Recent comments in /f/askscience

Redsnake1993 t1_j6m6cnn wrote

Reply to How would a monocot/dicot and a woody plant grow differently in zero gravity? Would the woody plant grow straight or does that require gravity? by Jade_Mans_Eyes

Most trees would grow straight toward the light source if they could, gravity is one of the thing holding them back. And the cross-sections would be more slender & circular than usual because they don't need to form reaction wood to resist gravity.

Some plants have more specific gravitropic response and it's harder to predict in that case.

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sinspawn1024 t1_j6kpdgy wrote

Reply to comment by WeDrinkSquirrels in Why do sample return missions such as OSIRIS-REx use their own reentry vehicles instead of just going to the space station for pickup and return with ISS equipment? by PromptCritical725

Resupply missions are moving up earth's gravity well. If an engine malfunctions, the craft will lose velocity and altitude due to Earth's gravity. Return missions are falling into Earth's gravity well, so engine malfunction results in continued acceleration. Also, retropropulsion is fundamentally unstable (the force balance is the same as balancing a ruler vertically on your finger), which means that if a system loses attitude control, the craft will much more likely enter a tumbling condition, which if not arrested, will dramatically widen the cone of possible collision.

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LifeLongNaturist t1_j6kjlsb wrote

Reply to comment by iayork in Does illness remain in population "just by never going away"? by BlackWardz

And there is smallpox virus stored in labs in Russia and Atlanta for research purposes under the supervision of the WHO. It also has turned up in labs in Philadelphia in 2021 and Bethesda in 2014 as leftovers, could it be in other labs in the world? Hopefully it would be contained quickly if it ever escaped from a lab due to poor quality control, but sorry for those that would be affected.

https://www.science.org/content/article/six-vials-smallpox-discovered-us-lab

The Philadelphia lab virus was later identified as the virus used to produce the smallpox vaccine rather than the actual smallpox virus.

https://www.livescience.com/smallpox-vials-discovered-pennsylvania-research-lab

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