Recent comments in /f/askscience

ohtochooseaname t1_j7gr2fg wrote

Reply to Why are green and red laser pointers so cheap and available, but yellow ones not so much? by SurprisedPotato

There's some history to laser availability, but right now, it's because you can make all those readily available colors from a light emitting diode. LED's are the same way where the only available yellows use phosphorescence to convert blue to yellow, which you can't do for a laser, and doesn't work all that well comparatively. If someone invents a yellow diode, they will get very, very rich because it is something the biomedical field needs as well as for displays and lighting.

5

neutrinoburrito t1_j7gpufs wrote

Reply to comment by Cyber_Fetus in Do tonal language speakers understand each other while whispering? by Paulix_05

Your example is fine and gets the point across. There’s never going to be a perfect example of this since English has so many different nuanced pronunciations of words due to its widespread use. These people are just trying to desperately grasp at a delusion of intellectual superiority through pedantry.

12

Irisgrower2 OP t1_j7gnpp5 wrote

Reply to comment by CrustalTrudger in Is there a term for lake bottoms that "hour glass" (temporarily becomes wider following a "shelf" as the depth increases ) , how do bathymetric maps depict this, and does this have a common affect on turbidity, thermoclines, or other characters? by Irisgrower2

You are correct, there is a specific example. I won't offer up the name for online safety reasons. I'm not affiliated with any organization and this is a passion project.

The lake in question, like the one mentioned in Florida, is mostly spring fed. The rock type is much more dense. It is classified as oligotrophic despite its boundaries having been deforested, used for agriculture for over a century, and summer home development. I find that bizarre and am attempting to gain a broader scope of understanding of the systems before possibly spending next winter counting diatoms from core samples.

Furthermore, I suspect the vast majority of bathymetric map data was collected via measuring a rope with a weight at it's end. Such a methodology would overlook the characteristic I've been referring to.

Lastly, I hypothesize lake bottoms which share this characteristic maintain other anomalies to limnology models.

1

foodtower t1_j7gjprh wrote

Reply to comment by johndburger in Do tonal language speakers understand each other while whispering? by Paulix_05

When I whisper "Sue went to the zoo", "Sue" and "zoo" are easily distinguishable to me. For example, if someone overheard me whispering, they would definitely hear "Sue": the s is louder. I understand the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds. The fact that they sound different when I say them means that either 1) my whispering is not totally unvoiced and other people's may not be either, or 2) there are subtle differences between how I pronounce s and z that enable them to be distinguished even with both unvoiced.

Edit: as mentioned in a follow-up comment, recorded waveforms of me whispering Sue and zoo are visibly different too.

5

PHealthy t1_j7ghm2e wrote

Reply to (Virology) Has SARS-CoV-2 outcompeted all the other coronaviruses which have been called the ‘common cold’? by jsgui

During the pandemic, yes, SARS-CoV-2 had much higher incidence:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/individual-states

But the normally circulating coronaviruses as we call them are definitely still around and currently making their annual peak right now:

https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/coronavirus/natl-trends.html

The usual disclaimer of course that many viruses make up the "common cold".

In case anyone likes infectious disease news: r/ID_News

1,369

Ceofy t1_j7ghelt wrote

Reply to Why oil fries, while water boils? by SaboKunn

The other responses have answered your question, but I wanted to mention this: You can cook in oil without boiling it, and you can cook in hot water without boiling it as well (like when you're using a sous-vide).

In both cases the liquid is being used to impart heat to the food.

6