AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Laura Kloepper, a biologist who studies the emergence and echolocation dynamics of large bat cave colonies. This summer I am traveling and camping with two female students as we record bats across the Southwest. Ask Me Anything! | AskScience Blog

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Monday, June 6, 2016

AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Laura Kloepper, a biologist who studies the emergence and echolocation dynamics of large bat cave colonies. This summer I am traveling and camping with two female students as we record bats across the Southwest. Ask Me Anything!

AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Laura Kloepper, a biologist who studies the emergence and echolocation dynamics of large bat cave colonies. This summer I am traveling and camping with two female students as we record bats across the Southwest. Ask Me Anything!


AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Laura Kloepper, a biologist who studies the emergence and echolocation dynamics of large bat cave colonies. This summer I am traveling and camping with two female students as we record bats across the Southwest. Ask Me Anything!

Posted: 06 Jun 2016 05:00 AM PDT

Hi Reddit! I am Dr. Laura Kloepper, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. My research involves using audio, video, and thermal imagery to understand the emergence, flight, and echolocation dynamics of large (1 million +) colonies of Mexican Free-tailed bats. These bats leave the cave at densities of up to 1,000 bats per second, flying at speeds of 25 mph, beating their wings ten times per second, and rarely run into each other. Their primary mode of navigation is using echolocation, or making a loud sound and using the information in the echoes to create a visual representation of their surroundings. Everything we know about biology, mathematics and physics says that they should not be able to successfully echolocate in these large groups. My main research involves trying to understand how they are able to successfully navigate via echolocation without interfering with one another, and these findings have technological implications to improve man-made sonar. I am also interested in flight dynamics in large groups, factors that control the emergence timing, and unique characteristics of bat guano.

This summer I am traveling with two female undergraduate students and my trusty field dog as we visit 8 caves across the Southwest to tackle multiple research projects. We will be doing a lot of camping, consuming a lot of canned food, and putting close to 7,000 miles on our rental SUV. We will be documenting our journey on our blog, www.smcbellebats.wordpress.com, or on our Twitter and Instagram (@smcbellebats).

I will be here from 12:00pm EDT to 2:00pm EDT to answer your questions...AMA!

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[Electrical Engineering] If electric fan knobs are made to resist a set amount of electricity, then is the amount of elecricity consumed in the fan equal regardless of the amount of resistance in the knob?

Posted: 06 Jun 2016 05:00 AM PDT

In advance, I apologize for the horribly butchered question. I wasn't quite listening during workshop class.

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A small amount of sodium hydroxide is added to sodium hypochlorite to stabilize the bleach, what does this mean and how does this work?

Posted: 06 Jun 2016 06:42 AM PDT

Is light slowed down by traveling through the Higgs field?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:05 PM PDT

Is there a way to tell the difference between two atoms of the same element?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 07:53 PM PDT

Is there a way that a scientist could look at an atom, and then be able to tell that atom from any other atom of the same element? If so how? If not, why not?

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The Griffith Park Observatory pendulum knocks over pegs as the Earth rotates beneath it - how come this works if the pendulum is not on the Earth's axis of rotation?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:25 PM PDT

How does the sense of *me* generated in our head. Which exactly is the brain part which generates it?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:08 PM PDT

Also, is self awareness related to being me? Do we have this me feeling when in coma?

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What's the difference between diesel that a car, train and submarine uses?

Posted: 06 Jun 2016 04:51 AM PDT

I heard that diesel that a train uses is dark and more viscous than diesel a car uses, does that mean it has a longer chain length? If so does the term "diesel" just encompass fuels that are longer in chain length than petrol and kerosene?

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Is there a way to model any given atoms electron structure in 3d space?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 05:52 PM PDT

For example Lithium has an electron structure of 1s2 2s1 right. Well does the 2s1 part go around the 1s2 part? I mean what does the electron structure of Nitrogen look like in 3d space? Does the 3s orbital go around the 2p orbital? How do all of those weird shapes fit together in 3d space?

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Is all arithmetic derived from addition?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 10:35 AM PDT

There are 4 major operations that are in mathematical arithmetic being addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Addition: 4 + 5 = 9

Subtraction: 6 - 3 = 3 -------- in addition ------> 6 + (-3) = 3

Multiplication: 2 * 3 = 6 -------- in addition ------> 2 + 2 + 2 = 6

Division: 10 / 2 = 5 -------- in addition ------> 10 + (-2) + (-2) + (-2) + (-2) + (-2) = 0 and there are five 2's meaning the answer is 5

Does this mean that what happens in all of mathematics can be broken into a basis of addition of different values, or is there some operation that negates this?

