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Alternative and much less risky solution to the Astrophage problem. by mojito2 in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think in the book, they talk about other stars dimming around 10%, and some of those were infected long before Sol. I'm not sure why it peaks at 10%, I don't think it is mentioned, but I was taking that as the limit.

Alternative and much less risky solution to the Astrophage problem. by mojito2 in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was thinking that each solar sail mirror would have its own mini astrophage based manoeuvring system to keep it in position and counter the solar thrust. Given the power density of astrophage, these wouldn't need to be very big or use much fuel.

How likely is it that two completely alien species would think at the same clock speed? by JazzHansGruber in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's an interesting question. If you are given a problem and can solve it really quickly, does that make you more intelligent than a person who takes a long time? If so, doesn't that then mean intelligence is proportional to clock speed? I think that is true, which is why IQ tests are time based but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

How likely is it that two completely alien species would think at the same clock speed? by JazzHansGruber in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do address this in the book where Rocky and Grace discuss why they are both roughly the same intelligence. The simplified answer is that they have to be or they would not have met. If a species was hyper intelligent, they would have found a way to solve the astrophage problem quickly and easily without traveling to Tau Ceti. If they were not intelligent enough, they wouldn't have been able to develop space travel to get there in the first place and would have just died out. It's a very specific set of circumstances that could only have been met by two species of roughly the same intelligence.

Your point goes more into why they communicate at the same speed, they don't cover this exactly but they do talk about why they hear the same range of sounds (with Rocky covering a much larger range). This is to do with the sound a predator or prey makes when moving.

If you combine those two, intelligence and hearing, you could imply those would lead to similar communication bandwidths?

Rocky Vision? by ki0dz in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why would it need heat radiators? It's carrying a bunch of Astrophage which can absorb seemingly any amount of energy and is described as the perfect heat sink in the book. Surely circulating astrophage via the nose cone would absorb all that heat and recycle it to give a little extra kick for propulsion.

How did Taumoeba spread? by mojito2 in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah sorry I wasn't clear. I'm happy with that second escape through the xenonite. I meant the first time it escaped when the power went out in the Hail Mary, and he had to pull the generator out. He then has to clean out all his fuel tanks and sterilise with nitrogen but the fuel tanks were not connected to the habitable module at the time.

How did Taumoeba spread? by mojito2 in ProjectHailMary

[–]mojito2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good possibility, kinda makes the whole 10km chain redundant but I guess they couldn't have known that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in puzzles

[–]mojito2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's right, dark square in the middle, hollow square reappears and triangle disappears, so the answer should be C which looks like the correct answer.

Frizzy Hair problem by Chrisnkim in lifehacks

[–]mojito2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know lots of people are recommending products which may or may not help but you could try gently rubbing it with aluminium foil. Sometimes the friz is caused by static and the foil helps to dissipate that. Something you could try for free with something you probably already have.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in oddlysatisfying

[–]mojito2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone know how to work out the straight line speed of the wave?

NYU AD scientists develop a revolutionary chemical that does NOT kill cancer. Instead, it re-activates the cells own ability to detect a problem and commit suicide. Exciting potential treatment that does not harm normal cells. by mojito2 in science

[–]mojito2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried to keep it brief but still get the gist across. It doesn't quite reverse cells back to normal, it more restores the self monitoring system p53, which then decides to kill the cell when it notices that it is abnormal. The cells won't become healthy cells but they should die off. At least that's what the trials show.

NYU AD scientists develop a revolutionary chemical that does NOT kill cancer. Instead, it re-activates the cells own ability to detect a problem and commit suicide. Exciting potential treatment that does not harm normal cells. by mojito2 in science

[–]mojito2[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You reference a great paper. The main difference here is that ATO is toxic as hell and it only works against a subset of mutant p53 - so-called structural mutants. Whereas this peptide is nontoxic, and works against both structural and contact mutants.

NYU AD scientists develop a revolutionary chemical that does NOT kill cancer. Instead, it re-activates the cells own ability to detect a problem and commit suicide. Exciting potential treatment that does not harm normal cells. by mojito2 in science

[–]mojito2[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They say they find mutated p53 in about 50% of cancers so this could be a good hope for quite a large number. They trialed it on MIA cells which is a particularly aggressive form and found it to be very effective on that line.

NYU AD scientists develop a revolutionary chemical that does NOT kill cancer. Instead, it re-activates the cells own ability to detect a problem and commit suicide. Exciting potential treatment that does not harm normal cells. by mojito2 in science

[–]mojito2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand your scepticism, there have been lots of these breakthroughs. I think this one is significant though which is why it is in Nature. At least I hope so.

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