/sci/ - Science & Math

How fucking retarded.

That's really all there is to say.

The department of agriculture is responsible for keeping the bread belt from turning into a giant, zero-diversity petri dish of crop diseases and research is a big part of that, so, yeah, Ron Paul is an idiot.

Example, in case you want one:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Aboutus/aboutus.htm?modecode=53-02-15-15

>>3962796
This.
...and beyond that it's 'welcome to the heat death of the universe'. There is no forever for any of us.

>>3954429
Yeah, I know, and that sucks.
You can't nit-pick everything to death either, though. I can tear through most nature documentaries for either over-simplifying or being flat out wrong, but I still let myself enjoy them. There's always going to be parts of your judgment you'll have to suspend (unless it's the American version of 'Life', which is an unforgivable atrocity).

>>3954426
also has a point that the show has to appeal to a larger demographic to be viable, so they have to keep it entertaining for those outside of the science-literate niche market (a sad but true statement).

>>3954419
That show started off science-funny and then quickly evolved into comic-book-nerd-funny. It's OK, but it's not my thing.

>>3954391
>>3954357
Oh, as far as choosing one or the other for a career goes, I'd go with applied as there tends to be less room in any subject area for theorists than there is for people who do the 'leg work', whatever that is for the field. I'm way outside of my area, though, so take that with a grain of salt.

I'm totally better at applied math.
Pure math just doesn't mean anything to me. I didn't understand calculus until it was explained in terms of physics. I didn't understand 'explaining away' in stats until I was shown an example. Even now, I can see WHERE I can apply math very easily. The applications of everything from averages to integrals to Bayes networks are obvious to me. Pure math just exists out of context for me. I can arrive at an answer, but it means nothing, so I have no clue if I'm right or not. It just doesn't work for me.

That's my experience, anyway. Good topic.

holy fuck, mods, just ban this loser

>>3954272
This.

Everyone has one or two courses that are FML-boring. I hated my college state history class (because fucking why is it required?) but got through it and loved most of the courses I took.

>>3954277
Although, civil engineering is a lot of stuff like that, from what I've heard. Road grades always sounded boring to me.

It's a fucking uropygial gland.
Come back when you want to talk about something interesting, like poisonous birds.

...Fuck it, I'm going to bed. I'll just leave you with the poisonous Hooded Pitohui; that's enough minds blown for one night.

The economic situation, in my opinion, is a case of the prisoner's dilemma, but it has nothing to do with our inept congress. The dilemma lies in the position of employers and banks. If you're, say, a bank and you give out a loan in the current economic downturn, you're going to pay for it. If you're a business, you can't hire because there might be another crash.

So, either everyone jumps in at the same time and things pick back up, the ones who jump early drown in economic chaos, or no one does anything and we all slowly sink into the mud. It's like watching wildebeest on the edge of a river crossing waiting to see who goes first. Congress may do some things that could make them more confident in that first plunge, but they can't fix it themselves. Frankly, I agree with the starbucks CEO's plan (which pains me; believe me).

That's a short term solution, by the way. I have other opinions about the long run. I'm also a naive moron who probably doesn't know what he's talking about.

>>3922190
TAKE INTRO CHEM FROM DR. LAUDE YOU DISRESPECTFUL WHORE.

(Bio you can skip; intro Bio is retarded; Finklea's Genetics is the one you want)

>>3803940
your*

Also,
>>3803938
The question is just stupid. Assuming you avoided the autoimmune disease from hell thing and SOMEHOW continued living, you wouldn't turn into a chimp. Genes are activated and deactivated in specific sequences throughout development to produce the final body form of multicellular organisms and to carry out regular metabolic functions. The interplay between genes in genome and between the genome and body AND between the genome and environment are MUCH more complicated than any hollywood movie would have you believe (and beyond my scope of knowledge; I'm an ecologyfag).

You're entire body is immediately recognized as a foreign body.
The autoimmune disease from hell ensues.

You die.

>The thread in which most of /sci/ thinks the universe is a bubble.

The observable universe is the part of the universe we can observe. It is defined by how far light could have traveled since the universe expanded (i.e. we can see as far away as how far light could have traveled since the universe began). The ENTIRE universe is another matter. We don't know the shape; it may not be closed. Talking about an edge is nonsense (at least that's my understanding of things)

They probably do, not that I've told them.

>>3803789
This.

Dude, pyridene is the only one that's polar.
You gotta know that.

>science you wanted to study as a kid
Zoology

>science you ended up studying as a man
Ecology

I rolled with the changes and pushed through. Pure zoology is dead. Long live the quantitative study of nature!

Animation featuring a guy in a chicken suit fighting Carl Sagan.
It's coming, guys.
Be pissed.

(Seriously though, I hope this lives up to it's legacy and won't pass judgment until I see it. We need to inspire people again [though, I'd just suggest they watch the original Cosmos])

>>3457202
>>3456599
You're going to make this thread live forever, aren't you?

>>3456543
/sci/ wouldn't know real biology if it bit them on the ass (which, in some cases, it could). /sci/ doesn't give a shit about metabolic pathways. /sci/ doesn't understand a community matrix. /sci/ doesn't know what karyotype megaevolution is (answer: weird). Seriously, /sci/'s opinion on biology is invalid. They think the stuff they learn in intro courses is real biology. It's not like we do that for physics or chemistry. Just remember: You're a biologist. You deal in systems. You see how important all the sciences are and how they feed into each other. I've seen stuff in biology dragged up from information theory (See: Shannon index). It's awesome.

Also, premeds suck. you must be new to the major. You will hate them.

Sage because this thread is a mess, as usual.

FFFFFFFFFF---
Will you please just read what I posted here?
>>3456448

It literally provides one example of how the genome can increase in size. Another great link is here:
>>3456465

OK, now, before I throw my laptop against the wall, I'm leaving. You make me so mad, /sci/, because you turn every biological question into a troll thread. I support HIJACKING TROLL THREADS to have LEGITIMATE SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSIONS and posting pictures with every post for no reason other than each post is an opportunity to post a picture.

Awesome /sci/. Keep bumping the thread while providing no additional information and ignoring the few posts that attempt explanation. Instead, it's just a bunch of name-calling.
I butthurt.
I'm going to the gym to work out my aggression.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrotransposon

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16093661

Troll harder next time.