If the nuclear fusion cycle of a star ends at iron, how do heavier elements get made?

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• If the nuclear fusion cycle of a star ends at iron, how do heavier elements get made?
• Is the amount of time an organism takes to achieve sexual maturity proportional to its lifespan?
• How exactly do we get more stamina?
• What (as far as we know) is the physical mechanism which allows us to "see" our dreams?
• What is the inside of Europa like?
• Why does lead absorb radiation so well? Do other materials do the same?
• Why do fluffy blankets not seem as cold to the touch as bed sheets when they been in the same temperature room?
• Why is Nuclear Decay a probabilistic event? Are there any environmental influences that can affect the half life of an isotope or is it an intrinsic property?
• If every land and water animal disappeared at the same time from the Earth, would that have an effect on our orbit since the total mass would decrease?
• Was every desert once a body of water?
• What are those curvy distortions in the air above a hot stove?
• How do self-adhesive/cohesive bandages work? Why do they stick to themselves but not to skin, etc.?
• How does the immune system tell "bad" antigens apart from "harmless" antigens?
• Has nuclear weapons testing had any appreciable effect on the planet’s background radiation and/or surface temperature?
• Is there an upper limit to the size of a black hole?
• How is the best before date calculated on food?
• If binary star systems are common, are there scenarios in which one will expire faster and turn into a black hole?
• When talking about climate change, the argument against it's human cause is often that the models regarding it are not validated. What does this actually mean, is it entirely true, and what other things should laymen know about model validation?
• Suppose we have a computer program randomly choosing 6 digit number. What is the probability that this program will choose a number which 3 first and 3 last digits are the same (e.g. 203203, 100100, 888888)?
• Can ethylmercury methylate to methylmercury in the body?
• Does glycogen require insulin to be used?
• How is the “habitable zone” of a star calculated?

If the nuclear fusion cycle of a star ends at iron, how do heavier elements get made? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 05:08 PM PDT submitted by /u/lmfashidmtamsfo [link] [comments]

Is the amount of time an organism takes to achieve sexual maturity proportional to its lifespan? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 09:36 PM PDT That may be a weird way to pose the question, but do most species achieve sexual maturity the same amount through their lifespan (e.g. humans take 20 years in an 80 year lifespan and some species with a 100 year lifespan takes 25 and another species with a lifespan of 4 years takes only 1 year)? Or does it change depending on the species (humans achieve sexual maturity after 20 years in an 80 year life span, but some species with a 100 year lifespan takes 2 years and another species with a lifespan of 4 years takes 3)? If it's nothing set, are there any trends? Why do these trends occur? And if it's completely random, why? Do different organisms take different amounts of time because they have different needs evolutionarily? Thanks in advance! Edit: said "sexual maturity" because I didn't think "maturity" was a quantifiable term. If it is, that's what I meant submitted by /u/Printedinusa [link] [comments]

How exactly do we get more stamina? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 02:52 PM PDT So when we workout and get muscles we can increase our strength. that's simple. But how are we getting more stamina? What change occurs in our bodies that gives us ability to for example run longer. Whats the difference between gaining strength and stamina. How is it different. submitted by /u/Pietszek [link] [comments]

What (as far as we know) is the physical mechanism which allows us to "see" our dreams? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 03:18 PM PDT If, to oversimplify, we see normally from light hitting our eye and processing in the brain of this sensory info, then what is the "light that illuminates our dreams," so to speak? How can we "see?" submitted by /u/_imhigh_ [link] [comments]

What is the inside of Europa like? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 03:18 AM PDT I know the core is heated due to gravitational friction with Jupiter, but does the liquid water ocean touch the ice shell? What temperature is the water? submitted by /u/Zackvad [link] [comments]

Why does lead absorb radiation so well? Do other materials do the same? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 04:12 AM PDT submitted by /u/Poman22 [link] [comments]

Why do fluffy blankets not seem as cold to the touch as bed sheets when they been in the same temperature room? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 07:01 AM PDT submitted by /u/SwegC [link] [comments]

