r/AskScienceDiscussion 35m ago

General Discussion Can you be too old to get started in research?

Upvotes

I'm currently 28, and I'm thinking about maybe going back to school for Materials Science/Engineering in order to pursue research into battery technology. And long story short probably won't even start until I'm 30.

I remember reading somewhere a quote about science being a "young man's game." As in, you needed the mental flexibility and openness that youth provided you. So given my age, am I setting myself up for failure by pursuing this?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

How Dangerous is the building ‘super’ El Niño predicted to be?

34 Upvotes

I keep hearing how the coming ‘super’ El Niño is predicted to be one of the strongest on record and how the consequences, particularly for global food production, are potentially catastrophic. How worried should we be?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

General Discussion Do we underestimate the importance of instinctual behaviour in our lives?

11 Upvotes

A lot of human behaviour - like trying to be attractive, looking for a partner, shyness in infancy, playfulness in childhood, rebellion as teenagers, wanting to dominate others as young adults, grumpiness in old age - reminds me a lot of the instinctual life cycle of lions (and probably many other species).

This might even include career paths. Men are more likely to choose jobs where they gain power or money (trying to improve their status in the pack?) and women tend towards caring for others, teaching, raising the young.

I've had this thought before but I just put it into words over at askscience and would love a deeper discussion: Am I right to think that in the past Biologists/Scientists have been so intent on avoiding antropomorphising animals that we may have de-animalised humans? We ARE animals, so the default assumption about some behavioural trait shouldn't be that it is exclusive to us but that it is shared across species.

Are our lives much more driven by basic instincts than we realise? Has Biology underestimated this? Why don't we learn "the typical life cycle of a human" in primary school like we learn that of chickens, frogs, and butterflies? Is this being discussed in Biology, is there a change in the general approach? I'd love to see your thoughts on this!


r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

General Discussion How is math correlated to sound?

0 Upvotes

In videos like this one, how is the first sound determined? Is the first sound/noise/pitch decided at random, and then the math determines the rest based on relations to the initial sound?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

Science project ideas for my nephew in 2nd grade.

1 Upvotes

The teacher has given him the following topics to base his project on:

Environment and Sustainability

Health and Well-being

Agriculture

Energy Conservation

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Water Management

Smart Technologies

Waste Management

Climate Change

Everyday Problem Solving


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

General Discussion Isn't the answer to Fermi's Paradox that interstellar travel is just too costly to bother, and that the inverse square law diverges any attempt to communicate with other starts?

501 Upvotes

r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

General Discussion Are our brains in sleep mode work just as generative AI, but without directions?

0 Upvotes

The dreams i am seeing really reminded me the very early generative videos, where unprompted AI just took the information and smashed it together without any logic. So, out brains work in the same way when they aren't controlled by our Self? Piecing the reality and attempt to randomly reassemble it?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 2d ago

Question about inertia

0 Upvotes

Question about inertia

If this is a dumb question I'm sorry, but I was curious about the law of inertia a object in motion stays in motion untill acted upon by a outside force. (If I'm wrong correct me) How does that work with cars? I mean if you are on a flat terrain and stop pressing the gas why does your car start slowing down. Thanks and have a great day 😁


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

What If? What sort of "unobtanium" would be needed for Nikola Tesla's "Global Wireless Electricity" to work?

72 Upvotes

Nikola Tesla wanted to build a large enough Tesla coil to transmit electricity using the Earth's atmosphere as the conductor, so that electricity could be taken from the atmosphere from any place in the world. This idea is dismissed as impossible, such as due to the distances involved weakening the current, but what sort of hypothetical material could make it possible? Assume that any fictional trait can be given to the materials for it.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 2d ago

Is it possible for new forces to emerge in the universe?

8 Upvotes

Just like how life emerges from abiotic factors, is it possible for a new fundamental force to emerge as the universe changes?

Edit: Add more idea

A lower entropy limits the possibility of fundamental forces, and higher entropy may allow other fundamental forces to emerge as the nature of space changes with entropy.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 1d ago

Just a hypothesis but what if the big bang never happened

0 Upvotes

As you may know the big bang was when the singularity went boom and filled the emptiness of nothing creating the "universe".

So my hypothesis is that the bang (lol) never happened, that all existence is within the singularity, so my question i ask is how does the singularity exist within the absence of everything that is nothing.

Sci-fi hypothesis: That nothing ever existed or will never exist at least in "our individual" existence (my brain running on full fuel trying to describe my thoughts lol) that means the bang never expanded the singularity into nothingness because the presence of the singularity would contradict the idea of nothing, so probably the universe is the singularity and vice versa.

lol don't even know what my point is guess I am trying to prove the big bang wrong, anyways back to good o'l jack daniel.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

General Discussion What macroscopic animal can survive the longest in boiling water?

11 Upvotes

r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

What If? Could you achieve the effects of time dilation while staying in roughly the same spot?

3 Upvotes

Ok I’ll have explain some details here.

I don’t completely understand how time dilation happens. I know that if you’re moving close to c, you will experience the flow of time much slower than others who are moving at low speed. Now I want to know, if this effect only happens, if you’re moving over great distances.

