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Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Do animals have blood types like we do?

Do animals have blood types like we do?


Do animals have blood types like we do?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 06:04 AM PDT

We have blood types, O, A, B, and AB. Do animals of the same species have different blood types? If not, what makes us so different?

submitted by /u/Pepsi_Cola64
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Are all members of Feliforma (hyaenas, meerkats, et al.) affected by catnip?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 05:40 AM PDT

What is the visual aspect of fire?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 04:56 PM PDT

I understand the heat is from radiation, but what is the actual flickering, flapping, wispy glow we see? How is it produced? And why does its intensity change its color?

submitted by /u/baroncalico
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How Long Is Titan In Saturn's Shadow During Each Orbit?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 05:53 PM PDT

Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 08:07 AM PDT

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

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
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Do stator windings have to be angled?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 08:06 AM PDT

This image from the link and many others show stator windings that are angles and not just tangential to the circle. Do they have to be this way or not? And why? Would a magnetic field not be created if they didn't have this skewed angle?

http://www.hk-phy.org/energy/power/elect_phy/images/plant_generator.gif

submitted by /u/clang6
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Can you do RNAseq without an expensive sequencer?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 08:04 AM PDT

Hi!

I'm a grad student with some research questions for which I want to use RNAseq, but I can't afford to send samples to a core facility, nor can the lab afford a sequencer. Can you do RNAseq in the lab with other technology? How was RNAseq done before these $250k high-throughput instruments were marketed?

Thank you very much!

submitted by /u/mrlamp1892
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What exactly is happening when a computer or other digital device "freezes," and what is taking place once it finally catches up?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 05:34 PM PDT

I work at a distribution center, so I essentially spend my entire shift using an RF scanner. The devices freeze up quite often, and once they unfreeze, they cycle through all the inputs you made during its downtime. What all is taking place while it's having its little digital crisis?

submitted by /u/In7erted
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Is the reciprocal lattice of a crystal all points in space, that may have constructive interference, assuming the asymetric unit of the crystal is a single atom?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 02:41 AM PDT

I'm a graduate biology student in the x-ray-crystallography field and I'm still trying to wrap my head around reciprocal/momentum space and lattices, even after reading (and not understanding too well) several source via google and books like "Introduction to Macromolecular Crystallography".

I understand how to construct a reciprocal lattice (Get all families of planes with different miller indices, get their normal vector, draw the normal vector from the arbitrarily chosen origin of the reciprocal space - at the end of it is a reciprocal lattice point associated with this family of planes). I understand that reciprocal lattices are not part of real space, but are the Fourier transformation of the crystal lattice which brings it into reciprocal/momentum space (which I still can't wrap my head around after reading several sources about it, but currently just accept as being not-real-space but am not sure how to best imagine how real and momentum space interact with each other) - and of course that the reciprocal lattice in reciprocal space is the Fourier transformation of the crystal lattice.

A short time ago I stumbled over this 2D visualization youtube video which made me ask myself:

If reciprocal lattice points can be visualized in real space using a film of sorts - are they then diffraction maxima of the crystal lattice in real space ? Is thus the reciprocal lattice of a crystal all points in real space (not reciprocal space), that have constructive interference assuming the asymmetric unit of the crystal is a single atom? Or did I get the wrong impression based on the animation?

submitted by /u/Isofruit
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How endangered spieces such as Vaquita survive? Wouldn't they die out due to inbreeding ?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 01:44 AM PDT

How does one sided kidney failure work?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 02:20 PM PDT

Let's say only one kidney acutely failed in the body due to damage/blockage of its artery or vein. Overtime, how would you be able to tell that this is occurring? Would blood/urine tests still be normal if the other kidney remained functional?

submitted by /u/jaycedog
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Is it possible to change the way a computer handles bits?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 05:19 AM PDT

So at the very base, computers work by reading and processing binary code which is done sending electrical signals though billions of transistors which in turn gives us our 1's and 0's.

