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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How does static electricity work?

« on: 11/06/2020 23:59:48 »

The current charging the handle capacitance is tens of amps for a few ns, the current leaking to ground through the door is 100uA for 20ms, my guess is that it's the former that you feel, not the latter.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: How do you think thoughts happen?

« on: 01/06/2020 21:51:25 »

AFAIK nobody has ever produced a useful definition of consciousness, so anything approaching an "explanation" is way over the horizon.

Functionally, the brain has a remarkable associative memory compared with any artificial device, but the difference seems to be quantitiative rather than qualitative. 

How do you define "useful"? Is dictionary's definition not useful enough?

At the time John Maddox's wrote What Remains to Be Discovered, there wasn't even a definition of life, and I don't think there is now either. There are a few words that everyone has an intuitive understanding of, but that are all but impossible to define formally. The dictionary is usually fatuous and circular:
Life: the state of being living rather than dead.
Energy: capacity to do work (Work: using energy)
Time: passing from the past into the future (Future: time yet to come)
Consciousness: awareness (Aware: cognizant, Cognizant: aware)

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Should we take a small aspirin everyday?

« on: 27/04/2017 17:48:44 »

However, some heart conditions can lead to excess formation of blood clots, which could pass to the brain and also cause a stroke or heart attack.

Which ones?

Atrial fibrillation

I wondered if evan_au meant AF, but aspirin is no longer recommended for AF as the benefits are minimal, and the bleeding risk is just as high as with Warfarin and other anticoagulants.

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General Science / Re: Does scientific radicalisation exist?

« on: 19/12/2016 11:26:56 »

Bad capitalism: creating an artificial market for unnecessary crap. Can be harmless (perfume and jewelry  advertisements), self-limiting ("art"), mildly dangerous (illegal addictive drugs) or very dangerous (legal addictive drugs).

Good capitalism: bringing useful products within reach of the majority in a competitive market. Generally better than a controlled economy because you can innovate on a whim and the market will eliminate weak products (in principle).

These morph from one to the other over time. For example, good capitalism brings a product such as mobile phones to the market, but sooner or later the market becomes saturated, and then manufacturers have to devise ever more ways of inducing people to throw away serviceable products and buy new ones. When that extends to a large part of the economy that's bad for both the environment and society.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Are nationalism and xenophobia instincts that have the same root ?

« on: 03/12/2016 15:07:10 »

what is best for me conflicts with what is best for everyone?

That's the Prisoners' Dilemma:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prisoners-Dilemma-Neumann-Theory-Puzzle/dp/038541580X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480777598&sr=8-1&keywords=poundstone+Prisoner%27s+dilemma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

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General Science / Re: Why Does Hair Get Darker When Wet ?

« on: 15/09/2016 14:23:42 »

....or any other fibres for that matter. It's interesting that a grey jumper will get darker when it's wet, but a white T-shirt doesn't.

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General Science / Re: How radioactive are people?

« on: 14/12/2015 22:51:53 »

Three years ago I was injected with technetium for a perfusion scan, they tell you to keep away from pregnant women and children for a day or two after that.  []  []