Please read this entire post carefully and format your application appropriately.

This post is for new panelist recruitment! The previous one is here.

The panel is an informal group of redditors who are either professional scientists or those in training to become so. All panelists have at least a graduate-level familiarity within their declared field of expertise and answer questions from related areas of study. A panelist's expertise is summarized in a color-coded AskScience flair.

Membership in the panel comes with access to a panelist subreddit. It is a place for panelists to interact with each other, voice concerns to the moderators, and where the moderators make announcements to the whole panel. It's a good place to network with people who share your interests!

---

You are eligible to join the panel if you:

• Are studying for at least an MSc/MA/MPhil or equivalent degree in the natural or social sciences, AND,

• Are able to communicate your knowledge of your field at a level accessible to various audiences.

• OR have flair in /r/Science

Those studying towards undergraduate/integrated masters degrees must be in their final year.

All panel applications are at moderator discretion.

---

Instructions for formatting your panelist application:

• Choose exactly one general field from the side-bar (Physics, Engineering, Social Sciences, etc.).

• State your specific field in one word or phrase (Neuropathology, Quantum Chemistry, etc.)

• Succinctly describe your area of research or expertise in a few words (carbon nanotube dielectric properties, myelin sheath degradation in Parkinsons patients, etc.)

• Give us a brief synopsis of your education: are you a research scientist for three decades, or a first-year Ph.D. student?

• Provide links to comments you've made in AskScience or another subreddit which you feel are indicative of your scholarship. Applications will not be approved without several comments made in reddit.

---

Ideally, these comments should clearly indicate your fluency in the fundamentals of your discipline as well as your expertise. We favor comments that contain citations so we can assess its correctness without specific domain knowledge.

Here's an example application:

---

Username: /u/VeryLittle

General field: Physics

Specific field: AstroPhysics

Particular areas of research including historical: Neutron stars.

Education: PhD student.

Comments: 1, 2, 3, 4.

---

Please do not give us personally identifiable information and please follow the template. We're not going to do real-life background checks - we're just asking for reddit's best behavior. However, several moderators are tasked with monitoring panelist activity, and your credentials will be checked against the academic content of your posts on a continuing basis.

You can submit your application by replying to this post.

     Today in AskScience we wish to spotlight our solidarity with the subreddits that have closed today, whose operations depend critically on timely communication and input from the admins. This post is motivated by the events of today coupled with previous interactions AskScience moderators have had in the past with the reddit staff.

     This is an issue that has been chronically inadequate for moderators of large subreddits reaching out to the admins over the years. Reddit is a great site with an even more amazing community, however it is frustrating to volunteer time to run a large subreddit and have questions go unacknowledged by the people running the site.

    We have not gone private because our team has chosen to keep the subreddit open for our readers, but instead stating our disapproval of how events have been handled currently as well as the past.

Hello subscribers of /r/AskScience!

     It has been a long time since there has been a meta post from the mods, and I wanted to give an update. The previous top mod /u/TheWalruss has just stepped down, leaving me as the top moderator. I want this subreddit to succeed, and it has always been the moderators as a team that ran things behind the scenes. Because of this the subreddit will continue running as it has.

     TheWalruss' life has taken a turn for the better, and he is dedicating his time to life outside of reddit. If you have any questions for either myself or /u/TheWalruss, feel free to speak your mind here. We will both be watching this thread to answer your questions that you have for us.

     My goals for this subreddit are to keep quality as high as possible, as well as getting the community involved. Our users and panel members are what make /r/AskScience great. However, we still need your help to keep the subreddit running. If you see something that you think would help, a post or comment that breaks the rules or an addition that could be added to the FAQ page to help let us know!

     Remember, our moderators and panelists volunteer a lot of their spare time to /r/AskScience, so please be patient! Our panelists are real-life scientists who strive to answer your questions. This is often a thankless job, so please keep that in mind when replying to them and be courteous.

---

Current changes to the subreddit

---

     We have updated the wiki to help make it more user friendly. We have included a Quick Start Guide for our new users as well as making the index page more navigation friendly.

