Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2006 September 28

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Corynebacterium and sweat

I know corynebacterium feed off of some types of sweat causing bad odor. My question is, are corynebacterium killed in the wash or as some suggest, do they live on and start smelling up your armpits as soon as you put your shirt back on?

Have you heard of "killbo.com", an older defunct website? I personally tested their suggestions. The results are spectacular, at least they are with my own crop of armpit bacteria. If I take a thorough shower, use Michum antiperspirant, and then wear a shirt which was sterilized with a tiny bit of chlorox, I essentially have no armpit odor for about 100 hours. If I do the same sequence with an old shirt which hasn't been sterilized, I'll develop strong armpit odor after roughly five hours. Out of curiousity I repeated these tests every time I did laundry, while changing things slightly each time. I found that I need at least 1/3 cup of chlorox in a load of laundry. But if instead I first soak my shirts for a few minutes in a partially full washing machine, then I can use about 1/8 cup of chlorox. Less than that and the stench returns much earlier. I also found that the originally suggested bactericidal ointment didn't work very well. (It was a fungicide intended for athlete's foot.) But the bactericide in Michum deodorant works very well. Others suggest using the "phisohex" type of hexachlorophene-based medical soap, but I haven't seen it in drug stores. (Note that your clothes will develop bleach-stains unless you thoroughly mix the bleach into the wash water before adding any clothes.) --Wjbeaty 01:15, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Phisohex is only available via prescription, and is fairly expensive. You might be able to get it in Mexico cheap without a prescription and either do the experiment there, or risk legal trouble and take it out of the country to do the experiment.

I once read that putting old shoes in the freezer for a length of time was the only practical way to kill off the bacteria producing the odorous substances. I never tried it though, because I don't want sneakers next to my ice cream. ---Sluzzelin 09:23, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Edible glowing things

According to the article, honey fungus is both edible and bioluminescent. Can you eat anything else that glows? —Keenan Pepper 02:05, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, there's bacon, and all kinds of other glowing things to eat! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.113.117.169 (talk • contribs) .

Hmmm... doesn't the protein the pigs use need ATP or something to work? Also I'm pretty sure cooking the bacon would render it inactive, so that's no fun. I'm looking for things you can actually eat as they're glowing. —Keenan Pepper 02:34, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I have seen luciferase-expressing (genetically modified) human cells (I think they were epithelial cells, they were grown in culture), in fact, I think it's pretty common to clone luciferase into various cell-lines for various reasons (in the lab). This at least suggests that the protein itself isn't cytotoxic, as the cells continue to thrive,but it's (digestive) metabolites may be. So you probably could eat a firefly, unless there is some other toxin they make. That's not to say that you would want to though...Tuckerekcut 02:37, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

How about fluorescent foods? I recall that Tonic Water will fluoresce with a sky-blue color, as you'll find if you order it with Gin while hanging out in a retro Disco bar with black light tubes all over the ceiling. --Wjbeaty 00:54, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Only marginally related, but according to Richard Feynmann, crunching wintergreen lifesavers (I think that was the flavor) releases a burst of light. He recommended doing it in a dark room to see it. Clarityfiend 03:22, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I've done that before. It's a tiny, dim flash, but it's exciting when you finally see it. —Keenan Pepper 03:31, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

The Wint-O-Green Life Savers sparking was even used in an episode of Cheers. The sparking is mentioned on the Life Savers page. Dismas|^(talk) 03:35, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Triboluminescence would be the cause of that. Same with neco and tape. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)04:50, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Triboluminescence can also be observed when crunching polo mints between your teeth. Green flashes. --MerKaBa 00:34, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Radium! — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)04:54, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

You could eat a cyalume glowstick. I hear they're pretty yummy [1] (turn volume down-annoying music). Some glowing vibrio species spontaneously grow on too old seafood...you could eat that. You could also eat the genetically engineered deep sea bioluminescent food additive "prolume" which is supposedly safe and awaits fda approval [2].--Deglr6328 05:00, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Dancers glow. You could always eat one of those. --Dweller 13:55, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Anything white under a black light would appear to glow too. --Fastfission 22:22, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Gender??

When is gender determinable?

