Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why doesn't tinfoil get hot in the oven?	[ "It does get hot in the oven. However its thermal conductivity to air is very high - i.e. once its out of the hot oven it radiates its heat to the ambient air very quickly. Also, it can't retain a lot of thermal energy simply because its so thin... there's not a lot of metal atoms to store it.\n\nThe pan that it's ...
How Exactly Does Electrocution Kill You?	[ "The majority of the time the electricity messes with your heart as it passes through the body (your heart runs off of electric signals from the nervous system so all that extra electrical input can clearly cause complications, usually in the form of a stopped heart) causing it to stop pumping. Then from that point...
Why are smoke and fire so inherently intriguing to watch?	[ "We have an inherent fascination with chaos and destruction.\n\nWhy? Because in general, our lives are very orderly and humans have survived well due to our ability to recognize patterns. When we see something chaotic like the random turbulent flow of smoke or destructive like the licks of flame from a fire, it sti...
Why are oranges sweet and lemons aren't?	[ "First of all, there are some varieties of orange that are more sour than certain varieties of lemons. The ones you see in your grocery store are not the only breeds of these fruits.\n\nThe development of different breeds through artificial selection is the same regardless of what the base species is that's being m...
How do physics , palm - readers and people who claim to be able to tell you your future work?	[ "Those kind of fortune telling/horoscope thingys are usually formulated in a very inaccurate way.\n\nThings such as \"You will meet an important person tomorrow\" can be twisted to fit in just about any situation you find yourself in, if you believe in that sort of stuff, you will interpert it as a phropecy coming ...
Why do outlets have 2 live terminals and 1 ground and not 1 live terminal and 1 ground (+ and -) like batteries and other things?	[ "The ground on a 3 prong outlet is a \"safety ground\". The terminals on the outlet are \"hot\" and \"neutral\", much like the two poles of a battery. In general, neutral and ground are bonded together at the circuit panel. But the 3rd ground wire is there in case something goes wrong with the device and there's...
If ancient civilizations are buried so far under ground, is the Earth getting bigger with each year?	[ "Things are moving around the surface. Take a bottle of sand, put an action figure on top of it, and shake the bottle. You're not adding sand, but the figure will settle below the lighter particles.", "I have always wondered a similar question regarding unknown super duper ancient civilizations. Like a billion or...
How can you explain that intelligent people are usually more depressed/sad, and vice versa?	[ "There is a phrase: \"Ignorance is bliss\". When intelligent people become more learned, there is a tendency to have this \"pull the curtain and look behind\" view on the world, and those individuals can often lose the wonder of the world we all have as children. Like the guy who goes to the magician's show, and ...
Why do objects wrinkle or warp when wet with water and then dried?	[ "Paper are many thin fibers. When they get wet they expand so the fibers move relative to each other. When they dry the fibers contract but not they don't move back the the original position so the paper have changed shape.\n\nThing of it if you pull in the end of a cotton ball and release it. IT is permanently de...
What lead to the crash of 1929, and the Great Depression overall?	[ "So it's really complicated, and a lot of people have different opinions about factors that contributed and what kept it going, but here's the really short, really simple version.\n\nThe crash of '29 happened because of rampant speculation, margin calls, and short-selling.\n\nThe stock market was going up for a lon...
How and when did society come to be almost entirely financially dependent on the stock markets?	[ "what makes you think society is fiscally dependent on the stock market?", "You can make < 1% on CD's, interest, etc, or you can make, even in a not so great market, 3-6% on good quality investments. For growing money, there's no better place than the markets." ]
why people have different standards for special effects in different time periods?	[ "The first audience to see a train on a screen as it approached the camera ran for their lives, thinking the train was about to run them down.\n\nVisual effects are as sophisticated as they need to be to keep with the visual sophistication of the audience.", "Um... kissing isn't a special effect. The standard ima...
Why does a RADAR dish spin?	[ "Why does your head turn? So you can see more of your surroundings. It's the same for a radar dish. If it was fixed, it could only 'look' in that direction.", "Radar works by sending a signal out. The signal bounces off whatever it's looking for, and the radar unit detects it when it comes back. It then times how...
How are computer processors and technology constantly upgraded? What is involved in the process of making advances in technology?	[ "This is due primarily to improvements described by [Moore's Law](_URL_0_). It was originally an observation. It has now become more of a self-fulfilling prophecy. \n \nAbout every 18-24 months, we can implement the same functions in a silicon integrated circuit \"chip\" as before but in 1/2 the silicon area...
Why do invertebrates curl their legs in when they die? (Exception: Splatting them)	[ "A number of invertebrates use a pressure system to control their legs - essentially increasing and decreasing blood pressure in their legs in order to control them.\n\nWhen they die, they obviously lose the ability to control that pressure and their legs curl inwards (the natural position without any blood pressur...
what's the difference between popcorn and regular corn? Also, microwave popcorn and regular popcorn.	[ "What makes popcorn pop is the result of a few things:\n\n\nThe outer hull(Paracarp) is unusually thicker than other corn varieties, as well as being water tight.\n\n\nPopcorn has a higher concentration of hard starch, its basically the only kind of starch.\n\n\nThis means when pop-corn is heated, it heats the smal...
