That bacteria got me thinking...

[Alissa of Someday]

About Pando.
(Bet you thought I was going to start some kind of philosophical discussion or something...XD).
It's a large clonal grove of trees, that all shares a single root system--a forest of one.

[Helel]

The largest one, at that, but not the only one. Aspens in general seem to share the feature of those huge root systems shared by all the 'sprouts'.

I think I first heard about them when I went to Pike's Peak several years ago, and they noted that the Aspens there are really just one big organism. Neat.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Nothing says "I R hive N U R will B ded" like Pando. ;p

[Alissa of Someday]

Aye--not the only one, but still mighty impressive, t'me at least...

@Nikkou: Wait--'U R will B ded'? I think I am sensing bad grammar of some kind...Hm...

*Shifty eyes*

[Mitera Nikkou]

Just quoting the Pando, is all.

[Alissa of Someday]

XD. Oh--of course! How could I have forgotten those classes that I took in mammoth-tree speak?

[Mitera Nikkou]

Indeed. It may help if you take some ginkgo biloba. It is good teacher. ;p

[Alissa of Someday]

Oh? But what about possible increased risk of bleeding, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and restlessness? Can I risk it!?
...
On the other hand, these things can apparently survive nuclear blasts...

[Mitera Nikkou]

And how would it be different from the artificial medicines people pop as pills all of the time? ;p

[Alissa of Someday]

Not at all o' course--but then, I avoid taking pills and the like if I can help it--that is to say, unless I'm rather sick...

Hm. Wonder if you could count these things as brain steroids...

[Mitera Nikkou]

And make our brain shrink? ;p

If only this new bacteria came with the kind of sexual side-effects I'd prefer to have.

[Alissa of Someday]

Asexuality? Not sure if I'd have any peace of mind at all if I knew that somewhere, somehow, Nikkou was dividing herself into little Nikkou clones...

[Mitera Nikkou]

Asexuality doesn't necessarily mean mitosis. XD A female of the sexual persuasion already has all but one thing to reproduce on her own: another gamete for zygosis. Well, technically, females do have two gametes... But for a reason that I don't understand, only one ovary produces an ova at a time, normally. But if they both produced at the same time... It's not a far stretch with science, and a bit more understanding, to make it possible.

Aside from that, there are sexual species that are able to reproduce asexually (some lizards is all that I can remember right now), so it's not even impossible, naturally-speaking. On the plus side for humans, if we were able to utilize both ovaries (with changes to the ova, no doubt, since they're accustomed to receiving sperm), we'd manage asexuality and still maintain genetic diversity (if, by my understanding, each ova is not a copy of one half of the female's genome.)

Still, you're too late about the Nikkou clones. Millions of them lurk in shadows. And one of them conquered MSF this one time. ;/

[Alissa of Someday]

True--whenever I think of asexual reproduction though, I think of mitosis first and foremost, for whatever reason, followed closely by Meiosis...
...

*Runs off to create a Nikkou-buster squad!*

[Flannery]

On the other hand, these things can apparently survive nuclear blasts...

How do they know that?