General Science Thread

Yeah, the articles reporting on this seem to flat out ignore cancer treatment options (the paper for its part only seems to be focused on what occurs in nature), though on the second point I think the paper was arguing that it's impossible for the rate of stochastic damage to be exactly zero, and thus the rate of deleterious mutations will be nonzero, and thus either cellular function (most age related pathologies other than cancer) or cellular cooperation (cancer) must inevitably break down though I'm not entirely sure what their justification for that claim is.

edited 10th Nov '17 9:13:35 AM by CaptainCapsase

The probability of cancer causing mutations is always non-zero unless your DNA is totally unmutable (as well as the epigenetic code. And the balance between signaling mechanism), so the paper is right on that point. That does not produce aging or a maximum life span, it produces a half time similar to radioactive decay.

Now there is generally some time between mutation->death unlike with radioactive decay so that complicates it a little. So an older person has had more time to develop at least one cancer. On the flip side, slower growing tumours are less effective at killing. I don't know how that math would work out.

I see what your getting at, yeah. I do think in the very long term the potential for breakdown intercellular cooperation may form an upper limit on how long a multicellular organism could live under natural conditions if all other limiting factors were eliminated, though the fact that many species are far less susceptible to cancer than humans, and the fact that supercenetarians IIRC generally don’t die of cancer and in fact see a leveling off of their probability of death, which suggests this isn’t what dictates the maximum lifespan of humans.

edited 10th Nov '17 9:45:41 AM by CaptainCapsase

Note that depending on the number of cells in an organism and the efficiency of anti-tumour metabolism, the occurrence rate of cancer may be so small that it can't be measured.

If I recall correctly, that species periodically regresses to a larval state, which is part of what enables it to live indefinitely.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20171127171327071/

NHK World has a news headline regarding American scientists planning to conduct research abroad on climate change...

Why is blue rare in nature?

An engineering question: can you extend a subway line between five to ten years?

Depending on how long the extension is and the terrain it may even take less.

Hi I have a question about surface area and cooling amongst other things . By any chance does someone know how to calculate heat transfer between an gas pipe that is about 100 C° and either 20C° water and a 20C° mixture of water and ammonia (40 percent of ammonia) and has about 34 in³ surface area of copper piping? And if anyone is curious the said object has 3 layers and Is apart of a cooling tower and I'm trying to see if I need if it's cool enough and by how much the gases will cool down and how much the water and ammonia-water will heat up. P.s if anyone wants more info ask away. And are there any substitutes for the ammonia-water mixture that will be not so toxic.

edited 27th Jan '18 7:38:32 AM by Coleman

I think you want the formulas for heat conductivity.

Incidentaly, I just found out that a fruit fly - Drosophila bifurca, close relative to regular fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster - has the longest known sperm cells, 5.8 centimetres long which is much more than the actual fly. The regular fruit fly has sperm about 2 millimetres long, about 40 times as much as a human sperm cell.

Yeah, I discovered that one a few weeks/couple of months ago.

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-engineered-sheep-human-hybrids-first-time-stem-cell-chimera

"Scientists Just Made Sheep-Human Hybrids. Here's What You Need to Know"

Researchers have achieved a new kind of chimeric first, producing sheep-human hybrid embryos that could one day represent the future of organ donation – by using body parts grown inside unnatural, engineered animals.

We now have literal Sheeple. Ok, not really. But I really wanted to make that joke.

That's really cool, this has the potential to be incredibly useful.

(Also I at your joke)

That's really interesting. Wonder if they'll go with pigs next, heard we're somewhat more compatible.

So... Sheep people when◊?

Lab Grown Meat Is Coming, Whether You Like It or Not

This is excellent, cheap meat that avoids the various costs involved in industrial livestock farming and is significantly more efficient and sustainable than the current method of raising livestock would greatly benefit society.

Until someone whines about the loss of ranching jobs and everything gets tangled in red tape and regulations.

I know this was a month ago but I just saw it:

As an example, an 8 km subway extension opened in Toronto a few months ago. It was completed in 9 and a half years, but was first proposed back in 1988, cancelled in 1996 after a short extension in the same direction was completed (the province scrapped the funding), then resurrected in the early 2000s. There's a relief line that's currently in the planning stages that some would argue is needed now that won't be open until 2031 at the earliest. That's transit planning for you.

edited 22nd Feb '18 2:33:29 PM by Pseudopartition

specific term for it

edited 22nd Feb '18 3:57:51 PM by Fourthspartan56

Just like we were able to shut down all those coal power plants and coal mines when new technologies came along?

Considering that coal jobs have more or less disappeared and the demand is falling rapidly I would say that's a perfect example.

So no that doesn't credibly support the idea that vat grown meat will be shutdown by unhappy ranchers.

edited 26th Feb '18 3:23:42 PM by Fourthspartan56

At this point it's probably worth mentioning that not that many animals raised for meat are raised solely for their meat. While any individual animal may only be involved in one side of the equation or the other, re-purposing (and cross breeding some lines) for the other side of the equation is still possible.

Cows, sheep and goats all provide milk, while sheep and some form of goats also are also raised for wool. Chickens and most forms of poultry also provide eggs. I think the real loser would be pigs since synthetics have replaced most, if not all, of the uses for the skin and truffle hunting is very specialised and relatively rare.

It does support the idea that unhappy ranchers will vote for extremist politicians in response, though.