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Monday, May 6, 2019

As the ISS grew over time, it’s center of mass must have changed location. How did their thrusters change their behavior or were they literally moved to a new location?

As the ISS grew over time, it’s center of mass must have changed location. How did their thrusters change their behavior or were they literally moved to a new location?


As the ISS grew over time, it’s center of mass must have changed location. How did their thrusters change their behavior or were they literally moved to a new location?

Posted: 05 May 2019 11:21 AM PDT

Do any plant cells undergo apoptosis in a similar fashion to animal cells?

Posted: 05 May 2019 01:47 PM PDT

Why can't HIV be spread by vectors?

Posted: 05 May 2019 01:30 PM PDT

Why do some vaccines only need to be given once, while others such as the flu jab need to be done yearly?

Posted: 05 May 2019 03:45 PM PDT

What is actually celiac disease?

Posted: 05 May 2019 11:16 AM PDT

Is it an intolerance? Or an allergy? Which kind of immunoglobulins does it involve - or, generally, how does it affect the immune system? Which are the causes? And is there any possible treatment?

submitted by /u/yabot
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How can foods labeled "Refrigerate after opening" stay on a shelf for extended periods of time without spoiling but then must be refrigerated after opening to prevent spoiling?

Posted: 05 May 2019 10:34 AM PDT

What changes the size of rain droplets?

Posted: 05 May 2019 09:59 PM PDT

I noticed the other day that sometimes when it rains, it rains tiny little pitter patter raindrops, but other times there huge globs of water. Why is that.

submitted by /u/fartface201
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Reflected light from a colored object?

Posted: 05 May 2019 12:35 PM PDT

From my understanding, when I shine a white light on a green object the atoms electrons 'absorb' the energy as the light has the same resonant frequency as the electrons which allows for the max amount of energy transfer. This means that the colors(wavelengths) other than green are absorbed the most while the green light is reflected.(If this is wrong please correct me)

My question is, by what mechanism is the green light reflected from the object, is it reflected by the electric field of the atom? Is it absorbed and re-emitted? Does it undergo some sort of scattering, if so what one?

submitted by /u/ExcuseTheLag
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Molecularly, how exactly do carcinogens cause cancer?

Posted: 05 May 2019 07:00 PM PDT

Have any lab created elements been discovered in meteorites or other extra terrestrial samples?

Posted: 05 May 2019 07:52 AM PDT

Are the armpits of animals, like monkeys for example, same as human pits? As in it sweats, smells there more?

Posted: 05 May 2019 03:42 PM PDT

When you feel full after eating, is it because your stomach is literally not able to fit more food or is it just your brain telling you to stop eating?

Posted: 05 May 2019 02:34 AM PDT

Density of Plasma/Amount of Fusion in a Fusion Reactor?

Posted: 05 May 2019 01:54 PM PDT

At the ITER website (https://www.iter.org/mach), talking of their tokamak reactor, it says:

The tokamak is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. ITER will be the world's largest tokamak, with a plasma radius (R) of 6.2 m and a plasma volume of 840 m³.

At the 'Do The Math' website (https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/01/nuclear-fusion/), talking of fusion power, it says:

we need 1.3×1032 Li atoms annually to produce our world consumption of 4×1020 J. That's about 1500 metric tons of lithium annually

Lithium's density is 0.534 g/cm3, which means that a volume of 840m³ would hold about 450 metric tons of it, roughly 1/3 of the total needed to power the entire world. Presumably the plasma version weighs a lot less, and also it's not fusing at a rate of 100%.

What I'm curious about is (a) how much less, and (b) of that total, when the fusion reactor is running, how much is actually going to be fusing at any one time? 1%? 0.00001?

The fusion reactor, as I understand it, is supposed to squeeze the plasma and heat it up until fusion starts, which excess heat you use to boil water and turn turbines. That means there's going to be 840m³ of really hot plasma, but not all of it's going to be fusing. If the magnets fail, how quickly does the plasma cool off? What's to stop it contacting the sides of the reactor and melting them, or even burning through to where the water is and causing a steam explosion?

submitted by /u/MyActualRealName
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Why is the blood of horseshoe crabs blue?

Posted: 05 May 2019 07:50 PM PDT

Do ACE inhibitors lower blood CO2 levels?

Posted: 05 May 2019 07:45 AM PDT

If they do it - how?

submitted by /u/tisho23
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Why is decreasing a parcel of air's temperature down to its wet bulb temperature considered to be an isenthalpic process?

