Questions tagged [biology]
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Use this tag for general biology questions, but also use more specific life science tags to accompany this one if applicable.
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Is cows' milk bad for cats?
My mother used to tell me that I shouldn't give our kitten cow milk, even if she seemed to enjoy it. Since I loved my kitten, and was quite disobedient at that time, I did it fairly often, and never ...
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Has a finger grown back with ECM?
I have seen a few variants of a claim that a man lost a finger/finger tip, and was given an Extracellular Matrix (ECM) treatment, that included a powder (usually based on pig's bladder), and the ...
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Does fluoridation and chlorination in the US cause thyroid issues?
From an answer in Travel.SE with a net score of 10:
Mains water is typically laced with chlorine and fluoride by law, to the point that you step out of the shower smelling [like] you just stepped ...
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Does chlorine in water harm soil bacteria?
This article claims that both chlorine, and chloramine, which are added to many municipal water supplies to kill harmful bacteria, can also harm the good bacteria in soil, necessary for a healthy ...
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Are vaccine antibodies different than natural antibodies?
An article at mercola.com entitled Outspoken Vaccine Advocate States Measles Vaccine Can't Prevent Measles Outbreaks makes the claim that (emphasis added):
Because vaccine antibodies are different ...
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Does going to concerts increase life expectancy?
My main skepticism comes from the fact repeated exposure to loud music seems detrimental more than anything else, but I'd gladly be shown to be wrong.
After a little digging, the original claim is on ...
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Did the EPA fire a toxicologist, Dr. William Marcus, for refusing to remain silent on the cancer risk of fluoride?
I read that here in this article:
http://www.nteu280.org/Issues/Fluoride/NTEU280-Fluoride.htm
EPA fired the Office of Drinking Water's chief toxicologist, Dr. William Marcus, who also was our ...
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Has the Javan devil leaf nettle (urtica urentissima) been shown to cause any deaths?
According to Sir Stephen Tallents, writing in The Spectator, 12 March 1943:
The sting of a certain Java nettle, for example, may last for a year and is reputed even to cause death.
Mrs. M. Grieve, ...
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Does genital-electrocution of animals cause immediate death?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claim that fur-farms use genital electrocution techniques to kill animals without damaging the fur:
Animals have clamps attached to or rods forced ...
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Do people become resistant to stinging nettles?
The WikiHow page How to Touch Nettles Without Stinging Yourself claims:
Although experienced nettle harvesters often go bare-handed, this isn't just because they know how to avoid stings. Many of ...
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Does a lobster feel little/no pain when boiled alive?
Image Source
I have just read Cracked.com's "9 Ridiculous Cooking Myths You Probably Believe", that claims:
[...] because [the lobster's] nervous system isn't very complex, so it's feeling little ...
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Is this comparison of wedge tailed eagles and bald eagles accurate?
From https://twitter.com/dannolan/status/665409197685764096 (408 RTs, 495 likes), though another comparison between the two exists in Australian Popular Science
[US flag, picture of American Bald ...
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Determining your ancestry through the shape of your feet?
This picture makes its rounds around blogs & forums recently:
Does it have any scientific backing?
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Is the human menstrual cycle related to the lunar cycle?
I've heard that the female menstrual cycle follows a pattern of the lunar cycle, mostly as an evolutionary adaptation so that menstruation (and hence detectability by predators because of the smell of ...
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Do the "rhythm" or "standard days" methods of birth control eventually cause more embryonic death than other methods?
The first formalized calendar-based method was developed in 1930 by
John Smulders, a Roman Catholic physician from the Netherlands. It was
based on knowledge of the menstrual cycle. This method was
...
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Does sleeping with our heads pointing towards north pose any health risks?
Does sleeping orientation (pointing one's head in a specific direction) has anything to do with any health problems(even minor ones)?
If Earth's magnetic field has any
detrimental effects on our ...
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Has anyone used yoga to live for supernatural lengths of time?
According to this commentary on the Bhagavata Purana by Swami Prabhupada:
By controlling the breath, the perfect yogī can continue his life for as long as he likes. Sometimes we hear from the Vedic ...
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Does eating chicken during pregnancy make your baby's penis small?
According to Eating chicken may lead to a smaller penis:
to protect their sons’ normal development, pregnant women may be wise to avoid poultry
Is any of this true?
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Can you punch someone's nose into their brain?
A persistent tale in martial arts is that one can strike an unfortunate other on the nose in such a way that you drive the cartilege up into their brain. Is this possible?
I think some points to ...
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Does watering plants with purified water yield better results?
I watched a commercial for the Aquaguard Enhance RO+UV water purifier recently.
In that commercial, a science teacher assigns an experiment to students. The students bringing a plant to school, and ...
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Did a boy die after masturbating 42 times?
Some years ago, there were reports being over social networks and blogs that "a boy died after masturbating 42 times in a row".
For example: M24 Digital:
A 16-year-old boy died after masturbating ...
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Does too much sex, or STDs, cause urination after sneezing?
From Billy Baldwin (verified user, 109 RTs, 805 likes, Wikipedia biography), referring to Jenna Jameson, who used to be a porn star:
Curious to know what might've caused that sneeze-pee condition ...
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Are there more trees in America today than there were during colonial times?
Yesterday, one of my Facebook friends posted an article defending trophy hunting of elephants in Africa. This led to a discussion about hunting reservations in the US, and ultimately to my friend ...
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Does it take 30 seconds for a person to consciously realize that they're awake?
Source:
"You actually have to be awake for a full 30 seconds to consciously realize that you are awake, but the body falls right back into sleep immediately after it wakes up to take a breath," ...
