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2FWP497 Liquid iron molten metal pouring from ladle container into mold, industrial metallurgical factory, foundry cast, heavy industry background.

Could there be an advanced technological society without iron?

Our readers quibble with the parameters of this question, before determining yes (some of them) and no (others)

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Cosmonaut in a futuristic dystopian city . Sci fi and virtual reality concept . This is a 3d render illustration . ; Shutterstock ID 2230705453; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

What happens to our electronic cloud records when we die?

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BD5TB8 Alien and Older People, Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, UK, GB.

This week鈥檚 new questions

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Medium shot of a young female astronaut sleeping in a glass pod in a space station; Shutterstock ID 1526690303; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

If humans needed to hibernate, how would civilisation have developed?

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2T2B4HK One man walking by a close up of a pair of eyes from a portrait painted by Antonello de Messina on a poster in central London

Could two three-dimensional images create a four-dimensional one?

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2DAC6P0 Sculpture 'Medics to the World' honouring the health care workers battling Covid-19

There are good and bad bacteria, but are there good viruses? Part 2

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The events surrounding the Big Bang were so cataclysmic that they left an indelible imprint on the fabric of the cosmos. We can detect these scars today by observing the oldest light in the Universe. As it was created nearly 14 billion years ago, this light ???????? which exists now as weak microwave radiation and is thus named the cosmic microwave background (CMB) ???????? has now expanded to permeate the entire cosmos, filling it with detectable photons. The CMB can be used to probe the cosmos via something known as the Sunyaev-Zel????????dovich (SZ) effect, which was first observed over 30 years ago. We detect the CMB here on Earth when its constituent microwave photons travel to us through space. On their journey to us, they can pass through galaxy clusters that contain high-energy electrons. These electrons give the photons a tiny boost of energy. Detecting these boosted photons through our telescopes is challenging but important ???????? they can help astronomers to understand some of the fundamental properties of the Universe, such as the location and distribution of dense galaxy clusters. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed one of most massive known galaxy clusters, RX J1347.5????????1145, seen in this Picture of the Week, as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). This observation of the cluster, 5 billion light-years from Earth, helped the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to study the cosmic microwave background using the thermal Sunyaev-Zel????????dovich effect. The observations made with ALMA are visible as the blue-purple hues. Links ESO Picture of the Week RX J1347.5????????1145 seen by Hubble only

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What is a smooth continuous curve with three axes of symmetry called?

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Krakow, Poland - 4 May 2024: Large old antique medieval book written in Latin gothic font, colorful illuminations object closeup museum exhibit, Dominican monastery Old religious books concept; Shutterstock ID 2516551261; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

How and why did complex languages like Latin develop? Part 2

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Signs for the bus stations; Shutterstock ID 110688266; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

This week鈥檚 new questions

What are the geographical boundaries of the pronunciation of 鈥渦s鈥� as 鈥渦z鈥� in British English, and what is the history of it? And is the volume of gas at the top of a beer bottle the same for all beers, and how is it optimised?

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Should we be thinking about genetic modifications for humans on Mars?

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Why don鈥檛 trees rot in the ground, while wooden structures do?

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Are there good viruses? What would happen if all viruses disappeared?

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