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Thursday, November 1, 2018

If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?


If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 03:59 PM PDT

question on the movie interstellar (which I am told is fairly scientifically accurate), if time on the water planet moves so slowly, what would someone on the shuttle observe with a really good telescope?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 07:59 AM PDT

So if I recall, massive gravitational forces slow time, and in the movie, they depicted 1 astronaut remaining on a ship out of range, but within view (perhaps with a super large telescope)

So theoretically, if this is remotely scientificly accurate, what would the person on the space shuttle see when they looked down at the planet? would they see a person moving at super slow speeds?

submitted by /u/constantino1
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Why does the pattern of color change seen in Releigh and Tynal scattering reverse in deep water?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 04:08 AM PDT

I understand that blue gets scattered more when the particles are smaller than the size of the wavelength of light, but I'm struggling to understand why (I'm guessing absorption) takes over in liquid water and this pattern is effectively reversed - especially so dramatically.

submitted by /u/OCMule
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What is it about silver (Ag) that gives it antimicrobial properties?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:35 PM PDT

I've been reading that it has something to do with the ions, but I'm finding it hard to find a straight answer.

submitted by /u/paisleygray
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How does a vacuum pump operating in the ISS airlock work?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 07:47 PM PDT

I'm aware there is a vacuum pump that takes the air out of the airlock once the astronaut is inside to reduce air pressure to 0kPa. What kind of vacuum pump is it and how does it work?

submitted by /u/ikillee
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[Astrophysics]Whats the limit a photon can be redshifted? What are a wavelengths theoritical maximum amplitude and period?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 09:50 PM PDT

Can it be red shifted out of existence?

Can a wavelength have a period greater than the observable universe?

I have so many questions lol. Thank you for taking the time to read, and especially if you take the time to formulate an answer!

submitted by /u/InfiniteSteel
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Why do most dogs, despite constantly licking everything and eating weird stuff they find, rarely get sick?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:28 PM PDT

I'm pretty sure if a human went around licking everything they would end up catching something fairly quick...

submitted by /u/wyatt19
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Under the same temperature, will brownian movements take a random particle further away from its starting point in low pressure/high volume or the opposite conditions (or neither...)?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 08:00 AM PDT

So here's the situation: two balloons, same amount of the same gas, in perfect-gas-conditions. One balloon is under significant more atmospheric pressure than the other, but with the same room temperature. If we tracked a given particle inside each of the balloons, would it cover significantly less space in one case than in the other? Or would pressure difference compensate difference in volume (available space)?

submitted by /u/boothepixie
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I read that Iceland has glaciers that cover volcanoes, how do these glaciers not melt or the lava not cool down or freeze?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:56 PM PDT

Do gravitational waves create their own gravitational waves?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 05:21 PM PDT

Hi r/askscience. I was thinking about how gravitational waves are ripples of energy propagating through spacetime. Does this mean that the gravitational waves emit gravitational waves of their own? If so, do those gravitational waves emit gravitational waves? Does this cycle ever end?

Additionally, is there ever a case where a gravitational wave could get captured by it's original source? Say two supermassive black holes were orbiting each other and they emit gravitational waves. Could the gravity from the supermassive black holes ever be large enough to "recapture" the energy they just lost? Or would it not be possible because the "escape velocity" of the gravitational wave is technically the speed of light.

Sorry for a bunch of questions all rolled into one, but this has really got me thinking! Any information, technical or not, would be helpful! Thanks for your time.

submitted by /u/InsideAvocado
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Why is sound-proofing so much harder than light-proofing? Both are waves, right? KINDA?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 07:52 PM PDT

Like why isn't there a paint that does to sound what vantablack does to light? Why can a sheet of tinfoil block basically all light but there isn't a material that does the same thing to sound? Is sound just higher energy than visible light and I am comparing sound waves to the wrong types of EM radiation?

submitted by /u/ThereWillBeSpuds
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Why does high tide happen twice a day?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:33 PM PDT

