1

COVID-19 / Re: Would an extended dosage interval work for the Oxford vaccine?

« on: 12/01/2021 23:43:46 »

The Pfizer vaccine trials did not compare different dose spacing or compare one with two doses. So there is no evidence for the wider spacing between doses.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca trials did include different spacing between doses. It showed that a longer gap of two to three months led to a greater immune response, but the overall participant numbers were small.
They found that vaccine efficacy 14 days after a second dose was higher in the group that had more than six weeks between the two doses (65.4%) than in the group that had less than six weeks between doses (53.4%).
Press reports have focussed more on the relative size of the doses rather than the spacing. Given the shortage of vaccine the decision has been made to go with the wider spacing and give as many people as possible their first dose.
Because max immunity doesn’t occur until after the second dose it is important that those vaccinated with the first dose, and those in contact with them, should continue to take mask and distancing precautions.

2

COVID-19 / Re: Efficacy - Comparing Like with Like

« on: 10/01/2021 14:22:47 »

If one trial is testing the subject every week - then it will identify the asymptomatic infection; if another trial is only testing when symptoms develop then it will miss the asymptomatic infection and so give a different measure of efficacy?

Both measured efficacy in the same way, the primary outcome - efficacy against symptomatic cases of covid-19 - which showed that the Oxford vaccine was 62.1% effective in participants who received two standard doses.
The Oxford trial also monitored for asymptomatic infections as a secondary outcome, which the Pfizer trial does not appear to have done.
 

3

Guest Book / Re: Are there rules on reviving old threads?

« on: 08/01/2021 08:47:33 »

Hello, I know this post is sort of old, but I am new in this forum and I was wondering the same thing. The thing is that, at first glance, the last posts on some if not most pinned comments are already months if not years old. I was wondering if it is expected for people to still comment on these posts. Otherwise, wouldn't it be better if they are taken down after some time?

There is no rule preventing anyone adding to a thread if they have some useful info.
We don’t takedown old post as they often have very useful info. We might do it for rubbish posts as part of a clean up.

4

Physiology & Medicine / Re: How effective would only the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine be

« on: 01/01/2021 09:17:53 »

There are indications that the 12 weeks proposed is ok, but Pfizer are critical of that and want to stick with 21 days.
Note: the official announcements are avoiding talking about effectiveness of the single dose, so we don’t have clear data.

5

General Science / Re: What are microsatellites?

« on: 30/12/2020 08:42:17 »

It might seem like advertising but it`s not.

That’s ok, it’s just our policy to discourage advertising. Also we find there is a much more interesting overview when a number of different sources are used.
I’m sure you’ll find this a very interesting area for discussion with a lot of work in the comms and imaging areas.

6

That CAN'T be true! / Re: I don’t understand physics: does anyone understand physics these days?

« on: 30/12/2020 00:03:30 »

I wouldn't like someone like that designing an air-liner, or anything else mechanical for that matter.

I’d stay away from airliners if I were you 

Bernoulli (he of the famous aerofoil theory) set it going in the 1700s by realising that for moving air or water you don’t need to know where each individual molecule is, just where statistically it is likely to be or move to. Boltzmann in the 1800s set statistical mechanics well on its way with his gas theories. It has applications not only in aeronautics but also in chemical processes, materials science, biology and most fields of science.
Statistics is at the heart of how the application of the classical, Newtonian world works and statistical mechanics led the way to quantum mechanics where you don’t need to know where or when an electron is, just where and when it is most likely to be ie statistically.

So a Statistical Mechanics Professor is someone who is an expert in that area and researches and teaches it.

7

General Science / Re: What are microsatellites?

« on: 29/12/2020 16:17:42 »

I found the website about the space company that manufactures such kind of satellites  ............ .....Unfortunately, I cannon share the link until 10 posts.

Best not to anyway as we avoid advertising specific companies and the link would be taken down.
Obviously, general info/overview on the technology from a number of different sources would be of interest.

8

General Science / Re: What are microsatellites?

« on: 29/12/2020 08:49:54 »

Micro satellites are usually in the range 10-100kg. These are lower cost because of smaller and cheaper launch vehicles and can sometimes be launched in clusters or 'piggyback' on larger launch vehicles.  Obviously there are limitations on capability so can’t replace everything going up there, but can be used for small scale experiments, communications, concept testing etc.
There are already a number of big names in this area including Boeing, DARPA, Virgin etc.

9

Just Chat! / Re: You guys have a dish called "faggot" too?

« on: 28/12/2020 08:57:11 »

Who names your dishes?

