Pages

Monday, January 29, 2018

How do we know what Ancient Egyptian (or any ancient language) sounded like? How accurate are names like “Osiris” and “Tutankhamen” to what they actually sounded like when spoken by Ancient Egyptians?

How do we know what Ancient Egyptian (or any ancient language) sounded like? How accurate are names like “Osiris” and “Tutankhamen” to what they actually sounded like when spoken by Ancient Egyptians?


How do we know what Ancient Egyptian (or any ancient language) sounded like? How accurate are names like “Osiris” and “Tutankhamen” to what they actually sounded like when spoken by Ancient Egyptians?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 03:21 AM PST

Egyptian is just an example in this question, and this can apply to Ancient Mayan mythology, or pretty much any ancient religion/society

This has always confused me. Where do our anglicanized names like these come from and how confident are we that this is what these historical and mythological figures were called by ancient peoples?

submitted by /u/okteej
[link] [comments]

Why do we have a depression in our skin above our upper lip? Does this have any significant purpose?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 06:45 PM PST

Is Current Audio Amplification Technology at the Limits of Physics?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 02:55 AM PST

I'm a full-time busker and have been wondering about the physics behind audio amplification and speakers lately. I currently carry about 15kg (20 if you count the guitar) worth of battery-powered PA equipment around and even with that weight, the amplification reaches to about only 50 people in an open venue.

I am wondering if speaker/amplification technology has hit a ceiling when it comes to efficiency and weight relative to dispersion and volume? Should we be looking forward to a future when we can use 5kg worth of amplifying equipment to reach a crowd of hundreds or is that just plain physically impossible?

Thanks!

submitted by /u/emorcen
[link] [comments]

Why light doesn't lose speed when affected by gravity?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 04:43 AM PST

I know it changes frecuency, but it sounds like an exception to the rule.

submitted by /u/Makaan1992
[link] [comments]

When you wash your skin with lukewarm or hot water after you’ve been in freezing temperatures, why does it feel like the skin is burning? Is your body actually in danger or are the nerves misinterpreting what is happening? Are there other examples of this situation?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 05:39 PM PST

Have scientists found any meteorites with a substantial concentration of precious metals?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 10:55 PM PST

I've read that in the distant future asteroid mining will be a big deal. I'm wondering that if there is lots of gold and other precious metals to be found in the asteroids then have people already found meteorites that have gold in them?

submitted by /u/LolaAbbot
[link] [comments]

Do birth control pills affect attraction/mate-choice?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 05:52 PM PST

I read something that said that birth control pills affect a womens attraction. Specifically that women will choose lower testosterone males who are more genetically similar to them on the pill.

If they come off the pill they will become more attracted to higher testosterone and more masculine men.

Im wondering about how reliable these studies are? Is it enough to conclude that there is a definite link? Are the sample sizes large enough?

If its true it could have a large impact on long term relationships or marriages

submitted by /u/bcserver
[link] [comments]

Why does the human brain contain folds? Are they indicative of something else?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 03:59 AM PST

Does the earth take up less space during an ice-age due to thermal expansion?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 08:21 PM PST

What does the body do with all that extra keratin protein when someone goes bald?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 02:02 PM PST

Why don't anti body's protect you from flu season?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 06:19 AM PST

Why is it itchy on the elastic part of the socks, bra etc.?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 03:52 PM PST

How does an animal with static camoflauge know where to hide?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 11:56 PM PST

For example: how does a leaf-tail gecko know that it is hiding on the correct tree bark?

submitted by /u/Jellyjellybean01
[link] [comments]

How often do the planets of our solar system have the same exact alignment?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 11:34 PM PST

For example, when was the last time all the planets were in the exact same position that they are in today?

submitted by /u/JuanElGhoul
[link] [comments]

Why is the milkyway galaxy depicted as having a bright center, if we really have a huge blackhole?