Why is Nuclear Decay a probabilistic event? Are there any environmental influences that can affect the half life of an isotope or is it an intrinsic property? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 12:58 AM PDT submitted by /u/Pokiwar [link] [comments]

If every land and water animal disappeared at the same time from the Earth, would that have an effect on our orbit since the total mass would decrease? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 07:30 AM PDT submitted by /u/lilmorphinannie [link] [comments]

Was every desert once a body of water? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 03:47 PM PDT I know a lot of fish fossils and such have been found deserts and such, but is every desert the result of a past body of water? If so, is the sand in deserts made of microscopic shell fragments like ocean sand is, or is it more granulated rock? submitted by /u/Obscurly-Incognito [link] [comments]

What are those curvy distortions in the air above a hot stove? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 10:59 PM PDT submitted by /u/frickfrackcute [link] [comments]

How do self-adhesive/cohesive bandages work? Why do they stick to themselves but not to skin, etc.? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:01 PM PDT submitted by /u/slinkslowdown [link] [comments]

How does the immune system tell "bad" antigens apart from "harmless" antigens? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 04:17 AM PDT If there isn't a specific mechanism behind that, why isn't the immune system going crazy on *everything* it ever comes in touch with? submitted by /u/Nytrobound [link] [comments]

Has nuclear weapons testing had any appreciable effect on the planet’s background radiation and/or surface temperature? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 12:28 AM PDT In the 20th century, over 2000 nuclear bombs were detonated in unpopulated areas. We know that the bombs in Nagasaki and Fukushima left many people who were not in the immediate fallout to suffer (and often die) from radiation sickness and terrible burns. As the test sites were far away from human habitats (namely the Pacific Ocean and depopulated Kazakhstan) my question is regarding how the blasts would have dissipated across the planet and its atmosphere. Did they contribute to global warming (knowing that the blasts release immense amounts of heat) or is the effect negligible compared to the proliferation of fossil fuel use. submitted by /u/battery_farmer [link] [comments]

Is there an upper limit to the size of a black hole? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 06:04 PM PDT This article states Modeling this process, Inayoshi and Haiman demonstrate that at such high rates, the majority of the gas instead gets stuck in the disk, causing star formation at radii of tens to hundreds of light-years and never getting close enough to fuel the SMBH. The remaining trickle of gas that does accrete onto the SMBH is not enough to allow it to grow to more than 1011 solar masses in the age of the universe. I'm a little stuck on "in the age of the universe". Based on this, does that mean that that limit will increase or decrease over time? If it means that it will increase over time, is there something else that prevents it from getting bigger? The biggest galaxy is about 1014 solar masses. What could/would happen if that entire galaxy collapsed into a black hole? Is it possible that the Big Bang was the result of a similar collapse of matter and spacetime on a universal level like a black hole is on a stellar level? submitted by /u/_McDrew [link] [comments]

How is the best before date calculated on food? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 01:05 AM PDT submitted by /u/Carl1601 [link] [comments]

If binary star systems are common, are there scenarios in which one will expire faster and turn into a black hole? Posted: 20 Apr 2019 12:45 AM PDT If so, what effects if any does this have on the remaining star? submitted by /u/foramsgalorams [link] [comments]

When talking about climate change, the argument against it's human cause is often that the models regarding it are not validated. What does this actually mean, is it entirely true, and what other things should laymen know about model validation? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:05 PM PDT This question comes from a conversation with my dad. He has a doctorate in electrical engineering, so he isn't by any stretch uneducated, and I genuinely don't completely grasp what he means by this. I figured AskScience would be a good resource to learn a bit about it! Thanks! submitted by /u/Christofray [link] [comments]

Suppose we have a computer program randomly choosing 6 digit number. What is the probability that this program will choose a number which 3 first and 3 last digits are the same (e.g. 203203, 100100, 888888)? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 03:08 PM PDT Starting from 000000 ending with 999999 submitted by /u/MarekBekied [link] [comments]

