Ask MetaFilter questions in the science & nature category

a ride to to the moon?

buttercup — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:48:50 -0800

Where are all the novelty science education elevators? I know of the Stratavator at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and the Evolator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. What other simulated elevator rides are out there that demonstrate scientific principles? Bonus points for one in Vancouver, as I am visiting there in a few weeks.

Fp=2.16 Wp, but Wp=1.3Fp? WTF?!?!?

notsnot — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:12:36 -0800

How do you figure seismic sway bracing? I've been tasked with figuring out the sway bracing on a Class E soil medical facility. I've got a binder from a manufacturer, and some values off the structural engineering plans for the site.

However, as I read through the manual, they effectively say, "here's some car parts"...some formulas, no explanations. Then they give examples using different variables, and get conclusions that mean nothing..."here, make an airplane spanner wrench out of them." The results are numbers - %wp, which I can't seem to figure out what to do with from there.

The structural plans give an entirely *different* set of variables, none of which coincide with the manual's variables. It's like they started talking about railroads for all it's worth.

Anyone have any references to recommend?

I've tried googling, but can't find anything.

All of the science, none of the hassle

oceanmorning — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:48:38 -0800

I'm due to present a scientific poster at a conference in about two weeks. I'm overextended and don't have the time to make it myself. Is there a company that will write text, make charts, do the graphic design, and help me with printing? I don't want to be a no-show at the conference. But building a poster is always a huge time-suck for me, and I just can't make it a priority right now due to conflicting deadlines. With more funding than time available to me right now, I'd like to outsource this.

I've analyzed my data, and I know exactly what I want the poster to say. I've found companies online that will design/print a poster for me, but they need me to provide them with ready-to-go text, charts, etc. I need more help than that.

I want to hand someone my data spreadsheet, and give them a bullet-point list of what I want the poster to say. This person would then build a histogram and bar chart from my data, and write the text based on what I told them. They'd put together a 3' x 4' poster with some appealing colors and formatting, and arrange for getting it printed and shipped to my hotel at the conference (after I revise/OK the final draft). The person doing this would have to have some scientific savvy to be able to translate my thoughts into good text. They'd also need to be a decent graphic designer and have at least rough working knowledge of statistics. It almost seems like too much to ask at this late date. Does such a company exist?

What are the squat metal cylinders I see sitting on range-land fence posts?

dolface — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:12:01 -0800

What are the (sensors, recorders?) things that look like metal cake covers (short, wide cylinders) sitting on fence-posts, mostly in rangeland in the Western USA? I've only seen them on fence lines along roads, and they tend to sit on little shelves on the posts. They're usually almost as wide as they are tall, but sometimes taller than they are wide, and tend to be painted light green or grey, but I've seen them in stainless steel. They are always cylindrical.

They don't have a visible power source.

I don't think I've seen them east of the Rockies, but I'm not ready to swear to that.

Seismaphones? Something else? I'd love to know!

Drunken reaction time?

coizero — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:12:05 -0800

When I'm sober and attempting to kill a fly, I can't hit it in time. When I'm tipsy, I swat it easily. In reading and conversation, I make connections sooner when drunk than when sober. I've always heard that alcoholism slows reaction time ... so what gives? NOTE: My drunken spelling and grammar errors definitely increase when drunk. Are various functions affected differently by alcohol?

Phuck this

emd3737 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:47:12 -0800

I’m starting my sixth year of grad school in microbiology, and I’m miserable. I always planned to be a scientist: I thought I’d go to grad school, do a post-doc, and have a fulfilling career in research, but everything went off the rails a couple of years ago. I did well in my courses, I won awards, but after my first couple of years, my project has stagnated. I haven’t published anything and it looks like I never will (at least in terms of this project). My advisor is retiring and doesn’t care about my project, and my committee is concerned that my work isn’t “Ph.D. caliber.” Basically, it comes down to the fact that while I like science and I’m good at it, I don’t love it and I’m not exceptional at it. I feel like crap about myself and I cry all the time, and I fantasize about walking away from it all, taking another job, moving to a new country, whatever. But if I quit, it means that I’ll have nothing to show for years of hard work and mental anguish. I don’t mean to sound so dramatic about it, but when it comes down to it, this Ph.D. has been the focus of my life for the past few years, and it a difficult to imagine it ending in failure. However, the longer I keep telling myself to stick it out, the more unhappy I feel and the farther away the endpoint gets.