People who existed a long time before a certain nation started molesting the English language 

Dick and dog were commonly used to mean pudding (same root as dough).
Faggot doesn’t have any UK English connotations, it is either a piece of firewood or a rather tasty meat dish. I’ve never heard of toad having such a connotation, perhaps your mind is working overtime!

Dick is the only term with connotations here, probably as far back as Chaucer, but I’ve never come across roasted dick.

If it helps, you can refer to the fruit pudding that troubles you as Leicestershire Hunter Pudding or Exeter Dick.

10

COVID-19 / Re: Anyone know the details of the new coronavirus variant?

« on: 21/12/2020 23:22:21 »

One of the staff said that they were having quite a few people refusing the vaccine, not because of safety worries, or even Bill Gates' microchips, but because it's made by them forriners, and not British.

Nice to know there are still people willing to die for their country

11

New Theories / Re: My Ideas for New Scientific Theories-What do YOU Think?

« on: 14/12/2020 12:25:43 »

I have presented my presentation to my form class this week! All went well, and it as a good experience, even if half of them weren't listening. Unfortunately, I could not video it, but I will attach a copy of the PowerPoint below.

Looking at your presentation, a couple of suggestions:
“How it happened”
(Psychoacoustics and neuroscience)

“Example 1”
In this and some other slides the picture forces the text to start bottom left, it would scan better if the text started upper left. That helps people who are used to reading left to right read your slide faster as it comes up on screen.

You ask about the speed of nerve impulses, you might start with something like this http://www.biologymad.com/nervoussystem/nerveimpulses.htm
Remember that we are also dependant on our brain’s interpretation of these impulses. Have you noticed that when we encounter something new - a new song, a new lesson topic, new story, a new skill, etc - time seems to pass much more slowly; people also mention that time slows down during an accident. This also happens when we are bored, with little stimulation.
Is this change of nerve impulses or a change in the way the brain is processing, perhaps putting all attention onto one thing rather than multitasking?
Might be worth exploring.

12

New Theories / Re: What causes Tunneling?

« on: 05/12/2020 16:16:51 »

which makes me wonder if Vector is the complex plane.

You have to ask which vector and which complex plane? You say 'the complex plane', why just one?
Most people think of some properties as 2 valued eg spin up or down, polarisation H or V, however, they are better described by complex numbers in QM, these also describe a vector representation of the property.
 

can you pick a direction and give me some kind of number for velocity (magnitude and direction) for c?
Is this already one? "1000km/sec towards Alpha Centauri."

Yes, that is one vector, another would be to point a laser from Berlin to the moon, that would give at least 2 vectors direction/distance and direction/speed (c).
Note that if we describe position by a coordinate system we automatically describe it as a vector relative to the implied origin.

I say virtual because it is required for all paths of interference to be taken at the same time, virtually.

As @alancalverd pointed out, try not to confuse the models models we use with an implied reality.
Put a stick vertically in a pond and then throw a pebble in the pond, the wave radiates out from the impact point and encounters the stick, it does not take all possible paths. However, if we calculate what would happen if it took all possible paths we would find that they all cancel out except the shortest time. We can perform similar calculatons with cannonballs, using least action.

13

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How does light move in a vacuum?

« on: 02/12/2020 16:31:05 »

Could you offer a simplified derivation of 300,000 km/s for 'c'?

What @evan_au is describing is about as simple as it gets. Permittivity and permeability are derived from the basic behaviour of electric and magnetic fields and an electromagnetic field/radiation is a combination of these 2 phenomena.

And when that medium is a vacuum , that measured speed  is the same as the speed of light in a vacuum?

Except the vacuum is not a medium. As soon as you have a medium then the light hits the atoms in that medium, is absorbed and re-emitted hence a delay, it travels at c between the atoms (vacuum). The atoms in the medium will have specific energy levels which is why the re-emitted light might not be the same frequency as that entering.

There is a simplified summary here https://www.sparknotes.com/physics/optics/light/section3/

14

Just Chat! / Re: Are these the World's Worst Science Jokes?

« on: 28/11/2020 13:39:19 »

A lady went to her doctor and asked about having a sex change operation, the doctor said OK and booked her in for a strapadictomy

I suppose if it fits the briefs ....

15

Just Chat! / Re: The Hardy Question, about perception of something supernatural?

« on: 18/11/2020 08:45:53 »

I think Carl Jung is the founder of Psychology and Freud the founder of Psychiatry.

No, analytical psychology and psychoanalysis respectively, subsets of Psychology and Psychiatry.

16

New Theories / Re: My Ideas on New Scientific Processes In Our Bodies - What Do You Think?

« on: 31/10/2020 08:44:57 »

I did not know that the start and the end are classed as two different events.

