Have any viruses ever moved between vastly different organisms? For example: from Mammals to reptiles, fish to amphibians, plants to invertebrates etc

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• Have any viruses ever moved between vastly different organisms? For example: from Mammals to reptiles, fish to amphibians, plants to invertebrates etc
• I saw an asteroid impact calculator and it said the maximum speed of something orbiting the sun is 72km/s. Why?
• How come the space station needs to fire a rocket regularly to stay in orbit, but dangerous space junk can stay up there indefinitely?
• What if dark matter is simply ordinary matter trapped inside an enormous number of unobserved black holes?
• If the leap second causes so many technical problems, can’t the length of a second just be slightly altered?
• How are vaccines against dangerous viruses tested?
• Why are blood clots a common complication of medically induced comas?
• Everyone talks about the live(hot) wire being dangerous but can the neutral wire also be dangerous because current flows through it too?
• Can a virus mutate to be less deadly?
• Say at a certain time a satellite with an eccentric orbit had an apogee that was pointed away from the Sun as it orbited around Earth. Would the apogee always be pointed away from the Sun or would it be pointed towards the Sun when the Earth has completed half an orbit?
• Why do winds not affect the oxygen levels?
• Why does sound transfer through objects and still sound loud?
• Hello, this is sort of a shower thought but I was watching something on the first great extinction and it got me thinking. Would there be dirt on earth if living things never existed?
• Do gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria represent two independent phylogenetic clades?
• Why is soap effective against viruses?
• How are mice genetically modified to conduct research?
• How do people develop 'dominant' eyes? Why are there dominant eyes in the first place?
• Why would anyone take the covid-19 vaccine if the virus is found to have more than a 100 mutations? Isn't virus mutation the reason we don't have a cold, pneumonia or effective influenza vaccine?
• Covid-19 seems like one of the most contagious diseases known - is it? How does it compare to other diseases?
• Does pressure matter in purely conductive heat transfer?

Have any viruses ever moved between vastly different organisms? For example: from Mammals to reptiles, fish to amphibians, plants to invertebrates etc Posted: 14 May 2020 03:18 AM PDT I guess bird flus moving into mammals are a good example of this kind of thing. I wonder if there is evidence of these kind of jumps happening in other diseases throughout history. submitted by /u/RichardsonM24 [link] [comments]

I saw an asteroid impact calculator and it said the maximum speed of something orbiting the sun is 72km/s. Why? Posted: 13 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT Is there really a limit to how fast something can orbit the sun? Why? Does this limit apply to things entering the solar system? submitted by /u/Yazman [link] [comments]

How come the space station needs to fire a rocket regularly to stay in orbit, but dangerous space junk can stay up there indefinitely? Posted: 14 May 2020 06:16 AM PDT submitted by /u/Duckieyupyupyup [link] [comments]

What if dark matter is simply ordinary matter trapped inside an enormous number of unobserved black holes? Posted: 14 May 2020 05:55 AM PDT I 've been looking for material discussing the issue, but was not able to find something. The question was occasioned by the very recent observation of a black hole that lies only 1,120 light years away from the Sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HR_6819 So what if galaxies' missing mass (dark matter) is trapped inside black holes? If so, and taking into account their known range of sizes, how many black holes would be required to exist in our galaxy, in order to host the total amount of missing mass ? Sorry if the question sounds dump, but I am really curious on the topic. submitted by /u/MaliciousAccount [link] [comments]

If the leap second causes so many technical problems, can’t the length of a second just be slightly altered? Posted: 13 May 2020 10:37 PM PDT If the length of a second was slightly altered (By like less than a millionth of a second) then there wouldn't be a leap second every few years, minimising the amount of technical problems it causes with online booking etc. New devices and devices connected to the internet could just have their second redefined and it wouldn't be necessary to change any clocks that aren't connected to the internet. submitted by /u/jameslegohanlon [link] [comments]

