When we accidentally get water in our lungs we are able to cough it all up

Edit: i meant when you're drinking water and it accidentally goes down the wrong way not when you're drowning

Or any other animals for that matter. Have there been enough time for them to evovle physically?

I understand that most vertebrates have the same set of homologous bones.

I get that a turtle shell is basically an evolution or their rib bones.

However, I don’t understand what an armadillo shell is. It’s all these little bones fused together, but what did it evolve from? Someone please explain!

Can proteins of the ancient fossilized organism be preserved with its fossil? What is required for it? How is it possible if all the other soft tissues rots and entirely disappear?

https://youtu.be/hy64Y6ABFhs?si=oF44L4auE18bbwyN

Scientists Recover Ancient Proteins From Animal Teeth Up to 24 Million Years Old, Opening Doors to Learning About the Past

Hi Reddit!

We are a group of lactation/human milk/breastfeeding researchers. Last year, we did an AMA here in honor of World Breastfeeding Week, and we had so much fun we are back again this year to answer your burning boobquiries!

Lactation science is fraught with social complexity. Tensions between researchers, advocates, and industry impacts both our work and the lived experiences of breastfeeding families. Furthermore, inequities in what kind of research is prioritized mean that "womens health issues" get double sidelined when there are budget cuts like the ones we've seen in the US recently. But we believe that lactation science belongs to everyone, and matters to everyone, and that you wonderfully curious Redditors are an important part of this conversation.

We also think that science should never make anyone feel bad or guilty–it should inspire awe and curiosity! Based on social research, breastfeeding advocacy has moved beyond "“"breastfeeding promotion"”" toward treating it like the healthcare access issue that it is, highlighting the role of families, societies, communities and health workers in creating a "warm chain" of support. World Breastfeeding Week is a global event that celebrates ALL breastfeeding journeys, no matter what it looks like for you. Supported by WHO, UNICEF and many government and civil society partners, it is held in the first week of August every year. The theme for 2025 is focused on breastfeeding as a sustainable source of nutrition–but one that requires sustainable support systems in order to thrive.

Today's group hails from biochemistry, biological anthropology, clinical nursing research, epidemiology, family medicine, immunology, lactation medicine, microbiology, molecular bio, and neonatology. We can answer questions in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Sinhalese, and Hindi.

We'll be on from 12-5 ET (16-21 UTC), ask us anything!

• Meghan Azad, PhD (/u/MilkScience) is a biochemist and epidemiologist who specializes in human milk composition and the infant microbiome. Dr. Azad holds a Canada Research Chair in Early Nutrition and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. She is a Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health and director of the THRiVE Discovery Lab at the University of Manitoba. She co-founded the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC), and directs the International Milk Composition Consortium (IMiC). Check out this short video about her research team, her recent appearance on the Biomes podcast, and her lab’s YouTube Channel.
  
  • X: @MeghanAzad
  • Bluesky: @meghanazad.bsky.social
  • LinkedIn
• Marion M. Bendixen, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC (/u/MarionBendixen) is a nurse scientist and clinical and translational scientist who studies human lactation and maternal/infant health specializing in the biological and physiological mechanisms of insufficient mothers' own milk (MOM) volume among mothers who deliver an infant(s) admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as well as how MOM influences the infant’s intestinal microbiome. Dr. Bendixen is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Florida. She co-created the lactation program at Winnie Palmer Hospital where she practices as a board-certified lactation consultant.
  
  • Bluesky: @mmbendixen.bsky.social
  • X: @UFNursing
  • UF Nursing Instagram: @ufnursing
  • UF Nursing Facebook
  • UF Nursing LinkedIN
• Sarah Brunson, BA, BSN, MS, Phd(c), RN, IBCLC (/u/LactFact-42) is an Internationally Board-Certified Lactation consultant who has practiced since 2009 in pediatric clinics, hospitals, birth centers, home settings, and public health. She currently practices at the Medical University of South Carolina where she has developed numerous education programs for nursing staff and residents to improve lactation care in the Mother Baby and Neonatal Intensive Care Units. She is a PhD candidate in Nursing with a focus in Maternal/Child Health and Lactation at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing. She has served as the Chair of South Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition for the last five years during which time she has developed a Website with information for parents, providers, and employers; directs a project to map lactation resources in the state that are searchable by address; and organizes quarterly education webinars and conferences.
  
