3079: Air Fact - Revision history

FaviFake: /* Explanation */ complete

2025-06-16T13:32:11Z

‎Explanation: complete

FaviFake at 14:49, 24 April 2025

2025-04-24T14:49:42Z

FaviFake: wrong place and feels incredibly niche. either simplify it and insert it into the main article or leave it out

2025-04-23T15:46:05Z

wrong place and feels incredibly niche. either simplify it and insert it into the main article or leave it out

FaviFake: BUG FIX, REMOVE THE "/sandbox" ABOVE WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS

2025-04-23T15:44:05Z

BUG FIX, REMOVE THE "/sandbox" ABOVE WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS

FaviFake: hotfix, remove this when the next comic drops

2025-04-23T15:43:15Z

hotfix, remove this when the next comic drops

162.158.42.48 at 14:53, 23 April 2025

2025-04-23T14:53:51Z

162.158.78.254: Undo revision 374526 by 172.68.22.5 (talk) what?

2025-04-23T14:38:57Z

Undo revision 374526 by 172.68.22.5 (talk) what?

172.68.22.5: Kill the red link

2025-04-23T14:23:53Z

Kill the red link

FaviFake: /* Explanation */ THIS IS NOT FUNNY

2025-04-22T17:00:20Z

‎Explanation: THIS IS NOT FUNNY

The Ives of March at 12:41, 22 April 2025

2025-04-22T12:41:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:32, 16 June 2025
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}~~
	Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w\|Carebara\|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.		Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w\|Carebara\|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.

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-{{comic/sandbox <!-- BUG FIX, REMOVE THIS "/sandbox" WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS -->
+{{comic
 | number    = 3079
 | date      = April 21, 2025
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-<!-- BUG FIX, REMOVE THE "/sandbox" ABOVE WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS -->{{incomplete|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
+{{incomplete|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
 Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w|Carebara|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:46, 23 April 2025
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	The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. <em>Bona fide</em> ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders, while Megan's microscopic ants would mostly wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.		The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. <em>Bona fide</em> ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders, while Megan's microscopic ants would mostly wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.
−
−	~~==Trivia==~~
−	Microscopic (adult size less than 1.0 millimeter) insect species, that are more likely to appear in air samples than ''Carebara'' ants, do exist. For example, parasitoid wasps, such as those in the genera {{w\|Dicopomorpha_echmepterygis\|''Dicopomorpha''}}, {{w\|Kikiki\|''Kikikia''}}, and {{w\|Tinkerbella\|''Tinkerbella''}}, can have winged adults that are as small as 0.14 mm (140 µm), smaller than some protozoa. These insects, however, are not ants, and, unlike the microbes that Megan calls "ants" for the purpose of trolling Cueball, will not be found in ''every'' air sample.

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==

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-{{comic/sandbox
+{{comic/sandbox <!-- BUG FIX, REMOVE THIS "/sandbox" WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS -->
 | number    = 3079
 | date      = April 21, 2025
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{incomplete|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
+<!-- BUG FIX, REMOVE THE "/sandbox" ABOVE WHEN THE NEXT COMIC DROPS -->{{incomplete|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
 Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w|Carebara|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.

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-{{comic
+{{comic/sandbox
 | number    = 3079
 | date      = April 21, 2025

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|Created by a MICROSCOPIC ANT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
-Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w|Carebara|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. (In contrast, the microscopic wasp {{w|Kikiki huna|<em>Kikiki huna</em>}} is even smaller and can fly, so it is more plausible that it would be found in air samples in its tropical habitats.) Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.
+Microbiologist [[Megan]] tells [[Cueball]] that every cubic meter of air contains thousands of microscopic ants. This is a tall tale. Adult workers in some species of the genus {{w|Carebara|<em>Carebara</em>}}, the [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/341603-smallest-ant-species smallest known ants], can be 0.8 millimeters long, just below the 1.0 mm upper bound of [https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/497-the-microscopic-scale what some consider "microscopic"]. It is therefore possible for an air sample to contain microscopic ants. However, given the subterranean, cryptic habitats typical of ''Carebara'' species, it is highly unlikely that these ants would appear in ''any'', never mind ''every'', air sample. Initially incredulous, Cueball accepts Megan's fib as a fact, because he doesn't have any easy way to assess what samples of air contain.
 Air contains many microscopic particles, including minerals, plastics, combustion products, salt, water, pollen, spores, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. There are indeed  {{w|aeroplankton|microorganisms floating in the air}}, and getting air samples that will allow these microorganisms to be identified and quantified is indeed hard. [https://www.btpm.org/health-wellness/2018-05-23/allergy-season-is-back-but-how-do-we-know-whats-in-the-air Methods, with specialized collecting devices, exist] that take (one hopes) known volumes of air and deposit the particles contained in that air onto sticky surfaces which are then viewed under the microscope, or onto culture media which are then incubated. The methods are time-consuming and dependent on specialized knowledge (e.g., the identification of pollen grains or spores by surface features under the microscope), and are subject to numerous biases. For example, "sticky surface" methods will likely miss bacteria, and fail to identify 'nondescript' objects, whereas culture-based methods will not detect anything that will not grow on the selected medium. The joke is that microbiologists are tempted to make up stories about what's in the air, because most people lack the data or skills to fact-check the stories.
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. <em>Bona fide</em> ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders, while Megan's microscopic ants would mostly wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.
 ==Transcript==

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 | titletext = 'Wow, that must be why you swallow so many of them per year!' 'No, that's spiders. You swallow WAY more ants.'
 }}
 ==Explanation==

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 Micro particle concentration in air varies considerably; 100 to 100,000 bacteria per cubic meter, and 100 to 1000 fungal spores per cubic meter are typical.  In the comic, Megan could have sampled a 100 cubic centimeter (0.1 liter) space of air and found 1 microbe (e.g., a bacterium, a mold spore, a protozoan cyst) in it. If she assumed that this was a representative sample, Megan could extrapolate from this datum to say that there are 10,000 microbes (rather than ants) for every 1 cubic meter (1,000,000 cubic centimeters or 1000 liters). [[Randall]] has made numerous [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Extrapolation comics about dubious extrapolations], but in this case, Megan's number is [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4515362/ within the range of microbial counts] that have been made in various indoor and outdoor environments.
-The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. <em>Bona fide</em> ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders{{Citation needed}}, while Megan's microscopic ants would mostly wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.
+The title text refers to the commonly believed myth that [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-66319172 people swallow 8 spiders a year in their sleep]. Though oft quoted, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-people-swallow-8-spiders-a-year-while-they-sleep1/ it has no basis in fact], and was actually [https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/ made up] to see if people would repeat the rumor without checking the original source. <em>Bona fide</em> ants, microscopic or otherwise, would be no more likely to enter a human's mouth than spiders, while Megan's microscopic ants would mostly wind up in the lungs, not the stomach, where (one hopes) the immune system would take care of them.
 ==Transcript==