Let us know what you think!

Please read this entire post carefully and format your application appropriately.

This post is for new panelist recruitment! The previous one is here.

The panel is an informal group of redditors who are either professional scientists or those in training to become so. All panelists have at least a graduate-level familiarity within their declared field of expertise and answer questions from related areas of study. A panelist's expertise is summarized in a color-coded AskScience flair.

Membership in the panel comes with access to a panelist subreddit. It is a place for panelists to interact with each other, voice concerns to the moderators, and where the moderators make announcements to the whole panel. It's a good place to network with people who share your interests!

---

You are eligible to join the panel if you:

• Are studying for at least an MSc. or equivalent degree in the sciences, AND,

• Are able to communicate your knowledge of your field at a level accessible to various audiences.

---

Instructions for formatting your panelist application:

• Choose exactly one general field from the side-bar (Physics, Engineering, Social Sciences, etc.).

• State your specific field in one word or phrase (Neuropathology, Quantum Chemistry, etc.)

• Succinctly describe your particular area of research in a few words (carbon nanotube dielectric properties, myelin sheath degradation in Parkinsons patients, etc.)

• Give us a brief synopsis of your education: are you a research scientist for three decades, or a first-year Ph.D. student?

• Provide links to comments you've made in AskScience which you feel are indicative of your scholarship. Applications will not be approved without several comments made in /r/AskScience itself.

---

Ideally, these comments should clearly indicate your fluency in the fundamentals of your discipline as well as your expertise. We favor comments that contain citations so we can assess its correctness without specific domain knowledge.

Here's an example application:

   Username: foretopsail
   General field: Anthropology
   Specific field: Maritime Archaeology
   Particular areas of research include historical archaeology, archaeometry, and ship construction. 
   Education: MA in archaeology, researcher for several years.
   Comments: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Please do not give us personally identifiable information and please follow the template. We're not going to do real-life background checks - we're just asking for reddit's best behavior. However, several moderators are tasked with monitoring panelist activity, and your credentials will be checked against the academic content of your posts on a continuing basis.

You can submit your application by replying to this post.

We've made inanimate digital attractions so astounding that they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet.

Here's some of our biggest and bestest threads for the past few months:

• The Philae lander has successfully landed on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. AskScience Megathread.

• "If you remove all the space in the atoms, the entire human race could fit in the volume of a sugar cube" Is this how neutron stars are so dense or is there something else at play?

• Introducing: AskScience Quarterly, a new popular science magazine by the scientists of reddit!

• Do multivitamins actually make people healthier? Can they help people who are not getting a well-balanced diet?

• FAQ Friday: Ask your questions about the Ebola epidemic here!

• The SWARM satellite recently revealed the Earth's magnetic field is weakening, possibly indicating a geo-magnetic reversal. What effects on the planet could we expect if this occurred?

• Why do airplane windows need to have that hole?

• If we were denied any exposure to a colour for say, a year, would our perception of it change once we saw it again?

• What have been the major advancements in computer chess since Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997?

• If someone asks me 'how many apples are on the table', and I say 'five', am I counting them quickly in my head or do I remember what five apples look like?

• How close to Earth could a black hole get without us noticing?

Here's some cool science pictures which make great conversation starters at parties!

Impress your friends with all the knowledge in your noggin!

• Geologic Map of the Near Side of the Moon [Source]

• The Darwinilus sedaris beetle

• T. Rex Poop [Source]

• Close ups of comet 67P

• Four Quarks at LHCb

• Ebola viruses infecting budding from a cell

Hello AskScience! We are members of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. We study fossil fish, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles — anything with a backbone! Our research includes how these organisms lived, how they were affected by environmental change like a changing climate, how they're related, and much more.

You can learn more about SVP in this video or follow us on Twitter @SVP_vertpaleo.

We're at our 74th Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany and we're here to answer your questions. Joining us are:

• Tom Holtz, Ph.D.: Senior lecturer in the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland. Author of Dinosaurs: The Most Complete Up-To-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages. Find him on Twitter @TomHoltzPaleo.