I know high tide on the side of the Earth closest to the Moon is caused by the Moon's gravitational pull, but why does this happen on the other side aswell? This is the one aspect of tides I have failed to understand.

submitted by /u/TitanFallout
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For birds that fly in a classic V formation, are there birds that always fly on the left arm and others that only fly on the right arm?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 03:39 PM PDT

I'm assuming the birds, except the first, use their immediate neighbor to the front as reference, and I was wondering whether there is a type of "handedness" in birds where some like to have their neighbor in their right field vision (or others the left).

submitted by /u/rumborak
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How can we accurately determine the size and distance of stars?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:43 PM PDT

From our perspective, our sun is approximately the same size as our moon. Yet we know they are very different in size. How are we able to accurately determine, not just the size of a star, but how far away it is as well?

Just a question that stems from curiosity.

submitted by /u/Canteverthinkofone
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Do insects get cancer?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:57 AM PDT

Are insulation and conduction of heat dependant on the specific heat capacity of an object?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 06:20 AM PDT

If so, then won't the equation

Q = m.c.d (where m is the mass, c is the specific heat capacity, d is the change in temperature and q is the energy required or released) be incorrect as the change in temperature also depends on whether the object's insulation/conduction coefficient (If that is a thing).

Please explain why the equation is correct or not and also shed some light on insulation and conduction

submitted by /u/SARWANdev
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Does an Electro-static discharge produce a magnetic field?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 01:06 PM PDT

If so, how strong of a field?

Would this be enough to disrupt un-shielded cables/electronics?

submitted by /u/ferretpaint
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When animals hibernate is it possible for some of them to have trouble falling asleep?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:02 PM PDT

When did people realize that there is no oxygen in space?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:15 AM PDT

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?

Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?


Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:45 PM PDT

RIP Kepler Megathread

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:27 PM PDT

After decades of planning and a long nine years in space, NASA is retiring the Kepler Space Telescope as it has run out of the fuel it needs to continue science operations.We now know the Galaxy to be filled with planets, many more planets existing than stars, and many very different from what we see in our own Solar System. And so, sadly we all must say goodbye to this incredibly successful and fantastic mission and telescope. If you have questions about the mission or the science, ask them here!

submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator
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Why can we take the square root of a negative number, which is nonsensical, and call it a "complex number," but we can't represent a division by zero, a similarly nonsense operation, with some other type of number?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:04 PM PDT

Does light have a temperature? If so can it change?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 05:09 AM PDT

If the Hubble telescope can see 10-15 billion lightyears away, wouldn't that mean it could witness the universe before the Big Bang?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 01:20 AM PDT

If light travels at the speed of light, and the Hubble is able to see objects 10-15 billion lightyears away, wouldn't light from that 10-15 billion years be what it would witness?

If the Big Bang happened 13.5 billion years ago, then how would the Hubble be able to (essentially) see light from 15 billion years ago?? And could this be used to witness the early stages of the Big Bang?

submitted by /u/DismalAlternative
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Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 08:12 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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[Mathematics] Equivalent of the maximal torus theorem for finite groups?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:52 AM PDT

In the theory of Lie groups there's a really nice theorem which states that if G is a compact connected Lie group, and T<G is a maximal torus, then every element of G is conjugate to an element of T.

Does this theorem also hold for finite groups? (Replacing maximal torus with maximal Abelian subgroup). I'm interested in particular in the case of the finite symplectic group over GF(p) where p is a prime. I've looked hard into the literature, but it's pretty dense so if somebody could point me to where to find the answer, it would be super useful!

submitted by /u/fuckwatergivemewine
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If we know what kind of bacteria causes the majority of cavities, why don't we just make an antibiotic that targets them and distribute it like a vaccine at a doctor's office?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:31 AM PDT

If I took a picture of a sunrise over the ocean and a sunset over the ocean, is there anyway for someone else to tell which picture is which?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:18 PM PDT

What is still?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:08 PM PDT

When people study time travel they always reference the movement of the earth in the solar system and the solar systems movement in the galaxy but how do we know what is or isn't moving, since the only reference points we have are other objects?

