
How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about Lichens - virmundi
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/how-a-guy-from-a-montana-trailer-park-upturned-150-years-of-biology/491702/?single_page=true
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archgoon
The main revolution 150 years ago was that lichen was not a single organism.
I'm not sure if refining that number from 2 to 3 is legitimately
"overturning"; I was reading the article expecting them to say that the two
organisms were in fact sharing the same DNA and were in fact sexual dimorphs
all this time.

On the other hand, figuring out why we've been failing to grow lichen by
merging the two species manually for the past century and a half is definitely
a job well done. :)

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astrodust
This is as huge as the discovery of the neutron was for the atomic model.
Wasn't that merely redefining the number of elementary particles from two
(electron, proton) to three?

If you actually read the article you'll find out that the properties of the
lichen could not be explained by the two known elements alone, that there was
some other factor that nobody could describe. The careful work done here
uncovered a third element that was the important difference, that there's a
three way symbiosis. Now they have a complete model of what's going on after
an initial hypothesis put forward 150 years ago.

Considering someone's finally explained how these types of organisms work, and
it's a large branch of life, this is a pretty major breakthrough.

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semi-extrinsic
Well, saying this is as huge as the discovery of the neutron for the atomic
model is stretching it, IMO. Atoms make up everything, understanding how
atomic nuclei are made up has paved the road for huge breakthroughs in not
just nuclear physics but also in medicine, energy production, materials
physics, etc. Lichen, on the other hand, are, well lichen. If we'd been
throwing money on lichen research like we have on nuclear physics, we would
have known this a century ago.

~~~
spdustin
> Atoms make up everything

And that's why you can't trust them. (cue rimshot SFX)

But lichen... You know, now that we have a functional understanding of their
biology, I'm quite excited to see what this new knowledge will yield when
applied. Pharmacology, materials, food production/processing — "We don't know
what we don't know," but having more data helps us to learn what questions we
can ask.

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thieving_magpie
I lived in Montana for years. The only population of folks that speak German
that I'm aware of are Hutterites (German variation of the Amish or
Mennonites). If he comes from that group, it makes the story all the more
amazing.

~~~
astrodust
They don't name it, but they do strongly hint at it. I bet he got some strange
looks when using his arcane German in a modern setting.

~~~
thieving_magpie
Wow, I hadn't thought of that. It would be really interesting to hear about
his experiences in his own words.

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leephillips
This is not only cool scientifically but inspiring because of the discoverer's
life story.

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sampo
The Science paper is here:
[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/07/20/scien...](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/07/20/science.aaf8287)

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ctingom
Why couldn't he go get a GED? Most colleges accept those, and lots of
homeschoolers go to college.

~~~
alistairSH
It sounded like he got no support from his family and "ran away" as soon as he
was able. But, he probably could have earned a GED. But, that takes time -
perhaps it was faster/easier to move to Germany?

The home-schooled teens that go on to college may lack formal paperwork form a
school, but they generally do have some test results, paperwork filed with the
county/state, and other items they can put on a transcript in lieu of actual
grades.

It sounded like the scientist didn't have the benefit of a structured home
education.

~~~
safeignorance
Exactly. It's not just that he was home-schooled. It's that he was apparently
home-schooled by people who were apparently particularly incompetent at home-
schooling.

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astrodust
Yes, the singular goal of all Hutterite parents is to raise their children to
be Ph.D scientists. They utterly failed here.

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whack
The headline makes it seem as though some guy overturned a fundamental precept
of modern biology, while living in a Trailer in Montana.

None of the above is true.

1) He happened to grow up in a trailer in Montana, but eventually moved on to
attend a good German university, and was no longer living in a "Montana
trailer park" while making this discovery.

2) The guy corrected a misunderstanding that people had, regarding one very
specific phenomenon found in nature; something that most biologists don't work
with, depend on, or care about. The replication crisis around Ego Depletion,
for example, can credibly be claimed to have overturned decades of
psychological thought. The specific makeup of Lichens though, is an extremely
niche field, that doesn't affect the broader field of Biology in any
significant way.

