Amberlee

The way I understand it, RNA polymerase latches onto an uncoiled DNA strand at a promoter region, and transcribes from one of the helices of DNA. What about the other helix? Does it carry a different gene?

I don't see how it could carry a different gene, since the nucleotides have to pair up, but I also don't see how it could carry the same gene.

I'd be grateful if someone with knowledge of DNA transcription could clear this up for me.

If we could make TMS machines small enough, couldn't we implant them underneath the scalp, or perhaps under the dura mater.

I imagine it would be useful for continuous treatment of the same things that TMS is used for nowadays. Further into the future, it could be useful as a partially-invasive brain-computer interface.

Would there be a power supply problem?

What kind of components would we need to reproduce in order to maintain the brain's metabolic and homeostatic health long-term?

In addition to the obvious like oxygen supply and carbon dioxide removal, I'm thinking of things like mineral ions and amino acids. Might we accomplish this with some kind of synthetic blood substitute, perhaps similar to Oxycyte?

Would the blood need to contain hormones like testosterone or oestrogen? Would an immune system be necessary to protect the brain from infections, or would a sealed exterior shell be sufficient?

(Oxycyte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycyte)

If radar systems can generally resolve objects about half the size of its wavelength, could a millimetre wave EHF radar system be useful for finding incoming space debris or micrometeoroids in the space environment?

From what I understand, EHF radar is rare on Earth because the atmosphere is strongly absorbing to those wavelengths, but this shouldn't be a problem in vacuum, right?

The original plan was to bring it back down to Earth on a shuttle, but that is no longer feasible since the shuttles are being retired, so what is the current plan?

Are we going to de-orbit it, let its orbit decay or find some way to retrieve it?

The backlight works fine from the maximum open angle to about vertical, but as I gradually close the screen, the backlight flickers at about 80 degrees and goes black for all the angles beyond that.

I think it's a loose connection. I know it's the backlight rather than the screen, because I can still pick out detail if I hold the computer up to the light.

Is there any way for me to fix this myself, or am I better just sending it off to be fixed?

I have an Acer Aspire One D150 netbook.

In the movie Sunshine, the characters' ship was inside Mercury's orbit. They had to observe the sun at only a few percent of its true brightness to avoid blinding themselves. One character committed suicide by exposing himself to unfiltered solar rays.

The depiction of spaceflight in the movie seemed relatively accurate, is this portrayal realistic?

Aneutronic fusion fuels like helium-3 may become useful because they yield most of their energy in the form of fast-moving charged particles.

Other fuels produce losts of their energy as neutrons, which must be captured and used to heat a fluid, which drives a turbine which drives a generator. Aneutronic fuels wouldn't need this.

Though people are convinced it can be done, I don't quite understand how the kinetic energy of these charged particles can be converted directly into electricity.

In an exothermic nuclear fusion reaction, say, the reaction between two helium-3 atoms (since that's the one I'm studying), is the difference in binding energies released immediately in the form of gamma rays or x-rays, or is it carried away from the reaction in the form of excited fusion products?

For the helium reaction, is the equation:

3He +3He -> 4He + proton + proton + gamma ray

Or is it:

3He +3He -> excited products

excited products -> stable products + photons

If you have a large number of light-sensing devices (CCD sensors, for example) arranged uniformly in a grid or other array, can you combine their outputs to give an image like what a regular camera could?

I wondered about it after seeing how banks of radio telescopes all function as a cohesive whole.

How does this compare to the most reflective materials we have been able to synthesise in the laboratory?

What is the highest reflectivity that has been experimentally demonstrated?

Assuming that there is no more direct access to the computer system, could you sensitively tug on the inputs of the radar in order to, say, create a virus or backdoor inside.

What would happen at the point of intersection?

If you crossed two infrared beams, could you produce an apparently free-floating point of visible light? If so, how could this be adapted into a volumetric display?

We already have phased arrays working with microwave and radio waves. What would it take to extend this to shorter wavelengths, like infrared, visible light and ultraviolet?

What kind of technology would be required to make one?

I thought that there were just electrical charges, and moving electrical charges generated a magnetic field.

Unless you have more than one reciever, wouldn't the more distant object remain undetected?

I'm firmly opposed to state-sponsored execution, but I mean this from a purely ethical, rather than legal or judicial standpoint.

Can a person do something for which the only way to redeem themselves in their society is to die? I'm not asking whether this *should* be done, I'm just asking the philosophical question.

All I'm really looking for is the sum total of all the world's wealth divided by seven billion people.

How would this compare to the amount of money people have at the moment?

And when it is said that the Higgs field gives particles mass, then what factor determines whether a particle interacts with the field or not, and to what extent? Would it not be more accurate to describe this factor as mass, and the Higgs field would be responsible for inertia?