81

Physiology & Medicine / Why do prunes (plums) cause gas?

« on: 17/09/2012 09:57:35 »

Prunes are ripening in my orchard.
And I just love prunes & plums.

But, I'm sitting here (alone) wondering why the prunes cause so much gas.

One note on the web suggested it was fructose, but the body can break down and digest fructose relatively easily, and prunes are worse than other types of fruit so I find that explanation doubtful.

82

Just Chat! / How will future generations view the early 2000's?

« on: 12/09/2012 06:39:08 »

If we look back at history, we have:

The Stone Age,
The Copper Age
The Bronze Age
The Iron Age.

Then the Greek Empire.
The Roman Empire
Very warring, imperialistic, perhaps some decadence.  Growth of Art, and early science.

Skipping ahead, we hit the "Dark Ages", with little progress...  anywhere?  What did they consider themselves?

Then we get the renaissance, and the rebirth of science, exploration, art, and discovery.

Of course, we often romanticize the medieval period with knights and armor...  What about all the bloodshed?  Rape?  Pillaging?  And, of course extreme poverty among the majority of individuals.

Then we hit the industrial revolution.  Coal Smoke....
"Cowboys & Indians"?

Now we get into the 21^st century.  Perhaps the average person is richer than ever before.  But, we have our problems too.

What will the future generations say about us?  What will our generation be called?

83

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Z to A of Zoology and Zoological Species

« on: 09/09/2012 05:08:29 »

To compliment the A to Z of Science topic, we can now have a list of species primarily dedicated to zoology and zoological species. 

Everyone's contributions are welcome.  And, since this is all about zoology and zoological species, we'll start with Z so the anteater lovers have to wait their turn!!!

Please try to keep the list in order.

It is always a good idea to paraphrase information found on the web, and link sources of photos.

84

Chemistry / Is there an easy (cheap) way to identify aluminium alloys?

« on: 07/09/2012 03:15:48 »

Is there an easy (cheap) way to identify aluminum alloys?  There are a couple dozen common aluminum alloys.  Some weld easy, some don't.  Some can be hardened, some can't.  Some are harder than others.  And, each requires different filler alloys.

Is there an easy way to identify alloys from scrap?

One method is using XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence).  Unfortunately the scanners cost $10,000+, and is somewhat out of the range of a home user.

I suppose I could safely file off a small sample.  IR spectroscopy?  Gas Chromatography? 
Perhaps it would help to just try to determine the melting point and density if I had a good table of physical properties.

85

Complementary Medicine / Are (wild) blackberries the perfect diet food? Loose a pound a day.

« on: 31/08/2012 06:24:39 »

There are some foods that are considered to be "negative calories", although there is still debate on whether they are truly real.

I noticed a couple of years ago that I can loose a lot of weight...  quickly...  (well, relatively speaking) during blackberry season.

My formula:
Eat as many (wild) blackberries as I can pick and eat, usually microwaved for a few seconds and sprinkled with sugar (I often get a few red ones).  And, yes, at 15 calories per teaspoon, I never worry about a few teaspoons of sugar.  No pies, and I've been avoiding making juice.

Picking blackberries is a good way to also get outside for some fresh air.

I will also make mini-steaks (about 3/4 of an inch cubed), often bought pre-sliced as "stew meat".  I'll barbeque up a batch of these, and freeze them, and pop one, or a couple in the microwave so that I always get some good protein while dieting, but not having a huge steak.

After growing a garden, I also add in some fruit and veggies.  I can't resist that.

Also a good multivitamin.

A little exercise isn't vital for loosing weight, but is probably a good idea when dieting to avoid loosing muscle.

NO SIGNIFICANT FLOUR SOURCE.

Sometimes I'll crave variety so I won't always stay on my diet.  But, when on my high blackberry diet, I'LL LOOSE ABOUT A POUND A DAY, and never really be that hungry as I can always get another bowl of blackberries whenever I desire.  And, they are generally satiating. 

(YES, I have a sweet tooth).

It is easy to gain some of the weight back in the winter, but I'm convinced that some of the weight loss is "real", and not just the effects of short term starvation, and one can knock off more and more weight day after day (10 to 20 lbs for me during the couple of months of blackberry season).

My theory of the reason for the success of blackberries.  Wild Himalayan Blackberries are mostly seed which is poorly digested, and generally passes through whole.  But, it is also reasonably well tolerated, although it can have laxative effects at times.  Thus one gets the satiating feel of a full stomach without the calories of a full stomach.  There should be some calories in sugars in the blackberries, as well as the sugar I'm adding.  But, the losses are so tremendous that I believe that the body expends energy passing them through the digestive system, with little or no gain from the berries themselves.

Yes, I realize that 10 to 20 lbs in a summer doesn't equate to a pound a day, but like I said, I don't always stay on the diet, and can rebound upwards a few pounds if I break the diet. which then resets the point one is loosing weight from.  I also think it would be good to overshoot one's goal by a few pounds because of the rebound.  And, my target isn't loosing that much.

86

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Would we be able to detect Jupiter more than 1 LY from parent stars? The Sun?