Nine weeks it is.[3] — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)04:32, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

External sexual differentiation starts in week 8 according to our article on the matter (although it isn't specifically sourced). Genetically, sex can be determined as soon as the egg is fertilized. Fetal screening is usually performed sometime between weeks 11 and 15, although I don't know why. -- Plutortalkcontribs 10:58, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

For in vitro fertilization, it can be done by day 5, see Preimplantation genetic diagnosis. --JWSchmidt 11:15, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Note though that gender is not exactly the same thing as sex. --Fastfission 22:20, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Note also that the definitions have been so thoroughly confused that one cannot infer that the terms are being used as anything other than synonyms unless their definitions have been explicitly stated. - Nunh-huh 22:20, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Wrist

My wrist is so thin compared to some people even some girls! Is there anyway to make it look thicker?

• You didn't tell us your age (from the question, I'm assuming you're male). It could be simply your physical makeup. When I was young, my wrists were tiny too, but it changed over time. Healthy eating (no hunger diets) and plenty of exercize should help you along. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:16, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry about how your wrists look silly. The only people that really notice are you. If anybody makes fun of you for it be glad it is your wrists, and not your face, or your intellegence. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)14:40, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Wrist falsies? --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 15:19, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

This may come in handy if you ever have the cuffs put on!--Light current 15:28, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

You might want to wear something to cover them, like a watch or long sleeve shirts. They will likely get thicker as you get older. StuRat 17:34, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

'Dancing with yourself' a few times a day might help. Well, it couldn't do any harm... ;) --Kurt Shaped Box 17:39, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn that only build up one wrist? OR, you could try playing with a gull in each hand! 8-)--Light current 01:15, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I do wrist curls with a 10 kg weight in each hand. If you keep your arms dead straight (pointed down) it starts to really burn after about 30 reps. This will not do much to increase the size of your wrists (there's not much muscle close to the wrist bones), but it will make your forearms bigger and make the size of your wrists less noticeable, and more natural. It easy to strengthen your wrists when you're bored too, just by pushing on your opposing hand.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  05:30, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm 15 years old MacGyverMagic.

Nice to hear that. You could still do less than... 30 reps. Yikes. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)08:08, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I asked a doctor when I was younger and she just said it's in my genome. I can fit my thumb and small finger around my wrist with room to spare (my thumb and middle finger for my ankles). The only thing we can do is not have children so that our small-wrist genes aren't passed down to future generations... –Username132 (talk) 17:30, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Largest Dinosaurs

The above title mostly more or less explains my question, which is, "Which was the largest dinosaur?" I've been searching for the answer across many sites, but I haven't got a definite answer. Most of the best sites, like www.enchantedlearning.com, or www.miketaylor.com normally give you a list of Italic textlarge dinosaurs. Although some sites do say Argentinosaurus is the largest, the same sites give much bigger figures for others, like Bruhathkayosaurus or Amphicoelias fragillmus. I'm pretty sure that the answer is one of the above two, but hey, I'm no expert. I was hoping someone could answer my above question. I'd really appreciate it.

• See Dinosaur#Size for a discussion of this. Batmanand | Talk 10:28, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
• Try taking a look at the history of our List of dinosaur. Whoever did the most work or expansion on it will probably be able to give you a good source. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:51, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

S/he'll have even better luck with List of dinosaurs. :-) Anchoress 10:10, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Be careful, since the rarest dinosaurs are known by just a few bones. This means, of course, some of them may not actually exist, as was the case with Supersaurus. What is almost for sure is that the largest is a Brachiosaurid, my bet goes for Argentinosaurus, relatively well-known and damn huge ;)

Null-G Manufacturing?

Hey. What are the potential benefits of manufacturing in zero-g? I can't think of any besides having a high-quality vacuum and drastically reduced friction. The downsides seem to outweigh the ups. Am I missing something here? Thanks. --Demonesque 12:14, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Also, the sun doesn't go down. --Wjbeaty 00:59, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

See Microgravity environment. Our article could use some fleshing out, but there are a few applications listed. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 12:21, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I always think of the balls and rollers of bearings as the prime example of what you'd want to manufacture without gravity. :-) —Bromskloss 12:53, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

One thing they always said they'd make in orbit was metal foam - they'd melt aluminium, blow gas through it until it formed a foam, and then chill it so that it solidified in the foamed form. This would, the theory went, produce very strong lightweight components or aerospace and the like (the bones of birds are structure similarly, with a far greater proportion of voids than human bones, for example). It looks like material scientists have figured out how to make metal foam on Earth anyway, but there's still research that proposes doing it in orbit (presumably the orbital variety is better) - [4]. Middenface 13:59, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Well first of all: there are no ups or downs in space so 'the downsides cant outweigh the ups'. And secondly, in the case of ball bearings you can run them as fast as you like because in space, 'no one can hear them scream' 8-)--Light current 15:08, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

And second of all? Or was that just 'first of one'. ?

