AskScience AMA Series: We study neutrinos made on earth and in space, hoping to discover brand-new particles and learn more about the mysteries of dark matter, dark radiation, and the evolution of the universe. Ask us anything!

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• AskScience AMA Series: We study neutrinos made on earth and in space, hoping to discover brand-new particles and learn more about the mysteries of dark matter, dark radiation, and the evolution of the universe. Ask us anything!
• Can a substance at 0K conduct heat?
• At what point would the weight/gravity of enough asteroids in orbit (for mining purposes) start affecting the Earth's orbit?
• Could information ever be encoded and transmitted in gravity waves?
• Why does salt prevent noodles from sticking while boiling?
• Is there any relation between the gravity field and the higgs field?
• Is General Relativity the final model?
• What are the risks of introducing backdoors into a cryptographic function? Can you secure said backdoor with another unique function?
• If a fly flying directly down a train track is hit by an oncoming train, does the fly stop before changing direction, if so, for that moment is the train also stationary?
• Are black holes real? I thought they were unproven theory?
• Is aromatase kept or consumed in the reaction to produce estradiol?
• Why do new comets miss the sun?
• Is it possible to create a magnet so strong that it collapses into a black hole?
• Because everything is constantly moving in space, and in enough time will every planet and star eventually collide making one giant star or planet?
• Why do toddlers like to give stuff to people?
• Does the divots on dice change the probability of numbers being rolled?

AskScience AMA Series: We study neutrinos made on earth and in space, hoping to discover brand-new particles and learn more about the mysteries of dark matter, dark radiation, and the evolution of the universe. Ask us anything! Posted: 12 Feb 2016 04:10 AM PST Neutrinos are one of the most exciting topics in particle physics—but also among the least understood. They are the most abundant particle of matter in the universe, but have vanishingly small masses and rarely cause a change in anything they pass through. They spontaneously change from one type to another as they travel, a phenomenon whose discovery was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics. Their properties could hold the key to solving some of the greatest mysteries in physics, and scientists around the world are racing to pin them down. During a session at the AAAS Annual Meeting, scientists will discuss the hunt for a "sterile" neutrino beyond the three types that are known. The hunt is on using neutrinos from nuclear reactors, neutrinos from cosmic accelerators, and neutrinos from man-made particle accelerators such as the Fermilab complex in Batavia, Ill. Finding this long-theorized particle could shed light on the existence of mysterious dark matter and dark radiation and how they affect the formation of the cosmos, and show us where gaps exist in our current understanding of the particles and forces that compose our world. Olga Mena Requejo, IFIC/CSIC and University of Valencia, Paterna, Spain Searching for Sterile Neutrinos and Dark Radiation Through Cosmology Peter Wilson, scientist at Fermilab, Batavia, Ill. Much Ado About Sterile Neutrinos: Continuing the Quest for Discovery Kam-Biu Luk, scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-spokesperson for the Daya Bay neutrino experiment in China Katie Yurkewicz, Communications Director, Fermilab We'll be back at 12 pm EST (9 am PST, 5 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask us anything! submitted by /u/Neutrino_Scientists [link] [comments]

Can a substance at 0K conduct heat? Posted: 12 Feb 2016 04:21 AM PST Conduction of heat is purely due to the collision & diffusion of molecules inside a solid, liquid or gas. Therefore if a substance was cooled to absolute zero (so all of its molecules are stationary) and was entirely enveloped by another single substance, does radiation allow it to warm up again?, or does it just stay on its own at that temperature indefinitely? submitted by /u/TheIntrepidGentleman [link] [comments]

At what point would the weight/gravity of enough asteroids in orbit (for mining purposes) start affecting the Earth's orbit? Posted: 12 Feb 2016 05:22 AM PST submitted by /u/chewy_mcchewster [link] [comments]

Could information ever be encoded and transmitted in gravity waves? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 10:07 AM PST submitted by /u/superhelical [link] [comments]

