AskScience: Got Questions? Get Answers.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/KingCats22 on 2024-10-24 10:27:33.

When watching nature documentaries, you more often than not see the predator kill their prey by going for their windpipe. I’m wondering why mammal’s windpipes aren’t more enclosed, either behind some cartilage, muscle, or even something as extreme as a ribcage-like structure.

Is there an advantage to them being as exposed as they are, because it does seem like a fairly obviously evolutionary disadvantage to have such a vital organ so exposed?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/QuantumDriveRocket on 2024-10-24 03:43:12.

I was reading about it online and it seems to be because of a plethora of unique conditions their bodies have from complex sugar that helps keeps cells from clumping together and forming tumors to being the only cold-blooded mammal, lacking pain sensitivity to chemical stimuli in their skin and being able to withstand very low levels of oxygen (hypoxia).

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/AskScienceModerator on 2024-10-24 11:00:53.

Hello Reddit! I'm Dr. Brent Seales, professor of computer science at The University of Kentucky and co-Founder of The Vesuvius Challenge, which is a machine learning and computer vision competition to virtually unwrap the 2000-year-old Herculaneum scrolls that were fused together after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. My work combines cutting-edge scanning techniques with artificial intelligence software to read inside the scrolls without touching them. While we've achieved several major breakthroughs, the discoveries are just beginning. 

This project was the focus of a recent Secrets of the Dead documentary on PBS, titled "The Herculaneum Scrolls." You can watch the film online or on the PBS App. 

I'll be on at 12 pm ET (16 UT). Ask me anything!

Username: /u/Anxious-Economy6970

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/AutoModerator on 2024-10-23 14:00:28.

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...".

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The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Additional-Skin528 on 2024-10-23 13:54:22.

My layman's understanding is that HIV integrates its DNA into cells, and once the infection is established, medication is required for a lifetime because the cells will start making more copies of the virus if it's ever stopped. So once the virus enters the body, what exactly happens in those first 72 hours that allows a person to only take medication for a month to prevent infection and then stop? Does it take up to several days for the virus to start the integration part of its cycle, and PEP prevents it from reaching the integration stage?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/sacrelicious2 on 2024-10-22 18:34:31.

With a regular integral, the result is the area under the curve. This obviously isn't the case with a product integral, but is there an equivalent geometric interpretation of the result?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/dooge8 on 2024-10-22 15:08:08.

Settle this one for me. I play baseball and softball and every time it's humid out my teammates complain that that the ball isn't carrying as far because of the relative humidity. I try, without sounding pedantic, to tell them that water vapor is lighter than air and theoretically the ball should travel the same or more when the air is humid vs dry air.

Let's say we're at sea level for both examples of 100% humidity or 0% or whatever a better condition might be.

Maybe I'm wrong about it as I have zero expertise here but eager to hear if anyone has the actual science.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/_BryceParker on 2024-10-22 12:28:25.

I don't have much to add beyond the title, I'm curious how a baseball's movement might differ - if it would at all - were the seams indented, or set below the surface of the ball, rather than they are now, as seams sitting above the surface.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/ghost103429 on 2024-10-22 07:57:10.

I've never heard of prions occurring in birds, insects, fish, or reptiles. What makes mammals so unique that Prions only effect us and other mammals.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/JacoboAriel on 2024-10-22 05:07:22.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/TightBarber5307 on 2024-10-21 01:29:15.

My understanding is that having an allergic reaction is a result of our immune system over reacting, but what exactly is our body aiming for when it breaks out into hives or has any other kind of physical effects of an allergic reaction?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/darkthunder9782 on 2024-10-20 19:24:50.

I've been having this question and I cannot find nothing that can really answer it

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/b0sw0rth on 2024-10-20 17:10:10.