The ISS is orbiting earth, which is orbiting the sun, which Is part of material that is orbiting a theoretical supermassive black hole in space. Anytime we move in a ship or suit we state out movement speed in metered per second usually. These speeds are all relative to other celestial bodies though. Such as moving 1000 kilometers per hour away from earth.

When floating in space, no matter the speed, without anything moving past us, wouldn't we theoretically think we were sitting still? Additionally, is there some kind of test to tell if matter has any directional force of if it is completely still? If all of this is a thing, what is it called?

submitted by /u/Drewbixtx
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Can quantum effects be observed on a macroscopic scale?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:50 AM PDT

For example, is there an extremely small probability that all of the particles in one object become entangled with all the particles of a different object? Does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle apply to large objects? Sorry for my poor understanding of quantum mechanics.

submitted by /u/Zetavblitz
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Why do humans tend to raise their pinky finger while holding items like bottles or cups?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 07:17 PM PDT

I noticed it's sort of a joke to be "fancy" by raising your pinky finger, but I catch myself and others doing it instinctively all the time when drinking or holding objects in a like manner. Why do we do it, and does everyone do it if they aren't paying attention?

submitted by /u/cinimontoescronch
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Why does everything in our solar system orbit the sun on the same plane? Does the whole universe act this way?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:05 PM PDT

How does the moon create ocean waves?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 03:14 PM PDT

Given that white reflects heat/sunlight, would standing on a white floor, outside, make you hotter than any floor color would?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:54 AM PDT

Why are reactive materials often stored under argon but rarely ever helium?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 07:27 PM PDT

Both gases are fairly cheap (argon is 1% of the atmosphere and helium is widely available.), so cost likely isn't a factor. Does it have to do with atom size and helium being able to more easily "escape" than argon?

submitted by /u/GalliumGames
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Can photons bounce off one another?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 09:55 AM PDT

Polarizing filters are useful in normal environments- so why isn't the polarization of the environment random to begin with?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 06:49 PM PDT

You can use a polarizing filter to reduce some glare from the sun off the surface of a lake. Why would the light from the sun all have the same polarity to begin with? Why would the rocks under the surface of the lake be reflecting sunlight not matching the polarity of that of the surface? Is the surface itself preferentially reflecting one polarity, and if so, why?

edit: I don't find it so strange for hard surfaces that might have preferred directions, some grain or fiber... but water, how?

submitted by /u/dungpuck
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Why doctors prescribe beta blockers for heart insufficiency or heart failure? It seems counterintuitive to give drugs that further decrease the heart pulse and power.

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 12:08 PM PDT

Why is language gender a thing in some languages but not others?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 06:39 AM PDT

I'm a native English speaker, but I am now starting to learn Spanish. English doesn't have [many?] gendered words (other than pronouns like "he" and "she"), but Spanish is full of gendered words -- even "a" = "un" and "una", and "the" = "el" and "la".

Why do some cultures develop gendered words while others do not?

submitted by /u/Bullgrit
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How important is water to the composition of lava?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 05:15 PM PDT

A friend and I recently got into a debate on lava composition (of all things). He stressed in his argument that "lava is made of water," while I argued that "lava is for all intents and purposes made entirely of molten rock." Google searches told me that there is some water vapor dissolved in magma, but is it really so significant a component to say that "lava is made of water?"

Thanks in advance for your help!

submitted by /u/enigmaticRing13
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What is a redshift? I was just looking at the Sloan digital survey and I'm curious. Thanks

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 01:13 PM PDT

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Why isn't Psychopathy/Sociopathy in the DSM-5?

Why isn't Psychopathy/Sociopathy in the DSM-5?


