What exactly happens in our brain when we daydream/space out? Is it similar when we are sleeping?

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• What exactly happens in our brain when we daydream/space out? Is it similar when we are sleeping?
• Do all known species exhibit an approximately 50/50 distribution between male and female offspring or are some weighted toward one sex over the other?
• Why are we the only animal with the need to wipe after we go to the bathroom?
• I find myself in my spacesuit floating in space next to a space station. Is it possible for me to somehow "swim" to the space station from a standstill situation?
• If you construct a spaceship in orbit, does it even need to be aerodynamic at all? No atmosphere in space...
• What Really Heat Is ?
• What will the internet look like if humans inhabit multiple plantes?
• Why do fillings or braces not present a danger in MRI scans?
• Why does Magnesium have a lower melting point than Calcium?
• [Medicine] How does rat poison, an anticoagulant, kill the rat if the rat is not bleeding?
• Why no Electromagnetic induction with a constant field?
• Light waves change their frequency due to relativity effects, right? (redshift, blueshift). So I'm wandering, will radio waves become visible light at certain speeds? And can visible light turn X-ray?
• How is energy harnessed in a nuclear reactor?
• What exactly is libration?
• What limits the magnification in microscope objectives?
• In hyperbolic geometry, how big is a dodecahedron composed entirely of right angles?
• How do certain chemicals, like doxycycline, cause phototoxicity?
• Can capillary action be used to draw water 'uphill'?
• To what extent does the taking of antibiotics interfere with the body's symbiotic relationship with bacteria?
• Is it possible to raise a number to the power of any real 2x2 matrix?
• How is it possible to get the right phase when using intermetallic phases for 3d printing?

What exactly happens in our brain when we daydream/space out? Is it similar when we are sleeping? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 10:13 PM PDT submitted by /u/rubyleehs [link] [comments]

Do all known species exhibit an approximately 50/50 distribution between male and female offspring or are some weighted toward one sex over the other? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 06:02 PM PDT submitted by /u/Fishinabowl11 [link] [comments]

Why are we the only animal with the need to wipe after we go to the bathroom? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 02:31 PM PDT If I don't wipe once I feel the burning sensation throughout the day, but pretty much every other animal has a "no wipe" policy. do all animals feel this and ignore it or is there an actual scientific explanation for why we need (or desire) to do something that other animals do not? submitted by /u/Nathanburris [link] [comments]

I find myself in my spacesuit floating in space next to a space station. Is it possible for me to somehow "swim" to the space station from a standstill situation? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 12:43 AM PDT *Zero gravity. *Zero speed (relavite to the space station). *100% vacuum. *No strings attached. *All I have is my body and it's normal ways to move. Or am I doomed forever? submitted by /u/VreemdeKwark [link] [comments]

If you construct a spaceship in orbit, does it even need to be aerodynamic at all? No atmosphere in space... Posted: 04 Jul 2016 05:21 AM PDT Couldn't an interstellar spacecraft by a huge blocky design, a la the Borg cube? With nothing to fly through there'd be no reason for spaceships to be sleek in design, right? submitted by /u/2balls2strikes [link] [comments]

What Really Heat Is ? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 02:58 AM PDT So I know the basis of heat but i have couple of questions about it. Since heat means kinetic energy of atoms, why would current in a wire cause it to heat when it is electrons that are moving, not atoms itself ? similar with it, why light heats things when it is still about electrons and not atom itself ? submitted by /u/hanSulh [link] [comments]

What will the internet look like if humans inhabit multiple plantes? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 04:05 AM PDT Will there be one for each planet seperate? Or can we connect different planets fast and with good quality, like we can connect continents? submitted by /u/Proteus_Dagon [link] [comments]

Why do fillings or braces not present a danger in MRI scans? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 05:00 PM PDT As braces are usually steel and fillings are often a mercury, why does the strong magnetic field of an MRI machine not induce a magnetic field in these objects, either exerting a force on them or causing them to heat up through eddy currents? I realise they interfere with MRIs focused around their vicinity, but I don't understand why they don't present a health risk considering the strength of the magnetic field. Thanks! submitted by /u/DanielDC88 [link] [comments]

Why does Magnesium have a lower melting point than Calcium? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 01:41 AM PDT I did some digging into this, and i cant find an answer. The difference in coordination, the melting points, atomisation energies. I just cant work it out. submitted by /u/Dulcane [link] [comments]