We dont use the 'of all' for anything after first in UK. Did you not notice the word 'secondly' I ve bolded it for you.--Light current 12:45, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

One reason materials constructed in zero gravity might be stronger is that cristals can grow completely free and to any size you wish. Thus, you can create huge monoliths. DirkvdM 10:04, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

And the use of such large monoliths would be to make more realistic versions of 2001/2010? --Light current 01:15, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

All that said, at the present time nobody has come up with a serious business plan where products can be manufactured that are of sufficient value to pay for the very, very substantial costs of launching the raw materials, the factory to transform them into finished goods, and possibly the staff needed to run the factory.

If you want a decent discussion of this, you could try Entering Space by Robert Zubrin. His conclusion is that space (that is, the empty bits between natural bodies like the Earth, Moon, Mars and asteroids) is like the terrestrial oceans, where the profits gained by harvesting it directly will be far outweighed by the value of the cargoes transported across it. --Robert Merkel 00:45, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I always liked the idea of making new real estate. (Invest in real estate, they've started making it again?) Just take a largish asteroid, surround it with mylar mirrors to focus sunlight on its surface, then when nice and melty you'll inflate it into a bubble using a large explosion, or perhaps just stick a few comets in the center before you start. This gives you a large, hollow shell made of glassy rock/iron. A thousand and one uses! Add some engines, steal Earth's water, then ferry it back to your own solar system. (Or steal earth's women... same thing.) Or just fill it with air and set up housing the inside surface. (A bit hard to build one of these on Earth!) --Wjbeaty 01:08, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

pathology

what does refrence range mean

Do you mean reference range? Jack Daw 13:34, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Lactose and blood glucose

Stupid question, but, in lactase persistent, is lactose digested into glucose and consequently raises blood glucose levels? Jack Daw 13:32, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean by lactase persistent? In normal humans, lactose is digested in the gut to glucose and galactose in roughly equal amounts. The glucose and galactose are rapidly absorbed by the mucosa of the small intestine into the portal vein, mostly ending up in liver cells. The simple answer then is that half of lactose is rapidly digested to glucose and would certainly raise the blood glucose in a short time. A more complete answer is, as usual slightly more complicated. High galactose levels in liver cells can inhibit gluconeogenesis and actually impair liver glucose production in people who cannot efficiently metabolize galactose (e.g., galactosemia) or conduct gluconeogenesis (e.g., glycogen storage disease type I). alteripse 15:01, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

From a quick Google, it appears lactase persistent is used to desribe adults who are not lactose intolerant or more specifically, adults who continue to produce lactase, as needed, in adulthood and are therefore able to consume products containing lactose such as cow's milk without issue Nil Einne 15:07, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok, then the answer is still applicable. If gut digestion is incomplete, less sugar will enter the circulation and metabolism but (except for the lesser amount) these processes are still the same regardless of the efficiency of digestion. alteripse 15:10, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Cold and Flu viruses

I have been fighting a cold and/or flu bug for several weeks using OTC medicines such as nyquil.

What are the current viruses and do they respond to the OTC stuff?

Thank you

O'Dell from South Dakota

Nothing you can get over the counter will have any effect whatever on a cold or flu virus. Products like nyquil just ease the symptoms a bit while your own immune system fights the virus. If you're still sick after several weeks, it's definately time to see a doctor. Middenface 16:08, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. It also could be something else, like a mold allergy. StuRat 17:21, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Is easing the symptoms ok for your body? The symptoms are usually there to try and make you better! i.e. fever, runny nose, coughing. Would it take longer to get better if you took away the "symptoms?" — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)17:33, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, some of the symptoms are there for the benefit of the virus. Coughing and sneezing, for instance, are very useful strategies for spreading lots of virus-laden droplets around. On the other hand, a moderate fever tends to be helpful because it stimulates certain classes of immune cells. On the third hand, suppressing symptoms can be problematic because it encourages some people to remain active and stress themselves further when they ought to be resting. That, in turn, leads to the fourth hand, on which one might note that you will be better able to fight infection if you're well-rested—which won't happen if you're up all night coughing and sneezing and sniffling. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 23:14, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Cure pathogens for hijacking the body's systems. STDs, poxes, and retroviruses! I am skeptical of the "get well better with sleep" idea. I need to see references argueing both sides before I'll believe that. It seems like sleep is a nice way to "get away" from your illness. Your immune system can battle while you don't have to feel it happening. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)07:24, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Well I think it really depends on what you have. If it's a cold, I agree that rest doesn't make a difference. If I have a cold, I take Sudafed during the day, Neo Citran at night, and who knows how long the thing lasts lol; it's business as usual. If it's the flu, I definitely have to rest. If I continue as usual, with OTC remedies or without, I get sicker, ending up with bronchitis or something worse. And if it's something bacterial like strep throat, tonsillitis or a sinus infection, whether or not I rest depends on how I feel. I can fight the infection OK while working unless I'm really sick; if I feel bad enough that I need to rest, not resting will definitely make me sicker, longer. I agree with other posters, though; if it's been weeks without improvement, a doctor is the next order of business. Anchoress 07:37, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

