Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
How did "state of the art" end up meaning "The latest technology"?	[ "> The origin of the concept of \"state of the art\" took place in the beginning of the twentieth century.[3] The earliest use of the term \"state of the art\" documented by the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to 1910, from an engineering manual by Henry Harrison Suplee (1856-post 1943), an engineering graduat...
Why does pain "pulse"? What causes an injury or headache (for example) to throb?	[ "We don't know. Perception is a tricky thing to study, and while neuroscience has made a lot of progress, particularly in the visual system, there's a ton we don't know about why we perceive things the way we do. Pain is a hot field of research.\n\nUnfortunately, almost every other answer is taking real scientific ...
why does our eyesight get blurry after playing a rhythm game?	[ "It could be the motion aftereffect. This is an effect of video games, specifically rhythm based games like guitar hero and rockband, where our eyes adapt to the moving stimulus in the game as baseline. When you shift your focus to a stationary object, it will look \"wavy\" and will probably appear to be going up. ...
; How do television channels work in the UK? How does everyone with a TV paying a fee work?	[ "They can't, obviously. Some decades ago, they claimed to have \"TV detector vans\" which would patrol the streets and could detect if a TV was switched on in any home, but that was just a ruse to scare people into paying up.\n\nHowever, they do know which properties have valid TV licences and which don't. If you s...
Please explain what happens with a fly in a car when it crashes. (When the fly is flying inside the car)	[ "The cage that is your car suddenly decelerates. You, your doggy, and lunch that was laying on the front seat continue to travel forward at 135 Km/h and get to meet the windshield inasfar as you weren't buckled up in which case the buckle yanks you painfully and you'll probably break a few ribs.\n\nYou, your doggy ...
If I were lost in space on a space shuttle, how would I age? Would I live longer or shorter than I would have normally? What is the effect of gravity compared to the effect of just being alive longer?	[ "Without gravity at all, you would certainly have a shorter life span, if only because the deterioration your body would undergo. Without gravity you lose muscle tone, your bones would become brittle, the fluids in your body wouldn't pool in your lower extremities like normal. Not to mention experiencing the full f...
different graphics cards and how to know which are better than others.	[ "Whoo boy. First off, graphics card names, especially Nvidia (the company that makes the cards you've mentioned), are an utter clusterfuckup of epic proportions. Therefore, this explanation is NOT suitable for a 5 year old, but I'll try to stick to layman terms.\n\nThey used to employ a 4 number naming system (i.e....
Why does sound pitch down in tone when speeding past you (front to back)?	[ "It's the Doppler Effect. Basically when sound source is moving toward you, the sound waves get bunched up, making the sound higher pitched. When the source is moving away from you, the sound waves get stretched out, making it sound lower pitched.", "Doppler effect - the sounds waves will compress slightly as t...
Do companies like coke change their recipes without telling anyone?	[ "I'm not an expert in this area, but I heard once that coke cans have the same recipe all over the world, coming from a factory in the USA, and coke bottles are produced locally, with things like locally sourced water. (Water which tastes different everywhere else)\n\nMaybe it has something to do with that?", "Yo...
How does power affect speakers in regards to volume?	[ "When you change the power you're just rotating something in the circuit that changes the amplitude of the wave that the circuit uses.", "Sound is a combination of waves , each of them have a frequency and a amplitude. A perfect speaker is a contraption that would recreate all those waves perfectly based on a ele...
Why do small birds hop instead of walking like larger birds?	[ "Hopping is the gait used by birds that mostly jump from branch to branch. Walking is the gait used by birds that spend plenty of time on the ground. _URL_0_" ]
Why are some types of animals just naturally aggressive, while others are docile?	[ "Animals have the same \"fight of flight\" response as us and they evolved by surviving. The fight of flight response is how you body evolved to deal with danger and stay alive. Obviously not all animals will do both in that moment. Prey animals like a dear have few offensive options, and their species has instead...
