My name is Dr. Steven Q. Simpson. I’m a Professor of Medicine and Interim Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Kansas. As a sepsis and quality improvement researcher and educator, I’ve spent decades training hospital providers across the country to aggressively treat sepsis in all its forms. I’m also a member of the board of the American College of Chest Physicians, an organization representing 19,000+ clinicians practicing pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. Sepsis is the body’s response to a life-threatening infection, most commonly caused by a bacterial infection, but it can also be caused by serious fungal or viral infections. In basic terms, your body goes into overdrive to fight an infection and ends up damaging itself. Sepsis does not just happen on its own, meaning a prior infection—like pneumonia or a urinary tract infection, is present in all cases. Sepsis can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death in many cases. Sepsis strikes more than a million Americans annually and frequently impacts those who are over age 65 or less than 1 year, have a weakened immune system or chronic medical conditions like diabetes. However, it is not uncommon for normal, healthy adults and children to be affected when a seemingly simple infection progresses to severe sepsis. One of the main challenges of sepsis is diagnosis—often, by the time physicians become aware something is wrong, the disease may be advanced. Sepsis signs and symptoms are not very specific and may at first seem like a simple viral infection, which results in delays in patients seeking medical attention. There is no specific laboratory test that can diagnose sepsis or severe sepsis. Instead, physicians must be astute to recognize the signs and symptoms, recognize the infection and know when the combination is potentially deadly. Early recognition is key to patient survival; delays in delivering relatively simple treatments, such as antibiotics and IV fluids, are associated with increased mortality. Recently, a consensus statement was released that proposes to redefine the diagnostic criteria of sepsis, and that would eliminate the concept of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). The proposed syndrome would rely on known or suspected infection with a change in sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score. Shortly after the new guidelines were published, I released my rebuttal in the journal CHEST, New Sepsis Guidelines: A Change We Should Not Make (http://bit.ly/1M8eKYZ), expressing concern that many physicians and specialties have shared—widespread application of this new definition could cost patient lives, and it should not be adopted. Please feel free to ask about anything related to sepsis, critical care, or pulmonary medicine. I will return at 12 p.m. CST to answer your questions. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: My thoughts and opinions are my own. I don’t have financial relationships with anyone—except my wife, who is a pediatric ENT surgeon and gets paid more than me. She takes everything I make, anyway, and makes sure that I don’t spend it all. She gets her sepsis info from me, not vice versa, and she’s pretty good at diagnosing it. For more information on my research: CHEST 2016: Did We Need New Definitions for Sepsis? (http://bit.ly/2if7oW3) YouTube: Surviving Sepsis: The Value of Real Time Surveillance (http://bit.ly/2hV4mWl) I’ll be back at 1 PM EST to answer your questions! AMA!

At its vibrant frontier, neuroscience is becoming the playground of a worldwide interdisciplinary community which our team reflects well: we come from 4 different continents and diverse backgrounds. Roberto, Katja and Satra met at a BrainHack unconference, an event of art, science, and sleepless nights. Later, Katja met Amy in a conference on arts and neuroscience, and at MIT, a neurotechnology class linked Amy, Satra and eventually Roberto. We share a passion for open science and collaboration, a keen interest in neuroanatomy and visualization, and a drive to engage humanity in understanding ourselves better in health and in disease. Amy, through Eyewire, is allowing thousands of people to map the brain through games and Roberto has been pleading all of us around him to work on crowdsourced solutions for brain imaging. The Open Science Prize competition offered the opportunity to mesh these interests and to hopefully attract a worldwide community. The Open Neuroimaging Laboratory (http://openneu.ro/start/) is a project to facilitate finding, improving, and reusing the massive amount of brain MRI data available online. This data represents an enormous funding effort and the work and goodwill of thousands of participants. BrainBox, our first application, transforms these static MRIs into “living” matter for collaborative curation and analysis using only a Web browser; and MetaSearch, our second app, allows it to easily query this huge, living resource and find data relevant to you. Users can work, discuss, edit and annotate MRI images simultaneously. No data are downloaded, no software installed, allowing users to incrementally improve each other’s work. This increases scientific efficiency, improves public data quality, and reduces redundant effort. We already index more than 8000 MRIs, which are ready for collaborative projects. Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenNeuro Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/openneuro/ You can vote for Open Neuroimaging Lab to win Phase II funding from the Open Science Prize (NIH, Wellcome Trust) here: http://bit.ly/openneurolab We will be back at 1 pm ET to answer your questions, ask us anything! Roberto Toro (Institute Pasteur, France): I am interested on the development and evolution of the brain, which I study through mathematical modelling, magnetic resonance imaging and genetics. https://twitter.com/R3RT0 Katja Heuer (Max Planck Institute, Germany): I am genuinely curious about brain development. I am studying the development of the human brain and its connectivity using magnetic resonance imaging. My aim is to relate brain development and language performance. https://twitter.com/katjaQheuer Satrajit Ghosh (MIT, joins at 2 pm ET): My research interests span computer science and neuroimaging, specifically in the areas of applied machine learning, software engineering, and applications of neuroimaging. The primary focus of my research group is to develop knowledge discovery platforms by integrating a set of multidisciplinary projects that span precision medicine in mental health, imaging genetics, machine learning, and dataflow systems for reproducible research. https://twitter.com/satra_ Amy Robinson Sterling (Princeton University): I am passionate about understanding consciousness and human elements like creativity and curiosity. I’m the Executive Director of Eyewire, a game to map the brain played by a quarter million people worldwide. I hope that by bringing together curious people from different backgrounds we will bring new perspectives to old neuroscientific challenges. https://twitter.com/amyleesterling

