On average, and not including direct human intervention, how do ant colonies die? Will they continue indefinitely if left undisturbed? Do they continue to grow in size indefinitely? How old is the oldest known ant colony? If some colonies do "age" and die naturally, how and why does it happen? | AskScience Blog

Pages

Monday, April 10, 2017

On average, and not including direct human intervention, how do ant colonies die? Will they continue indefinitely if left undisturbed? Do they continue to grow in size indefinitely? How old is the oldest known ant colony? If some colonies do "age" and die naturally, how and why does it happen?

On average, and not including direct human intervention, how do ant colonies die? Will they continue indefinitely if left undisturbed? Do they continue to grow in size indefinitely? How old is the oldest known ant colony? If some colonies do "age" and die naturally, how and why does it happen?


On average, and not including direct human intervention, how do ant colonies die? Will they continue indefinitely if left undisturbed? Do they continue to grow in size indefinitely? How old is the oldest known ant colony? If some colonies do "age" and die naturally, how and why does it happen?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 07:14 PM PDT

How does "aging" affect the inhabitants of the colony? How does the "aging" differ between ant species?

I got ants on the brain!

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

Why is Radioactive Iodine in the treatment of Thyroid Cancer administered orally as a pill rather than through IV?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 02:04 PM PDT

I'm trying to understand the rationale and reason for why radioactive iodine therapy used to treat thyroid cancer is administered orally as a pill rather than as an IV directly into the blood.

From what I understand, thyroid cells are the only cells of the body which will readily absorb iodine - thus making this radiation a very safe form as it won't damage other cells. But as the RAI is taken as a pill, the radiation irritates the stomach lining and salivary glands, causing nausea and vomiting as a side effect.

Wouldn't having an RAI infusion avoid that particular side effect?

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

Why do some animals have shorter lifespans than others? What keeps humans live for ~80 years versus a cat for only ~15 years?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 09:38 PM PDT

If beings want to be alive for as long as possible, why would some die faster than others (We're also talking dying by an animal's "old age")? What keeps a human to be considered younger longer than animals with shorter lifespans?

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

Why are things like vanilla extract advised NOT to be stored in the fridge, and away from light?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 04:23 AM PDT

Can someone please give a scientific explanation, perhaps in terms of the molecules? I can't find any scientific reasoning anywhere!

Much appreciated :)

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

Has there been any known examples of non-valence electrons being used in a chemical bond?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 02:15 AM PDT

How close to the galactic center would I need to be to see orbiting systems moving with the naked eye?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 12:11 AM PDT

Sure I can see satellites moving across the sky, but how close to the center of the Galaxy would I need to be to see systems/stars moving across the sky with the naked eye?

submitted by /u/brendan87na
[link] [comments]

Do passing photons attract each other gravitationally?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 04:53 PM PDT

What's the texture of our bones like?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 09:10 PM PDT

Assuming that I've never broken a bone, are all my bones smooth? Or are they rough/scratched?

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

I know that a certain percentage of adults who were diagnosed with ADHD tend to "grow out of it" as they reach adulthood. Is the reason simply that they were misdiagnosed?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:02 PM PDT

If breast milk contains Lymphocytes how come breast feeding babies don't have Graft vs Host Disease ?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:23 PM PDT

Immunology will forever be a mystery to me. Just reviewed heme onc and realized that there are lymphocytes in breast milk, usually this would mean bad news (GvH. TA-GvHD) but somehow breast feeding babies are fine?

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

Why is mitochondria only passed down through the mother?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:16 PM PDT

Why doesn't naloxone/naltrexone block endorphins?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:32 PM PDT

In other words: Why don't opiate free people experience some sort of withdrawal-like symptoms (or dysregulation syndrome) from opioid antagonists like naltrexone?

Background: Neuro and pharmacology student.

Recently I found out a friend of my is taking Vivotrol (naltrexone). I was a bit shocked to find that he seemed utterly normal in every way. His eating's fine, sleep fine, exercise fine. No apparent catastrophic anhedonia, deathly anxiety, or loss of the will to live that is characteristic of opioid withdrawal. Not even a little bit of anything that would suggest that. Huh.

This is slightly strange as pharmacology goes. Scopolamine produces the opposite effects of arecoline in a normal person. Quetiapine will make you less psychotic whether you're on methamphetamine or not, even if that just means making you sleepy. It raises the question (not begs the question people) of why Vivotrol is not a weapons-grade torture drug (that would be scary!).

I've asked professors this and they don't seem to have a clue. One told me he believes opioid agonists, antagonists, and endorphins bind at the same site on the mu-opioid receptor, but he didn't seem too sure, so feel free to correct.

