Im wondering as to why all the Birds ,Insects and Fish were very large back in the mesozoic age compared to what they are now? | AskScience Blog

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Friday, March 29, 2019

Im wondering as to why all the Birds ,Insects and Fish were very large back in the mesozoic age compared to what they are now?

Im wondering as to why all the Birds ,Insects and Fish were very large back in the mesozoic age compared to what they are now?


Im wondering as to why all the Birds ,Insects and Fish were very large back in the mesozoic age compared to what they are now?

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 02:14 AM PDT

Why are they much smaller today ?

submitted by /u/internet5500
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Do you burn calories by thinking?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 05:45 PM PDT

I'm assuming the process of thinking (stimulating neurons) requires some form of energy by our body, so does this mean we burn calories by thinking?

submitted by /u/throwawaythememe
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Is it ammonium or ammonia that's part of the nitrogen cycle? Or both?

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 04:22 AM PDT

I'm trying to understand the nitrogen cycle and there is one thing that keeps confusing me about biological nitrogen fixation, nitrification and ammonification. Some sources talk about ammonium (NH4) and some about ammonia (NH3) when referring to the same thing, and I don't know which to believe, since even the trustworthy ones seem to have contradictory information. Are both involved in different stages of the cycle or how does it work?

For example, the following quote from this page (pdf) by RSC:

Bacteria that possess the enzyme nitrogenase can convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia. The bacterium Rhizobium forms a symbiotic relationship with leguminous plants. The bacterium stimulates the growth of root nodules. Here colonies of the bacterium obtain carbohydrate from the host plant. They use this in respiration to release energy and make ATP and reduced NAD to make ammonium ions from nitrogen gas in the soil.

First they mention ammonia, then at the end it's suddenly ammonium. How did we get there and what am I missing?

submitted by /u/Palaluuseri
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Why are inflammatory drugs like prednisone used when your body is fighting the infection when the drug supposedly suppresses your immune system?

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 02:14 AM PDT

Thanks

Edit: According to Wikipedia, anti inflammatory drugs "do not prevent an infection and also inhibit later reparative processes"

I guess to elaborate my point, why do people take them when it supposedly inhibits healing later on?

submitted by /u/Feelinggood702
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Are HE Explosions additive?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 11:12 PM PDT

I GM a weekly game of Eclipse Phase, a Tabletop RPG that tries to stick to real science whenever possible. During a fight one of my players pulled the pin on 13 High Explosive Grenades and 9 Frag Grenades and the session ground to a halt as we argued if the resulting explosion radius would be additive or do something else.

I know this isn't a game subreddit, but we're curious what would happen in real life.

The resulting damage from this blast was 557 points, which is similar to the average damage for another weapon in the game, an Antimatter Grenade which is described as having

a blast equivalent to 10 tons of TNT.

if that helps

submitted by /u/f15k13
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How do mosquitoes pierce skin?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 02:14 PM PDT

If a mosquito lands on me it can pierce my skin but if I take a mosquito and try to pierce myself with its proboscis it is weak and flimsy. How does this work?

submitted by /u/end_amd_abuse
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How does a neutron become part of an atom without a positive or negative charge? Could electrons orbit lone neutrons? Does that already happen?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 03:32 PM PDT

In practice, how can enantiomers have different characteristic such as smell or safety (in the case of drugs)?

Posted: 29 Mar 2019 03:45 AM PDT

I barely understand the concept of chirality, and the idea of a non-superimposable mirror image. How can two compounds with the same molecular formulas, whose are atoms are bonded to each other in the same way have different smells? I kind get the light part, but I am struggling with the other differences in properties.

submitted by /u/pumpkingHead
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What causes an aftertaste? Why can it be so different to a food’s regular flavor?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 04:44 AM PDT

What's the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 01:36 PM PDT

I've heard that the condition is the same but the difference is the cause. (Sociopathy is considered to be caused by environment while psychopathy is considered the result of genetics.)

I've heard that it's a matter of degree, with a psychopath being a more severe version of a sociopath.

I've also heard that they're different names for the exact same thing.

What's the consensus in the psychology community?

submitted by /u/ExNihiloAdInfinitum
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Why does banging 2 objects together produce sound? e.g. knocking on a door

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 09:48 AM PDT

I understand at a basic level what sound is. I'm wonder why me rapping my knuckles on a door produces vibrating waves of air so much louder than, say, "knocking" but never actually making contact with the door. What is it about that point of contact that produces a noise?

submitted by /u/ShowMeYourTiddles
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How does dark matter interact with sodium iodide?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 01:09 PM PDT

I read an article on IFLScience about dark matter detection. In part it said: "The experiments use sodium iodide crystals. When dark matter or regular background particles interact with them, they emit light that is detected by photomultipliers."