This in itself is amazing but I've been thinking of a way for a computer to be even faster at processing data. Instead of sending electrical signals and using transistors to represent bits, wouldn't it be better if we used light and photodiodes (I hope that's the correct component). This thought came after seeing the evolution of the way we send data, from sending data over copper wires to sending them as light pulses through optical fibres. Can the same thing be implemented with the way computers run? Given that, is it possible to store data as light? We've seen how light has been used in telecommunications but rather than using it as a way to communicate, could we use it for storage?

Please correct any misunderstandings or misleading information that I may have said.

submitted by /u/HazzyDevil
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The first Earth-Orbit teleportation was completed today using tangled Photon observations, can someone explain how this works and how it could potentially be transitioned to matter?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 08:38 AM PDT

From the article I read:

One of the most difficult to grasp aspects of quantum physics is how observing a quantum particle forces the particle's state to change.

This is known as the observer effect, and it is the result of the instruments necessary to measure the state of very small objects.

When quantum objects, such as photons, are "entangled" it means that they were formed at the same instant in space and so share the same existence.

The state of entangled particles are linked, so that if you measure the state of one particle it instantaneously affects the state of the other.

Questions arise about how long it takes, if observation of one of the entangled objects can change the state of the other object, for the other object's state to change.

Current research describes entangled particles as being part of the same wave function, which means that regardless of the distance between the entangled objects, the quantum state change will take place immediately.

This form of immediate change is what is being described when the scientists talk about teleportation.

By tangling two photons together and observing one, the scientists are instantaneously transmitting information in a potentially unlimited way.

While this has been performed many times in a laboratory setting, the Chinese researcher's experiments show it to be possible to teleport an object from Earth to orbit, and breaks the record for the longest distance for entanglement.

submitted by /u/SunStarSight
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Can plasma be enclosed in an electromagnetic field and then launched as a packet in a controlled manner?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 12:12 PM PDT

In science fiction there are a number of instances of weapons based on using small bursts of plasma encased in electromagnetic packets and fired at the enemy. Most notably in my mind are the PPGs from Babylon 5, and the Tau Pulse weapons in Warhammer 40,000.

I am curious if this has any basis in actual science, or if it is complete BS.

Followup question:

-If the concept is sound what scale do we have the technology to do it at? I am assuming no small arms, and my imagination has me thinking it would be particle accelerator-esque.

-If it is complete BS, do we have anything similar? The closest I can think of is my very basic understanding of the Huge particle accelerators.

submitted by /u/Cryhavok101
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Does LSD/other psychoactive drug usage in pregnant women have an effect on the child?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 11:22 AM PDT

Why do identical twins have different fingerprints?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 10:08 PM PDT

Why is good quality vision called '20/20' vision, and not 100% vision?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 03:01 AM PDT

What effect does rain have on how sound travels?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 10:41 AM PDT

Do species with Tetrachromacy experience several colors we can't see, or just a more violet world?

Posted: 12 Jul 2017 12:52 AM PDT

So, I know that humans have three cones in our eyes, that can perceive red, blue, and green light. I was also reading that several species of bird have a fourth cone, that can pick up some ultraviolet light. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is just how differently they would perceive colors. Now, I know for example that we see yellow because our cones for green and red become activated in just the right amounts. But is this just finding the average of the colors based on the cone activation? If so - does that mean that if the UV cone was activated as well, the person would just see a blueish green instead, finding the average of all three activated cones? Or would this be seen as some color we can't conceive of?

I suppose the TLDR is as the title says: do species with tetrachromacy see a whole ton of colors we can't even comprehend, or do they just see one extra new color, and everything else is shifted more toward violet when UV reflecting pigment is present?

submitted by /u/creepyeyes
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Why is it that chlorine gas is toxic, but chloride ions are safe to consume?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 11:22 AM PDT

Is there a theoretical limit to the maximum size of a body of fresh water?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 11:32 AM PDT

Is there a size where it would inevitably become salty? Why?

EDIT: This question is about earth specifically, not just any rocky planet with water.

submitted by /u/MercifulWombat
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Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Can there be particle accelerators for chargeless particles?

Can there be particle accelerators for chargeless particles?


