Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2008 April 27

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 27

Flower name

Does anyone know the name of this flower? I don't know what it is and I would like to add this image to the appropriate article. --AutoGyro (talk) 02:31, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

What's my name?

Looks like a Narcissus (a.k.a. a "daffodil") of some sort to me. -- HiEv 02:50, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Concur with daffodil. But as there are thousands of different cultivars it would take a narcissophile of some expertise to put a varietal name to it. Richard Avery (talk) 11:55, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

That's an interesting word: "narcissophile" (someone who loves loving themself ?). StuRat (talk) 07:06, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

This is almost certainly the most commonly grown daffodil: King Alfred [1].--Eriastrum (talk) 15:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Hampster who injured his mouth with too long teeth

My name is Popeye. I am a Teddy Bear Hamster. I have been in misery for the last 7 hours, I haven't left my bed and I am making choking noises. I cut the roof of my mouth with my very long teeth. My master took me to our friend at the pet store who cut off about 1 millimeter of my bottom teeth. But I am still making the choking noise and I won't leave my bed. My master is afraid I am going to die. Please help----Popeye, I am about 6 months old. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.164.84.9 (talk) 03:11, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Popeye's master should have given Popeye some things to gnaw on that wear down teeth. See Tooth (animal)#Rodent. I am not sure what can be done now except wait for the damage to heal, if possible. If I were Popeye's master, I would immediately call a vet and ask for advice. The vet may have some liquid food to drop in Popeye's mouth to feed him while he recovers. =Axlq 04:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

We are as forbidden to give veterinary advice as to give medical or legal advice. See a vet. Edison (talk) 00:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

We are? See also Hamster health conditions, Julia Rossi (talk) 09:18, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Quantum: Potential between the Electrons

Suppose there are two electrons in an one-dimentional spatial space (imaging two electrons in the same wire of infinite length). And the wave function of two electrons is $\Psi =\psi (x_{1},x_{2})$ where $x_{1}$ and $x_{2}$ are the postions of the respective electron. Then $|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}$ should be the probability density function for finding the first electron at $x_{1}$ and the second electron at $x_{2}$. And the normalization condition of the wave function $\Psi$ should be

$\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}\,dx_{1}\,dx_{2}=1$

(1)

And the potential $V$ of the electron should be

$V={1 \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}$

(2)

according to Coulomb's law and the fact that $F=-\nabla V$. Where $r$ is the distance between the two electrons. For two electrons in one-dimensional space, it should be

$r=|x_{1}-x_{2}|$

(3)

Replace (3) into (2), the potential $V$ becomes

$V={1 \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}={q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {1}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\equiv v(x_{1},x_{2})$

(4)

Because of the Uncertainty Principle, we can not make sure the position of each electron. But we know the probability of finding them by $|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}$. (one way to find out the potential $V$ of the electron is to introduce quantum electrodynamics according to Gandalf61's suggestion in the discussion Determine the Force between the Electrons which, however, seems too complex to me) Then my idea to find out the effective potential $V_{d}$ in discrete form is simply to calculate the weighted sum

$V_{d}=P_{1}V_{1}+P_{2}V_{2}+P_{3}V_{3}+...$

where $P_{1}$, $P_{2}$, $P_{3}$,... are probabilities of finding the two electrons at different positions and $V_{1}$, $V_{2}$, $V_{3}$,... are the potentials at the corresponding positions. So

$V_{d}=\sum _{x_{2}}\sum _{x_{1}}P(x_{1},x_{2})v(x_{1},x_{2})$

$V_{d}=\sum _{x_{2}}\sum _{x_{1}}P(x_{1},x_{2})\left({q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {1}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\right)$

$V_{d}={q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}\sum _{x_{2}}\sum _{x_{1}}{\frac {P(x_{1},x_{2})}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}$

where $P(x_{1},x_{2})$ is the probability of finding the first electron at $x_{1}$ and the second electron at $x_{2}$. Or, the effective potential $V_{c}$ in continuous form

$V_{c}=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}\,v(x_{1},x_{2})\,dx_{1}\,dx_{2}$

$V_{c}=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}\,\left({q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {1}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\right)\,dx_{1}\,dx_{2}$

$V_{c}={q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\,dx_{1}\,dx_{2}$

and my question is can I determine the potential of the two electrons by the equation $V_{c}={q_{1}q_{2} \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {|\psi (x_{1},x_{2})|^{2}}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\,dx_{1}\,dx_{2}$? - Justin545 (talk) 03:16, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't mean to be disrespectful or denegrating, but honestly, this looks suspiciously like a homework problem to me. =Axlq 04:12, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

