By skyforbes Satisfying my curiosity about a niche scientific subject I have no background in.
The problem
I get these questions I want an answer to and I used to Google it. Then I would get a good surface level answer that lead to follow up questions. Now every result I get is a technical paper filled with complex terminology and assumptions you have the “basic” background knowledge of the subject (which I don’t)
Example
As an example earlier I was wondering how sun makes vitamin D. I got the answer that it turns this type of cholesterol into your skin into it in a couple steps. One of the steps is your body heating it… how does that work?
I tried googling it to test this theory and all of the results are highly scientific and technical (aside from one Reddit thread which is a good alternative lol). They were difficult to read and provided a lot more info than I needed.
Chatgpt gave me a great simple answer. Then I had follow up questions such as how the built in safety mechanisms are able to regulate it. They do it by not having enough of the cholesterol. But it also said your body needs it to function so now I’m wondering if you get too much sun will you run out? Nope because all the layers of skin under the surface have the part of it that your body uses for other purposes.
Benefit
It’s these specific follow up questions explained in simple English that are an absolute game changer for those of us that are chronically curious about a variety of things outside of our expertise. The fact I can get it to explain in a different way the part I don’t understand without using terms I have to google is amazing