Can there be particle accelerators for chargeless particles?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 05:16 AM PDT

Can particle accelerators be built, in theory, to accelerate particles on the basis of color or spin, instead of their electric charge, if a particle has no components that carry charge? E.g. would it be possible to draw gluons out of a G/Q plasma and move them around in one way or another by the means of fields?

submitted by /u/Hoppetar
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Why do the muscles hurt when I cross my eyes but not when i look left and right normally?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:44 AM PDT

Why isn't there muscle cancer?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:37 AM PDT

We hear all the time about brain cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, etc., but why do we never hear of malignant, cancerous tumors from developing in muscle tissue? Is there something unique about the makeup of muscle fibers that prevents abnormal growth?

EDIT: I'm specifically referring to skeletal muscle and why rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is rarer than other types of cancer. (Thanks /u/seanbrockest)

submitted by /u/flamefoxx99
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How are electronics cooled in space?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 12:34 AM PDT

Hi guys,

I just saw some youtube videos of some fancy tech in space. During the video I started to wonder how you keep things in space cool enough to operate properly.

If i think of my pc here on earth, heat is transmitted from my CPU to the air. In space however, there is no air. So how do people keep electronics in space from dying from overheating?

My first thought was, maybe they use some sort of water cooling tech, but that still wouldn't be enough for CPUs to be cooled for long periods of time, since the water still would rise in temperature and maybe even burst the pipes when getting too hot.

Does anyone know how electronics are kept cool in space?

Thank you :)

submitted by /u/Alusion
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What are these straight line formations in the middle of Australia and what caused them?

Posted: 11 Jul 2017 06:04 AM PDT

This is the phenomenon I'm referring to.

The very weird straight drainage patterns it results in can clearly be seen on the beautiful map of the continent's river basins seen on this reddit post, which led me to ask the question.

Is this natural? How did it occur? Why is it unique to that area in Australia? Does a similar phenomenon occur elsewhere on Earth?

submitted by /u/circle_square_leaf
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What actually happens when we "get used to something"?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:29 PM PDT

Say after you spend some time at the landfill, you stop smelling the foul odor, or you live next to a busy street and stop hearing the traffic, or you live in an area with higher metal contents in the water and stop tasting it. What is actually occurring when we stop smelling/hearing/tasting a frequent sensation?

submitted by /u/zrockstar
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Why do spinning objects appear to switch directions as they slow down?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 09:25 PM PDT

Would it be possible to measure the rise in sea level due to a single aircraft carrier entering the water?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 07:43 PM PDT

Any object entering a body of water will cause displacement thus making the water rise, but an aircraft carrier compared with the world oceans? I can't imagine the number being remotely significant

submitted by /u/MatticusXII
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How do we know what temperature absolute zero is? Could we reach that temperature and find that the true absolute zero is 0.1K cooler?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 04:21 PM PDT

What progress is currently being taken towards the 2038 problem?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 06:10 PM PDT

How do astronomers determine masses of planets and other celestial objects? It's not hard to scale their volume, but it's not enough to find mass out. Do they define prevailing materials and substances and speculate on the density to calculate mass using volume or what?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 03:34 PM PDT

What is the difference between absorbing and capturing a neutron with regards to the Tritium bonus?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 07:41 PM PDT

I'm looking at the Tritium Bonus of the Castle Bravo detonation. The scientists only enriched 40% of the lithium to 6Li, thinking that the 7Li was inert. It was thought that the 6Li would absorb a neutron from the 239Pu and emit an alpha particle and 3H, the latter fusing with the 2H, whereas the 7Li would absorb a neutron to become 8Li and decay to 8Be and eventually 2 alpha particles. But what happened was the 7Li captured the high energy neutron instead of absorbing it and immediately decayed into an alpha particle, a 3H nucleus, and another neutron, so a lot more of the 238U fissioned and the yield was much higher than expected causing radiation and fallout problems. I'm not understanding what the difference of the 7Li absorbing a neutron to decay through 8Be and capturing a neutron to produce more 3H nucleus and another N. this wasn't something that was known at the time I take it.

submitted by /u/Funkit
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What minerals were present in Earth's crust when tectonics began?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 06:22 PM PDT

I'm wondering what minerals would have been found in the earth's crust when plate tectonics began.