Posted: 05 May 2019 06:47 AM PDT

Explanations online say that all heat lost by the air is gained by the water, which evaporates and becomes part of the air, so the heat lost is canceled out. I get that, but isn't there some enthalpy contained by the water before it evaporates that needs to be accounted for? So let's say the air is originally completely dry and has an enthalpy of H_a, a mass of m_a, and a specific enthalpy of h_a (H_a/m_a). The unevaporated water initially has an enthalpy of H_w, a mass of m_w, and a specific enthalpy of h_w (H_w/m_w). Now let's say the water is evaporated into the air until it reaches its wet bulb temperature. After the evaporation, the air would have an enthalpy of H_a - Q and the evaporated water would have an enthalpy of H_w + Q, where Q is the heat transfer. Putting this all together, the final enthalpy of the fully saturated air would have an enthalpy of H_a - Q + H_w + Q = H_a + H_w and a specific enthalpy of (H_a + H_w)/(m_a + m_w), which are not equal to the initial enthalpy of specific enthalpy. What am I missing here?

submitted by /u/bnpm
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If you rip / cut off the leaves from a plant, do the cells inside die instantaneously ?

Posted: 05 May 2019 03:19 AM PDT

Obviously the plant doesn't function as before, but what exactly happens to the individual cells, in terms of biology?

submitted by /u/idejabajra
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Sunday, May 5, 2019

If a pregnant woman has cancer, is it possible for the cancer to spread to the fetus?

If a pregnant woman has cancer, is it possible for the cancer to spread to the fetus?


If a pregnant woman has cancer, is it possible for the cancer to spread to the fetus?

Posted: 04 May 2019 07:56 PM PDT

How far below the surface of the water does a hurricane disturb the natural state?

Posted: 05 May 2019 06:36 AM PDT

Why do we feel so disoriented after waking up from a deep sleep?

Posted: 05 May 2019 04:08 AM PDT

How do we judge the intelligence of other species?

Posted: 04 May 2019 09:42 PM PDT

Question originates from my personal experience with Cuttlefish. I'm used to being seen by animals, and most animals seem to treat people the same way.

The Cuttlefish are kind of unsettling in that they actually look inquisitive. There seems to be an intelligence to them like with dolphins that is missing in most animals I've had experience with, being cats, dogs, horses, even monkeys.

submitted by /u/iAzire
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Water have higher heat capacity than air, but also conduct heat better, so my question is which one is a better insulator, and what's the different between heat capacity and conductivity?

Posted: 05 May 2019 05:44 AM PDT

Really sorry about my non native English

Also if it wasn't obvious i wanted to know which is a better insulator in regards to its heat capacity and conductivity

submitted by /u/Staviao
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Where do amyloid plaques come from and how are they produced? Also, how are TDP-43 proteins produced?

Posted: 05 May 2019 07:02 AM PDT

I read an article (https://apple.news/AyW8ZMW24QCG33M9iP5EjrQ) recently about a new type of dementia called Late which appears to only affect people ages 80+ and apparently, nearly a third of the people diagnosed with Alzheimer's may instead have this. Late is linked to an accumulation of the protein TDP-43 instead of amyloid plaques. So why is it that the brain fails to stop the accumulation of both of these proteins? And how are both of them formed? (Also, I'm sorry if I messed something up in the questions, I'm still new to posting.)

submitted by /u/DarthMasken4088
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If neurons are amitotic, how is cancer of the brain possible?

Posted: 04 May 2019 09:26 PM PDT

Does cancer unlock some hidden potential for brain cells to divide? If so, how?

submitted by /u/Burrito8
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Are there any celestial objects with a significant net charge?

Posted: 04 May 2019 03:16 PM PDT

I know large bodies tend to have neutral charge, however I'm curious to see if there are any exceptions.

submitted by /u/ostrich-scalp
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Can material be both ferroelectric and paraelectric at the same time while acting as a dielectric?

Posted: 04 May 2019 06:19 PM PDT

Trying to write a report on the second order phase transition of triglycine sulfate crystal and knowing this would clear stuff up. Any help is appreciated.

submitted by /u/Task876
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What stops our bodies from decomposing while we are alive?

Posted: 04 May 2019 07:08 AM PDT

We constantly have flesh eating bacteria living in our bodies. But somehow, they wont start decomposing out bodies until we die. Why is that? What is in out bodies while we are alive that keeps up from stopping to decompose, alongside other animals across the world?

submitted by /u/BurntToast01
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What would be the consequences of magnetic monopoles being discovered?