How are vaccines against dangerous viruses tested? Posted: 13 May 2020 10:01 PM PDT Theoretically, I would expect that a group of people are given the vaccine and another group of the same size are given a placebo. Then all people of both groups are exposed to the virus to see if there's a significant difference between the 2 groups. But surely, it would be unethical to expose healthy people to a dangerous virus, especially if they're only given a placebo. How does this work? submitted by /u/Poiter85 [link] [comments]

Why are blood clots a common complication of medically induced comas? Posted: 13 May 2020 07:42 PM PDT I just read the news about Nick Cordero's amputation during an induced coma to treat COVID. A similar situation happened to my grandma in the past. Appreciate any explanations, thanks! submitted by /u/puffcheezers [link] [comments]

Everyone talks about the live(hot) wire being dangerous but can the neutral wire also be dangerous because current flows through it too? Posted: 13 May 2020 10:49 PM PDT submitted by /u/099nightwalker [link] [comments]

Can a virus mutate to be less deadly? Posted: 13 May 2020 11:51 PM PDT Since mutation ocurs randomly and can involve many different characteristics, is it possible that a virus (or bacteria) could become less deadly over time, or would natural selection eliminate that? Is being deadly/gravely impacting the carrier the most important factor to determine the success of a given strain? submitted by /u/samiam130 [link] [comments]

Say at a certain time a satellite with an eccentric orbit had an apogee that was pointed away from the Sun as it orbited around Earth. Would the apogee always be pointed away from the Sun or would it be pointed towards the Sun when the Earth has completed half an orbit? Posted: 14 May 2020 04:56 AM PDT I was just wondering this recently when I was thinking about eccentric orbits, and I'm not really sure what the answer would be. I've drawn a diagram explaining it better: https://imgur.com/OtVZdsc The blue dot is Earth, the yellow dot is the Sun, and the red circle is the hypothetical orbit of this satellite. As Earth travels around the sun, would the orbit 1 or orbit 2 be the most correct orbit of the satellite at varying times along Earth's orbit? submitted by /u/Russian_Bot66 [link] [comments]

Why do winds not affect the oxygen levels? Posted: 14 May 2020 04:19 AM PDT If warm air rises, it should carry oxygen with it, and cold air from the upper atmosphere should be less oxygen rich. Why doesn't this change the oxygen level? Or does it? submitted by /u/NooaJ [link] [comments]

Why does sound transfer through objects and still sound loud? Posted: 14 May 2020 01:15 AM PDT Sorry Idk what catagory this belongs in... Hi I just thought of this earlier today while laying on my floor petting my cat and she went and scratched the couch and while she was doing that I had my ear up against my couch arm across from it. I was wondering why does it sound louder when you have your ear against the object even if its being touched on the farther end is still louder than the person standing closer to whatever is touching the object? submitted by /u/BtduBs907 [link] [comments]

Hello, this is sort of a shower thought but I was watching something on the first great extinction and it got me thinking. Would there be dirt on earth if living things never existed? Posted: 14 May 2020 12:50 AM PDT My guess is no and that dirt is a product of the death and waste of living things but I do not know for sure. It seems so weird to think that a rocky planet without life would have no dirt but it could also make sense. Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/kdubs248 [link] [comments]

Do gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria represent two independent phylogenetic clades? Posted: 13 May 2020 03:35 PM PDT In other words, are gram negatives and gram positives two separate evolutionary groups? If so, was their common ancestor negative or positive? If not, does this mean that the peptidoglycan / lipopolysaccharide capsules evolved multiple times independently? I can't seem to find a clear answer for this. submitted by /u/Yungleen42069 [link] [comments]

Why is soap effective against viruses? Posted: 13 May 2020 08:24 PM PDT I have heard that coronavirus is enveloped in oil and soap pops this, which removes the virus from your skin when you wash the soap off. Is the same for other viruses as well? Are there viruses that are not enveloped in oil and therefore not effected by soap? submitted by /u/Throwmeout43212345 [link] [comments]