Why isn't Psychopathy/Sociopathy in the DSM-5?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 10:20 AM PDT

Although the DSM-5 has "Antisocial Personality Disorder", this seems to be much more based on the impulsive criminal behavior clinicians come across in the criminal population and disregards the functional psychopaths and sociopaths in society. People with Dependent Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (for example) can also be fully functional in society, yet they get the "benefit" of a diagnosis. So why has Psychopathy/Sociopathy been dismissed?

EDIT: lots of interesting information, but very little actually addresses my question directly.

EDIT 2: iglet007 gives a great answer. Read it.

submitted by /u/kuuzo
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Why does rust not occur on stainless steel?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:29 AM PDT

Do animals have different "names" for their offspring the way humans do?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 05:06 AM PDT

Intuitively, it seems like it would be helpful for many mammals (e.g. lions, bears, dogs) and even some birds to be able to tell their offspring apart, in order to attend to each one's unique needs.

submitted by /u/KnightsWhoSayKni
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Was the eruption of Krakatoa really heard ~3000 miles away?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 10:16 PM PDT

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa was noted to be heard up to 3000 miles away and sound waves circled the earth four times. However, this paper suggests the eruption was ~180 decibels, which while deafening, is not much higher than being near a jet engine (noted in the same paper), and is less than what was estimated for the Saturn V launch at around 200 dB. Is this due to a sustained output of sound from the eruption, or do I really not understand sound as well as I think I do?

submitted by /u/jonwku
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How does visual stimuli get stored in genes and subsequently expressed in the brain? (For example, the innate fear of spiders, &/or possible sexual stimuli.)

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 02:59 PM PDT

I'm talking about things like innate fear of spiders:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/infant-fear-phobia-science-snakes-video-spd/

This only seems possible if the brain has "preprogrammed software." Its seems like an image of a spider (or a visual form) has to exist in the mind at birth. It sounds like a memory has gotten passed down from a previous generation. But that is a Lamarckian idea which is generally debunked.

How does a gene encode a visual stimuli? Let's say memory cannot be passed down. This would mean there are genes that produce innate fear in random visual stimuli, and the spider-looking-stimuli so happened to get evolutionary selected? i) That seems statistically unlikely. ii) It seems to imply that we would have a storage of innate fears for other random stimuli. We do not have such a storage.

I am also curious if sexual visual stimuli is innate (and expressed at puberty.)

I am also curious how the brain determines what defining characteristic of a vision is the necessary threshold to trigger fear or desire.

submitted by /u/band_in_DC
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Can birds control yaw? If so, how?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:38 AM PDT

What is information in the context of Physics?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 06:19 AM PDT

My question is: is information considered a physical property of the Universe or of it's objects in a modern Physics setting? If so, what is the definition of information, and how does it relate to other properties?

Context:

I've seen information (measured in bits) come up in some Physics discussions and articles in Wikipedia. For example: the Maxwel's Devil thought experiment seems to lead to a situation where the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is disrespected, until you consider that adquiring information about a system requires spending of energy. That is reasonable, but the amount of energy to information is calculated. How can this be?

Also, I've seen information being brought up in discussions about black holes, but that subject is way beyond my league.

I think I have an ok qualitative understanding of modern Physics, but a small and vague quantitative (math) understanding. So maybe this question doesn't even make sense, or maybe the answer can only be understood with a lot of math. I'm sorry if that's the case.

submitted by /u/sapirus-whorfia
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Do protons and electrons orbit around a barycenter? Like gravitationally attracting bodies? Or does the electron strictly orbit the centre of a proton?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 07:13 PM PDT

I suppose in atoms other than H and He, the increase in the number of electrons at different places would nullify the barycenter thing. But what about when there is only 1 proton and electron(like in Hydrogen and Helium)?

submitted by /u/sthornr
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Why does salt decrease the specific heat capcity of water?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 10:30 PM PDT

As such, how is specific heat capacity and cooling rate related?

submitted by /u/edavidson912
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Is sound effected by gravity?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 07:38 PM PDT

For example that TIL on the front page states that a volcanic eruption in the 1880s could be heard 3,000 miles away and traveled around the world 4 times.