Posted: 04 May 2019 10:04 AM PDT

At this point would it be good or bad for Physics if they were discovered?

submitted by /u/Riptide898
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While the hydrogen content in the atomosphere of Titan is tiny, is there a possibility that higher concentrations of H2 to exist near the surface through other means, such as chemical reactions or outgassing?

Posted: 04 May 2019 11:33 AM PDT

Do nuclear warheads require neutron moderators?

Posted: 04 May 2019 11:14 AM PDT

Context: I know in nuclear fission power plants they use graphite, heavy water, etc. to moderate the neutrons - slow them down so that they have a higher chance of propogating the reaction. I also know that nuclear warhead uranium requires 90+% enrichment.

So, how do they get the high-speed neutrons to continue the nuclear chain reaction in such a way that it explodes? Do they mix graphite and other things in with the uranium or are moderators no longer necessary once you have high enough enrichment %?

submitted by /u/deadrunordtech
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Is it possible for a planet to be “flat”?

Posted: 04 May 2019 08:44 PM PDT

Obviously Earth is not flat. But, is it possible for a planet in a stable orbit around a star to be flat, or flattened, in any way?

The biggest obstacle I see with this is that gravity will tend to compress any flatter object into a more spherical one. But can a planet be flattened temporarily? Or be in some weird situation where it can maintain its flatness?

Thanks!

submitted by /u/Baron_Sigma
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Do the heart or lungs increase and decrease in size depending on altitude? (And is there a difference between growing up in it or not?)

Posted: 04 May 2019 03:53 AM PDT

I grew up at around 1500 meters above sea level (4921.26 feet). That was 17 years of my life.

During this time my grandma mentioned that people that live in high altitudes grow up to have a bigger heart from what she saw on TV.

This makes sense to me (though I've no clue if it's correct).

Is this true?

And what prompted me to ask the question: A friend said that even if that is the case, she believes that actually when you go back down to closer to sea level (now I live at 500 meters / 1640.42 feet), then your heart and lungs adjust back down, losing whatever upgrade they might have had.

Is that true?

submitted by /u/greduan
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Saturday, May 4, 2019

Can we get information from outside of the Observable Universe by observing gravity's effect on stars that are on the edge of the Observable Universe?

Can we get information from outside of the Observable Universe by observing gravity's effect on stars that are on the edge of the Observable Universe?


Can we get information from outside of the Observable Universe by observing gravity's effect on stars that are on the edge of the Observable Universe?

Posted: 03 May 2019 10:36 PM PDT

For instance, could we take the expected movement of a star (that's near the edge of the observable universe) based on the stars around it, and compare that with its actual movement, and thus gain some knowledge about what lies beyond the edge?

If this is possible, wouldn't it violate the speed of information?

submitted by /u/BadassGhost
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Are there any trinary stars systems?

Posted: 03 May 2019 08:44 AM PDT

What determines the frequency of lightning in a storm?

Posted: 04 May 2019 04:36 AM PDT

I know this is probably a dumb question but some storms have lightning every two seconds while others can have a minute between strikes. I'm just curious as to why.

submitted by /u/cristianthechinch
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Can undersea cables undergo creep rupture?

Posted: 04 May 2019 04:28 AM PDT

The pressure down there must be quite high. Is there any proof that undersea cables have undergone creep?

submitted by /u/Sumage
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Why can't magnet bend light when light is made out of electromagnetic wave?

Posted: 04 May 2019 07:00 AM PDT

Light is made out of electric field and magnetic field. So why can't magnet interact with the magnetic field part of light?

submitted by /u/Prayut-Chan-o-cha
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How would matter behave in a negative temperature (negative Kelvin)? Is the phenomenon observable in nature?

Posted: 04 May 2019 02:43 AM PDT

How do astronomers differentiate gravitational waves originating from the merging of two black holes, a black hole and a neutron star or two neutron stars?

Posted: 03 May 2019 08:18 PM PDT

Question in the title. Was reading a post from r/space and they mentioned that the 4th gravitational wave originated from the merger of a black hole and a neutron star

submitted by /u/brandon92121
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How do computers generate random numbers for various probability density functions (PDFs)?

Posted: 03 May 2019 02:01 PM PDT

I'm more-or-less familiar with how uniform random numbers are generated, but what about other distributions, like normal random values? Can we take a uniformly-generated random value and then transform it to some arbitrary PDF, or does each PDF require a new method of hardware generation?

submitted by /u/jammin-john
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How good is a dog’s long term memory?

Posted: 03 May 2019 04:53 PM PDT

I have two dogs of my own. One of which we adopted from the humane society about 6 years ago. We estimated he was about 2 when we got him. He's not the smartest dog and he seems to forget things very easily or at least we think he does. I always wondered if he remembers his old home.