In common English usage we talk about events, like Glastonbury, having a duration. In physics we describe events as specific points in spacetime.
So if we describe something which has a duration, eg the sound of a guitar string being plucked, we can describe the start as an event and the end as an event, but we can also define an infinite number of events between those 2. For example, if we take a point in space 1m in front of the centre of the soundhole and perpendicular to the soundboard, we can measure the point in time (at that point in space) when the sound has fallen 5dB; that would be an event.

I have also lernt that the body delays the sound and light so that we van hear them simultaneously. The futher the distance, the further the gap. This is why we see others’ lips moving at the same time as the sound being produced.

If my memory serves me correctly, I think this works up to about 10m, beyond that you notice the difference.

Sometimes, you might not be able to hear your alarm even if it is loud: you won't notice it for some tome. Can you explain why.

My guess would be that it has to do with the stages of sleep and the depth of each stage. There is sometimes the odd effect of the sound being incorporated into a waking dream.
The level of sound required to wake you is called the auditory arousal threshold, you will probably find info on the net. I think the fire services have done research into smoke alarm levels.

By the way, some of your questions could be asked in the main sections of the forum, as long as you don’t advertise your hypotheses.

One comment on your paper. Good start, but don’t be disappointed if you find the questions have already been answered. The important thing is to look at how they were answered, what procedures or experiments were used to determine the conclusions. Ask yourself what experiments you could set up, or what evidence you could gather to test your ideas. Enjoy.

17

New Theories / Re: My Ideas on New Scientific Processes In Our Bodies - What Do You Think?

« on: 28/10/2020 23:36:54 »

I have been recently been having ideas about the physics that occur in our bodies and I have come up with a few theories.

Looking at your pdf:
“I think that the point when the action is created is ‘ground zero’ and might
be faster than light as it takes up no time. It’s hard to explain but I think
you get the idea. Of course, this might not be the case for events that take
a long time to start (not end) but it can be the case for the starting point
for a chain of events that take quite some time.”

The event might be instantaneous, but it won’t be faster than light unless it is travelling somewhere. When information about that event is travelling the speed will depend on how it is travelling eg as sound or light.
Yes, some things can take a long time from start to finish, but we would usually count the start and finish as separate events, each with their own positions in space and time.

“Could there be a connection between heart rate, blood supply and nerves
that can have an impact on the speed of the nerve impulses? Could your
emotions or state of mind have an impact too?”

The emotions and state of mind control hormones which certainly have an effect on heart rate, blood supply etc.
It appears that our perception of time is more to do with the brain’s interpretation than speed of nerve impulses. See this article on an experiment to investigate this https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2017.00032
 
“When you sleep early, your family are still downstairs and are talking
loudly. You can hear every whisper, quiet click and shout from the noisy
room. But the people downstairs can only hear themselves. You want to
grab that midnight snack from the draw on the other side of the room.
You get up and you are worried that your family can hear you as you think
your breathing is loud and that the floor is too creaky. THUMP!! You
knock over your lamp and panic that your parents have heard you over
their talking but what you do not know is that they did not hear you; why
is this?”

Yes, our hearing is much more sensitive when we are lying down or asleep. I found this out when I first set a clock radio. I set it at a level I thought would just wake me, so fairly quiet. The next morning I woke with a start to what seemed a very loud radio.
There are a number of factors involved in why your parents don’t hear you. The most obvious is that the sound level has decreased by the time it reaches them. As you say, the background noise where they are will mask the sound of your thump - up to a point. The effect of one sound masking another is quite complex and depends on the relative levels and frequencies of the two sounds.

If you are interested in sound perception look up psychoacoustics, it is a fascinating subject.

Do keep researching and expanding on your ideas, you are making a good start.

18

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: What produces this strange chipped pattern on the surface of this stone?

« on: 12/10/2020 15:06:13 »

...... it doesn't explain the mechanism of its appearance, which I am eager to know...

This is a guess, but it looks as though the soft clay has been lying on a bed of pebbles.

19

Technology / MOVED: Dark Motion, does it link to Dark Energy and Dark Matter?

« on: 29/08/2020 16:46:16 »

This topic has been moved to New Theories.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=80399.0

20

General Science / Re: Is energy physical or philosophical?

« on: 24/08/2020 14:26:11 »

sorry to intrude but we do not measure energy . We measure joules etc . Energy is generalised term that we use when not being specific . There is many types of energy . We actually measure output and give it a unit name .

I agree that there are, as I said, many forms of energy. However, Joules is the SI named unit for the quantity of energy. Energy is what we measure, in whatever form it happens to be in eg heat energy, mass energy, etc. Yes, we can also use the term as a general, nonspecific quantity.