As the human body goes from being an infant to an adult, are there any organs or body parts that become smaller instead of larger? | AskScience Blog

Pages

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

As the human body goes from being an infant to an adult, are there any organs or body parts that become smaller instead of larger?

As the human body goes from being an infant to an adult, are there any organs or body parts that become smaller instead of larger?


As the human body goes from being an infant to an adult, are there any organs or body parts that become smaller instead of larger?

Posted: 30 May 2016 11:31 AM PDT

How do we know the chemical composition of the Earth's core?

Posted: 30 May 2016 02:01 PM PDT

I understand that we know the Earth's core to be mostly Iron and Nickel, but how do we know this is the case?

submitted by /u/superhelical
[link] [comments]

Why is Cherenkov radiation blue?

Posted: 30 May 2016 08:36 AM PDT

How would a person standing on the North Pole feel the effects of the earth's rotation?

Posted: 31 May 2016 06:54 AM PDT

Can kinetic energy be directly converted to light?

Posted: 30 May 2016 09:24 AM PDT

Most forms of energy can be directly transformed into one another, like charging batteries, burning wood, wind turbines etc.

However, I dont know of any example where light gets created directly from kinetic energy, and I had some science teachers say that its impossible. Is this true?

submitted by /u/Jannik2099
[link] [comments]

How do we calculate rates of change mathematically knowing what we do about quantum mechanics?

Posted: 30 May 2016 04:05 PM PDT

The obvious example is current. We know charge is a discrete value, so we can't use basic calculus to find the rate of change of charge as the derivative which, as I know it, can only be done on a continuous function.

submitted by /u/Walsur
[link] [comments]

Why is it supposed to be worse to get your tonsils out when you are older?

Posted: 30 May 2016 10:17 PM PDT

I'm having my tonsils out on Friday and I'm told that the recovery will suck much more than if I had gotten them out as a child(I'm 24). Like, I might not be able to speak for 2 weeks and the pain is supposed to be horrible. I hear it can even permanently change my voice. Why is this?

submitted by /u/Awww_Yee
[link] [comments]

What's the strongest biomaterial made by a living thing or in a living thing?

Posted: 30 May 2016 06:16 PM PDT

Sensory/cognitive functions of a housefly: How do they navigate, operate and perceive their surroundings?

Posted: 30 May 2016 08:46 PM PDT

I am Curious of the current scientific consensus on this, since I'm convinced they don't use their eyes for threat recognition.

submitted by /u/weird_piano
[link] [comments]

What happened to lemurs/Madagascar during the last ice age?

Posted: 30 May 2016 06:26 AM PDT

My kids were watching a show about lemurs, which led to us talking about lemur evolution (how/when did they get there), which led to a question about how did lemurs deal during the last ice age. Fun fact: when you google "Ice Age Madagascar" you get a lot of things about animated movies and little about lemur evolution. I'm hoping one of you can help us out. Thanks!

submitted by /u/Cardano
[link] [comments]

Are Black Hole forming Supernovae less energetic than Neutron Star forming Supernovae?

Posted: 30 May 2016 12:04 PM PDT

I've been wondering about this for a while but haven't really had anyone to ask. Nothing suggests this is true, but knowing some basics about how supernovae occur, I can't figure out why it wouldn't be.

From what I understand, Supernovae occur when Fusion sharply cuts off due to the forming of Iron-56 which can't fuse and release energy, therefore the radiation pressure cuts off so the star's own gravity can finally cause the star to collapse. The actual supernova itself is a combination of two factors. Firstly, when the electrons are forced into the protons, a vast number of high energy neutrinos are produced. These are absorbed by the incoming matter due to the sheer number of them, and this forces the collapsing star back on itself.

That was just a precursor to see if my current knowledge is correct. This point is what leads to my question. The second factor that causes a star to get blown outwards is the contact of the incoming shockwave with the incompressable core, so the shockwave has no choice but to rebound outwards. In the case of a neutron star forming, this is true so it seems to stand true. However when a black hole forms the force is such that even the core is not incompressable and can in fact be compressed infinitely to a singularity as not even neutron degeneracy pressure can withstand it. As such, the shockwave will simply be absorbed into the singularity as the black hole forms rather than rebound, therefore less energy is reflected back onto the collapsing mass so the supernova is less energetic.

Why is this not the case?

Also, as an aside, is Neutron Degeneracy pressure which prevents every supernova-undergoing star from collapsing into a full black hole rather than a neutron star the same as the strong force?

submitted by /u/TRPAlternative
[link] [comments]

How does our immune system "know" not to attack our gut flora?