Posted: 29 Jan 2018 05:20 AM PST

I know there's a huge blackhole in the center of the milkyway, but was wondering why the milkyway Galaxy is frequently depicted as having a bright white center. Thanks!

submitted by /u/DerpTheKing
[link] [comments]

Why are Ramsey Numbers so difficult to find and would finding an efficient algorithm for finding Ramsey Numbers have any benefit for mathematics in general?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 11:19 PM PST

I was looking at Ramsey's Theorem (from which the party problem was created) and was surprised to realize that the Ramsey Number for (5,5) is still currently unknown. This problem at first seems deceptively simple.

1) Is an efficient algorithm possible to find Ramsey numbers?

2) Would finding such an algorithm be a "big deal" for mathematics?

3) Would a quantum computer be more useful than a classical one for this type of problem?

submitted by /u/Stuck_In_the_Matrix
[link] [comments]

In Planet Earth, the Okavango Plains are flooded from rains that happened 5 months ago in the Angoland highlands. How much water fell in order to still be able to create a water-based paradise? How did it not all evaporate/get used by animals, plants, etc?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 06:17 PM PST

If a flu shot has a certain percentage of effectiveness, does that mean it is more effective against some of the strains than others?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 04:17 PM PST

So in the current epidemic, if the flu shot is 40% effective, what is the actual effectiveness against the worst strain? And how does that effectiveness play out? More effective against a smaller exposure to the virus, or having more to do with the health and age of the infected?

submitted by /u/texlorax
[link] [comments]

Psychedelic drugs are now in the spotlight due to their therapeutic uses. Alcohol is often eschewed for its negative effects. Are there any known therapeutic uses for alcohol that can result in positive psychological changes over time?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 04:32 PM PST

If I was floating in space and only needed to maintain my body temperature to survive, how far from the sun would I need to be to maintain a stable safe bodily temperature?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 09:33 AM PST

Why are alkane gases like propane so flammable considering that they are non-polar compounds?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 02:09 PM PST

Does the body actually absorb all of the vitamins in a supplement?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 10:37 PM PST

I started taking a multivitamin. The label has more than the daily recommended values for most of the vitamins in it. If we did absorb and purpose the whole amount, wouldn't we have a toxicity risk?

submitted by /u/KReese6
[link] [comments]

What is the biological purpose of having an allergy? I don't see how it can possibly benefit an organism.

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 10:30 PM PST

Sunday, January 28, 2018

How did early chemists isolate the earliest identified elements and determine that they were in fact elements?

How did early chemists isolate the earliest identified elements and determine that they were in fact elements?


How did early chemists isolate the earliest identified elements and determine that they were in fact elements?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 07:55 PM PST

I've been trying to read as much about this as I can on Wikipedia but I haven't seen on there yet an answer to this question. In the article on the History of Chemistry, it mentions that Jabir ibn Hayyan identified mercury and sulfur as chemical elements but doesn't indicate how he actually figured this out. Whatever he did, it didn't seem to convince the scientific community of Europe (if they even knew about it) because in the article on sulfur it mentions that Antoine Lavoisier helped convince them that sulfur was in fact an element and not a compound. What did Lavoisier do to convince the scientific community of Europe that sulfur was an element and not a compound? What experiments did he run (if any) to do this? Both mercury and sulfur have been known since ancient times but other elements were only identified later, like nitrogen. How did people like Daniel Rutherford isolate nitrogen and how was it determined by scientists at the time that it was an element? I'm curious about this for all the elements, especially the ones discovered before the nucleus of the atom itself was discovered.

submitted by /u/DeutscherLerner
[link] [comments]

Is extra muscle as hard on the heart as extra fat?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 05:46 AM PST

Reading around I have seen suggestions that extra muscle can be as tough on the heart as carrying extra fat. This seems very unintuitive, I think of muscle as the good stuff and fat as bad (to an extent of course). But the logic is that muscle needs oxygen and nutrients and more of it strains the body. Is this true or just a myth?

submitted by /u/PunchTornado
[link] [comments]

Why did scientists estimate the Opportunity Rover to only last for 90 days, and why did it last for that much longer (14 years)?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 07:48 AM PST

Was it a miscalculation? Or a worse case scenario? What parameters are there for estimating the life span of a Rover?