~~~
safeignorance
Of course, the guy's life story is still an inspirational tale of creating
opportunities for yourself where none seem to exist. And his discovery --
although probably not rocking the foundation of the (sub)field -- is still
impressive and pretty interesting. And the article is written well enough.

So you should still read the article. Just pretend the link-baity title
doesn't exist and don't go in with pre-conceptions :-)

~~~
whack
I agree. The article was a cool read and props to the guy for successfully
building a career in science, despite his shitty upbringing. I just wish the
headline didn't wildly exaggerate his admirable accomplishments.

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sabujp
The link between lichen and basidiomycetes was known before this paper, but it
was mainly thought that most lichens had none of the basidiomycetes spores,
e.g. :
[https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/basidiolichens.html](https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/basidiolichens.html)

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triangleman
So they have Wal-Mart in Germany, or did he get his degree in Germany and then
return to the U.S. and do his research there?

~~~
mod
From the article:

> The path to this discovery began in 2011, when Spribille, now armed with a
> doctorate, returned to Montana. He joined the lab of symbiosis specialist
> John McCutcheon...

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an_d_rew
Nicely told feel-good story!

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xkcd-sucks
Could we change the title to something a little less clickbaity/classist? Even
though it's the title of the actual article, trailer parks have nothing to do
do with the actual content.

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lumberjack
Not going to touch on whether it is relevant to the rest of the article but
acknowledging classism is the opposite of being classist.

~~~
Semiapies
Considering that the classism in question _is_ considering it strange and
amazing that someone who grew up poor (and in a _gasp!_ trailer park) could go
on to do science? There's no "acknowledging" classism in this article, there's
just straight-out engaging in it and perpetuating it.

~~~
randomdata
Is the classism in question really about being poor?

From my perspective, it is about perpetuating the stereotype that rural people
are 'slack jawed yokels'. If this guy was from a vertical trailer park (i.e. a
high rise condo unit), we wouldn't think twice about it because, despite being
potentially just as poor, he is an 'enlightened city dweller'.

~~~
Semiapies
There's a rural vs urban component, but yes, it's about being poor. If he were
poor and urban, a similar article would have talked about him growing up in
the "mean streets" of some poor neighborhood. It's the same reaction.

~~~
randomdata
Perhaps it's a regional thing then, because where I come from, trailer parks
are essentially cottages for the middle class. The poor connotation isn't
there, but the lack of population density certainly is.

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smt88
Did he create opportunities for himself, or did he live in a country where
other taxpayers covered the cost of his college education?

He's an impressive person, but "poor guy pulled himself up by the bootstraps
using sheer force of will" narratives usually fall apart when you look more
closely.

~~~
safeignorance
An American without a high school diploma or GED convinced a seriously good
German university to admit him. That's pretty impressive.

If I were in his situation, there's no way I would have had the gull to try
that route. Probably would've just stayed in the forest service. Maybe gone
for a GED then community college then a local land grant. By which time I'd be
too burnt out on it all (and too old) to even think about a doctorate.

There's no doubting that the German people helped this guy achieve what he
achieved. There's also no doubting that he was truly exceptionally resourceful
(and maybe a bit lucky, too).

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leephillips
This shows that the Göttingen science faculty is maintaining its centuries-
long tradition of taking chances and nurturing scientific talent, without
regard to sex, race, or class, often in defiance of the surrounding culture.
The most famous example is Emmy Noether:

[http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/the-female-
mathematic...](http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/the-female-
mathematician-who-changed-the-course-of-physics-but-couldnt-get-a-job/)

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adultSwim
How one click-baity title overturned 158 years of publishing integrity

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dang
Please don't make the threads even worse by posting comments like this.

If you want to complain about a title, the valuable way to do it is to suggest
a better title, i.e. an accurate and neutral one.

