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1500 questions
26
votes
3 answers
Which organism has the smallest genome length?
Which animal/plant/anything has smallest length genome?
Pratik Deoghare
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26
votes
2 answers
How is heavy water detrimental to the human body?
Heavy water (D2O) is known to be lethal to humans and other life in large quantities. All I've been able to find on the toxicity is that it's similar to chemotherapy chemistry. I'd like to know precisely how having a single neutron in two atoms of…
a3dur4n
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25
votes
1 answer
Loss of taste and smell during a SARS-CoV-2 infection
In France the loss of taste and smell (la perte du goût et de l'odorat) is considered as one of the key symptoms of a SARS-CoV-2 infection (although googling shows that it is considered less definitive elsewhere). What causes such a loss of taste…
Roger V.
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25
votes
6 answers
Do apes and humans share 99% of DNA or 99% of genes? What is the difference?
I made an answer on the Scifi.SE that can be read here. It is about how the characters in the story Jurassic Park might have gotten DNA for all the species shown.
In my answer, I said this:
Apes and Humans, for example, share over 99% of their…
user3970
25
votes
2 answers
How do the brain and nerves create electrical pulses?
The information between the brain and peripheral nerves is sent via electrical pulses or signals, How then does a non-metallic human cell manage to conduct an electrical
signal?
johnny1bucket
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25
votes
1 answer
Do insects' muscles become stronger with exercise?
I am curious to know if insect muscles become stronger with exercise, because I have seen many insects get tired out, but I have never seen one get stronger. They always seem to become permanently weakened from excessive exercise. Do they get…
J. Musser
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25
votes
4 answers
How does the immune system "learn" from a vaccine?
According to Wikipedia:
A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing
microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the
microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The agent
stimulates the…
Douglas S. Stones
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25
votes
2 answers
How many organisms have ever lived on Earth?
I've looked for some information on this, but couldn't find anything useful. Has there been any noteworthy attempt to estimate the sum amount of individuals of all species that have ever lived on Earth?
mo.
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25
votes
1 answer
Do ants really find the shortest path to a food source?
There exist many computational intelligence algorithms based on the observation that ants deposit pheromones in such a way that they find the shortest path to food sources. This logic is used to optimize computer networks.
I cant really relate to…
Nav
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25
votes
1 answer
What kind of creature is this?
I saw this on Facebook today and have tried researching it myself, but I have had no luck.
Gareth Stanford
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- 3
25
votes
6 answers
How is evolution possible in contemporary humans?
I would like to know if evolution is continuing to happen in modern humans, assuming things like existence of the nuclear family structure, fidelity to one partner, etc. It seems to me the answer would be NO because evolution depends on differential…
Joebevo
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25
votes
4 answers
How to get rid of mosquitoes in a small lake
I own a small lake. Give or take it is about 50 meters wide and 100 meters long (or 160 feet wide, 320 feet long), with a max depth of around 2 meters / 6.5 feet. One third of the lake is surrounded by forest, the rest is grass / small enclaves of…
Thorst
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25
votes
1 answer
Can we taste electrons?
Why does licking a 9-Volt battery elicits a taste sensation? Can taste be stimulated by electrical stimulation?
Muze
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25
votes
1 answer
What is the speed of blood?
The speed of blood may vary from one place to another and may be quite low in the tiniest vessels compared to the biggest one. What is the speed of blood while exiting a normal human heart?
Manu H
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25
votes
7 answers
Why can't we see in low light if staring long enough?
For me it seems reasonable that if I kept my gaze on a fixed point in a room with low light, a progressively brighter and better picture would appear before my eyes, just like a camera can see in the dark if the shutter speed is really slow, e.g. 4…
filip
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