- AskScience AMA Series: Hi! I'm Dr. Olwen Grace, a researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. I study the world's succulent plants and what evolution can tell us about the useful properties of wonder-plants like Aloe vera. AMA!
- Does the temperature of water affect how it is absorbed by a towel?
- Are there more units beyond acceleration?
- How statistically random are the answer distributions on standardized tests?
- How is a sonic boom sound created?
- If we fired every single nucleur weapon we have on the planet into the sun simultaneously, would anything happen to the Sun at all?
- What do scientists propose as an answer to the problem of global warming?
- How does "burning fat" physically work?
- Can someone spot where my misconception of graphene orbitals is coming from?
- How do firefighters fly helicopters over fires?
- Does fire cause drag?
- If you took 0.333... and removed the '0.' would 333... be an integer?
- If honeybees are non-native to North America, won't the original (or other) pollinators flourish and fill in the gaps left behind by the decreasing population?
- When did psychoanalysis and other Freudian theories start falling out of favor for treating mental health issues, and start getting replaced by cognitive behavioral therapy?
- How do police radars measure your speed?
- What causes us to feel heartache? Are there any evolutionary advantages to the pain we go through?
- How does electromagnetism work with conservation of momentum? Specific scenario in body.
- Whats the difference between h.264 and x265?
- What causes tube memory?
- If a pregnant woman eats very little, will the baby take nutrients from the mother's muscles or fat stores? Or will the baby be malnurished?
- I notice sometimes that when I'm in my car and in an area with spotty radio reception, touching certain areas of the car (mainly on and around the receiver unit) significantly improves the signal. Why does this happen?
- How much and what kind of light causes colors to fade on books, posters, comics etc?
- Does the big Gas planets have a rocky or solid core?
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 05:00 AM PDT Hi, I'm Dr. Olwen Grace, a researcher specialising in the evolution of succulent plants (plants that store water) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. I lead the team that confirmed the origins of Aloe vera on the Arabian Peninsula - a longstanding botanical mystery - using genome sequencing techniques. We published the findings in an Open Access paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology and you can read an article about the story in New Scientist. I'm currently working to solve the second Aloe vera mystery: why has this species reached wonder-plant status, supporting a global trade, and not the 500 or so other closely related species in the genus Aloe? The research goes beyond solving a botanical enigma. If we can understand how Aloe vera differs from its closest relatives (or not) then we can highlight other species of Aloe, growing throughout Africa, that might have similar potential. I'm fascinated by the ways in which adaptations in the plant kingdom are valuable to people, and how we can harness nature's solutions to problems facing humanity today. I'll be on from 5-7 PM UTC (12-2 PM ET) and look forward to your questions! [link] [comments]  |
| Does the temperature of water affect how it is absorbed by a towel? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 09:16 PM PDT |
| Are there more units beyond acceleration? Posted: 28 Jul 2016 05:40 AM PDT |
| How statistically random are the answer distributions on standardized tests? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 08:48 PM PDT This may be an impossible question to answer but I'll try to explain the scenario. Multiple choice exam with answers A-D. 300 questions. Supposedly there were 10 different orderings of the questions/answers. After working through the test and for 50 questions you notice 25 of my answers have been A, then on question 51, you have it narrowed down to A and D, is it a smart move to choose D if its a total tossup. I would think so assuming they are random but are standardized tests really random? Not sure I'm asking this in a good way but I tried [link] [comments]  |
| How is a sonic boom sound created? Posted: 28 Jul 2016 06:19 AM PDT So when a jet breaks the sound barrier there is a loud boom sound. How is this formed and why? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Jul 2016 05:53 AM PDT |
| What do scientists propose as an answer to the problem of global warming? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 04:43 PM PDT Beyond cutting emissions, what solutions are there for reversing or mitigating the environmental changes & damage? I would think something along the lines of a massive carbon sink would be self-defeating, as it would ultimately repeat the situation we are in, with vast carbon deposits available for reprocessing into fuel. [link] [comments]  |
| How does "burning fat" physically work? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 04:11 PM PDT Like, do the fat molecules actually just fall off your body and into the environment? Meaning that gym floors must be filled with people's invisible ex-fat (I thought of this question while working out)? [link] [comments]  |
| Can someone spot where my misconception of graphene orbitals is coming from? Posted: 28 Jul 2016 04:10 AM PDT To be honest, Im not sure how should I phrase my question, I have a situation which I simply cant stomach, its about graphene. Feel free to correct my as I go a long, my misconception might be hidden somewhere in there. Carbon has an electron configuration of 1s2 2s2 2p2. Meaning the first shell/level has 1 orbital that has 2 electrons in it. The second shell/level has 2 sub-orbitals, the first (s) holds 2 electrons, and the second (p) (which can be divided in to x,y,z) holds 2 electrons also (one in x and one in y) Graphene has 3 sigma bonds and 1 pi. The 3d visualizations show the orbitals like (https://postimg.org/image/mfcryoi1d/). What I dont understand are the shapes of the orbitals. Is there any geometrical/vector explanationon how one the 3 s like (round ish) ones are formed? The way I try to picture this is, one round (2s) orbital and two eight shaped (2p) (x and y) orbitals should give birth to 3 of 'those' orbitals, leaving the z intact. But.. it simply doesn't work in my head... HELP [link] [comments]  |
