- AskScience AMA Series: I'm Kit Yates. I'm here to talk about my new book, the Maths of Life and Death which is about the places maths can have an impact in people's everyday lives. I'd also love to discuss my research area of Mathematical Biology. Ask Me Anything!
- How does cocaine get into the hair structure through use and environmental exposure?
- When I sleep with a bad pillow and spend all of the next day with a crick in my neck what has actually happened to cause such a pain in the neck?
- Do a greater proportion of people have mental health disorders (diagnosed and undiagnosed) than 50 years ago? All mental health disorders or only some? For all ages groups, genders, countries? If so what is the likely cause, or why is there a perception that it is?
- How did heavy metals arrive on Earth during planetary formation?
- Is Language still evolving as fast as before? Or has the evolution of language slowed or sped up with modern globalization and standardization?
- Why does U-Pb dating have a limit of 500,000 years ago?
- Where did native Americans come from?
- What happens to amputated body parts?
- How do people die from severe burn injuries?
- Does my immunity to certain illnesses from being vaccinated also protect my newborn from the via breastmilk?
- Could you cause a dead bodies muscles to contract by electricly shocking them as you would with a living body?
- How does improved cardiovascular endurance manifest physically in the body? Does the heart/lungs change at all in the way that a muscle gets larger with strength training?
- What exactly is computer hacking? What is going on behind the scenes?
- Are there any examples of impractical side-effects of evolution?
- Why do cookies have crumbs?
- is it true, Lysosomal Storage Disorders happens due to inbreeding in human?
- Is it possible to transfer immunity against viruses through bloody transfusion?
- The United States cited presence of EMPTA in its bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan in 1998. Are there any uses for o-ethyl methylphosphonothioic acid other than the production of nerve gas?
- Blood donation after death?
- Are there general patterns to where minerals and ores can be found on Earth?
| Posted: 28 Sep 2019 04:00 AM PDT Hi Reddit, I am Kit Yates. I'm a senior lecturer in Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. I'm here to dispel some rumours about my fascinating subject area and demonstrate how maths is becoming an increasingly important tool in our fight to understand biological processes in the real world. I've also just published a new popular maths book called the Math(s) of Life and Death which is out in the UK and available to pre-order in the US. In the book I explore the true stories of life-changing events in which the application (or misapplication) of mathematics has played a critical role: patients crippled by faulty genes and entrepreneurs bankrupt by faulty algorithms; innocent victims of miscarriages of justice and the unwitting victims of software glitches. I follow stories of investors who have lost fortunes and parents who have lost children, all because of mathematical misunderstanding. I wrestle with ethical dilemmas from screening to statistical subterfuge and examine pertinent societal issues such as political referenda, disease prevention, criminal justice and artificial intelligence. I show that mathematics has something profound or significant to say on all of these subjects, and more. On a personal note I'm from Manchester, UK, so it's almost a pre-requisite that I love football (Manchester City) and Music (Oasis were my favourite band). I also have two young kids, so they keep me busy outside of work. My website for both research and pop maths is https://kityates.com/ I'll be online from 8-9pm (GMT+1) on Saturday 28th September to answer your questions as part of FUTURES - European Researchers' Night 2019. [link] [comments]  |
| How does cocaine get into the hair structure through use and environmental exposure? Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:17 AM PDT I'm reading an article that was published in Analytical Chemistry that discusses the current methodology for forensic hair drug analysis in Europe. The Society of Hair Testing says that hair samples should be prepped with an organic solvent wash followed by aqueous washes to remove contaminants. However, a 3-year-old paper discovered that if the hair is somehow contaminated with cocaine (I guess either through lab error or maybe the person goes to places where cocaine particulates/vapor is in the air) the cocaine will permeate throughout the hair and present like user hair. The authors looked at the cross-section of hair with a MetA-SIMS (TRIFT II TOF-SIMS) and compared it with conventional methods (LC-MS/MS). The contamination wasn't removed in the washes with organic solvents and water according to the LC-MS/MS, it permeated throughout the hair according to the TOF-SIMS. I'm trying to figure out 2 things. One: How does cocaine chemically enter the hair if you're a user? Two: If cocaine hydrochloride (cocaine a rich person might buy) is water soluble, why isn't it coming out in the water? Why is permeating the hair further? (However this is also true for cocaine base, or "crack" cocaine. Though I'm having issues determining solubility with crack cocaine.) FWIW, hair is composed of mostly keratin. Keratin is helical due to hydrogen bondings and has sulfate groups due to cysteine. Hair also has minerals due to diet and water, and contains lipids (cocaine vapor is lipophilic). I'm finding a lot of speculation online and I was hoping for some more concrete cocaine chemistry. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Sep 2019 03:14 AM PDT |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:29 PM PDT |