• PastTime podcast hosts Adam Pritchard and Matt Borths: They're nearing the ends of their PhDs at Stony Brook University in New York. Adam studies the early history of the reptiles that gave rise to lizards, dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds. Matt studies the early evolution of mammals, particularly the rise of early carnivorous mammals after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Find them on Twitter @PastTimePaleo.

• Brian Switek: Science writer, blogger at Laelaps on National Geographic, and host of Dinologue. He has written books Written in Stone and My Beloved Brontosaurus. Find him on Twitter @Laelaps.

We'll be here to answer your questions from 8:00-10:00am EST (14:00-16:00 in Germany). Thanks for tuning in!

---

Update: Okay, it's after 4PM in Berlin and we're off! Thank you so much for all your questions! We'll try to answer more questions if we can. We'd like to thank the following experts for their answers:

• Dr. Tom Holtz
• Matt Borths
• Adam Pritchard
• Brian Switek
• Paleoartist Luis Rey
• Dr. Sergio Almecija
• Jess Miller-Camp
• Eric Wilberg

Hello /r/AskScience users! This post is part of a collaborative effort of over 100 subreddits to give a basic overview of reddit. You'll find lots of information about using the site, along with a few things specific to our community.

Thank you very much for being a valued participant of /r/AskScience.

---

What is reddit, really?

• Don't think of reddit as one giant community. This site is made up of "sub"reddits, which are all their own communities. Every single post you see on this site belongs to its own community, with its own set of users, and with its own set of rules. reddit provides you an easy-to-use interface for managing what posts you see by letting you subscribe or unsubscribe from certain subreddits.

• By making an account, you are automatically subscribed to a set of "default" subreddits which are a set of highly popular communities that the administrators of this site feel would give the average person an interesting first experience.

• Don't like one or more of these default subreddits? Use the "unsubscribe" button on the sidebar, and start customizing your reddit front page! Find subreddits that interest you. Many subreddits feature lists of "similar subreddits" that will help you find other awesome places to subscribe to. Looking for a subreddit but you just don't know its name? Try /r/findareddit! Finally, try setting up a multi-reddit to categorize your subreddit list even further!

---

Tips for your account.

• See and change your preferences. Customize how many comments show up, what kind of posts show up, and more!

• Verify your e-mail. If you don't do this and you lose your password, you will have no way to log back onto that account. Ever. Please do this!

• Karma is a point system that lets you know how your submissions or comments are doing. The more karma your post has, the more people have upvoted it. Generally a higher karma count on a post means that the community of that subreddit found your post valuable and interesting. Your karma is logged on your user page on the top right. Please note that self-posts earn you no karma. Only comments and link-posts do.

What is the sidebar?

• The "sidebar" is the list of information pertaining to a specific subreddit. At the top you will find a link to submit a post and a link to search the subreddit. It also contains the link to "subscribe/unsubscribe" from that subreddit. Underneath that it generally lists the rules, guidelines, relevant information, similar subreddits, etc.

  Note: many mobile reddit apps require you to press a certain button for the sidebar to show up. Every subreddit has a sidebar. Please don't forget to look for it even if your app doesn't immediately show it! Here's an image showing where to find it on common reddit apps.

• You should always read the sidebar before submitting a post to any subreddit, and if you don't understand a rule message the moderators to ask. This ensures that your post stays on the subreddit, as rule-breaking posts will likely be removed.

• Have a question about a submission to a particular subreddit? Ask the moderators there! Here's an image that shows you where you can typically find the link to message the mods.

---

Who are moderators? What do they do?

• Each subreddit is a community with its own focus. The mods are volunteers who ensure the subreddit stays true to its purpose by enforcing set rules. For example, /r/android is a subreddit dedicated to discussion of the Android operating system. Anything not directly related to Android is removed by its moderators. Similarly, /r/apple is a subreddit dedicated to discussing Apple and its products.

• Moderators have the power to approve or remove any comments or submissions made to only the subreddits they moderate. They can also issue a ban for users on their subreddit. Moderators enforce the rules laid out in the sidebar, so if you follow all the rules in the sidebar you should be good!