Why is "Jason" used almost exclusively as a given name, when most other names with a "-son" suffix are surnames?	[ "The name [\"Jason\"](_URL_0_) comes from the ancient Greek word meaning \"healer\".\n\nIt is not connected to the English suffix \"son\", meaning \"son of\". It's nothing more than coincidence that it's written and pronounced the same way." ]
why do prostitutes need pimps?	[ "They don't \"need\" them, perse - you can operate with out one.\n\nThe issue is that since prostitution is illegal, prostitutes have no recourse if a John tries to hurt them or not pay for services. The pimps job is to protect the prostitute where the law can not; they can and will threaten Johns if they do not b...
What accounts for the price difference and quality of gas from different stations? (chevron or shell stations seem to be a bit pricier when compared to say 7/11 or am/pm)	[ "supermarkets tend to subsidize their petrol. a little. because they know that if you come in for gas, you're more likely to head into the store to pick up some stuff, and if you came IN for stuff, you're more likely to buy gas on the way out. \n\nthen you get the BIG refiner owned and operated sites. BP. ...
Why did predatory lizards not evolve binocular vision like mammals?	[ "As a general rule predators have eyes at the front and prey species have eyes at the sides. Most lizards are both predator and prey. If the risk of being eaten outweighs the advantages of binocular vision, there is no advantage in binocular vision.", "Evolution doesn't have a goal, or a pinnacle to aim for. Even...
Why does coffee make me so jittery when served black but has little effect when served with cream and sugar?	[ "It may well be that that is your expectation and so you feel that way. There's no real reason for this to happen.", "A variation on the placebo effect would be my guess.", "The fat in dairy products slows down the absorption rate of the caffeine.", "Coffee /caffeine directly affects the central nervous syste...
Why do you always see the remains of truck tires on the highway?	[ "Highway trucks tend to do a ridiculous amount of mileage in a year. Upwards of 80,000 miles even. Before going into any more detail its just good to know that the truck(where the driver is) is the tractor and the trailer is just the trailer. Now everyday before the driver gets onto the road he/she must to a pre tr...
Why can't we eat other people?	[ "Any pathogen (whether viral, bacterial, protozoan, prion, or whatever) in your meal is going to be something that's already perfectly adapted to living in human beings. This isn't really the case with, say, fish. That's the main problem. Your risk isn't terribly high, but somewhat higher than it would be eating ...
What happens when I adjust a VCR's tracking?	[ "Curse_of_kintave is wrong. Well, he's right about the signal being encoded diagonally on the tape and being read/written with heads in a spinning drum that is tilted, effectively making the heads tracking the diagonal signal on the tape. It's a clever trick to encode way more signal on a relatively slow moving tap...
Why linux-based OS are supposedly less susceptible to virii than Windows?	[ "two important reasons\n\nFirst of all there are just fewer viruses are programmed that target Linux. this isn't so much a feature of Linux itself being more secure, just a consequence of it being less attractive for criminals to try and attack. There are more Windows systems in the world than Linux systems. Its a ...
Why is it so easy to find a comfortable position in bed during morning but hard at night?	[ "I was going to say because you've already gotten a full night of sleep. But she went all sciency", "When you're asleep your body releases chemicals in your body to keep yourself still and asleep. When you wake up by accident a few hours before your alarm, it's easy to go back to sleep because you body still has ...
The Troubles, or the Northern Ireland Conflict	[ "The 1960s saw the beginnings of a civil rights movement among Catholics in Northern Ireland who sought an end to discrimination they faced at the hands of the British government. The main thing the civil rights campaigners were looking for was the idea of '1 man, 1 vote'. This is important as Protestant business o...
Why is the name Jesus fairly common in Latin America but uncommon in English-speaking countries?	[ "It has to do with translation. The English (european) version of Jesus is Joshua. So if you're named Josh or Joshua, that's the same as being named Jesus.", "The guy in the bible's name is יֵשׁוּעַ we did a thing where if you want to write that in english to be the god guy you write it as Jesus, if you want t...
How does your body know to reject only a specific food when you're sick?	[ "> How did my body perfectly separate the fish from everything else I ate at the same time?\n\nIt's really not supposed to do that.", "If you haven't eaten tuna in 4 years or more, along with no other meats, your body simply isn't used to it. your body hasn't been exposed to the the bacteria, nutrients, etc. of t...