Can ethylmercury methylate to methylmercury in the body? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 10:27 PM PDT submitted by /u/stuprin [link] [comments]

Does glycogen require insulin to be used? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:21 PM PDT I know muscles store glycogen for release during exercise. But when the glycogen is actually released, does it go into the booodstream (and then into cells using insulin) or is it broken down into glucose inside the cell? Thanks submitted by /u/KhabibAirlines [link] [comments]

How is the “habitable zone” of a star calculated? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 05:22 PM PDT submitted by /u/HvYgke2fBeg [link] [comments]

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CPUs have billions of transistors in them. Can a single transistor fail and kill the CPU? Or does one dead transistor not affect the CPU?

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• CPUs have billions of transistors in them. Can a single transistor fail and kill the CPU? Or does one dead transistor not affect the CPU?
• Why are lithium and beryllium relatively rare?
• How do modern supercomputers work?
• What are muons, and how do they relate to time dilation?
• Besides sweating and shivering, how else do humans thermoregulate? (On our own, not with things like AC or heating)
• Where does the funding for all the fundamental physics research come from?
• How does the Sofia Flying Observatory work ? Is there a specific purpose for having an observatory that moves with respect to earth ?
• Can prions affect non-nervous tissue?
• What is the fire being burned on ocean oil rigs?
• Does light from our Sun's photosphere get redshifted before it reaches us?
• What's the difference between the electric field and the magnetic field?
• Why does transparent plastic turn opaque and flaky after some time under the sun?
• Are climate zones changing due to global warming?
• How do E&M instruments which require extreme precision account for the Earth's magnetic field?
• MHC, bacteria, virally infected cells, and T cells. How do relate? Does our immune system deal with one differently than the other? (clarification in text description)
• What created the gasses and meteors in space after the big bang?
• What would happen to the human body if it was not exposed to sunlight for a long period of time?

CPUs have billions of transistors in them. Can a single transistor fail and kill the CPU? Or does one dead transistor not affect the CPU? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 12:04 AM PDT CPUs ang GPUs have billions of transistors. Can a dead transistor kill the CPU? submitted by /u/Joeniel [link] [comments]

Why are lithium and beryllium relatively rare? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 03:26 PM PDT I understand that active stars are mostly hydrogen and helium, and heavier elements are created when they get older or if they're huge and go supernova. But it's weird to me that here on Earth, we have loads of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. But these two light elements on the periodic chart seem relatively rare. Am I wrong about their rarity, or is there something else going on? submitted by /u/SovietTacoConspiracy [link] [comments]

How do modern supercomputers work? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 12:15 AM PDT When I look up info about modern supercomputers, the (very generalized) specs are that it's racks upon racks of CPUs and a huge amount of RAM. Topology-wise, this seems to mean an enormous amount of rack mounted motherboards with multiple processors and lots of memory, and there's some sort of operating system that manages all these (seemingly) parallel systems to distribute workload. My question is, what kind of details are there for said systems? Seems like it's more of a shit ton of individual systems that are linked for parallel processing, the idea makes sense (distributed workload) but how is this accomplished? What operating system do these systems use? How is the programming written so that the problem takes advantage of the massive parallel processors? How do these systems differ from a typical workstation? submitted by /u/byf_43 [link] [comments]

What are muons, and how do they relate to time dilation? Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:51 AM PDT submitted by /u/Norway313 [link] [comments]

Besides sweating and shivering, how else do humans thermoregulate? (On our own, not with things like AC or heating) Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:06 PM PDT submitted by /u/Imma_Explain_Jokes [link] [comments]

Where does the funding for all the fundamental physics research come from? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 11:59 PM PDT Hence, who is investing and what economic payoffs are expected from e.g. CERN, black hole imaging, etc. ? submitted by /u/randomface0815 [link] [comments]

How does the Sofia Flying Observatory work ? Is there a specific purpose for having an observatory that moves with respect to earth ? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 11:32 PM PDT submitted by /u/samaraliwarsi [link] [comments]