How are mice genetically modified to conduct research? Posted: 13 May 2020 01:26 PM PDT This is kind of a large, general question as there are probably many ways to do it, but when a study is approved how do the researchers edit the group of mice they want to compare to the control? For example, I was reading a paper about down regulating GABA in the brain to test orientation selectivity and direction selectivity. They used newborn mice in the study that were "gene-edited" in order to decrease the percentage of GABA produced in the brain. I am aware of many gene editing models like CRISPR in that they exist, but not in how they work. Do most studies now use this? If so, what is the process? Is there a standard for what mice are used? submitted by /u/l0lprincess [link] [comments]

How do people develop 'dominant' eyes? Why are there dominant eyes in the first place? Posted: 13 May 2020 09:36 AM PDT Also related, I've wondered how this process differs between animals i.e dogs, insects, fish. Are there people with two or no dominant eyes? How different would their vision be? submitted by /u/Jageurnut [link] [comments]

Why would anyone take the covid-19 vaccine if the virus is found to have more than a 100 mutations? Isn't virus mutation the reason we don't have a cold, pneumonia or effective influenza vaccine? Posted: 14 May 2020 07:58 AM PDT submitted by /u/Inertia77 [link] [comments]

Covid-19 seems like one of the most contagious diseases known - is it? How does it compare to other diseases? Posted: 13 May 2020 04:13 PM PDT It seems like Covid-19's mode of transmission (airborne droplets) plus its just absurdly long asymptomatic incubation period combine to create an extremely contagious disease - one that can be spread by unaware carriers for a very long time in the course of their normal activities. I've never heard of anything remotely this bad; it seems like even things like the common cold have only a couple of days of incubation, and most other diseases that are in principle highly contagious require people to do relatively unusual things (e.g. come into contact with feces) to actually catch them. Is Covid-19, then, near or at the top of the list of 'most contagious diseases ever'? And for scale and context, what else is on that list? submitted by /u/sjiveru [link] [comments]

Does pressure matter in purely conductive heat transfer? Posted: 13 May 2020 11:43 AM PDT My initial thought was that it should matter and is easily testable, touch something hot very lightly vs grasping it firmly will result in a different amount of heat being transferred. But, I would assume that that is because of two things; the time it takes to grasp it more firm would result in more heat transfer and grasping it more firm would eliminate the two surfaces not being in flat contact with each other so you don't experience the full surface conduction. So, eliminating those two factors, let's say its two perfectly flat surfaces in contact but one area has more pressure applied from both sides does that area transfer heat better? submitted by /u/FruitySploosh [link] [comments]

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If solar cells turn the sun's energy into electricity, do solar cells reduce heat that would otherwise be absorbed by the ground?

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• If solar cells turn the sun's energy into electricity, do solar cells reduce heat that would otherwise be absorbed by the ground?
• AskScience AMA Series: Hello, Reddit. I'm Dr. Darío Gil, Director of IBM Research. I lead innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in areas including AI, cloud, quantum computing, and exploratory science. AMA!
• How does the rotation of the earth affect air travel?
• Can you tell a right eye from a left eye like you can with bones?
• Why is cancer rare in fat cells?
• Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
• If you were watching a video that was streaming from a server located on the other side of the world and the server was destroyed by a major asteroid impact (one that could potentially wipe out all life on earth), would your video disconnect before you heard the explosion?
• How come only about 10% of people are left-handed and not 50%? Why does nature "prefer" the right hand to be the dominant one?
• Why is it that heat always rises? Does heat always rise? are there exceptions?
• Why are people unable to speak in unison on Zoom? Example the closing prayer in AA meetings.
• Do blind people sleep longer than sighted people? My 8 year old wore a sleep mask last night and didn't wake up at 6 am for once.
• Why are we unable to develop a cure for the herpes simplex virus and cold sores, but it's possible to develop one for something more devastating like coronaviruses?
• How is a large app simultaneously worked on by multiple developers?
• The magnetic poles of the earth have been moving towards eachother and its strength has been decreasing by 5 percent per year, so is that caused by global warming ?
• Why did it take humans so long to discover agriculture? Why did we not discover it in the last inter glacial period?
• How are the polytropic constant, adiabatic index, and central density chosen for simple TOV neutron star models?
• In the 1957 asian flu outbreak, a vaccine was ready after 2 months of development. Why can't we produce a vaccine for Covid-20 in the same amount of time?
• When I press backspace or delete on a letter as I'm typing, where does it go?
• Why do we create igM antibodies first?
• Why must Venturi respirator valves be replaced every 8 hours?
• Is there evidency of viral latency in COVId19?is anybody ecperiencing lingering effects?

