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"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers." ~Carl Sagan

The goal of this forum is the promotion of scientific literacy by disseminating knowledge of the scientific process and its results through answering science questions.

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Earth SciencesNASA/JPL Climate Scientist Josh Willis AMA - with focus on how to get started on an Earth science career (self.askscience)

submitted ago by ClimateElvisNASA/JPL Climate Scientist

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When I get hungry, is my body saying that it needs food, or that it's expecting food? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by Aerocity[!]

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Modern humans have existed for about 200,000 years. If you could go back in time and bring back an infant would it be able to grow up and thrive like a baby from this day and age? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by joecooool418

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What exactly is changing in the brain to make a memory? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by belhambone

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EngineeringHow do computers and phones (et cetera) know the exact percentage of battery life they have remaining? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by 3nexx

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BiologyA lot of drugs are derived from plants. Why not just eat the plants? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by beeteeoh

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When a recipe calls for 1/8 a tsp of salt - what is the chemical reason for adding this seemingly insignificant amount of salt? It obviously isn't for taste - so what is the NaCl2 really doing to the recipe? (example included) (self.askscience)

submitted ago by Stead311

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when you get SO hungry that you feel you may puke what is going on in your body? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by PuffMasterJ

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What makes some people more susceptible to motion sickness than others? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by hj17

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PhysicsCan someone explain space velocity? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by archelon2001

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Do black holes have an upper limit for mass? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by fetus_clamrod

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Why are programs and operating systems still written in C+? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by one-MaN_army

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PhysicsIs it possible for a steak to be cooked by re-entry into the atmosphere? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by thetoethumb

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ChemistryWhere does the octet rule come from? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by ghillisuit95

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Are LCD monitors more or less stressful to our eyes compared to CRT monitors? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by FusBroDah

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EngineeringToday I was in a 15 story building during an earthquake. If the building collapsed, would I have been safer on the first floor, 15th floor or somewhere in between? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by creedofwheat

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If an observer were to watch an object from several lightyears away, and they approach it at, or close to the speed of light, would the object appear to have it's motion sped up as if it were being fast-forwarded? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by Defnotes

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Why so few urban raptors? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by TheBananaKing

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Can someone explain to me in the simplest terms possible what the cosmological constant is? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by KBanditZ

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How would our perception of time change if we were absolutely still? Not on a moving planet in a moving solar system in a moving galaxy. (self.askscience)

submitted ago by ej1oo1

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This may be the dumbest and most ignorant question, but is there any correlation between the shape of our galaxy and patterns found in nature and mathematics, such as the golden ratio in a nautilus? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by waveparticleduality

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AstronomyIs it too late to launch probes to intercept Comet C/2012 S1 (aka ISON) for direct imaging or physical science like the Giotto probes did for Halley? #Astro (self.askscience)

submitted ago by diizeru

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How does toxiplasmosis cause mice to want to be eaten by cats? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by redelman431

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How do cells know where a DNA sequence begins? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by marshwiggle

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If you were on the Moon, and wanted to "throw" something at the Earth, what is the minimum speed it would need to be launched at in order to escape the Moon's gravity well, and reach Earth? (self.askscience)

submitted ago by MrShip

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