Why does salt prevent noodles from sticking while boiling? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 07:27 PM PST I always put a few dash's of salt in a pot of noodles when i make pasta, but how does it prevent the noodles from sticking? submitted by /u/redtalker02 [link] [comments]

Is there any relation between the gravity field and the higgs field? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 06:04 PM PST submitted by /u/DonutMassacre64 [link] [comments]

Is General Relativity the final model? Posted: 12 Feb 2016 02:03 AM PST With the recent evidence of Gravity behaving as a wave is GR the end model? Will there be a model replacing GR in the future or is this the one and only model we need? Can we improve and develop a newer model surpassing GR? submitted by /u/Thomas_Wales [link] [comments]

What are the risks of introducing backdoors into a cryptographic function? Can you secure said backdoor with another unique function? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:52 PM PST Politics aside, I am curious why even put backdoors into a standard function if it allows an adversarial system to have an attack vector. Rather than attacking the function, why not just attack the backdoor? I could see securing the backdoor cryptographically, but would that allow the adversary to see any unique about the given hash? Meaning, will they see that there is a part of the function that is unique to the rest of the hashed string? What risk does a state posses when they introduce a backdoor into their encryption standards/functions? submitted by /u/myhuskyfriend [link] [comments]

If a fly flying directly down a train track is hit by an oncoming train, does the fly stop before changing direction, if so, for that moment is the train also stationary? Posted: 12 Feb 2016 05:58 AM PST This has been a debate in our office for some time, and none of us can provide a decent enough answer, with science to back it up. We've also been unable to find a similar enough question on-line. If a fly is hit flying directly towards a train does it have to come to a total stop before the force of the train carries it back in the opposite direction. If the fly is stationary before changing direction, for any period of time, the train would also have to be stationary for the same length of time which is obviously not possible. The alternative is that the fly never stops, but if the fly never stops, how does it change direction? Can someone explain which, if any is true and why? Some points for clarity. Assume the fly is incompressible Assume air resistance is 0 submitted by /u/CaptainKingsmill [link] [comments]

Are black holes real? I thought they were unproven theory? Posted: 12 Feb 2016 05:37 AM PST The news about gravitational waves is making .. waves and everyone is talking about black holes now. A google search is giving me conflicting answers and I'm not sure what to believe. Help? submitted by /u/de_zyzzyx_life [link] [comments]

Is aromatase kept or consumed in the reaction to produce estradiol? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:26 PM PST Also, does it serve as a catalyst or more of a direct role? Thanks submitted by /u/The-Princess [link] [comments]

Why do new comets miss the sun? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 03:28 PM PST A lump of rock out in the Ort cloud gets bumped, and the unrelenting pull of the sun's gravity draws it in. After 10s of billions of miles of the sun trying to score a bullseye, how is it some actually miss and become a comet? submitted by /u/Rmasterson1962 [link] [comments]

Is it possible to create a magnet so strong that it collapses into a black hole? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:02 PM PST From what I understand, black holes form when small densities cause the gravitational force to overcome the forces keeping atoms and/or subatomic particles apart. Would it be possible to do the same thing but swap gravitational force for the electromagnetic force? Perhaps with an extremely powerful electromagnet? If it is possible, what would it take? submitted by /u/Mr_Dr_Prof_Derp [link] [comments]

Because everything is constantly moving in space, and in enough time will every planet and star eventually collide making one giant star or planet? Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:23 PM PST submitted by /u/Klassix [link] [comments]

Why do toddlers like to give stuff to people? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 12:59 PM PST I'm trying to find something on Google but all that comes up is about spoiling kids and how sharing is good. Just about every small person I've met and played with always gives me things, whether it's toys, food, or random objects. They come up and say, "here, have this. And this. And this. And this." My friend sent me a video a few minutes ago of the little girl she nannies handing her all of her blocks in handfuls. It's the sweetest thing in the world to experience, but I'm stuck as to why they do it. Has this been studied at all? submitted by /u/wigwam2323 [link] [comments]

