Kevin McMullen
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astrodermatologist.bsky.social
Kevin McMullen
@astrodermatologist.bsky.social
Dermatologist, astrophotographer, enthusiast.
Evolution, mind, light.
🧬astrodermatologist.substack.com
A new Nature paper detonated one of the biggest assumptions in evolution.

The read-between-the-lines upshot: complex life may be far easier to evolve on other planets than we thought—because it arose 700 million years before mitochondria in an anaerobic world

#evolution #cellbiology #exobiology
A New Paper Just Broke Evolution’s Hardest Problem
And made me feel better about the likelihood of complex extraterrestrial life
open.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Every day I tell patients to use Krazy Glue on their painful skin cracks. Every day they ask me "is that safe?!"

Find out why!

#evolution #senses #olfaction #dermatology
Field Note: The Krazy Glue Panic Reflex
How our Stone Age brains handle a 20th Century odor.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM
15 to 75 percent of Earth’s biomass lies buried below the sea, where bacteria divide only once every ten million years.

Life becomes a room filled with crank toys— wound over millions of years. When the time comes to replicate DNA, the monkey bangs its cymbals and jolts the room to life.

#deeptime
Field Note: The Slowest Lives Are the Most Common
How time dilates for impossibly abundant, ten-million-year-old bacteria beneath the seafloor
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Turns out moths and elephants secrete the same pheromone to search for mates, even though they're separated by 550 million years.

Why? I have thoughts...

#evolution #exobiology #biochemistry #elephants #weirdscience
Field Note: Evolution's Unexpected Sext
Why two species separated by half a billion years stumbled onto the same chemical message.
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
New article: Why whales scream into the dark at deaf squid who stare back.

"The loudest creature on Earth screams into the abyss to find a squid that can’t hear it—while that same squid avoids the whale because it has the largest eyes in the history of the world."

#Evolution #deepsea #weirdbiology
Field Note: The Blind Hunt the Deaf in the Deep
Why sperm whales scream into the dark at deaf squid who stare back
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
For every frame of reality I see, a dragonfly gets five. Those extra frames aren’t decorative — they give the fly more chances to calculate where things were versus where they are, and fire off a motor command with the confidence of a creature with five moments to spare.

#matrix #kungfu #cognition
Field Note: The Dragonfly That Broke The Matrix
Why you won't know Kung Fu unless you practice. A lot.
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
What do Millennial Women and Giant Ground Sloths Have in Common?

Avocados. The answer is avocados. It's a story of avocados, evolution, alimentation, and overhunting.

#evolution #avocados #weirdscience
Field Note: What Do Millennial Women and Giant Ground Sloths Have in Common?
Avocados. The answer is avocados.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:09 PM
New Field Note: Why 3I/ATLAS Needs to Be a Spaceship

"The more we learn about how big and empty it all is, the more alone we feel. When something comes hurtling into our little ecosystem from the great beyond, of course we hope it’s something more than a pebble."

#NASA #3IATLAS #astronomy #Space
Field Note: Why 3I/ATLAS Needs to Be a Spaceship
On comets, clickbait, and the algorithm’s hunger for awe.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Field Note: Mandrills shouldn't be blue, but they are...

"And just like that—through a little physics, a lot of social competition, and millions of years of female preference—you get blue skin."

#evolution #weirdscience #biophysics #skin #biology
Field Note: Mandrills Shouldn't Be Blue
But they are
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:40 PM
What kind of planet could evolve a slug crime lord? My first Speculative Field Note dives into the impossible biology — and perfect psychology — of Jabba the Hutt.

This is part of a larger series on exobiology, astronomy, and the strangeness of being alive. #evolution #exobiology #starwars #science
Spec Note: Jabba the Hutt's Evolutionary History
Why we love to hate the Galaxy's most infamous gangster.
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM