Questions tagged [allowed-questions]
This tag should be used when a meta-question is debating whether a question is on-topic or not
-2
votes
1answer
64 views
Is Dawkins' meme theory biology?
In The Selfish Gene Dawkins puts forward the idea that "replicators" are the cause of "life" and that the principles of replicators and Natural Selection are universal, not just across space, but ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
Question about learning virology for industry?
I am applying for a QC virology job and I was trying to find learning resources. I was wondering if asking this question would be on topic for the biology stack exchange or should I change it?
8
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0answers
118 views
Reminder: questions about biological mechanisms behind medical conditions are explicitly on topic here
Every once in a while there are some close votes of human biology questions that are explicitly on topic here. It came up again today here. Not the best question, I'll admit, but it shouldn't be ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Questions about hypothetical scenarios
I'm new to the biology SE but I thought that I could help answering questions about my research expertise (biophysics / neuroscience).
But I`m surprised about the questions of the type:
Can ...
4
votes
0answers
48 views
CogSci has changed its name
As of yesterday, Cognitive Sciences has been renamed into
Psychology & Neuroscience
There are various reasons for this. The most important reasons, imo, being that we wish to attract more ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
Are questions about identifying mushroom species on-topic here?
I've found a mushroom and will not going to eat it anyways but still quite interested in what kind of mushroom it's actually is.
Does this count as an on-topic here? If not, can it still somehow to ...
9
votes
2answers
131 views
If a question has no scientific findings available for answering, is it okay to give a general opinion?
This question is in regards to this post, and more specifically, the answer provided by @Remi.b. I'm not quite sure where to begin (this is my first post in a meta.*.SE site), so I'll just start by ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
Are general health-related question on topic?
I saw in the help center that
personal medical questions and health advice
are off-topic.
Does "personal" pertain to both "medical questions" and "health advice"? In other words, is a "health ...
4
votes
2answers
109 views
A clarification on why isn't this question closed as not belonging to biology as science
I am sharing a screen shot of a question I found on biology.se some time back requesting the name of the TV series from the OP's description of animated characters.
I was expecting this question to ...
3
votes
0answers
24 views
How to distinguish a question more appropriate for Biology-SE or CogSci-SE or Health-SE?
Recently going through this question (that has been put hold as off-topic; and commented for more appropriate to CogSci.SE) ; to me it looked highly like a biology (physiology) question such as this ...
1
vote
0answers
44 views
Should we have some instructions/codes before asking anthropology question dealing with human races/ phenotypes?
Anthropology-related questions like this or this may fall in unwanted trouble regarding racism or politics or such-kind of complications.
So, before asking such kind of answer; how could we ...
7
votes
1answer
42 views
Are questions on zoologists bio on-topic here?
Can I ask questions about famous zoologist and biologists biographies or lives here, if they have very little or actually no impact on actual biology?
For example, I'd like to know why Edward Turner ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
Are there any guideline about species-identification questions?
In this site are there any guideline about species-identification questions? Or any instructions about how to capture some important features of the organism (plant/animal/fungus/whatever)? How much ...
1
vote
1answer
23 views
Term paper and field work ideas
Can we post questions asking for ideas on term papers and field work on specific topics? I didn't find any related open question. The one that I found was closed and was tagged 'opinion based'.
3
votes
1answer
31 views
Can I ask questions about the practice of biology?
Naturally, we expect on a site like this that biology itself is discussed. But what about related things that concern biologists?
What I do know is that:
Equipment recommendations are off-topic, a ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
Would a question asking for speculative answers be allowed?
The question would be something that goes like this:
What would happen if a large percentage (greater than 20%) of all organisms on Earth die?
The intent is to get general feedback on the impact ...
5
votes
1answer
194 views
What is the most appropriate forum for Biochemistry questions?
I'm interested in hearing opinions about how questions that could potentially be answered in multiple stack exchange forums should be answered. The following question was asked on the main biology ...
4
votes
1answer
106 views
Should questions regarding Artificial Life be made off-topic for Biology SE?
Based on a recent set of questions asked about Artificial Life, it appears that it is a subject that is primarily Computer Science-based.
It also does not appear that in the manner that the questions ...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
Can I ask one question on other stack exchange subforums?
Is it allowed to ask the same question at different StackExchange sites?
5
votes
2answers
69 views
Should questions related to results from 23andMe and other Gene services be On-Topic?
In the past week or two I have seen a two posts asking questions related to information obtained from 23andMe or similar services.
I previously expressed that I thought it was not a good idea to ...
1
vote
1answer
60 views
Is this question on topic?
I want to ask this question, let me know if this is on topic or not. Else you can suggest me some different SE (non SE) site where I can probably get answer.
What is happening at molecular level ...
9
votes
0answers
125 views
Is it OK to ask if a recorded sound was emitted by a bat?
Note: the question is now posted on Biology.SE.
For fun, I tried to record sounds emitted by bats in an area where bats were flying all around.
By doing a few manipulations with the audio record (...
10
votes
1answer
104 views
Questions about teaching biology: Off-limits?
Are questions about how to teach/explain biology (so called soft questions) on topic here. I've noticed that some sites allow it. As an example I've noticed that Math SE allow question like, how to ...
1
vote
1answer
30 views
New questions based on trying to anwser old questions
I was working on a more mathematical answer to this question and realized my reasoning was wrong, and something more subtle was going on. Reading the answers didn't seem to explain my faulty reasoning ...
7
votes
0answers
196 views
Is “Stackoverflow modding itself out of existence”?
The title belongs to a blog post is trending today on Hacker News. Thousands of people are looking at it as I write this.
I often feel that biology.se is destined to be a minor player compared to ...