My understanding has always been that dark matter only interacts with gravity, which is what makes it so hard to detect. How does dark matter interact with sodium iodide?

submitted by /u/oswaler
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How do plungers work, and how is it so effective?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 08:39 AM PDT

How is the human brain responsible for 20% of our daily energy consumption? What does it primarily use it for?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 11:46 AM PDT

I've had this question for a while and I was curious how our brain allocates its energy consumption. Also does this standard 20% represent an average of all humans? Does this average change if we had a long day of exams (SAT, MCAT, Finals Etc.) ?

The reason I ask is because I was going over the concept of Long Term potentiation(LTP). It occurred to me that if the energy the brain uses is primarily for sending and receiving electrical impulses- would that energy requirement permanently increase for individuals who release more neurotransmitters and have more post-synaptic receptors, a.k.a. LPT? After a mentally draining day do we burn a significantly larger amount of calories? It seems crazy to me to think that the brain uses 20% of our daily energy needs since we're not strictly rebuilding it like we do muscles. Would it be accurate to say it's simply completing a number of tasks that require a lot of energy when added together?

It would be super interested if anyone at r/didthemath could figure out the average energy requirement for 1 electrical impulse and use that to figure out the amount of energy required for an average person's day-to-day. Would it give us a reasonable comparison?

submitted by /u/xPyrez
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How come the surface of the moon can reach temperatures of over 200°C despite it being as close to the Sun as Earth? Why doesn't Earth suffer such extreme temperatures?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:47 AM PDT

The cold I get because there isn't any atmosphere to trap the heat, but then how does the temperature get so high?

submitted by /u/IncredibleBert
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Is there any hard evidence that improper use of antibiotics is the driving force behind the rise of antibiotic resistance?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 08:04 AM PDT

I always hear that improper use of antibiotics (e.g., not fully completing a regiment or over prescribing) is causing the rise of antibiotic resistant microbes, but do we have direct evidence of that? I mean, it makes total sense that improper use would cause that, but have we actually seen it in action?

It seems to me that antibiotic resistance is inevitable no matter how proper the use, so I'm wondering if improper use is really all that big of a driving factor here.

submitted by /u/geniel1
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Question about brain tumor, in particular Glioblastoma?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 07:11 AM PDT

I just came across an article about the treatment of Glioblastoma and was wondering a) why is it that a Glioblastoma is so severe and other braintumors are not, even though they can be huge in size as well and b) what do people suffering from a Glioblastoma actually die of (for example, does the tumor eventually causes a stroke or bleedings in the brain)?
I did a bit of googling, but didn't find much; a fellow scientist, who does research in cancer (not brain tumors though) wasn't really sure as well. So I hope anyone here might know.

*(Since my question is a bit blunt on Glioblastoma and death, I phrased the title a bit vague and put my actual question in the text.)

submitted by /u/The_Sceptic_Lemur
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How do plate tectonics affect global warming?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 09:05 AM PDT

Why doesn't food and water get mixed during digestion?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 04:32 PM PDT

So during digestion, food goes into the stomach and stays there for hours untill it moves into the intestines for more 'Science stuff'.

But water goes through the stomach in about 50 seconds.

So why don't food and water travel at the same speed. Wouldnt the water just drag the food with it. What if you were drinking a smoothie with blended food? Would digestion still occur at the same speed? How doesnt the body get confused between liquid food and water?

submitted by /u/its_RichieRich
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How did species evolve to have immune systems?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 10:06 AM PDT

Considering how fast bacteria and viruses are able to reproduce and mutate versus how slow multi-cellular organisms evolve, you would think that these diseases should have eradicated all multi-cellular life way before they even had the chance to develop an immune system.

submitted by /u/ricky_marti
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Why do some people get fecal transplants? What conditions make it necessary? What are the effects of getting one?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 12:16 PM PDT

Always been curious about how they work and when someone is able to get them. Anyone in the medical field have a clue?

submitted by /u/shit-smeared_blade
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What does it actually mean to “die peacefully” in your sleep? Is this even possible?

Posted: 28 Mar 2019 09:49 AM PDT

I understand this generally means the individual died while unconscious and may not have known what was happening, but does this also mean the body just stopped functioning overnight? Is this even possible, or does some sort of medical issue or trauma have to occur?

submitted by /u/The_Asian_Menace
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