While there are a lot of people who would agree with Middenface, there is controversy. See Cold_virus#Zinc_Preparations. --Allen 18:45, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Several weeks, eh? If you went to a physician and got tested, you might find that you don't have the flu at all but some other viral disease which can have similar symptoms. Or, as StuRat suggested, not a viral caused illness at all. Sticking to the viral hypothesis, there are some scary sounding viral illnesses which are thought to be grossly underreported because everyone assumes they have the flu (unless they get so sick they wind up in the hospital). (There oughta be a list... no, probably not!) You probably didn't want to hear that, huh? If you're worried, I'd see that physician. If you're not worried, I wouldn't be surprised if you get better on your own, eventually.---CH 06:16, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Human Growth Hormone production increases during sleep. Apart from making you grow, it has important reparitive functions both in the structural sense and in stimulation of cellular immune functions. The article has a reasonable discussion of these. I also read somewhere that HGH pulses are larger during slow-wave (deep) sleep. If you're sleep deprived you have proportionally less slow wave sleep. It seems snoozing through the sniffles might be more then just an avoidance tactic. Mattopaedia 07:43, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

glutamine

I am interested in whether there's a relationship between the amino acid supplement glutamine and the neurotransmitter recently associated with depression called glutamate. Is there a way to email directly to any of the contributors to the glutamine article or to get a reference to someone who might know anything about this question?

Thanks,

Florence

Interestingly enough, both are amino acids. Glutamine has an amide functional group (in addition to the amine and carboxyl groups inherent to all AAs) whereas Glutamate has a carboxylic acid functional group. Glutamate is used to makke proteins, and is itself, as you mentioned, involved in neurotransmission. Glutamine is also incorporated into proteins, and is also used extensively in the body for storage and transfer of nitrogen. Check out the articles glutamic acid (same thing as glutamate, just at different pH) and glutamine for more information. They are "related" in that they have similar structures, with one (very important) difference in side chain functional groups, and they are readily interconverted in the body.Tuckerekcut 19:59, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Florence, to contact any of the editors of an article, go to the article's history page (such as the one for Glutamine) and you will see a list of contributors. Click on the editor's name and you will go to their User page. On that page, you will see an "email this user" link. Click on it to send them an email. Not all users have this capability enabled, however. User:Zoe|(talk) 20:36, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

white oak tree

Two questions really. I wish to add about 18 inches of gravel and sand over 1/4 of the drip line of my very large oak, two feet out from the trunk. No lime, and not a driveway or heavy traffic area. Will this harm my oak? And I'm wondering if it is characteristic for a white oak to have many small shoots off the main branches(not the trunk)? Thank you so much in advance for your considerations.

I don't see any harm in the gravel, per se, but, if it leads to people parking cars there that leak oil and other fluids, that could have a detrimental effect on the oak. StuRat 00:41, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Speed of molecules

At the same STP, a block of wood would has its molecules moving slower than a bucket of water. Apart from differences in state, what exactly does that depend on? Is it the masses, densities, and pressures?

a whole bunch of things. the amount of interaction each molecule has with its neighbours is one of the most important factors, which will decide the state the compound is in at a given temperature. eg. water has a strong network of hydrogen bonds, which helps slow the vibrations of the water, forming a liquid, boiling point 100 deg C. but weaken those bonds by changing H₂O to H₂S, and you get a boiling point of -60 deg C. in wood's case, the cellulose that its made of has multiple hydrogen bonds to neighbouring chains of cellulose, resulting in a very strong (and solid) material. Xcomradex 22:02, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Increasing the volume of my ejaculations?