Can prions affect non-nervous tissue? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:22 PM PDT If prions are simply misfolded proteins, can these misfolded proteins appear in non-nervous tissue? Is it possible that there are prions that mainly affect non-nervous tissue such as muscle tissue? submitted by /u/prefrontalobotomy [link] [comments]

What is the fire being burned on ocean oil rigs? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:15 PM PDT There is an image I'm looking at, and I've seen this before, where on an ocean oil rig a small shoot exists that pushes a stream of fire of into the water. Why do oil rigs burn oil like this? There must be a reason, because otherwise this would be a little dangerous! submitted by /u/Davetheplant [link] [comments]

Does light from our Sun's photosphere get redshifted before it reaches us? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 05:16 PM PDT Since the Sun's mass creates a giant gravity well that the photons it emits need to escape; do those photons get appreciably redshifted prior to reaching the Earth? Or put another way, does sunlight 'change colors' as you get closer? submitted by /u/buckfutter35 [link] [comments]

What's the difference between the electric field and the magnetic field? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 12:28 PM PDT submitted by /u/Al_B3eer [link] [comments]

Why does transparent plastic turn opaque and flaky after some time under the sun? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:20 PM PDT submitted by /u/damstereiw1 [link] [comments]

Are climate zones changing due to global warming? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 01:50 PM PDT I live somewhere close to tropic of cancer. Where I live, it's considered to be a temperate/semi arid climate zone . Right now, it's summer here. As far as I remember and as far as my parents remember, the summers here have always been very hot days (even hotter now) and quite breezy nights. But this season, it's blistering hot during the day time and it's starting to rain heavily during the nights. From what I've learnt, hot days and rainy nights is a feature of rain forests. Is this a consequence of global warming or is it due to some other meteorological event? If not, what will be the impact of this on local flora and fauna? submitted by /u/sexypapa123 [link] [comments]

How do E&M instruments which require extreme precision account for the Earth's magnetic field? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:27 PM PDT From what I know, Earth's natural magnetic field is constantly changing, although the changes are extremely small. (Except for when it "flips".) So how does an instrument account for this? You can't just "zero it out" like you can with a mass scale, because it might change afterwards, right? submitted by /u/suugakusha [link] [comments]

MHC, bacteria, virally infected cells, and T cells. How do relate? Does our immune system deal with one differently than the other? (clarification in text description) Posted: 18 Apr 2019 01:44 PM PDT Okay so I'm leaning about immune function right now, and I understand the MHC interactions with T cells (CD4 for helper, and CD8 for killer). So it makes sense to me that when a cell is virally infected and displays foreign antigens, the T cell would recognize the self MHC protein, and foreign antigen protein and then destroy the cell. But what about bacterial cells, do they have MHC molecules on their surface? If not, how would T cells destroy them? Or are bacteria destroyed by macrophage and neutrophils exclusively? And do bacteria infect cells similar to how a virus does? Please correct me if I'm wrong about anything, thanks! Tl;Dr need to know how T cells function regarding both the presentation of an antigen and MHC molecule, and whether different tactics are used to destroy virally infected cells, bacteria, and/or bacteria infected cells (if that's a thing) submitted by /u/Alexander_Elysia [link] [comments]

What created the gasses and meteors in space after the big bang? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 02:57 PM PDT What I mean more specifically, is before the expansion started was there gasses, rocks, and other things? like how did these things come to be if there wasn't anything to start with? submitted by /u/VadeHD [link] [comments]

What would happen to the human body if it was not exposed to sunlight for a long period of time? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:20 AM PDT submitted by /u/the-travesty [link] [comments]

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Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

Why did they need an algorithm to take a picture of the black hole and what did the algorithm even do?