Does the divots on dice change the probability of numbers being rolled? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 11:45 AM PST Since dice have 1-6 divots, shouldn't that mean that the side with 1 is heavier than the side with a 6? Shouldn't this cause the die to roll with the probability of 1 falling face down, thus rolling a 6 more common than 6 down and 1 up? submitted by /u/dlukz [link] [comments]

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Gravitational Wave Megathread

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• Gravitational Wave Megathread
• What is Gravitational Wave and why is it so important?
• Why do i get hungry and then, without eating, it goes away?
• What would be the consequences of a global, significant and sustained population decrease on the economy?
• When looking into space with a basic telescope, most of what you'll see will be stars, right? So what is the magnification threshold you have to pass to where everything you see are entire, separate galaxies?
• Are there alternatives to randomized double blind trials when such trials would be unethical?
• Why can OLED tvs be so thin compared to a LED tv?
• Is another Yellowstone brewing in Ethiopia?
• Does a baby pick up sign language like it does a spoken language?
• Why does sweat on various parts of the body smell so different?
• How do we measure ocean wave direction, speed and intensity?
• could moon shadows on Jupiter cause wind spots over long periods of time?
• Did the Ostrich ever have a flying ancestor, or does it have yet to evolve flight?
• Are there stars that have begun to collapse into black holes, but stabilize before they fully complete the transition?
• What determines the Strength of a Magnet?
• How can nicotine and THC molecules stay intact in burning temperatures?
• How is the ozone depletion potential (ODP) of CFCs and other ozone destructing molecules measured?
• How do our brains process the directional source of a sound?
• Why is inflammation due to injury considered a bad thing?
• Could carcinogens play a role in evolution?
• Does quinine fade when under extended UV light exposure?
• What happens on a cellular level during an allergic reaction to something?

Gravitational Wave Megathread Posted: 11 Feb 2016 06:00 AM PST Hi everyone! We are very excited about the upcoming press release (10:30 EST / 15:30 UTC) from the LIGO collaboration, a ground-based experiment to detect gravitational waves. This thread will be edited as updates become available. We'll have a number of panelists in and out (who will also be listening in), so please ask questions! Links: YouTube Announcement LIGO Gravitational wave primer by Discovery Gravitational wave primer by PhD Comics FAQ: Where do they come from? The source of gravitational waves detectable by human experiments are two compact objects orbiting around each other. LIGO observes stellar mass objects (some combination of neutron stars and black holes, for example) orbiting around each other just before they merge (as gravitational wave energy leaves the system, the orbit shrinks). How fast do they go? Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light (wiki). Haven't gravitational waves already been detected? The 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the indirect detection of gravitational waves from a double neutron star system, PSR B1913+16. In 2014, the BICEP2 team announced the detection of primordial gravitational waves, or those from the very early universe and inflation. A joint analysis of the cosmic microwave background maps from the Planck and BICEP2 team in January 2015 showed that the signal they detected could be attributed entirely to foreground dust in the Milky Way. Does this mean we can control gravity? No. More precisely, many things will emit gravitational waves, but they will be so incredibly weak that they are immeasurable. It takes very massive, compact objects to produce already tiny strains. For more information on the expected spectrum of gravitational waves, see here. What's the practical application? Here is a nice and concise review. How is this consistent with the idea of gravitons? Is this gravitons? Here is a recent /r/askscience discussion answering just that! Stay tuned for updates! Edits: The youtube link was updated with the newer stream. It's started! LIGO HAS DONE IT Event happened 1.3 billion years ago. Data plot Nature article, still waiting for the paper. submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

What is Gravitational Wave and why is it so important? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:04 AM PST I am curious, not scientist... And my mind tries to conceive the idea of empty space being fabric that ripples like water. Anyhow, what is it? What would it mean if it is proven to exist? submitted by /u/speudoname [link] [comments]

