Mutualism Memes

Parasites getting a free ride while their hosts suffer? Now THAT'S a bad trade deal! 🦠 In biology, parasitic relationships are totally one-sided - the parasite gets nutrients, shelter, and transportation while giving absolutely nothing beneficial in return. The host is just left wondering how they got stuck with such a terrible arrangement. Nature's ultimate freeloaders making their hosts say "I'm not winning at this relationship!"

The biology pickup line that ended a career! Poor José thought he was being clever with that lichen pun, but forgot that symbiotic relationships can go terribly wrong. In nature, lichens are fascinating organisms where fungi and algae live together in mutual benefit—the fungi provide structure and protection while the algae photosynthesize food. In this classroom? Total ecological disaster. That's what happens when you try to apply mutualism to human dating without proper experimental controls. The teacher's face in that last panel is every rejected grant proposal I've ever submitted.