AskScience: Got Questions? Get Answers.

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The panel is an informal group of Redditors who are either professional scientists or those in training to become so. All panelists have at least a graduate-level familiarity within their declared field of expertise and answer questions from related areas of study. A panelist's expertise is summarized in a color-coded AskScience flair.

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Comments: 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Wouldn’t we first have one of the poles freeze over and then be in an icehouse earth?

Since there's no tectonics on the moon, (and presumably, no geologists), can we land seismic monitoring devices around the moon, to monitor impacts from asteroids to identify the innards of the Moon?

If such a set up is possible, would we also need to be watching the moon to see the asteroid impact in question to be able to interpret the seismic data properly? As in, the size/velocity and impact location?

(Putting Earth science flair down because I thought this is more geology than anything else.)

I know “moonshine blindness” is caused by consuming methanol, but how EXACTLY does it damage the optic nerve/cause blindness? Is it the way it’s metabolized? Why the optic nerve specifically? Does it damage other major nerves in the same way? Why does it affect the eyes specifically & why does consuming ethanol not do the same thing?

I know it is because of the orientation and angle of the hydrogen bonds having a larger angle in ice than in water. However surely that means whilst each molecule would take up more space length ways, it would take up less space height ways. Like going from a tall but small base triangle to a wide but short triangle so why is ice still less dense would they not even out?

I noticed the North Pole is below sea level while Antarctica is above it, and most land mass is in the northern hemisphere. The shape made me wonder if there was some kind of connection to the current direction of the magnetic field and what the relationship may have been over time.

Is there any science behind an herbivore unintentionally consuming things outside of plant material?

I know certain kinds of radiation can cause DNA damage to cells but how? Where does the word ionising come into play?

Let me preface this by saying that yes, i know that antibiotics can't be used to treat viruses and i believe vice versa.

To be specific in my question: how good are antivirals against viruses when compared to how good antibiotics are against bacteria. I know that there are A LOT of variables, such as what specific type of virus and bacteria or what antiviral and antibiotic is used, but there has to be some data comparing their relative effectiveness.

During the mission to Bennu OsirisRex recorded the asteroid randomly throwing off boulders due to its rotation centripetal force exceeding its very low surface gravity. When a large asteroid passes close to Earth, wouldn’t the same be true for tidal forces during the near passage by the planet? Why don’t they fly apart?

I remember watching Grady's practical engineering videos about dams, and how the water has a potential difference and may erode a dam from underneath.

Remembering the science headline about beavers getting stressed by running water, do we know if this underground water flow also stresses them, and causes them do try to plug up the pathway?

I went down a wikipedia rabbithole and ended up reading about tardigrades and how they can survive in the most harsh conditions. While I can hat-tip to the fact that they can live underwater and atop mountains, I'm unable fathom how a living organism can survive without any aids in space and in vacuum.

h.o.w?

Does it shrink? Does it go higher because its lighter? Does it get lighter in color?

This was a question from my 4 year old and I have no idea.

Is ther a risk of a prediction of being not correct and a potential, previously unexpected, impact with earth? If so, what is the risk? percentage wise...

Regardless of if it's a probiotic supplement, or if it's just a food touted to contain probiotics, it always seems to be genus Lactobacillus. For example, L. Casei (and L. Casei Shirota), L. Acidophilus, L. delbrueckii, L. kefiranofaciens, all found in various foods and supplements.

Does the human gut flora not require any other genus? Are there other subsets of probiotics (both food and supplement) that I'm just not aware of that contain other genera?

If I understand right, ARV drugs function by impeding different parts of the replication process, so the virus won't be able to successfully infect new cells. So if the virus is stuck in already-infected cells and can't get into others, wouldn't those cells die out eventually from old age, even if it takes 10 or 20 years? Are the cells that HIV infects "immortal" and last a full human lifetime?

For example, monarch butterflies and viceroy butterflies. Monarchs are the toxic ones animals know not to eat, but viceroys are not (I think). If the monarchs go extinct as they're threatened to, how long before the viceroys mimicry is no longer effective?

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science

Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".

Asking Questions:

Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions. The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.

Answering Questions:

Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here. In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.

If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, please refer to the information provided here.

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here. Ask away!

Progression of symptoms in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is being inhibited by therapeutically modulating disease progression through DMTs. I read, that DMTs are not used once the disease progresses into ints secondary progressive state (SPMS). Can someone explain this rationale, as it seems counter-intuitive to me that modulating disease progression would not be desirable in states of steady, slow disease progression?`

I.e are they still considered the same species or have they been separated long enough that are two different species?