Why do we Care about Family? (Even Plants)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Why does life seem to be nicer to family? Would an offspring ever care for their parents? Inclusive Fitness, Hamilton's rule, Kin Selection
SIDE NOTES / ADDITIONAL STUFF
(sources for video in video credits)
How Thale Cress recognizes family
If you put a green filter beside them as they grow, they will bend their leaves away from the lifeless filter, like they do for family. Plants have proteins that detect light of certain wavelengths. It seems when light in those spectrums are blocked in the horizontal direction, like when there is a neighbor leaf there, they try to grow away from it.
Plants from different families are going to have different genes, grow a bit differently, and their leaves will be at different heights and different angles. But closely related plants are going to be similar. They’ll have leaves that are at similar heights blocking the light in the horizontal direction for one another. That’s why they grow away from family and not strangers, their horizontal light profile, is going to be similar. When with strangers their leaves don’t match up so much. So they only bend away for family. At least that’s the idea.
Thale Cress Leaf Bending: Is It Really for Family?
They tested for that. Using a mutant that cannot bend their leaves, they put them in rows like mutant│wild type│mutant│wild type... The mutants were find on their own, produce the same number of seeds as wild type. In the row, the mutants produced more seeds than the wild type. In this context at least, the benefit seems to be for the other plant, not the bender. Plant altruism is a difficult thing though. There's only a finite amount of resources. Giving resources to a neighbor may be a 1:1 thing. Hard to detect. www.ncbi.nlm.ni...
Family helping “strategies”
This model describes where a gene’s protein CAN act, not necessarily where it will. What works for bees may not work for humans. The other proteins of that cell are a part of a gene’s environment.
Bees and eusociality
There’s a lot of discussion about how bees and other creatures evolved eusociality.
Also Wikipedia page
en.wikipedia.o...
Article to get you started
www.sciencealer...
it describes this paper
www.ncbi.nlm.ni...
Some Examples of How Cells Recognize Family
The armpit effect. en.wikipedia.o...
In humans there’s what they call the Westermarck effect
en.wikipedia.o...
Ducks imprinting on their mother.
en.wikipedia.o...
When it goes wrong
en.wikipedia.o...
Here’s a Sapolsky lecture. • 8. Recognizing Relatives Starts at 30 minutes 7 seconds
Why Aren’t We All Family?
Really we’re asking “why don’t genes recognize when other cells have those genes?” For a gene to only help cells with those genes they have to have the effect where they are they have to have:
Some form of specific phenotypic marker, a pheromone, an appearance, a sound/call
Recognize that phenotypic marker
Only help cells with those genes.
There are actually a couple specific examples, it’s called the Green beard effect
en.wikipedia.o...
Why isn’t it more common?
Maybe it’s a little bit like asking “why don’t we all have 4 arms? Surely having more limbs would be beneficial” or “why don’t we have laser eyes to heat our food and melt our enemies”. But mutations are random and maybe 4 arms/green beards just weren’t a possibly part of our history.
Maybe it’s because it’s working against the rest of the genome. There’s lots of genes that may not benefit from the green beard gene’s action. Mutations that shut off the green beard gene would make that cell reproduce more.
Or maybe it’s common and it’s just difficult to detect. There are several papers that claim it’s relatively common and very important. It could that to our brains we just don’t think we can recognize specific genes. But that’s just because our altruistic genes are scattered over our 46 chromosomes, all with markers and recognizing parts and on average we just view our children as related.
I don’t know for sure.
Patreon patreon.com/us...
I love fake sponsors. Great video!
"Huma-mama-yumma-lique-human-milk"
I really like your diagrams with the arrows, showing who's helping who. When you mentioned "parent-helping-genes", I was thinking "ok maybe that works in theory, but I can't imagine it being super common in the real world", but then you had that explanation with the queen bees and worker bees at 6:30, and now it seems super clear!
Why what a lovely channel! I admire your animation style.
legend says he was dead,but the legend was wrong.
and now he's out for revenge
Of course, a legend himself can't die.
"heroes always get remembered but you know legends never die"
You belong in the ranks of CGP Grey
TehConqueror yes 2 thing yes some knows cgp and your right
correct
Its great to see a science youtuber that really does their research. Love the animation and depth of material. You earned yourself a sub, keep up the great work
The plants got away from their family members because they hate them.
that must explain it
It's like every family photo session: "Get close together like you like each other!"
CGP GREY 2.0, doubling all aspects of CGP Grey including the time between each video
oh
this guy is way more interesting
Make a Patreon!!! That way we can help support the content on the channel. It's super awesome. Love the commentary style.
"Liquid child care" loved it.