Edit: Thanks to every single one of you who commented to get this question some traction :) And a big thanks to those who had an answer to it!

submitted by /u/Lenoxx97
[link] [comments]

Does physical trauma (shaking/vibration/dropping) have an influence on batteries and how long they hold their charge?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 04:01 PM PST

If I'm tossing my AA batteries around the house before I actually use them in something could I at all be shortening how long/well they can hold their charge?

submitted by /u/Ganja_Gorilla
[link] [comments]

Thinking about the umbilical cord, at what point is it the mother's DNA and at what point is it the baby's DNA? Is there a point where they're mixed?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 03:30 AM PST

Do the good bacteria in probiotic drinks and yogurts multiply as time passes? If so, does that mean we should wait as soo as possible before consuming them to get the most of it?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 06:24 AM PST

Does the law of optics apply to non visable light?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 06:36 AM PST

Question from the armchair here. Do higher wavelength telescopes have different resolution equations?

submitted by /u/Monoraffe
[link] [comments]

How many dinosaur fossils are there compared to the original populations?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 02:25 AM PST

When measuring the missing mass in the universe, how do we distinguish between black holes and dark matter since we can see neither?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 07:15 AM PST

Is it true that the frontal cortex is not fully formed until age 25 in 100% of humans?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 12:58 PM PST

I always hear the argument that people under 25 are not fully in control of themselves because "Their frontal cortex is not fully developed", as if they have an utter lack of executive control. I'm always wary of absolutes, and I have known plenty of people under the age of 25 who were far more mature than many adults. Is it an exaggeration, and/or do some people develop faster than others, or are there other factors at play other than frontal cortex development that has a hand in executive control and maturity? What's the story? I'd love some studies that prove this one way or the other.

submitted by /u/kuuzo
[link] [comments]

If i do some heavy calculation on a CPU, producing a lot of heat, would the same amount of electrical energy produce the same amount of thermal energy as, say, a resistor?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 11:27 PM PST

How do Scientists find out the molecular structure of a Substance?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 09:45 PM PST

What’s the life cycle of a snail? Are they born with shells? Are their shells part of them that grows, like our fingernails?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 01:52 PM PST

What determines the strength of a light?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 04:52 AM PST

Are there any theories explaining why the northern hemisphere of Mars is uniformly lower in elevation than the southern hemisphere?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 08:46 AM PST

For a map courtesy of NASA.

submitted by /u/Veritas-VosLiberabit
[link] [comments]

What is the name for the 'average' spherical correction of an eyeglass if it has a cylindrical correction as well?

Posted: 28 Jan 2018 03:44 AM PST

I suppose SPH -5.00 CYL -1.00 on eyeglass prescriptions is equivalent to SPH -6.00 CYL +1.00, depending on using a plus or minus cylinder notation. 1 I would like to express the 'average' spherical correction as a single number, 5.50, to compare the spherical correction of a few friends. Does this 'average' value have an official name?

submitted by /u/Egmond
[link] [comments]

How big does a body of water need to be to have noticeable tides?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 01:16 PM PST

Does a planet create any kind of wake as it orbits it's star?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 08:22 AM PST

What is the difference between Standard Model gauge coupling unification and the Supersymmetric one?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 04:21 PM PST

Is the only difference in the GUT gauge coupling value or is the Weinberg mixing angle different as well?

P.S. I know there are vast differences even between the MSSM and the SM, I'm just asking for the gauge coupling unification.

submitted by /u/LabLadYT
[link] [comments]

How do immune cells know not to attack beneficial bacteria in the body?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 10:00 AM PST

How does a Seagull survive the winter without migration?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 04:19 PM PST

Lately I've been seeing seagulls flying in the sky, despite being the dead cold of winter, with ice and snow everywhere.