Is it true that regularly eating asparagus increases the volume of semen produced? --81.79.28.234 23:02, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

No, but try eating a high protein diet, that should do it. StuRat 00:21, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Why should it?--Light current 01:06, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Sperm are largely composed of protein. Men's bodies therefore produce sperm when they have excess protein. Enough seminal fluid is also produced to accompany the sperm. StuRat 13:08, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

IDKT--Light current 16:31, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

There is an interesting story behind this. William Kellogg, famous as the founder of the breakfast cereal company, came up with the idea of cereal as a low protein alternative to the traditional bacon and egg breakfast, specifically to keep men from being "horny bastards", due to what he considered to be "excess sperm production". It does work; try a low protein diet for a week and see what it does to your sex drive, then try a high protein diet for a week. StuRat 17:38, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't that make your semen smelly? Maybe just urine. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)01:15, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

It does tend to make your urine smell like fried bacon, which is really the smell of protein broken down to amino acids. StuRat 17:45, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I've heard that eating Lecithin does this. (Haven't tried it though.) Or zinc and lecithin? - Rainwarrior 04:24, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't see why zinc (dose?) would do anything more than negligible. Don't worry about volume of ejaculate, that's silly. Quanity doesn't matter anyway—there's enough sperm in there to impregnate a signficant portion of the women in the world. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)07:19, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

The more 'spunk' that comes out in one shot, the better it feels. Trust me - my spunk levels vary. --Kurt Shaped Box 20:47, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

So, you are not the kinda guy that could wait two days. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)08:10, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

So, would you rather have one almighty 'shot', or about 25 slightly less powerful ones? I remember a comedy programme once where... no better not! 8-)--Light current 20:52, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

25 that could blow the shower door off its hinges would be nice. --Kurt Shaped Box 21:16, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Of course it would! But you have to be realistic here and realise that the human penis is NOT a cannon! --Light current 21:32, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Of course not! It's more like an ICBM - in my pants. --Kurt Shaped Box 21:47, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, as your brain gets bigger, your libido will get smaller. Thats for sure! 8-)--Light current 21:55, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Increasing the volume of some fluids could have a detrimental effect on oaks|oats. -- DLL ^{.. T} 20:43, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Reading these answers made coffee spew out my nose!

Was that an ejaculATION from an unusual orifice, or just you choking on your biscuit? 8-)--Light current 22:23, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

NMR Spectroscopy

I'm not going to lie. This is part of a homework problem. But I can't figure it out on my own (notes, textbook, and wikipedia aside), so i'm going to ask conceptually. If you would like to respond conceptually, I would be more than happy with that.

Given an NMR with a specific field strength (H₀), an isotope with a given magneto-gyric ratio (I've calculated the Lamar frequency (v_o) from these values if I need it), how does one calculate the number of Hz in 1 ppm for the given nucleus?

Thanks --Michael 23:45, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

There's a big "theory" section in the Nuclear magnetic resonance page, and the intro to the NMR spectroscopy page has some info about unit conversion. DMacks 01:35, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

how about this:

ν = γB₀/2π

and fyi the symbol for field strength that i am used to is B₀, in T. γ is the magnetogyric ratio, in radians T^-1 s^-1. ν the frequency for that nuclei at that field strength, in Hz. getting to 1 ppm from there should be cake. Xcomradex 04:12, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

lolz. Lamar[5] want's to know how you calculated his frequency and he says that perhaps you meant the Larmor frequency.--Deglr6328 13:49, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Ringtones

How to send ringtones online.i.e from net to mobile using a sms sending site. plz can any one can tell me the format because i have got he ringtone notes with me?

My information is a few years old but I'm pretty sure there's no free way to do this. There's probably a few websites that host some sort of "ring tone maker" online program, that in turn will send it to your (if supported) cellphone in a format that it will understand, for a fee. If you have a ringtone composer on your phone, search for a website that can convert to and from ringtone notes for different types of phones. Those sites often instruct you how to easily input the ringtone directly into your phone as well.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  05:23, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

There's always mobile17 (formerly smashTheTONES). I tried it once and, yes, it was totally free. None of the formats it sent to my phone worked, though, so YMMV. -- Plutortalkcontribs 12:45, 29 September 2006 (UTC)