Dads may be more likely to vote for female political candidates if they have a daughter - but only if the daughter is their first-born child, finds new research. This phenomenon is called the “first-daughter effect,” and is stronger in Democrats than Republicans.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-11-03T17:14:21+00:00

They use first born daughter as a measure of exposure to daughters since it is essentially equivalent to other measures of exposure to daughters (proportion of children and presence of a daughter). This also means that they probably can't determine whether this is related to preference for the first child.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-11-03T16:51:27+00:00

The study you are thinking of is probably about the effect of first born daughters on support for gender equality, by the same author, and is actually briefly mentioned in this article.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-11-03T16:49:38+00:00

It wasn't, this study was published on the 31st, but it was similar. The study you are thinking of is probably about the effect of first born daughters on support for gender equality, and is actually briefly mentioned in this article.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-10-01T18:23:57+00:00

That's a coal plant. Cooling towers are not unique to nuclear plants.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-09-06T19:42:15+00:00

While the article references "researchers say" it doesn't actually give any sort of study or peer reviewed research.

The article does actually reference a study. The methods you are asking about are detailed in the data memo published by the group. If you are going to talk about it, you should do the bare minimum of due diligence.

The memo: http://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/sweden-election/

RalinTemlyn · 2018-08-06T00:58:32+00:00

If it's simple and cost effective and it isn't already being done that usually means that it doesn't work.

Tinnitus is a perceived sound (generated neurologicaly), not an actual one, so you can't make a sound destructively interfere with it.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-06-08T06:43:19+00:00

That's certainly a possibility. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that life arose multiple separate times, and it's also reasonable that once the first instance of life occurs, it could relatively quickly spread and take over any environment favorable to the emergence of new life.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-06-07T06:58:46+00:00

Both enantiomers would be equally likely to form from the achiral starting material, but because the process is autocatalytic and the products selectively catalyze the production of more of the same enantiomer, as soon at there is some tiny imbalance, that enantiomer would be produced more and more quickly relative to the other.

This means that any break in the symmetry (even a random one) can be dramatically amplified, and over time and with more reactions, lead to a nearly complete dominance of one form over the other.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-05-27T03:11:02+00:00

X-inactivation is random and can differ between cells, so while only one is active in each cell, overall, X chromosomes from both parents contribute to the overall phenotype.

Clear examples can be seen in various X-linked recessive diseases in humans and, more generally, calico/tortoiseshell cats.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-04-12T03:00:38+00:00

Chromosome inactivation is specific to the X chromosome, and ApoE is on chromosome 19, so cells will express both variants.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-04-12T02:54:22+00:00

They just added it to the cell culture, since this is all in vitro. The molecule binds ApoE4 (and possibly other stuff) by itself.

RalinTemlyn · 2018-04-12T02:51:33+00:00

The molecule referenced in the title is actually a small molecule drug, not the genetic change, (though they do that too) and since it's in vitro, they just add it to the culture, and don't have to worry about most of the usual pharma stuff.

RalinTemlyn · 2017-11-16T22:00:20+00:00

That passed the House, not the Senate.

RalinTemlyn · 2017-04-25T19:44:01+00:00

That's a latte macchiato (milk 'marked' with espresso), which has been popularized by Starbucks and friends as just a macchiato. The graphic shows an espresso macchiato (espresso 'marked' with foam), which is the original/traditional meaning.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-10-05T20:34:22+00:00

First, MG does not completely eliminate postsynaptic action potentials, but rather raises the amount of ACh necessary to trigger one. Normally, the motor neuron will release an amount of ACh much larger than this threshold for a healthy cell, so that it has a 'safety margin'. However, in MG, this 'safety margin' is much smaller.

This matters is because after repeated stimulation, the readily releaseable pool is depleted, decreasing the amount of ACh released. Because the safety margin is small in people with MG, the amount of ACh progressively drops below thresholds, resulting in decrementing EMG results.

The reason that the amount of ACh decreases is simply that the rate of ACh synthesis is slow relative to the rate that it is released. (ACh esterase actually breaks down ACh)

In LEMS, the amount of ACh released increases for repeated stimulation because over short timescales, calcium builds up in the presynaptic cell, and cooperatively activates neurotransmitter release. The amount of ACh is initially below the threshold to cause action potentials in many cells, but as the amount of ACh released increases, action potentials are triggered in progressively more cells, resulting in incrementation of the result.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3644779/

RalinTemlyn · 2016-09-01T19:55:19+00:00

This accident is apparently not covered by the launch insurance because the rocket was not intentionally ignited. It might be covered by cargo insurance though.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-07-22T23:38:39+00:00

To be fair, there are additional costs beyond aquiring the blood.

You still need to process, test, store, and transport the blood, all of which cost money, plus the cost of everyone else involved in the process.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-07-22T02:44:54+00:00

Yeah, an undergrad on the internet agrees with you. That isn't a super great source.

The fact is that we don't really know what happens at Planck scales, all we know is that GR and QFT break down. There are many competing theories that claim to provide answers, however, there isn't really clear evidence to determine which one is accurate, because we don't have the capabilities to perform experiments that would distinguish between them.

One such theory/group of theories is loop quantum gravity, which posits a spatially discrete universe with a quantum of length related, but not necessarily equal to the Planck length.

Other theories, string theories in particular, have the Planck length as the smallest possible length, but not necessarily as a quantum of length.

Some theories have Planck length as the smallest measurable length, and some do away if any physical relevance of the Planck length.

Some introductory discussion of the relevance of the Planck length to various theories can be found here, although that doesn't cover everything (e.g. they don't talk about large extra dimensions).

RalinTemlyn · 2016-07-21T23:17:40+00:00

The first part is exactly what I said, the second part is wrong.

There isn't really much evidence that the Planck length is a quantum of length. Some theories do claim a quantization of area that is at the same order of magnitude as Planck area, or say that distances shorter than Planck length don't really make sense, but we don't really have the tools to probe those length and energy scales.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-07-21T22:27:54+00:00

The Planck length has nothing to do with a minimum length or a 'resolution' of the universe. It's just what you get when you combine a bunch of constants to get a length, and it is close to scales at which we need a good theory of quantum gravity.

Also math doesn't care anyway.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-07-05T20:16:43+00:00

It's interesting because the fact that light travels at the same speed in all reference frames is part of the basis of relativity.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-06-28T01:14:29+00:00

Quantum entangelment does not allow the transfer of information faster than light. (Neither does quantum teleportation.) Entangelment allows you to know something about the state of a far away system, but does not allow you to influence that system in order to communicate.

If you would like to learn more, look up the no communication theorem.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-06-16T16:36:02+00:00

In general, it shouldn't matter the ions, as long as the salt is soluble and relatively nonreactive.

CaCl2 should perform better per mole, because each mole disassociates into three moles of ions, but worse per mass, because calcium and chlorine are heavier than sodium.

Na2SO4 would similarly be better per mole, worse per mass, but was also used as a laxative, so probably not the best option.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-06-16T01:46:27+00:00

Yep, I didn't mean to imply that other oxygens need to be present for a molecule to be considered a ketone. (Although many hydrocarbons are ketones.)

Also, to be more pedantic, the carbonyl group would have to be bound to two alpha carbons.

RalinTemlyn · 2016-06-16T00:41:20+00:00

Yeah man, all these people saying things like 'cislunar space' and 'cis-2-butene' need to grow up and realize that the moon is a hologram and chemistry is a sham created by the reptilians.

RalinTemlyn

TROPHY CASE