What are the techniques do they use to survive the cold?

submitted by /u/Lishy1_5
[link] [comments]

Does the repetition of a thought, out loud or internally, give rise to belief in that thought, regardless of whether it's true or not?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 12:17 PM PST

For example, if I repeat "I'm the smartest man who ever lived," "It is raining in Prague right now," or "My girlfriend is at the store right now," is it possible that that thought gets embedded into your psyche and you end up believing it as a fact? This goes sort of along the vein of self help seminars that tell you to repeat "I am good," etc in a mirror everyday.

submitted by /u/lazylazy99
[link] [comments]

Saturday, January 27, 2018

[Astronomy] How do we determine where the edge of the sun is?

[Astronomy] How do we determine where the edge of the sun is?


[Astronomy] How do we determine where the edge of the sun is?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 02:36 AM PST

When reporting the radius of the sun, how do we know where it ends?

submitted by /u/chicks_for_dinner
[link] [comments]

At the Terracotta Army exhibit in Xi'an, China, it is claimed that chrome plating was invented ~2200 years before discovery in the West. Was the process of chrome-plating similar to what we do now?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 11:17 PM PST

Specifically, the sign reads:

Scientific testing reveals that the surface of the sword contains chromium, with a thickness of 10 to 15 micron, which acted as a protective coating against corrosion. The chrome-plating technology was invented by the Germans, Americans in 1937 and 1950, but it had emerged in China 2,200 years before. How amazing it is!

In China, museums and exhibitions often have nationalistic language, so I take them with a grain of salt. I tried finding information for myself, but I couldn't find much about it.

How was the chrome plating done? Is it similar to the process we have now? Is there evidence that the chrome plating of the blades was done intentionally to protect against corrosion?

submitted by /u/cungsyu
[link] [comments]

where in our bodies is heat generated?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 04:26 PM PST

i'm just curious

submitted by /u/RJ119x
[link] [comments]

What do people living on space stations actually do all day?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 05:59 PM PST

Why did Columbia disintegrate on the way in, but not during the launch? Is entering Earth's atmosphere more stressful than exiting?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 05:47 AM PST

Does water behave differently in extreme depths?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 02:28 PM PST

Seeing that there is life at extreme depths in the oceans, with over 300 atmospheres of pressure, how does the fluid dynamics of water change? Does this change the mechanics of life how life works when under such high pressure?

submitted by /u/Melonmax
[link] [comments]

Do butterflies recognize caterpillars as conspecifics?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 12:38 PM PST

How accurate are calorie counts on nutrition labels or at restaurants?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:29 PM PST

You would think that companies could use some method to lower calorie counts and deceive the public. Such as smaller portions.

submitted by /u/DesnaMaster
[link] [comments]

In beta decay, why does the newly formed electron vacate the nucleus?

Posted: 27 Jan 2018 06:32 AM PST

What is below the ice on Europa?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 08:41 AM PST

Europa is a moon that orbits around Jupiter. It is entirely covered by 10-30km thick sheet of ice, but below there is an estimated 100km deep ocean. The moon has geysers that breach the surface of the ice sheet suggesting that there is a source of warmth in the depths of the ocean. Could there be life or something else on Europa? Will we be able to see for ourselves any time soon?

submitted by /u/jchill_
[link] [comments]

I have a decent computer that sits at idle 99% of the time - is there any programs/algorithms I can run that can aid research?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 08:28 AM PST

I could mine bit-currency and I'd get £5 a day or so - but Id rather be putting the energy cost into something more directly beneficial to people. Sort of like 'charitable computing'.

I've heard of protein folding simulators or something like that for android phones. I just wondered if you had any recommendations for software like that for a windows pc.

Thanks for your time :)

submitted by /u/DrBandicoot
[link] [comments]

Does cold/environment seriously affect your immune system?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 01:30 PM PST

I've had a great immune system for most of my life and I've lived all over, but since moving to an even colder and more desolate area, I've found that every winter my immune system completely conks out and I catch literally everything. Is there a science reason behind this or is it just me?

submitted by /u/CherryBones
[link] [comments]

Is there any validity to the Norton Dome thought experiment which claims the universe is non deterministic?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 03:12 PM PST

The thought experiment gives a symmetrical dome with gravity down it's axis. A ball is then given precisely enough momentum that it moves to the top of the dome and is perfectly balanced at its point.