My questions are these: Did you get a Ph.D. in science and was it worth it? Should I stick it out and finish? Should I give science another shot, or am I really not cut out to be a scientist? Taking a leave of absence is not an option, and yes, I just started seeing a therapist.

Are there natural disasters in the deep ocean?

Flunkie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:59:18 -0800

Are there natural disasters in the deep ocean? Up here, we've got hurricanes, and earthquakes, and tsunamis, and tornados, and mudslides, and wild fires, and volcanos, and you name it.

And I assume that some of these things have significant effects near the surface of the ocean, or near the ocean floor.

But what about the deep ocean, far from both the surface and the floor? Are there any significant natural disasters of the same scale, striking suddenly and leaving vast swaths of fish with many dead and the rest wondering "what the hell was that"?

To be clear up front, I'm talking about natural disasters, not disasters clearly caused by human activity (such as dead zones due to pollution or strip trawling).

Brain oscillations? Why?

zeek321 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:06:10 -0800

Neurosciencefilter: Why does coordinated, oscillatory behavior spontaneously arise in networks of sparsely connected inhibitory neurons? (e.g. theta oscillations in the hippocampus) I know that complex, organized phenomena can arise from simple interactions (e.g. whirlpools down the bathtub drain), but I'm looking for deeper insight. Is there math that "explains" this? Chaos theory? Incoming bioengineering/neuroscience grad student, here. I was playing with a super-simple, off the shelf, quasi-biophysical network model in Matlab, and Mr. Postdoc nonchalantly reaches over and tweaks the current level, synaptic weights, and connection statistics, and the silly thing starts robustly oscillating (i.e., all the "neurons" fire together, wait a bit, fire again, and repeat). I mean, huh? What's going on here?

http://vesicle.nsi.edu/users/izhikevich/publications/net.m

I know this is moving into unsolved neuroscience mysteries territory, but I'm guessing there's some insight there, maybe a lot. Electrical engineering/mathy background. Hit me with the good stuff.

(For me, this was like a lesser version of seeing a message from aliens embedded in the digits of pi. Maybe such a reaction is unwarranted.)

Nuanced discussions of sexuality

mpls2 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:38:05 -0800

I want to read about sexuality. What are some quality resources that discuss sexuality in a nuanced way? I'm particularly interested in the homoerotic thoughts and experiences of self-identified straight men, and the prevalence of such. More generally, I'm just interested in learning about sexuality from sources that avoid the discrete gay/bi/straight mode of thinking.

Thanks!

Matches versus lighters: which is more envionmentally friendly?

chrismear — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:20:53 -0800

Which is more environmentally-friendly: matches or lighters? That is, regular matches versus your average disposable plastic lighter. And what if we throw a refillable lighter into the mix?

How long does one smell skunk?

NoMich — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:37:24 -0800

How long does one smell skunk? (ain't talkin' 'bout weed) So, last week I'm crashed at my brother's place way out in the country side in Northern Michigan and around 4:30 in the AM a skunk let's loose with his/her load of smellyness. It must have happened just outside my open window because that smell was horrifying. I've smelled it before, but not this up close 'n personal. I could smell lingering skunk smell for the rest of the day in his house. What's worse, his dog found the place where this occured because he rolled around in it. He still stunk days afterwards.

Now here's my question: how long can one smell skunk blast? It's been about six days now and I still get a passing whiff of skunk multiple times a day. Could the skunk chemical still be lodge in my nose, or is my mind just remembering this (hopefully) once in a lifetime blast and is having fun reminding me?

Im not asking "how does one get rid of skunk smell." I guess I should add that I've been back in North Carolina since Sunday night, so it's not a matter of me still being around the scene of the crime.

