AskScience AMA Series: We are Drs. Roger Hanlon, Mike Vecchione, and Louise Allcock, and we research octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, and other cephalopods. Ask us anything! |
- AskScience AMA Series: We are Drs. Roger Hanlon, Mike Vecchione, and Louise Allcock, and we research octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, and other cephalopods. Ask us anything!
- Nitroglycerine is an explosive. Nitroglycerine is also a medicine. How does the medicinal nitroglycerine not explode when swallowing or chewing?
- How do we measure the height of mountains on planets with no sea level?
- If the solar panels on the ISS were replaced with the most up-to-date panels we have now, how much smaller would they be - if they were to produce the same amount of power?
- Is there any organism that doesn't use ATP as the main "energetic molecule"? Is this a fact with no exceptions in biology?
- [Physics] Is there a known way of converting room temperature into energy?
- How long does muscle memory stay built up?
- Is there any type of material (artificial or natural) that does not have the ability to become a solid, liquid, or gas?
- Are there storms with lightning over Antarctica? If yes what happens when a bolt of lightning strucks the ice?
- Does squeezing a plastic milk bottle after pouring some milk, to reduce the amount of air in the bottle, before putting the cap back on, keep it fresh longer?
- Why do some sperms swim faster than others? Is it caused by differences in the DNA they carry, or some nutrient variance between them?
- How obvious and dense would dinosaur populations be during the Mesozoic period?
- You hear often that is space you lose muscle mass because of atrophy from the 0 gravity. Is it actually possible to GAIN mass with enough exercise or is it always a losing battle?
- To which degree of accuracy do we know the age of the universe?
- How does the brain structure lead to specialized areas? How does the structure lead to function?
- How do neural networks replicate evolution?
- How can a paint be water-soluble but not alcohol-soluble?
- Can DNA Polymerase 1 create Phosphodiester Bonds between nucleotides?
- If the universe is infinite, doesn't that mean it was ALWAYS infinite?
- Why does the food kept in a microwave need to be rotated on a turntable?
- How comparable is the macro-scale growth of iron oxide to the micro-scale thermal oxidation of silicon?
- What makes water different?
- In hot summer days, why is it that the air in the distance looks blurry or kind of on fire?
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 04:00 AM PDT Hello reddit! We study octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and other cephalopods (we even wrote a book together called Octopus, Squid, and Cuttlefish: A Visual, Scientific Guide to the Oceans' Most Advanced Invertebrates). Why are cephalopods amazing? Let us count the ways:
My name is Roger Hanlon, and I'm a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. I am a diving biologist who studies cephalopod behavior, especially camouflage & signaling. I recently gave a TED Talk on the amazing brains and "smart skin" of octopuses and other cephalopods. My favorite cephalopod is Octopus cyanea, the "day octopus" of coral reefs throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. This critter is really clever and adaptable, and its coloration for camouflage and signaling is amazing even by cephalopod standards. I'm Mike Vecchione, a NOAA scientist at the National Museum of Natural History. My current research focuses on the natural history of cephalopods, and marine biodiversity, especially in the deep sea. I have helped to make cephalopod information available on the web here. My favorite cephalopod is any strange species from the deep sea because we are still discovering new stuff regularly. Hello all, I'm Louise Allcock! I'm head of zoology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and I'm particularly interested in the evolution and ecology of cephalopods. My favourite cephalopod is Thaumeledone guntheri. It's a deep-sea species from around the island South Georgia. I like the pattern on its skin! Lots of deep-sea species appear to have their origins in Antarctica and I'm fascinated by this. We're doing this as part of #CephalopodWeek, the public radio show Science Friday's annual celebration of our favorite creatures. We'll be answering questions from 1pm ET (17 UT). Ask us anything! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 05:07 AM PDT |
| How do we measure the height of mountains on planets with no sea level? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:21 AM PDT Olympus Mons was recently compared to Mount Everest and I was wondering how comparable the survey methods were. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 02:06 AM PDT |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 01:33 AM PDT |
| [Physics] Is there a known way of converting room temperature into energy? Posted: 24 Jun 2019 03:32 AM PDT Curious to see what the answer may be, I assume it'll be yes but it's extremely inefficient but any expert insight would be greatly welcomed. [link] [comments]  |
| How long does muscle memory stay built up? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:58 PM PDT How long is muscle memory retained if something is given up for a period of time? Also how much practice do you need to put into an activity each day to maintain muscle memory? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 02:45 AM PDT |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:04 PM PDT |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:53 PM PDT This is something I've done sometimes and I wondered if the amount of air in the bottle has a meaningful effect on the life of the milk. Type of bottle in case there is any confusion: https://i.imgur.com/iV9XRhdl.jpg I suppose what I'm asking is, whether a reduction in interaction with air slows down the process of lactose being converted into lactic acid? Or any other part of the process? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:52 PM PDT |
