ewmon

Rodents are known to eat animals and animal products such as antlers. I'll guess that rabbits gnaw on antlers, bones, etc for the minerals, but I don't know if they eat other animals (at least they generally don't eat animals).

I also do not readily see why the feds are getting involved, and the same could be said about many intra-state matters that the feds have under their control. The idea is that a 16yo boy who slipped off the back of a tractor, where the PTO proceeded to tear off both of his arms, could have been avoided. The idea that a 7yo girl is shot dead as an innocent bystander in an urban drive-by gangsta shooting could also have been avoided. However, it seems much easier to avoid a negligent/reckless act than to avoid a wanton criminal act.

The dangers of working/living on family farms are known: grain bin/silo suffocations, manure pit anoxic asphyxiations, PTO amputations/scalpings/deaths, tractor roll-over deaths, falls from hay lofts, etc. and yet, they continue to happen, and they're particularly tragic when children, sometimes small children, are the victims. Family farms are not as well-regulated as "industrial farms". Family farmers have a tendency to use old equipment, to [try to] repair their own equipment, to use equipment improperly, etc. The unknowing public may lament that industrial farms are edging out "cute" family farms, but the family farms are killing family farmers and their families.

I've worked with blood which, when centrifuged or allowed to stand, separates into several layers (top to bottom): lipids, plasma, platelets, and RBC's. Aquilar says the plasma and WBC's were removed in the second step. A small amount of RBC's may have been drawn off as well to ensure only RBC's remain. In that case, the platelets were removed with the plasma and WBC's. As for the remaining RBC's, they are heavier than the water. The cell membranes contain lipids and proteins, so they might be in the supernatant, depending on the lipid/protein composition. Almost all of an RBC's lysate is hemoglobin which seems should be heavier than water. The supernatant is clearer than the other three layers, so I'd say that the mixture is probably (top to bottom): water, cell membranes, and hemoglobin. And this jives with the formulation of 80% water (the top layer looks about 80% of the mixture). Either way, the lysate being the hemoglobin, is probably the heavy pellet on the bottom.

Calculate battery requirements using a five-step method working backwards from the device: Calculate the total energy consumed by the device (volts × amps × hours = W∙h) Calculate the total energy consumed by the converter (W∙h / converter efficiency, eg. 1200 W∙h / 90%eff = 1333 W∙h) Calculate the required capacity of a battery based on converter input voltage (W∙h / volts = A∙h) Adjust the required capacity based on discharge current, battery's Peukert constant, and Peukert's Law Adjust the required capacity based on using only 80% of capacity (A∙h = A∙h / 80% or 1.25 × A∙h) Also, instead of making steam that requires a lot of energy, hot dogs can be electrocuted, and all all the energy goes directly into the hot dog.

Your current friends don't challenge you intellectually (perhaps they've hit their plateau), so expand your circle and have various relationships with various friends. You'll probably find a comfortable balance between the groups/individuals, and you'll probably find that: some will know more/less/same as you (ie, width and depth of knowledge), some have more/less/same curiosity as you (ie, willingness to develop/expand knowledge), some know mostly facts and some enjoy experimenting/traveling/etc (ie, armchair/theoretical/objective vs hands-on/practical/subjective knowledge).

Keeping a kosher kitchen is difficult, and science doesn't make it any easier. In fact, it probably makes it more difficult. Almost everything measured scientifically is measured indirectly. Some examples: A radar gun used by the police does not measure speed directly, but instead, it measures the change in frequency of the reflected radar signal caused by the speed of the car. Thermostats that control furnaces do not measure temperature directly, but instead, they measure the bending that the temperature causes to a device that contains two metals. Those metal detection wands at airports don't detect metal directly, but sense changes in electronic circuits due to the proximity of metallic objects that interfere with those circuits. The solution to your query is for someone to learn what there is about insects that a machine can detect. So for kosher foods, there's no machine that directly detects insects, per se. Instead... You might use a sound-proof box containing a sensitive microphone that listens for insects chewing. Or, if insects produce a unique airborne chemical, a chemical sensor might detect it. Or if insect dung contains a chemical unique to insects, testing the grain "dust" on the bottom of a grain container would detect its presence. Alternately, someone might investigate how foods were determined to be kosher historically. What did people do 100, 200 or even 300 years ago? And why aren't those methods sufficient for today? Perhaps also consider the methods available when your scriptures where written. Perhaps God deemed such methods as "good enough". Was every grain inspected to ensure that it wasn't an insect cocoon? I doubt it. Perhaps the grain was poured out onto a surface and generally pushed around and examined. I also suggest that you check if your scriptures say whether to endeavor to find more accurate ways of detecting insects. I mean, if it was good enough for great-great-great-great-grandma, it should be good enough for us. Rabbi, this is something I think is truly worth considering.