Why do i get hungry and then, without eating, it goes away? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 07:07 AM PST Did my body just say "uuugh, you know what, fuck it, you're right: Don't feed yourself! You're not hungry anymore, because i just started eating stored fats" How is it possible to be hungry for an hour and then it just magically disappear for the next 3-4 hrs? submitted by /u/SteamandDream [link] [comments]

What would be the consequences of a global, significant and sustained population decrease on the economy? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:36 AM PST Would it necessarily imply economic collapse? Deflation? Can economic growth be possible in such conditions; if so how? submitted by /u/Gargatua13013 [link] [comments]

When looking into space with a basic telescope, most of what you'll see will be stars, right? So what is the magnification threshold you have to pass to where everything you see are entire, separate galaxies? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 12:55 PM PST submitted by /u/MiddyMcRipperson [link] [comments]

Are there alternatives to randomized double blind trials when such trials would be unethical? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:45 AM PST Hello all, so this has come from an interesting debate, but I need to explain it first with an analogy. First, imagine a person who wanted to test the theory that removing a malignant tumor would be helpful to a cancer patient. Following a double blind trial, they then ask a surgeon to remove only half of the tumors from a group of cancer patients and not tell them which got the "placebo treatment" of just a surgical scar. You can see how such a study would never make it past the IRB. However, this is a very real issue in studies of my condition. I'm transgender and at last report we had a 46/42% attempted suicide rate which is greatly elevated over the national average, so it's safe to say that our condition is life threatening. However, the standard treatment for gender dysphoria is transition, and while there is a large body of work suggesting that transition is beneficial to trans people, there remain calls for more controlled trials. However, the statistics suggest and I can personally attest that gender dysphoria is extremely unpleasant to the point of being life threatening and trans people will be quite miserable when denied transitional care to the point of it being dangerous to the control group. Also the effects of hormone therapy are rather obvious and difficult to mimic with a placebo (growth of breasts and facial hair are obvious). Thus we have a conundrum. How do you test the effectiveness if the standard controls are functionally difficult and unethical? submitted by /u/chaucer345 [link] [comments]

Why can OLED tvs be so thin compared to a LED tv? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 11:18 AM PST Ive looked up some stuff on OLED and what amazes me is how thin they can be. Is this because of the organic layer and why does the organic layer work this way? submitted by /u/oledtv [link] [comments]

Is another Yellowstone brewing in Ethiopia? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 08:28 AM PST I am by no means a geologist or anything, but Ethiopia is rippling apart from what i've read. Whats the time frame of something like this? Is this an extinction level event? submitted by /u/Sshanx [link] [comments]

Does a baby pick up sign language like it does a spoken language? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 09:48 AM PST It's well known that when your born you just pick up your parents native spoken language/s through the process of natural language learning. There is some research to suggest that this process begins when before you are born, when you are in the womb. This would speed up the process of learning a spoken language but this obviously couldn't happen with a non verbal language. What I want to know is, has there been any research into non verbal languages and how and if young children pick up these languages? submitted by /u/OverclockingUnicorn [link] [comments]

Why does sweat on various parts of the body smell so different? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 08:31 AM PST As we go about our day, we tend to sweat. I understand why we do, and also to some extent why we sweat where we sweat. But one question has bugged me the last couple of days:   Why do different hotspots for sweating have different scents? The armpits have the normal sweat smell (metallic, kinda onion-y feel to it), sweaty feet resembles expensive cheese that no one actually likes, the groin has the very distinctive smell of sex (depending on gender), and the buttcrack tends to smell sour and somehow reminds me personally of peeling a green banana (pre-ripe). Anyone care to explain why these areas smell so differently? And maybe also elaborate on the different areas? Thanks in advance.   tldr; hotspots for sweat smell very different. Why? submitted by /u/ciryando [link] [comments]

