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Saturday, March 10, 2018

Antarctica is defined as a desert, due to lack of precipitation. So where does all the 1-3 mile thick layers of ice and snow come from?

Antarctica is defined as a desert, due to lack of precipitation. So where does all the 1-3 mile thick layers of ice and snow come from?


Antarctica is defined as a desert, due to lack of precipitation. So where does all the 1-3 mile thick layers of ice and snow come from?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 02:37 PM PST

How does Shazam work?

Posted: 10 Mar 2018 01:46 AM PST

How close are lab-grown diamonds to the real ones? At what point is a lab-grown diamond a real diamond?

Posted: 10 Mar 2018 01:14 AM PST

I was recently reading an article about De Beers fighting Chinese lab-grown diamonds that are basically indistinguishable from real diamonds. Are the two atomically identical? Without getting too philosophical, is a structurally identical lab-grown diamond a real diamond?

submitted by /u/GullibleSpoon16
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How do antlers form branches?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 03:13 PM PST

If I remember correctly, antlers are made of living bone, which means they have the ability to grow specific nodes(?), like on the femur. I also know that plants form shoots and branches via apical meristems and axillary buds. On a cellular level, how do antlers grow in order to form their complex branching structures?

submitted by /u/still_not
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How much material will the MIT Fusion Reactor use, and how much waste will it produce?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 03:54 PM PST

Science:

https://gizmodo.com/mit-receives-millions-to-build-fusion-power-plant-withi-1823644634

How much water and lithium would the described reactor use, and how much helium would be produced?

What if this were scaled up to replace all power plants worldwide?

Thanks.

submitted by /u/username_taken_wtf
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Why does a sped up recording sound higher pitched than the original recording?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 10:05 PM PST

Can blind people have a photic sneeze reflex?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 08:02 AM PST

When looking in a mirror, do animals understand that they are looking at themselves?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 12:29 PM PST

When making popcorn why some of the seeds never pop?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 01:20 PM PST

Is there a risk of developing fungicide/antifungal resistant fungi in the same way as antibiotic resistance bacteria?

Posted: 10 Mar 2018 01:05 AM PST

In humans when we get fungi infections such as thrush or athletes foot, we treat it with antifungal medicines such as Clotrimazole.

Is there a risk that we end up with fungi spores that are resistant to fungicide or antifungal medicines?

submitted by /u/wizard710
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How can nuclear naval reactors produce almost as much power as nuclear power plants, yet are many times smaller?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 11:44 AM PST

Are there any practical applications for Fluoroantimonic acid?

Posted: 10 Mar 2018 02:06 AM PST

Just on a whim I looked up "strongest acid" and this popped up, but under applications it doesn't really say anything, well nothing meaningful to me anyhow.

What is this used for? Does it just exist as a chemical novelty?

submitted by /u/Isambard_Prince0
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How do we know what the Earths core is made of?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 02:22 PM PST

So this is one of my buddies that I love to death but I want to smack all the time. He's one of those conspiracy people who thinks nasa is fake, ALL pictures from space are fake, Elon Musk didn't launch a rocket with a car on it (despite video evidence before and after the launch) and he thinks scientists a lying about what our Earths core is made of. Good science people help me shut up my friend with facts and infallible logic I beseech you.

submitted by /u/MHC001
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If a celestial object hit the earth, but instead of a direct impact the object ‘grazed’ the planet, is it conceivable this could either accelerate or slow the earth’s rotation, making our days longer or shorter? If it struck asymmetrically to the poles, would our planet ‘wobble’?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 05:37 PM PST

Follow up: what changes would we experience if our days were no longer 24 hours?

submitted by /u/leoinca
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What is the information paradox?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 11:11 AM PST

I heard it mentioned by kurzgesagt in his recent video on string theory but I am wondering if anyone can put it in layman's terms for me.

submitted by /u/Cosmonaut17
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How do electrons behave at the interface between a superconducting and non-superconducting material?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 06:08 PM PST

Suppose a superconducting wire is attached to the end of a conventional conductor and the entire set up is cooled enough to reach a superconducting state. If a voltage is applied across the wire, how do electrons interact at the boundary between the superconducting and conventional conducting materials?

submitted by /u/FTLSquid
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If lightning was fired into a vacuum, would it appear straight?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 01:35 PM PST

Wondering why lightning is always a jagged shape

submitted by /u/mottershead
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What does oxygen look like coming out of plants?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 09:42 PM PST

If there was a camera that could see the oxygen being produced by plants (like a thermal camera), what would that process look like? Is it excreted out of the leaves? Is CO2 soaked in from the leaved and pumped out of the ground?

submitted by /u/DoubleShotBox
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Do we have a man-made satellite with a big elliptical orbit around the earth?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 10:07 AM PST

And if we do what would be the purpose of this orbit?

submitted by /u/M1664H
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Has dark energy always existed?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 11:15 AM PST

(Degree in physics here, but from a long time ago.)

