| People having psychotic episodes often say that someone put computer chips in them - What kinds of claims were made before the invention of the microchip? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 08:13 PM PDT |
| Happy Pi Day, everybody! Join us for a Pi Megathread! Posted: 14 Mar 2020 05:55 AM PDT It's March 14 (3/14 in the US) which means it's time to celebrate Pi Day! What intrigues you about pi? Our experts are here to answer your questions. Pi has enthralled humanity with questions like: Read about these questions and more in our Mathematics FAQ! Looking for a specific piece of pi? Search for sequences of numbers in the first 100,000,000 digits. Happy Pi Day from all of us at r/AskScience! And of course, a happy birthday to Albert Einstein. submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments] |
| Why do many (european) forests have so many different kinds of trees living side by side? How is one tree species not better suited than the others and replace all the others over time? Is this due to human intervention? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 04:30 AM PDT I look out and see pines, birches, oaks, etc living side by side. Wouldnt it make sense that some tree species would "win out" over the other species over the course of many years? Im asking about european forests, because I dont know whether this also applies to forests in other countries. I know that european forests are almost never "truly" wild and often have a forester overseeing it... submitted by /u/Lacksi [link] [comments] |
| It is known that the Earth is tilted by 23.5° on its axis. Is there an effect in global circulation if the Earth is not tilted? Why or why not? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 09:22 PM PDT |
| Does capsaicin feel spicy in the absence of calcium? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:14 AM PDT |
| If you put a vacuum chamber in space can you create a perfect vacuum? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:35 PM PDT |
| [Biology] Do turtles have nerve endings in their shells? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:58 PM PDT |
| Were we to report and track the Seasonal Flu in the same manner and with the same vigour as the latest Virus, would the reports be just as inflammatory? Or much less so? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:03 AM PDT |
| How do we determine whether a donated organ will be compatible with the recipient? What happens to the organ if the body deems it incompatible? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:31 PM PDT |
| How did eusociality evolve in Hymenoptera (bees, ants, and wasps)? Did it occur multiple times or just once? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:17 PM PDT I know that both ants and bees are descended from wasps. So was there a social wasp common ancestor that gave rise to bees, ants, and modern social wasps like yellowjackets? Or did all these groups evolve colony behavior independently? Eusociality in hymenoptera is so complex I have a hard time imagining how it could evolve once, let alone multiple times. submitted by /u/Whalermouse [link] [comments] |
| Does your body do anything different during sleep depending on the temperature of the room you're in? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:53 AM PDT |
| Is there a telescope that increases brightness in real time but does not magnify? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:51 PM PDT I'd ask Google but this seems like a weirdly specific that an algorithm wouldn't understand. The Hubble Deep Field worked because the telescope not only can zoom in, but also because it was collecting light for a long time. You could zoom in as much as you wanted but you would never be able to see those distant galaxies because the photons coming from them are just too few and far between for something human-scale to detect in real time. The Andromeda galaxy, for example, takes up many more times the Moon's diameter in the sky, but we cannot see it with our eyes because it's too dim from this far. Even with a decent pair of binoculars in a rural area I have a hard time picking it up (although it's entirely possible I've always always been looking in the wrong place). There are galaxies and nebulae in the sky that take up as much apparent size as the moon or similar. Definitely things we would be able to see clearly if they were brighter. I know that optical telescopes/binoculars work by collecting a wider area of light - say a two-inch lense compared to human pupil size - and focusing it down. They aren't just making things appear bigger, that's why all the light isn't spread out making the moon too dark to see. And I know that they don't necessarily make things brigher, either, since it doesn't burn your eyes to look at the moon at night through a telescope. So they collect more light which makes things appear brighter AND bigger, cancelling out the effects, if my understanding makes sense. I want to be able to see these objects from the ground without making them bigger, by this I mean I want to look at the moon as the same size, and then pan the telescope to see all the galaxies and astronomical objects at the same scale. Is it possible to make a telescope that collects enough light at one time to make things brighter, but shrinks them back down to smaller size at the other end? Or are the same physics that allow us to collect more light inseparable from the physics that magnify the images that we are seeing as they enter our eyes at the other end of the telescope? I'm not trying to see galaxies at the other end of the universe like Hubble, but just relatively close "moon-apparent-sized" galaxies and nebulae within our own. submitted by /u/SubaruSucks [link] [comments] |