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• Why did they need an algorithm to take a picture of the black hole and what did the algorithm even do?
• AskScience AMA Series: I'm Robbert Dijkgraaf, mathematical physicist, author, and director of the Institute for Advanced Study, here to answer your questions about the math and physics of the universe and Big Bang. Ask me anything!
• Storing Nuclear Waste: Why not dilute and put it back where it came from?
• Could you move a lot of water to a mountain by boiling it at the bottom and then directing the steam up and cooling it there back in to a liquid?
• What is the state of a particle that has collapsed its wavefunction to one observer, but not another?
• When animals leave their parents to establish their own lives, if they encounter the parents again in the wild, do they recognise each other and does this influence their behaviour?
• When a blue whale gulps to catch prey, does it also swallow all that saltwater?
• How do conservationists decide what trees and plants are local or non-local?
• How could scientists prove that the placebo effect works even when someone is aware that they’re taking a placebo?
• Recently, a group of astronomers discovered the universe's first molecule in a dying star, the helium hydrate ion (HeH+). How could they tell it was the universe's first molecule?
• Neutrons last ~15 minutes on their own. How can Neutron stars, which are mostly or only Neutrons, exist?
• Ferrets are classified as being unrelated to mongoose and fossa, which in turn are not closely related to civets. Why do these unrelated animals look so similar?
• What is the difference between the subclass 'Theria' and the subclass 'haplorhini'?
• Why is everyone so worried about a measles outbreak of they're already vaccinated?
• Why did they need so much code to take the black hole picture?
• Why is the speed of light slower in a non-vacuum? What slows it down?
• How does the molecular weight of a polymer affect it's ability to produce electrical charge?
• Is there a limit to how large a single living organism can be?
• Why are leading zeroes in a decimal number not considered significant figures?
• How do scientists determine the age of organisms?
• Does instantaneous wavefunction collapse imply an infinite derivative?
• Could someone help clarify the testing methodology for the M87 image construction algorithm?

Why did they need an algorithm to take a picture of the black hole and what did the algorithm even do? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 10:11 PM PDT submitted by /u/TheLordZee [link] [comments]

AskScience AMA Series: I'm Robbert Dijkgraaf, mathematical physicist, author, and director of the Institute for Advanced Study, here to answer your questions about the math and physics of the universe and Big Bang. Ask me anything! Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:00 AM PDT This is Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world's foremost centers for curiosity-driven basic research, located in Princeton, New Jersey. I'm a mathematical physicist specializing in string theory, and my research focuses on the interface between mathematics and particle physics, as well as the advancement of science education. Ask me anything about fundamental questions in physics like the Big Bang, black holes, or the mathematics of the universe! In light of recent news, here is an article I wrote last week about the first black hole photograph. You can also view a talk I gave at the 2017 National Math Festival on The End of Space and Time: The Mathematics of Black Holes and the Big Bang. This AMA is in partnership with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, as we are the co-organizers of the National Math Festival taking place on May 4th in Washington, DC. I'll start answering questions at 11:30 a.m. Eastern (15:30 UT), and end around 1:00 p.m. AMA! submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

Storing Nuclear Waste: Why not dilute and put it back where it came from? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:44 AM PDT Backstory: One of my bosses, let's call him Andy, is an extremely opinionated electrical engineer who has the answers for everything. Admittedly, he is actually really smart and can solve almost any work related issue we may have(we specialize in flow measurement) but is rarely challenged on some of his 'opinions' because it is a lot more work than it is worth. ​ Anyway, we have lots of random discussions at work and his new latest and greatest thought regarding nuclear waste disposal is: ​ Andy: "Well, it was radioactive and found in the ground before. Why not put it back when we are done with it?" Moonlapsed: "Probably because it's a lot more concentrated after its refined" Andy: "So just dilute it and spread it out like before" Moonlapsed: "..." ​ I did some google searching and I could not find any easy answers. My initial thought is the simple answer: he cannot be correct because if this were that simple it would likely be applied in the real world... right? Though I do not know 100% why, lol sigh. ​ Thank you in advance! submitted by /u/Moonlapsed [link] [comments]

