ewmon

There was a point when almost nothing was known. I am wondering, how do you think people like Einstein started on the road they did to even begin to discover the things they did? Imagine that nothing were known about physics and the world we live in except what you can literally see. How do you take that first plunge into atoms and gravity etc.?

I'm imagining that a patent clerk's job is not so demanding for someone of Einstein's abilities, so he had more time to think about his scientific work. Also, not only did Einstein stand on the shoulders of giants in science, but quite possibly, being a patent office clerk, the nature of his work exposed him to new or novel concepts that helped him in his seminal work. His own "think tank" as it was.

I also think that humans are no more "intelligent" now than, say, 2,000 or even 10,000 years ago, but that our body of accumulated knowledge has grown considerably. Prehistoric humans have been portrayed as bumbling klutzes, but I think humans have always been very perceptive, clever, and industrious. We had to be in order to survive due to our physical susceptibilities and to overcome them.

Our body of accumulated knowledge itself has a positive effect on human advancement, specifically the storage and transmission of knowledge, but also the instruments to gather information and the development/recognition of formal logic that helps us to theorize the unknown and predict the future.

What happened to make the brackets go away?

I have an 80cc 2-stroke engine on my schwin bike. What do you guys think of equipping it with an alternator? I was thinking about putting an electric front wheel on the bike with a battery that I would charge with the gas engine.

InigoMontoya makes a valid point about your idea being inefficient because you would convert the engine's mechanical power into electrical power, charging the battery, discharging the battery, and then back to mechanical power, and each step involves a loss. Plus the added weight of an alternator, voltage regulator, battery, motor controller and electric motor.

However, depending on the equipment you use, your *peak* power output could be much higher than what your 80cc engine could produce, and this peak power could be used for climbing hills, fighting headwinds, passing, etc. So, if you travel lots of ups and downs or often have headwinds, your idea might benefit you so you're not crawling up hills or against the wind. Also, like the Chevy Volt, you still have battery power if your engine quits or if you run out of gas (so it's like having a reserve). It'll also give you electric power for lights, radio, etc.

Cherenkov radiation falls within the light spectrum, and silver halides are sensitive to the light spectrum (they are used in photographic films), so the answer is yes. I have seen Cherenkov radiation in water at a nuclear facility, and the photos and videos of it accurately portray its light blue color seeming to emanate from the water around the radiation source.

When forever arrives, and it's still going, I'll get interested.

One of the aspects of so-called perpetual motion machines is that, even making them a just little more efficient allows the extra energy to be extracted, and thus, a source of limitless energy.

the word pomegranate looks suspiciously similar to permanganate.

Etymology is fun! Most information is in the consonants, and their order is also important.

So the disparity between p-m-g-r-n-... and p-r-m-n-g-... is a pretty good clue that they're probably not related.

It's like Spoonerisms: well-boiled icicle and well-oiled bicycle seem so close together, and yet are so far apart.

And other such things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJv_YXIXBsE

the "answer" is not permitted to be given to me, but any walkthrough in helping me understand the question would be greatly appreciated!

Chriz, you certainly are correct. Here's a more appropriate idea of a walk through —

They've asked for concentration in the unit of micrograms per cubic meter, which in simple terms is mass per volume. Whenever you see "per", it means "for", and its math equivalent is division. When they ask for micrograms (μg) per cubic meter (m³), what will be the unit for the answer? Next, find the mass involved in terms of micrograms, and find the volume involved in terms of cubic meters. Perform the division to obtain the number part of the answer, then join the unit designation to it.

BTW Chriz, I'll bet the chapter was on unit conversions, right?

You can post your invention on a forum, but then it won't be your invention anymore.

To post it, just keep on describing it.

He's making the same mistakes that G.W. did [...] making himself sound like [showing himself to be] an ignorant ass.

Romney's first modification to Air Force One

Just after he swung his hammer, the last thing to go through Romney's mind was ...

a. the Secret Service agent who was trying to grab the hammer from him

b. Romney's seat cushion

c. the "football"

d. (you're invited to add your own ideas)

IIRC, jumping spiders tolerate each other during encounters, though keeping their distance, and they even hibernate "together" over winter.

It has been said that laughter is the best medicine.

when an ancient people's world suffered a flood, it meant that the world they knew was flooded.

Especially if the rising waters forced them to retreat up a mountain and transformed it into an island. Yet, where did all that water go?

Then there's the "outburst floods" involving the Caspian and Black Seas and also the Zanclean Flood of the Mediterranean basin.

The Zanclean Flood has got me thinking. The Earth rotates toward the east. The water bursting through the Gibraltar Strait would accelerate toward the east, which would decelerate the Earth's spin, lengthening its day, right? Probably not by much. Wikipedia says the flooding/drying cycle has happened several times.

So far, they've found a huge "ocean" under Asia the size of the Arctic Ocean.

Some great suggestions so far. Hey Ewmon, you want me to put in your QAAB? I can give you credit in the app, either by your screen name or personal name if you want. Keep those suggestions coming. THANKS AGAIN.