| Could the Mould effect be used to get one end of a chain into space for a space elevator? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:15 PM PDT https://imgur.com/tLvkyvJ Here's a drawing of what I mean. Basically, you would have machines rapidly pulling the chain out of the landing spot and reattaching them to the launcher, in a process that continues until the loop reaches space, at which point the chain loop is cut, flinging one end into space, the other being attached to my uncle's volkswagon (or something probably heavier I'm not a scientist) Could that work? The problem with hauling a rope into space is the weight. This seems to use weight to its advantage, so I feel it might be cheaper than any other method. I'd call it the Tsiolkovsky-Mould Elevator. And it would be free to ride for citizens, and I'd charge governments and corporations to use it. Heh heh heh. submitted by /u/realfakediseases [link] [comments] |
| How much sensation do turtles have in their shells? Is it similar to the way nailbeds feel when a nail is properly covering it? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:21 PM PDT Is it a dull sensation, or can they feel things a much at all? I know thet seem to like brushing, but is it pressure only, or do they feel more than that? submitted by /u/Tails_155 [link] [comments] |
| Can atoms be made of the second generation of matter? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 05:05 PM PDT The atoms that make up most things in the universe are made of three fundamental components: up quarks, down quarks, and electrons. In the Standard Model, there are three "generations" of matter. These different generations contain essentially the same particles, but the mass of the particles increases with the generations. The second generation equivalents of up quarks, down quarks, and electrons are charm quarks, strange quarks, and muons respectively. These particles are unstable, decaying into lighter fermions quickly. If you were to take an atom and swap out its fundamental components with their second generation counterparts, the atom would most likely be quite unstable. The muons would almost certainly decay into electrons and neutrinos. However, I think that atomic nuclei made of the second generation of matter could be a more stable form of exotic matter. On their own, the omega baryons that make up these nuclei rapidly decay into lighter particles. However, I think that the strong nuclear force could keep them together at least temporarily when they're bonded together as atomic nuclei. This is the same reason why a lone neutron beta decays over time, while it stays together when combined with a proton to form a deuteron. If these second generation nuclei are unstable (which is more than likely), the strong force might change their decay products, similar to how a proton has an extremely long if not infinite half-life on its own, while it beta-plus decays into a neutron, a positron, and a neutrino when in certain isotopes such as carbon-11. While muons are too unstable to form any interesting entirely second generation atoms, it may be possible for electrons to take their place and orbit around a second generation nucleus. If this is the case, the electrons might orbit at different distances from the nuclei due to the nuclei being more massive than usual, which could lead to different chemical properties to their first generation counterparts. So, would it be possible to create second generation atomic nuclei? If so, how would they behave? submitted by /u/xXx_LI_xXx [link] [comments] |
| How much benefit for the environment will we see, during these times when less people are travelling in cars because of working from home, taking less flights etc? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:02 PM PDT |
| How do you die exactly when you have pancreatic cancer? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 02:21 PM PDT Give me all the bloody details. Asking for a friend actually, but we can't seem to find any useful info on the internet. submitted by /u/madame_lunatic [link] [comments] |
| Can colloids come in a solid form? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:40 PM PDT |
| How effective is sunlight as a disinfectant? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 04:04 PM PDT |
| Is it better to learn one thing at a time or cycle through subjects? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 03:26 PM PDT |
| Can animals other than humans be long or short sighted? If so, how would a predator cope with poor vision? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 10:31 AM PDT |
| How did SARS go away? How did humans fight SARS? Posted: 13 Mar 2020 01:54 PM PDT |