Could you move a lot of water to a mountain by boiling it at the bottom and then directing the steam up and cooling it there back in to a liquid? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:19 AM PDT submitted by /u/Keke_vuorinen [link] [comments]

What is the state of a particle that has collapsed its wavefunction to one observer, but not another? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:34 AM PDT Possibly, I may be thinking of a problem already addressed by quantum entanglement, but my idea was more me thinking about how an instantaneous collapse of a particle's wavefunction works with special relativity. I'm aware that the information that the wavefunction has collapsed cannot reach a distant observer faster than the speed of light. However, what I do not understand is that if the wavefunction is distributed throughout all of spacetime, how a complete and instantaneous collapse would apply to all of spacetime in that instant, such as to a distant observer. I understand that special relativity postulates that all inertial reference frames much agree, but am unsure as to how this resolves the observations of observers positioned at different points in space. submitted by /u/_Sunny-- [link] [comments]

When animals leave their parents to establish their own lives, if they encounter the parents again in the wild, do they recognise each other and does this influence their behaviour? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:08 AM PDT I'm thinking of, for example, eagles that have been nurtured by their parents for many months before finally leave the nest to establish their own territory. Surely a bond has been created there, that could influence future interactions between these animals? submitted by /u/psham [link] [comments]

When a blue whale gulps to catch prey, does it also swallow all that saltwater? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 02:21 AM PDT submitted by /u/haribobosses [link] [comments]

How do conservationists decide what trees and plants are local or non-local? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:46 AM PDT Does the species have to be in an area for a certain period of time? Decorative trees in urban areas are likely non-local, but what about seeds naturally moved to other areas via animals or humans? I know colonists brought new species when they arrived. Are those counted as local by this time? submitted by /u/CatCairo [link] [comments]

How could scientists prove that the placebo effect works even when someone is aware that they’re taking a placebo? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:01 PM PDT I generally understand how the placebo effect can work when a person is unaware that they're taking a placebo treatment. However, when a person knows that they're taking something as a placebo, but they still exhibit a measurable response to the "treatment" how can scientists confirm that the person's improvement was still just because of the placebo effect? Totally made up example that is intentionally unrealistic with the sole intent of clarifying the question I'm getting at: Scientific research studying 100,000 people confirms that taking garlic supplements does not improve the condition of bad breath. One individual with bad breath decides to start taking garlic supplements anyways, even though he fully understands that it will not improve his bad breath. However, the day after he starts taking the garlic supplements, he notices his bad breath is completely gone. He also notices that if he forgets to take garlic one day, his bad breath comes back. He knows with 100% certainty that he did not make any other changes besides the garlic. In this scenario, garlic has been "proven" to not cure bad breath, but how could scientists say with confidence that this individual's bad breath improved due to the placebo effect instead of some other cause that could have caused the garlic to actually work for him (like maybe he has slightly different stomach acid than 99.8% of the population that was causing his bad breath, and the garlic neutralized it but no one thought to test for that because it's super random)? Basically, if something is considered to be a placebo treatment, that means that it didn't show consistent/measurable improvement when studied in a clinical trial, right? But if a placebo appears to work for patients sporadically or inconsistently, is it really more likely that it's just the placebo effect, as opposed to the 'treatment' actually working in specific situations/ways that weren't just weren't shown in the population studied? TLDR: is the placebo effect, specifically in people who know they're taking a placebo, basically just a fancy way of saying "this treatment shouldn't work and we don't know any legitimate mechanisms for how it could work, so we're going to say it's just the placebo effect even though we don't know the true root cause of why the patient's condition improved"? submitted by /u/Annak95e [link] [comments]

Recently, a group of astronomers discovered the universe's first molecule in a dying star, the helium hydrate ion (HeH+). How could they tell it was the universe's first molecule? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:13 AM PDT submitted by /u/KyoshiroTasya [link] [comments]

Neutrons last ~15 minutes on their own. How can Neutron stars, which are mostly or only Neutrons, exist? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 12:06 AM PDT submitted by /u/Arachnemaniac [link] [comments]

