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1500 questions
17
votes
1 answer
Why aren't native predators in Australia able to handle the mice problem?
Australia is currently dealing with a mouse infestation problem, but Australia is awash with different types of predators that presumably eat lots of mice like animals. Snakes in particular are well suited to kill mice, especially in close…
Krupip
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16
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2 answers
How do small animals make loud sounds?
Walking past the park today, I heard a cicada so loud I thought at first it must be some sort of large power tool. How is it that that very small animals like cicadas (crickets, etc.) can make such loud sounds? It seems intuitive that larger animals…
Oreotrephes
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16
votes
1 answer
Does electricity cause damage on a cellular level?
As I understand it the mechanism of death when a mammal is electrocuted is that the current disrupts the SAN/AVN in the heart causing it to fibrilate or arrest. That's on a macro scale, however. What damage, if any, does electricity cause on a…
Rory M
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16
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2 answers
How is it thought that phosphine is synthesized by living organisms on Earth?
The recent (Sept. 2020) report of “Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus” states that phosphine (PH3) is only known to occur on Earth due to anaerobic life. Quoting from a report in the New York Times:
But scientists have yet to explain how…
dashnick
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16
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1 answer
Why are the pulmonary vein and artery not like the rest of circulatory system?
I'm learning anatomy. What I learnt is that we have arteries that have oxygenated blood which appears red in color, and branch blood to arterioles to deliver blood to cells via capillaries from where de-oxygeneated blood is collected via venules…
Saeed Neamati
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16
votes
1 answer
How many times has SARS-CoV-2 mutated?
According to
Coronavirus has mutated at least once
The novel coronavirus that has infected thousands of people across the
world may have mutated at least once — meaning there may be two
different types of the virus causing illnesses, a new…
Pablo
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16
votes
3 answers
Is Behe's experiment (evolving the bacterial flagellum) plausible in the lab?
[Warning: this question is motivated by a prominent proponent of "intelligent design": Prof. Michael Behe. I'm not interested in debating creationism.]
According to Wikipedia[1]:
In Darwin’s Black Box (Behe 1996) I claimed that the bacterial
…
Douglas S. Stones
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16
votes
1 answer
What is this grasshopper doing?
I spotted a grasshopper standing on a pavement with a long sting placed in asphalt. I also recorded a video of it moving:
https://youtu.be/JoDdg2yUuYo
What is it doing?
kamilazdybal
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16
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1 answer
If plants "alternate generations" between sporophytes and gametophytes, why don't we say the same of humans?
I've been reading on Wikipedia about how plants alternate generations between a diploid sporophyte (usually the dominant part) and haploid gametophyte (in flowering plants, the pollen and ovule sacs).
Mammals also produce haploid gametes. But in…
Max
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16
votes
2 answers
For how long would a flu-contaminated parcel be an effective disease vector?
A parcel has been delivered and contaminated by a person who has the flu.
For how long would the parcel be an effective disease vector?
User1974
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16
votes
5 answers
What is the difference between a circular and a cat's-eye (slit) pupil?
I've been to local zoo the other day and one lizard caught my attention: its pupils are circular, which, I thought, is not usual for reptiles. Turns out it is, but now I can't find any explanation on why some animals have one kind of pupil and…
Violet Giraffe
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16
votes
2 answers
How is eye color in humans inherited?
In high school we studied the inheritance of eye color, as it was explained to us in the most simple way: blue eye color is a recessive, monogenic, autosomal trait. Now I know that it is a bit more complicated than that; there are several genes…
Gergana Vandova
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16
votes
3 answers
Why does a worm's skin need to be wet for oxygen to diffuse across it?
Pages I've read about worms' respiratory systems says that the skin needs to be wet (covered in mucus) or oxygen won't diffuse across the skin. Why? If there is more oxygen outside the worm's skin than inside, what prevents it from diffusing across…
Mark Eichenlaub
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16
votes
3 answers
What is the average speed of human sneeze?
I sneeze a lot, at various times and various "volumes", and often wonder about the speed of the sneeze itself, i.e. the speed of the air coming out of the nose while sneezing.
What is the average speed of that, in humans? Are there any records for…
Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
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16
votes
2 answers
Do human beings have pheromone receptors?
What is the current consensus on whether or not humans have receptors that detect pheromones?
If there are purported receptors, in what anatomical areas are they located? With what organ systems do they interact?
jonsca
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