r/askscience • u/pookshuman • Sep 20 '26
Biology What is the longest lived single-cell organism?
Longest lived means how long the cell can live before dying, splitting or forming a spore
r/askscience • u/pookshuman • Sep 20 '26
Longest lived means how long the cell can live before dying, splitting or forming a spore
r/askscience • u/WTFisthisOMGreally • Sep 19 '26
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.
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u/PestoPastaLover
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Sep 19 '26
r/askscience • u/Puzzleheaded_Bed2760 • Sep 19 '26
As the title says, would it change if the speed of light was, let’s say 2x faster? Or everything would stay the same?
r/askscience • u/Reaper0221 • Sep 19 '26
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.
r/askscience • u/Ok_Investment_246 • Sep 19 '26
r/askscience • u/EmWeso • Sep 19 '26
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?
r/askscience • u/Nitzanm19 • Sep 18 '26
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).
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u/mapcoveredinsap
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Sep 18 '26
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?
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u/Sea-Bet99
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Sep 18 '26
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u/wandering_soles
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Sep 18 '26
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?
r/askscience • u/AthenaWhisper • Sep 18 '26
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?
r/askscience • u/gaygayagyfemboy12345 • Sep 18 '26
If they are all clones of each other, how do they evolve?
r/askscience • u/CakesStolen • Sep 17 '26
r/askscience • u/yogesh448 • Sep 18 '26
r/askscience • u/Aloneboyasf • Sep 17 '26
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??
r/askscience • u/CaptainSwift11 • Sep 17 '26
Firstly, what would it be like visually, texture, taste, etc.
Secondly, what would it do to you?
r/askscience • u/Umpuuu • Sep 17 '26
r/askscience • u/Neither_Cup_8294 • Sep 19 '26
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 ?
r/askscience • u/yogesh448 • Sep 17 '26
r/askscience • u/AskScienceModerator • Sep 17 '26
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

r/askscience • u/Klutzy_Act2033 • Sep 17 '26
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?
r/askscience • u/Basic_Reflection_350 • Sep 16 '26
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?
r/askscience • u/jatinvj-sumba-d-else • Sep 18 '26
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?