Also good to see you back. We need to get him a sponsor people so he can afford to make these videos more often.
I think you mean a REAL sponsor, Hamilton's grass fed human milk's contribution is not that great.
Just wanted to say thank you for making these insightful videos that go a little more in depth into a topic. I'm really getting bored of "educational" videos that skim a topic in 3 minutes or less...
this is one of the best channels of this genre.
screw people bitching about there not being a never-ended bombardment of videos slapped together, stretching to grasp at the dimmest subjects for the sake of a high rate of production.
you do research, cover interesting and relevant topics and do so in an extremely approachable and pleasant demonstration of presentation and technical skill.
i don't like getting beaten over the head by some overly-bubbly or sarcastic pre-teen screaming at me about fan theories ( no that those video's are bad, inherently; here what i get from the channel is something much more genuine and mellow ).
so just do what you can-- keep them coming and don't ever forget your integrity
Genuinely one of my favourite youtube channels right now! Keep up the good work Jesse!
YOU'RE BACK!!!
Your name is spelled wrong.
You're an idiot.
I hope the current temporary number of low views never disencourage you from making great quality videos, I really enjoy them.
Awesome video
Thanks for taking out of your own precious time and giving to strangers on the internet. Also do not worry about putting out videos more often, the frequency of videos is superseded by the quality of videos.
This channel is amazing. Channels that take their time to make good projects are the best, but the trade off of waiting forever is torture
This channel is so amazing! Never stop making these awesome videos! I wish you a lot of luck and hope that you will grow fast!
Every time I watch one of your videos, it makes the world make a little more sense
I came across this channel completely by accident, but I'm really happy I did. This is all very interesting and since your voice is very soft and soothing it's easy to understand for me. I really like this and hope to see more great content in the future, keep up the great work!
Finally!
I honestly love your videos the most out of all the educational videos I have seen.
Stay alive man!
Your videos are just SO GOOD ahhhhhhh yesss :))) mmmmmm such. good. editing. So well explained. Mmmmmphh nice 👌
7/10 for explaining stuff and +3 extra points for giving an exercise at the end (or at least advising your viewers to also inform themselves) ^^
I like your videos and I can understand why you can't (or don't want) to upload more frequent.
If, however, you decide to try at going big on youtube someday ^^ I reckon you could really do it.
Sweet video. See you in 6 months! joking i just rewatch all of his videos about every 2 weeks
Every 6 months, in a place far, far away...
MOAR VIDS! I absolutely love your style and your ability to explain such an amazingly complex subject.
Good to see you back! I always find your videos interesting.
Your videos are always worth the wait man!!!
I subscribed this channel a month ago, didn't expect that you're still uploading new videos. I liked it!
Holy shit you're alive? :)
I'm happy to see another video from you. Great watch
heh, I forgot I was subbed...
Nice
i was like: who the fk is this guy and why am i subbed? when i watched the video i remembered again :)
i never forgot - he just makes sooo good videos! i was more like
"YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS a new video from THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!"
Glad to see a new video! Great work as always!
Oh my god. Finally!! Thank you. I missed your voice
HOW did I just find this channel? This is great content. Thank you.
7:10 That brother is a great wing man.
OMG I'm so glad you're back!!!
I almost forgot how much I love these videos.
These videos blow my mind please keep making more
to be honest, I don't know what you are talking about but the visuals and how you explain it make me want to watch more 😃
I'm not a biologist but a software guy. I had to rewind a couple times because of the fast talk (no complaints I like it that way... tests my hearing comprehension within new ground), but this was informative and a lot of fun. thanks.
I love your work. Thought, it could be even better if you added more quotes from the articles and books you read about these fascinating things. It would add another layer of professionalism for your channel.
I love your voice! Never stop.
it's always a nice surprise when you upload a new video... however often that is
So great to see a new video by you
Hey. Please upload more frequently. You have a great talent for condensing and dispersing information that's interesting. :D
man...a lot of new info for me. Will have to watch a few more times. thanks!
That feeling of succeed when you watch the first sequence of the video and can tell the answer you'll get in the end within seconds.
Now I know this is actually helping me :D
Always hated biology - but this is damn fun!
-noname
I LOVE YOU
*Ahem*
Thank you for coming back
I love you, you're back! Awesome! :-D
I am also a passionate of evolution ''strategies'', been like that since I learned about the concept of natural selection, and I totally loved the simple and yet so effective idea. Since then I have been making theories myself, only to find out they had already been thought out (oubviously :p).
I really liked that video, you explain all this stuff much better than I do. I'd love to have my French speaking friends watch it, so if I were to provide good French subtitles, would you add them?
Yes
This is really good, keep at it man!
Another fantastic video. Keep up the great work!