It appears they've done prior work, indicating that they require assistance on something researched. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 04:16, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I am neither doing a homework nor writing a paper. Studying things about quantum is just one of my hobbies while I am free. - Justin545 (talk) 05:15, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

You have the right form for the expectation value of the potential between the electrons, however, you have to use $v(x_{1},x_{2})$ in solving the Schrodinger equation (written below) by which you determine the wave function. Until you solve the Schrondinger equation you won't know the form of Ψ and hence you couldn't compute the expectation value anyway.

$(-{\hbar ^{2} \over 2m_{1}}{\partial ^{2} \over \partial x_{1}^{2}}-{\hbar ^{2} \over 2m_{2}}{\partial ^{2} \over \partial x_{2}^{2}}+v(x_{1},x_{2}))\Psi (x_{1},x_{2},t)=i\hbar {\partial \over \partial t}\Psi (x_{1},x_{2},t)$

Here I've included the explicit time dependence because your proposed boundary condition (two electron on an infinite wire) would not admit any non-trivial time independent solutions. Dragons flight (talk) 08:30, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Does that mean I can know the form of $\Psi$ by solving the following Schrondinger

$\left[-{\hbar ^{2} \over 2m_{1}}{\partial ^{2} \over \partial x_{1}^{2}}-{\hbar ^{2} \over 2m_{2}}{\partial ^{2} \over \partial x_{2}^{2}}+\left({1 \over 4\pi \varepsilon _{0}}{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{|x_{1}-x_{2}|}}\right)\right]\Psi (x_{1},x_{2},t)=i\hbar {\partial \over \partial t}\Psi (x_{1},x_{2},t)$

? Thanks. - Justin545 (talk) 09:43, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that looks correct to me. If you extend this to three spatial dimensions, you have the hydrogen-like atom, which is perhaps the most useful exactly solvable model in quantum mechanics. Make sure to work in the center of momentum frame and use the reduced mass; then the problem separates nicely into a center-of-mass motion part (whose eigenstates are plane waves), and a relative motion part (whose eigenstates are atomic orbitals). —Keenan Pepper 18:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Name of material

Does anyone know what kind of material is this (the uniform)? Is it the same material worn by professional StarCraft players on competitions? Looks similar at least --217.14.103.168 (talk) 07:38, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

The uniform would be called a "flight suit", but that won't get you much closer to the material I'm afraid.--Lisa4edit (talk) 09:49, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

It looks to me like the sort of suit that Formula One drivers wear and is probably a composite of several layers, the key one being Nomex for fire resistance. This site has some information. SpinningSpark 10:54, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I found this mail address: office@stevefossett.com They might be able to help you. The racing suit family looks likely, because "Marathon Racing Inc." runs the site. That suit had some extra "waste product disposal" features though. I don't think that's standard for racing suits. He wore a fire resistant suit during his glider flight, but there's no mention of this one except that it was silver. --Lisa4edit (talk) 11:01, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

BTW, I've never seen Starcraft players but I'm somewhat doubtful they usually wear anything like that. I've looked at a few pictures including the one here StarCraft professional competition and although none of them are that good, I would suspect it's more likely some kind of simple & cheap somewhat shiny synthethic, perhaps Lycra Nil Einne (talk) 19:45, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Cyclic carbonates ?

In this article (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424103217.htm) they mention cyclic carbonates. Wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article on them and my chemistry is a couple of decades old. I seem to have a faint memory though that says most of them are toxic?? --Lisa4edit (talk) 09:03, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

We have an article on carbonates and individual cyclic carbonates such as ethylene carbonate but apparently no article for them as a group. Here is the Material Safety Data Sheet for ethylene carbonate. Not very pleasant stuff. SpinningSpark 11:22, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Also, the article Carbonate ester names a few more of them (individual articles as well), but without actually calling them cyclic carbonates. SpinningSpark 11:27, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. So the murky old memory wasn't that far off. Not really the stuff to look forward to having in the neighborhood. Hope they'll take adequate safety precautions. --Lisa4edit (talk) 11:54, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Fortunately even the simplest cyclic carbonate is a liquid (ethylene carbonate, bp 260 °C), so it's not going to create a cloud of toxic gas if there's a leak from a storage tank. DMacks (talk) 18:59, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

medical

how to control trigylcides —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.243.25.44 (talk) 09:13, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Presumably you mean triglyceride. If so hypertriglyceridemia discusses the medical aspects of excessive levels of triglycerides in the blood. -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 11:02, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