Posted: 30 May 2016 05:38 PM PDT

What mechanism allows our gut flora to exist without being attacked by our immune system? Especially bacteria such as E. coli that are potentially pathogenic?

submitted by /u/internetboyfriend666
[link] [comments]

Eye-glasses prescriptions, especially the astigmatism, can change abruptly upon giving birth. What is going on here?

Posted: 30 May 2016 11:37 AM PDT

There's some amount of evidence that women's eye prescriptions can change abruptly upon giving birth. What is going on here? What CAN be going on here? Is the eye deforming itself differently? Is the eye being deformed differently than before the pregnancy, presumably by some change in the "posture" of the extra-ocular muscles (this would be a change in the resting tension perhaps)? Is there a hormonal change that changes the mechanical properties of the sclera / cornea allowing for the usual mechanical stresses to result in different mechanical strains? Does the eye undergo mechanical plastic deformation under the mechanical stress imparted by the extra-ocular muscles during pushing out a baby?

Or do the optometrists just measure post-partum women's eyes differently than they do before the woman gives birth?

Most of these alternative seem silly to me. Maybe I'm missing some possibilities. Is there anything known about this?

submitted by /u/justPassingThroo57
[link] [comments]

Why is ductility often listed as a separate property of a material from malleability?

Posted: 30 May 2016 09:22 AM PDT

To my understanding, malleability is a material's ability to be shaped (as opposed to being brittle and failing) and ductility is a material's ability to be drawn into wire. Is drawing into wire not simply a certain way to shape something? Are there materials that are malleable, but not ductile? Are there materials that are ductile, but not malleable? If these materials exist, why do they behave the way they do?

submitted by /u/DiamondIceNS
[link] [comments]

How can photolithography print things a few nanometers across when the wavelength of light used it much larger than that?

Posted: 30 May 2016 06:26 PM PDT

My understanding is that modern electronics often have transistors printed on the ~10nm scale, but the UV light used in the photolithography step is around 300nm. I thought the diffraction limit is around wavelength/2. So how are such small transistors printed without using x-ray?

submitted by /u/NeuroBill
[link] [comments]

I know that time dilation occurs when one object is moved relative to another, but if there is no frame of reference in space, how do you determine which object will be older?

Posted: 30 May 2016 01:08 PM PDT

Title

submitted by /u/COWRATT
[link] [comments]

What role does meiosis play in cleistogamic species?

Posted: 30 May 2016 10:44 PM PDT

Cleistogamic species being flower species that do not open and self pollinate. Meiosis mainly reorganizes genetic material to introduce new genetic combinations, so why would a species that can't have 'new genetic material' still undergo meiosis? Just to reduce chromosome numbers?

submitted by /u/Allister24
[link] [comments]

Can Perpectual Motion work? (In this cheaty way)

Posted: 31 May 2016 03:56 AM PDT

I'm 15, and I'm not super science guy(yet), and I've been thinking about perpetual motion. It's fake. It's impossible. Right?

I've never owned myself a 'perpetual motion' contraption, so I had never have the chance to make long observations of it. Even the internet doesn't have observations of it. Mostly all of it just gives definition,history,types,impossibility, etc. So, 'perpetual motion' is a continuous moving object right? Such as the over balanced wheel(I'm going to focus more on this type).

How this 'perpetual motion' works:

  • the wheel will spin when very little energy is applied
  • it spins for a long time(ex: 10 minutes)
  • the machine stops*

But does it spins for another 10 minutes if another little energy is applied?

If so, ['perpetual motion'] + [energy(only when the machine stops)] = Actual Perpetual motion?

  • Also, if perpetual motion is fake, what is the right name for the commonly called perpetual motion machines?
submitted by /u/FarEast_Frez
[link] [comments]

Why does ink stay on a page?

Posted: 30 May 2016 06:23 PM PDT

Does a moving medium (e.g. glass) also move light that is passing through it?

Posted: 30 May 2016 08:59 AM PDT

If light were passing through a transparent material and that material were moved (at a speed less than the speed of light) in a different (let's say perpendicular) direction from that of the light, would the light also be moved in the direction that the material moves or would it continue along its original path undisturbed the movement of the material that it is passing through?

In other words, is light like a goldfish that changes position when its fish bowl is moved, or is its path completely independent of any movement of its medium? I understand that light does not need a medium to move through (there is no "ether" in space that transmits the wave... perhaps the answer is in this fact), but I also understand that the velocity of light can be altered when it changes mediums and thus light can be influenced by the material it travels through.

submitted by /u/DiggerDave
[link] [comments]

[Physics] Photoelectric effect and its uses?

Posted: 30 May 2016 10:50 PM PDT

I found this very intriguing, could someone please explain the photoelectric effect and its practical uses, if any?

submitted by /u/rick_dick_ulous
[link] [comments]

No comments:

Post a Comment