Ferrets are classified as being unrelated to mongoose and fossa, which in turn are not closely related to civets. Why do these unrelated animals look so similar? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:32 PM PDT I get that they most likely evolved to fill the same niche, but they have the same long body, short limbs, and arched spine. Why would they share all of these traits if they evolved independently? submitted by /u/OptimisticCrossbow [link] [comments]

What is the difference between the subclass 'Theria' and the subclass 'haplorhini'? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:19 AM PDT submitted by /u/camoninja22 [link] [comments]

Why is everyone so worried about a measles outbreak of they're already vaccinated? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 05:14 AM PDT submitted by /u/KodiakSA [link] [comments]

Why did they need so much code to take the black hole picture? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 03:54 PM PDT Why couldn't they have just used a telescope, pointed it at the black hole and just took a photo of it? submitted by /u/sonicj01 [link] [comments]

Why is the speed of light slower in a non-vacuum? What slows it down? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 09:54 AM PDT submitted by /u/superhelical [link] [comments]

How does the molecular weight of a polymer affect it's ability to produce electrical charge? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:08 AM PDT Today in class my polymers professor mentioned this and I thought it seemed interesting. Upon looking it up, there doesn't appear to be a cohesive correlation between the two. Does anyone know anything about how electrical charges may depend on molecular weight? Any help would be appreciated, thanks! submitted by /u/STEVE_HOLT___ [link] [comments]

Is there a limit to how large a single living organism can be? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 03:28 AM PDT submitted by /u/DooWahDiddyDoo [link] [comments]

Why are leading zeroes in a decimal number not considered significant figures? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 05:22 PM PDT It seems like a 0 in an initial post-decimal position is just as relevant to the precision of a calculation as a zero on the end of a decimal. For example, 0.08 (1 sig fig) vs 0.60 (2 sig figs). Both are exhibiting precision to the hundredths place - why the difference? submitted by /u/keplar [link] [comments]

How do scientists determine the age of organisms? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:34 PM PDT Unless the animal/plant was brought up by humans and has it's age recorded, how do we know about its age? A similar question is how do we determine the average/maximum age of organisms of a given species? submitted by /u/YeeTLeeKs [link] [comments]

Does instantaneous wavefunction collapse imply an infinite derivative? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 04:49 PM PDT Hello, I am an engineering student taking a quantum computing class. Getting straight to the question, my professor said that when a measurement is made of a particle the wavefunction instantaneously collapses into a Dirac delta at the measurement of interest and zero elsewhere. Coming from a signals background, this is counterfactual to everything I have been taught. Firstly, a Dirac delta should not be a physical phenomenon; the signals analogue is an impulse, which cannot be physically realizable as it would require an infinite derivative. Secondly, the idea that a continuous distribution (the squared wavefunction) instantaneously shifting to anything would imply a time derivative of infinity, which again should be physically impossible. The only solution that I can imagine is that the wavefunction actually converges extremely rapidly (but not infinitely) as the particle "approaches measurement" (i.e., as it approaches interaction with another particle), but this is 100% intuitive conjecture and in no way backed by theory. Am I incorrect about the impossibility of physical infinite derivatives, or is there a more subtle interpretation afoot? submitted by /u/picardythird [link] [comments]

Could someone help clarify the testing methodology for the M87 image construction algorithm? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:23 PM PDT Let me premise this by saying thousands of the best minds on the planet have looked at this, and haven't echoed these sentiments, so the main purpose of this post is to clarify what I'm misunderstanding. I'm trying to clarify how the algorithm was tested, as it's explained in this video from around 8:38 - 11:47. My question is: If the purpose of the tests is to ensure that the software generates a composite image of what exists, rather than simply reiterating we expect to see, then how exactly would a software that takes in any set of data, and returns a similar end result (regardless of if the images are black holes, planets, stars, or facebook photos) prove that the algorithm is functioning correctly? Wouldn't that actually indicate that the software isn't functioning as intended? submitted by /u/afr0physics [link] [comments]

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