What exactly is a Bonsai tree and how do they get them so tiny?	[ "It's a regular tree, but put in a small pot, and trimmed consistently in such a way as to keep it under a certain size. There are techniques to get it to grow into the shape you want, but basically it's just a regular tree or cutting that's been restricted in size.", "Bonsai trees are regular trees and shrubs w...
Developed nation, undeveloped nation, first world, third world: what information do these terms convey, and how do We use them correctly?	[ "TECHNICALLY the first world are developed capitalist nations that were vaguely alligned with the US after ww2, basically anyone on the US side in the cold war, and the 2nd world are all those nations alligned with the USSR after ww2 i.e. communist nations. The 3rd world is anyone who remained neutral. Due to the n...
What is the purpose of the human orgasm beyond reproduction?	[ "There is no purpose beyond reproduction. Orgasms feel good, and that makes people want to have sex. Wanting to have sex makes people have more sex. And that makes people have more kids (if we're talking evolutionary). Which means that more of the next generation consists of people who also enjoy orgasms.\n\nIf...
Why do you have to pay penalities for not having health insurance that is not wanted nor needed?	[ "It incentives people to buy into health insurance when they are healthy. The more people that buy into health insurances the more the cost of premium is driven down. The hope is that if everyone has health insurance then it will be cheap for people that do need it. Then one day when you need your health insurance ...
Why, when I fall asleep with my socks on, does my foot hair hurt to move in the morning?	[ "This probably won't be like you're 5 but I'll try...\n\nYour body hairs have their own little [muscles](_URL_0_). It is possible that keeping your socks on all night leaves these muscles \"strained\"--different than their normal resting length--which causes discomfort by morning.\n\ndisclaimer: this is speculation...
How come most people who grew up poor/lower socioeconomic, usually stay that way?	[ "Poverty is known to be perpetual for one pretty huge reason; the available opportunities. \n\nIt is repeated time and time again, but basically those born economically struggling area, in a \"poor\" family, and such forth have less immediately available opportunities to succeed upwards compared to those of the up...
Communication Protocols. What are they, how do they work and why is there so many different ones?	[ "A \"protocol\" is just a set of rules for how to communicate. A good example of a protocol would be answering a phone before there was caller ID.\n\n* Phone rings. This is a signal to pick up the phone.\n* Callee picks up the phone and indicates that they are listening. (\"Hello?\")\n* Caller identifies themelves....
Why the supply shortage of PC memory?	[ "demand has gone up dramatically. in last decade, there's been exploding increase in cloud computing, cryptocurrency, IOT, realtime services. all requiring copious amounts of computing power as well as storage. in previous years, suppliers sold extra inventory to cover demand. there's no more overstock...
Why do explosions, more specifically huge gnarly fireballs, produce the mushroom cloud shape?	[ "The column rising up is caused by air convection. It's really hot there so the air rises up. The air in the center is hotter than at the edge of the column, so it moves faster. It also wants to spread out so pushes out over the top of the column, forcing it to curl outwards into a mushroom shape.\n\n[Here's an art...
The Jerry Springer Show	[ "In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Phil Donahue pioneered a new kind of daytime talk show. Not strictly news, but more serious than Merv Griffin and Dinah Shore, segments would often feature otherwise normal people who found themselves in unusual situations. It was usually tasteful but occasionally ventured into...
what happens to everyone in Federal prison for Marijuana felonies if / when Weed becomes legal for recreational use?	[ "probably given early release. at least the lower level non violent ones. It was still illegal at the time they were convicted, so the convictions will still stand. But i doubt the govt will want to waste money keeping them in.", "No. It was still illegal at the time they were caught performing the act. Whether o...
Why do my tooth filings sting when I bite aluminum and other metals?	[ "Putting metal in your mouth creates a rudimentary battery, it sends light electrical current through your mouth setting off the nerve endings in your teeth and obviously fillings conduct better than plain teeth so the feeling in fillings is stronger.", "I think the real question here is, why are you chewing on m...