[Medicine] How does rat poison, an anticoagulant, kill the rat if the rat is not bleeding? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 03:09 PM PDT As far as I'm aware, anticoagulants make it so the platelets cannot clot wounds, and therefore lead to excessive blood loss. But if the rat isn't bleeding and therefore unable to lose blood, how does the poison still kill the rat? submitted by /u/yosimba2000 [link] [comments]

Why no Electromagnetic induction with a constant field? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 06:05 AM PDT Why a constant magnetic field does not induct a electric field? I know the formulas and we all accept it, but i am having a hard time understanding this at the electron level. Ex: We have 2 wires and if the field changes in one it will induct a field in the another wire. What happens when you push electrons back and forth with acceleration? At constant motion there is no induction. Why? submitted by /u/SoulSlayerPT [link] [comments]

Light waves change their frequency due to relativity effects, right? (redshift, blueshift). So I'm wandering, will radio waves become visible light at certain speeds? And can visible light turn X-ray? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 05:39 AM PDT submitted by /u/AFAIX [link] [comments]

How is energy harnessed in a nuclear reactor? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 04:56 AM PDT There seems to be a lot of information on the internet on how nuclear reactors -- and nuclear reactions -- work, but not on how they actually harness the energy that is released. Furthermore, most of the graphics online show this mysterious 'energy' releasing in a nuclear reaction. submitted by /u/markamatu [link] [comments]

What exactly is libration? Posted: 04 Jul 2016 12:40 AM PDT I understand the effects of libration, but I'm having trouble visualizing it from a reference point outside the earth. Would it be accurate to explain libration as a body's axis 'swinging' away and toward a body it is orbiting, similar to a pendulum? Would that mean a point on its axis is fixed; a pivot point? In turn, would this pivot point never deviate from the body's orbit, drawing a perfect ellipse in space without the motions of libration? Also, why is the Moon the only moon in our solar system that librates? Is libration rare? And does it require tidally locked bodies? submitted by /u/Shattr [link] [comments]

What limits the magnification in microscope objectives? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 03:10 PM PDT I would like to understand why are optic microscope objective lenses limited in magnification and how is magnification connected to resolution. submitted by /u/loumpagko [link] [comments]

In hyperbolic geometry, how big is a dodecahedron composed entirely of right angles? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 02:01 PM PDT Specifically, how far away are the vertices from the center, and how far away are the centers of the faces from the center? I tried to calculate it myself, but I'm getting a negative where I should get a positive. I need to know the distance to the vertices on the Poincaré disk model, and the distance to the faces in terms of actual distance, but I can convert. submitted by /u/DCarrier [link] [comments]

How do certain chemicals, like doxycycline, cause phototoxicity? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 10:57 AM PDT I recently read the instructions of doxycycline tablets and they mentioned that when you take those, you have to avoid direct sunlight as doxycycline increases sensitivity to UV light. I wondered why and the only explanation I could find is that it causes a phototoxic reaction. However, I could not find how exactly the chemical interacts with the normal UV reaction. Could anyone explain how this process works? submitted by /u/beagann [link] [comments]

Can capillary action be used to draw water 'uphill'? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 05:03 PM PDT I was reading about capillary action and was curious to understand this effect more. Could it be used to draw water from a lower pool of water, to a higher elevation pool where you could then create a waterfall that deposits the water back into the lower pool?   The reason I was picturing this is if you could put a turbine by the waterfall to capture the water falling via gravity, thereby creating an endless cycle of water flowing up, water flowing down, and generating electricity from the whole system   Here is a graphic to help convey what my brain was picturing - http://i.imgur.com/HhchN9v.jpg submitted by /u/3hackg [link] [comments]

To what extent does the taking of antibiotics interfere with the body's symbiotic relationship with bacteria? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 10:33 PM PDT When someone takes antibiotics to fight bacterial infections, doesn't doing so also kill off friendly bacteria like those that help in digestion? If so, how, & how long, does it take to recover? submitted by /u/IGottaHandItToMe [link] [comments]

Is it possible to raise a number to the power of any real 2x2 matrix? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 05:53 PM PDT I know that complex numbers and split-complex numbers can be represented as both scalars and 2x2 matricies, and between them you can make just about every real-numbered 2x2 matrix. Since you can use a complex number as an exponent, and presumably a split-complex number as well, does that mean that every real 2x2 matrix is fair game? If so, is there an easy formula for doing so? submitted by /u/chunkylubber54 [link] [comments]