| How do firefighters fly helicopters over fires? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 04:45 PM PDT Fires can cause some crazy updrafts so how do the pilots manage to get above them to drop a retardant down? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 09:08 AM PDT If I prepared two arrows identically and lit one on fire, and not the other, then fired them from the same bow at the same inclination, would the unlit arrow travel further? I imagine that the hot air flowing overthrow rest of the arrow length and fletching would have some effect, but is it significant and positive or negative? Or is there any other effect caused by the flames themselves - laminar vs turbulent flow or do the flames add to the effective surface area of the arrow as it penetrates the air? Edit: I should clarify that I'm not asking specifically about an arrow, but any two identical arbitrary objects moving through the air, one flaming and the other not. And consider that the flames themselves are significant relative to the size/mass of the object. Would a race car with a huge engine fire coming out the back experience more drag than not - would a flaming piece of debris falling from the sky fall slower than an identical piece that was not alight? [link] [comments]  |
| If you took 0.333... and removed the '0.' would 333... be an integer? Posted: 28 Jul 2016 06:28 AM PDT |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 02:28 PM PDT I'm assuming the original pollinators weren't completely displaced by the invasive european honeybee, but even then the other pollinators' populations will expand without competition from those bees. I haven't been able to find any articles addressing this whenever bee population articles come up. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 03:28 PM PDT Back in 2012, the BBC did an exposé on psychoanalysis being a preferred method of treating autism by French doctors. After some digging, I found that mental health treatment in France often uses psychoanalysis and other Freudian tactics, when other countries had shifted to CBT-related methods long since. I just want to know when in history that change began, when the psychological and psychiatric communities began moving away from Freudian tactics and started embracing CBT more. [link] [comments]  |
| How do police radars measure your speed? Posted: 28 Jul 2016 04:49 AM PDT If I'm not mistaken it deals with red/blue shifted light but I don't know for sure as to how it works. [link] [comments]  |
| What causes us to feel heartache? Are there any evolutionary advantages to the pain we go through? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 04:14 PM PDT |
| How does electromagnetism work with conservation of momentum? Specific scenario in body. Posted: 28 Jul 2016 04:32 AM PDT Let's say I'm in my spaceship at rest relative to a large ferrous asteroid currently 10 light-seconds away. At time t=0 I activate my enormously powerful electromagnet. What starts moving at what time, and how is momentum conserved in all reference frames? [link] [comments]  |
| Whats the difference between h.264 and x265? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 03:51 PM PDT I've seen massive 1gb 720p or FHD videos compressed down to less than 2-300mb using x265. How is this possible and do you lose any quality? Are there any downsides? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 01:34 PM PDT When I was an Artillery officer I never had an instructor be able to explain what causes it. It occurs even when the gun has not been fired in a day, so not heat related Here is the definition: From FM 6-40 chapter 3 https://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/fm6-40-ch3.htm (a) Tube memory is a physical phenomenon of the cannon tube tending to react to the firing stress in the same manner for each round, even after changing charges. It seems to "remember" the muzzle velocity of the last charge fired. For example, if a fire mission with charge 6 M4A2 is followed by a fire mission with charge 4 M4A2, the muzzle velocity of the first round of charge 4 may be unpredictably higher. The inverse is also true. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 09:17 AM PDT And the other way around. If the mother eats a lot will the baby be born larger? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Jul 2016 11:51 AM PDT |
| How much and what kind of light causes colors to fade on books, posters, comics etc? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 03:55 PM PDT I have a large collection of comic books and other books and I'm a bit paranoid about exposing them to too much light, especially sunlight. Out on the street and in some shop windows, we can see old posters or books that have been there for a long time and the colors are faded. Some books that I've purchased second hand also have fading on the spine which was obviously exposed whereas the cover was not. I keep most of my books on shelves that are never directly exposed to sunlight but I often keep the curtains open so the reflected natural light gets in. My home has a mix of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. I'd like to keep my books as pristine looking as possible so any info about what to do to avoid color fading would be great. [link] [comments]  |
| Does the big Gas planets have a rocky or solid core? Posted: 27 Jul 2016 02:38 PM PDT I'm guessing that since the gas planets in our solar system have magnetic fields they have molten cores, but are these cores covered by something solid like rock? Are the gas planets in fact just rocky planets with huge atmospheres? What happens with all the asteroids they attract? Do they all completely burn up or does some reach a solid bottum? When these planets formed didn't they also attract rocks and solid materials besides gas? If yes - what happened to it? [link] [comments]  |
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