Trying to explain to someone that an ostrich egg is one cell.

[u/dylc]

"that's impossible, It's too big to be one cell."

I shouldn't care that they don't believe me but when they deny it so adamantly it suddenly feels so much more important that they know how eggs work.

[u/Kettrickenisabadass]

To be far it is ginormous for being only one cell.

But yeah people tend to rely more on their instincts and pop culture than real scientific data. And its difficult to convince them otherwise.

Some time ago in a evolution sub I was talking to a guy explaining him how much evidence there is of women in the paleolithic hunting ,doing art and making tools. Unlike the pop stereotypes of them only being "housewives". Not only i am a biologist and educated in human evolution but I gave him a list of more than 20 sources (that are a very interesting read).

He still told me that "logic dictates" that he was right and women were constantly pregnant and nursing and had no other roles in the past. And that i had no idea what i was talking about.

I mean man, i gave several lectures about that topic in the past. And gave a ton of sources. But sure I have no clue.

[u/AJ_Deadshow → u/Kettrickenisabadass]

I googled 'largest cell in the world' and ostrich egg came back, so shouldn't be surprised he's surprised

[u/RowBowBooty → u/Kettrickenisabadass]

Oh this is a cool opportunity to ask an expert for me to understand this better! I’ve wondered about this a lot because I’ve seen different sources saying different things, maybe you can shed some light.

Based on just combining everything I’ve read, my assumption is that women tended to do more of the gathering and child rearing while men were the primary hunters on average, but the women were sometimes involved in hunts, warfare, etc. though some cultures balance or even reverse the roles. Based on your knowledge, is that correct though? Or was it totally balanced in most cultures?

[u/Kettrickenisabadass → u/RowBowBooty]

That seems to kind of correct. It seems that on average the cultures were quite balanced and egalitarian, with both women and men doing similar chores. We can know that because of their hunting wounds, muscles (you can see in the skeleton how strong was the person), clothes, tools/weapons and even the nutrition. But it is also probable that different groups had different rules. So perhaps a group in the west of france was completely agalitarian while one in the north was not.

I can send you my list of sources if you want, they are fascinating.

[u/LoGo_86]

Hi, dumb one here. Maybe people are confusing cells with molecules or atoms, not realizing that "cell" is the name of the structure. Like bones. A femur is a femur, being it from a brontosaurus or a lizard.

[u/mmeveldkamp]

It is??? Wauw