Nawh, no credit needed.

Hydrothermal vents [including deep-sea vents along with hot springs, fumaroles and geysers] exist because the earth is both geologically active and has large amounts of water [...] within its crust.

And why do you think the answer to #1 is c?

1. Which of the followingstatements about polypeptides is not correct?

Answer

1. their structure is influenced by hydrophobic effects
   
2. they are synthesized inside the endoplasmic reticulum
   
3. they can recognize specific DNA sequences
   
4. their function can be modified by phosphorylation
   
5. they can fold to form helices, sheets, coils
   

2. Which of the followingis not true of ribosomes?

Answer

1. they have codons in ribosomal RNA
   
2. ribosomes catalyze peptide bond formation
   
3. ribosome structure requires rRNA binding to proteins
   
4. they can bind to transfer RNA
   
5. they can bind to the 5' end of messenger RNA
   

3. The cell membrane formsas a result of

Answer

1. cholesterol binding
   
2. covalent bonds between head groups
   
3. hydrogen bonding between fatty acid chains
   
4. hydrophobic effects on phospholipids
   
5. assembly directed by membrane proteins
   

4. Which statement aboutcarbohydrates is incorrect?

Answer

1. can be attached to proteins
   
2. can mediate selective transport into the cell
   
3. can be used to store energy
   
4. can be attached to lipids
   
5. can provide structure for cells
   

5. Which of the followingstatements about electron transport used for respiration in animal cellsis incorrect?

Answer

1. produces CO2
   
2. involves proton transport
   
3. consumes oxygen
   
4. all answers are correct
   
5. initiated by oxidation of NADH
   

6. Which of the followingis not true of DNA?

Answer

1. it is usually found as two anti-parallel strands
   
2. it is located in the nucleus
   
3. it is a template for synthesis of messenger RNA
   
4. it is a template for the synthesis of DNA
   
5. its nucleotide base-pairing is mediated by phosphodiester bonds
   

7. ATP

Answer

1. is an essential enzyme
   
2. acts as an electron carrier
   
3. base-pairs with thymidine nucleotides
   
4. contains high energy bonds
   
5. all answers are correct
   

8. A mutation in thenon-coding region of a gene

Answer

1. can change the expression of the gene product
   
2. can change the structure of the gene product
   
3. can't have a phenotype
   
4. can't be inherited
   

9. A gene

Answer

1. is a trait
   
2. is expressed only in the presence of RNA polymerases
   
3. is assembled from a set of essential amino acids
   
4. is replicated during the G1 phase of the cell cycle
   
5. changes its information depending on the environment of the cell
   

10. Alleles of a gene

Answer

1. have the same DNA sequence
   
2. can produce different versions of a protein
   
3. mark the start and stop of transcription
   
4. are always in the same DNA molecule
   

vcu, go back and re-format your post so it's readable (squeeze the answer lines together, and separate the problems from each other), then give us your answers and your thinking at arriving at those answers, and we'll help you from there. That's what Homework Help is about. We don't give answers; we help you think to arrive at the answers yourself.

A blue moon ~ 2.7143 years.

For me, one of the FDA's best improvements is its 20-year-old post-marketing surveillance (Phase IV drug trials), where the public reports directly to the FDA about adverse reactions to drugs.

Alcohol is the most common teratogen, and to describe the horrors of FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) in terms to which we can all relate, one well-known study slapped a $2 million price tag on every case of FASD, which includes medical care, special education, productivity losses, and residential care (including incarceration because FASD patients especially have difficulty telling right from wrong). A case involving one of my relatives easily topped $1 million, with about one-quarter due to lost wages, one-half due to "residential care" (ie, prosecution and long-term incarceration), and one-quarter due to medical care and other expenses. Society thinks it was just another crime, but it's my family's dirty little secret.

It's worth noting that the FDA refused to approve thalidomide in the United States, saying that further research was needed. The process worked.

Yet, the FDA had learned its lesson the hard way. Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey PhD MD of the FDA became suspicious of some results from the thalidomide drug trials due to her involvement 25 years earlier in the 1937 Elixir Sulfanilamide Incident in which 107 patients died (which had also resulted in the quickly enacted 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act). And even though the thalidomide disaster struck other countries and not the US, Congress enacted the Drug Amendments of 1962 as a result of it.

The S. E. Massengill Company had produced the Elixir Sulfanilamide. Authorities found that the company did not violate any laws — even though it's main component, diethylene glycol, was poisonous — except mislabeling it as an "elixir", which indicated that it contained alcohol (which it did not). The company's president, Samuel Evans Massengill expressed regret about the deaths but expressed no responsibility for them. However, Harold Watkins, the chemist at Massengill who developed the elixir, felt much differently and killed himself.

Interestingly, the Massengill Company now advertises its name “Massengill” as “the name you can trust.”