Given that the universe expanded very quickly during the big bang, and given that its current expansion appears to be accelerating (hence we believe dark energy must exist) how is it that the universe is currently expanding more slowly than during the big bang? Was there a time during which dark energy didn't exist or didn't have the same effect, allowing the expansion to slow?

submitted by /u/bythescruff
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Why is priapism common in sickle cell anemia?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 01:40 PM PST

I've heard that priapism is common in sickle cell anemia patients. Why are sickle cell patients predisposed to this? What are the causes? Biologically, what's happening?

submitted by /u/uwqymt032413
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Friday, March 9, 2018

Is lab grown meat chemically identical to the real thing? How does it differ?

Is lab grown meat chemically identical to the real thing? How does it differ?


Is lab grown meat chemically identical to the real thing? How does it differ?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 09:46 AM PST

How does Jupiter have an asymmetrical gravitational field?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 05:45 AM PST

In a recent Guardian article it mentioned that Jupiter has a core of mostly hydrogen and helium that's 96% of the planet (didn't say by volume or mass) but also mentioned in passing that the planets gravitational field was "surprisingly asymmetrical" without providing any further details. How could a core that is presumably fairly homogeneous produce such a field?

submitted by /u/onlyawfulnamesleft
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If you were on a circular space station that was spinning so that it produced artificial gravity, and you ran opposite to the spin at the same speed would you still feel the affect of the artificial gravity?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 03:21 AM PST

Why do pinworms lay eggs at night?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 05:32 AM PST

Is there such a thing as a "fourth generation quarks or leptons?"

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 12:14 AM PST

Are they possible to make and just have extremely short lifespans or is the third generation of top quarks, bottom quarks, taus and tau neutrinos has heavy as quarks and leptons can possibly get?

submitted by /u/HaythamJubilee
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How do we know that all life shares a common ancestor?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 10:45 PM PST

I understand that there are many similarities in the genomes of eukaryotes and prokaryotes. But there is no denying the huge differences between them. Isn't it also likely that the similarities could be due to a combination of natural selection and conservation of energy?

submitted by /u/CanYouShearMeNow
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What are these particle/interaction diagrams called?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 07:25 AM PST

Example: http://deferentialgeometry.org/epe/epe8/

Do they have a name? (Like Feynman diagrams are called such)

Also used a lot on Wikipedia to visually present various groups related to particle physics models (such as GUTs, QCD, electroweak etc...).

I feel like this should be a simple thing to find out, but I can't for the life of me seem to find an answer.

submitted by /u/50millionfeetofearth
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Do babies know they’re learning/developing skills? Do they realize they weren’t able to do “X” before and now they can?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 05:12 AM PST

How do electrons retain their kinetic energy when looped indefinitely in a latch-circuit?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 02:48 AM PST

From what I understand, if there is a flow of electrons through a transistor, we regard this as the 'one' state, and if there is a lack of current, then we regard this as the 'zero' state.

 

However, in certain computer circuits, such as latches, data can be stored permanently by looping an output wire back into the input of the circuit. For instance, in an AND-OR Latch, you could store a value of 'one' by inputting S as 'one' and R as 'zero' and then changing S to 'zero' as well. But how is this 'one' value (implying current) retained in the circuit indefinitely when both of its inputs have been set to 'zero' (no current input)? Wouldn't the electrons flowing in the wire eventually lose their kinetic energy to the wire's resistance and destroy the value stored in the circuit?