How do we measure ocean wave direction, speed and intensity? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 12:00 PM PST So I've been staring at this supposedly live animation of the Earth. I'm really confused as to how we can measure things like chemicals in the air and ocean currents etc. Are these done through complex mathematical calculations? Are there sensors scattered around the Earth to pick up on this, or via satellites? I suppose there must be some form of guess work involved, because I'd assume something like this would be used for weather forecasting. BTW that link contains some real eye-candy! submitted by /u/shoooooooooooooooort [link] [comments]

could moon shadows on Jupiter cause wind spots over long periods of time? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 11:36 AM PST Got the idea from this Reddit Post which shows a picture of Io's shadow on Jupiter. Io being one of Jupiter's moons. submitted by /u/kairon156 [link] [comments]

Did the Ostrich ever have a flying ancestor, or does it have yet to evolve flight? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 09:22 AM PST submitted by /u/WellSizedCheese [link] [comments]

Are there stars that have begun to collapse into black holes, but stabilize before they fully complete the transition? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 06:59 AM PST submitted by /u/BusinessPenguin [link] [comments]

What determines the Strength of a Magnet? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:33 AM PST What factors are at play here? submitted by /u/srslyjabroni [link] [comments]

How can nicotine and THC molecules stay intact in burning temperatures? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:23 AM PST I'd expect the molecules to be incinerated. Or at least not keep so much molecular integrity that they maintain their mental effects when inhaled. submitted by /u/bundat [link] [comments]

How is the ozone depletion potential (ODP) of CFCs and other ozone destructing molecules measured? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 06:55 AM PST Hello Reddit, I've been wondering if there was any way the ODPs of CFCs are measured, such as in rate of reaction, equilibrium position or anything of the sorts. I ask this after reading this database where some values are given for "ODP", but I have no idea how to represent this in terms of how it was measured. In my research I couldn't seem to find the methods used to calculate this ODPs either. Thank you in advance for your help! submitted by /u/anotherscrub [link] [comments]

How do our brains process the directional source of a sound? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 07:54 AM PST I know our ears are built to capture, reflect and funnel sound waves into the ear canal. If all the sounds are funneled into the ear canal as one aggregate vector, how is it possible that we can process the approximate location or direction the sound came from? submitted by /u/MJMarto [link] [comments]

Why is inflammation due to injury considered a bad thing? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 07:37 AM PST Everything I've read (on the Internet, admittedly) says inflammation serves several purposes, most importantly beginning the healing process for whatever is wrong. Why does it seem like everyone always recommends taking an NSAID for injuries to reduce inflammation? submitted by /u/xj98jeep [link] [comments]

Could carcinogens play a role in evolution? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:59 AM PST I'm not very sure if what I'm asking even makes sense but from what I know, carcinogens basically cause cancer by messing with our DNA sequences right? Could the same "messing with DNA" lead to selectively advantageous traits as well? submitted by /u/LeodardoDicaprio [link] [comments]

Does quinine fade when under extended UV light exposure? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 06:40 AM PST Most people know about the blue glow from the quinine in tonic water and UV light. But I would like to know if extended UV light exposure damages or destroys the quinine? Say for example of the period of a few weeks. I have created a night light based around the Fallout game's Nuka Cola Quantum drink. While it looked fantastic when created, it seems to be dulling. I am curious if it is just me looking for things wrong with it, or if this is a standard reaction. Thanks everyone in advance. submitted by /u/pirate59 [link] [comments]

What happens on a cellular level during an allergic reaction to something? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:22 AM PST submitted by /u/Sylar1228 [link] [comments]

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AskScience AMA Series: I’m Dr. Julia Shaw, a memory scientist and criminal psychologist. I study how we create complex false memories. AMA!