Although perhaps given in under more formal circumstances, you'll find examples among our better-known southern politicians such as: Pres. Lyndon Johnson (Texas), Pres. Jimmy Carter (Georgia), Gov. George Wallace (Alabama), Sen. Huey Long (Louisiana), etc.

One of the better defining characteristics for me is the drawl (ie, relaxed speech). For example, Jimmy Carter would pronounce "oil" as "awh", which misses the tightness of the lips for the "o", the tightness of the tongue (toward the roof of the mouth) for the "i", and the touching of the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth for the "l". Another characteristic is the slurring of words, such as "y'all" (for "you all"), "sumbitch" for "son of a bitch", etc. I had also thought that flowery speech was an exaggeration shown in

I agree that nowadays,

...if there were organic molecules that may have been precursors of life, they would be rapidly utilized by the lifeforms that exist now. Thus, the likelihood of abiogenesis still to occur is extremely low.

Thank you LogicGates for the Lord Kelvin quote.

As to "what this first living structure actually looked like", I lean toward First Life consisting of the combined oceans (ie, the entirety of the Earth) as a single organism, without any need for a cell wall (to isolate or protect it from what?), obtaining energy through photosynthesis from the Sun, etc (or perhaps geothermal or something similar).

So, if abiogenesis is happening today, it would not succeed where life already exists (ie, it would not succeed here on Earth).

ertsac (sing ERT-sack, plural ERT-sacks)

Enough Room To Swing A Cat

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) recently issued the official value for this unit of volume. The largest nominal stature of a person was set at 6.5 feet, with the width of the extended arms the same. This gives one arm’s extension from the center of the body at 3.25 feet. The length of a "fully extended uncooperating cat" (this is NIST's official terminology), including the claws of its front paws was set at, strangely enough, 3.25 feet also. With the nominal length of overlap of the hand and tail being 0.5 feet, this gives the radius of a sphere of 6 feet even (3.25+3.25–0.5 = 6.0 feet). Using the equation for the volume of a sphere, this yields a volume of an ertsac to be 904.778684 cubic feet. NIST warns the public that attempting to confirm this measurement at home, without proper training and protective clothing, can result in serious injuries.

bomh (sing BOWM, plural BOWMZ)

Back Of My Hand

We need to be able to distinguish either of our hands from every other living person’s hands. The maximum reasonable carrying capacity of the Earth is about 16 billion humans, and almost everyone has two hands, so we’re talking about 32 billion hands. Rounding up, NIST set a bomh equal to 2³⁵, which equals almost 35 billion.

qaab (sing kab, plural kabz)

Quick As A Bunny

Most people don’t realize that (because I just made this up) quickness is a matter of time, and for bunnies, this means running at full speed in front of a person (arms’ breadth = 6.5 feet, see ertsac above) without the person grabbing hold of it. Quick bunnies require an entire hand (0.5 feet, see ertsac above) to grab it, so it’s the time it takes a quick bunny to transit 8.75 feet (3.25+6.5–0.5–0.5 - 8.75). NIST relied on Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia’s 45 mph (66 fps) for jackrabbits. This results in a qaab of 8.75/66 seconds or 0.132576 seconds. As you can see, this is quick indeed.

Other information on units is available at hypertextbook.com/facts/.

Cell phone addicts lousy drivers even when not calling

... frighteningly similar to ...

Multitaskers poor producers even when not multitasking

I think the evidence is beginning to build that humans are not computers — that is, we cannot run multiple "applications" efficiently. I wish there was a conclusive study that proved this to American business so we never again hear an interviewer ask, "And how are you at multitasking?" Maybe this question should be illegal, like asking someone to sit for a lie detector test.

Didn't Kuhn cover all this in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962).

In this work, Kuhn challenged the then prevailing view of progress in "normal science". Scientific progress had been seen primarily as "development-by-accumulation" of accepted facts and theories. Kuhn argued for an episodic model in which periods of such conceptual continuity in normal science were interrupted by periods of revolutionary science. During revolutions in science, the discovery of anomalies leads to a whole new paradigm that changes the rules of the game and the "map" directing new research, asks new questions of old data, and moves beyond the puzzle-solving of normal science.

 

For example, Kuhn's analysis of the Copernican Revolution emphasized that, in its beginning, it did not offer more accurate predictions of celestial events, such as planetary positions, than the Ptolemaic system, but instead appealed to some practitioners based on a promise of better, simpler, solutions that might be developed at some point in the future.

 

Kuhn used the word "paradigm" to refer to the core concepts of an ascendant revolution, and he thereby launched this word into widespread analogical use in the second half of the 20th century. Kuhn's insistence that a "paradigm shift" (a term coined by him) was a mélange of sociology, enthusiasm and scientific promise, but not a logically determinate procedure, caused an uproar in reaction to his work.

 

Kuhn addressed concerns in the 1969 postscript to the second edition. For some commentators it introduced a realistic humanism into the core of science while for others the nobility of science was tarnished by Kuhn's introduction of an irrational element into the heart of its greatest achievements.