21
New Theories / Re: Are the arms of the T Rex small to help it run?
« on: 23/06/2022 13:15:24 »
A bit like the kangaroo, then.
Evolution generally sheds unnecessary weight.
Evolution generally sheds unnecessary weight.
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22
Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why do I sweat more now that I'm older?
« on: 23/06/2022 13:12:31 »
It's a question of genetics and succession.
The only human who definitely doesn't sweat was at one time fourth in line to the Throne of England. Charles and Anne have similar genes but the Palace retains a dignified silence on the matter of their perspiration.
Assuming you have royal blood, you would have been born with some of that desirable characteristic, but as time moved on and grandsons were born, the Duke of York moved down to ninth, so the magic has worn off and us lowly mortals with numbers above 1000 are now indistinguishable from the common herd when the sun shines.
The only human who definitely doesn't sweat was at one time fourth in line to the Throne of England. Charles and Anne have similar genes but the Palace retains a dignified silence on the matter of their perspiration.
Assuming you have royal blood, you would have been born with some of that desirable characteristic, but as time moved on and grandsons were born, the Duke of York moved down to ninth, so the magic has worn off and us lowly mortals with numbers above 1000 are now indistinguishable from the common herd when the sun shines.
23
Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is there any mechanism for getting expensive medication back into use.
« on: 23/06/2022 13:00:30 »
Not entirely an unconnected story in a market economy!
Assuming the stuff works on rats, you have to test for toxicity and maximum tolerable dose in fit humans, which can take a year at least, then for efficacy on real patients (which can take a very long time if it's a rare disease), submit your manufacturing process to official scrutiny, then prove it is at least as good as or substantially safer than the market leader (to get a US licence), set up your worldwide postmarket surveillance program, ....and now you can design the packaging and brief your sales force or open negotiations with NICE and its overseas equivalents for public supply.
In the intervening 5 years or so you are paying interest or dividends on the capital you used to develop the molecule in the first place, and reorganising your production and distribution facilities to scale up for the mass market or rapid bespoke production, all in the hope that the firm next door doesn't have a better product.....
The question over the £200k product is whether you will actually make a profit from 10 or 1000 patients per year, or whether it is just good for company image.
Assuming the stuff works on rats, you have to test for toxicity and maximum tolerable dose in fit humans, which can take a year at least, then for efficacy on real patients (which can take a very long time if it's a rare disease), submit your manufacturing process to official scrutiny, then prove it is at least as good as or substantially safer than the market leader (to get a US licence), set up your worldwide postmarket surveillance program, ....and now you can design the packaging and brief your sales force or open negotiations with NICE and its overseas equivalents for public supply.
In the intervening 5 years or so you are paying interest or dividends on the capital you used to develop the molecule in the first place, and reorganising your production and distribution facilities to scale up for the mass market or rapid bespoke production, all in the hope that the firm next door doesn't have a better product.....
The question over the £200k product is whether you will actually make a profit from 10 or 1000 patients per year, or whether it is just good for company image.
24
Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is there a net heat exchange between water and ice at 0 degree C?
« on: 22/06/2022 17:28:53 »The dynamic system (ice become liquid and reversa) try to maximise the heat exchange,What heat exchange? Heat flow only occurs if there is a temperarture difference. If not, how would the heat know which way to flow, and when to stop?
25
Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why where the native Americans so vulnerable to disease?
« on: 22/06/2022 17:26:38 »
Relatively small gene pool, isolated for maybe 10,000 years, never acquired residual herd immunity (people often forget the word "residual" - you may have to kill 90% of the population to achieve it!), many deliberately infected in the later stages of colonisation, deprived of agricultural land and clean water, negligible provision of health services....you name it.
26
Just Chat! / Re: Should a person be allowed to bring their own vending machine to a hotel?
« on: 21/06/2022 13:50:08 »
The object of a vending machine is to make a profit from the sale of whatever is inside. Only an economist would believe that selling his own stock to himself is Good for The Economy.
27
New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 21/06/2022 13:47:31 »Starvation'Twas ever thus. More people than the land can support. You can either accept it as part of nature, or do something about it, like not making babies you can't feed.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/20/niger-in-eye-of-climate-crisis-and-children-are-starving-malnutrition
28
New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 21/06/2022 13:44:00 »" Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, is low-lying and faces threats from climate change-related natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 17% of people in Bangladesh would need to be relocated over the next decade or so if global warming persists at the present rate. "Never mind the Guardian. You read it here ,many years ago. My concern at the time was (and still is) how this "relocation" will be managed. Will the army prevent those from the south migrating towards the north of Bangladesh, or will they join the migrants and invade India?
29
New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 21/06/2022 13:39:06 »" Temperatures are rising nearly everywhere because of global warming,Er...cause and effect inverted? Global warming is what happens when temperatures rise, surely.
30
Physiology & Medicine / Re: The crucial ingredients of CBD:
« on: 21/06/2022 13:30:26 »
.
Citation required.
And please rephrase your title as a question.
CBD has also been shown to inhibit the growth of many types of cancer cells by inducing cancer cell death, inhibiting the growth of blood vessels that supply these cancerous cells with nutrients, and by inhibiting their ability to metastasize.
Citation required.
And please rephrase your title as a question.
31
Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is there a net heat exchange between water and ice at 0 degree C?