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• AskScience AMA Series: I’m Dr. Julia Shaw, a memory scientist and criminal psychologist. I study how we create complex false memories. AMA!
• Does life still arise from inorganic materials, or was it a one time event in the past of the Earth?
• Willpower and ability to focus are finite resources. So is there anything I can do to "recharge" them faster?
• When a solid physical object is broken into two pieces. Why don't the pieces fuse back together when hold together tightly?
• Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
• What does the second moment of Area say about a shape?
• Why is the derivative of the area of a circle its circumference, and the derivative of the volume of a sphere its area?
• What makes the infinity between 0 and 1 larger than the infinity that is all positive integers?
• Does the shape of a animal/human/insect's pupil provide different benefits for it?
• Is a diet high in cholesterol a contributing factor for Hypercholesterolemia?
• How do we know and study how drugs affect neurotransmitters in the brain?
• What does "tumbling in orbit" mean?
• Why does a large dose of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine induce similar visual hallucinations in multiple users?
• How much does size effect a sensory organs acuteness?

AskScience AMA Series: I’m Dr. Julia Shaw, a memory scientist and criminal psychologist. I study how we create complex false memories. AMA! Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:21 AM PST Hi Reddit! I study how we can create incredibly detailed memories of things that never actually happened. In particular, I implant rich false memories of committing crime with police contact and other highly emotional autobiographical events. I thought I'd share my work with the community, since I'm an avid Redditor. The technique I use in my research is essentially a combination of what's called "mis-information" (telling people convincingly that something happened that didn't) and an imagination exercise which makes a participant picture the event happening. The goal is to get my participants to confuse their imagination with their memory. I find, as do many other scientists who study memory, that it is often surprisingly easy to implant memories. All of my participants are healthy young adults, and in my last study 70% of them were classified as having formed these full false memories of crime by the end of the study. I am currently working on further research and analysis to see whether I can replicate this, since this success rate was incredibly high. Last year some of this research, which I did with Stephen Porter at UBC, went viral. It was so amazing to see such a great reaction from the press and public. There really seems to be a thirst for wanting to understand our faulty memories. You can see my favourite write up of the research here. In "Memory Hackers," a NOVA documentary airing tonight on PBS at 9pm Eastern time, you can actually see some real footage from the videos that I made during the interviews, which you can see here. I actually have a whole book coming out this summer on memory hacking. It's the first popular science book of it's kind, and I'm super excited about it! If you find my research interesting you'll definitely like the book. The book will be released in 8 languages (English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese) and will be called "The Memory Illusion". You can get preliminary information about it here. If you want to know more about me and my science, and get free access to all the research I have published to date, go here. Read my Scientific American contributions (almost all of which focus on memory errors) here. Follow me on Twitter: @drjuliashaw Proof! I will be back at 1 pm EST (10 am PST, 6 pm UTC) and I will answer the most creative comments first! Julia submitted by /u/Dr_Julia_Shaw [link] [comments]

Does life still arise from inorganic materials, or was it a one time event in the past of the Earth? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 09:33 AM PST One time event being the rise of organic materials at one point from inorganic materials and after that only life creating life. Otherwise the question may be completely wrong, please excuse my ignorance. submitted by /u/kaanproxy [link] [comments]

Willpower and ability to focus are finite resources. So is there anything I can do to "recharge" them faster? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 12:37 PM PST I've heard that your ability to focus is something that can be depleted temporarily, like energy. So then what activities do or do not "refill" it, and are any activities particularly good at doing so? For example: power napping, staring at the wall, browsing reddit...are any of these filling up my focus "energy bar" or are they depleting it? submitted by /u/respeckKnuckles [link] [comments]

When a solid physical object is broken into two pieces. Why don't the pieces fuse back together when hold together tightly? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 02:47 PM PST My understanding is that molecules are attracted to each other by Van Der Waals forces, and the atoms in the molecules are held together by the strong nuclear force. So when you put the pieces back together, and they fit perfectly, shouldn't they fuse together again? what is preventing this from happening? submitted by /u/psycommander [link] [comments]

Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science Posted: 10 Feb 2016 07:06 AM PST Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary 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! submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

What does the second moment of Area say about a shape? Posted: 10 Feb 2016 05:02 AM PST https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_moment_of_area From wikipedia a geometrical property of an area which reflects how its points are distributed with regard to an arbitrary axis. However, why cannot the first moment of area give the same information as it is also product of distance with area. submitted by /u/semester5 [link] [comments]

