Is there really only 50-60 years of oil remaining? | AskScience Blog

Pages

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Is there really only 50-60 years of oil remaining?

Is there really only 50-60 years of oil remaining?


Is there really only 50-60 years of oil remaining?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 11:20 AM PST

I think many of us have heard the story of canine evolution stemming from humans' interaction with dogs' ancestor: the wolf. But the story of the evolution of the modern house cat is never talked about. Do we know much about the evolution of the many types of felines over recent millennia?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 07:35 PM PST

Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:08 AM PST

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

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
[link] [comments]

Do any of the Gallilean moons of Jupiter or the large moons of any other gas giant have stable geostationary orbits?

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:00 AM PST

Writing a novella and I had the idea for space elevators at these moons, but I wanted to check the hard science first, and I can find very little to no research on this online.

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

Does the solar wind have any affect on the Earth's orbit?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 09:26 PM PST

The planet is constantly being hit by particles and energy that escape from the sun. Does this energy push the planet away from the sun, even slightly? Or are all affects negated by the pull of the sun's gravity?

submitted by /u/Korora12
[link] [comments]

How does a macrophage activated by T helper cell know which cell to kill?

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:22 AM PST

Since cytotoxic T cells have T cell receptors to antigens, they can recognise the virus cell directly when activated by helper T cell. But the macrophages don't have such receptors. I know they call kill through using pattern recognition receptors in a non specific manner. But how do they kill the virus cell specifically which has antigens complementary to the T cell receptor on CD4 cells or T helper cells.

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

Would a star that’s about to supernova release an excess of gamma rays?

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:03 AM PST

In the time leading up to the supernova of a star would it release lots of gamma rays as it is collapsing?

submitted by /u/Shine2078
[link] [comments]

If babies breathe through the umbilical cord, how do chicks breathe in eggs ?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 01:33 PM PST

Vaccines undergo animal testing before moving to human testing. Many are successful in animals but fail human trials. How do we know the reverse isn't possible? Can't a vaccine be unsuccessful in animals but be successful in humans but we just never know because it failed initial tests?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 03:42 PM PST

How important is the temperature of a qubit in quantum computing?

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:44 AM PST

I've read about qubits being cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero. If this wavers, how does that affect operations?

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

Is there a mathematical equation linking pressure to thermal conductivity of an ideal gas?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 10:04 PM PST

I have been trying to search for mathematical models that represent a relation between Pressure of a gas and the thermal conductivity. I know due to the kinetic theory of gases that at lower pressures the conductivity of air decreases, but so far I have been unsuccessful at finding a mathamatical proof.

I know about the Paschen Curve for Electrical condutivity and pressure, so does something similar exist for Thermal conductivity and pressure?

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

How did mathematicians do things that today requires calculus? For instance, how can you find the formula for the volume of a sphere without integrals?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 05:06 PM PST

How does something as large as a city affect the crust/mantle below it? Could a city become so large and heavy that it would collapse or compress the earth underneath?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 02:26 PM PST

Always wondered how something as massively heavy and all-covering as an urban area (with sewers and sediment of more ancient city walls below etc) manages to not just sink.

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

In the time we've been watching the moon and keeping track of its appearance, have we seen new craters being added to its surface? Aka have we witnessed any collisions?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 01:59 PM PST

Are mitochondria similar enough to be compatible across every species? If you transplanted a mitochondria, could it survive and reproduce?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 12:04 PM PST

As I understand it, mitochondria have a totally separate genome, from their host cell, and reproduce separately. In multi-cellular creatures, mitochondrial DNA is only ever passed directly from mother to child, with very rare random mutations.

Does this mean that mitochondria are similar enough that you could transplant the mitochondria between any two organisms? Transplant mitochondria between two unrelated humans, or from a dog into a human, or a mollusk, or a sponge, or a fungi, or a protozoan?

Would the mitochondria be able to reproduce in the new host? Would it be targeted by the immune system? How would it affect the life of the new host?

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

Are there any animals that can digest cellulose that do not rely on symbyotic bacteria (as in ruminants)?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 06:58 PM PST

And why is it that animals that rely on symbiotic bacteria to greater or lesser extents, e.g hindgut and foregut fermenters, great apes, etc, have evolved to use this method? Why haven't they evolved the ability to synthesize cellulase(s) themselves?

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

At what point is a species who traveled to a new region "native?" Are dingos native to Australia? Are humans native to the Americas?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 10:31 AM PST

I know that placentals (except bats) were all "introduced" to Australia, so a dingo is an introduced species, but it was before written history, so when the west "discovered" Australia they were already there, so to their knowledge dingos were always there. But at this point we know they were brought over by humans.

Plenty of species traveled from Eurasia to the Americas via the Bering straight, along with north + south America via Panama. When, say, saber-tooth cats first went down to South America and competed with the native apex predators, were they considered invasive? Did they "become" native at some point?

Is what makes a species native or invasive dependent on how it came to a new region or is it based on how long its been?

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

How effective are current technologies in detecting subterranean caves and tunnels?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 01:48 PM PST

Can technology like LIDAR and ground penetrating radar easily detect a cavern for example or does it just identify likely candidates?

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

Is the Earth either gaining mass, losing mass or does it roughly stay the same?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 11:26 AM PST

I understand in an isolated system that energy is conserved as it is converted from one form to another (e.g. chemical to kinetic) but I was just wondering whether the mass of the earth and its atmosphere is either increasing or decreasing, or if it stays the same? Is there any way of accurately determining the mass of the earth at a given time? Is energy (via heat) and thus mass being radiated away or is this somehow replaced by the mass from asteroids and debris from space?

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

I was reading about the radiotrophic fungus growing at Chernobyl (fungi that use melanin to convert gamma radiation to chemical energy for growth, something like photosynthesis), but how do these fungi survive and reproduce intact- wouldn't their DNA be blasted to pieces by the gamma radiation?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 08:13 AM PST

Are there any plants which have evolved mechanisms to attack or suppress competing plants in their vicinity?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 01:04 PM PST

Do any animals, other than humans, care for their elderly?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 06:12 AM PST

It doesn't make much sense for a wild animal to risk its own survival to care for its seniors. I just imagine older animals falling behind and eventually starving, getting killed or succumbing.

I guess the only possible candidates are group animals.

submitted by /u/rockitman12
[link] [comments]

Are all genes are regulated by more than one transcription factor?

Posted: 18 Feb 2020 08:05 PM PST

I know the majority of the time this is true (considering the Principle of Combinatorial Control), but are there any exceptions to this?

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

No comments:

Post a Comment