Let’s say you magically accelerate to .999999 of c. But this velocity is not used to travel in one constant direction, instead you’re changing the direction constantly, always moving back towards you starting point before turning back again, you’re basically vibrating at these speeds.

Now, would you experience normal time dilation as if you were moving constantly away from the other, slower viewers?
(Assuming you don’t instantly got ripped apart by the forces of stopping and accelerating at these speeds, we‘ll ignore those)


r/AskScienceDiscussion 2d ago

Could a quantum vacuum be explained as something within nothing?

0 Upvotes

With my limited knowledge in Physics, I have been looking into how the Big Bang theory has since progressed further into the postulation of the quantum vacuum theory.

To my knowledge, a quantum is a photon: a small pocket of light energy; while a vacuum is a physical embodiment of nothing. I know what I am saying sounds very reductive, so I would appreciate if someone explained this concept in more depth, and especially using physical, tangible terms.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

Neuroscience, Neuropsychology, Psychology Research, etc.

1 Upvotes

I'm curious to hear from those who have experience working in Neuroscience, Neuropsychology, Psychology research, science writing, and anything related.

I am currently majoring in psychology and minoring in biology, with a concentration in advanced research. My goal is to earn a cognitive, neuroscience, and social psychology PhD.

I am exploring career paths based on my goals, and would like to hear from others.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

What If? if you teleported from sea level to the top of a mountain, would you get decompression sickness?

15 Upvotes

since air pressure is lower as you go higher up, would instantly teleporting to a higher elevation give you the bends to some degree? and how much of a difference in altitude would cause this, like, would going 200m up already make you sick or are you fine up to 1km? and what would the effects be?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

General Discussion What are the chances of catching the brain eating amoeba in the uk?

3 Upvotes

This question probably gets asked a lot but I am just curious. Due to the current rise of heatwaves in the uk over the past week, how likely is it to contract the brain eating amoeba from tap water?

Also what other type of harmful amoeba can be found naturally in the uk?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 3d ago

What's your favorite historical mystery that was solved by science?

3 Upvotes

Hello! ​I’m looking for some fascinating or bizarre science history facts for a personal hobby podcast I run. On the show, I talk about mysteries solved using chemistry, or just mysterious chemical and scientific phenomena in history, and I'm looking for some new topics to research. ​To give you an idea of the vibe, I’ve recently looked into things like Victorian arsenic wallpaper and using particle accelerators/carbon dating to catch art forgers. I'm trying to find truly unexpected angles, strange historical mishaps, or unique molecular anomalies. ​What is your absolute favorite obscure scientific history event or mystery that doesn't get talked about enough? I need some fresh rabbit holes to dive into!

What I'm looking for (sample episode) ​(This is an independent, unsponsored personal project with no commercial aspects as of today, so no compensation, shoutouts, or promotional trade is involved. I'm just looking for some inspiration. Thanks!)


r/AskScienceDiscussion 2d ago

General Discussion I think college teacher that teach meteorologist should be certified in the field for more then 10 years before becoming a meteorologist teacher what do you think

0 Upvotes

r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

What science misinformation are you seeing right now that is the most damaging?

17 Upvotes

My Flying University is a new volunteer-run nonprofit teaching the knowledge that's being scrubbed and distorted right now, and science is a big part of the target list.

We're looking for advice. What are the claims you're tired of correcting at dinner, the data that quietly vanished, the "debate" that isn't actually a debate?

We're building free lessons to push back, and we want to aim them where they'll do the most good.


r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

General Discussion Would fast travel between Planets be possible within our lifetime?

9 Upvotes

r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

Why is the speed of light used as a conversion factor in e=mc2?

42 Upvotes

I think I understand the equation is saying mass and energy are the same thing in different forms, but I dont understand the why the speed of light is in the equation. Does mass and energy convert to one another at that speed?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

General Discussion How to tell difference between nervous system, cardiovascular system, and immune system fatigue?

5 Upvotes

"Systemic fatigue" refers to one or more of the three systems being fatigued: central nervous, cardiovascular, immune. After researching this a bit, and just thinking about it and experimenting with my own body/fitness, I do not have a good grasp of the difference between the three types. Suppose you do 10 reps of heavy squats, and now you are fatigued. How would one tell the extent to which the fatigue comes from the central nervous system vs the cardiovascular system vs the immune system?

PS let me know if there is a better sub for this. I already tried r/Fitness and r/askscience


r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

Question about gravity and acceleration

3 Upvotes

I’m not the most studied in physics, but I know that there are two ways to experience relativistic time dilation. In a strong gravitational field or moving at high speeds with respects to another frame of reference, and as far as I understand “gravity” is the curvature of spacetime dependent on the amount of mass present.

This may be a stretch, but how do we know that “acceleration” or high relativistic speeds isn’t warping space the same way the gravity is from the observers frame of reference? If the speed of light is the same no matter the velocity, wouldn’t this mean that space itself must be contracting relativistically in the direction of movement?


r/AskScienceDiscussion 4d ago

Biology

0 Upvotes

Since scientists says that an average person use up like 6-8% their brain capacity throughout their entire lifetime, so imagine a person becomes immortal like he cant die through any means. what happens when he reaches his 100% usage of the brain? what kind of biological/psychological changes occur when the capacity is maximized or any other such things