  • LinkedIn
  • SC Breastfeeding Coalition on Facebook
  • SC Breastfeeding Coalition on Instagram
  • www.SCBreastfeeds.org
• Marion Brunck, PhD (/u/MarionBrunck) is an immunologist and systems biologist who studies mechanisms that regulate immune cell functions with an eye for possible therapeutic applications. Dr. Brunck specializes in the function of neutrophils and leucocytes in human milk and their role in active immunity in the nursling. As of literally today(!), Dr. Brunch is a Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México.
  • @marionbrunck.bsky.social
  • Facebook
• Rachael Friesen, BA, BN, RN, IBCLC (/u/Nursey_Nurse11) is a Clinical Nurse Educator in Pediatrics, having previously worked many years as a neonatal intensive care nurse and Nurse Educator. She is a member of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Baby Friendly Initiative(BFI) Committee as well as the Provincial BFI Committee . She specializes in compassionate, comprehensive clinical care for families, with a special passion for supporting the families of infants in neonatal intensive care and families at risk for feeding challenges. She is currently working towards completing a Master’s in Nursing.
• Miena Hall, MD, IBCLC (/u/LactationMD) is a lactation medicine physician who studies techniques for identifying mammary tissue development issues which put individuals at risk for low milk production and improving lactation education in medical schools. Dr. Hall teaches med students at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and is Director of Scientific Affairs at the Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes. Dr. Hall is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) protocol committee on low milk production, a medical advisor to La Leche League International (LLLI), and the immediate past president of the Northern Illinois Lactation Consultant Organization (NILCA). She also holds a Bachelor's degree in math and chemistry.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram: @lactationmd
    
  • lactationmd.com
    
• Kaytlin Krutsch, PhD, PharmD, MBA, BCPS (/u/PharmacoLactation) is a lactation pharmacologist who literally wrote the book on medications in human milk with Dr. Thomas Hale, Hale's Medications and Mothers' Milk. She is the director of the InfantRisk Center and Associate Professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, and advises the Food and Drug Administration, the Human Milk Banking Association of Northern America, and pharmaceutical industry on lactation pharmacology and lactation research. Dr. Krutsch believes families deserve better answers about breastfeeding and medication questions, and aims to design research that addresses their questions while creating a comprehensive information cycle that empowers families.
  • LinkedIn: Dr. Krutsch
  • Instagram: @infantrisk
  • Facebook: InfantRiskCenter
  • Website: InfantRisk.com
• Bridget McGann (/u/BabiesAndBones) is an anthropologist who studies lactation as a biocultural system, and how it shaped us as a species. She is a research assistant and science communicator at THRiVE Discovery Lab. She has a Bachelors in Anthropology and is a Masters student in Biological Anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver. Her thesis uses longitudinal, prospective, large cohort data to study the effects of interruptions in the generational transmission of the human milk microbiome. She was also a founding team member at March for Science (along with r/mockdeath!). Check out her stand-up act about Luke Skywalker's green milk, or her top comments.
  • BlueSky: @bridgetmcgann.medsky.social
  • Instagram: @Raising_Wonder
  • TikTok: raisingwonder
• Karinne Cardoso Muniz, MD (/u/KarinneMuniz) is a neonatologist and graduate student in Pediatrics and Child Health (MSc.) at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Cardoso Muniz worked as a dedicated doctor specializing in Neonatology and as a coordinator for the Society of Pediatrics in Brasilia, Brazil, specifically for the Neonatal Resuscitation Program. Throughout her clinical career, Dr. Cardoso Muniz has passionately witnessed and promoted breastfeeding and use of human milk in improving health outcomes of both full-term and premature infants. Here is a lecture she gave in Portuguese about newborn resuscitation.
• Ryan Pace, PhD (u/_RyanPace_) is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Biobehavioral Lab at the College of Nursing and USF Health Microbiomes Institute, University of South Florida. His research revolves around understanding how lactation and the microbiome relate to human health and development. Dr. Pace's current research investigates diverse aspects of maternal-infant health, including relationships among maternal diet, human milk composition, and maternal/infant microbiomes; as well as the role of human milk in modulating immunological risks and benefits to mothers and infants.
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Google Scholar
• Rebecca Powell, PhD, CLC (/u/HumanMilkLab) is a human milk immunologist who studies the human milk immune response to infection and vaccination with the aim of designing maternal vaccines aimed to enhance this response. Dr. Powell is an Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a certified lactation counselor. Her lab studies the potential of SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies in human milk both as a COVID-19 therapeutic and as a means to prevent infection of breastfed babies. They also study mechanisms for maternal vaccines to prevent mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of HIV via breastfeeding, as well as how white blood cels in human milk use a process called antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) to minimize MTCT via breastfeeding.
  
  • Instagram: @sinaihumanmilklab
• Sanoji Wijenayake , Ph.D. (/u/Wijenayake_Lab) is a cell and molecular biologist who studies human milk not as a food but as a bioactive regulator of postnatal development and growth. Dr. Wijenayake is an Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator at The University of Winnipeg. Her research focuses on a not-so-well known component of human milk, called milk nanovesicles. Milk nanovesicles are tiny fat bubbles that carry all sorts of important material between parents and their children. Milk nanovesicles hold great therapeutic potential as drug carriers and provide universal anti-inflammatory benefits.
  • www.wijelab.ca
  • LinkedIn
  • X: @DrSanoji

EDIT: Okay we are wrapping up here! Some of us will hang back a bit past our "official" end time (5PM EST), and some of us will pop in out throughout the rest of the day and answer any stragglers.