Is hypnosis real?

TigerCrane — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:17:28 -0800

Help me find reliable research on the validity of hypnosis. I want to find out what the consensus is in the scientific community regarding hypnosis. I have read some of the skeptics, and there are many article written by people who practice hypnosis. I want real, peer reviewed evidence.

Anybody?

Transhumanism in the Real World.

tybeet — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:58:42 -0800

Real-life examples of "transhumanism" / the fusion of body and "machine". Dear Meta Hive,

I'm giving a seminar for my class on the psychology of transhumanism. I'm looking for articles, books, and news about the real-world application of transhumanist principles and methods. My primary interest is in the clinical application of such methods (i.e. for therapy or relief of mental illnesses), but some of my seminar talk will also cover enhancement technologies and even some novelties / "techs seeking a purpose".

I have some things in mind which will serve as good examples:

I know for one, that brain pace-makers have been used to treat Alzheimer's and more recently depression. There are also bio-optic implants and cochlear implants which serve to restore sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf - these are fascinating to consider for persons who were born deaf or born blind. (Is there an analogue for the tactile sense or for smell??)

Some other things to mention are: brain chips, neurofeedback, various cyborg-prostheses, and some other cyber-punk-esque themes like nootropics, brain-computer interfaces and memory implants.

Of course, as I said I am greatly interested in other examples anyone can give besides the ones I mentioned (since I'm undoubtedly missing many) and even for the ones I do have, I'd like to have multiple sources citing uses of these things and etc. I've linked all Wikipedia articles, but I cannot use Wikipedia as a source for obvious reasons, and I would prefer reputable sources (BBC, SciAM, Newscientist) since I can follow up on these to find the scholars behind them most easily (this IS, afterall, a formal psychology seminar - I can only use so much that is bizarro futurism), scholarly articles are excellent, and even papers discussing the ethos of these things are welcome too.

Have at it!

Sprinting in high G

IvyMike — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:52:26 -0800

If the earth's gravity was increased by 10%, would sprint runners be slower or faster? Argument that they would be slower: It would be harder to run, duh.

Arguments that they would be faster: Moonmen move as if in slow motion. The runner would spend less time in the air. The runner would be able to "push off" with more force, similar to the reason Indy cars find it advantageous to generate downforce.

Not-quite-Canadian Rockies edible plants: what's the best reference?

a robot made out of meat — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:30:23 -0800

I'm going backpacking for a couple of weeks in the Beartooth mountains next summer. I'll be above the tree line most of the time. I'd like to have some local herbs and greens to make trail food more palatable. Is the flora described in Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies going to be the right stuff for this trip? Is there another pack-reference which will better describe this biome? Feel free to recommend whatever plant reference you've had good experience with in this area of the country.

Faster than polynomials, Slower than exponentials

metastability — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:47:39 -0800

Is there anything "in between" polynomials and exponentials? Does there exist a real-valued function f: R -> R such that
i) the limit (as x goes to infinity) of f(x) / a^x = 0 for all a > 1, and
ii) the limit (as x goes to infinity) of x^n / f(x) = 0 for all positive integers n.

In down to earth terms, "f(x) grows slower than any exponential, and faster than any polynomial."

This came up in a discussion about algorithms. "There are polynomial time algorithms, and exponential time algorithms. Well, is there anything in between?"

Maybe this is too technical a question for AskMe, but I'm sure the answer is known to some computer programmers, and I respect your guys knowledge on computer stuff.

Things I've tried so far:
Rephrasing the question as a statement about exponentially decaying functions, or about functions blowing up at the origin.
Taking the log of both sides.
Considering trig functions like sec(x), which has a pole at pi/2, combined with the homeomorphism between (-pi/2, pi/2) and the real line via the function arctan(x). This didn't seem to work, but I'm not entirely sure.
Randomly flipping through functional analysis textbooks for statements about the topology of the space of integrable functions. I think the function in question would have to be n-Schwartz for every n, or something like that.