 

In a similar vein, how can a NOT-gate output a current designating a value of 'one' when it is not inputted with energy/current ('zero' value input) in the first place? Where does this energy/current originate from?

submitted by /u/needTaskManagerIRL
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Why are cooking pots and pans black ?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 04:49 AM PST

Like why are there no pots or pans that are colored white? I understand they are made of metal but why. Is it because black absorbs and radiates more heat? I'm doing a project on solar cookers and I need to decide whether my bowl should be normal aluminum or aluminum painted black

submitted by /u/Eason2610
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How do anthropologists know how the nose and lips look like from a skull?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 02:37 PM PST

I was watching an episode of Nova about the first Native Americans and they had found a 16-year-old girl's bones from the ice age I believe. In the end, they showed the reconstruction of that one along with a male and the noses are so awkward looking. How can they know from a skull what kind of nose and lips someone had?

submitted by /u/Livvylove
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How does dna translate to physical attributes?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 07:37 AM PST

How does the body use the information stored in dna to function? For instance, how does the body know that the combination aactgc mean red hair?

submitted by /u/swellfellow33
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How is it that the younger you are, the easier it is to learn language? What happens to our brains as we get older that makes learning language more difficult?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 03:44 AM PST

Are there any species that subsist primarily through cannibalism?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 08:15 PM PST

What is the "science" word for oscillation in a system stemming from overcompensation because of system inertia / measurement lag?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 12:11 AM PST

For example the raising of temperature

submitted by /u/Deluxeinator
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At what age do interests/likes solidify in the brain?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 12:59 PM PST

I.E why do I always go back to the music and hobbies of my 20's a decade ago?

submitted by /u/chippendale_osc
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Are there two different concepts of Entropy? Or how are these things related?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 07:58 PM PST

I understand that Entropy can be representative of the number of configurations atoms in some sort of system can have. I also understand that it is sort of the opposite of potential energy, energy that is unable to do mechanical work. What I don't understand if both of these concepts are for two separate things under the same Entropy name or if they are describing the same concept. I want to understand how "randomness" of system configurations relates at all to energy being unable to do work. I'm just not sure how these two things are connected (if they even are). Thanks.

submitted by /u/QUENT1AM
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How do spiders and other insects die(?) during the winter and come back in the spring?

Posted: 09 Mar 2018 12:49 AM PST

I live in Michigan and haven't seen a bug all winter. Its warming up and I'm seeing them inside again. How does this work? Do they die? Whats going on here?

submitted by /u/TotallyNotUrRoommate
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Why can't a charged object be approximated by a point charge at the object's "center of charge"?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 04:36 PM PST

When we were learning about gravity in Physics, we learned that an object can be treated as if all of its mass is concentrated at its center of mass. Since gravity and electromagnetism are both inverse square laws, why can't we treat charge this way as well?

submitted by /u/stack-e
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If the universe is 46.5 billion light-years across and has been constantly expanding since the Big Bang then how big would it have been back at the time of the Big Bang?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 05:25 PM PST

How are microwaves considered safe as soon as you open the door? Does the radiation "disappear"?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 08:58 AM PST

This is just a question that popped in my brain so excuse my science virginity. Hell, I dont even know if I can word this right.

You microwave some food. Does the radiation transfer directly to the food to heat up? When you open the microwave door, there obviously isn't enough radiation in the chamber of the microwave to be considered unsafe, nor is the microwave even any shade of warmer than the air outside of it, so is it a direct transfer of energy where there's no radiation lingering around that wasn't used for heating your food when you opened the door, or do they sort of "disappear" really quickly due to their size?

submitted by /u/WillNeighbor
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Are animals right or left handed like humans?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 04:49 PM PST

At least at a "less level"? Plus, does the left brain's hemisphere controls the right part of the body, and viceversa?

submitted by /u/rdguez
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Thursday, March 8, 2018

The universe is said to be around 23% dark matter, 72% dark energy and 5% ordinary matter. If we don't know what dark matter and dark energy are, where do the percentages come from?

The universe is said to be around 23% dark matter, 72% dark energy and 5% ordinary matter. If we don't know what dark matter and dark energy are, where do the percentages come from?


The universe is said to be around 23% dark matter, 72% dark energy and 5% ordinary matter. If we don't know what dark matter and dark energy are, where do the percentages come from?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:27 PM PST

Edit: I just want to clarify, I'm aware of what dark matter and dark energy are. I'm by no means an expert, but I do have a basic idea. I'm wondering specifically how we got those particular numbers for them.

submitted by /u/Luxray1000
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Would rain droplets on a lower gravity planet be larger, on average, compared to our own planet?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 11:34 AM PST

Like a gravitational field, does a strong electromagnetic field also affect the flow of time?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 03:32 AM PST

Does it also dilate time or work in the opposite way and speed it up?

submitted by /u/DeltaEmerald11
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Does light travel forever?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 03:03 AM PST

Does the light from stars travel through space indefinitely as long as it isn't blocked? Or is there a limit to how far it can go?

submitted by /u/cilan312
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How do shockwaves affect small organisms on the cellular scale?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 08:30 PM PST

