The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were this high the world was 3-6C warmer. So how do scientists believe we can keep warming under 2C? | AskScience Blog

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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were this high the world was 3-6C warmer. So how do scientists believe we can keep warming under 2C?

The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were this high the world was 3-6C warmer. So how do scientists believe we can keep warming under 2C?


The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were this high the world was 3-6C warmer. So how do scientists believe we can keep warming under 2C?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 04:50 PM PST

What's underneath the sand at the beach? How far does the sand go and what is beneath that?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 03:17 PM PST

Ask Anything Wednesday - Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

Posted: 06 Dec 2017 07:06 AM PST

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".

Asking Questions:

Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions.

The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.

Answering Questions:

Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here. In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.

If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, please refer to the information provided here.

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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How do different connectors/cables vary in data transmission speed?

Posted: 06 Dec 2017 04:44 AM PST

Between DisplayPort and VGA, why is DisplayPort faster than VGA? Is it the material, shape?

submitted by /u/bendycumberbitch
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Why do banana peels brown almost immediately after you remove them from the banana?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 09:09 AM PST

When it's still intact it takes days to brown

submitted by /u/lingualnosh
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Why wasn't Cassini damaged when it flew through the water plumes of Enceladus?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 03:10 PM PST

We're often told that items as small as a fleck of paint can pose a threat to objects in orbit around Earth because the relative speeds are so high, but Cassini was able to fly through the water plumes of Enceladus just fine. Why wasn't the craft damaged during this maneuovre? Was the water to fine a mist, so to speak? If so, how was Cassini able to reliably sample the plumes if they were so fine?

submitted by /u/meshuggahofwallst
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(Human Body) What mechanism prevents human parthenogenetic embryos from developing into viable fetuses?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 11:08 PM PST

TIL that scientists are able to create human embryos using just egg cells without sperm cells. (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-say-embryo-i-say-parthenote/) The article linked says only that "Because it contains no genetic material from a father, however, it cannot develop into a viable fetus." It does not say how the embryo (or pseudo-embryo?) is prevented from developing into a fetus. Given that other vertebrates are able to reproduce parthenogenetically, what is the mechanism that arrests the development of human parthenogenetic embryos?

submitted by /u/Cgk-teacher
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How can an increase of only 2 degrees in earth’s average temperature cause so much damage?

Posted: 06 Dec 2017 04:22 AM PST

So every time it is mentioned that we should try to keep the change in earth's average temperature under 2 degrees it is accompanied by several examples about how this change affects the earth (ice melting, deserts being formed etc..) but how does an increase of only 2 degrees cause so much damage?

submitted by /u/Once-a-lurker
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If I throw a ball from the ISS in the direction of the motion of ISS really fast, will it go tangential to the orbit of the earth or will it orbit the earth?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 11:04 PM PST

And what if I just gently drop the ball from the ISS? Will it follow ISS? I read that if I throw a ball aiming directly at earth , it will take a orbit around the earth, But why orbit?? Why dosen't the gravity just pull it towards Earth in straight path? Can someone explain this to me visually through an animation ?

EDIT: What If I'm floating still at the orbit of ISS and throw the ball towards Earth? Will it fall straight into Earth or will it orbit?

submitted by /u/hari2897
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What kinds of designs and methods can be used to prevent/minimize radiation damage to electronic devices that are used at nuclear disaster sites?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 02:59 PM PST

I know this sounds random, but I have been watching videos of the Fukushima disaster relief effort and when I came across the coverage of the remote controlled robots that kept failing I started trying to think of ways that would help this really big issue. Since the problem is on a huge scale and will possibly last 100 years I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to use wire controlled bots to slowly build a tunnel much closer to the source by using lead panels and a jackhammer mounted bot for the debris removal. This would help with the proximity issue and give the scientists/engineers a long lasting structure to help them over the years (or decades) of the project.