How is it possible to get the right phase when using intermetallic phases for 3d printing? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 09:57 AM PDT So today I heard a talk about new methods for the productions of prototypes which are used at BMW and it was told that also 3d printing of metals is used. So now me as a chemist thought that most the time actually inter metallic phases are used for airplanes and cars(I think so?) And so I thought that they would also use those intermetallic phases for 3d printing but I think a big challenge would be to get the right phase How is it achieved to get the desired phase? Or maybe it is pretty simple but I imagine it to be quite difficult because for the 3d printing process the used material has to be a fluid for a short time,right? submitted by /u/Jablabla [link] [comments]

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In a Sudoku puzzle, what is the minimum number of pre-filled boxes for a puzzle to have only one solution?

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• In a Sudoku puzzle, what is the minimum number of pre-filled boxes for a puzzle to have only one solution?
• How much energy is released by dropping a pen on a neutron star?
• Are light photons emitted by fire the same photons emitted by artificial light such as a light bulb or LED?
• What would happen if we had twice as many veins but they were half the size? (Same amount of blood, same size heart)
• Why does adrenaline make you stop feeling injuries?
• Does the rotation/spin of the earth reduce our feeling of gravity?
• [Psychology] What is the current understanding of how the Ferber method affects children's development when compared to other approaches to responding to babies?
• If an organ from a 50 year old is put into the body of a 20 year old, does any special considerations have to be made for the advanced age of the donated organ?
• Assuming a clear path, would it be possible for an object to orbit the earth a few feet off the ground?
• [Physics] How does current density affect the specific energy of an electrochemical cell?
• Where in a uniform sphere is gravity most strongly felt?
• Are there any critical phenomena where the timescale and lengthscale diverge identically with temperature?
• If photons can eject valence electrons from certain materials/elements, do new electrons replace the ejected ones? If so, how?
• What limits how hot a laser can make something?
• Why can't light coming perpendicular to my vision affect light that is coming straight to me?
• Gravitational waves not discovered?
• Can you count past infinite? And if you can, how?

In a Sudoku puzzle, what is the minimum number of pre-filled boxes for a puzzle to have only one solution? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 08:51 PM PDT submitted by /u/Castriff [link] [comments]

How much energy is released by dropping a pen on a neutron star? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 05:28 AM PDT Hi guys. Neutron stars fascinate me. Crushing the mass of 3 suns into a Manhattan sized ball of neutron soup is a mind blowing concept. Anyway it's been said that if you were standing on surface of a neutron star and you dropped a pen it would approach the speed of light as it hit the ground. it's been well over 15 years since I've crunched logs and sci notation and I can't get the units down right, so my question is how much energy would be released by a pen hitting the floor at near speed of light? Not sure how much a pen weights... 10 grams? Thanks submitted by /u/staringinto_space [link] [comments]

Are light photons emitted by fire the same photons emitted by artificial light such as a light bulb or LED? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 08:37 AM PDT Edit: This post has absolutely blown up and given me quite the insight on many things I didn't know. You've been quite helpful and to be honest my brain hurts a little. I did already know that that white light is made up of all colors of the spectrum but the majority of this thread is blowing my mind. Edit 2: You guys have been awesome. I learned a Shit ton and know that I've read through just about every graph link and explanation I've been provided. Happy fourth everyone. submitted by /u/keylessdoor [link] [comments]

What would happen if we had twice as many veins but they were half the size? (Same amount of blood, same size heart) Posted: 03 Jul 2016 07:32 AM PDT submitted by /u/BJtheK [link] [comments]

Why does adrenaline make you stop feeling injuries? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 05:52 PM PDT Today, I read a few posts in an /r/askreddit thread that told how they did not feel their very major injuries (broken back and hip) until they woke up later in a hospital bed. Specifically, ones story was this: they went over a jump on their horse which they were training and lost memory at that point. Witnesses described them as cleaning their horse and driving home without ever noticing they broke their back. Why does adrenaline do this? Shouldn't it make you more aware of what's going on, instead of less aware? submitted by /u/Schruef [link] [comments]

Does the rotation/spin of the earth reduce our feeling of gravity? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 07:03 AM PDT Thinking about how when you spin things naturally move away and the concept of spinning large space stations for artificial gravity... If the earth stopped spinning would gravity double? Triple? submitted by /u/Tartooth [link] [comments]

[Psychology] What is the current understanding of how the Ferber method affects children's development when compared to other approaches to responding to babies? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 10:11 AM PDT Are there any reputable long-term studies on the subject? submitted by /u/i-am-boi [link] [comments]

