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Posted by eatonphil 12/10/2025

Size of Life(neal.fun)
2619 points | 277 commentspage 4
Bnichs 12/10/2025|
Reminds me of the video game Everything. Its a really cool game where you explore the various scales of the universe. It has its quirks (somewhat phoned in graphics like animals walking) but the concept and execution are great IMO, would love a sequel. Also bonus points for featuring Alan watts as a core character.
marseysneed 12/10/2025||
1 nitpick: The Dwarf Lanternshark is not found off the coast of "Columbia" but "Colombia!"
leourbina 12/11/2025|
Came to say exactly the same thing :)
modeless 12/10/2025||
Reminds me of the classic "powers of 10" video: https://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0. Someone ought to remake that but as a gaussian splat reconstruction, so you can freely move the camera as well as zoom.
hermitcrab 12/10/2025||
Great job.

I did a side project that helps with comparisons, but in a rather different way (e.g. how many African elephants does something weigh). Not as slick as this site, but someone might find it useful:

http://howmanyelephants.co.uk/

mncharity 12/11/2025|
Nice. Two quick UI thoughts. Upon loading, perhaps start with some unit selected, and a default amount 1, so there's immediate content to be seen? And to extend the experience, maybe add a "dice roll" button, so users can "see more neat things" click-click-click without the cognitive overhead of pathing the option space
hermitcrab 12/11/2025||
That is a possibility, thanks.
p1nkpineapple 12/10/2025||
Absolutely loved that the intensity of the music is synced with the swiping. Fantastic job as always!
kayge 12/10/2025||
If anyone wants to set this up to auto-run all the way to the right and then all the way back to the left, here is a vibe-coded (sorry) browser console script. Makes a great "screen-saver" if you kick off the script and then put your browser in full screen mode :)

    (function() {
        let direction = 'right'; // Start by going right
        let intervalId;

        function getCurrentAnimalName() {
            const animalDiv = document.querySelector('.animal-name');
            return animalDiv ? animalDiv.textContent.trim() : '';
        }

        function pressKey(keyCode) {
            const event = new KeyboardEvent('keydown', {
                key: keyCode === 37 ? 'ArrowLeft' : 'ArrowRight',
                keyCode: keyCode,
                code: keyCode === 37 ? 'ArrowLeft' : 'ArrowRight',
                which: keyCode,
                bubbles: true
            });
            document.dispatchEvent(event);
        }

        function autoScroll() {
            const currentName = getCurrentAnimalName();
            
            if (direction === 'right') {
                pressKey(39); // Right arrow
                
                if (currentName === 'Pando Clone') {
                    console.log('Reached Pando Clone, switching to left');
                    direction = 'left';
                }
            } else {
                pressKey(37); // Left arrow
                
                if (currentName === 'DNA') {
                    console.log('Reached DNA, switching to right');
                    direction = 'right';
                }
            }
        }

        // Start the interval
        intervalId = setInterval(autoScroll, 3000);
        
        // Log start message and provide stop function
        console.log('Auto-scroll started! To stop, call: stopAutoScroll()');
        
        // Expose stop function globally
        window.stopAutoScroll = function() {
            clearInterval(intervalId);
            console.log('Auto-scroll stopped');
        };
    })();
ekipan 12/11/2025|
Cannot stand robot code. Thanks for the genuinely cool thing though. I hope you don't mind me rewriting, if only for my own satisfaction.

  {
    const s = window.scroller = {}
    const press = (key, code) => () =>
      document.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent('keydown', {
        key: key, keyCode: code,
        which: key, code: code, bubbles: true
      }));
    const step = () => {
      const div = document.querySelector('.animal-name')
      const name = div?.textContent.trim()
      if (name === 'Pando Clone') s.dir = s.left
      if (name === 'DNA') s.dir = s.right
      s.dir()
    }
    s.left = press(37, 'ArrowLeft')
    s.right = s.dir = press(39, 'ArrowRight')
    s.start = (ms) => s.ival = setInterval(step, ms)
    s.stop = () => clearInterval(s.ival)
  }
  scroller.start(5000)
kayge 12/11/2025||
I don't mind at all, your rewrite looks much more elegant. Thanks!
ekipan 12/11/2025||
You could try posting both at the LLM and ask it to explain the stuff I changed, if you're interested in learning more Javascript. Assuming you aren't already deep in the JS trenches and only vibed bc you couldn't be bothered.
newman8r 12/10/2025||
It claims a banana isn't technically living, but a banana has living cells so I'm not sure how accurate that is. I'm not sure when they're all considered 'dead' after harvesting though - maybe some wiggle room there.
mritterhoff 12/10/2025||
My understanding is that picked fruits and veg are still alive [1], and often respirating [2]. This is a big component in figuring out how to refrigerate them at the optimal temperatures and atmospheric makeup.

1. https://healthland.time.com/2013/06/21/theyre-alive-harveste... 2. https://agriculture.institute/food-chemistry-and-physiology/...

HelloUsername 12/10/2025||
I think the banana was mostly added as a joke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiducial_marker#%22Banana_for_...
newman8r 12/10/2025||
I got the reference, it's just the 'not technically alive' part that I was calling out
ComputerGuru 12/11/2025||
Onl missing a Wikipedia link on each page!
bicepjai 12/11/2025||
Great webapp. There is a similar app that I love to scroll through from time to time. Its free and needs no internet connection. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/universe-in-a-nutshell/id15263... The range of size in the universe, from the tiniest particles to the epic galaxies - we take you on a journey of size that lets you explore it all with a single swipe.
thangalin 12/10/2025|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEHCCsFFIuY

Star Size Comparison 3, simply a stunning visualization.

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