Recent comments in /f/askscience

Allfunandgaymes t1_j9dkfr2 wrote

Reply to Is COVID unique in the way it affects different individuals in such different ways? by stupidrobots

No, not at all. It's very similar to influenza and other respiratory infections in that regard. It has greater risk for complications and mortality because it is a fairly novel zoonotic virus despite there being other coronaviruses that already infect humans.

Viruses which have "calling card" symptoms tend to be in the minority.

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PerspectivePure2169 t1_j9dj0j1 wrote

Reply to Are all coals equal ? by Arks_traveler

A lot of confusion here between charcoal and coal, which us understandable with their English etymology.

What you asked about is charcoal which is not at all the same as the combustible mineral called coal. Though coal does have a "charred coal" pure carbon corollary, confusingly known as coke

Charcoal is what is used for filtration and absorption, and is simply pure carbon produced by pyrolysis of (usually) woody material in the absence of oxygen. When this is done, all of the non carbonaceous volatile compounds are driven off, leaving pure charcoal.

If the pyrolysis is done completely, then the parent wood has no bearing on the properties of the charcoal, because all of its other components have been removed.

I have cooked quite a bit of charcoal from woods of all types for use in forging and metal casting. And regardless of the starting wood, the end product is the same. Indeed the only difference is the yield, which is simply because of conservation of mass - starting with denser hardwoods allows packing more material into the same space within the retort when compared to a light softwood.

Once cooked, it's all the same.

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fragmentOutOfOrder t1_j9daa61 wrote

Reply to Can you control an animals movement with electric impulses to the brain and muscles? by Noobstompa6000

This is not dumb and is indeed a very active field of research in the broader sense of how do we control/use our own limbs and what happens when the natural pathways stop working. The research tends to focus on how to deal with living humans and their brain to muscle to computer interfaces, but the applications are broad. This fellow is particularly prominent in the field, Jose Carmena.

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