If solar cells turn the sun's energy into electricity, do solar cells reduce heat that would otherwise be absorbed by the ground? Posted: 12 May 2020 05:21 PM PDT For example, what is the impact of 1sq meter of solar panels versus 1sq meter of sunlight on regular ground in regards to thermal energy. Does solar efficiency play a role? Lots of articles talk about how polar caps are important for reflecting incoming sunlight back into space. I was wondering how some of the technologies and materials we place outside affect the net thermal energy captured by the planet. So controlling other variables (weather, greenhouse gases, etc.) what impact do these types of materials have on warming the planet? In the extreme, would a planet completely covered in solar panels be a different temperature than one that does not? submitted by /u/Mooseman1020 [link] [comments]

AskScience AMA Series: Hello, Reddit. I'm Dr. Darío Gil, Director of IBM Research. I lead innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in areas including AI, cloud, quantum computing, and exploratory science. AMA! Posted: 13 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT Hello, Reddit. I'm Dr. Darío Gil, Director of IBM Research. I lead innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in areas including AI, cloud, quantum computing, and exploratory science. Under my leadership IBM became the first company in the world to build programmable quantum computers and make them universally available through the cloud. I recently was appointed a member of the National Science Board, and as an advocate of collaborative research models, I also co-chair the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium, which provides access to the world's most powerful high-performance computing resources in support of COVID-19 research. IBM is simultaneously creating the supercomputers of tomorrow: quantum computers. Ask me anything about the next great frontier of computing: quantum! Watch my Think 2020 Innovation Talk- "The Quantum Era of Accelerated Discovery" here: https://ibm.co/2SMGE3H Proof: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6665660556973785088/ Username: DarioGil submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

How does the rotation of the earth affect air travel? Posted: 12 May 2020 07:09 PM PDT When you take a flight, one can imagine how you can either fly along with the rotation of the earth or against it. Yet a quick google search shows, a flight from New York to Tokyo is about the same time as a flight from Tokyo to New York. Why is this, and how exactly does the rotation of the earth affect our air travel? submitted by /u/stevezease [link] [comments]

Can you tell a right eye from a left eye like you can with bones? Posted: 12 May 2020 11:23 PM PDT I know that with bones, you can tell which side of the body it came from due to its morphology, but an eye is ovoid. If someone were to find just an eye, could they be able to figure out which side the eye came from? If so, what indicates the difference? Or is it too difficult to tell because of its specific shape? submitted by /u/MagnoliaCottage [link] [comments]

Why is cancer rare in fat cells? Posted: 13 May 2020 03:25 AM PDT submitted by /u/literaldehyde [link] [comments]

Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology Posted: 13 May 2020 08:08 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 [link] [comments]

If you were watching a video that was streaming from a server located on the other side of the world and the server was destroyed by a major asteroid impact (one that could potentially wipe out all life on earth), would your video disconnect before you heard the explosion? Posted: 12 May 2020 11:03 PM PDT I hope I got the flair right.. submitted by /u/SrcArry [link] [comments]

How come only about 10% of people are left-handed and not 50%? Why does nature "prefer" the right hand to be the dominant one? Posted: 13 May 2020 03:50 AM PDT submitted by /u/pend00 [link] [comments]

Why is it that heat always rises? Does heat always rise? are there exceptions? Posted: 13 May 2020 05:51 AM PDT It seems like a really simple question but I genuinely don't understand why hot goes up.. submitted by /u/bkdrex [link] [comments]

Why are people unable to speak in unison on Zoom? Example the closing prayer in AA meetings. Posted: 13 May 2020 05:36 AM PDT At the end of AA meetings we often end with a recitation of the serenity prayer - and in real life it is pretty much said in sync. Not completely but close. In Zoom meetings everybody seems to have their own pace and it's all over the place. I get it that the signal has to go to a server somewhere and back but 180k miles per second is pretty fast and it does not seem like it would be as far off as it is. Is it that our ears can distinguish such small differences? submitted by /u/Slipacre [link] [comments]