« on: 29/08/2012 20:50:19 »

Would we be able to detect planets the size of Jupiter that were more than one lightyear away from their parent stars?  From our own Sun?

I presume Jupiter and Saturn produce quite a bit of their own internal heat so that they would have a weak IR signature.  Would that be enough?

Dwarf planets the size of Mercury, or our moon could be close to background temperature.  Even larger planets the size of Earth would be mighty chilly.

87

New Theories / How would you induce a spin into a planet?

« on: 27/08/2012 22:34:46 »

Say...
One had a planet slightly smaller than Earth, with a thick atmosphere, but it had a rotational period of about 243 days.

How would one increase the rate of spin (decrease the length of day) down to about a 24 hour day?

One option might be to attach some huge jet engines or rocket engines to the surface, and let them blast away at the atmosphere.  Would this have any net effect as the wind would spin a bit, but would eventually stop.  So, logically it might not have a permanent effect on the planetary rotational speed once the engines were stopped.

Perhaps selectively bombard the planet with eastward, or westward (depending on preference) asteroids and comets.  But, that might be like trying to move a truck with a BB gun.  One would need a lot of BBs.

Other ideas?

88

Technology / High or Low Ground Clearance?

« on: 24/08/2012 10:36:59 »

Racing cars often are built with very low ground clearance.
Solar-Electric cars often have very high ground clearance. 

Which is best?

89

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Faint Young Sun Hypothesis and Mars?

« on: 16/08/2012 05:44:23 »

How would the Faint Young Sun Hypothesis have affected Mars?

Ok, so Mars is about 1.5 x the distance of the Earth from the sun.  Solar radiation decreases by the square of the distance, so Mars would get less than half the sunlight as Earth.  Multiply that by the predicted 70% of the current solar intensity and it would have been downright cold.

The equatorial regions of the planet still get warm due intense sunshine during the day and the thin atmosphere. 

However, if the intensity of the sunlight was much lower in the distant past, is it possible that Mars was once an ice ball like some of the outer moons?  It would then have gone through a phase in which the ice slowly melted or sublimed, loosing some to space, and transferring some to the poles.  How long would this melting/sublimation phase have lasted?  Thousands?  Millions?  Billions of years?

90

New Theories / Ben Fraklin, magnets and attractive/repulsive forces

« on: 14/08/2012 01:19:01 »

There is no attraction force in this universe. If you want to move something you have to push it....

The refrigerator magnet is not sucked, pulled or attracted to the refrigerator. The area between the two objects is made less repulsive by a flow of particles setup by the magnet, between the two objects...

You will find no Scientist that demonstrates attraction forces. Just offering you an old tried and true understanding of the Universe.

                            William McCormick

William,

You need to expound on this further.  Perhaps under "New Theories". 

For example, it is difficult to think of gravity as only a repulsive force.  How do you account for objects of different densities, but the same mass being measured to have the same weight on Earth?  Shouldn't the lower density object displace more "space", and thus have more mass?  If the low density object is compressed, it's mass doesn't change (except for perhaps a minor component of air displacement, which would not be a problem in a vacuum chamber).

Likewise, you will have difficulties explaining the N/S attraction of magnets, but the N/N and S/S repulsion of magnets through a distance.  What is missing between the magnets?  What causes a compass to work?

What about covalent chemical bonds?  Ionic chemical bonds?  Van der Waals forces and H bonding?

Anyway, if you wish, follow up with a new discussion under "New Theories".  Add a link here if you wish.

91

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / What metals (or elements) are commonly found in elemental form in nature?

« on: 12/08/2012 05:12:07 »

What metals (or elements) are commonly found in elemental form in nature?

As far as metals, Gold would top the list as it is relatively inert.

For elements, you would have:
Maybe Hydrogen??
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Sulfur
All the inert gases.

Anything else?

Apparently lead is occasionally found in elemental form, but most commonly found as a sulfide.

92

Just Chat! / Should Olympic Drug Testing be more strict?

« on: 02/08/2012 06:05:33 »

As far as I can tell, the current drug tests are only able to detect the presence of many performance enhancing drugs for a few weeks, although it is never clear which drugs are completely out of the system within a few months, and which have residual traces.

It would seem like one could divide the drugs into several catagories. 

"Race Day" enhancements (adrenaline, speed, etc).
"Mid Term" enhancements (erythropoietin (EPO), etc)
"Long Term" enhancements (anabolic steroids).
"Masking Agents" diuretics (also for weigh-ins for sports like wrestling). 

Are we doing enough to test (and thus protect) the athletes?

The current battery of tests are based on blood and urine (and perhaps saliva). 

Many steroids would be undetectable if the usage was stopped sufficiently early.  For example, a weight lifter could use anabolic steroids to build muscle, then stop using them a few months before the Olympics.  Then one would just have to maintain the muscle mass, and one would have a good chance of them being cleared from the system (presumably with some having a shorter detectable lifespan than others).  The performance boost would still be substantial.

Hair tests would extend the detectable time-frame significantly for the drugs including steroids.  But, it would be dependent on finding sufficiently long hair.  And, obviously many competitors would learn the benefits of having extremely short hair.  Some swimmers, of course, already shave.  One could have minimum hair length requirements, but it would be difficult to enforce. 

