Thanks for answering a question that “millions” have probably asked. As usual, great videos, images and explanations that make your channel a must for anyone interested in Microscopy.!
Very fun. When I was a child, in the 3rd or 4th grade, my friends and I played near a large field of nettles. We would occasionally go in there and get stung. But after some time we would play in there more and eventually it was not a problem we would run through the nettles and barely a problem.
nice video, Oliver - love the little aphid reminding folks to subscribe 🙂 formic acid is painful, as it also is when an ant bites you and injects some formic acid into you as it is a primary weapon in the Formicinae subfamily of ants the resulting irritation from the nettle's "hypodermic needle" injection causes a release of histamine in the body, making the local skin area turn red and often causing small welts to appear - it subsides after a little while wild mtn. gorillas actually eat stinging nettles, but according to a recent article they "first strip leaves from the nettle stems and twist off their sting-loaded stalks... next carefully fold this bundle of leaves over their thumbs, with the undersides up to keep the stings on the top side, and then pop the packages into their mouths" and this behavior is taught to the next generation - very clever I haven't seen stinging nettles on my last few hikes, but I will look for some and add them to a future MicroAddict livestream 🙂
Nice, we must be thinking along the same lines because I went out looking to nettles last week to investigate these spiky hairs. Unfortunately, the forest area I chose to search had recently had all the ground cover removed so I was unsuccessful this time. It was good that you did this to satisfy my own curiosity on this matter. Thank you.
hi MH. i am sooo happy you looked at my favorite plant: although i had plenty in my native belgium, not much was found here in nz. but i have a patch now, and brush my hands and feet against the spikes, to promote circulation and thus relieve arthritis. i looove the soup: it is my favorite soup in the world. didn't think of putting the spikes on a slide 🙄. please try the soup, it is so good for you
When I lived in Germany for a few years, stinging nettles were everywhere. A German lady said that these nettles were boiled and eaten after WWII like spinach. What happens to those spikes in boiling? Do they soften? Under the microscope, those spikes sure look vicious and unfriendly to the digestive tract.
The English apparently eat nettle soup, or so I’ve heard. And it seems like much of Northern Europe does or did, going back over 3000 years, according to a quick glance at Wikipedia. Supposed to be quite nutritious, eaten in the spring, and boiling deactivates the “sting”, but don’t take my word for it, I’ve never tried it. In a pub in Dorset, UK, there is a stinging nettle eating contest, which may or may not have something to do with copious amounts of alcohol also being consumed.
@@Tatterdemalion-77 Thanks, fun info. Makes me wonder if alcohol were involved in people eating unlovely sources of nutrition-- like oysters, haggis, lobsters, sheep's head and such. 🙂
Fascinating. I had never seen this notorious plant up close before. I would like to know how you call the stinging nettle in your language, actually, I would enjoy hearing the names of all your specimens in your native language. The species of nettle where I live in Missouri, US, is Urtica dioica, but as kids we just called it “itch weed”. We ran into it frequently along the creeks we played in and would rub handfuls of mud and muddy gravel on ourselves believing it made the sting go away.
Coyote Peterson put out a video of him getting stung by stinging nettles, which is a GREAT companion video to this one, and vice versa. also it looks alot like catnip to me, so i would probably be a sucker and touch it if i ever ran into it, thankfully, i dont think it grows here.
That's another animal... It's an allergy. Poison oak and poison ivy rely on urushiol oil. 10% of people are not allergic to urushiol. But 100% of people react to formic acid.
Hi microbe hunter, I have a question. I use an introductory microscope which can achieve maximum magnification of 320x, If i use a 30x eyepiece with my 20x objective (which is the highest objective I have) the total magnification will be 600x and if I use 25x eyepiece with my 20x objective the total magnification will be 500x. My microscope is telmu XD-1606 inverse microscope, can you please tell me which eyepiece would be compatible with my 20x objective. I need atleast 400x magnification, Thanks in advance btw love your videos
I think you might have 23mm eyepieces (measure out the barrel diameter). In this case, you could buy a 25x eyepiece, such as www.amazon.de/25X-Mikroskop-biologische-Mikroskope-Industrie/dp/B0CJBQSG1Z/