If an organ from a 50 year old is put into the body of a 20 year old, does any special considerations have to be made for the advanced age of the donated organ? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 12:22 PM PDT Or are age differences like that even considered? submitted by /u/Dafuzz [link] [comments]

Assuming a clear path, would it be possible for an object to orbit the earth a few feet off the ground? Posted: 03 Jul 2016 05:08 AM PDT How fast would the object need to be moving? Would this be slower or faster than an object orbiting in space? submitted by /u/tue39370 [link] [comments]

[Physics] How does current density affect the specific energy of an electrochemical cell? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 10:59 AM PDT I was reading a paper, and came across this: "attained specific energies of 303 Wh/kg cathode at 0.1 mA/cm2, 183 Wh/ kg cathode at 0.2 mA/cm2, and 76 Wh/kg cathode at 0.8 mA/cm2. The active material utilization achieved at these current densities was 94. 54. and 23%. respectively." I am confused, how does the rate of use of a battery affect its overall capacity? submitted by /u/aglisman [link] [comments]

Where in a uniform sphere is gravity most strongly felt? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 05:30 PM PDT submitted by /u/Hashincos [link] [comments]

Are there any critical phenomena where the timescale and lengthscale diverge identically with temperature? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 07:40 PM PDT For example, many critical phenomena (phase transitions, etc.) have a diverging lengthscale that goes as ξ ∼ (T−Tc)α where Tc is the critical temperature. The characteristic dynamics of this system will then scale as τ ∼ ξz ∼ (T−Tc)zα Are there any systems where z=1 , meaning that the static and dynamic divergences scale to the same power α with respect to temperature? submitted by /u/xenneract [link] [comments]

If photons can eject valence electrons from certain materials/elements, do new electrons replace the ejected ones? If so, how? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 05:45 PM PDT submitted by /u/Plausible_Reptilian [link] [comments]

What limits how hot a laser can make something? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 10:48 AM PDT I know that, using the sun as a light source, you cannot make anything hotter than the surface of the sun. ΘΑ=ΘΑ and all that. Now, how hot can you make something with a hypothetical 50W blue laser? How is that energy absorbed by the material it is fired at? Is there a terminal temperature that it will reach, maybe until the spot itself is radiating 50W of energy as the laser comes in? submitted by /u/Head-Stark [link] [comments]

Why can't light coming perpendicular to my vision affect light that is coming straight to me? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 09:33 AM PDT As per my understanding, a candle burns yellow because it emits photons of the yellow wavelength and my eye detects those photons that are coming at me directly. However, if I shine a purple light perpendicular to my field of vision, intersecting what should be the yellow light, it does nothing to change the color what the candle appears to be. You would think that since it's all affecting the electro-magnetic field, there would be some kind of interaction that would either make the yellow appear purply or the purple to appear more yellow (should you be looking at the purple light directly). What's going on here? submitted by /u/beezofaneditor [link] [comments]

Gravitational waves not discovered? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 09:29 AM PDT I was recently reading an article which claims that the gravitational waves discovery can be contributed to the milky way. "In the joint analysis, the researchers overlaid data recorded by the BICEP2 telescope at a frequency of 150 gigahertz (GHz) with data recorded from the same patch of sky by Planck at 353 GHz, a frequency at which almost all the polarized light comes from dust. (Planck also records polarization signals at lower frequencies.) The two data sets proved to be a match — the region in which BICEP2 found its strongest signal is the same place in which the Planck dust signal is strongest, indicating that the BICEP2 signal is due almost entirely to dust." Article link here : http://www.nature.com/news/gravitational-waves-discovery-now-officially-dead-1.16830 Any thoughts on this? submitted by /u/xShOtz [link] [comments]

Can you count past infinite? And if you can, how? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 12:05 PM PDT Title. ^ submitted by /u/sixelacs [link] [comments]

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How large would the surface of contact between two perfect spheres 1 centimeter in diameter be?

