- AskScience AMA Series: We're Corinne Drennan, Andy Schmidt, Justin Billing, and Tim Seiple from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). We turn wastes like sewage, old food, and manures into biocrude using Hydrothermal Liquefaction. We've got the scoop on poop. AUA!
- How are the Nazca lines so permanent?
- Why do antibodies for diseases like chickenpox stay in your body for years, while they only last a few months for other diseases?
- How do wireless communications in space work?
- A recent study claims that crystals in pegmatite can form in days or hours. If accurate, how significant would this be?
- Why are viral capsids icosahedral?
- Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science
- The flu vaccine contains 4 variants. Why do they limit it to only 4 varieties?
- Do wild animals change their behavior after near-death experiences?
- How many atoms are there in a single covid-19 virus?
- Looking at Asimov’s three laws of robotics, can the same be applied to AI? Or do we have to create new rules?
- How do we know the speed of light is a limit and not a threshold?
- 538 and other statistical prediction websites say they run "simulations" numerous times to predict events. What does running a simulation look like? How do you simulate something such as a football game or election?
- What is the smallest particle accelerator in use today? And what you would use it for?
- Does death penalty bring closure/peace to victims?
- Novel virus outbreaks - any way to predict what they might look like before they appear?
| Posted: 21 Oct 2020 04:00 AM PDT Hi Reddit, happy Bioenergy Day! Poop, sludgy grease, and leftover food seem best destined for the nearest landfill or wastewater resource recovery facility. But when paired with waste-to-energy technology, these things can become downright energetic---in the form of biofuels. Organic wastes serve as potential biofuel feedstocks, and they are available just about anywhere across the nation. Bioenergy experts at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a process called Hydrothermal Liquefaction, or HTL, which can literally turn breakfast (leftovers) into biocrude. HTL mimics the geological conditions the Earth uses to create crude oil, using high pressure and temperature to achieve in minutes what has typically taken millions of years. The resulting material is similar to petroleum pumped out of the ground, but also contains small amounts of water, oxygen, and sometimes nitrogen. HTL has advantages over other thermochemical conversion methods. It works best with wet biomass - like poop, algae, and food and agriculture wastes - heck, even beer waste! It has the ability to transform almost all of the biomass into biocrude oil. It also offers opportunities to recover nutrients such as phosphorous, an element in fertilizer that is needed to grow food. Our research using HTL is typically supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office, who works with government, industrial, academic, agricultural, and nonprofit partners across the nation to develop commercially viable, high-performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower made from renewable biomass resources that reduce our dependence on oil while enhancing energy security. We are down with that! Come ask us questions about our research and analyses using HTL, we are excited to have the conversation with you. We will be back at noon PDT to answer your questions. Username: /u/PNNL [link] [comments]  |
| How are the Nazca lines so permanent? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 10:52 AM PDT After hearing about this hilariously amateur looking newly discovered Nazca drawing, I again began considering the Nazca lines as a whole. How are they so lasting? I read that all they are is displaced or depressed dirt, with a layer of differently colored soil filled into the space. How has this not been washed away, or how has the surrounding soil not eroded to the point of them not being noticeable. No plants have grown in them. Other soil hasn't filled them in. I get that that's part of why they're such a wonder, but I'm wondering if anyone can she'd some light on just how they've lasted thousands of years. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2020 05:11 AM PDT |
| How do wireless communications in space work? Posted: 21 Oct 2020 01:47 AM PDT How much fast do wireless signals travel in Earth and in open space? And considering that we have a receiver in Moon, Mars and on a star ~400 million kilometers from Earth, how much time does it take for voice or data to reach the destination? I remember seeing the movie Mars, and it seems that it took about 15 minutes If I am not mistaken for a line of text to arrive there from Earth. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 21 Oct 2020 02:22 AM PDT In Answers in Genesis of all things, I came across a mention of a study that shows how crystals, even ones large enough to be measured in meters, can form in pegmatite in a very short period of time. Given Ken Ham's usual nuttiness, I was surprised when it turned out that the study actually existed and appeared to be from a genuine source. Since the study was only published at the beginning of the month, I doubt anyone has really had the time to test their claims yet. So, if we assume that the study is accurate, what are the ramifications of this discovery? Does this change our understanding of geology in any significant way? The study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18806-w A related article published by the associated university: http://news.rice.edu/2020/10/06/earth-grows-fine-gems-in-minutes/ [link] [comments]  |
| Why are viral capsids icosahedral? Posted: 21 Oct 2020 08:10 AM PDT Do we understand the chemistry/thermodynamics involved that produced this feature? [link] [comments]  |
| Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science Posted: 21 Oct 2020 08:08 AM PDT Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science 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! [link] [comments]  |
| The flu vaccine contains 4 variants. Why do they limit it to only 4 varieties? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 04:04 PM PDT |
| Do wild animals change their behavior after near-death experiences? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 09:30 AM PDT Everyone has probably witnessed a scene in a nature documentary or otherwise where a prey animal miraculously escapes the jaws of its predator. Sometimes, the animal even appears to have come to terms with its fate and succumbed, only to be given a second chance. I have always wondered, does the survivor change their behavior to avoid the situation that almost lead to its death? Does it think twice before visiting that watering hole again? Does it look over it's shoulder a little more frequently? Is what we refer to as survival instinct just hereditary paranoia from ancestors that almost died? [link] [comments]  |
| How many atoms are there in a single covid-19 virus? Posted: 21 Oct 2020 02:28 AM PDT |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2020 09:06 AM PDT Asimov's three laws of robotics are as follows: FIRST LAW A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. SECOND LAW A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. THIRD LAW A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. [link] [comments]  |
| How do we know the speed of light is a limit and not a threshold? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 10:32 AM PDT We know electrons behave like both particles and waves, so could electrons accelerated to the speed of light behave like photons? That would make electrons and photons the same particle just in different conditions. I realize we can't make an electron travel at the speed of light, but if we could, is it possible? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 20 Oct 2020 08:17 AM PDT Obviously this has to be done with computing power, but what does running a simulation actually entail? Aren't there too many variables? And how do we know the simulations are accurate? [link] [comments]  |
| What is the smallest particle accelerator in use today? And what you would use it for? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 11:04 AM PDT |
| Does death penalty bring closure/peace to victims? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 08:37 AM PDT |
| Novel virus outbreaks - any way to predict what they might look like before they appear? Posted: 20 Oct 2020 11:47 AM PDT So, to me, it seems very "reactive" to respond to a global pandemic with vaccine development. I love vaccines, they are the #1 tool we have against viruses. But it seems like our ability to develop them in response to a pandemic is too slow, too traditional. We could save ourselves a lot of time if we developed vaccines BEFORE a novel virus appears. Is this science fiction, or is it possible? Can we "model" the most likely types of viruses, their structures etc, all the things that define a virus before it appears into existence? [link] [comments]  |
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