This may be of interest to you: Hypolipidemic agent. Also see Statins and fibrates. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 18:12, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Humans and ability of interactions with others

There is a law that says humans are only capable of dealing with about 150 people. WP has a page on it. Any ideas? -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 09:36, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Never heard of that one before. Could you give us a clue or link where you've encountered that. I checked the "social interaction" and "Interpersonal Interaction" pages briefly, but nothing stuck out, except that they still seem to need a lot of work. --Lisa4edit (talk) 09:48, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

It's called somebody's number and it's extrapolated from the size of a part of our brains (the cerebral cortex?) relative to other primates. I have read the article here; I will try to remember the person's name. moink (talk) 11:23, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Got it. Dunbar's number. moink (talk) 11:29, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Yep, I had also just found it from what you said, but it is a hypothesis at first glance and the 150 are an estimate. Worth further reading though. --Lisa4edit (talk) 11:40, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

The original paper on Dunbar's number was published in 1992 (according to the wp article), just at the beginning of the popularization of the itnernet and certainly well before the proliferation of social netwroking websites. Dunbar's number was estimated based on anthropological observations of social networks. The nature of social networks in developed countries has since changed; our capacity to keep stable relationships has expanded significantly due to the communicative and mnemonic assitance provided by websites such as facebook and myspace. The only times i've ever heard Dunbar's number mentioned it was in the context of how the itnernet has changed society (and the number was always mentioned with a degree of contention). Quite frankly, I was surprised to learn how recen the study was, given I have yet to meet anyone who feels the study is pertinent to modern society. --Shaggorama (talk) 08:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Why is frozen milk yellow?

Why is frozen milk yellow?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 11:12, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I've been dealing quite a bit with frozen milk of late, though not cow's milk. I don't find that the frozen milk is any different colour from the liquid milk. It does have a slight yellowish cast, either frozen or liquid, which is true of any "whole" (full-fat) milk. Skim (non-fat) milk often seems bluish. moink (talk) 11:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

The fat in the milk freezes at a lower temperature than the other watery part and rises to the top when that part freezes (compare ice from the freezer to ice cream). According to milk, the yellow colour comes from fat globules. Skim milk won't turn yellow, according to this (which isn't very encyclopedic, I admit).

Zain Ebrahim (talk) 11:26, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I have been freezing milk in transparent containers and looking at it from the side, so I see all the milk. Shantavira, have you been looking at your frozen milk from the top? (thus seeing the cream?) moink (talk) 11:34, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Liquid milk appears white not because it is white but because the particles (fat, protein) scatter the light equally across the spectrum. My guess is that when you freeze the milk, you see the actual colour of the milk (the fat part will probably be yellow).--Shniken1 (talk) 12:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

That's an interesting distinction. I would have said that's the definition of something being white... --Tango (talk) 21:26, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

I believe it is fat, which, for some reason, finds it's way to the outside of the container, not just the top. The freezing process causes the fat to seperate, and fat is lighter than milk, but it doesn't seem to exclusively rise to the top until the ice thaws, but rather it sticks to the container. I would guess that this is because the density of frozen milk (being mostly water) is less, so that fat is no longer significantly lighter. Why it sticks to the inside of the container must have something to do with relative surface tensions. StuRat (talk) 15:46, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Milk is an emulsion. That makes the process of freezing a whole lot more complex. You have a transport problem where part of the material follows fluid dynamics while the other is solid. I have no reference, but the observed separation of fat might be similar to frost heaving. With the fat behaving like the soil. Whether the fat is yellow or more whitish depends to some degree on what the cow ate (see here http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/7/2/146.pdf?ck=nck). See one can turn something simple like frozen milk into something rather complex. Thanks for asking this question. I had fun looking for answers. ;-) Lisa4edit (talk) 17:17, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind that milk, being a natural product, varies slightly in color from place to place and location to location. Something as simple as breed of cow which produced the milk, or the type of food fed to the cow (e.g. silage versus pasturage) can change the color and/or flavor of the milk. Color can vary based on the amount of carotenes in the cows' diets. You tend to see differences happening in the Northern Hemisphere at about this time, as cows which have been kept inside all winter (and fed silage) make a transition outside to graze on pasture. -- 128.104.112.85 (talk) 17:24, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Spherical coordinates

Hi, If the motion of a body is traced in cartesian and spherical coordinate systems, what is the basic difference, other than the method of representing the points?? Will the shape differ?? 116.68.71.144 (talk) 14:06, 27 April 2008 (UTC)A 15 year old.