Do blind people sleep longer than sighted people? My 8 year old wore a sleep mask last night and didn't wake up at 6 am for once. Posted: 13 May 2020 01:43 AM PDT submitted by /u/teaqualizer [link] [comments]

Why are we unable to develop a cure for the herpes simplex virus and cold sores, but it's possible to develop one for something more devastating like coronaviruses? Posted: 12 May 2020 11:04 PM PDT submitted by /u/MobulaMobular [link] [comments]

How is a large app simultaneously worked on by multiple developers? Posted: 12 May 2020 06:10 PM PDT I'm pretty new to servers/backend, but as far as I know, if an app is closed-source, how are developers able to access the code, and change it, while this process is simultaneous across different departments and such? submitted by /u/kevinjing11 [link] [comments]

The magnetic poles of the earth have been moving towards eachother and its strength has been decreasing by 5 percent per year, so is that caused by global warming ? Posted: 13 May 2020 04:06 AM PDT I had been reading some articles lately that was talking about the begining of a polar flip (which takes a long time) and it was discussing how that was effecting the strength of the magnetosphere. I was wondering if this is caused by global warming or is it increasing global warming? It seems like it would at least add too it, but it always seems like either good articles dont want to touch the global warming aspect or they are click bait looking to take all the blame off fossil fuels. It would really be nice to know from someone who actually has studied this, and isn't pushing an agenda. submitted by /u/SirCouncil [link] [comments]

Why did it take humans so long to discover agriculture? Why did we not discover it in the last inter glacial period? Posted: 13 May 2020 01:47 AM PDT I googled something along the lines of this and only founded it posed as an open question on a khan academy page: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/birth-agriculture-neolithic-revolution/a/where-did-agriculture-come-from submitted by /u/perioddotperiod [link] [comments]

How are the polytropic constant, adiabatic index, and central density chosen for simple TOV neutron star models? Posted: 12 May 2020 09:18 PM PDT I am a bit confused (and getting a little frustrated) trying to get a straight answer about these. For a bit of background, I'm a 3rd year grad student in physics but my program has not had a course offering in GR available since a year before I started. I have been trying to self teach basic GR, and have successfully derived the TOV equation in between all the normal grad student/TA duties. But, there are three things I am still quite unclear about: the polytropic constant used for neutron star models (I've seen 0.25, 100, 5.38x109 and 1), the adiabatic index gamma (I've seen 4/3, 5/3, and 2), and central density (I've seen 1 used, but generally is unstated). I'm just hoping to get clarity on these choices, in the hope of putting together a simple TOV numerical solver in Python that gives the 1.44 solar mass, approx 10 km result to see it with my own work, if possible. Cheers, stay safe and healthy, and thanks for any elucidation! submitted by /u/Deacon_Black [link] [comments]

In the 1957 asian flu outbreak, a vaccine was ready after 2 months of development. Why can't we produce a vaccine for Covid-20 in the same amount of time? Posted: 12 May 2020 01:23 PM PDT submitted by /u/gaschicken [link] [comments]

When I press backspace or delete on a letter as I'm typing, where does it go? Posted: 12 May 2020 11:49 PM PDT I guess what I'm really getting at is what's the logic behind how text appears/disappears/moves? What is the data structure that stores text as I'm editing it? How am I able to copy something and paste it in the middle of text multiple lines/pages above? submitted by /u/420TreeHugger [link] [comments]

Why do we create igM antibodies first? Posted: 12 May 2020 02:19 PM PDT My understanding is when a t cell activates a b cell it goes into germinal center and goes through class switching. Shouldn't we start off with igG antibodies first? submitted by /u/XS905 [link] [comments]

Why must Venturi respirator valves be replaced every 8 hours? Posted: 12 May 2020 02:01 PM PDT This is the valve type that was in short supply, so some people started 3D printing replacements. submitted by /u/Dr_Faux [link] [comments]

Is there evidency of viral latency in COVId19?is anybody ecperiencing lingering effects? Posted: 12 May 2020 03:50 PM PDT A lot of reports(check last article in NYtimes) of people that were infected and 3 months later they have lingering effects that appear neurological in nature..does the body can get rid of a virus that is hiding in the brain?have anybody experienced this after the virus?any evidence in favor of viral latenxy on covod19? submitted by /u/pepperoni93 [link] [comments]

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AskScience AMA Series: My name is Pascal Lee, and I am a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) at NASA Ames Research Center. AMA!