« on: 20/06/2022 23:06:53 »Whatever needed by a measuring device / method to produce conclusive result.A really tiny thermistor, or literally, a gnat's whisker. Mosquitoes and bed bugs have unbelievably good temperature sensors built on micron scales.
32
Chemistry / Re: In what fundamental forms are energy released when hydrogen burns in oxygen?
« on: 20/06/2022 22:59:04 »
Since the released energy is expressed as kinetic energy of the product molecules, in most exothermic reactions there is no loss of mass-energy. What happens to that heat later has nothing to do with the chemistry.
It could be argued that a flame reaction emits photons and thus loses some energy if it is observable, but if you want to be really picky you will carry out the reaction in a polished bomb calorimeter so all the photon energy is quickly degraded to molecular kinetic energy.
Either way, we are looking at mass-energy conversion on a scale orders of magnitude less than a nuclear reaction. The binding energies in chemistry are a few eV, compared with umpteen MeV from mass loss in fission and even keV for the lowest energy beta and gamma decays..
It could be argued that a flame reaction emits photons and thus loses some energy if it is observable, but if you want to be really picky you will carry out the reaction in a polished bomb calorimeter so all the photon energy is quickly degraded to molecular kinetic energy.
Either way, we are looking at mass-energy conversion on a scale orders of magnitude less than a nuclear reaction. The binding energies in chemistry are a few eV, compared with umpteen MeV from mass loss in fission and even keV for the lowest energy beta and gamma decays..
33
That CAN'T be true! / Re: Does the IVO thruster violate Newton's third law?
« on: 20/06/2022 12:05:00 »
So Newton was wrong? Experimental evidence?
34
New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 20/06/2022 10:32:19 »So how much land is used for agricultural purposes, in Europe?It's an interesting map. The UK is usually depicted as an urban, industrial society, but turns out to be the most farmed part of Europe, with less than 5% of the surface covered with concrete, and crops or pasture pretty much up to the top of our tiny "mountains".The popular view of "agrarian" Norway is actually confined to a tiny coastal fringe and a few high pastures.
It's a sad comment on governmental competence that the UK, essentially a flat, wet expanse of farmland on top of a field of coal and iron ore and surrounded by fish, seems to be in a permanent state of economic crisis.
35
That CAN'T be true! / Re: Does the IVO thruster violate Newton's third law?
« on: 20/06/2022 10:18:07 »
The experimental result, assuming it was accurately reported, was not obtained in an infinite perfect vacuum. An electrostatic accelerator can use residual gas molecules to generate thrust, and an imperfectly shielded electrostatic system will experience a force from induced charge on the surface of the vacuum chamber.
36
Geek Speak / Re: Why different computers/devices may show different times (at seconds precision)?
« on: 20/06/2022 09:59:45 »
Internet is not instantaneous. The displayed time is probably within a millisecond of the time the server compiled it, but its route from there to your computer is not defined.
Your best estimate of UTC will be the radio signal from your national standards laboratory.
Your best estimate of UTC will be the radio signal from your national standards laboratory.
37
Chemistry / Re: In what fundamental forms are energy released when hydrogen burns in oxygen?
« on: 19/06/2022 23:10:12 »But fundamentaly, the origin of the energy is the same : Loss of mass.
There is no mass loss in the combustion of hydrogen, nor any mass gain in the electrolysis of water.
38
Just Chat! / Re: Is "canceling" someone sometimes justified?
« on: 19/06/2022 23:07:20 »
Nobody survives.
Most people recover from a few illnesses and accidents, but life is exactly like cricket - eventually, you will be bowled, stumped, caught, run out, or LBW by something traumatic or unpleasant, and you get a round of applause if you make 100.
As it happened, Stalin made 74 and died from "a stroke", though history does not state if he played on to the stumps or was caught. Either way it was a reasonable score for a middle-order player (the opener, Marx, made 64 - they were a pretty solid team) and an honorable dismissal.
Most people recover from a few illnesses and accidents, but life is exactly like cricket - eventually, you will be bowled, stumped, caught, run out, or LBW by something traumatic or unpleasant, and you get a round of applause if you make 100.
As it happened, Stalin made 74 and died from "a stroke", though history does not state if he played on to the stumps or was caught. Either way it was a reasonable score for a middle-order player (the opener, Marx, made 64 - they were a pretty solid team) and an honorable dismissal.
39
New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 19/06/2022 22:52:05 »You mean that if you cant eat meat every (or even cant eat meat at all) you will starve ?Not just meat, though animal feed does absorb a good deal of artificial fertiliser, and farm animal exhalation is reponsible for about 25% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. But there are authoritative estimates that about 30% of the body mass of our species now depends on the Haber-Boscsh process, without which we could not grow enough plants to feed ourselves.
40
Chemistry / Re: In what fundamental forms are energy released when hydrogen burns in oxygen?
« on: 19/06/2022 16:31:38 »
......eppur si muove.
And if I want to be pedantic, 2H + O ↔ H2O + E doesn't actually happen. The reaction is between molecular H2 and O2 so the resultant is at least 2H2O, allowing the product molecules to fly apart from the CM without violating the conservation laws.
And if I want to be pedantic, 2H + O ↔ H2O + E doesn't actually happen. The reaction is between molecular H2 and O2 so the resultant is at least 2H2O, allowing the product molecules to fly apart from the CM without violating the conservation laws.