I need Math People to help me find out how long it takes 2 Last (Wo)Men on Earth to meet.

mr_book — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:36:34 -0800

How long should it reasonably take before 2 "Last Men on Earth" meet? I'm writing a story about a post-apocalyptic mathematician, something to do with zombies. Any such character would naturally be inclined to work the following problem in such a situation. My difficulty lies in myself having very few mathematical skills (2 +2 is four, heh heh heh, me smart). So, Hive Mind, assist me!

Question: Assuming that there has been a global catastrophe of Hollywood proportions and most of the human race has died off (or become zombies, etc), and assuming that any lone survivors will, eventually, come to think of themselves as the "Last (Wo)Man on Earth" in the Richard Matheson vein, and assuming a slow rate of travel among these LMOE, how long will it take before 2 LMOE meet, and how many LMOE are there on Earth in total?

Assumption 1: Most of the human race has died off. Let's assume that 99.99% of the global human population is gone, just so we have something to work with.

Assumption 2: Lone survivors come to believe themselves as the Last Man on Earth. Let's assume that it takes 3 months of being alone to come to this assumption. This assumption is contingent on not seeing another -living- human being during this time, so we can expect city dwellers to have a margin of error here leading them to come to this conclusion later than their rural or islander counterparts, being as there should (at first) be more survivors in cities. However, they can't be considered LMOE unless they end of alone, so it may take some time for their fellow survivors to die off and thus the margin of error. If their fellow survivors never die off, they can't be considered LMOE. Let's say any group of survivors has a half-life of 1 week, and no group can begin with more than 8 survivors.

Assumption 3: A slow rate of travel among the LMOE. Let's say, for the sake of the problem, that half the LMOE are home-based and half are travel-based. Home-based LMOE stay within their little "fortified zone" of about 5 square miles (gathering supplies, killing zombies, and waiting out the storm going slowly insane). Travel-Based LMOE move slowly (at about 5 miles per day) due to travel hazards such as zombie hordes, traffic blocks, fires, etc. They're determined to find other survivors and thus keep themselves from madness.

Hidden Assumption 4: The game begins on Day 0. Day 0 is the day when the travel-based LMOE begin moving, the home-based LMOE start gathering supplies, and city-based groups of survivors begin dying off down to single LMOE.

How many days will it take before any 2 LMOE meet?

I realize I am not a mathematician (I am in fact, and English major and the opposite of a mathematician), and so any data that needs to be filled in, altered, or deleted should be in order for the problem to be solved.

Cheers.

What molecule is this building?

Huw — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:26:32 -0800

Does this building's layout represent a particular molecule? I believe it's the (old?) headquarters of BOC Gases near Chobham, Surrey.

building a life

diode — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:51:55 -0800

I'm looking for ways to change my behavior. It's important for various reasons that I start reinforcing some behaviors and stopping others. I'm a procrastinator for one, and tend to start projects and not finish them for another. Is there a research backed methodology for doing so? I'm really needing to change my behavior patterns that will get me on a better track towards success. I tend to avoid things that will take effort and just stay on the easy, habitual routine. Ultimately this is working to my detriment in the short and long term.

I studied a program by a company called Sybervision that theoretically had discovered a research-based way to reinforce positive behavior that underlie success. It was based on cueing parts of the brain in order to create powerful images, sounds, and feelings of success plus one would imagine a hero figure associated with a positive behavior doing battle with a negative figure associated with a negative trait. The hero would win and you would associate yourself with the hero figure.

Ultimately I didn't see any major changes using this program for the period I was using it. There's all sorts of stuff out there like NLP, subliminals, hypnosis, affirmations and what have you that I don't think does a heck of a lot.

Given how important it is for people to change their behavior successfully or to reinforce positive traits and actions, you'd think there'd be more research around it. Perhaps there is and I don't know of it.

So, are there any new techniques of building and reinforcing behavior that are based on research?

Is it possible to be bad at math and understand the structure of the universe?

diogenes — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:47:40 -0800

Is it possible to be bad at math and understand the structure of the universe? A recent question about the structure of the universe got me thinking about my own attempts to understand these ideas. I'm fascinated by cosmology, but I suck at math. It's a frustrating combination ;) I read cosmology books (like Carl Sagan) and listen to astronomy podcasts, and I feel like I'm gaining some understanding. Am I just fooling myself? Is it only the physicists and mathematicians who truly understand the structure of the universe?