Why do water bottles have expiration dates on them?	[ "It's the expiration date, generally, for the container the water's in, not the water itself. Leaching and whatnot." ]
why are birds and butterflies so brightly colored and patterned, with blues and greens and reds, but not any mammals?	[ "There are two ways to answer this question; proximate and ultimate. \n\nThe proximate answer is that mammals lack the genes to make most kinds of structural pigments. Many of the really bright, iridescent colors of animals are structural. Mammals are generally limited in the kinds of pigments they have available,...
Why Catholics so anti birth control	[ "They want large families to further spread the reach of catholicism. Same with many other religions. Bigger families = more followers = more control = more power.", "To Catholics, sex should only be about procreation. Not for \"having fun. \"" ]
why do some things smell exactly like they taste, whilst others do not?	[ "First: Taste consists of five individual tastes: Sweet, sour, salty, bitterness and \"umami\" (meat-flavor, basically). \nSecond: Smell is different in that it senses way more than 5 different molecules. \nThird: Both senses are affected by other senses. To prove this statement see this publication: _URL_0_ \nThey...
So Boehner's Debt Ceiling Bill Has a Balanced Budget Amendment... What's So Bad About That?	[ "I'll do my best to keep this politically neutral. \n\nThe arguments against are as follows: \n\n- There is a school of economic thought that says the best way out of a recession or an economic slowdown is government spending. The government spends money on roads and infrastructure, education and so forth. In the s...
How do animals know they could camoflauge themselves within their environment?	[ "They don’t, they don’t know they exist, they just have instincts: impulses that evolved as naturally as their camouflaged flesh did. \n\nCuttlefish have impulses to hide in the sand and to change their skin colour and patterns to match their surroundings, but they don’t ‘think’ about doing it, it just comes as nat...
Why do birds come back after they've wintered in the south?	[ "They come back for the same reason they went south in the first place, the biological advantage of living in a comfortable temperature. In the winter they go south to avoid the harsh cold and in the summer they fly back north to avoid the intense heat." ]
why does putting a wooden spoon over a pot of boiling, foaming pasta get rid of the foam?	[ "Steam condenses on the surface of the spoon and drips back into the pot, breaking the bubbles before it can foam up too far." ]
At recycling sorting facilities, how are tiny objects such as shredded paper sorted?	[ "They use pretty advanced machines with different technologies like optical (camera) detection, magnets, air brushes, centrifuges or even chemical methods to sort different materials. \nPlastics for example can be separated by a optical spectral analysis, as the material can be identified by a difference in the s...
Why does your arm go "dead" if you sleep on it?	[ "Don't listen to anyone who says you cut off the circulation. What's really happening is that you've compressed a nerve, usually where it passes close to a bone (elbows, knees, and shoulders are great at doing this.)\n\nWhat happens is that the brain stops receiving a signal from that nerve, so starts to ignore it....
The tree falling in the forest..	[ "It is a demonstration of a question that can NEVER be answered.\n\nIf we extend 'nobody is around to hear it' to mean 'nobody listens to it in any way' (ie no microphones etc), then there is no way that we can ever determine whether a tree makes a sound or not unless we observe it, and then we are only observing i...
Why does sunscreen go on completely white but if you rub your skin a couple minutes later it is in completely black clumps?	[ "That's your skin coming off. Try exfoliating some and then try it. When skin is pulled off and balled up and mixed with your skins natural oil it turns dark. Most noticably if you have dark skin or are in the sun often." ]
how do your local, run of mill drug dealers make any profit from the drugs they deal?	[ "They buy them for a certain price from a bigger dealer and then sell them to customers for a higher price. The difference in the two prices is their profit.", "According to Freakonomics they don't make hardly any money at all.\n\n\nSee [here](_URL_0_):\n\n\n > A foot soldier had plenty in common with a McDonald...