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• AskScience AMA Series: My name is Pascal Lee, and I am a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) at NASA Ames Research Center. AMA!
• Was the Spanish flu pandemic a large enough selection pressure to cause a change in the human genome detectable in some populations today?
• How does a sponge "suck up" liquid? The liquid is moving against gravity, but it doesn't seem like any energy is being spent to do this
• Why was the solid rocket boosters of the Challenger designed in four segments requiring o'rings instead of just one piece?
• What happens to eyelashes that get stuck somewhere in the back of the eye?
• Why does infrared radiation make things hotter than visible light?
• HID Lamp ionization time - why doesn't it extinguish on AC?
• Do behavior of children solely depends on the way they’re raised or it also depends on the child itself?
• Are Quasars essentially a larger, slower Gamma Ray Burst?
• If the magnetic north pole is moving at faster rate and shifting places shouldn't the magnetic south pole also be doing that and in the opposite direction?
• Why don't countries use random sample testing to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 in the population?
• How do transistors amplify current and voltage if the law of conservation of energy states that you can't create energy?
• Is a Super Nova explosion bigger than the earth?
• What would a plasma-based rocket engine liftoff look like for spaceships?
• What factors affect the shape and terrain of continents?
• How do biological molecules bind time-efficiently?
• Is it coincidence that the geographic north and south poles are very close to the magnetic north and south poles, or is there a reason for it?
• Converting thermal energy into elecric energy?
• Why do Cooper pair electrons have to have opposite momentum?
• How do calculators/computers figure out how to display e or pi or the square root of 2? When you push the pi button on your calculator, what is it doing?

AskScience AMA Series: My name is Pascal Lee, and I am a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) at NASA Ames Research Center. AMA! Posted: 12 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT I am a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute and director of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) at NASA Ames Research Center. I also co-founded and now chair the Mars Institute. I have an ME in geology and geophysics from the University of Paris, and a PhD in astronomy and space sciences from Cornell University. I was privileged to be Joe Veverka's last graduate student, and Carl Sagan's last T.A.. My research focuses on the history of water on Mars, ice and caves on the Moon and Mars, the origin of Mars' moons, and the future human exploration of the Moon and Mars. I do fieldwork at Moon and Mars analog sites, mostly on Devon Island in the Arctic where we go every summer for the HMP (https://www.marsinstitute.no/hmp), but also in Antarctica where I once wintered over for 402-days. I'm still thawing from that. I also work on surface exploration systems for future Moon and Mars exploration: drones, hoppers, rovers, spacesuits, and habitats. I was lucky to serve as scientist-pilot for NASA's first field test of the LER (Lunar Exploration Rover) SPR (small pressurized rover) concept. I also led the Northwest Passage Drive Expedition, a record-setting vehicular traverse on sea-ice along the fabled Northwest Passage - now that was a bad idea - and the subject of the documentary film Passage To Mars (2016). I currently lead the HMP's Astronaut Smart Glove project and JPL's GlobeTrotter planetary hopper concept study. I am also interested in SETI - the actual Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. I've argued that there are likely very few advanced civilizations per galaxy, and we might be the only one in ours at this time. As you might imagine, it's not the most popular view at the SETI Institute. In my free time, I enjoy being walked by my 1-year old Australian cattle dog, Apollo. I also love to fly and paint, although not at the same time. I am an FAA-certified helicopter commercial pilot and flight instructor, and an artist member of the IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists). I post some of my drawings and paintings on Instagram @spacetimeartist. I also wrote a children's book: Mission: Mars, published by Scholastic: link If you have nothing better to do, follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PascalLeeOfficial/) or Twitter @pascalleetweets. I do post some interesting stuff, I have to say. AMA. Looking forward to chatting at 10am (PT, 1 PM ET, 17 UT). Username: setiinstitute submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

