AskScience AMA Series: I'm David Pogue, tech and science writer, and host of NOVA PBS' new series Beyond the Elements. AMA! |
- AskScience AMA Series: I'm David Pogue, tech and science writer, and host of NOVA PBS' new series Beyond the Elements. AMA!
- Would it be possible to cultivate crops in Lunar regolith?
- What does the measurement stand for when measuring antibodies?
- What is causing the clearly defined line of bubbles part of the way up my glass of Coke?
- Why did new, seemingly more dangerous, variants of SARS-CoV-2 take 6+ months to arise?
- Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science
- Do mRNA vaccines actually get translated into proteins inside human cells or is the RNA sequence itself detected as foreign?
- Assuming we had limitless space and materials; could we build something tall enough that if tipped over, the top would fall at light speed?
- How did south-western Europe form?
- Why do these droplets spread out into star-like patterns as they freeze?
- Is there any truth to the “everyone’s friends at waterholes” scenes you see in things like The Lion King and The Jungle Book?
- What does the geological (ice...ological?) structure of the north pole look like?
- If the polar ice caps are sitting in the ocean and displacing water, and ice is less dense than water, if the ice caps melt would not ocean levels drop?
- Is it possible to tenderize meat using enzymes (collagenase?)
| Posted: 10 Feb 2021 04:00 AM PST A former New York Times weekly tech columnist from 2000 to 2013, I'm a five-time Emmy winner for my stories on CBS News Sunday Morning, a New York Times bestselling author, a five-time TED speaker, and host of 20 NOVA science specials on PBS. My most recent NOVA special is a mini-series called "Beyond the Elements," a sequel to my 2012 documentary "Hunting the Elements," which has become a staple in science classrooms worldwide. The new show's three one-hour episodes take me on a worldwide quest for the key molecules and chemical reactions that make up human civilization, including concrete and fertilizer, plastic and rubber, fire and venom, explosives and hot peppers. I've written or cowritten more than 120 books, including dozens in the Missing Manual tech series, which I created in 1999; six books in the For Dummies line (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music); two novels (one for middle-schoolers); my three bestselling Pogue's Basics books of tips and shortcuts (on Tech, Money, and Life); my how-to guides iPhone Unlocked and Mac Unlocked; and my 620-page magnum opus, How to Prepare for Climate Change. After graduating summa cum laude from Yale in 1985 with a distinction in music, I spent 10 years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York. I won a Loeb Award for journalism, two Webby awards, and an honorary doctorate in music. I live in Connecticut and San Francisco with my wife Nicki and our blended brood of five spectacular children. For a complete list of my columns and videos, and to sign up to get them by email, visit https://authory.com/davidpogue. On Twitter, I'm @pogue; on the web, I'm at www.davidpogue.com. I welcome civil email exchanges at david@pogueman.com, and of course, AMA! I'll be on at noon (ET; 16 UT), AMA! Username: /u/novapbs [link] [comments]  |
| Would it be possible to cultivate crops in Lunar regolith? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 04:18 AM PST Space agencies, like NASA, who have done research on growing crops on the moon usually say hydroponics and other similar systems would be ideal for growing crops to be consumed by lunar colonists but as far as I am aware this method is only applicable to crops with shallow roots. This got me wondering if it would be possible to grow root crops, e.g potatoes, carrots and other similar things, using lunar regolith as a growth medium. So if the colonists were able to set up an area with adequate external needs for the plants such as optimal light, carbon dioxide concentration and enough room to grow would it be possible for plants to properly grow in these conditions if they were to be rooted in Lunar regolith? If this is possible would these crops be safe for human consumption or would there be issues regarding radiation and the jaggedness of regolith that would make these crops unsafe for consumption? And if so would there be feasible ways to "convert" the regolith so the crops grown in it would be healthy and safe for human consumption? [link] [comments]  |
| What does the measurement stand for when measuring antibodies? Posted: 09 Feb 2021 03:40 PM PST I was donating plasma (that is used to treat severely ill Covid-19 patients) again today and she said my antibodies count/level/measurements was at 108, and that it's a lot, since they can only measure up to 120. I just said, oh, cool and didn't ask for more info for some reason. So... what does it mean? What is it that they are measuring, and why is the max at 120? [link] [comments]  |
