The mask is to prevent vomiting on this flower, it is a Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest flower that exists. It needs flies for pollination, which itattracts with a strong smell similar to a decomposing corpse.
Fascinating that the only aboveground part of the plant is its flower! Hard to imagine how it is parasitizing some vines underground and then all of a sudden produces this monster of a flower!
Although it is the largest flower, it isn’t the largest inflorescence haha. But apparently both this plant and the one with the largest inflorescence (Amorphophallus titanum) both smell like something rotting and are so huge. I mean, shouldn’t it be easier to attract flies?
For the flower it is irrelevant if it smells good or bad, it is a simple question of producing the necessary moleculas for one thing or another to attract the needed insects.
I don’t know what this picture is about, but why vent holes on a mask!? Companies that sold these specifically to counter pandemic-era infection should be fined…
That’s entirely my point, though I probably didn’t make it well. Maybe not this particular one, but all throughout the pandemic I saw people wearing similar Amazon/Facebook/AliExpress ones with vent holes, many stylized in other ways.
In other words, they sold products with specific aesthetic choices that made them less suitable for protecting yourself and others (obviously the entire reason mask sales skyrocketed during the pandemic), but made them more attractive to consumers exactly when we needed to protect each other. That’s profiteering.
If it’s like other masks I’ve seen there is a flap or rubber gasket in there that acts as a one way valve. The US military uses M-50s and that’s how they work too
It’s normally closed. When you breathe in the air is drawn through the mask filter. When you breathe out the pressure pushes the flap open. When your exhale stops there isn’t enough pressure to keep it open and the flap seals up again.
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