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Are species becoming extinct at a rate of 0.01%-0.1% per annum?
The World Wide Fund for Nature warns that
there is, in fact, a very serious biodiversity crisis.
And illustrates this with an unreferenced "scientific analysis"
These experts calculate that ...
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Can someone survive being swallowed by a whale?
This site claims that a man was swallowed by a whale for three days and survived.
His name is Luihi Marquez and is Spanish. Upon searching, it seems that multiple news sites have covered this ...
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Wim Hof immune response techniques
Wim Hof practices several techniques which he claims lead to voluntarily influencing the immune system resulting in increased resistance to toxins and the cold. The techniques are categorised into ...
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Is asexuality real?
I read here about human asexuality, and I cannot figure out if it's real or if people are just making stuff up. Have studies been done about this phenomenon and what explains it?
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Can flatworms learn a maze by digesting other flatworms?
I recently watched the film Phantoms. A scientist in the movie claimed that flatworms were able to "consume" memories from other flatworms. The specific example was that of learning the solution to a ...
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Is there a point of no return when starving to death?
I was looking at this image on Wikipedia of two children during the Russian famine of 1921-1922. The caption reads (my translation):
Famine in Russia. III. The two stages of hunger: the skeletal ...
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Smell of a Body [closed]
There's many fictional and nonfictional stories about passerby detecting dead bodies inside buildings and such by an "overwhelming stench of decay" or something equivalent, usually even through thick ...
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Does a typical human on a western diet have undigested protein stuck in their body from years of eating certain foods?
Last night I watched the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. The movie followed two unhealthy people who suffered from a chronic disease on their juice fasts and subsequent lifestyle changes. Their ...
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Was Jan Dzierżoń harassed for his work on parthenogenesis?
Rev. Jan Dzierżoń was a roman-catholic priest from Silesia, that did some important contributions to biology and beekeeping with his research. I.a. he is crediting with the discovery, that drones are ...
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Is the majority of the human body water?
I've always been skeptical about claims that the majority of the human body is actually water.
I've heard and read estimates that anywhere between 55% to 70% of the human body is water. Which I take ...
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Beer goggles: Can alcohol make people look more attractive?
Image Source
The Cambridge Online Dictionary:
If you say that someone is wearing beer goggles, you mean that they have been drinking so much alcohol
that they think someone is more
sexually ...
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Do Ultra-violet LEDs on air hand dryers help to kill bacteria? [closed]
I've noticed newer air hand dryers sometimes have blueish LEDs on the bottom that shine light on your hands when you're drying them. One theory I've heard is that the UV light emitted by these LEDs ...
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Ancestry tracking DNA tests
Since the advent of cheap DNA tests, several companies have sprung up which will tell you ancestral origins according to your DNA.
23andMe claims,
Where in the world are you from?
Find out where your ...
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Is the microorganism buildup in bedsheets harmful?
According to business insider, the New York University microbiologist Philip Tierno claims that bedsheets should be washed once a week and that mattresses should be changed more frequently because ...
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Does your stomach shrink if you eat less?
I've heard people say this before; that eating less shrinks your stomach, making you desire less food in the future. When I looked it up online just now, the first few results conflict:
Eating less ...
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Is the inside of a field cucumber 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than its surroundings?
I've heard this claim before, but every time I dig deeper I am unable to find a reason for why cucumbers would be significantly colder than their surroundings. Is there any validity to this claim? ...
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Do living lizards exist inside stones?
I have seen footage and articles that show living lizards walking out of a stone, when the stone is cracked open. Is this a reliable fact? Is it possible that a lizard (or in some cases, a beetle) ...
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Are red heads more likely to be hot headed?
It's a common cliche that red heads are more likely to have a fiery personality.
To quote from Wikipedia:
A common belief about redheads is that they have fiery tempers and
sharp tongues. In ...
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Can thunderstorms curdle milk?
When I was 13, my sister and I spent the summer on a dairy farm. We worked in the creamery, where (twice a day) we bottled fresh raw milk, as well as cleaned all the equipment. It was really a fun ...
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Does radiation sensitivity decrease with age? [closed]
Just after 3:23 in this TED Radio Hour segment, featured guest Holly Morris makes the claim that "the older you are, the less detrimental the effects of radiation is." The context is in why ...
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Do some GMO plants provide bigger yields and more efficient use of land?
I was told that some Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) provide bigger crop yields and a more efficient use of land compared to unmodified crops.
Monsanto claim:
These [GMO] seeds grow into ...
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Is warm water more effective than cold water for washing one's hands?
When washing my hands, I was always told to use warm soapy water.
However, is there any chemical or biological reason why warm soapy water is more effective to cold soapy water when trying to ...
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Are all the atoms in our bodies replaced on a regular basis?
In a related question, Are all cells of the human body completely replaced every seven to ten years?, it is explained that there are cells in the human body, like neurons, that are never replaced.
...
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Does area of the brain associated with the sense of self "shut down" when praying?
Is there any study done on the claim that the area of the brain associated with the sense of self "shuts down" when praying?
In the NBC News article "What Happens to Your Brain When You Pray?", ...
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Do teenagers fall asleep and rise up later than kids or adults for biological reasons?
In a TED talk "Why school should start later for teens", Wendy Toxel made an assertion that teenagers naturally fall asleep and rise up a couple of hours later than children OR adults (related to ...
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Can Bioimpedance be used to prescribe essential oils and supplements?
Bioimpedance (or Bioelectrical impedance analysis) has been used to measure body fat. However, there are products that claim to link the bioimpedance results to essential oils and supplements: this ...