| What is causing the clearly defined line of bubbles part of the way up my glass of Coke? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 04:38 AM PST Quite a simple question this one, but I couldn't find the answer with a quick bit of googling. I poured a glass of coke straight from a bottle in the fridge yesterday, and as soon as I finished the pour, there was a very defined line of bubbles about a quarter of the way up the glass. There were just no bubbles in that part of the drink from the start which struck me as odd. The glass only water in it before this. Here's a photo a few minutes after- the line of bubbles isn't quite as clear as it was, but you get the idea! Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Why did new, seemingly more dangerous, variants of SARS-CoV-2 take 6+ months to arise? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 06:08 AM PST It seems like the first 6-9 months of COVID there weren't any new strains reported that were more deadly, contagious, etc, then three popped up all in late 2020. Why is this? Were we just not testing for different variants before? Or just recording and reporting this information? [link] [comments]  |
| Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science Posted: 10 Feb 2021 07:00 AM PST 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]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2021 11:48 AM PST Sorry for yet another COVID vaccine question, but I haven't seen the mechanism of the vaccine explained anywhere. I assume the shot will basically be a bunch of massively replicated strands of coronavirus spike mRNA... but what are the mechanisms for immunity to occur? I assume if it were just the RNA itself creating a response, we might be able to use cDNA. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 10 Feb 2021 03:51 AM PST |
| How did south-western Europe form? Posted: 10 Feb 2021 03:57 AM PST Many videos of plate tectonics I've seen show Iberia, France, Italy, and the eastern Balkans suddenly appearing at 600 Ma with the colliding of West Africa and the Sahara and the closure of the Pharusian Ocean. How did they just appear? Can accretion form so much land in one go? Were they already accreting, and just were fully formed at that point? [link] [comments]  |
| Why do these droplets spread out into star-like patterns as they freeze? Posted: 09 Feb 2021 08:15 AM PST We're currently in a cold stretch - roughly 0°F, swinging a little above during the day and a little below at night. Every day, the sun hits these ice crystals on our window and melts them into round water droplets, but it's too cold for them to evaporate. So every night, they refreeze in these sort of star patterns. Why do they change shape as they freeze, rather than freeze as droplets? I've been thinking about it myself - I assume they start freezing on the outer surface, and water of course expands as it freezes. I'm tempted to think that the glass might be slightly warm under the droplet since it's close to the house, but this phenomenon happens on a screen as well, and in that case both sides are exposed to the cold air. I've tagged this as physics, but I suspect that a materials scientist could help as well. The pattern reminds me of dendritic crystals that I've seen in additive manufacturing papers. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2021 07:21 PM PST Does what it says on the tin. I'm curious if that actually happens or if it's a free for all. [link] [comments]  |
| What does the geological (ice...ological?) structure of the north pole look like? Posted: 08 Feb 2021 10:22 PM PST So obviously I know that there is no actual land in the north pole, but what does the ice look like? Is it just a big slab of ice flattened by storms or does it have ice versions of regular geological features like mountains, cliffs, etc? Has the melting ice carved out things like caves and valleys? Is it frozen all the way down to the ocean floor in any substantial amount or is it effectively floating? Is there any kind of equivalent to tectonic activity with large sheets of ice? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 Feb 2021 11:39 AM PST |
| Is it possible to tenderize meat using enzymes (collagenase?) Posted: 09 Feb 2021 03:57 AM PST Would it be possible to tenderize meat using some enzyme? As i understand it collagen is what makes meat tough so could you use an enzyme to break it down to some degree, and is this why people use pinapples to tenderize meat? [link] [comments]  |
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