- AskScience AMA: Hi, I'm Stacy Konkiel, ex-librarian and expert on research metrics. Since 2008, I've worked at the intersection of Open Science, altmetrics, and academic library services with teams at Impactstory, Indiana University , PLOS, and now Altmetric. AMA!
- What is our solar systems orientation as we travel around the Milky Way? Are other solar systems the same?
- If Mercury's year is only 88 Earth days, why is it's transit across the Sun so rare?
- Is it possible to put chlorophyll into an animal cell? If so, would a human be able to live on sunlight?
- Does blocking our eye vision for long periods of time stops melanin production?
- How are supersonic aircraft able to slow the air coming into the intakes so that the shock wave doesn't damage anything internally?
- Can your body develop an allergy to a new food because you pair it with a food you're already allergic to?
- Today I read that coral is dying off faster than expected due to human induced climate change and the acidification of the oceans... How did coral grow 30 million or 300 million years ago when the ocean was more acidic than it is now?
- Is the density of vacuum energy decreasing as the universe expands? What happens if it gets near zero?
- Can a single-celled organism evolve to the size of a human?
- How can standing waves exist without propagating an ideal distance between two points that is exactly equal to a multiple of the wavelength, which is impossible?
- why is hunger at a 25 year low?
- What is on the otherside of the belly button?
- How many atom/molecules of a compound/matter do you need to identify the compound's phase?
- Why do different types of alcohol seem to give you a different type of buzz? Isn't it just alcohol regardless of what type of booze it is?
- How does a tire balancing machine tell how much mass to add and where by simply spinning it?
- Since pi is an irrational number, does that mean it's impossible to measure both the radius and circumference of a given circle exactly?
- Does electrical current sent through water kill bacteria and viruses?
- Do mitochondria get cancer?
- What would happen if a magma chamber came in contact with an oil deposit?
- Are there any human populations without any Neanderthal DNA? Are there measurable differences from that absence?
- Which muscles does clicking with a mouse use?
- What phonon modes are occupied at temperatures above the Debye temperature?
- Does lightning impart momentum onto an object it strikes?
- Do we know where the Sun's mother is?
| Posted: 10 May 2016 04:49 AM PDT Hi, I am Stacy Konkiel, Outreach & Engagement Manager at Altmetric, and I'm here to talk about whether the metrics and indicators we like to rely upon in science (impact factor, altmetrics, citation counts, etc) to understand "broader impact" and "intellectual merit" are actually measuring what we purport they measure. I'm not sure they do. Instead, I think that right now we're just using rough proxies to understand influence and attention, and that we're in danger of abusing the metrics that are supposed to save us all--altmetrics--just like science has done with the journal impact factor. But altmetrics and other research metrics don't have to be Taylorist tools of control. I love the promise they hold for scientists who want to truly understand how their research is truly changing the world. I especially appreciate the fact that newer metrics allow the "invisible work" that's being done in science (the data curators, the software developers, etc) can be recognized on its standalone merits, rather than as a byproduct of the publication process. That's been my favorite part of working for Altmetric and, previously, Impactstory--that I can help others to better value the work of grad students, librarians, data scientists, etc. Today, I want to talk about better measuring research impact, but I'm also open to taking other relevant questions. There will also be some live tweeting from @Altmetric and @digitalsci and questions using the #askstacyaltmetric hashtag. I will be back at 1 pm EDT (6 pm BST, 5 pm UTC, 10 am PDT) to answer questions, AMA! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 06:36 AM PDT Knowing that the north star doesn't move, my guess is that we are either spinning like a frisbee with matching planes to the Milky Way, or tilted 90 degrees to the Milky Ways plane. [link] [comments]  |
| If Mercury's year is only 88 Earth days, why is it's transit across the Sun so rare? Posted: 09 May 2016 09:21 PM PDT |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 09:20 PM PDT If not, does heat energy from sunlight provide our bodies with usable energy anyway? [link] [comments]  |