Love your videos man! Keep it up!
This was an awesome video! Though thats not unusual for this channel.
Love your videos man, wish you had more subs and upload more often (sry my bad english)
I'm calling TH-cam shenanigans. I would have watched this the day it came out, but it didn't show up in my subscriptions feed. have you thought about an email notification system?
I'll see what I can do for upcoming videos
Ok, I think you can sign up for it natively with youtube. Next to the the subscribe button is a little gear. Click on that and tell it to give all notifications for the channel. I don't know if that will do emails though.
support.google.com/youtube/answer/3382248?hl=en
*gasp* TH-cam is rigged?
Woah wait ... Is this a cliffhanger in a fkn educational video wtf ?!
Imagine your maths teacher just leaving in tge middle of class and saying " Welp page 167 to 190 self study . Test tomorrow
I just found your channel like a week ago and it really helps inspire my music creativity somehow. Perhaps you should make a video on the correlation between scientific research and musicality.
Six months, man. Welcome back
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it a lot, as usual.
Your videos are really good. I cant belive how littel subs you have.
im glad ur back again
this channel is so underrated
"Huma-mama-yumma-lique-human-milk"
See you in 6 months :P
You're back, yay!!!
Hey maybe with this new human milk sponsor we can get more than 2 videos a year!
Jk, I know you work super hard on these videos and don't get paid much :) great stuff.
How long does it take for you to make a video?
It really depends on the content. 160 - 240 hours of research/writing/animation for 5-10 minutes of video? Sometimes it's quick and can be like 40-60 hours per 5 -10 minutes.
+This Place so how is it 6 months since u last posted :(
This channel only makes a couple hundred dollars a month. This is not my full time gig.
I understand the TH-cam struggle my bro.
A lot of people including myself would love to see a new face in the sciency ways of youtube and an awesome creative style of presenting it the way you do.
Don't do it for the money, Do it because you're passionate.
I'll continue to support your channel by liking all vids and checking for new videos every half year.
lotsa love
+This Place oh okay, i appreaciate the work you do. This channel is great :)
Eating, asexing
Keep on making amazing videos, friend.
Excellent explanation. Frigging cool electron microscope action.
Welcome back boyo!
"We have appendages that shoot out liquid child-caring." Best description of lactation ever XD
Awesome new vid! Love it!!
Thanks for the vid :) it's awesome as always
So wait...... Our cells are basically playing a game of civ 5 WITHOUT US!!!!!
we are the map they are playing on
wonder which dlc we came with
The break is on the most interesting point.
I forgot how amazing this channel is. If you made 1 video per month you could have a million subs by now. make a patreon
love your stuff, keep it up.
I love this channel.
YOU'RE ALIVE. I've missed you :/
Yay I was so excited when I saw this in my subscriptions
4:37 - In a slightly less simplified model, because of aging (and loss of reproductive opportunities with age), the consideration changes for grandparents (or great* grandparents, depending on how long the organism in question remains alive) - at some point their own chances of reproduction reduce, possibly to zero, so the cost to their own copy of the gene also effectively decreases, and the benefit gained from helping grandchildren becomes more significant. It's possible to get more biological benefit from helping grandchildren than it was to help children when they were the same age. That's my interpretation of the grandmother hypothesis, anyway.
Awesome explanation! I always confuse people when tell them that it is because of our genes that we care for our family more than our community, and our community more than our state, and our state more than our country, and our county more than the rest of the human population, and humans more than other mammals, and mammals more than other multicellular organisms, and multicellular organisms more than single called organisms. Basically the amount we care about a life is directly proportional to the similarity in genetics.
BTW do you have a way I could donate to you?
There's a donate thing in the about section. Also on the banner. thanks!
+This Place must have missed that, thank you.
please post more videos, i love your videos!!
Read "The selfish gene", by Richard Dawkins.
So are you releasing episodes in blocks or how are you doing this? Also, it's good to see that you're still uploading
I think you should bring back the long intro, I liked that a lot.
I hope your channel get more views in the future so you can make more videos and more money.
HE'S BACK!!!
Can you post more? I really enjoy your videos!
Make more videos!! I've been waiting for you to make another one
I don't really pay attention to what you say. I just love your voice😂
24 seconds in and my mind is already blown.
How does this video take 6 months? Good vid, but I don't understand why you can't do like one vid per month or something
This only makes a couple hundred dollars a month. This is not my full time gig.
+This Place I need more. This channel is as great as any big education others in TH-cam. Keep it up!
+This Place ohh I see. Thank you for the reply. And thank you for making these then since you don't have to
Great stuff man! Keep it up! =)
This channel still exists!?
he's back!
YOU BACK!!