This December, the first issue of Science Robotics was released. We wrote the research articles in that issue. I’m Huichan Zhao, and my research focused on how to imbue prosthetics with some attributes of the sense of touch. (http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/eaai7529). Our final demonstration saw a robotic hand “feeling” three tomatoes to determine which one was ripe. I’m Duncan W. Haldane, and my team created a jumping robot that used as its model a leaping primate called a galago. (http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/eaag2048). One powerful application for our robot would be in buildings that have collapsed and need to have a light, nimble robot search for survivors without disturbing the debris. I’m Surjo Soekadar, and I led a team that created a noninvasive, hybrid brain/neural hand exoskeleton (B/NHE) for quadriplegics restoring their ability to perform activities of daily living, such as eating and drinking independently (http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/eaag3296). The results broadly suggest that brain/neural-assistive technology can restore autonomy and independence in quadriplegic individuals’ everyday life. And I’m Holly Russell. My team investigated how humans and autonomous vehicles adapt when the control of the vehicle switches from car to human and back again. (http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/eaah5682) Our findings have implications for the design of vehicles that transition from automated to manual driving and for understanding of human motor control in real-world tasks. We will be back at 1 pm ET to answer your questions, Ask us anything!

Hi reddit! Over the last 40 years, video games have transformed from a niche market to a multibillion-dollar industry. However, along with their growing popularity has come a growing concern about their ability to transform those who play them into antisocial killing machines who are desensitized to violence, have no friends, and will forever live in their parents’ basements. But are these fears based in reality? Despite the fact that ‘game studies’ as a scientific field has been going strong for the last 20 years, the findings of the research in this field has largely remained insulated within scientific circles and inaccessible to the general public. Furthermore, sensationalized headlines continue to grossly misconstrue what scientific communities know about the science of video game effects. I recently published a new book, A Parent’s Guide to Video Games – The essential guide to understanding the impact of video games on your child’s physical, social, and psychological well-being, in an effort to break the long-standing barriers between science and society and better inform parents about the potential dangers and unique contributions that video games can bring to our everyday lives. Thank you all for your insightful questions! I will check back later and do my best to try and answer them all! I hope that my answers have provided some clarity to the science behind video game effects.

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Hi Reddit! UPDATE: Wow, Reddit. We were blown away by the amount and quality of the questions asked today. Thank you for participating, and we apologize that there were so many great questions/comments we couldn’t reply to. We tried to put a lot of thought into those that we were able to get to, and we are hopeful that some of our longer answers apply to some of the unanswered questions too. Also, here are a couple of links/resources that you might be helpful. This list is by no means exhaustive, but provides a few additional references on some of the areas that we touched on in our answers: Zurich Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport: (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/5/250.full/) Bigler, 2008, Neuropsychology and clinical neuroscience of persistent post-concussive syndrome: (https://www.ahead.org/aff/utah/2008.Bigler.PPCS.JINS.pdf/) Mittenberg, 1996 Cognitive-Behavioral Prevention of post-concussion syndrome (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0887617795000062/) Leddy et al, 2012 Rehabilitation of Concussion and Post-Concussion Syndrome (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435903/) The Bauer Lab at the University of Florida, students are working to understand the mechanisms and contributing pre-morbid, psychosocial and biological factors leading to different recovery trajectories – i.e. why some people with concussion recover more quickly and with less chronic symptomatology than others with a concussion of similar severity. BauerLab members are also working to understand the role of post-concussion symptoms such as sleep disturbances on longer term functioning, the effect of exercise on recovery and analyzing the manner in which post-injury symptom report impacts recovery timelines in collegiate athletes. We are excited to talk about what we do and answer your concussion related questions! A bit more about our team: Russell Bauer, Ph.D., is Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology and is a Professor of Clinical & Health Psychology and Neurology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed professional papers and is currently involved in the establishment of an interdisciplinary concussion clinic, including Neurology, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Neuropsychology. Within his lab, students are working to understand factors contributing to differential recovery trajectories – i.e. why some people with concussion recover more quickly and with less chronic symptomatology than others. Aliyah Snyder, M.S., Doctoral Candidate, is currently studying the influence of experience-dependent neuroplasticity on recovery processes after mild traumatic brain injury. Her dissertation project is an interdisciplinary effort examining the safety and tolerability of implementing a brief aerobic exercise intervention during the post-acute period after mild traumatic brain injury. Molly Sullan, M.S., Doctoral Candidate, has primary research interests in determining the relationship between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and sleep disruption in terms of their effect on chronic symptom profiles. She is currently working to identify a methodology with which to study the long term consequences of multiple brain traumas on neurodegenerative processes, as well as the mediating effects of comorbid sleep disturbances on outcome. We will be back at 2 pm ED to answer your questions, ask us anything!