A good reference to read would be fantastic.

I know that many of the minerals we have today formed over time due to interactions with water, chemistry, and life. Curious what was around back then.

submitted by /u/PSGWSP
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Why is Lithium carbonate okay but Lithium chloride is toxic? Both anions are pretty safe on their own.

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:57 AM PDT

Lithium carbonate is an antidepresant, I was wondering why there was no LiCl for medical use and found that it was toxic. Why is that?

submitted by /u/nemodot
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Does the time at which we sleep affect or bodies?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:17 AM PDT

Does the time at which we sleep affect our brain and body? its common knowledge that you need around 8 hours of sleep but i was wondering if WHEN you slept mattered. say i sleep every single day at 2 am and get atleast 8 hours of sleep as compared to sleeping at lets say 10 pm and also getting atleast 8 hours of sleep. would there be a difference as to how our brains and bodies develop?

ive looked for awhile and couldnt really find much. most people and articles say sleeping late is bad but what if you do it regularly? would your body even consider it "late"?

submitted by /u/DarkRetribution_7
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If I launched a sort of javelin into space from a space ship, what are the odds it eventually hits a planet vs hitting a sun vs other celestial objects? What about hitting nothing?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 04:45 PM PDT

Since it is travelling in a vacuum, it will travel forever until it hits something, right? What are the odds it hits something vs hit nothing? What are the odds that the thing that it hits a star vs a planet vs a black hole, or whatever else?

submitted by /u/nickrenfo2
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Why are drugs out of our system after five half lives?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:08 AM PDT

Why not 4 or 6?

submitted by /u/lunaticlunatic
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How long did NASA truly expect the Mars Rovers to function?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 04:09 PM PDT

NASA said they would survive 90 days. Spirt operated for 2269 days. It's always best to over deliver. Are there true predictions and likely ways they would fail?

submitted by /u/manbra
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Can a binary star system have a small (Jupiter size) star orbiting a larger (Sol size) star?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 06:52 AM PDT

In Arthur C. Clarke turned Jupiter into a star (in his book "2010") in order to provide warmth/light to one of its moons. Can a solar system like this actually form? That is: one small star very much in orbit around a larger star similar to our own.

submitted by /u/photolouis
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Is the process that created oil and gas continuing today?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 08:11 AM PDT

Or was that process only present during a particular time of our planet's development?

submitted by /u/BearFan34
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Why don't they make spacesuit helmets that fit tightly on your face?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 05:53 PM PDT

Kinda like mass effect... or even Iron Man. The neck could be made out of fabric just like the whole suit, but the face plate would contain the metal ring and seal, which means that the neck would be flexible.

submitted by /u/Ankhrodium
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What would the perspective an observer going near-light speed look like?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 01:23 PM PDT

I understand that, according to Einstein's Relativity, the closer one gets to the speed of light, the slower time moves for them (relative to our perspective here on Earth, for example). If we were to theoretically look at them, we would see them move extremely slowly because they experience time at a much different rate than us.

But let's say we were the travelers. What would we see if we were theoretically able to stably observe the world moving past us? If we were able to observe Earth? Would it look like Earth, and everything on it, was moving in fast motion?

submitted by /u/Calif0rnia_Soul
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Monday, July 10, 2017

Why do you not feel hungry after not eating for a long time?

Why do you not feel hungry after not eating for a long time?


Why do you not feel hungry after not eating for a long time?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 06:18 PM PDT

Why does wetting hair allow us to easily "shape" it?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 08:30 AM PDT

i just had this random thought while i showered and was curious why wetting hair would allow it to easily be "molded". isnt each hair coated in oil which is hydrophobic. also, why is hair sometimes so hard to fix? for example that stray hair standing up on your head.

submitted by /u/DarkRetribution_7
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Are the molecules in a soft solid, like styrofoam, farther apart than the molecules in a hard solid, like iron?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 10:15 PM PDT

Why do scars never heal?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 07:40 AM PDT

I have a few scars and stitches on my forehead since i was a child and they look the same year after year! :(

submitted by /u/zenif_
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(Physics) entangled particles: when are the states undetermined, when just unknown?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 10:10 PM PDT

(noobie question, apologies if formatting is bad...)