Was the Spanish flu pandemic a large enough selection pressure to cause a change in the human genome detectable in some populations today? Posted: 12 May 2020 05:41 AM PDT I've recently finished Adam Rutherford's 'a brief history of everyone who's ever lived'. He talked about how the black death and the bubonic plague caused greater variation in the human genome amongst particular populations. I was wondering whether the spanish flu would have caused a large enough selection pressure to cause detectable changes in the human genome still noticeable today. submitted by /u/MrGraSch [link] [comments]

How does a sponge "suck up" liquid? The liquid is moving against gravity, but it doesn't seem like any energy is being spent to do this Posted: 12 May 2020 06:25 AM PDT submitted by /u/bhaggith [link] [comments]

Why was the solid rocket boosters of the Challenger designed in four segments requiring o'rings instead of just one piece? Posted: 11 May 2020 09:33 PM PDT Is four sections a design advantage? submitted by /u/SuperAleste [link] [comments]

What happens to eyelashes that get stuck somewhere in the back of the eye? Posted: 12 May 2020 06:57 AM PDT I got an eyelash stuck vertically in my eye. After moistening it with some drops and rubbing the eye I noticed the eyelash was nowhere to be seen, neither inside or outside, so I guess it went behind the eyeball. This made me wonder if the intruder will in some way be dissolved or if I've got a potential nasty collection of eyelashes behind my eyes. submitted by /u/Terfue [link] [comments]

Why does infrared radiation make things hotter than visible light? Posted: 12 May 2020 04:05 AM PDT Basically the title. Also why does this occur despite the fact that visible light caries more energy per photon? submitted by /u/sinmark [link] [comments]

HID Lamp ionization time - why doesn't it extinguish on AC? Posted: 12 May 2020 06:24 AM PDT I've been researching HID lamps and their drive electronics, and information is surprisingly sparse, so if anyone can point me to something more interesting than usual datasheets I'd appreciate that. The question itself - how long does the arc last in the lamp? How long of a pause in voltage/current is allowed so the lamp doesn't has to be restriked? There are plenty of transformer/inductor ballasts are out there, driven by mains AC, and the current/voltage goes through zero, but not always at the same time due to inductance. submitted by /u/VEC7OR [link] [comments]

Do behavior of children solely depends on the way they’re raised or it also depends on the child itself? Posted: 11 May 2020 01:05 PM PDT submitted by /u/baka-sensie [link] [comments]

Are Quasars essentially a larger, slower Gamma Ray Burst? Posted: 11 May 2020 11:03 PM PDT submitted by /u/Montana_Gamer [link] [comments]

If the magnetic north pole is moving at faster rate and shifting places shouldn't the magnetic south pole also be doing that and in the opposite direction? Posted: 11 May 2020 10:43 PM PDT submitted by /u/Nbn_10 [link] [comments]

Why don't countries use random sample testing to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 in the population? Posted: 11 May 2020 08:34 PM PDT So there has been a lot of talk in the media about the efficacy of the US government's re-opening guidelines. One of the major concerns has been the fact that there still isn't adequate testing available. Vox recently wrote an article about how the US needs millions of tests available per day. If the end goal of the quarantine is to bring the R-naught value below one until a vaccine has been approved, and the amount of testing available is limited, why don't states use random sample tests to derive the overall rate of infections in the population, and use those estimates to determine the overall R-naught value? I'm nature sure about the accuracy of the currently available test, but even if they were only 95% accurate, we could get a pretty good model with only 16,000 or so tests a day in the United States? I apologize if the question is sophomoric, I only have a rudimentary understanding of how virus modeling works. submitted by /u/MoxyMarauder [link] [comments]

How do transistors amplify current and voltage if the law of conservation of energy states that you can't create energy? Posted: 12 May 2020 02:23 AM PDT submitted by /u/099nightwalker [link] [comments]