The shape wouldn't differ. The mathematical equations describing them would be different. Which coordinate system gives you the easier equation depends on the motion you want to describe. --Lisa4edit (talk) 15:03, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, any path can be represented in spherical, cylindrical, or cartesian coords. However, since it's far easier to show straight line motion with cartesian coords and far simpler to represent near-circular motion, like orbits, in spherical coords, which system is chosen to represent the motion may tell you something about the expected motion. StuRat (talk) 15:23, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for answering ! 116.68.69.231 (talk) 12:28, 28 April 2008 (UTC)A 15 year old

Condition name

Is there a name for a condition where people can not remember the name of an object such as a fruit? For instance they me be able to remember the name of a strawberry because the eat strawberry jam almost every day but can not remember the name of a mango after a few weeks or months when handed the fruit, calling it a guava? 71.100.11.39 (talk) 14:09, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Aphasia seems to be what you're looking for. At least one type of it. --Lisa4edit (talk) 14:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I would have answered, but I can never recall the name... :-) StuRat (talk) 15:16, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

There is also agnosia, where a patient fails to recognise an object and therefore can not apply a name to it. A strawberry would be perceived as a roundish red object with small pimply kernels and some green squashed bits on one end, but you would have no idea about its use.

Forgetting little used terms is quite common in a variety of neurological disorders (dementia or Alzheimer´s). Actually, It is quite normal for anybody to confuse terms which are infrequently used. I am sure that I would mix up terms for tropical fruit, different types of pasta and the names of various names of sausages if there was not a label in front of it. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 16:23, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Knew there was another one that I had forgotten ;-) The interesting thing is that they found that the brain seems to store stuff by category. That's why you are more likely to name a vegetable with a wrong vegetable name rather than that for a sausage. You might still do that if the sausage name has a similar "sound pattern" or you ate it at the same time you ate that fruit.--Lisa4edit (talk) 17:32, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

This link [2] to a book by Oliver Sachs might be relevant. Richard Avery (talk) 06:49, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Specifically what you are describing sounds like plain old bad memory. If it were taken to a much stronger extreme, then it could perhaps be considered Visual agnosia, which happens to be one of the topics covered in the Sachs book cited above. From Neurophilosophy, by Patricia Churchland:

• "Patients unimpaired visually may be unable to identify by vision common objects, though they can name them if allowed to touch, hear, or semll them. They can faithfully copy a line drawing but remain unable to say what the object is." (224)

--Shaggorama (talk) 08:55, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

dinasours

how dinasours relates to the environment —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.23.173.57 (talk) 18:05, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm a little perplexed as to what your question means..could you elaborate pleas? Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 18:09, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Our Dinosaur article mentions a couple of factors:

However, by the late Cretaceous, the environment was changing dramatically and

...no closely related species exist to provide zygotes or a suitable environment... --hydnjo talk 18:30, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, our environment article doesn't mention the word "dinosaur". :) Zain Ebrahim (talk) 10:29, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I believe our good friend Dana Rohrabacher can fill us in on the relationship:

"We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows? We do know the CO2 in the past had its time when it was greater as well. And what happened when the CO2 was greater since then and now? There have been many cycles of up and down warming."

— Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 17:05, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

"They smoked". Julia Rossi (talk) 08:31, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

A few questions on drugs

I'm filling out a general health test, completely open-book, open-note, open-person (talk to anybody), and I've done just about all of it. I have a few questions though:

• What is it called when alcohol is consumed faster than it can be processed by the body?
• The use of alcohol with GHB can produce so much sedation that your brain stops telling you to — ? (think/eat/breathe/move)
• As prescription drug — has increased with direct-to-consumer advertising, there has been a parallel increase in prescription drug use.
• — cannot write prescriptions for themselves, but they do have considerable influence over what physicians do.
• Some people are using GHB every two to four hours because if they don't use it, they cannot sleep, and get extremely anxious to the point of becoming —.
• As the brain adapts to the hyper-release of dopamine with — drug use, lack of the drugs causes severe craving and addiction.

