what I'm saying is, the fetus clearly wanted some pickled herring that day. :)
Show threadFabian GiesenFeb 4
@pervognsen *blows lock of hair up* just parasite things... :P
Show threadPer VognsenFeb 4
@rygorous It must be hard once you're born and you can no longer use biochemical Uber Eats to order delivery food and instead you're reduced to crying in a non-specific way.
Show threadWolf480plFeb 4
@pervognsen
gives you motivation to learn to speak
@rygorous
Show threadPer VognsenFeb 4
@wolf480pl @rygorous The 2 year old telling the 0 year old to "git gud" and "skill issue tbh".
Show threadflacsFeb 4
@rygorous every day I crave coffee for multiple hours, indicating my body's curious inability to procure coffee ahead of time
Show threadFabian GiesenFeb 4
@flacs auto brewery syndrome but for coffee #VPofIdeas
Show threadNRoach44Feb 4

@rygorous along similar lines I used to take some vitamin C supplements, and I swear they'd taste better sometimes (despite they were just artificial sweetener and orange flavour).

I can only imagine it's partially because I needed it more when it tasted better.

Show threadChris SiebenmannFeb 4

@nroach44 @rygorous There are a ton of anecdotes about various sports drinks to the effect of "this tasted like crap until one day I was out going really hard and then ...". And I'm a recreational cyclist and on hot days one of my warning markers is "mm this salt tastes really good".

(Not all sports drinks, especially these days; I think many are now loaded with extra sugar to be appealing to non-athletes, who are a much bigger market.)

Show threadvfigFeb 6
@rygorous the gut is often undervalued as a part of the body's entire computational system. theres a reason it has half a billion neurons, its own major nerves to the brain, and deep connections with the immune system.