How did lower framerates become associated with higher quality?	[ "The issue is more about motion interpolation on TVs that really bothers me. Mostly because it makes me feel like I'm on the set while they are shooting rather than allowing me enough \"distance\" from the material to feel immersed.\n_URL_0_" ]
Why do we call Napoleon by his first name while other military leaders like George Washington or Erwin Rommel are referred to by their first names?	[ "Napoleon styled himself as Napoleon I when he was Emperor of the French. Which is also why his son called himself Napoleon II (even though he was never actually Emperor,) and why his nephew called himself Napoleon III.\n\nNapoleon saw himself as closer to royalty than to a military leader. We don't refer to kings ...
Poll Tax	[ "Poll tax refers to costs associated with voting. It is a \"voting tax\". If you require people to pay to get a special kind of ID just to vote that is a poll tax. It is illegal because even poor people should have the right to vote, Making the spend money means you might suppress their vote. The amount of money yo...
Why the USA has such high rape rate beign a developed country?	[ "Getting accurate crime statistics is difficult, and comparing statistics between countries is even more difficult. Rape is probably one of the most difficult comparisons to make, because of the massive cultural differences in how it's defined by the criminal laws as well as how comfortable victims are reporting it...
How can you eat the same thing for breakfast every day and not get sick of it, but this doesn't apply to lunch or dinner?	[ "Can you? I certainly do not have the same breakfast everyday without getting sick of it.\n\nWhat breakfast do you eat every day?", "The purpose of various meals comes from a time when physical labor was the norm.\n\nBreakfast was an easy to prepare high energy meal that can be eaten quickly before you go off to ...
How can hair color be yellow, red, white but not green, blue or purple naturally?	[ "Melanin pigments are what give our hair color and they fall in the black/brown/red (white/gray = no pigment) spectrum.", "It all has to do with Melanins (pigments made by the body) yellow black brown are all colors that the body can make while white is the absents of a pigment and grey is just a little pigment (...
How does the American presidential election work?	[ "Each state runs a separate election, using their own rules, so the details aren't the same in every state. However there are a lot of similarities and common patterns.\n\nUsually, a state has a rule that to have your name printed on the ballots that voters will see, you need to collect a certain number of valid s...
with tensions between Iran and Israel i am listening to npr and i can't figure out why we are allies with Israel. can some please explain why we give them such ,almost unconditional support.	[ "There are many different reasons held by different people. Here are a few:\n\n* The US and Western Europe feel guilty for not preventing the Holocaust.\n* Israel is seen as more culturally \"western\" than its neighbors.\n* Israel is seen as less of a military/terrorist threat than its neighbors.\n* Some Christian...
How do supermarkets decide what items go on sale and when?	[ "They follow a calendar, supply & demand. Harvest time produce goes on special...pies, turkeys go on sale for the holidays, eggs go on sale for Halloween, beers go on sale all the time...for picnics, New Years, etc." ]
why aren't traffic signs and lanes around the world universally the same?	[ "Two reasons:\n\n1). They were all developed individually and there is little incentive to go uniform. And if there was, who's would you adopt? Any attempt would likely be ignored by the US anyhow. \n\n2). There are going to be differences anyhow due to things like different road conditions and localization. Count...
How/why are PC's better at playing video games when a playstation or xbox are made just to play games?	[ "Compare it to buying a cheeseburger in McDonald's instead of making one yourself at home. Even if McDonald's employees are trained specifically to make burgers, the burger made in home will always be more nutritive and tasty, because you can choose the better ingredients, while McDonald's will use the best availab...
Why is it team Great Britain in the Olympics but England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland in other tournaments, such as the World Cup?	[ "Football (and Rugby, and Cricket) got their start on the British Isles. The first international football match was an England vs. Scotland match in 1870, and there was a yearly \"Home Country Championship\" in Football nearly 50 years before there was a World Cup. \n\nSo by the time Football spread to the rest o...
The UK parliament has voted to bomb Syria, everybody in my circle is against the idea, what are the arguments FOR bombing Syria?	[ "It isn't just \"bombing Syria.\" It's bombing ISIS/ISIL in Syria. By killing them in Syria and Iraq, it is hindering their ability to gain ground, money, influence, and people under their control. In turn, this will limit their ability to project influence and conduct attacks in the West.", "> Nobody seems to...