The last four are fill-in-the-blanks and seem rather vague to me to narrow it down, but then again, I don't know too much about drugs. Thanks in advance for your help! --Fbv65edel — t — c // 19:58, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

I may as well give some a go, but I can't be certain.

• What is it called when alcohol is consumed faster than it can be processed by the body? Getting drunk?
• The use of alcohol with GHB can produce so much sedation that your brain stops telling you to — ? breathe
• As prescription drug (This could be any number of things, from antibiotics to paracetamol) has increased with direct-to-consumer advertising, there has been a parallel increase in prescription drug use.
• (Patients/psycologists) cannot write prescriptions for themselves, but they do have considerable influence over what physicians do.
• Some people are using GHB every two to four hours because if they don't use it, they cannot sleep, and get extremely anxious to the point of becoming (suicidal?).
• As the brain adapts to the hyper-release of dopamine with (chronic/prolonged?) drug use, lack of the drugs causes severe craving and addiction.

Luxosus (talk) 04:16, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

"completely open-book, open-note, open-person (talk to anybody). " Are you kidding? Why did your teacher even give you a test? Are they testing your understanding of the material or your capacity to do research? I've never heard of an "open-person" test. What school do you go to? --Shaggorama (talk) 08:59, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

(Mildly off-topic...)I've had many such tests which are intentionally "open to any resource or person"; although rarely in the so-to-speak "introductory" level courses. It's really a philosophy of education; why bother testing knowledge solely through an exercise of memorization? What's the important skill - learning information, or retaining it for a short time? This philosophy places a certain level of trust on the student; similarly, the student must acknowledge that there's no point in "cheating" and must have a certain level of responsibility/maturity to gain anything from the class. I also know several professionals whose universities did not use grades or marks at all; upon graduation, they were given "summaries" written by their professors (like an open letter of recommendation). Sometimes this scheme makes it harder to quickly assess an individual ("3.2 out of 4.0" is easy to digest but is actually really not a very effective way to judge a person's ability, skill, dedication, intelligence, or much else). Nimur (talk) 13:30, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, the point of it is not to memorize the answers but learn the information. I agree, it's kind of pointless, which is why I'm handing it in late and still not completely finished, but the course is more of an educational course in the sense that it's meant to teach us this information, rather than having us cram and study it. But as it turns out I am basically cramming to get this test in anyway, thereby defeating the purpose. :) Thanks for your help -- I don't really care what I put, so long as something's there. --Fbv65edel — t — c // 16:30, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Nimur, I'd contend that the concept of cheating is meaningless in a test as open as this. "Ask anyone" seems to be inclusive of the option: "ask your classmate who already found the answer." --Shaggorama (talk) 07:00, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

and getting drunk fast is Binge drinking. Julia Rossi (talk) 10:21, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Many of those questions seem not so much designed to test your general knowledge as your ability to regurgitate whatever the teacher or book said. I'd look through your notes and the book to see if the answers are there. StuRat (talk) 05:33, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Poteries

Peut-on enregistrer les bruits aux potteries? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.237.101.48 (talk) 20:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Est-ce que c'est une plaisanterie? What noise? And I guess the translator got "potteries" wrong. --Lisa4edit (talk) 21:02, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, there was that X-Files episode where Jesus' command to Lazarus got recorded on a pot being spun in the vicinity, and when it was played as a record, it brought dead people back to life (or at least undeath, which seems a bit odd). --Trovatore (talk) 21:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

C'est "poteries", pas "potteries". Trovatore: Pourquoi penses-tu que c'est une plaisanterie?

Est-ce que l'épisode est réaliste? Merci. --99.237.101.48 (talk) 21:41, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

In theory one could record noise on pottery, just like one can record noise on a vinyl surface. The principle is the same but one would need either a very large pot, or extreme precision to be able to record a significant amount of sound and play it back. If anyone knows that it actually has been done (I mean outside X-files) please let us know, I am interested. --Lgriot (talk) 21:54, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Mythbusters tried this. They couldn't get it to work really at all from what I remember. Dismas|^(talk) 04:42, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Cette histoire des enregistrements faits sur la poterie n'est pas vraie ; il s'agit d'un vidéo canularesque fait pour le 1er avril en Belgique: [3]. Si vous comprenez l'anglais, vous pouvez lire ici une explication de la farce: [4].