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Could hawking radiation reduce a black hole in such a way that something that was once inside could eventually escape?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 06:36 PM PDT

I know that once inside the event horizon, spacetime is curved such that every direction leads towards the singularity. But I assume (perhaps incorrectly), that it is kind of like a limit in math... that you can never find a trajectory out, but you could find one that was closer and closer to perpendicular to the singularity to the point where, theoretically, it would take nearly forever to fall in. So if a photon were on such a trajectory, and the black hole slowly shrinks due to hawking radiation, could the photon eventually get out? Or would the evaporation simply change the possible trajectories such that the photon still could never escape?

submitted by /u/ibn4n
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Why is oil hydrophobic?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 07:39 PM PDT

How does Metabolism impact drug tolerances and dosages?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 10:18 PM PDT

I'm asking because it's something I deal with, and my inquisitiveness wants to know now. I want to be clear, I am not looking for personal advice or information.

My question is essentially this, if you have a high metabolism does this mean your body metabolises a prescription medicament quicker thereby having a higher tolerance because less of it is entering into your body to do it's job?

I'll just add context, and yes it's a personal example, but I just want to understand if my metabolism did have an impact how would it? I have taken many prescription drugs, and it was hypothesised by my doctor that my metabolism must be fast because we seem to have to go onto high dosages for there to be an effect. Thyroid has been tested and it's quite normal.

But just what I find interesting is consuming a mug of coffee can feel like a full meal to me, and I don't feel the need for lunch. Im told this is a sign of a slow metabolism. So that leads to does metabolism react different to different substances?

Sorry for the personal information, but these are examples that people with the expertise can help provide a plausible explanation.

submitted by /u/Gmreyes
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[PHYSICS] What is a second?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 02:59 PM PDT

I know there is a standard item for a meter and a gram but is there some sort of universal measurement of one second? Could you explain one second to an alien or is it a human construct?

submitted by /u/Benhamm22
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Can you re-magnetize a magnet by running a current through it?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:55 PM PDT

I know the traditional way to remagnetize a magnet would be to wrap a wire around it and then run a current thought the wire, but what would happen if you applied a voltage directly across the magnet? Would it remagnetize?

submitted by /u/mispulledtypo381_
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Why does the value of some goods decline over time, while other goods get more valuable as time passes (like vintage cars)?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 08:21 PM PDT

I can't find a ton of information on the Internet about this, but one thing that could contribute to higher prices for cars is that most vintage cars are auctioned, so inflated prices are more likely.

submitted by /u/waddellj
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Can you slow down electricity going through a wire?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 07:31 PM PDT

I'm trying to understand how frequencies work. From what I'm reading, frequencies are based on the length of the transmitting antenna. In water, making a wave could be done by moving a rock up and down in water at a certain speed, for example along a 4 foot stick. Making a faster wave (or higher frequency) would be doing it with a smaller stick, or lower frequency with a longer stick.

But you could also make a higher or lower frequency by changing the speed of the rock movement. Is there anything similar that can be done with radio waves? Generate a lower frequency with a smaller antenna by pushing the power through slower?

I'm not sure if that's possible, if you could change the speed of electricity going through a wire, assuming that's what it would take. Is that possible?

From other info I'm reading, current flows faster if it is fed into a thinner wire. So theoretically, could you run a regular line to a thicker antenna to get a slower current? And would this effectively give you a lower frequency in transmitting a radio wave than if you used the the regular diameter antenna?

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Isn't the separation of mixed oil and water decreasing entropy?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 03:24 PM PDT

How can humans tell how much time has passed?

Posted: 05 Jun 2016 06:47 PM PDT

Hey everyone,

We humans have created time, a construct that standardized when we do activities around the globe. But how can we tell how much time has passed without looking at a clock? I never confuse 5 seconds passing with one minute passing. How do we do it?

We have nerves that sense when we are touching objects, chemicals that can create feelings of hunger, and detectors that can sense how much oxygen we have in our system...but if I am sitting in a room staring at a wall, how is it that my brain can easily distinguish between 5 minutes passing and 30 minutes passing?

Obviously, within that 30 minutes of staring at the wall, you would have many more thoughts than you would have in 5 minutes...but number of thoughts alone cannot possibly be what allows us to tell how much time has passed, because we are thinking at different rates constantly.

When we fall asleep however, whatever time sensor we have seems to shut off. Waking up 1 hour after falling asleep can easily trick me into thinking I've been asleep for 8.

What creates the feeling of time passing?

submitted by /u/Peanutbuttered
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