I know that people that work on car transmissions are encouraged to wear gloves because there are harmful chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin into the body. But it doesn't matter how much water I have in contact with my skin, it won't be absorbed. If I rub olive oil on me is that being absorbed into me in a way that is different than say, taking a shower (with water)? Is it it just that the chemical has to be an "oil" of some kind?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/fluffygrenade on 2024-10-20 18:55:06.

So if people produce heat, and the vacuum of space isn't exactly a good conductor to take that heat away. Why doesn't people's body heat slowly cook them alive? And how do they get rid of that heat?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/pale_emu on 2024-10-20 13:15:40.

I work as a maintenance technician and part of my work involves the repair and upkeep of systems in a chemical plant. Naturally this involves working with stainless fittings and fasteners.

Usually an imperfection in a mild steel thread won’t prevent you from doing it all the way up. Given enough force, a nut will slide over a damaged thread and you can continue working. Not so with SS fittings. A damaged thread will need to be repaired before you can send a nut home or you risk jamming it in place, unable to back it off.

My team and I were having a discussion about why this is, and what was going on at the molecular level to cause the difference. The best we could come up with was either:

A) The superior tensile strength of Stainless Steel causes the fitting to jam, rather than deflect under loading, or;

B) The graphite content in mild steel acts as a dry lubricant, making the fasteners more forgiving of imperfections.

Or a combination of both. Can anyone shed some light on this?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/ZoroeArc on 2024-10-20 12:27:53.

This is a question I've been trying to answer for a while now, with most search results giving me the answer to the smallest insectivorous mammal. But surely there's a tiny little insect or arachnid that feasts upon even smaller insects? Or perhaps a weasel of the arthropod world that hunts insects larger than it?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/BlockOfDiamond on 2024-10-19 18:40:09.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Subject_System_8932 on 2024-10-13 03:51:52.

I’ve been watching and listening to unhealthy amounts of fermi paradox theories recently and they always talk about how we can’t see any signs of intelligent life in our universe but if our technology only sees light that traveled from millions and possibly billons of years ago how do we know if they’re actually not there?

Might be a stupid question, that’s why I’m asking it on reddit instead of my teacher.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/ochocosunrise on 2024-10-13 02:36:52.

Today I was learning about Maillard's Reaction in cooking. It's described as a reaction between amino acids and sugars, and it's what produces a beautiful crust on steaks and an amazing flavor.

However, when I Googled "how much sugar naturally exists in meat", the majority of the results stated that there was a very miniscule amount, if any.

How can Maillard's reaction occur in meat if this is the case?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Commercial-Truth4731 on 2024-10-12 16:34:35.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/EricTheViking1 on 2024-10-12 08:15:41.

How long does an infectioned mosquito have to bite you before it transmits a disease such as malaria or dengue? Is it as soon as it bites you or until it's full. Thank you!

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/zed_three on 2024-10-11 21:33:29.

Everything I can find says red aurora is due to low concentrations of oxygen at higher altitude, whereas green aurora is due to higher concentrations at lower altitude. That's quite an unsatisfying explanation though.

What exactly is the mechanism for exciting different wavelengths at different altitudes?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/domino7 on 2024-10-11 01:49:39.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/gocougs668 on 2024-10-11 03:05:17.

Across disparate mountain ranges, the tallest peaks are all in the 14,000s in height. From rainier in the cascades at 14410, to Whitney in the Sierra Nevadas, and all the 14ers in Colorado - why does there seem to be an elevation limit?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Akira3kgt on 2024-10-10 17:28:55.

If chromosome fusion occurs as a single event in one generation, and organisms with different numbers of chromosomes generally don't produce viable offspring, then who would this organism with newly fused chromosomes produce offspring with?

For example, in the human genome when chromosome 2 formed from the fusion of two other chromosomes, who did this newly fused unique organism mate with?

Is it simply that they usually don't produce viable offspring but in some rare cases they do? If so, then maybe this fusion happened more than once and it took many attempts at offspring before it caught on and a viable offspring was produced?