Why is the derivative of the area of a circle its circumference, and the derivative of the volume of a sphere its area? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 12:37 PM PST So the area of a circle is πr2 and its derivative is the circumference, 2πr. The same happens with a sphere. The volume is (4/3)πr3 and its derivative is the surface area, 4πr2 . Is this a coincidence? Also, can we use this property to predict similar quantities for circles/ spheres of higher dimension (its 'volume' so to say)? submitted by /u/corporalsniff [link] [comments]

What makes the infinity between 0 and 1 larger than the infinity that is all positive integers? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 01:34 PM PST I realize there have been quite a number of posts about this, but I have not understood how any of the given answers prove anything. To my understanding, if we can show bijection between the two sets of numbers (neither of which could actually be truly written in any list, so rather the idea of bijection) then they are the same size. The "proof" that is always given is Cantor's diagonal argument. And it sounds good conceptually. Obviously if a number we create is different by at least one digit to all other numbers in the list, it will not be found in the list. But I have two issues with this: First, the idea of finding a number that doesn't exist in an infinite list is not valid. It's already an infinite list. It would contain any number you could create. Secondly, even if you could do that, what is stopping you from doing it to either list? Why, inherently, would you be able to do that to a list including all of these decimals, but not to the integers? If you can do it to both "sides" then it doesn't prove anything. Now, back to bijection. I don't understand how the two lists wouldn't match up. For any number you could conceivably write in the 0-1 list, there can be an equivalent (not mathematically equivalent, mind you, rather a partner) in the integer list. We can make that part simple if we follow this schema: INTEGERS 0-1 1 0.1 100 0.001 23948572839746 0.64793827584932 8973458345(...) 0.(...)5438543798 (...) denotes repeating numbers If our goal is bijection, and this method would work for any possible number in either list, then everyone can have a match. Thanks in advance for helping me understand! submitted by /u/dulips [link] [comments]

Does the shape of a animal/human/insect's pupil provide different benefits for it? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 02:05 PM PST I was looking at a national geographic magazine and noticed there are circles, ovals, slits, and even cross shaped pupils. Do different shapes provide benefits over each other? submitted by /u/MuscularSquirreI [link] [comments]

Is a diet high in cholesterol a contributing factor for Hypercholesterolemia? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 02:01 PM PST I've had a discussion recently where the person I was talking with said that diet is not a significant contributing factor to high cholesterol. Everything I have heard in the past says that yes, a high cholesterol diet leads to higher cholesterol levels. What's the consensus on the impact dietary cholesterol has on cholesterol levels in humans? I know that our bodies make cholesterol on their own, but does eating a high cholesterol diet necessarily raise cholesterol? Does dietary cholesterol intake affect an individual's cholesterol level? Will reducing dietary cholesterol reduce an individual's cholesterol level? Recent citations are greatly appreciated, as the person I was speaking with said that the link is an "old idea that has since been debunked" submitted by /u/mc2222 [link] [comments]

How do we know and study how drugs affect neurotransmitters in the brain? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 10:09 AM PST For example, how do we know that caffeine blocks adenosine receptors in the brain? submitted by /u/paranoidpuppet [link] [comments]

What does "tumbling in orbit" mean? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 08:41 AM PST According to CNN, the recently launched North Korean satellite is "tumbling in orbit" and incapable of functioning. What is "tumbling in orbit" and why it makes the satellite incapable? Is it going to crash down to Earth? submitted by /u/rchhe [link] [comments]

Why does a large dose of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine induce similar visual hallucinations in multiple users? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 10:42 AM PST submitted by /u/hoomei [link] [comments]

How much does size effect a sensory organs acuteness? Posted: 09 Feb 2016 12:15 PM PST One would think a larger organ would have a broader and more distinct range of detection. On a similar note, how much does brain size effect intelligence? submitted by /u/K-chub [link] [comments]

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