As to the parts that contribute directly to its electrophysiological characteristics (consciousness in particular), your best path at this point is probably to read the Wikipedia article on neurons and also on biological neural networks. I could tell you a little about dendrites, axons etc, but Wikipedia has more info, is better organized, and has helpful links. Probably reading about Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) can help you to understand the principle of distributed processes. ANNs can give you a simpler view of neurons because real neurons generally receive inputs from tens of thousands of neurons, and send their outputs to hundreds of neurons. "Neurons" in ANNs typically perform simple understandable functions, have low connectivity (perhaps several inputs and a few outputs), and you can easily "remove" an artificial neuron from its network and see how it degrades the network's performance. I'm sure there's software out there somewhere that let's you play around with ANNs and learn about neural networks (both biological and artificial).

Maybe you're talking about specific parts of a neuron that contribute to consciousness (as compared to contributing to a cell's support function). It seems reasonable to rule out protein biosynthesis (DNA-RNA transcription, RNA-protein translation, etc) as part of consciousness because they're too slow. The mitochondria also apparently play a support role. But maybe you have the perspective turn around a bit ... like saying "Which part of a transistor actually does the computing?" And the answer is that everything about a transistor contributes to the computer's ability to compute. So, the function of the neurons, actually the gray cortical cells, contributes to consciousness. Humans have about 7 billion cortical cells arranged in seven layers that compose the cortex. The cortex is the wrinkled surface of the cerebrum, and within it exists a person's perception, judgment, motor functions, memory, morality, and personality. It's a fairly safe bet that the conscience also exists there. The white brain cells under the cortex are pretty much the interconnections between the different parts of the cortex as well as between the cortex and the sensory organs and the muscles. Someone here may tell you that I oversimplified what's under the cortex, and they'd be right.

Perhaps the OP refers to ground effect.

Something every D&Der should know.

Yes, as any submariner will tell you, buoyancy involves positive feedback such as the Captain has described. The answer is C, the balloon/stone will sink to the bottom of the container. The same positive feedback holds true if the object is nudged upward. Scuba divers see this with air bubbles, which continuously become larger and faster. Maintaining constant depth in a motionless submarine requires work, and some forward motion allows them to use the diving planes to aid in maintaining depth.

How do you want to use your degrees? Are you a member of the Chicago Astronomical Society and a volunteer/employee at the Adler Planetarium?

A gear ratio (literally, a "tooth ratio") does two things: 1) It changes the rotation speed 2) It changes the torque Hopefully all my math is correct. On a bike, a 2.5 ratio means that for one revolution of the crank, the back wheel makes 2.5 revolutions. This is really helpful for going fast because we simply couldn't pedal as fast as the wheels turn at the fast speeds we want to go (otherwise we'd ride kiddy tricycles instead). At the same time, the torque on the pedals sprocket translates into 1/2.5 (or 40%) at the back wheel. So, if you're pedaling at 1 rps (revolution per second), your back tire is spinning at 2.5 rps. At the same time, if you push straight down on the pedal with 100 pounds on a ½-ft crank that's horizontal, thus producing 100 lbs × ½ ft = 50 ft-lb of torque, the torque working the rear wheel will be 20 ft-lbs (that is, 50 ft-lb/2.5), and if the radius of the wheel is conveniently 1 ft, then that produces 20 lbs of thrust (20 ft-lbs / 1 ft = 20 lbs) at that instance. Furthermore, 2.5 rps on a 1-ft radius wheel gives a road speed of 2.5 rev/sec × 2π ft/rev = 15.7 ft/sec (about 10.7 mph). Multiplying that by the 20-lb thrust gives you 314 ft-lb/sec (~0.57 horsepower). You're exerting 0.57 hp on the moving pedal, and the same power is coming out where the tire meets the road (if there are no losses in the system ... but there's always some losses). Now, let's say you encounter a hill, so you need more thrust at the road to carry you up the hill. So you downshift to a ratio of 1.0. This means that the wheel spins at the same speed as the cranks. You're exerting yourself the same as before, so your 50 ft-lbs at the crank translates through the 1.0 ratio into 50 ft-lbs at the wheel whose 1-ft radius produces 50 lbs of thrust where the tire meets the road. You're now producing 50 lbs thrust instead of 20 lbs so that the bike can carry you up the hill. Your wheel is now spinning at only 1 rev/sec, equivalent to 6.28 ft/sec or 4.3 mph. You changed gear ratios to sacrifice speed for increased thrust, but you're still pumping out the same power which is also what the wheel is exerting on the road.

Try googling cyanide detection kit, or maybe cyanide detection "POS kit", or cyanide detection "field kit" (POS means "Point of Service" aka "field"). The manufacturer can tell you whether they're quantitative or not. I'm guessing that POS/field kits are screening assays and might not be qualitative, but who knows. I've also used some laboratory ELISA kits that weren't quantitative.

