Recent comments in /f/science

Sherlock-Holmie t1_j96j5wc wrote

Reply to comment by TricksterWolf in Physicists nail down the most precise value yet of the electron magnetic moment. A newly measured value of an electron’s magnetic moment — a property of its spin and charge — is twice as precise as the one physicists have used for the past 14 years. by MistWeaver80

They just have a reputation of doing poor science. They’re smart people, but have a tendency to try and come up with something from nothing since the 1950s.

The high energy physics cycle for most of them is “hey we technically don’t know this isn’t true and if we finagle this in this way it technically fits all the old data but also predicts this” then an experiment some years later shows it isn’t true then they finagle a little more.

They also have to be writing something or they’re out of a job but the challenge is that the standard model is pretty exceptional so there isn’t many things to investigate more directly

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Innundator t1_j96ievd wrote

Reply to comment by Niceotropic in Pharmacological vitamin C inhibits mTOR signaling and tumor growth by degrading Rictor and inducing HMOX1 expression (Feb 2023) by basmwklz

Your argument is that there should be no differentiation between a rock containing iron, and an actual hammer composed entirely of iron. Because it'd be confusing to call them both anything but iron.

The difference between a pharmacological dose and what's found in an orange is many orders of magnitude, which warrants a new term.

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TricksterWolf t1_j96ie74 wrote

Reply to comment by reddittisfreedom in Physicists nail down the most precise value yet of the electron magnetic moment. A newly measured value of an electron’s magnetic moment — a property of its spin and charge — is twice as precise as the one physicists have used for the past 14 years. by MistWeaver80

This data is mostly used to test existing theory. Eventually we may find a discrepancy that suggests the Standard Model is missing something, though this seems unlikely in the near future as the model has accurately predicted pretty much everything we throw at it.

It's how science works best: you make your boat, then do everything in your power to sink it. The boats that stay afloat, like quantum chromodynamics, quantum field theory, and general relativity, are the ones that continue to work in ever-more difficult situations.

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InTheEndEntropyWins t1_j96i351 wrote

Reply to comment by Educational-Stock708 in Females' propensity to deposit more fat in places like their hips, buttocks and the backs of their arms, so-called subcutaneous fat, is protective against brain inflammation, which can result in problems like dementia and stroke, at least until menopause, scientists report. by QualityWork_

I think it's saying the distribution of fat in women is better than fat in man. It's not saying fat is good.

So for men, particularly Asians it's really important to not get fat.

Women should also watch their weight, being overweight even if the fat goes to the hips isn't healthy.

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Sherlock-Holmie t1_j96i2m4 wrote

Reply to comment by minormajorseventh in Physicists nail down the most precise value yet of the electron magnetic moment. A newly measured value of an electron’s magnetic moment — a property of its spin and charge — is twice as precise as the one physicists have used for the past 14 years. by MistWeaver80

Some quick research shows that there are people that have been trying to develop electron spin-based transistors for about 30 years now. The name of the transistor is spin transistor and the field of engineering based around developing stuff using electron’s spin property is called spintronics.

It doesn’t seem like they’ve had much success, but handling things with single electrons is extremely challenging since they’re quantum systems. Everything is probabilistic in nature and challenging to manipulate. Current transistors are having physical limitations due to being so small that electrons can tunnel to where they shouldn’t be (or so I’ve been told. I haven’t fact checked this. I’m not a hardware guy)

I’m pretty cynical towards particle physics, but I’m all for attempting challenging engineering

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Beyond-Time t1_j96i0m5 wrote

Reply to comment by IPutThisUsernameHere in Scientists create carbon nanotubes out of plastic waste using an energy-efficient, low-cost, low-emissions process. Compared to commercial methods for carbon nanotube production that are being used right now, ours uses about 90% less energy and generates 90%-94% less carbon dioxide by Wagamaga

I mean, this is basically the only comment needed here. Same with the monthly battery revolutionizing technology discovered that goes nowhere.

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TricksterWolf t1_j96hlcw wrote

Reply to comment by thedabking123 in Physicists nail down the most precise value yet of the electron magnetic moment. A newly measured value of an electron’s magnetic moment — a property of its spin and charge — is twice as precise as the one physicists have used for the past 14 years. by MistWeaver80

This is science in a nutshell (as well as math, in the event you don't think of it as science).

A lot of cancer-fighting treatments don't come from directed research looking for a cure, but rather from pure research gathered in natural studies. So don't write off silly-sounding investigation into, say, the motility of sea urchin sperm.

It's another arena where politicians suck, too. There was a funded study on dog micturition (urination) that I can easily imagine a US politician shouting at the cameras, "We're wasting three thousand dollars on dog pee!", because it's a great soundbite for outrage. In reality the study looked at the fact that all puppies pee sitting down, but curs stand up, which means something changes the instinct. Turns out that neurons in the spinal cords of male dogs physically rearrange themselves to do this. Groundbreaking research can be challenging to fund, in part because it often isn't directed at a solution to a problem in advance. Sometimes we just have to learn more about nature.

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ubermeisters t1_j96hjq6 wrote

Reply to comment by Educational-Stock708 in Females' propensity to deposit more fat in places like their hips, buttocks and the backs of their arms, so-called subcutaneous fat, is protective against brain inflammation, which can result in problems like dementia and stroke, at least until menopause, scientists report. by QualityWork_

Nah, I think it's perfectly clear that fat has a place in the body as a protective element, and it's also pretty clear that when fat exists in places, or quantities, that are abnormal, it causes problems. none of that is new.

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sexybeans t1_j96h7ta wrote

Reply to comment by Educational-Stock708 in Females' propensity to deposit more fat in places like their hips, buttocks and the backs of their arms, so-called subcutaneous fat, is protective against brain inflammation, which can result in problems like dementia and stroke, at least until menopause, scientists report. by QualityWork_

Headline is weirdly phrased, I think the final part of the sentence "which can result is problems..." refers to brain inflammation resulting in problems, not subcutaneous fat.

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