So now we're politicizing nature

1. 2019-07-18 at 3:52 AM UTC

   #1
   The Self Taught Man Black Hole
   Disgusting.
   
   

   What do Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama Michelle Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio and David Bowie have in common? Thanks to researchers at the University of Vermont, they all have a new species of spider named after them.
   
   Researchers gave the celebrity names to a group of tiny yellow spiders originally thought to be the same species. The Spintharus berniesandersi, for instance, is a tiny spider found in Cuba that measures just a millimeter long.
   
   Professor Ingi Agnarsson, who led the research project, explained to Sci-News why they gave the eight-legged creatures such recognizable names: “The students and I wanted to honor people who stood up for both human rights and warned about climate change — leaders and artists who promoted sensible approaches for a better world.”
   
   
   “Until now, the beautiful yellow smiley-faced spiders in the genus Spintharus— named for a smiley face pattern on their abdomens — has been thought to have one widespread species from northern North America down to northern Brazil,” Agnarsson added. But the study, published on Tuesday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, reveals that the spiders are actually many different types of species.

   
   https://time.com/4957265/bernie-sanders-barack-obama-spider/
2. 2019-07-18 at 3:53 AM UTC

   #2
   The Self Taught Man Black Hole
   And before our resident trolls show up, I'd be just as disgusted if it was spintharus donaldtrumpii and spintharus mikepenceii
   
   Keep your opinions out of science please
   
   Also, better late than never.
3. 2019-07-18 at 4:34 AM UTC

   #3
   

   vindicktive vinny Black Hole
   hillarious clintii
4. 2019-07-18 at 5:01 AM UTC

   #4
   

   GGG victim of incest [my veinlike two-fold aepyornidae]
   Does it really bother you that much that a spider you'll probably never see or think of again is named after some politician.
   
   I remember reading about this years ago and I haven't thought of it again till now.
5. 2019-07-18 at 5:02 AM UTC

   #5
   The Self Taught Man Black Hole
   It bothers me that people are now injecting their opinions into science and nature
   
   They've been doing it for a while now but this is the most blatant example I've seen
6. 2019-07-18 at 5:55 AM UTC

   #6
   

   GGG victim of incest [my veinlike two-fold aepyornidae]

   Originally posted by Jυicebox It bothers me that people are now injecting their opinions into science and nature
   
   They've been doing it for a while now but this is the most blatant example I've seen

   
   Yeah but it was still like one instance two years ago. It's not a widespread thing. I bet most scientists would agree with you that personal beliefs should be kept out of science, not that it necessarily matters in this case, it's just kind of entitled. Also a bit of a wasted opportunity to name it something with some actual meaning to you that would then live on in legacy forever. Like how many times do you get to do that? These researchers probably wasted their only chance.
7. 2019-07-18 at 2:33 PM UTC

   #7
   

   Speedy Parker Black Hole [my absentmindedly lachrymatory gazania]

   Originally posted by GGG These researchers probably wasted their only chance.

   
   Like that chance you dad had to spare the world from your miserable existence by fucking your mother in the ass that night instead of shooting up her overused cunt?