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• How large would the surface of contact between two perfect spheres 1 centimeter in diameter be?
• [Physics] Why exactly does a fluid dissolve a solvent when it's at a higher temperature?
• Those tests that positively identify a disease 95‰ of the time. Does taking the test a second time and getting a positive result mean you virtually, for certain, have the disease?
• Is it possible for an astral body to orbit two other astral bodies?
• Voyager 1 and 2 both carry a 12-inch golden phonograph record in the hopes that another intelligent life form may find them. However, how difficult would it be to recover the probes as they travel at nearly 40,000 MPH?
• What is the longest surviving energy/matter in the universe?
• Do all forces have their own magnetic fields?
• Does rain cause a cold front or is it the result of a cold front?
• Is it possible to 'forecast' the weather in the past?
• How does isotopic labeling work?
• When a fire detector's range is "greater than 200 feet to 1 sq. ft. heptane fire", what does this mean?
• [Physics+Math] - How do we know that temperature is a continuous function?

How large would the surface of contact between two perfect spheres 1 centimeter in diameter be? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 09:54 PM PDT Assuming firm contact I suppose? How about for two 1 meter diameter spheres? submitted by /u/hooligan333 [link] [comments]

[Physics] Why exactly does a fluid dissolve a solvent when it's at a higher temperature? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 04:58 AM PDT Please go into detail, as I THINK I understand the basics (more moving particles) submitted by /u/Pipsquik [link] [comments]

Those tests that positively identify a disease 95‰ of the time. Does taking the test a second time and getting a positive result mean you virtually, for certain, have the disease? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 03:46 AM PDT Not sure about the probability maths submitted by /u/entropy_bucket [link] [comments]

Is it possible for an astral body to orbit two other astral bodies? Posted: 02 Jul 2016 07:04 AM PDT For example, if two stars were orbiting each other could a planet have a kind of figure 8 orbit around both of them? Would such a system be stable? submitted by /u/joephusweberr [link] [comments]

Voyager 1 and 2 both carry a 12-inch golden phonograph record in the hopes that another intelligent life form may find them. However, how difficult would it be to recover the probes as they travel at nearly 40,000 MPH? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 10:58 AM PDT Clearly the probes would have to be recovered in open space, as any collision with a spacecraft or planet would result in them being obliterated, correct? submitted by /u/jonsul97 [link] [comments]

What is the longest surviving energy/matter in the universe? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 12:27 PM PDT Could be anything from quarks/atoms to nebulae. What is something that takes the longest to dissipate in existence? I was thinking radio waves travelling from our planet but they will eventually be absorbed by a star or the likes of it. Black holes also have a limited lifespan. So that's out of the question I guess. Thanks. submitted by /u/science_asker1 [link] [comments]

Do all forces have their own magnetic fields? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 02:14 PM PDT I learned a while back that gravity has a magnetic field in the form of the gravitomagnetic field. Do the gluon and weak fields have their own magnetic components as well? If so, does this affect how, for example, the strong force's spring-like tension or the weak force's flavor-changing work? submitted by /u/chunkylubber54 [link] [comments]

Does rain cause a cold front or is it the result of a cold front? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 11:12 AM PDT submitted by /u/AceShrift5 [link] [comments]

Is it possible to 'forecast' the weather in the past? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 07:48 AM PDT Nowadays it is quite easy to predict how the weather will look like in the forthcoming weeks. Would it also be possible to 'predict' the weather of the past by knowing the weather now? I'm aware that it wouldn't make any sense to try to forecast the weather of five days ago and it would be easier to just look into the archives, but I'm really interested in knowing if the same models used to predict the weather could also work in reverse time. submitted by /u/FaboRonco [link] [comments]

How does isotopic labeling work? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 12:48 PM PDT So from what I understand, you have to add a known concentration of non-radioactive material (sucrose, iodine, calcium) to the solution, and then add some isotope, and that provides data as to the behavior of that concentration of the original substance. How does this work? Can you not have enough isotope? How do you account for how much you have? submitted by /u/allaroundanonymous [link] [comments]

When a fire detector's range is "greater than 200 feet to 1 sq. ft. heptane fire", what does this mean? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 08:46 AM PDT Title. submitted by /u/eddddddddddddddddd [link] [comments]

[Physics+Math] - How do we know that temperature is a continuous function? Posted: 01 Jul 2016 09:22 AM PDT There's a classic problem in math/physics stating that there exists at least one point in the world, where the temperature on the antipodal end is the same temperature. This follows easily using the intermediate Value Theorem, given that your function is continuous. But topologically, continuity states that for every open set in the image, the pre-image must also be open. Well if "f" is a function, f: [World Position] --> [World Temperature], and I assume physicists use the standard topology for these, then we can take some open set in temperature, let's say (60F, 70F), and then we find the pre-image of this temperature interval, why do we "know" that the area on the world will also be an open space?? submitted by /u/anooblol [link] [comments]

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