Here's a general idea of what to expect (it's the only such graph I could find). X axis. The temperatures in Celsius are shown on the graph next to their points on the line (so forget about the confusing x axis). Y axis. The y axis is also not obvious to the uninitiated. It shows the number of doublings per hour. So the "2" means that it doubles twice an hour --- aka every thirty minutes. Conversely, the 0.5 means that it's only halfway toward doubling in an hour --- aka it takes two hours for the bacteria to double. As CharonY indicated, try to stay away from temps greater than 37°C. The higher temperature range (>37°C) has a much sharper slope as compared to the lower temperature range (<37°C), probably because higher temps distorts the proteins in the bacteria (and then the proteins can't do their job). The concern is that you want to minimize the other factors affecting the growth rate among your plates, and you're almost guaranteed that the temperature among the plates will vary, perhaps by several degrees. So, you'd want to incubate them within a range of temps that's flattest, and that would be low temp range. The 39°C point is the flattest, of course, but your probably could not keep all plates within one degree of it. I recommend using the heating pad under the plates with a clear bowl-like covering over them --- basically an incubator. As for accurately monitoring the temp, you might want to use a clinical thermometer (the ones that go under the tongue, or wherever), but they probably don't have a large lower temp range because they're mostly used to indicate a fever. Yet, a regular room/outdoors thermometer might not be accurate enough. Okay, the lecture is over.

What units?

Hans Rosling is great! He's also on TED: Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty

Correct on both points. Glucose and fructose are the main sugars in fruits, and being simple/single sugars (technically called monosaccharides) they are small enough to pass through the walls of the digestive system, and so, they don't require enzymatic reactions. Other sugars, such as sucrose (a disaccharide of fructose and glucose) and lactose (a disaccharide of galactose and glucose) are too large to be absorbed directly, and they require enzymes (sucrase and lactase, respectively) to split them into their monosaccharide components, which are then absorbed. Then there's the condition called "lactase deficiency", more commonly referred to as "lactose intolerance". It's not that the body can't tolerate undigested lactose in its digestive tract, but that the body fails to absorb this disaccharide, and when it passes into the large intestine, the bacteria there break it down and digest it and flourish, turning the large intestine into a fermentation vat and end up creating those characteristically rude symptoms (bloating, cramps, gas, diarrhea, etc). Anyway, Composition of Grapes is well-written and informative publication by a staff member of Iowa Sate University (apparently the wine industry in Iowa is growing exponentially). In working out the math on the figures given below, I found that sucrose rates halfway between the values for fructose and glucose, which makes sense because sucrose is half fructose and half glucose. This helps explain why ripe fruit is tastier (ie, sweeter) than unripe fruit. Yeah, the name comes from their tendency to grow on trees in clusters reminiscent of grape clusters.

(Double post removed)

As with other creationists, he sees nothing wrong with cherry-picked, peer-reviewed scientific data to suit his faith. I have yet to hear of a creationist doing his/her own scientific work. Also, people almost always encounter creationists who merely quote all this stuff but haven't done the cherry-picking themselves, making them even further removed from the science. Other creationists publish books/websites with this "research", and the creationists who confront us have merely read the published material. Ironically, the canonization of both testaments of the Bible was done by "peer review" -- the evaluation by other experts in the field of a scientific or scholarly writing or research to judge if the writing merits publication or funding -- and apparently, so were most/all of the translations of the Bible.

Yeah, oops. Thanks! It's an ammeter. I haven't worked on such problems for "quite a while". Now it makes a lot more sense.

I actually haven't worked on such problems in a while, but the rightmost leg contains a current source (4A) and a resistance (16Ω). Next step (I think): Use a simple formula to simplify the circuit.

Yes, by Thomas Edison (and he should know). Some (imho) Rules of "Geniosity" The First Rule: Geniuses can't be "drones". There are some people of science who use known/proven scientific facts to accomplish their tasks. These people can do some wonderful things; however, they are merely programmed "drones", just like paper wasps who build those wonderful nests. You only get what you've always got, if you only do what you've always done. The Second Rule: Geniuses must, therefore, think outside the box. They may begin with some known scientific facts, but then they wonder if one or more of these facts may not be true or may be modified/combined to produce a different result. The Third Rule: Geniuses do not listen to people who say they are foolish or stupid. This can be a very difficult decision because, typically, these other people are prominent and/or dominant people in the genius' field of study. Surround yourself with people who support you. If you're not willing to be laughed at or summarily dismissed, then don't try to be a genius. The Fourth Rule: Geniuses often end up taking a technology/methodology from one field of science and using it to great advantage in another field of science. The Fifth Rule: Sometimes geniuses need to create a new dimension/characteristic in their field of work, and then they need to develop a means of detecting/measuring that new dimension/characteristic, sometimes requiring them to invent an instrument to do so. The Sixth Rule: A genius must be able to hold an unrealistic idea (or conflicting ideas) in his/her mind without going crazy ... a feat of mental juggling. Circumstances may require a genius to do this for long periods of time. The Seventh Rule: Geniuses do not quit. They may take time off from a project, or they may get disgusted, but they never quit. They do this because of their conviction that a solution or a discovery is somewhere in the mess in front of them. The Eighth Rule: Geniuses must want to know every little detail about their work. Typically, the details contain the new data or lead to new data. Advances can result when patterns can be extracted from the noisy data. Sometimes previous scientific "facts" result from ignoring the perturbations in the data.

Try applying Kirchhoff's laws.