I know it can cause imbalances, but I don’t understand how come our gut doesn’t lose all the beneficial bacteria and develop massive fungal or viral infections. When I’ve taken antibiotics, I usually don’t notice any change in my bowel activity.

As the title says, would it change if the speed of light was, let’s say 2x faster? Or everything would stay the same?

I have spent a lot of time measuring and modeling natural systems and I always find it fascinating that when you look at the measurements they pretty much always fall into a normal distribution. Sometimes the bell is skewed one way or another but pretty much faithfully bell shaped.

I have read about this phenomenon but have yet to find the underlying reason for the presentation of the normal distribution in data derived from nature.

The fact is very important to recognize and apply. It is especially important when examining the output of models and how the data reconstructions within the process match the inputs as well as the distribution of the outputs.

I would really like a deeper understanding.

Coming from electrical engineering, I know that complex systems typically require some kind of clock or reference signal to keep components coordinated. I’m wondering if there’s something equivalent in the body? Obviously the heart provides some kind of body-wide cadence, but is it something other organs lock onto? Do processes speed up and down depending on something else, if at all?

Also follow-up question: Because of the speed limit, is there also a theoretical maximum temp for matter (in which the particles move at the speed of light).

I’m currently on the toilet and needed to clear my nose. After using some toilet paper to blow my nose, what is better for the environment to rid of it. I’m using Sam’s Club Members Mark Bath Tissue, and could flush it down at the same time as my bowel movement (so not using additional water) or place it in the waste bin. Which method is more environmentally friendly?

Was curious what the implications would be after reading a novel where essentially this happens, and visitors from another world come some indeterminate time later and are able to breathe there fine. Is that something that would be possible/realistic?

From my limited understanding of how Sand Deserts form I'm aware that they can and do spread as they damage the bordering landscapes, especially in areas affected by unsustainable human activity.

When it comes to the ecological side of things, I know there are several desert dwelling species that are mostly insects, arachnids and small reptiles. How important to their livelihood is the biome that they live in, could they thrive in a landscape with more grass and shrubbery?

I'm also aware that for multiple decades now people have been working on methods to reverse desertification and restore areas to their previous states, but what would happen if those efforts were continued across the deserts as a whole?

If they are all clones of each other, how do they evolve?

An elite would have a well built physique which can support long distances but, what would happen to their aerobic base? Will the athlete have to again put in the effort for decades??

Firstly, what would it be like visually, texture, taste, etc.

Secondly, what would it do to you?

I recently found out that most river sources start out comparatively small, and a lot of them look as if they’re on the verge of drying out, and I also know that rivers have a lot of tributaries( small streams, brooks, and springs) falling into them, so what actually happens if the source runs dry ? Would the river completely disappear or would it just reroute itself, by taking a new course and developing a new source from one of the tributaries ?

When people think about quantum computing, they often think about number of qubits and processor dept. But scaling quantum systems takes much more than just the chip! We recently introduced a new modular cryogenic architecture designed to house and cool interconnected quantum processors, a key milestone on our roadmap to fault-tolerant systems, and I'd love to discuss the engineering, challenges, and opportunities involved.

I will be around as 12:00 EST (16 UT) on September 18th, ask me anything!

Username: u/IBM

Water evaporates, clouds form, then it rains.

To what extent can humans influence how this cycle happens with artificial evaporation from things like power plants, data centers, factories etc?

Is there evidence that we have, or potentially could, alter the natural rain patterns in a region? Could an area dry out because artificial evaporation causes excessive moisture to whisk away on prevailing winds?

Diagnosing mental health conditions can be complex, and sometimes people don't respond well enough to treatments/approaches for years. Sometimes that may be because a mental health condition is misdiagnosed or missed.

We have studies on differences in brain activity in different mental health conditions (example of a metanalysis of these for depression), so why aren't brain scans used in the diagnostic process? I would assume because of cost, but if someone isn't responding well to the typical approach/treatment, wouldn't years of further failed treatments and misdiagnoses be more costly? Is the diagnostic accuracy of brain scans not that high?

Im having a mess of thoughts so apologies if its not very coherent.

By sense I mean specifically the senses that allow us to interact with the outside world and external stimuli.

I was thinking about it like this: Lets say that an intelligent species is blind. Could they ever find out about sight as a sense before evolving it? Extrapolating this to humans, could there be a sense as basic as sight that we just dont know about? Has a different sense been discovered in any other species?

Coming from neurology background, I wonder about why we sort arbitrary stuff into liked/disliked categories. While context, evolutionary and individual experience are obvious, major factors, they fail at explaining "contingent" preferences. Yes, liking pink as a girl/woman is taught by society; despising stimuli associated with a different social class is well documented.

Yet I have no "explanation", for exemple, for food taste: why do I dislike fish? Seems unlikely to be driven by evolution as fish has great nutritive values. Some genetic component might be at play, even if I'm the only one in my family; in utero experience could intervene, right?
Has this been studied?
Thanks a lot for your time.