| Does blocking our eye vision for long periods of time stops melanin production? Posted: 09 May 2016 07:52 PM PDT Can melanin production be stopped if something like a eyepatch blocks the eye vision for several weeks? People who doesn't take sunlight for some time have whiter skin than before. Can this apply to the eye color as well? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 09:28 PM PDT |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 07:51 PM PDT For instance: If a person is allergic to peanuts, and that person eats a sandwich containing peanut butter and strawberry jelly, can that person develop an allergy to strawberry jelly or strawberries? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 07:10 PM PDT This article is saying coral is dying of far faster than expected, why did coral grow and survive in more acidic oceans with harsher weather before? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/florida-reefs-begin-to-dissolve-much-sooner-than-expected/ [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 10:22 PM PDT |
| Can a single-celled organism evolve to the size of a human? Posted: 09 May 2016 09:11 PM PDT Does a single cell have the ability to become as large as a human, with the organelles acting as organs? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 07:46 PM PDT If I'm constructing a speaker box for waves of wavelength 1 meter, and I try to space the inside faces of the box at a distance of 1 meter, inevitably the true distance will be 1.0001 meters or something. Wouldn't the waves from the speaker provide less and less constructive interference, and then destructive interference as opposing waves became out of phase? Or do they just fizzle out before this happens? A follow up question would be: What is wavelength dependent on? All the waves coming from a speaker must be the same wavelength, or constructing a measured speaker box to induce constructive interference would only amplify a small fraction of the waves produced by the speaker, right? [link] [comments]  |
| why is hunger at a 25 year low? Posted: 09 May 2016 07:13 PM PDT why isn't it at an all time low? what was happening 26 years ago that is better than today? https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/comments/4ik7c0/world_hunger_is_at_its_lowest_point_in_at_least/?ref=share&ref_source=link [link] [comments]  |
| What is on the otherside of the belly button? Posted: 09 May 2016 05:28 PM PDT |
| How many atom/molecules of a compound/matter do you need to identify the compound's phase? Posted: 10 May 2016 03:30 AM PDT Can a single molecule of water be considered a solid, liquid or gas, for example? Or, for that matter how many Carbon atoms would you need to determine if you were looking at graphite or diamond? Would it depend on the it's crystalline structure? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 07:00 PM PDT |
| How does a tire balancing machine tell how much mass to add and where by simply spinning it? Posted: 09 May 2016 07:02 PM PDT |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 10:58 AM PDT |
| Does electrical current sent through water kill bacteria and viruses? Posted: 09 May 2016 04:00 PM PDT |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 03:47 PM PDT |
| What would happen if a magma chamber came in contact with an oil deposit? Posted: 10 May 2016 12:58 AM PDT |
| Posted: 09 May 2016 04:39 PM PDT |
| Which muscles does clicking with a mouse use? Posted: 09 May 2016 06:39 PM PDT I've been wanting to improve my click speed as it is around 6 cps. What muscles does a person use to click? Would making these muscles stronger improve how fast you can click? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| What phonon modes are occupied at temperatures above the Debye temperature? Posted: 09 May 2016 05:22 PM PDT My understanding of the Debye frequency is that it's the highest energy lattice vibration. Molecular solids have low Debye temperatures (~101 K). If there is a process that needs significantly more energy than the Debye frequency, where does it get the energy? Multiple phonons at the Debye frequency? I'm specifically thinking about spin-phonon interactions, where excitations in the spin manifold are (*can be) on the order of 102 K and the Debye temperature is 101 K. More general discussion and references are definitely welcome. [link] [comments]  |
| Does lightning impart momentum onto an object it strikes? Posted: 09 May 2016 04:09 PM PDT |
| Do we know where the Sun's mother is? Posted: 09 May 2016 09:45 AM PDT My understanding is that the fact that the Earth has elements heavier than iron in it demonstrates that our solar system, including all the hydrogen in the Sun, comes from the residue of an explosion of a supernova long ago. That would seem to imply that the explosion from which our solar system came also produced other objects, including a black hole at the center of the explosion, and possibly other solar systems made up from other parts of the jetsam of the supernova. My question is: do we know where the black hole is that we came from -- in other words, the Sun's "mother"? Do we know where any of our sister solar systems are? Are these objects nearby, compared to the size of the Milky Way? [link] [comments]  |
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