Is a Super Nova explosion bigger than the earth? Posted: 12 May 2020 12:36 AM PDT Also about how often do they happen? I'm just curious. submitted by /u/KevinSucks8989 [link] [comments]

What would a plasma-based rocket engine liftoff look like for spaceships? Posted: 11 May 2020 06:20 PM PDT I recently was fascinated by the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket), but I'm trying to envision what one might look like taking off in the atmosphere. Color, plume, sound, etc. I was just curious if anybody had any ideas or thoughts! submitted by /u/darthOG12 [link] [comments]

What factors affect the shape and terrain of continents? Posted: 11 May 2020 04:06 PM PDT With COVID-19 I've had plenty of time on my hands and got to wondering about how continents come to be as well as the terrain on them. Obviously in the distant past all the continents were originally one Pangaea and have since drifted apart, and various landmasses themselves are still being formed by volcano eruptions and suchlike. But what other factors are significant in shaping terrain, how much of an impact do they have, and how regularly do they have such an impact? Things I considered were sea level, volcanoes, extreme weather, tsunamis, earthquakes, and man-made interventions (e.g. nuclear weapons). What predictions are there concerning how our planet will look in 50 years, 100, 1000, 5000 and 20000 years? Is that a significant timescale for planetary reshaping? And how big an impact can humans have on what terrain looks like, the shape of the continents, and subsequent impacts on ecosystems and weather patterns? Apologies if this is a little too broad, but the topic feels really big. In summary, I suppose my questions are 1) What affects the shape/terrain of continents, 2) How big an impact do humans have on those factors and on their timescale, and 3) Are there any predictions or reasonable assumptions we can make about how the planet will look differently 50/100/1000/5000/20000 years from now, based on both natural and human activity? submitted by /u/VetinariHaakon [link] [comments]

How do biological molecules bind time-efficiently? Posted: 11 May 2020 09:52 AM PDT I'm trying to understand how binding in cellular activities even happens in reasonable time scales they do. For example how is it that once the right transcription factors bind to a region of DNA it becomes so kinetically favorable for the parts of RNA polymerase to bind that they bind to the correct spot within moments? Another example would be how RNA polymerase can create a favorable surface for bases to allow extension as fast as 40-80 nt per second? Are the densities (of bases, parts of polymerase...) just kept very high and due to rapid enough random motion it ends up working? I was thinking you could model the densities of all the reactants in random motion at each step and once they reach a critical density it becomes very likely for reactions to happen as fast as we observe, submitted by /u/lmanda1 [link] [comments]

Is it coincidence that the geographic north and south poles are very close to the magnetic north and south poles, or is there a reason for it? Posted: 11 May 2020 09:14 PM PDT I know the naming of the poles of a magnet are arbitrary, as long as we understand they are opposite, so I'm sure we named them to match the geographic poles. But, is there a reason (like the rotation of the earth) that causes them to be where they are relative to the geographic poles? Thanks! submitted by /u/Oblic008 [link] [comments]

Converting thermal energy into elecric energy? Posted: 11 May 2020 06:27 PM PDT Today I took something out of my fridge and thought that the concept of a fridge was pretty stupid since it uses electric energy to get rid of the (thermal) energy that the objects you put in have. Is there a way or will it be possible in the future to cool things down and while doing so converting the thermal energy into electric energy? Sorry if the question is stupid but my 17 year old mind just had this idea and I really hope you can help me out. submitted by /u/funnimax [link] [comments]

Why do Cooper pair electrons have to have opposite momentum? Posted: 11 May 2020 11:49 AM PDT Basically what the title says - I get they have to have opposite spin because the singlet state is lower and more favourable in energy and it's symmetric, but don't understand why they have to have opposite momentum as well! submitted by /u/LucianAstaroth [link] [comments]

How do calculators/computers figure out how to display e or pi or the square root of 2? When you push the pi button on your calculator, what is it doing? Posted: 11 May 2020 10:21 AM PDT submitted by /u/anode_cathode [link] [comments]

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