Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1j9kqcm/ask_anything_wednesday_biology_chemistry/

created by AutoModerator on 12/03/2025 at 14:00 UTC

161 upvotes, 26 top-level comments (showing 25)

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on **Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology**

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[1]. 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.

1: http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/wiki/index#wiki_answering_askscience

If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, please refer to the information provided here[2].

2: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/about/sticky

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here[3]. Ask away!

3: http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/search?q=flair%3A%27meta%27&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all

Comments

Comment by pcapdata at 12/03/2025 at 15:49 UTC

9 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Our solar system has rocky planets closer to the sun and gas/ice giants further out. Is this because the solar system has a "density gradient" similar to how mixed liquids will eventually settle into layers with the more dense ones at the bottom?

Comment by Germanofthebored at 12/03/2025 at 15:52 UTC

9 upvotes, 3 direct replies

I was born cross-eyed, and although my eye sight was corrected surgically when I was 5, I was never able to do stereoscopic vision. I am starting to wonder now if that also impacted my understanding of 3D shapes. I am pretty good at envisioning 2D geometry, but I have a very hard time visualizing how 3D shapes like the platonic solids work. Of course, cubes and tetrahedrons are fine, but the fit of a dodecahedron or how to pack three pyramids to make a cube is beyond my abilities.

I have met other people who also have issues with 3D shapes, and at least one person also was born cross-eyed. Is there a correlation between stereoscopic vision and 3D visualization?

Comment by lt_Matthew at 12/03/2025 at 20:46 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Why can't we grow peanuts without the allergens like we breed pets?

Comment by OpenPlex at 12/03/2025 at 18:45 UTC

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

*Chemistry:**

Atoms in molecular bonds are oscillating at high speeds, while subatomic particles jostle around at near the speed of light, so how fast would each of those oscillate and jostle when molecules are chilled to below freezing and when super chilled to near absolute zero?

Comment by asmj at 12/03/2025 at 17:10 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I was wondering what happens with papers and results of unethical research (e.g. Mengele and similar)?

Comment by goaway432 at 12/03/2025 at 18:35 UTC

3 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Is there any likelihood of a cure or better treatments for asthma than inhaled steroids? Would a lung transplant in a person cure asthma?

Comment by 7goatman at 12/03/2025 at 19:54 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

For photodynamic therapy I know one of the limitations is tissue penetration, so why can’t they just use a more powerful light?

Comment by Lokarin at 13/03/2025 at 05:21 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Is there such thing as anti-radiation, or, like, beta-gain or whatever the term might be? A chemical that actively tries to eat any loose neutrinos/whatever

Comment by marksills at 12/03/2025 at 19:18 UTC

2 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Neuroscience:

Do we know why a song might be enjoyable to one person and completely unlistenable to another?

Comment by onephatkatt at 12/03/2025 at 20:13 UTC

2 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Is it our current understanding that all electrons, neutrons and protons are all made up exactly the same? it's just the number of "trons" that makes up the different elements?

Comment by No_Boysenberry4825 at 13/03/2025 at 00:33 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

If someone has been vaccinated for covid every single year, with the exception of this year, how much (if any) protection does that person have ? Ideally with regards to both long covid and the infection in general. Asking for a friend.

Comment by catfishgod at 12/03/2025 at 15:50 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Does lactose intolerance occur in any other mammals?

Comment by bigtcm at 12/03/2025 at 16:49 UTC*

1 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Kind of a paradox considering HIV attacks your immune system, but are HIV patients on antiretrovial therapy less susceptible to viral infections than the general populace?

Would the hardcore antiviral drugs that HIV patients constantly take provide protection against other viruses?

Comment by DreamEndlessOneiros at 12/03/2025 at 18:21 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

How is the placenta ensuring that a fetus is not harmed by the mothers immune system? there should be incompatibilities in the expressed MHC? I also remember that certain antibodies can cross the "blood-placenta-border" (unsure if that's the correct term) but others can't, but it doesn't form a cohesive picture for me yet.

Comment by Tangential_Comment at 13/03/2025 at 02:22 UTC

1 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Given the lunar eclipse that's immanent, why don't we have any rovers on the moon capable of taking a video like this? :

https://youtu.be/QCS8RBsP174?si=ie%5C_94opYlh3rxwe9[1][2]

1: https://youtu.be/QCS8RBsP174?si=ie%5C_94opYlh3rxwe9

2: https://youtu.be/QCS8RBsP174?si=ie_94opYlh3rxwe9

It feels weird that the "Pale Blue Dot" photo was so long ago, and this type of imagery would do worlds of good for NASA or any other space-based business. We have Mars rovers, why so few moon rovers getting crazy celestial pictures / video like this? Is the mundane pursuit of minerals and H3 more what the money behind the missions cares about?

Comment by awaniwono at 13/03/2025 at 10:59 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Biology / Chemistry:

Why are some people (not considering body weight and sex) seemingly impervious to alcohol while others will get wasted or get a headache outright with just one or two drinks?

Is the mechanism related to why hangovers, or just alcohol-induced headaches, seem to get worse with age but much more so for some people than others?

Comment by Schnurres at 13/03/2025 at 11:20 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Will it ever be possible to find a cure for myopia? Like we got glasses that treat the sympton, but will we ever be able to reverse myopia and make people have perfect vision without glasses (or contact lenses)?

Comment by infraredit at 13/03/2025 at 11:39 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Animations of gas molecules depict them as bouncing off each other.

Why would they do this? Why don't they keep going in the same direction as far as is possible without the electron fields overlapping with any other molecule?

Comment by ChangeAdventurous812 at 13/03/2025 at 12:52 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This is one of the most inter3sting threads on Reddit. Thank you.

Comment by IntrepidGentian at 13/03/2025 at 13:49 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I just read that plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration in seabirds[1], but what effects does it have on humans, and where exactly does the plastic in our bodies come from?

1: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads0834?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D20597589108928405310818161390203415780%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1741698511

Comment by GrumpyOldMillennialx at 13/03/2025 at 14:03 UTC

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Does getting measles wipe your immunity even if you are vaccinated against it and still catch it?

Comment by PapaLoki at 13/03/2025 at 23:28 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Is there any evidence that memories are somehow passed on from one human generation to another? Thanks!