2
votes
1answer
28 views
Could a question regarding species restoration be on-topic?
If a user would be working on a non-artistic restoration of an extinct species, and at the end (or even in the process) of the work would like to get sure, whether he did everything scientifically ...
16
votes
0answers
156 views
Not all questions featuring something biological are biology questions
Something I think we need to clear up in terms of what is and is not on-topic, are questions where the user asks something that is not a biological question and then attempting to justify it being ...
14
votes
3answers
256 views
What to do with Bioinformatics programming questions
This recent question on Bioinformatics is an example of pretty hardcore programming questions. An excerpt is given below. Apparently 'Owl' is used for gene sequencing, but I had to google it up with ...
3
votes
1answer
68 views
Medical advice or not medical advice?
How do you feel about this question: What can cause a lump in the middle of the neck??
The question is clearly not "personal" medical advice, but it can clearly be used as such. I feel that answers ...
-1
votes
1answer
108 views
Strange thoughts!
The interesting part is that people can't have weird queries and if they have and post it most of the time the answer comes containing words "I am voting to close it because it's too trivial /too ...
5
votes
3answers
59 views
Can you ask questions about equipment recommendations?
This is pretty simple. I heard through the grapevine about a feature on a common piece of lab equipment (in this case a liquid N2 freezer). There are so many vendors so I want to simply ask if anyone ...
22
votes
1answer
235 views
Voting to close a question as off-topic because it is based on a faulty presupposition
Over the last maybe 6 months or so (I haven't really been keeping track), I've noticed a number of questions either nominated for closure or actually closed with some variant of this custom close ...
4
votes
0answers
45 views
Self help question
The question "What exactly is neuroplasticity, and can it be demonstrated with a simple experiment?" was closed because of off-topicness due to self-help. The only reference to a do-it-yourself was ...
3
votes
1answer
29 views
Are questions that can potentially inspire a change in someone lifestyle considered “health advice” questions?
Help center clearly says no health advice allowed.
But can I ask questions with the intent of understand the processes in my body better? So armed with knowledge I understand signs my body sends to ...
8
votes
1answer
122 views
How much research is generally required for it to stop being closed for homework?
This question was closed for being unresearched homework.
I am not sure why this is the case. According to the Biology FAQ:
What should I do before I ask the question?
Research it yourself - ...
2
votes
3answers
63 views
Is there a similar Se site that allows for general health questions?
I know that Biology.SE site is more about the science of biology and not about personal or general health, however, I was wondering if there was a site that you all tend to defer questioner's to if ...
2
votes
2answers
91 views
Should something be done about the biostatistics, bioinformatics, and data tags?
A recent member VassiaAlk has posted numerous questions related to statistically analysis and software under these tags. Presently, their questions are on par with the tags but their questions aren't ...
7
votes
2answers
85 views
Is it right to close “easy to look up” questions as homework?
A lot of times we get questions like - what is a bacteria etc.
Typically "homework" questions that we get are mostly MCQs (because in contemporary schools nobody asks a homework question like - ...
2
votes
1answer
65 views
species identification - re-animated
There appear more and more species identification questions. There have been meta-posts before on this issue and the the general opinion seems to be these sort of questions should not be in Biology SE....
3
votes
1answer
121 views
Is my flow cytometry software question on-topic?
I'd like to pose a question to the biological community here about data analysis tools for flow cytometry. Initially, I was thinking of posting something like this:
Alternatives to commercially ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
Can this question about zombie virus be on topic on Biology StackExchange?
Engineered Zombie Virus possible?
I asked this question at Skeptics StackExchange but it was put on hold. I asked for further explanation as references and specific expertise.
They said that "...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
Movie References? Question about Lucy
Is it alright to ask a question about the movie reference of a drug, only because the producer claims it to be real?
Question in Question:
Does CPH4 exists?
https://biology.stackexchange.com/...
2
votes
1answer
66 views
Is a basic question about entropy off-topic here?
There are 4 votes to close this question. It's a basic question about entropy and molecule size. Because macromolecules play a big role in biochemical pathways I would have thought the question well ...
18
votes
3answers
189 views
Clarifying our scope with regards to medical questions
There is a rather large amount of overlap between biology and medicine, and as we get more questions that are rather far on the medical site it is time to revisit the issue and clarify where exactly ...
11
votes
1answer
175 views
Policy on health questions
We already declared personal medical advice as off-topic, I'm wondering if we should do the same for all health questions.
By health questions I mean all questions of the type "Is eating X healthy?", ...
8
votes
3answers
119 views
Wild stab in the dark questions
After looking at this and the further misinformation it led to here, I really feel like the first question should have been closed.
I don't feel it's the same as help me ID this species and here are ...
0
votes
1answer
24 views
Is a question of opium and appendectomy on-site here?
I have this question, which is related to a friend of mine. Is it on-site for me to ask it here? I can't find any related site in Stack Exchange suite of sites:
Appendectomy means to cut appendix, ...
2
votes
1answer
34 views
Would it be Appropriate for Me to Ask Here Why Some Medications are Approved Only in Japan?
If this isn't an appropriate question (my guess is due to the fact there that I suspect the answer will involve a fair bit about the differences in laws and policies across the countries when it comes ...
4
votes
1answer
38 views
Grantsmanship about Biology/NIH/NSF on Topic?
Would questions about grantsmanship pertaining to biology be appropriate here, or would Academia be the only location that was appropriate?
Strict grant questions certainly go over there, but how ...
10
votes
2answers
150 views
How much should we enforce background research?
The first point under "How do I ask a good question?" in Help states that:
Search, and research
Have you thoroughly searched for an answer before asking your question? Sharing your research ...
