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.

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Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here. Ask away!

Recent study that hypothesized the theoretical limit on human lifespan due to accumulation of somatic mutations, especially in non-mitotic cells (e.g. heart and brain). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-026-00421-6

Why would repair mechanisms fail continually in a way that allows them to accumulate? I understand proofreading enzymes are imperfect, but this isn't like mitosis where if you miss it welp too bad the mutation is permanent now. Presumably in non-mitotic cells they have proofreading enzymes going up and down the entire DNA strand repeatedly forever (as long as the cell continues to live)? Why would they keep missing errors despite checking multiple times AND letting them accumulate?

Prior to 12,400 years ago and up until 23,000 years ago, there was an Ice Age. At 23,000 years ago, that's when the Ice Age was at a maximum, and the ocean levels were 400 feet shallower. This means that there was a lot more land, and more rivers in those days. Also, all of today's rivers are a subset of all the rivers that existed 23,000 years ago. So are there any new rivers formed since 23,000 years ago, and if so, how did that happen?

Storm's chasin's my thing, and, even tho I do alot more chasin, than catchin, I've been lucky to observe afew flash flood events.

I've noticed a conspicuous pattern, where "waves" will come down, an already flooded wash, nearly DOUBLIN tha flow. These waves seem to come at very regular intervals, almost lika bucket, at'a water park, that tips whenit gets full.

I'm sure this phenomenon is well-known, amongst the experts, and well-documented. Hopefully, some1 with this knowledge can enlighten me... 🤔

I know that it isn’t all medicine and that there’s other things inside the vaccine fluid itself but unless I’m mistaken aren’t cultures of the vector grown and then added to the other fluid? Do they put the culture in a blender or something?

Question in title. Drugs from widely different classes and indications seem to cause photosensitivity and I’m curious as to why and how that is. Thanks!

It is well known how us mammals use our body temperature to prevent infections and raise it to combat them, so wouldn't cold-blooded animals be much more propense to suffer viral and bacterial diseases?

Heat pumps are, in essence, devices which exploit the chemistry of the refrigeration cycle to cause one thing to get cold while another thing gets hot.

While we already use these to make crazy-efficient air con units, refrigerators, and water heaters, but why are all electric stoves sold nowadays still using resistance coils to generate heat, rather than using a heat pump?

Side question: When and how did we discover that it isn't equally distributed?

I used the earth sciences flair but I'm not sure if that's the correct flair for this question.

I am watching project hail mary and in order to save the earth and erid they have to go fishing to collect "predators" for the astrophage. Predators being bacteria?

Obviously this is sci-fi but...

Does earth have bacteria in its atmosphere or in the clouds?

For example, say I am making brownies from a box.

16 servings per box
130 calories per serving
2,080 calories total

I assume these numbers are for finished baked brownies. But if I were to make mix everything into the batter and eat the batter instead is it approximately the same amount of calories? Or does the act of baking change the calories from the ingredients?

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 Box Brownie mix

With the recent Canadian Wildfires happening again. I am wondering if this was a thing that happened often in the 90s/00s/etc?

Maybe back then we didn't know any better due to lack of information flow and perhaps a lack of technology to accurately detect the air quality and such?

Anyways, hope everyone is staying safe in the areas affected by these wildfires.

Be sure to wear a mask when outdoors, or just try to limit your times outdoors as much as possible.

I can understand why diarrhea happens.
But sometimes diarrhea is classified as “explosive.” This is when it erupts out of the anus with force.
Genuinely asking - why the force? What purpose does that serve? What signals are happening in the body telling it that forcing the poop out is best?

Regular diarrhea already leaves the body so quickly.

Can someone explain to me why using antibiotics for a parasitic infection like cyclospora is recommended? I thought antibiotics were only for bacteria?

Would I find measurable radioactivity in random places? Or from electronics? I don’t live near a reactor.

When I was growing up we were constantly hearing about how acid rain was going to be such a problem for the environment. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it virtually vanished from the news. What exactly happened?

Edit: Scare was the wrong word to use in this instance.

"Acid rain crisis" would be more appropriate.

You might know the feeling. You're doing a set, you're breathing hard, you're shaking on that last rep, it is physically impossible for you to move the weight again.

But only a handful of seconds later, you go from unable to move, to being able to push again.

What is the change that is occurring in such a short time?

Recently in my country, earthquakes had been frequent ever since the strongest one happened on June 8th. It was a magnitude of 7.8 that damaged most buildings and shifted a lot of roads. Since then, more quakes started to happen surrounding our fault line. In the seaside areas, there were coastal uplifts that exposed the sea bed. I wondered; how fast did the land lift? It looked so sudden that a new patch of land basically "grew" from the beach.

I was watching the documentary Miracle Planet (Part I: The Violent Past), and at the 2:30 mark, the narrator states that 4.5 billion years ago, the early Earth was probably only a tenth of its size compared to today.

I looked it up, but I couldn't find anything backing up this claim. Did they make this up, or is there something I am missing?

Hi Reddit! We are professors and extension specialists in the University of Maryland’s Department of Entomology. We bring a combined experience of six decades studying an unending stream of egregious insect invaders from around the world. We develop, implement and evaluate sustainable pest management practices—including landscape modification, biological control and non-chemical alternatives. Using a variety of outreach platforms, we help private citizens, horticultural practitioners, agencies and institutions manage invasives in economic and environmentally responsible ways.

We are excited to answer your questions and help you learn about spotted lanternflies, stink bugs, and other six-legged invaders. We’ll be on from 12 to 2 p.m. ET (16-18 UT) on Wednesday, July 15*—ask us anything!

Bio: Michael Raupp followed his boyhood interests in wildlife and ecology to Rutgers University and the University of Maryland (UMD), where he earned degrees in animal science and entomology. He joined the faculty at UMD in 1982 and served as chair of the entomology department and associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. His ongoing research and outreach programs focus on the ecology of urban pests, invasive species, climate change and insect natural history. A regular guest on television and radio, Mike has been featured on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, NPR, PBS and other outlets. His website and YouTube channel reach thousands of viewers worldwide each week. Mike is a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and has received more than a dozen national and international awards for writing, research, and scientific outreach. His most recent book, “26 Things that Bug Me,” introduces youngsters to the wonders of insects and natural history.

Bio: Paula Shrewsbury is an entomologist with broad interests in ecology and integrated pest management (IPM), which she applies to the development of sustainable pest management programs. Raised in Massachusetts, she earned her B.S. in plant science at the University of Rhode Island. After her M.S. at the University of California, Riverside and Ph.D. at the University of Maryland in entomology, she joined the faculty of Rutgers University. Since her arrival at UMD’s Department of Entomology in 1999, Paula has worked with green industries to conduct applied research and extension education programs on IPM. The overall focus of her program is to create sustainable landscapes, nurseries and turf systems with an emphasis on biological control, conservation of beneficial arthropods and management of invasive species. Paula has received numerous awards for her research and extension program and was recently recognized as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America. Paula is a long-time contributor to the widely circulated University of Maryland Extension IPM Alert newsletter.

Other links:

• Google Scholar and lab website (Mike Raupp)
• Google Scholar and lab website (Paula Shrewsbury)
• Bug of the Week website and YouTube channel
  • Spotted lanternfly blog
  • Stink bug blog
  • Japanese beetle blog

Username: u/umd-science

I was always fascinated by How far can we actually see in space through the help of our most advanced telescopes.

Well, I don't have much Idea regarding this but I'm really curious to know how far can we humans look into the space and how much information do we have regarding the space and various celestial bodies.