The difference between various audio formats: MP3, WAV, AAC, etc.	[ "Each has it's specialties, but mostly it comes to 3 categories:\n\n* Uncompressed: No compression, usually huge files with great quality. Example: .WAV\n\n* Lossless compressed: Compressed in a way that it will be exactly the same as the original when uncompressed, medium sized files with good quality. Example: .F...
Why do iPhones have issues with sending and receiving pictures from androids, and vice versa?	[ "iPhones will (would? I haven't had one in a while) use iMessage to send texts if it thought that the other side had an iPhone. \n\nIf you had an iPhone, and then switched to an android phone, you might have not deregistered iMessage\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIf you don't do that, then people on iPhones sending messages to you...
How bad are food preservatives for my body?	[ "I'm probably around the same age as your parents (mid-40's.) Yes, food preservatives in large quantities are not ideal, but I don't think that's the only thing that's going on here. At 17, your parents are suddenly realizing that they have a very finite amount of time left to take care of you. Soon you will be ...
Zero Calorie Soft Drinks	[ "First of all, technically it's not actually zero calories, but companies are allowed to advertise them as such if they have less than 5 calories per serving. \n\nSecondly, artificial sweeteners. They're chemicals which either taste sweet but have no caloric value (because the body can't digest them) or they have t...
OK, I'm enamored with all the "It's 2013 in New Zealand" posts, but what would happen if we were ALL on the same universal time?	[ "Clock time would no longer be associated with shared events like lunchtime and bedtime.\n\nA good chunk of the world would have a annoying and potentially confusing date change in the middle of their waking day.", "Business would suffer, I imagine a major part of world-spanning companies would find it more diffi...
Americans are considered "lazy" but Europeans, on average, take 10 more vacation days per year (source inside).	[ "I've only heard that Americans rush through life and work too much. I think you may be confusing the Americans-are-fat stereotype with lazy.", "You could make an argument that it's precisely because we work more (not only fewer vacation days, but more hours/wk) that we end up being perceived as lazy. The who...
Why do the powers at be make it so difficult to travel the world, live where one wants, and basically be more free to live and work anywhere?	[ "I don't think you could answer this in an ELI5, or even a dissertation. There are so many factors at play.\n\nI'd like to hope that eventually we can work toward cultural compatibility, much and such as if you live in the EU you can travel and work in any country there and cross borders without controls.\n\n1, We ...
If our taste is largely linked to our smell, how come some things taste completely different from the way they smell? (i.e. soap)	[ "Some things like soap have scents specifically added to them in order to smell pleasant. But whatever they use to add that scent either doesn't add a taste as well or is otherwise overwhelmed by the actual taste of the chemicals in the soap." ]
How are personality disorders like psychopathy or ANPD treated in a clinical setting?	[ "First off, psychopathy is not a disorder, a spectrum, or a diagnosis. It is a trait that might appear in any number of disorders, sort of like \"difficulty falling asleep\" is a trait that might appear in disorders like depression or schizophrenia. \n\nWith all personality disorders, you can fully expect to see a ...
How does the postal service machinery know the correct amount of postage has been put on via stamps? Especially with old postage stamps, or a many small currency stamps.	[ "The usps is very outdated and playing catch up they aren't good at catching it and rely on the workers a lot to catch it . They use to be really terrible and I know people who would ship out dozens of packages daily all at 1 lb no matter what and rarely ever had issues for years .\n\nFedex use to check 10% of pack...
How can so much of our hair fall out during the day without it appearing any thinner?	[ "Hair has a life cycle, just like everything else on your body. For every hair you lose, you are growing one to replace it. \n\nAccording to: _URL_0_\n\nThe hair renews itself in 2 to 6 year cycles that are broken down into 3 phases:\n\n• The growth (or anagenic) phase which lasts for 2 to 6 years, during which the...
Why does salt and too much sugar make us thirsty?	[ "Both are soluble in water and get absorbed more or less completely by our digestive system. This results in an increase in solutes in our blood and extracellular fluid, which is bad news for our cells as water will be drained from them through osmosis. Sugars will be converted to burned by our cells, converted to ...