I.e. shockwaves from explosives affecting things like amoebas, bacteria, etc

submitted by /u/PETApitaS
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Why did they use the krypton-86 atom to measure the metre?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 05:15 AM PST

Idk if this should be in r/history, but what was so special about krypton to warrant the "…the length equal to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the levels 2p10 and 5d5 of the krypton 86 atom."?

submitted by /u/curryhalls
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Can we see the emitted photons from atoms of the objects when the electrons of those atoms move to a lower energy level?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 09:22 AM PST

I have learned that things have colors when the electrons absorb the photons with particular wavelengths and the rest (photons that are not absorbed) will go to our eyes and make us see colors. And when the electrons lose energy they emit the photons which has the same wavelengths as when they're absorbed. So my question is: Do we actually see the colors from the emitted photons? And if so it must change the color of the object, right? This question has been bugging me for ages, please shed a light for me.

submitted by /u/Redral99
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When we say something doesn't have a smell, like carbon monoxide, does that mean (a) ordinary people can't smell it, (b) humans lack the ability to smell it, or (c) it actually doesn't give off a smell detectable by anything?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 06:16 PM PST

And if the answer is C, how is it physically possible for something to not have any smell at all?

submitted by /u/graaahh
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The larger the telescope, the deeper into space we can see. Is the same true for microscopes? Can bigger microscopes see even smaller particles?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 03:57 AM PST

Why isn't calprotectin used to screen for colon cancer in people younger than 50?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:37 AM PST

I've recently found out about calprotectin from my doctor and he said it can be used to show the difference between functional and organic colon disease (cancer, chron's etc.). It's a cheap test, why not get tested once a year as colon cancer is one of the most common cancers? It's the risk of cancer before the age of 50 too small to make a difference or is it a cost issue?

submitted by /u/lezze
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How do large rockets balance in the first few seconds of flight, before aerodynamics play a part?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 10:13 PM PST

How does the moon Enceladus have water?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:31 PM PST

So I've read briefly that for a planet to sustain liqiud water, it must be in the CHZ, however Enceladus is way out of this zone. How is this possible?

submitted by /u/HighOnPies
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[Medical] Do wounds on patients on life support(medically declared dead) heal?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 02:24 PM PST

Lets say a patient gets in to a car crash and damages their head. Black eyes and bruises. They die in the E.R. and are on life support. Will their physical injuries eventually heal?

submitted by /u/MaulerX
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Is there a difference between SIO2 and Silica Silylate?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:24 PM PST

I was looking at the ingredients of a hair volumizing product and the top ingredient was Silica Silylate. All I could find online says Silica Silylate is nanoparticles from quartz.

submitted by /u/main_motors
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How much do cows actually contribude to greenhouse emissions?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 05:32 PM PST

I have tried to search this up and not only do I not find anything consistent (some claim it's close to 50% others that is lass than 20%)

And no source seems to make a distinciton in between brute greenhouse emissions production and net emissions.

Since all carbon cows produce must first have come from a plant, which in turn must have absorbed it fromt he environment, how much a cow produces is not relevant, what matters is how much they affect the contenctration of greenhouse gasses in a given period. Since ultimately for every atom of carbon they expell the consumed it first.

I'd like a reliable source that explains in detail full cycle of production of meat. How much does it ACTUALLY affect the conentration fo greenhouse gasses in the atmoshere?

submitted by /u/camilo16
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Would altering the physical characteristics (e.g. pureeing) food affect it’s available calories or nutritional content?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 06:49 PM PST

Basically I'm think in terms of either eating a carrot or steak as-is, versus throwing them in a blender. You would still be ingesting the same content, it would have just been broken down physically. (Excluding heat or cooking as a factor.)

Would this impact our effective calories or nutritional benefit during digestion in any way?

submitted by /u/unthused
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How do polarizing filters “know” the orientation of incoming photons?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 12:59 PM PST

Is the gravitational attraction pulling us constantly with the same amount of force in different locations or it differs, what about if you're on a boat in the ocean?

Posted: 08 Mar 2018 01:31 AM PST

How can we know that when we pull quarks apart the energy exerted creates a stronger bond?

Posted: 07 Mar 2018 07:17 PM PST

I'm watching "The Inexplicably Universe" and it was just said that when we pull quarks apart the energy used to pull them apart and if separated two new quarks replace the removed quarks instantaneously. Right before that Tyson said that electrons are so small we can't see them and quarks are obviously significantly smaller. How can we know what happens to the quarks at such a small scale we can't see?

submitted by /u/Schnectadyslim
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