Now I have one small clue as to the answer. In my understanding (again feel free to correct) whether an agonist or an antagonist overpowers the other is mostly due to binding affinity, to a lesser extent intrinsic activity. I imagine some nebulous steric property of receptor proteins may also be at play. I gather that these two properties are also important in determining potency. Anyway, here it claims that beta-endorphin has at least 18x the analgesic potency of morphine. It also claims that it is blocked by naloxone. Interesting to say the least. If beta-endorphin has a potency closer to some of the weaker fentanyl analogues than it goes to say that perhaps only a large dose of naloxone can reverse it's effects, much like fentanyl, and that perhaps a standard dose of naltrexone cannot.

This brings us to one answer I've heard before (and at least needs more explaining): "Well, if you aren't in pain then you don't need endorphins" or something to that effect. This answer seems a little naive. From what I understand most transmitters/hormones etc are found in fluctuating amounts in the body but are not either there or totally absent. Yes I know how action potentials work, no I don't mean that.

Since your body is constantly being damaged and being repaired to some extent, as well as the fact that pain in the absence of corresponding stimuli is a thing, I'd assume that pain, perhaps of a potentially debilitating degree, is constantly suppressed by your nervous system. Thus it would seem reasonable that endorphins and the like are there, on the macroscopic scale, at all times to some degree.

I understand directly supporting an answer may be difficult. A sound argument perhaps with circumstantial evidence would do in that case.

Bonus Questions

Is it likely possible that a drug capable of "causing opiate withdrawal in normal people" could be developed?

If so how would it differ from current opioid antagonists?

What about the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil (I'd imagine not)? Other GABA-blockers?

Thank you for your time.

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

How is information coded in fiber optic cables?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 11:13 AM PDT

I've been wondering how a single fiber in an optical cable can carry so much information. How is it coded? As pulses? Does the light change wavelength to code information?

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

Why are there no small aquatic mammals?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:58 PM PDT

The smallest I can think of are others. Meanwhile there are fish and amphibians that are super small, and lots of small land mammals.

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

Why are all medicines that relieve pain also reduce fever?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 11:54 PM PDT

Is the same part of our brain that control pain sensory also control body temperature?

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

How long ago did humans colonize the planet? How were people able to get to places like Australia and Greenland?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 05:05 PM PDT

I recently read an article about a village found in British Columbia that is estimated to be over 14,000 years old. It got me wondering at what period in time were there civilizations on all the continents there are on today.

submitted by /u/jboogie18
[link] [comments]

How does an atom absorb or emit light?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 06:40 PM PDT

What happens when a photon reaches the electrons orbiting an atom? What is the mechanism of 'absorption', and what happens to the properties (such as energy or wavelength) of a photon when it is absorbed?

Similarly, how does emission occur and what determines how much time passes between absorption and emission?

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

How do antiinflammatory drugs work? How do they know there is an inflammation? Do they de-flammate the entire body?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 02:54 AM PDT

What would be the environmental impact of eradicating mosquitoes entirely?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 08:07 AM PDT

Just a High School Question; we learn in chem that each element when excited releases a certain wavelength of light. Why does the sun release the whole spectrum evenly when it doesn't contain all elements?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 02:14 AM PDT

Please keep to 'high school friendly' phrases! This really confused our class/teacher.... Thanks!

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

How is momentum conserved in a Gauss Rifle?

Posted: 10 Apr 2017 12:54 AM PDT

It seems that the ejecting steel ball has gained momentum and that momentum hasn't been conserved at all in this system. Both the incoming steel ball and the outgoing steel ball have the same mass but different velocities so when you calculate momentum using mass*velocity, won't the momentum values for each ball be different and therefore momentum isn't conserved in this system?

EDIT: I am referring to this setup here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiSd91sLtS4

The slight difference for my case is that the magnet is held in place so there is no recoil

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

How come miRNA/siRNA are not degraded in the cytosol by exonucleases?

Posted: 09 Apr 2017 08:14 PM PDT

I'm taking a genetics course and we talked about mRNA transcription and about mRNA processing (5' cap, the Poly A tail, splicing, etc) and how it helps prevents the degredation of the mRNA from 5' and 3' exonucleases. However, when we talked about RNA interference, we learned that miRNA starts off with having a Cap and Poly-A tail (pri-miRNA) but they are removed by the Microprocessor complex (turning into pre-miRNA).

How come pri-miRNA, pre-miRNA are able to "float" around in the cytosol without getting destroyed by things like the 5' and 3' exonucleases immediatly? Or is RNA interferance a process of chance and the miRNAs are able to bind to RISC before they are destroyed?

submitted by /u/v1c1ous0dst
[link] [comments]

No comments:

Post a Comment