| How did heavy metals arrive on Earth during planetary formation? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:24 PM PDT I understand that most heavy metals are created during supernovae and ejected during the explosion, but I'm not quite understanding as to how so much of anything metallic - especially elements higher in the periodic table - came to be part of the primordial dust cloud - a cloud composed of still so very much hydrogen that plenty of stars could form in our neighbourhood - that we have such a mix of elements here, and likely on any planet? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:33 AM PDT I saw a showerthought post about how 1000 years into the future people wouldn't be able to understand you or you them, and the same thread had some posts about how English 1000 years ago is completely incomprehensible to modern English. I was wondering, with the advent of the Internet+Globalization (so no isolated pockets developing their own unique language because they're still always in touch with the parent language), and the general standardizing of languages via rules for grammar and spelling (rules that weren't really a thing 1000 years ago), what sort of effect has this had on language development? Is language changing faster than before? Has it slowed? Are any particular languages (French, for example, which is known for strict standards in their language) changing slower than others? [link] [comments]  |
| Why does U-Pb dating have a limit of 500,000 years ago? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 12:43 PM PDT My book just says that you can use Uranium-Lead dating for samples that were formed up to 500000 years ago. Why does U-Pb dating have this limit? [link] [comments]  |
| Where did native Americans come from? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:18 PM PDT If laurasia and gondwana split into the continents millions of years ago and Homo sapiens appeared first in Africa 200,000 years ago how did the red Indians get to America with no advanced ships or means of transport at that time while they were so primitive even at the time when the British got there [link] [comments]  |
| What happens to amputated body parts? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:03 AM PDT If someone needs a whole leg amputated, what is the process that severed leg goes through since its removal? What about other body parts like (for lack of a better example) the foreskin when people get circumcised? Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| How do people die from severe burn injuries? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:05 PM PDT I get how you can die if you stay in the fire or axphiliate from the smoke, but what about those who die later in the hospital? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:25 PM PDT Sorry if it's worded weird but with the outbreaks of measles I'm concerned for my newborn, who is obviously too young for the vaccine. Is breastfeeding helpful in preventing her from getting an illness that she must be vaccinated against or is she just in danger until then? Sorry if it's an ignorant question. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 04:17 PM PDT |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:01 AM PDT |
| What exactly is computer hacking? What is going on behind the scenes? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 05:23 AM PDT First and foremost: NO I am not asking for a set of directions or a guidebook on how to hack computer systems. But I am curious about what is actually happening behind the scenes when someone hacks a computer, network, or website. What is actually going on? My only frame of reference would be locks. I am in to locksport and when I try and pick a new lock there is an opening that I can put picks in, feel the pins, and with some luck and patience and time, align the pins and pop the lock open. What is the equivalent in computer terms? [link] [comments]  |
| Are there any examples of impractical side-effects of evolution? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 08:39 AM PDT I remember hearing something about the long stalks of the stalkeyefly. How they were important for males finding a mating partner. They are selected more often as mating partners which leaves their offspring (male or female) with long stalks too, even though the females don't really need them. I doubt this is the best example of what I am looking for, and want to know if there are examples from nature and evolution that "does the job", but is actually a bit of a hindrance for the animal in question. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:59 AM PDT Why do cookies have crumbs so large you can count them? Is there a reason they aren't small like sand? [link] [comments]  |
| is it true, Lysosomal Storage Disorders happens due to inbreeding in human? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:29 AM PDT |
| Is it possible to transfer immunity against viruses through bloody transfusion? Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:06 AM PDT Is there a mechanism where immunity can be transferred through bloody transfusion and are there documented cases of this happening? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 08:24 AM PDT |
| Posted: 27 Sep 2019 08:18 AM PDT Like organ donation, can blood be donated after death? And, if so, what is the period of time after death in which the blood is taken? [link] [comments]  |
| Are there general patterns to where minerals and ores can be found on Earth? Posted: 26 Sep 2019 09:46 PM PDT I ask because I'm doing a speculative worldbuilding project with an Earth-like planet, and I want it to be as realistic as possible. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
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