Who are admins? What do they do?

• Meet the admins. The admins are like super-moderators. They have all the abilities of moderators across every subreddit plus more. They are paid employees of the site and they ensure that the site runs smoothly for all users.

• The admins are generally hands-off when it comes to individual subreddits, letting the moderators and the community decide how its run. However, the admins will enforce the rules of reddit on every subreddit. Be familiar with these rules. Failure to follow these rules may earn you a sitewide ban, or the closing down of a subreddit.

---

What is reddiquette?

• reddiquette is an informal set of guidelines to follow before commenting or submitting on reddit. As reddit has grown, certain behaviors have been frowned upon and other behaviors have been encouraged. reddiquette spells out these behaviors so you aren't left wondering why your posts aren't well-received. You might not be banned not following reddiquette, but you will probably be showered in downvotes if you don't.
  

---

Help! What happened to my post?

• reddit is a huge forum with millions of users. Many posts are made here every day. Many, many posts are made with the intention to spam or harass other users. Other posts just don't fit the subreddit. Moderators have to filter through these posts every day to ensure their subreddit stays on topic and free of hostility. Some moderators use bots to help them report posts, some moderators do it all themselves. Every subreddit is different. If you find your post not showing up in the subreddit, your best bet is to ask the moderators there why it's not showing up. Please note: when you message the moderators, ALL moderators can read it! It's a shared inbox!

  • I can still see my post but others say they can't?
    Nothing is really removed from reddit, if a mod removes something it is de-listed for others to see. You can still see it with a direct link.
    
  • My post was removed because it was spam? What gives? Spam is a tricky subject, reddit has several base rules but much of it is left for moderators to decide. reddit's FAQ has a good section explaining it.

---

I have a great idea for a subreddit!

• Awesome! Message the moderators so you can talk to them
  

I have a great idea for reddit as a site!

• Awesome too! Post it in /r/ideasfortheadmins
  

What if I don't like the moderators or how the subreddit is run?

• That's okay, reddit was built to handle just that! First though, make sure that you talk to the moderators of that subreddit just to be sure there aren't any misunderstandings, or if you can't just compromise. Otherwise, make your own community! Here is an excellent guide for starting and moderating your own subreddit.

• Moderators are people, too, so if you want your voice heard consider messaging them politely with your concerns. We care about the communities we help run and would hate to see users leave because of something that we can help fix!

---

What if I need help with something else?

• Try /r/help for general help on reddit. /r/askmoderators can also help you out if you need to ask mods about anything.
  

I think I found a bug.

• Uh oh. If you are using an application or extension, most have a subreddit you can post in! (/r/RESIssues, /r/alienblue, /r/redditisfun). If you found a bug with reddit itself, post it to /r/bugs (more serious issues should be sent directly to the reddit security team: see the /r/bugs sidebar for contact information.)
  

Other Subreddits of Note

• Other good subreddits to check out for help with various topics are /r/Modhelp, /r/Modnews, /r/ChangeLog, /r/Blog, and /r/Announcements.

---

Read more about reddit and how it works.

Also, see the FAQ on /r/help!

---

How /r/AskScience is different

• We moderate comments so they stay on topic and accurate

  • We do not allow speculation or medical advice to be posted
  • We strongly encourage sourcing statements

• We manually approve all posts to insure they meet our guidelines and limit repeat questions, so submission don't show up immediately

• We have a panel of scientists here to answer questions (sign up here!)

• Please read our full guidelines for more information

---

The new thread is here

Please read this entire post carefully and format your application appropriately.

This post is for new panelist recruitment! The previous one is here.

The panel is an informal group of redditors who are either professional scientists or those in training to become so. All panelists have at least a graduate-level familiarity within their declared field of expertise and answer questions from related areas of study. A panelist's expertise is summarized in a color-coded AskScience flair.

Membership in the panel comes with access to a panelist subreddit. It is a place for panelists to interact with each other, voice concerns to the moderators, and where the moderators make announcements to the whole panel. It's a good place to network with people who share your interests!

