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1500 questions
35
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1 answer
Why is the brain white?
I have read many articles about how the brain is the most power-hungry organ in any living complex organism, requiring about 70% of it's oxygen supplies in the resting state.
Since the usual medium of oxygen delivery is through respiration, this…
haxkalibrr
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3 answers
What's the difference between male and female?
As long as we only look at humans the differences are clear: males have chromosomes XY, produce sperm and don't get pregnant. Females have chromosomes XX, produce egg cells and bear babies. But when you consider other species, things are more…
user15004
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Ripening bananas artificially: What is the biological theory behind?
I am a resident of the tropical island of Sri Lanka, and we have a strange traditional method to ripen our banana harvest quickly.
What we do is this: We dig a pit in earth that is enough to put the whole banana cluster in. Then, after safely laying…
sampathsris
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2 answers
Why is menstruation in wild animals not a disadvantage to organismal survival?
When I watch wilderness specials for more than a few minutes, I notice a familiar pattern: predators are depicted as being alerted by the scent of blood. Wounded animals seem to make the best prey and predators seem to have a heightened awareness…
Nerrolken
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35
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3 answers
Why is ATP the preferred choice for energy carriers?
Why is ATP the most prevalent form of chemical energy storage and utilization in most cells?
hello all
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35
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What is the advantage of circular DNA in bacteria?
From what I understand, bacteria have circular DNA. What advantages does it have over linear strands like for eukaryotes?
Do there exist bacteria with more than one ring of DNA?
John Smith
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34
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1 answer
Why do animal cells "mistake" rubidium ions for potassium ions?
So, I was browsing the Wikipedia article for rubidium, and came across this interesting tidbit:
Rubidium is not a known nutrient for any living organisms. However, rubidium ions have the same charge as potassium ions and are actively taken up and…
Jonathan Jeffrey
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34
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6 answers
Why didn't Escobar's hippos introduced in a single event die out due to inbreeding
Today I read a BBC Report about how Pablo Escobar had once imported 4 hippos (1 male, 3 female) into his estate in Colombia for his private zoo. After his downfall, while other species were shipped out, hippos were considered too big to move and…
RedBaron
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4 answers
Why do some viruses cease being a problem even though no vaccine or cure is found?
No vaccine or cure has been found for SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV yet the world is not too concerned about them. How can it be? Did all people who had those viruses die or do viruses just randomly decide to stop being infectious at some point?
ooqp
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I just had my genome sequenced. Can someone tell me what these different file formats are?
I just had my whole genome sequenced and now I want to play a bit with bio-informatics. However, the documentation is quite scarce on the file standards used.
These are the files I have been given (the "raw" data):
Can someone explain me with some…
PedroD
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34
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Why "Having chlorophyll without photosynthesis is actually very dangerous" and "like living with a bomb"?
The Phys.org article Scientists discover first organism with chlorophyll genes that doesn't photosynthesize says
"For the first time scientists have found an organism that can produce chlorophyll but does not engage in photosynthesis.
It is…
uhoh
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3 answers
How and where, in the human brain, are memories stored?
Background
I am a computer programmer who is fascinated by artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks, and I am becoming more curious about how biological neural networks work.
Context & what I think I understand
In digesting all I have…
Matt Cashatt
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2 answers
Can any animals photosynthesize?
Plants and animals have the following distinct properties:
Plants live from solar energy by photosynthesis, they use solar energy to make sugar and oxygen out of carbon dioxide, which gives them energy. Animals live from the sugar and oxygen…
Steven Roose
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34
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7 answers
Why are not all species hermaphrodites?
If a hermaphrodite animal (like slug, snail, etc) finds a partner they can mate immediately.
If another animal with "normal" reproduction (lets say a mouse) finds a partner they can only mate if they are opposite genders.
So it seems logical that…
Marc
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34
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2 answers
How long can an octopus survive out of the water?
I saw videos of octopuses crawling on the ground and I was wondering how long an octopus can survive when out of the water? Does it depend on either its size (i.e., does a big octopus from deep sea survive longer than a tiny octopus) or the species?
Manuella
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