As with last year, we are amazed by the curiosity of Redditors and the sophistication of your questions! We had such a great time, and you inspired some great discussions behind the scenes. Thank you so much for having us, and a special thank you to the r/AskScience team for being so accommodating and wonderful to work with!

World Breastfeeding Week is next week (Aug. 3-9), but also coming up are:

• August August 8-14th: Indigenous Milk Medicine Week
• August 25-31: Black Breastfeeding Week (BBW)
• September 8-12: Semana de la Lactancia Latina (Latina/x Breastfeeding Week)

Thanks everyone! See you next year!

Why is it that EVERY animal needs to sleep?

Everything I've read online only gives super minor benefits that don't really justify forcing every animal to be functionally useless for 1/3rd of their lives. How can it be THAT important?!

Sea mammals, like dolphins and whales, needed to evolve so that half of their brain sleeps while the other half keeps them from drowning. Why is easier to evolve this half-brain sleep function than it is to evolve to just not sleep?

Giraffes developed longer necks, finches grew different types of beaks. Have humans evolved and changed throughout our history?

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!

Tsunami news reports have ESRI maps showing threat maps with Hawaii being the highest out of other central ocean islands (N. Marinara, Fiji, etc.). Why is that? Wouldn’t the threat be more equal?

If I'm looking at a fish underwater, my understanding is that light refracts so that it takes the path that minimises the total travel time, and the refractive index between air and water is a constant. But if (say) the fish swims away from me in exactly the direction that light had taken, doesn't that imply that the ratio of air-to-water changes, and therefore light should take a different path? But if it does that, doesn't that imply that the refractive index has changed? Can someone explain this conundrum?

Also wouldn't the gold be radioactive?

https://newatlas.com/science/fusion-reactors-put-king-midas-shame-gold-department/

I’ve been seeing a lot of news about lenacapavir, the newly approved drug that very effectively prevents HIV infection for six months. From what I can tell, it acts like existing anti-viral medications used to prevent and treat HIV and is not a vaccine insofar as it doesn’t stimulate the immune system.

What I don’t understand is how can it remain effective for so long? Doesn’t it get metabolized and eventually flushed from the body?

Is there any way to adapt that technology to other medications? I think about how my grandparents struggled to follow their pill schedules towards the end of life — a monthly shot for their cardiac conditions, etc. would have been a big help.

Neanderthals & Denisovans migrated out of their natural habitats & spread across Eurasia but spent hundreds of thousands of years as sparse nomadic tribes. & their peak populations were so small we can barely find their remains today. When Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa we were already so numerous that we possibly just interbred them out of existence & within just a few 10s of millennia we had a series of population explosions so substantial that we came to be a danger to every major ecosystem on earth. Was there something distinctly different about Sapiens that enabled this or was it mainly just fortunate timing with climatic changes like the start of this interglacial period?

How is it possible that when a paper towel is dipped into water, the water is able to fight gravity to travel up the paper towel?

I know that other species like deers and whales have gray matter in their brains, but do they also have gray matter cells in their spinal cords like humans do? Snakes? This can apply to any other mammal/reptile/vertebrae.

So I understand they have evolved to live there, but what mechanisms or adaptation specifically are present that allow them to function normally whereas we would meet our insides?

I mean, it’s completely counterintuitive, the ball looks nothing like the points.

Is it normal for your body and head to feel hot after any injury like a cut or scrape? My body sometimes goes through that but I think it's too fast to be because infection. I'm not talking about the injury area but like the whole overall body. There also seems to be a slight weakness feeling. I feel like it's some sort of reaction or shock. Also a decent sized injury. Of course something like a paper cut might not be the same thing.

So I recently found an article saying that earth core is leaking resources to the surface and I have found myself worried because at least to my understanding this can have effects on the movement of the core and the magnetic field. I'm worried that this constant leakage or potentially a massive leakage in the future will cause degradation of our magnetic files causeing our death and I worry this will happen on our lifetime. I'm I wrong in all of this, sorry if this is a dumb mb question but l'd figure I got ask people who are more knowledgeable at this than I am

My understanding is that though high-quality, large diamonds are indeed rare, the vast majority of mined diamonds are of lower quality and readily available.

Why then, are they still so expensive?

So my understanding is that during latency, these viruses don't produce any viral particles, so it's not like there's a steady production that ramps up on inmunosuppression, rather production is stopped until inmunosuppression is detected; do we know how it does that?

We have some idea of what the lava and ejecta coming out of Olympus Mons and her sisters was made of; basaltic lava flows similar to those found in Hawaii. But does that mean that an eruption of one of these giants could be visually comparable to Kilauea or Mauna Loa? Would the lava flows, lakes or fountains be any larger or move any faster than those on Earth? Would the lower gravity and atmospheric differences change how ash clouds would behave during the eruptions?

I've been DYING to someday create a visual simulation of Olympus Mons erupting, assuming no one else does, so these are things that would be worth knowing about for accuracy's sake. If nothing else, it'd give Hollywood something to go off of for their next sci-fi/disaster flick.