---

You are eligible to join the panel if you:

• Are studying for at least an MSc. or equivalent degree in the sciences, AND,

• Are able to communicate your knowledge of your field at a level accessible to various audiences.

---

Instructions for formatting your panelist application:

• Choose exactly one general field from the side-bar (Physics, Engineering, Social Sciences, etc.).

• State your specific field in one word or phrase (Neuropathology, Quantum Chemistry, etc.)

• Succinctly describe your particular area of research in a few words (carbon nanotube dielectric properties, myelin sheath degradation in Parkinsons patients, etc.)

• Give us a brief synopsis of your education: are you a research scientist for three decades, or a first-year Ph.D. student?

• Provide links to comments you've made in AskScience which you feel are indicative of your scholarship. Applications will not be approved without several comments made in /r/AskScience itself.

---

Ideally, these comments should clearly indicate your fluency in the fundamentals of your discipline as well as your expertise. We favor comments that contain citations so we can assess its correctness without specific domain knowledge.

Here's an example application:

   Username: foretopsail
   General field: Anthropology
   Specific field: Maritime Archaeology
   Particular areas of research include historical archaeology, archaeometry, and ship construction. 
   Education: MA in archaeology, researcher for several years.
   Comments: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Please do not give us personally identifiable information and please follow the template. We're not going to do real-life background checks - we're just asking for reddit's best behavior. However, several moderators are tasked with monitoring panelist activity, and your credentials will be checked against the academic content of your posts on a continuing basis.

You can submit your application by replying to this post.

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the twelfth episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead.

This week is the eleventh episode, "The Immortals". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, in /r/Space here, in /r/Astronomy here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the tenth episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead. (Though this episode apparently aired last week on NatGeo Canada)

This week is the twelfth episode, "The World Set Free". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, in /r/Space here, in /r/Astronomy here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the tenth episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead.

This week is the eleventh episode, "The Immortals". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, in /r/Space here, in /r/Astronomy here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the ninth episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead.

This week is the tenth episode, "The Electric Boy". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, in /r/Space here, and in /r/Astronomy here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

This week on FAQ Friday we're discussing how and why people show a preference for using one side of their bodies. While we often refer to this as "handedness", it's technically called laterality.

Have you ever wondered why most people are right handed? Read about it in our FAQ, or ask your questions here!

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What do you want to know about laterality? Ask your questions below!

Edit: We remove comments containing anecdotes or asking for explanations about individual situations. More information is available in our guidelines.

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Past FAQ Friday posts can be found here.

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the eighth episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead.

This week is the ninth episode, "The Electric Boy". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, /r/Space here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

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. 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.

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

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

If you are outside of the US or Canada, you may only now be seeing the seventh episode aired on television. If so, please take a look at last week's thread instead.

This week is the eighth episode, "Sisters of the Sun". The show is airing in the US and Canada on Fox at Sunday 9pm ET, and Monday at 10pm ET on National Geographic. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, /r/Space here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules and some questions that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

This week on FAQ Friday we're exploring exoplanets! This comes on the heels of the recent discovery of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of another star.

Have you ever wondered:

• How scientists detect exoplanets?

• How we determine the distance of other planets from the stars they orbit?

• How we can figure out their size and what makes up their atmosphere?

Read about these topics and more in our Astronomy FAQ and our Planetary Sciences FAQ, and ask your questions here.

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What do you want to know about exoplanets? Ask your questions below!

Past FAQ Friday posts can be found here.

I'll be answering your questions starting at 1pm EDT.

Check out our latest image release - just out today! I've combined X-ray data from Chandra with Infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical data from 2 very talented amateur astrophotographers (Detlef Hartmann and Rolf Olsen).

Also, take a look at our all new, interactive Sky Map. It's a great way to explore Chandra imagery.

Disclaimer: I do not speak for NASA, or the Smithsonian. Opinions and statements are mine.

EDIT: Thanks for all your questions so far! I have to step away for a few hours, but keep the questions coming! I'll be back on this evening to answer more, probably around 7pm EDT.