As previously announced, /r/philosophy is hosting an AMA series this fall semester which kicked off with AMAs by Caspar Hare, Kevin Scharp, Kenneth Ehrenberg, Geoff Pynn, the Wi-Phi: Wireless Philosophy team, Stephen Puryear and Roy T Cook. Check out our series announcement post to see all the AMAs from this semester. We finish off our fall series this upcoming Monday with an AMA by Carrie Jenkins (UBC). Hear it from her: Carrie Jenkins I’m Carrie Jenkins, a writer and philosopher based in Vancouver, BC. I am a Canada Research Chair in Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, the Principal Investigator on the SSHRC funded project The Nature of Love, and a Co-Investigator on the John Templeton Foundation funded project Knowledge Beyond Natural Science. I studied philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, and since then have worked at the University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, the University of Michigan, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Aberdeen. From 2011 to 2016, I was one of three principal editors of the award-winning philosophy journal Thought. I recently won an American Philosophical Association Public Philosophy Op Ed Contest award. This year I am also a student again, working towards an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. My philosophical interests have stubbornly refused to be pinned down over the years. Broadly speaking they include epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of logic and language, and philosophy of love. But I’m basically interested in everything. My first book was on a priori arithmetical knowledge, and my second is on the nature of romantic love. I have written papers on knowledge, explanation, realism, flirting, epistemic normativity, modality, concepts, dispositions, naturalism, paradoxes, intuitions, and verbal disputes … among other things! A lot of my recent work is about love, because in addition to its intrinsic interest I see some urgency to the need for more and better critical thinking about this topic. Some Links of Interest NPR 13.7 Interview - Exploring the Metaphysics of Love Globe and Mail article - What’s Love Got to do With Sex? Maybe Everything, winner, APA Public Philosophy Op Ed Contest 2016 Elle Canada - New Ideas on Love CBC podcast interview on love and sex ed Review of new book What Love Is and What It Could Be AMA Professor Jenkins will join us Monday for a live Q&A on her research interests on Monday at 4PM EST. Please feel free to post questions for her here. She will look at this thread before she starts and begin with some questions from here while the initial questions in the new thread come in. Please join me in welcoming Professor Jenkins to our community!

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Hi Reddit! We are scientists at UC Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory, and Coastal & Marine Sciences Institute interested in a range of processes in the ocean. We are currently exploring new ideas and techniques in communicating the science of the ocean to the greater public. We are interested in talking with you about how exciting ocean science is, your concerns for the ocean, pursuing a career in oceanography, and how we can better communicate the importance of the ocean to our everyday lives. Dr. Kristin Aquilino is the lead scientist for the Endangered White Abalone breeding program, operated by NOAA and UC Davis. A native Iowan, she feels equally at home among cornfields and kelp forests. Her Ph.D. is from UC Davis. Dr. Carlye Peterson is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, interested in how 3D visualization can assist students in understanding powerful scientific concepts in the earth and ocean. Her Ph.D. is from UC Santa Barbara. Aaron Ninokawa is currently a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology at Bodega Marine Laboratory. He is interested in how changing ocean chemistry may alter environments and ecosystems in the ocean. He has traveled around the world to study coral reefs and unique ocean environments. Dr. Tessa Hill is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences & Bodega Marine Laboratory, and an Associate Director of the Coastal & Marine Sciences Institute. She studies ocean climate change and teaches courses on science communication. We will answer questions from 3-4pm EST, and we are looking forward to speaking with you!

Hi! We're Dr. Joe Levy and Cassie Stuurman---we study geological systems in cold regions on Earth to try to understand the evolution of the surface of Mars and how cold landscapes on Earth record evidence of climate change. Ice is one of the most important, but least appreciated geological materials. It flows and melts when local climate conditions are warm, and piles up when conditions are cold. You can drink it, measure the chemical fingerprint of past ice ages locked away in it, and even look for modern and ancient microbial life in it. So how do we use planetary analogs on Earth to understand surface processes on Mars? Where is the ice on Mars? How similar is it to glacial and permafrost landforms on Earth? What kind of changes to the surface of Mars and Earth have been wrought by changing climate over the last few million years? How are we going to use ice on Mars when humans begin to settle on that planet? This is the paper Joe published - Candidate volcanic and impact-induced ice depressions on Mars and this is the paper Cassie published - SHARAD Detection and Characterization of Subsurface Water Ice Deposits in Utopia Planitia, Mars And here's the original Reddit post that made it to the front page - A strangely shaped depression on Mars could be a new place to look for signs of life on the Red Planet, according to a study. The depression was probably formed by a volcano beneath a glacier and could have been a warm, chemical-rich environment well suited for microbial life. I will be back at 1 pm EDT to answer your questions, ask me anything!