Bob O'H
Posts: 2564
Joined: Oct. 2005
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| Quote (CeilingCat @ Aug. 14 2014,17:26) | Rec, you might also point out that cicadas (and probably other organisms) hatch out either every 13 or 17 years. Both numbers are prime, but no intelligence is involved.
If they hatched every 12 or 14 years, then predators on a 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 or 14 year cycle would hatch out at the same time as the 12 or 14 year cicadas and gobble them all up, along with the DNA that caused the 12 or 14 year cycle.
So long as the cicadas hatch every 13 years, only predators whose DNA puts them on a 1 or 13 year cycle will eat them and more 13 year DNA will go on uneaten and get passed on to future cicadas. |
El nino has a (roughly) 11 year cycle, which is also a prime number. This makes me worried - what predator are the ocean currents trying to avoid?
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It is fun to dip into the various threads to watch cluelessness at work in the hands of the confident exponent. - Soapy Sam (so say we all)
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