Concerning entangled particles. How do we know they are in really in 'superposition', how do we know the states are really indeterminate and not just simply unknown?

E.g. take a matching shoe pair, randomly (eyes closed...) put each shoe in separate identical boxes and send one box to the moon. When a colleague on the moon opens his box, he immediately knows what is in the other box. The complementary shoes though were never in superposition. Which shoe was where, was simply unknown.

Somehow in QM "unknown states of a complementary particle pair" is not enough to model an entanglement experiment. It is necessary for the states to actually be undetermined to best explain the experiment.

If one had both separate unopened shoeboxes again, how does one decide if the shoe states are in superposition or "simply unknown"? If anyone peeks in the box the states "collapse" ... to experimentally determine non-superposition would it be necessary to create a steady stream of "randomized complementary shoe box pairs" and do a statistical analysis?

somehow I think Bell's Inequality fits in here, but I do not know how (and don't understand it yet...)

(of course I do not believe that shoes can be in superposition)

submitted by /u/physicsschmysics22
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Is Tesla's theory of aether accepted as science? Or is it still theory?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 07:43 PM PDT

Is it theoretically possible to make a hollow magnet where the north pole is on the outside and the south pole is on the inside?

Posted: 10 Jul 2017 01:27 AM PDT

Can smoke detectors detect things other than smoke?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 07:49 AM PDT

Are modern smoke detectors (2000s and onwards) able to detect other gases? Would it be able to detect tear gas?

submitted by /u/Kenneniko
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Have all the manuscripts saved from Antiquity been read?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 07:55 AM PDT

Would DNA taken as a kid say 11, be comparable to when that kid is 40?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 04:42 AM PDT

I was talking with a buddy about the conspiracy theories regarding the government building illegal tracking databases of school kids or babies for some scifi police state. But with my very simple understanding of DNA, wouldn't it significantly change. So basically my question is, if you had your DNA taken and stored when you were like 13. Would the CIA even be able to compare a DNA sample given by 40 year old you to elementary school you and confidently say you are the same person?

I hope the flair under chemistry is fine. I can change it if it falls under a different category.

submitted by /u/ToxinNormie
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How do we give lab animals cancer for testing?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 08:39 AM PDT

Can someone explain what is going on with the light in the clouds in this video?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 08:57 PM PDT

I took this video on the way home this evening as I noticed two rainbow like lights in specific spots on either side of the sun. It hasn't rained here for a few week (not sure if that matters), but I'd love to understand what is going on here?

Link to video: https://vimeo.com/224888166

submitted by /u/anamun
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How are large packs of lithium ion batteries, specifically 18650s, charged at once?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 12:11 PM PDT

For smaller lacks I often see balanced charging for each individual cell, but that can't work for a large pack, like in a electric bicycle, or in a Tesla, right?

submitted by /u/RoloFresh
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How come Foucault's pendulum explain the rotation of earth while a simple pendulum doesn't?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 06:58 PM PDT

Foucault's pendulum is on earth, right?. Then how come it explain the rotation of earth?

submitted by /u/StonedRiverBridge
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How do power companies know how much electricity is being used for public street lighting and traffic lights?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 06:58 AM PDT

What happens if a normal non-epyleptic person take seizure medicine?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 07:58 AM PDT

Does the analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function also work with other funtions?

Posted: 09 Jul 2017 04:51 AM PDT

After watching this wonderful explanation video about the Riemann zeta function, I (kind of) understand what's it all about and where such bold statements like "Infinity = - 1/12" origin from.

This technic of expanding a function in areas, which are undefined for non-complex numbers, should also work for other functions than the Riemann zeta function, I guess. And I suppose mathematicans are doing that. But I am wondering, if other functions are also "mapping" an otherwise divergent series to a finite number.

So if there is a function which also represents a series like "1 + 2 + 3 + ...", will the result also be - 1/12? Or if we had a series "-2 + -4 + -6 + ..." the result will 0 in any of this kind of functions?

Or does this "magic" really just work with the Riemann zeta function?

submitted by /u/hash0
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