Fingernail and toenail tests would require sanding the tops of the nails to get a long reference period, up to a year.  But, there is a limit to how short most people would be able to clip the nails....  unless one wants to yank all 10 fingernails and 10 toenails.  Which would certainly raise suspicion.  One could do both hair and nail tests, or perhaps do the nail test if there is insufficient hair available.

I'm not seeing whether a fat biopsy would also help with detection, and might be simpler than a blood test.

Anyway, I'm surprised that there isn't greater effort to search for longer records of anabolic steroid usage.  Hair and nail tests are used for industry drug testing, but not athletic drug testing.

I would implement a team drug policy.
Detect one individual on a country's team, and I would deduct time & points from every individual from the country.  And, I would deduct enough points that it would likely knock a medallist out of the top 3 spots.
Detect two individuals on a country's team, and send the whole country back home, and strip all medals and records.
Doing so should hopefully instill a zero tolerance for drug use on a national level.

I would, however, not treat all drugs equally.  Uppers, downers, narcotics, etc should not be found in the blood or urine as per the regulations.  I would record, but not disqualify individuals for short acting drugs that showed up in the hair or nails.  I could care less if an athlete smoked some weed at a party 6 months ago.  Anabolic steroids, of course, should not be found in any sample.  I would be most concerned with EPO in short term and intermediate samples.

93

Just Chat! / Are "sister cities" meant to bring excitement?

« on: 24/07/2012 21:01:10 »

So, what do you think?

http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/Boring-Ore-and-Dull-Scotland-are-now-sister-cities/Pg1OhH70r061TfJa0dAPbw.cspx

94

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Are there meteorites broken from Earth?

« on: 16/07/2012 09:37:38 »

There are Martian Meteorites & Lunar Meteorites.
Are there "Earth" crust meteorites?  From the Theia impact, or other impacts?

If the moon is made of Earth Crust, then would Earth Crust meteorites be any different from lunar meteorites?

95

Physiology & Medicine / What percentage of our food is chemically derived from petroleum?

« on: 10/07/2012 01:52:21 »

Just wondering how much gasoline the average American eats a year.

96

Physiology & Medicine / Why is a delay between video and audio so annoying?

« on: 06/07/2012 00:42:55 »

Most of us can not lipread.  Or at least we don't think we can.

So, why is a delay between video and audio in a film so annoying?

In fact, it seems to be worse to have a delay of ½ second or so than having a film that is dubbed.

97

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why are some cherry trees self pollinating, and others aren't?

« on: 26/06/2012 09:31:33 »

I've been thinking of planting a cherry tree (two?)

About half the cherry trees available are self-pollinating, and about half of them require a separate pollinating tree of a slightly different variety.

Why?

I presume part of the issue is the use of clonal lines from grafting, so that two Bing cherries would essentially be genetically identical, something that would not occur in the wild.

What is the mechanism for a tree to reject its own pollen?

98

Geek Speak / Why go through "normal" shutdown procedures for programs such as Firefox?

« on: 17/06/2012 20:54:38 »

Every once in a while, I find Firefox is using far too much memory, perhaps due to my bad habit of opening multiple windows, and using lots of tabs. 

Should one use the "normal" shutdown?  Or just use the task manager and kill the process?

Why does it sometimes take forever to close a window?  Do websites have a "phone-home" portion?  WHY?

I realize that applications such as Wordprocessors or Spreadsheets will have a "saved file" check on closing.  But, for most other applications, I would just like it to quit immediately when closing. 

The memory manager should be able to deal with memory.  Is the problem dealing with temporary files?  Is there a better way to deal with temporary files, perhaps using a garbage collection routine like memory?

99

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / What are Hybrids?

« on: 07/06/2012 19:38:46 »

I'd like to grow some of my own seeds. 

Last year I kept a couple of ears of corn for replanting this year, and got 0% germination, although I may have planted them too early.

Much of the corn in the USA is sold as hybrids, and if I plant a couple of varieties, there is risk of it hybridizing anyway.

In the animal kingdom, we know that horses and donkeys make a sterile hybrid, but one can breed various canines, and even different breeds of horses, cows, pigs, and etc.  I think even cows and American buffaloes can interbreed and are fertile.

So, what is the problem with plants, and in particular corn?

100

Geek Speak / Does the US Government write computer viruses?

« on: 04/06/2012 18:00:51 »

Stuxnet (& here) was a computer virus/worm written in collaboration between the USA and Israel to specifically target and damage Iranian uranium refining equipment.

And, like many computer viruses, it managed to get loose and infect PCs around the world. 

I suppose there are many issues such as the covert operations to destroy or physically damage Iranian equipment (a country we are perhaps in a cold war with, but not an active war).

After spending hundreds of hours killing viruses, I have a strong repulsion to the development of viruses, and believe that they cost the USA and the world billions, of dollars every year.  This computer attack will likely eventually lead to a strong retaliation effort from Iran. 

It will set a global precedence.  How can we complain about other countries committing international cyber-terror on the USA if we are already doing it.