| How obvious and dense would dinosaur populations be during the Mesozoic period? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:27 AM PDT Let's say that the house or location you are in at this very moment was transported with you inside it to three different points in time The Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. Given that you are not underwater, what is the likelihood that you would open your front door to see Dinosaurs? Now let's say you went for a 6 mile hike in one direction or another. Would you be likely to encounter anything bigger than racoon or squirrel? Were they comparable in rarity to large mammals in modern times? I apologize it this seems to hypothetical. Obviously this is a complicated question but I am curious to see the types of answers which I get. If I've accidentally broken any rules please inform me so that I can edit or delete this. Thank you for participating. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Jun 2019 12:50 AM PDT |
| To which degree of accuracy do we know the age of the universe? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:48 AM PDT For example, we've all heard 14, 13.9, 13.8 billion years old numbers. But how deep into that number can we go? Is the universe ~13,860,000,000 years old? ~13,867,000,000? ~13,867,556,181.89887 perhaps? I can understand there may be certain physical limitations with the 'resolution' of the age of the universe. That the data from which we interpret the age of the universe may be so noisy, so spread out, or so weak that we cannot determine the Universe's age to any degree beyond a very, very vague estimate (from the perspective of a human timescale, that is.) Given that, how accurately can we comfortably determine the age of the universe? [link] [comments]  |
| How does the brain structure lead to specialized areas? How does the structure lead to function? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:56 PM PDT What anatomical differences are there that allow parts of the brain to be specialized? How does a reward circuit differ anatomically from emotional processing, personality, memory, etc. Basically, I am not understanding how brain structure equates to functions the same way I can understand that the structures of a cell's membrane equates to certain functions like cell signaling or allowing nutrients into the cell. Abstract vs conventionally physical [link] [comments]  |
| How do neural networks replicate evolution? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:18 PM PDT This is probably due to my incredibly limited knowledge of biology and CS, but I still cannot wrap my head around this comparison, mostly because I'm unsure of how genetic mutations can be generated, which IIRC was the basis for evolution. Like AFAIK unless theres an RNG, software instances all perform identically. And assuming there is, there's some other things that confuse me.
I definitely made a false assumption along the way and it'd help if someone could explain it. [link] [comments]  |
| How can a paint be water-soluble but not alcohol-soluble? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:53 AM PDT Thoroughly mystified by this. We bought some paints for our artist daughter and she had dribbled some on a metal table and a stone patio paver. A warning label cautioned that this paint might stain some surfaces and, not realizing that it also mentioned "washable", I assumed I needed to wipe it with something like mineral spirits. This did nothing. So then I tried isopropyl alcohol. Nothing. So then I tried brush cleaner—which I assumed would dissolve just about anything. Still nothing. Then someone pointed out the "washable" aspect so I got a wet rag and it instantly cleaned it. What on earth..? Evidently I'm wrong in assuming that alcohol will dissolve anything that water can. Can some kindly chemist explain what's going on here? A paint that only dissolves in water? [link] [comments]  |
| Can DNA Polymerase 1 create Phosphodiester Bonds between nucleotides? Posted: 24 Jun 2019 12:17 AM PDT Does DNA Polymerase 1 have the capability to build phosphodiester bonds between the DNA nucleotides or pits down? I assume that Polymerase 3 does, as the replication on the leading strand is continuous. [link] [comments]  |
| If the universe is infinite, doesn't that mean it was ALWAYS infinite? Posted: 24 Jun 2019 12:10 AM PDT 1) When I read that universe is most likely "flat" (no higher-dimensional curvature), does that mean it has no measurable size and you could keep keep traveling in a straight line forever? Would that also mean that balloon analogy is no longer applicable, since that analogy assumes that the universe curves onto itself? For the purposes of my following questions, lets assume the universe is flat. This raises a few questions that I'm yet to see tackled: 2) A question of size - if the universe is infinite, that means it was always infinite. Adding or subtracting anything from infinity is still infinity. However the Big Bang theory states that the universe was somehow much "smaller" in the past (implying a size) and over time it got "bigger" and cooled....but the concept of bigger/smaller is not compatible with an infinite and flat universe. How does one reconcile the Big Bang with an infinite & flat universe? 3) A question of time - how can an event that happened a finite amount of time ago in the past (the Big Bang) result in an infinite and flat universe? 4) A question of mass - galaxies seem to be uniformly distributed everywhere we look (on average). However all current theories state the universe has a finite amount of matter. How can a finite amount of matter be distributed uniformly over an infinite amount of space? Wouldn't there eventually be a point where matter simply "ran out"? [link] [comments]  |
| Why does the food kept in a microwave need to be rotated on a turntable? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:30 PM PDT I know it has something to do with Standing waves produced by the microwaves, but I'm not exactly sure how it works. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:20 PM PDT Specifically, I'm wondering if I could use the Deal-Grove model or something similar to draw conclusions like "rust grows slower as it gets thicker", "temperature changes reaction rate linearly/quadratically/etc.", and "rust growth occurs 55% below the surface of the iron and 45% above the surface". If there is literature or figures or charts as supporting information I'd love to see it as well! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:19 AM PDT I've been asking myself that question long time back and i am not going anywhere why does water expand once it freezes and decrease in size once it's heated unlike all other elements? ' [link] [comments]  |
| In hot summer days, why is it that the air in the distance looks blurry or kind of on fire? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:54 AM PDT |
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