submitted by /u/Arduino87
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Has Earth ever had a more impressive mountain range than the Himalayas?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 07:30 PM PST

As part of any of the other configurations of Earth's continents, was there ever another mountain range as steep, tall, or that had as big an influence on weather and biology as the Himalayas do? It seems like the Himalayas are like a wall. Nothing can pass over them except some birds. Is there anything like that in deep history?

submitted by /u/floppydo
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Is there a connection between working mothers and young adult mental health?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 12:58 PM PST

There has been a large increase in the number of working mothers since the 1990's (in the UK) and, in a slightly later time period, an increase in the number of teenagers and young adults suffering from anxiety / depression (only some of which is from decrease in stigma and increase in diagnosis). Is there any evidence of a connection?

submitted by /u/katig
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How can we measure the speed with which the Milly Way rotates if we are part of it? What’s our reference frame?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 10:07 PM PST

Does the harmonic series have a finite-value representation - and if not, why not?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 07:35 PM PST

Certain divergent series, especially those that are described by the zeta function, have finite-value representations. The sum of the natural numbers is associated with -1/12, the infinite sum 1 + 1 + 1... is associated with -1/2, and Grandi's series is associated with 1/2. These values have applications in quantum mechanics.

Whilst the formulas for finding these sums are way above my head, I read here that this method of deriving finite values gives the same result as finding the y-intercept of the asymtotics of the smoothed version of the sum.

Applying this to the harmonic series gave this graph, which seems to approach ln(cx) and has no y-intercept, implying that the harmonic series has no finite value associated with it. On the other hand, it could be said that there is a constant term, ln(c), which would thus be the associated value (I have no proof that it does even approach ln(cx) but it looks like it does - perhaps I am completely wrong).

Does the harmonic series have a finite value associated with it, and if not (or if there are other examples that do not), why would some divergent series have finite representations but not others?

submitted by /u/aaronhyperum
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CMBR dipole versus Special Relativity?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 09:44 PM PST

The CMBR dipole indicates a direction that the milky way galaxy is moving (which happens to be a path into the Great Attractor). The intensity of the blueshift indicates a motion of 600 km/sec.

But what is the Milky Way moving 600 km/sec in relation to? If the answer is that it is the absolute velocity of the Milky Way through space itself , then certain conceptual tenets of Special Relativity would be violated. In particular, there would be an experiment that you could perform to establish a preferred stationary reference frame --- the existence of which is explicitly forbidden by SR.

What is the straightforward 'academic' explanation for why the CMBR dipole cannot be utilized to "break" SR in this way?

Hoping for friendlier answers and less hostility. Thanks.

submitted by /u/moschles
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From a quantum physics standpoint, how exactly do LEDs produce photons, and how efficient are they?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 09:11 PM PST

Why do frisbee fly so well? What is the physical science behind?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 04:12 PM PST

Why does your face get puffy after crying?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 06:00 PM PST

18 weeks pregnant lady here. I just got done with a hormonal pregnancy meltdown that included lots uncontrollable sobbing. Now my face is all red and puffy and I'm just wondering why and how this happens when we cry.

submitted by /u/bird_in_a_bush
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How different was the climate when Pangaea existed?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 08:37 PM PST

A submission on another subreddit showed Pangaea with current country borders and it looked like everything was kinda clumped around Antarctica. If Antarctica hasn't moved, then Pangaea was pretty cold? But Antarctica probably moved just as much as the other continents?

submitted by /u/prickly_pw
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Do different types of touch receptors(Merkel cells, ruffini corpuscles) send different types of signals to neurons?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 07:37 PM PST

If not, how does the brain differentiate between these kinds of signals?

submitted by /u/rwahl
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Is there a maximum and/or minimum possible wavelength for light to have?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 04:22 PM PST

Why can I start/stop torrents and still have them complete, but can't do it with other downloads off the internet?

Posted: 05 Dec 2017 07:02 PM PST

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