P.S. : Si vous voulez poser des questions en français, vous aurez plus de succès ici: Wikipédia:Oracle.

(In English: the story isn't true; it has been an idea in science fiction for many years and was recently brought to attention by a April Fool's video made in Belgium (1st link). The second link explains the history of the hoax.) Lesgles (talk) 22:03, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Pas de lieu Rhône que nous. Edison (talk) 02:56, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

(If it makes no sense, say it aloud. The less well you speak French, the sooner it will make sense.) Edison (talk) 00:48, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

This idea also was the key to the solution of one episode of CSI. Apparently, it works a lot better in fiction than it does in practice ;-).

Atlant (talk) 14:03, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

See Archaeoacoustics or this link as well. Also, I read Gregory Benford's short story, Time Shards, based on this idea, and it was pretty entertaining. -- HiEv 11:30, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Est-ce qu'il y a des personnes qui peuvent faire une traduction? Les "traductrices" en ligne ne sont pas très utiles...

Merci pour les réponses!

Are there people who can make a translation? The "translators" on line are not very useful... Thank you for the answers! --99.237.101.48 (talk) 06:46, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Translate what, exactly? Are you asking for the responses to be translated into French? Given that (a) you seem to be able to compose in English and (b) your IP address traces to Richmond Hill, Ontario, squarely inside Anglophone Canada, I have to wonder why you would want that. --Trovatore (talk) 01:25, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

A drug called APO 300

My 86 year old forther is taking a small blueish coloured pill with the letters APO 300 on one side. I would like to know what this drug is, and what it is for. He takes it at lunch hour

Thanks

Tom —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.36.232.146 (talk) 20:22, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

The drug is called Apo-ranitidine (unfortunately, we have no article on this drug) and serves to reduce the production of stomach acid. This drug can be used in the treatment of various conditions, including heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. It's intended purpose is usually to reduce pain from these conditions, although it can also prevent ulcers in some circumstances. It is from the general family of drugs called H2 antagonist. You can find more information about the drug here. Someguy1221 (talk) 21:16, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Ranitidine, commercially known as Zantac. -- Kesh (talk) 21:25, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Why did that completely not occur to me...Someguy1221 (talk) 22:22, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Norepinephrine

It says that norepinephrine is both a stress hormone and a neurotransmitter. Does that mean when you are really stressed out you can think better, because you have higher levels of norepinephrine, or something like that? --131.215.166.126 (talk) 21:34, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

It means that norepenphrine functions and behaves both as a hormone (circulates in the blood) and a neurotransmitter (communication between neurons). It is secreted from the adrenal medulla along with epinephrine and trace amounts of dopamine, in addition to being present in the central nervous system that acts as a stimulatory neurotransmitter. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 21:36, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

And yes, in a manner of speaking, norepinephrine does improve cognition as it is essential for maintaining alert and wakefulness, in addition to a slew of other functions. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 21:37, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

In response to your question specifically, no, being stressed does not make you think better. The Blood brain barrier prevents large molecules in the blood stream from entering the nervous system, protecting it from most infections. Although norepinephrine can be found in the brain and in the body in general, the norepinephrine produced by the adrenal glands doesn't reach the brain. Norepinephrine in the brain is produced by neurons and stays in the brain.

Besides, think pracitcally: when you're stressed, don't you find that you are more grumpy, unstable and more prone to making bad decisions? Do you personally think that you or those around you "think better" when you're stressed? Faster maybe, but better?

Moreover, although drugs that boost norepinephrine availability have been useed to treat ADHD, the general idea that having alot of neurotransmitter in general makes you think better is a little confused. Having alot of a neurotransmitter may sound good but it's usually not and often can result in psychiatric disorders of chemical imbalance. Dopamine is commonly used as an example: dopamine deficiency results in Alzheimers, and dopamine excess can cause Schizophrenia. --Shaggorama (talk) 09:24, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I was referring to norepinephrine as a neurotransmitter, not as a hormone. However, your response is not entirely correct as the locus coeruleus in the brain stem is indeed activated during periods of necessary vigilance when an individual is stressed and anxious, but this is just a minor point. The fact of the matter is the adrenergic afferents from the LC that release norepi stimulates the prefrontal cortex. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 15:19, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Agree with Wisdom99. Also, dopamine deficiency is associated with Parkinson disease, not Alzheimer disease. The latter is usually associated with acetylcholine deficiency. --David Iberri (talk) 16:32, 28 April 2008 (UTC)