To put it another way, most of my understanding is based on analogies provided by people who understand the math. Are these analogies so partial and flawed as to be useless?

Need daily worldwide wind data...

klanawa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:39:15 -0800

I'm looking for daily data about current global wind patterns. I've seen NASA's and NOAA's wind maps and made my own with meteoblue, but what I really need is a daily (approximately), preferrably gridded summary of global wind velocities, including over land (NASA has many wind products, like QuickSCAT, but they only cover the ocean).

I could get velocities by sampling the pixels on a map image, but that leaves me without directions (which are generally only indicated by arrows or barbs) so I need some numerical data.

Googling has failed me. Anyone know where I can find this? Format is basically a non-issue.

Thanks.

Is the amount of matter in the universe infinite?

borkingchikapa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:31:31 -0800

Is the amount of matter in the universe infinite, too? How does that work? So, okay, say our universe is infinite (current data supports this, right?). Since there are a finite number of ways that particles can be arranged, that must mean that if you go far enough you'll run into an identical earth with an identical history, identical population, an identical you. Even though that's hella weird and I could probably never explain it to my parents, I think I get it.

I'd heard all that before, but I was listening to this Radiolab podcast (which is really very good!) and it doesn't mention the one thing I never understood - doesn't that mean that the amount of matter in the universe must also be infinite?

Honestly, in light of all this other nonsense, that tidbit wouldn't be that hard to swallow if it didn't directly contradict other weird stuff I've heard. For example, according to this episode of Astronomy Cast (maybe I shouldn't be getting all my information from podcasts), the Big Bang created slightly more matter than anti-matter, resulting in a mostly-matter universe. But how could it be more if matter is infinite? They even give a number, I think it's something like ten billion particles of antimatter to ten billion and one of matter.

Now what? Is matter actually infinite? Is one of those wrong? Are they both supported, and there's something I'm missing?

Statistics on Overdose

zouhair — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:12:33 -0800

I am looking for statistics about accidents and deaths due to overdose on prescribed drugs vs overdose on Illegal drugs.

Extroverts, please speak up!

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:22:33 -0800

This one is for the extroverts. As someone who has struggled with social anxiety/shyness to varying degrees my entire life, I'm very curious to know what your inner dialogue is like? What goes on in your mind in various everyday social situations? Are there 'positive' things (if anything at all) that you're saying to yourself or is it just the opposite in that there isn't much of a dialogue prior to the action and instead of thinking (or overthinking) about the hows and whys and whatifs, you just act.

For example, you spot an attractive stranger across the room, decide you'd like to talk to them. Do you then just walk across the room and do it just because you wish to talk to them, without any planning, or caring about the outcome? Is that how it is, when you boil it down? You just do and think/evaluate later? What if the outcome isn't what you'd desired? What are you mental processes in that case, post action. Do you even have an inner critic or were you just born with the ability to 'be in the moment' ?

I realize that it is 'natural' to experience some degree of anxiety in the scenarios similar to the one mentioned above and yet there seem to be some for whom feeling anxious (at least socially) seems like a totally alien concept. It is from those people (though comments from others are also welcome) that I'd like to hear. I just want to know what kind of self evaluation (if any at all) is going on in your mind when you're in social situations.

Thanks!

Stats-filter. Ugh.

gaspode — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:43:05 -0800

Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Statview. Anyone know how to set up a datasheet to do this analysis in this program? I know this is an incredible longshot. My husband emailed me to see if I could do a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for him. I have the spreadsheet (survival and dropout -censored- patients over time) but I'm working from home today and only have the statview stats program (which is old and no longer available) here on my laptop. I only use this program for ANOVAs and other simple tests and don't know how to set up the datasheet to perform the K-M analysis. The help section is useless, I don't have the manual here, and google is failing me bigtime. Is anyone more competent with Statview than me?