If laptops have been around since the early/mid 90s and they had LCD screens, why were LCD TVs not developed sooner?	[ "A lot had to do with price.\n\nLaptops were expensive, and there was no way to do one with a CRT. LCDs were still developing fast, and were very expensive. On the other hand, the CRT makers had long since amortised all their capital costs, in contrast to the LCD makers who were paying for expensive tooling up. TV ...
Why is the military industrial complex so significant in the United States?	[ "Okay, a lot of the posts about the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) have major misconceptions on a lot of how federal spending actually works, in particular military spending.\n\nFirst of all, all the talk about the MIC that says \"we spend money because lobbyists want us to buy more weapons\" ignores how we dete...
Why do some countries have toilet bowls with more water than others?	[ "Have you seen a map of your country? It's mostly a desert in the middle and all the settlements are around the coast.\n\nYou don't have much fresh water. Other countries can be quite liberal with their use of water but you're stuck with your efficient (but smelly) toilet designs.", "On the plus side, us aussies ...
Why can blackheads be extracted but pimples can be popped?	[ "No. \n\nBoth are an infections. A blackhead is one that the infection and dirt is open to the air so it oxidizes and turns a dark brown or blackish color. A whitehead (normal pimple) is one where the dirt and infection are within a closed pore and so stays white or yellowish and you have to force it out of the por...
Why does my stomach feel shaky and nauseous when I don't get enough sleep?	[ "Your digestive system has a routine, it does certain things at certain times of the day. When you disrupt your routine (e.g. by not getting enough sleep), your digestive routine also gets disrupted, which can make you feel unwell.\n\nThe digestive routine is an example of a [Circadian rhythm](_URL_0_)", "When I ...
Why is palm oil such a major ingredient in almost every single item that is being sold at grocery stores?	[ "Palm oil is cheap to produce and is very stable at high temperatures for frying and cooking applications. Compared to other food oils, it's more versatile and cost-effective for companies to use." ]
How do you play American football?	[ "Just ELI5'd this to my 5 year old:\n\nThe objective of American Football (I'll just call it football going forward) is to get more points than your opponent. The two main ways to get points are to physically bring the football across the end of the field the other team is defending (via running or catching a ball ...
Why is it socially acceptable to drink milk from other animals but not our own?	[ "Harvesting milk from cows back then was during a time where holding one's hunger because it was \"weird\" had GREAT disadvantage over those that did drink it. Exploiting animals for all their resources marked a time of domestication. It might've been weird for them to see how milk was only consumable during infanc...
Why is transgender grouped with LGBT?	[ "LGBT has generally expanded to include anyone outside of cis heterosexuals, as they all commonly fight for the same human rights.", "Two reasons. One, we have common enemies: most anti-LGB people are anti-T, and most anti-T people are anti-LGBT. This isn't absolute, but it's a strong rule of thumb, and was even ...
East and West Berlin	[ "After WWII, Germany as a county was split up between the Allies (Britain, France, USA, and the USSR). This also happened to the capital of Berlin. Growing differences between the capitalist and communist ways of running things caused a divide between the Soviet Union and the other three nations. Eventually the mor...
Why can't I swallow twice in quick succession, without it being difficult?	[ "It's because swallowing starts a chain reaction of muscle movements in the throat all the way down the digestive tract called peristalsis. So the top muscles in the throat have to wait until the adjacent muscles are ready to start again. It's like trying to start a \"wave\" at a sporting event when the person ne...
Why do people go to private universities in the United States	[ "It's usually not about religion. I can think of four typical reasons. First, private universities often advertise having better student/teacher ratios, meaning smaller classes and more individual attention. Second, some private universities have very strong alumni networks, which may give graduates better caree...
I'm learning piano and am confused on how to tell the key of a piece	[ "At the beginning of the piece it will say which (if any) notes are to be played sharp or flat. The specific combination will tell you what key it is. It is simply a memorization thing at that point. C time signature is not the key of C. C time signature is just a short-hand way of saying 4/4.", "Not sure of yo...