Because the laws of physics must necessarily be reversible, this demonstrates that the ball, even perfectly balanced at the point and under no external force, can spontaneously roll off the dome in an arbitrary direction. Therefore, the universe is not deterministic.

Is there any validity to this whatsoever?

submitted by /u/M_Night_Shamylan
[link] [comments]

Do dogs have a well defined "language center" of the brain?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 12:59 PM PST

Assuming yes, how does this region react comparatively to human speech, both known "command" words and general conversation, and to the vocalizations of other dogs? How does the domestic dog's brain compare to non-domesticated species in this regard?

submitted by /u/AethericEye
[link] [comments]

Can you be blinded by intense infrared or ultraviolet light?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 01:44 PM PST

I know we can't perceive them, but since we can't "see" them like with colors of the visible spectrum, can our eyes still be damaged by such intense light?

submitted by /u/Techiastronamo
[link] [comments]

How can a beta emitter like Cs-137 not be blocked by the concrete/masonry it was embedded in? Is it possible that the beta radiation caused an intermediary material to become radioactive releasing gama-rays?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:33 PM PST

Is it possible that the beta radiation caused an intermediary material to become radioactive releasing gamma-rays?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_accident

submitted by /u/semidemiurge
[link] [comments]

Is it just a coincidence that the earth's magnetic north pole is (somewhat) located where earth rotates around its axis?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 10:52 PM PST

I was looking at a compass and it suddenly occurred to me that it may not be necessary that our magnetic north would be at our geographic north. Maybe it could just be along the equator, over Africa. Or is the rotation of the Earth somehow creating the magnetic field, and therefore it could only be over the northern or southern ends of the axis?

submitted by /u/HookLogan
[link] [comments]

What are the actual effects that coal ash has on people? How are companies supposed to dispose of it?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 01:05 PM PST

This is one part Biology, one part engineering:

Biology: Can anyone give some good reading on coal ash? I know there are different types of residuals, but I'm not sure where else to look to understand the health effects to the fullest extent.

Engineering: And where can I read about how coal ash is supposed to be disposed of in the US? What are the technical specs for Ash Ponds?

submitted by /u/thegoodmanhascome
[link] [comments]

How does the economy only grow at 2-3% when you hear that the stock market has been on a tear?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 01:42 PM PST

My thought was that if indexes like the S&P and DOW Jones are doing extremely well and historically average growth in the range of 10% a year, does that mean that there is an large number of companies who are trending backwards in terms of economic growth?

Or alternatively, how does overall stock market performance correlate to national economic growth?

submitted by /u/Dpet89
[link] [comments]

When you have negative emotions in dreams, does your body/nervous system have the same response as if you were experiencing it awake?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:39 AM PST

And does that affect the quality of sleep, even if you don't wake up from it?

submitted by /u/StuttBuffer
[link] [comments]

[Biology] Why is this flu season worse than recent ones?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 12:16 PM PST

Was it that our vaccine predictions were off? Fewer people got them? Another or more reasons?

submitted by /u/scratchedhead
[link] [comments]

Is there a mid-term / medium-term memory?

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 12:42 PM PST

I'm familiar with short-term memory (AKA 'working memory') that is used to briefly hold information (the most common example for it, including in Wikipedia, is "to remember a phone number that has just been recited").

I'm familiar with long-term memory (AKA just 'memory') that is actually an "umbrella" for several types of memory - but all are considered quite permanant (e.g. my own phone number, how to ride a bike, etc.).

But what type of memory do the following examples belong to?

  • Each morning at work I park at a different spot in a big lot. At the end of the day I always know where my car is, but I don't remember where I parked yesterday.
  • I can recall what I wore yesterday and maybe even 2 or 3 days ago, but no more than that. Same pattern with what I had for lunch.
  • I can get away from my devices and still recollect items from reddit's front page for a couple of hours after I saw them.

Someone asked a similar question a few years ago but it wasn't specific as mine.

submitted by /u/targumon
[link] [comments]