This leads me to visualize the sound waves traveling across the earth much like the aftershock of a nuke.

Is this a poor visualization?

submitted by /u/JonathanJoestarJr
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What body parts can be donated by a typical dead person?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 11:27 AM PDT

People are encouraged to become organ donors when they die, but it's my understanding that actual organs(heart, liver, kidneys etc) can only be harvested from brain-dead people whose bodies are kept alive on life support.

What about ordinary dead bodies? What all can be harvested and used?

submitted by /u/casualphilosopher1
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Why do acetylene torches pop when they are shut off?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 07:30 PM PDT

So I've recently gotten into metal working and one thing that I've wondered about is why do the acetylene torches pop? They pop when they're shut off (acetylene valve closed first) and sometimes when the torch head is too close to the material. I don't really know why this happens, but I have a theory. The gas that is left if the air is burned rapidly leaving a vacuum where the gas was. But I haven't been able to confirm or deny.

submitted by /u/PCOverall
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How dangerous is nuclear waste compared to coal and other forms of energy like renewable sources?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 10:29 AM PDT

Comparing the health & environmental impacts out of curiosity. Is the public fear of nuke waste misplaced? And what are the efficiencies of the different types of energy sources?

submitted by /u/SingularianNeuralNet
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Why does the height of so many intraplate volcanic centers reach so close to sea-level?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 12:03 PM PDT

I'm not referring to atoll construction, which allows the top of these structures to remain near sea-level despite erosion and other processes ... the top of these volcanic edifices has to reach the photic zone first. Many reach the photic zone without eroding away "en route", while msintaining a steep gradient and rising from the abyssal plain about 3 kms.

How is it that volcanic activity allows to build these structures up to that height in the first place? Is it just that a bunch of geophysical and geochemical parameters just happened to fall in the right range for that combination to make it so, or is there something else at work here I might be missing?

And of course, this only applies to oceanic plates. Continental plates are a different world.

submitted by /u/Gargatua13013
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Why does cheese break or crumble when it's cold, but gets long and stringy when it's warm?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 09:55 AM PDT

what does a weak force do to a lepton and a hadron?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 04:10 PM PDT

my teacher has dropped me in the deep end here and hasnt explained what weak force even does aside from "changing a quark".

submitted by /u/tryM3B1tch
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Is there any evidence that recent (last 10,000 years) human activity has altered our eye physiology through evolution?

Posted: 29 Oct 2018 06:34 AM PDT

I saw an article in r/todayilearned that discussed animal eye evolution and physiology and how it pertains to specific needs re hunting and self defense. This article got me thinking about how modern humans engage in activities that have little in common with those of 10,000 years ago.

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500391

For instance, when compared to humans living 10,000 years ago, there is significantly less need, from a modern worldwide perspective, for most people to need to scan the horizon (unassisted by technology) for predators. Also, modern humans spend much more time than previous ancestors using their eyes to scan close-range information (I.e. books, computers, or manual labor).

Most people I know who interact with modern society require eyesight modifications (glasses, contact lenses, lasik, etc...) to see clearly. I do not know if this is a direct result of the way humans have altered the needs for use of their eyes over the years. Also, I do not know if there is any evidence that human eyes have evolved as a result of modern technology and a reliance on things that are "closer" rather than "farther".

I cannot imagine that the change would be significant considering the short timeframe I am proposing, but I am curious none the less.

Thank you.

submitted by /u/spdorsey
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How did satellites impact the field of meteorology when they were invented?

Posted: 28 Oct 2018 07:08 PM PDT

When was the first hurricane observed under a satellite for example? Did people know what hurricanes looked like before satellites were created? What was meteorology like before the advent of satellites?

submitted by /u/Fawful99
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