My other dog is just a puppy. We adopted her when she was 3 months old and lived with her litter and mom. She is now almost 7 months old and she has settled into our home very nicely. I wonder if she has any recollection of her other home, her siblings, or her mom. Would she remember them if she saw them again?

submitted by /u/bowlmyshoes
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Do microscopic life like protozoa die of old age?

Posted: 03 May 2019 01:51 PM PDT

How does light absorption/reflexion/transmission work on an atomic level?

Posted: 04 May 2019 02:59 AM PDT

Hello all!

What I'm trying to understand is this:

Why do materials have a specific wavelength of light which gets absorbed the most? The best explanation I could get is based on the Bohr atom model and states that the (material-specific) difference in energy required for an electron to jump to a higher orbit dictates the wavelength which is needed to stimulate those electrons. Meaning that materials with a high energy gradient between the orbits absorb light with a lower wavelength because it carries more energy. However, that doesn't sound right to me because that implies that a shorter than needed wavelength will always be absorbed since it carries more energy (E=hv) - which isn't always true (Just look at silver, it absorbs nearly 95% of the light at ~300 nm but less than 75% at ~260 nm).

For me, it looks like the electrons have something like a resonance frequency and respond much better to photons swinging in a similar band, but I couldn't find any source to back up my theory.

Reddit, help me out :)

submitted by /u/wictor1992
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Does the brain experience the REM cycle under general anesthesia?

Posted: 03 May 2019 03:55 PM PDT

How is zero gravity different from weightlessness?

Posted: 03 May 2019 10:06 PM PDT

Is there any difference? Are there any mathematical differences between the two scenarios?

submitted by /u/Shinigamii_
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How do normal cells around a cancer affect its ability to spread?

Posted: 03 May 2019 05:03 PM PDT

As title says.

How do normal cells in tumour microenvironment contribute to processes such as EMT?

submitted by /u/Spoonhands123
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Is there a minimum size for a star?

Posted: 03 May 2019 12:04 PM PDT

I know that the biggest stars can be many times the size of Earth's sun, but how small is the smallest star? Is there a minimum size required to make a star? If so, why?

submitted by /u/HerbalTeaParty
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Is a blue object blue because its excited electrons emit blue light, or because blue wavelengths are reflected?

Posted: 03 May 2019 06:05 PM PDT

We teach the kids in chemistry that excited electrons fall back to its ground state to emit a photon of a certain wavelength. The wavelength define its colour.

So let's say we are in a sealed room with a red light; I've always assumed we perceive the objects as red because the red light will excite the electrons in all objects to an energy level that results in the objects emitting a red photon back to us. While a blue light excite the electrons with a higher energy level, giving us blue light back. However, because of vibrational/rotational relaxation, the wavelength absorbed should have less energy when emitted back, resulting in a different colour.

There is also the reflection aspect, suggesting that it's not the emission of blue photons that makes objects blue, but just sheer reflection of the exact same wave (while red and green waves get absorbed).

Last example is when something is transparent in a certain colour. A regular glass window is transparent because it doesn't absorb anything in the VIS-spectrum. Consequentially a green window will absorb all of the red and blue light, letting only the green through, thus appearing green transparent. How is that different from a green opaque wall, that also absorbs red and blue light. Does a green window and a green wall treat the blue/red wavelengths the same (absorbing), while the green light is either reflected or just not absorbed. And what causes the difference?

submitted by /u/LupusX
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What happens when underground mammals die in their dens/tunnels?

Posted: 03 May 2019 11:15 AM PDT

Are they buried underground? Carried out from the den? I'm thinking of mainly foxes, rabbits, moles, badgers, and such.

Cheers!

submitted by /u/JPUF
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Why is better to set the sails against the wind to go faster sometimes?

Posted: 03 May 2019 11:20 AM PDT

I recently learned in physics about how every action has equal opposite reaction. On the topic of gravitational force the opposite is normal force. Where does this force originate from?

Posted: 03 May 2019 05:30 PM PDT

Is there a limit on how massive a blackhole can be?

Posted: 03 May 2019 02:56 PM PDT

Are we using energy when we think? If so how much?

Posted: 02 May 2019 10:10 PM PDT

I was in a lecture the other day after a poor night's sleep and came across a pretty basic math problem that I could usually do in my head. I started working it out and then 3 seconds later decided I couldn't be bothered, which made me wonder, do we use up energy when we think hard enough just like we use energy when doing physical work? Why else would I be so opposed to working a problem in my head?

submitted by /u/rapsohelpme
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