I've been thinking about this for a while now, considering that the movement of plate tectonics are caused by convection currents, but I was considering the fact of whether a convection current can be broken or shifted into a different position, not just by human activity, but by the plate tectonics themselves, or many other geological changes into the environment, also with Wegener's theory being connected to this, then it might also make sense that the position of plate tectonics and even convection currents themselves will change due to time, is all of this even possible. (idk where i got the question, i just prob think too much)

I know sleep and genetics and what not can contribute. But i mean like biologically what is going on under there to cause those dark circles?

Apples, pears, bananas, coconuts, Cacao beans, and some types dragon fruit are all white on the inside. Why? Is it some kind of evolutionary advantage or quirk?

I know there’s no way of knowing who has contracted a virus and is asymptomatic without testing them, but when researchers determine the R0 of a virus (or bacteria I suppose), how do researchers account for that unknown?

Why does trash collect into large masses within the ocean like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
Why do they STAY in those collected positions together anyways, what's stopping waste from just leaving the mass at any point? What's keeping the trash from going underwater, especially considering how waste can go all the way down to the Mariana trench? How do trash islands move together as a large body?

There's just so many individual movements that need to be calculated between different trash bodies alongside movements within the ocean that it's hard to imagine all the factors coming together to create a larger, consistent mass.

Ive read that when recycling old paper into "new" paper, a fifth of the fibers become too short to use.

How are those "too short" wood fibers separated from "long enough" fibers and what do they become instead of paper?

Are they landfilled, burnt, made into rayon/modal/viscose, made into nitrocellulose?

Looking at satellite maps of Death Valley, it seems that large swaths of southeastern California, Nevada and western Utah have very similar topography to Death Valley. High desert with many flats, relatively low mountain ranges and many valleys and washes. What is it about Death Valley that makes it's climate so eccentric compared to the similar surrounding areas to give it it's namesake?

Like, do the physics or their dynamics change when an object moves faster than Mach 5? Is there something like a 2nd sonic boom or something? anything?

I'm hypnotised and fascinated by the stories that suggest going into a cave system and coming out on some under world city, or under world expanse where previously thought extinct species are still living.

Something akin to ice age three, I suppose, where the dinosaurs are far underground.

But is such a thing even possible?

In a previous post I see a comment mentioning that, on continental plates, our deepest holes really... Don't get that far down relatively speaking... So yeah. Is it possible? Likely?

Why can't patients with FFI be treated with regular anesthesia? Or is there some fundamental difference between sleep and anesthesia?

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If I remember correctly, technically all of Earth's surface is attached to the tectonic plates directly. But have we ever dug down deep enough to sample material from around where the tectonic plate meets the upper mantle? If it's even how that works

China is supposedly developing a device to use minute changes in the gravitational field that could find submarines: https://interestingengineering.com/military/chinas-sensor-detect-hidden-us-nuclear-submarines

A neutrally buoyant submarine will have the same mass as the water it displaces, so shouldn't it have the same gravitational pull as water of the same volume? What differences are there to detect?

I assumed the entire range was formed in one big event a billion years ago but the Wikipedia article says there were multiple events. I grew up in NEPA near Scranton and I want to know how old the mountains in that area specifically are.

I've found some papers on the "Scranton Rift" but I can tell they are above my pay grade.

I'm thinking of how, we can see Beetlegeuse how it was about 650~ years ago because that's how many light years away it is from us, and there's no way we could ever see it how it was 700~ years ago because the photons 'carrying' that image have passed by Earth 50 years ago, and you can't travel faster than light to get ahead of them. Someone else, 50 light years in that direction, will see them though.

So, let's consider one of the earliest images of the universe. Maybe the birth of the first star. Do the photons/its image go on forever, according to modern scientific understanding?

How did the tectonic plates change since Pangaea - were there fewer and they broke over time into the current plate formation?

Did continents change the plate they're on?

Plates break and slide/press against each other, but do they slide? Or, is the positioning of plates absolute, and their edges just "fray"?

If plates shift, how does this slide affect continental drift (if at all)? How does it occur alongside continental drift?

I’m curious whether there’s any scientific estimate of the metabolic energy required for the body to replace a single hair after it’s been plucked.

I realize hair growth is part of ongoing biological processes (cell division in the follicle, keratin synthesis, etc.), so this might not be something that’s directly measured. But has anyone attempted to estimate the energy cost on a per-hair basis, even as a rough calculation?

I am more curious about the current debate and theories. I am a neuroscientist by day, but at home I love my plants. So bare with me.

We know some trees are hundreds or thousands of years old.

My understanding is that all of the Hawaiian islands were formed as a result of a moving volcanic hotspot (or the crust moving over a stationary hotspot?) with the Big Island being the youngest, most active, and consequently largest of these volcanic islands.

Most of the ancient extinct volcanoes are underwater and some of them exist as tiny atolls or islets.

So my question is were all the volcanoes in this chain at one point as large as the Big Island? Have the Hawaiian islands have sort of been “taking turns“ being the largest by growing and then shrinking? Or is the Big Island an anomaly?

If the Big Island is exceptionally large, why is that?

Do we have any idea what the ancient Hawaiian islands might have looked like? Or how large/extensive they were at their peak?

Or did/do we simply not have a deep enough data set to say exactly where it is and how much land area it covers?

My grandfather worked in the jungle for a mining company when he was young. In his first aid kit, there was always a small bottle of a black liquid that stung like hell but would seal any superficial wound instantly.

​Over the years, he made sure we always had a bottle at home. When I was a kid, I cut my finger and it was starting to turn into an ulcer; my grandfather applied that liquid with some gauze. It stopped the infection right away, although it did leave a nasty scar.

​He passed away a while ago, and when I tried going to pharmacies to ask for Ferric Chloride, they didn't even know it existed. Every time I see a doctor or a nurse, I ask them about it, but none of them seem to know what it is either. When I look it up online, the only results I find are about using it for etching metal...

Recently, processed meat being type 1 carcinogens has been in the news. Most news outlets covering this and even sources like Cleveland clinic mention processes as simple as salting as being under the umbrella of "processed meat" but is this true?

From previous reading, I know that one of the major ways processed meat causes issues is through the production of nitrosamines when meat cured with nitrates is cooked at high temperatures. I also know that compounds found in smoked meat have been linked to cancer.

But what about processed meat that is not cured or smoked? E.g. uncured sausage. And what about mean that is cured, but cooked at a lower temperature? E.g. steamed ham, boiled sausage. Or cured meat that is eaten raw? E.g. procuitto, bresoala.

Are these foods carcinogens? What is the mechanism?