A We can ask them. But they are unlikely to give us a meaningful answer.
B Examples of exponential functions include bank accounts and population growth. When a bank says that it will pay you a percentage interest each year, the total amount of money in your account will increase by that percentage each year. Since the money goes back into your account, you are effectively multiplying your savings account by a number greater than 1 each year. Even a small number can build up quickly: a 5% interest rate will double in 15 years. Here, we are talking about exponential decay, which is like multiplying the value by a number a little less than 1 each year.
A good example of exponential decay is the decay of radioactive material: after a given number of years, half the material will have decayed. This is where the term half-life comes from. For example, plutonium-238 has a half-life of 88 years. So if you have a pound of plutonium-238, after 88 years, you would have half a pound. After another 88 years (176 years total), you would have a quarter of a pound, etc.
C Processed sugar is far sweeter than most foods that we have evolved to eat, so it is a substance that overstimulates sensory systems, making intake particularly difficult to control.21
D It is important to note that both the animal and human experiments are highly regulated. To ensure that these experiments are humane and safe, the scientists have to get permission from the university’s IRB (internal review board, for human experiments) or the university’s IACUC (internal animal care and use committee, for animal experiments). Both of these boards include scientists, medical professionals (vets for animals, MDs for humans), and local community members (often including animal rights activists on IACUC boards). If the committee doesn’t think the experiment is humane, safe, and likely to be important scientifically, then the experiment can’t go forward.
E I had a similar experience with my fish tank a few months ago, where one of the underwater pumps was giving me a shock whenever I put my hand in the water. It became a very definite effort of will to put my hand in the water to retrieve the damaged pump.
F In his epic novel Dune, Frank Herbert defines humanity as the ability to hold your hand in a pain-box, refusing the Reflexive and Pavlovian action-selection systems that want to pull the hand away, because the Deliberative system knows that the woman testing you will kill you with her poison pin at your neck if you do.37