What exactly does 12 years of public school teach you that you can't learn on your own either through books or the Internet?	[ "Here are some of the things I learned in K-12 (or things that I was learning at home but were substantially reinforced at school) that I don't think I could have learned nearly as effectively through books or the internet. Obviously, much of this is subjective. \n\nIn no particular order:\n\n* Right from wrong\n...
Why aren't the MLB leagues divided by Eastern and Western conferences like the NBA and NHL?	[ "Because they started as 2 completely separate leagues, the American League and the National League.\n\nThey were completely separate except or the All Star Game and World Series for most of their existence. Regular season games between AL and NL teams didn't start until 1997, and both leagues even had their own um...
How did cops determine speed before the radar gun?	[ "Cop here, it's called Pace Clocking. Essentially what I do is follow behind a car and match my speed with them so I they are not pulling away or going closer to me. Once that is done I, I go a couple of blocks to see if they stay consistent at that speed. If they are over the limit I pull them over. Our vehicles a...
Why, even though I used to be tiny and have a fast metabolism, did quitting Prozac (antidepressants) cause me to gain nearly 50 pounds in two months?	[ "It most likely affected your appetite causing you to eat more than you used to. Have you had any changes in how active you are?", "Sounds like food became the primary substitute for your meds. I know when I'm sad I start binge eating like crazy. Maybe your mood changed your behavior in small, but powerful ways."...
How does developers input "traps" in their software for pirated copies? How do they distinguish between real and pirate, and why can't someone just upload new copies without it?	[ "This is called \"digital rights management\", or DRM.\n\nDRM comes in a variety of forms. When software came with printed manuals, sometimes there'd be information on the manual the program would force you to enter. Later, when software came on CD's, often extra DRM data on the CD was written in non-standard loc...
What is "melting"?	[ "Imagine two magnets stuck together. That's your solid. You can wiggle the magnets a little bit around, but unless you push pretty hard they'll stay stuck together. That's what it's like when matter is in a solid phase. The atoms or molecules stick together, and although they're wigging around constantly, they ...
How Do They Film TV Shows/Movies That Take Place in Big Cities?	[ "- For TV productions, sometimes sets are built that look like an actual street. They're then reused over and over, with minor changes (like rotating store windows) to keep them looking fresh. This is what you saw on Seinfeld, and on movies that have really elaborate street scenes like Back to the Future. (If you e...
What's going on in the brain when you've forgotten something but then think really hard and manage to remember what you forgot?	[ "Someone else can probably explain this better than me, but it's been 45 minutes with no response so I might as well take a stab at it:\n\nComputer memory works by indexes; each piece of data is assigned a number, and when you need a particular piece of information the computer simply uses that number to find it. O...
What's the difference between the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI?	[ "The DOJ is a cabinet-level agency which is responsible for enforcing US federal law.\n\nThe FBI is an agency which operates under that (along with many other agencies and departments).\n\nA full breakdown is here:\n_URL_0_" ]
Why they don't teach how to do taxes, credit cards, insurance(health and auto), loans, investments in general public schools.	[ "They teach the underlying skills you need to figure these things out on your own. Reading comprehension, a bit of research, and some basic math is all you really need to figure out how all this stuff works. If schools had to teach you every life skill you'd need, we'd be in school for the entirety of our lives. Th...
Why does the government need to know or care about my relationship status?	[ "The reason they ask is that marriage is a legal status that may affect what benefits you are eligible to receive and what taxes you owe. You don't have to define your relationship status. You only have to answer questions regarding the legal status of your marriage, if any. It's not like the government wants to kn...
Why hasn't anyone else been to the moon? It seems like something that super rich people would do for fun, like James Cameron going to the Mariana Trench.	[ "If' Elon Musk has taught you nothing else, it's that getting to space is really, really hard and expensive. Getting a submersible that can withstand the depths of the ocean is small potatoes in comparison. Least of all that you're not sittin on top of a giant bomb that can go off if something goes wrong. The worst...

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