Why does my brain automatically read closed captioning while watching a movie instead of actually watching the movie?	[ "It's less reading, and more \"noticing\". The human eye is drawn to movement. Before a subtitle appears, there is a void of text in that space. The sudden appearance of a new line isn't processed by the brain as \"appearing\", but rather \"hey that thing over there moved really really REALLY FAST!\" and your eyes ...
The Rice Experiment	[ "> but it appears that many people have attempted this experiment with very interesting results. Example: _URL_0_\n\nAnd a lot of people have tried it, gotten an unfavorable result and not posted a video about it. Selection bias at it's finest." ]
What's the difference between the different types of anti-aliasing?	[ "There's different methods involved to get rid of the jaggies with varying levels of effectiveness and performance penalties.\n\nThe most brute force one being super sampling. The image is rendered much higher than the target resolution and then shrunk down to the target resolution. This is very effective at gettin...
8/16/etc. bit game	[ "They mostly refer to how many bits the processor on the system can work with in a single clock cycle.\n\nWith 8-bit games, the CPU on the system (i.e. a Nintendo console or GameBoy) can only operate on 8 bits of information in a single clock cycle. This brings limitations with it, i.e. you can only represent 256 n...
With all the amazing advances in power generation, like nuclear and focused solar, why do they still ultimately rely on steam for the final output?	[ "Because it's pretty much the most efficient way we have of converting heat into usable energy.", "It is cheap, safe and reliable.\n\nFor more information, read up on [Heat Engines](_URL_1_). The Steam Cycle as you know it is the [Rankine Cycle](_URL_0_).", "The methods you mention begin with heat. Heat energ...
why does written Vietnamese use the Latin alphabet? What did they use before it was introduced?	[ "Vietnam, before it was Vietnam, was called \"French Indo-China\", because it was owned and run by the French. The Vietnamese got their alphabet from them. \n\nBefore that, they used a variation on Chinese characters called \"Chũ-Nom\". [Here's a manual on how to read Chu-Nom in Chu Nom](_URL_0_).", "The Latin le...
Why is it pronounced "Gubernatorial?" It's not like they're running for "Gubernor."	[ "Both words derived from Latin word \"gubernare\", but gubernatorial is a much newer word and was a direct derivation of the original Latin word while the word governor is much older and made a detour at Old French's governeor before becoming English governor." ]
How do Starbucks pay it forward chains work?	[ "By the time you get to the window, the guy behind you has most likely already made his order. So you say to the barista \"Hey, can you actually add his order to my check?\" The barista complies with your request, and then you pay for it. \n\nWhen the guy pulls up to the window, the barista tells him the check has ...
how come after orgasm, I'm not horny anymore?	[ "Hormones! This is commonly referred to as the refractory period.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe amount of oxytocin your body creates will determine how long that period is (Some men have a nonexistent refractory period)" ]
How can I convince people that Beats headphones aren't what they're cracked up to be, without sounding like a pompous know-it-all? When in reality, you can get a pair of 60 dollar headphones equal to, or better quality.	[ "The easiest way ive explained this to people is to have them try the beats, and then try the comparable headphones, they wont be able to tell the difference.", "They're paying to be part of the brand.", "Why do you care? If people are happy fooling themselves and they're not harming anyone else, let them be. \...
What exactly is the FBI trying to find in the raid on Michael Cohen's office and what are they going to do with what they find?	[ "The news that's come out about the raid indicate that the FBI is investigating campaign finance violations relating to payments made to Stormy Daniels and possibly others. That's all the detail we have that's been reported so far; the FBI doesn't usually reveal a whole lot of information until an investigation co...
LI5 Can someone explain to me LI5 why why there is still an embargo with Cuba when the Soviet Union has been dissolved and we trade with China?	[ "Well, the reason the United States ever got mad at any of these countries is because they all made a club called the communist club with rules that the U.S. didn't like, rules that had a lot to do with how to use money. The U.S. thought everyone should be able to have their own money and use it like they wanted t...
How are Vicks Vaporub and Methamphetamine the same chemical formula, but one clears your sinuses while the other clears your bank account?	[ "The answer is in the name.\n\nLevo vs Dextro\n\nOne of the molecules is facing one way, the other is mirrored.\n\nIn simplest terms:\n\nYou might have two puzzle pieces that are a mirrored shape. One has the connector on the left side, one on the right side. Both pieces could be considered the same shape if ...
Why if I go to bed a 2am do I have an easier time getting up than if I go to bed at 10?	[ "You're probably hitting your sleep cycles correctly at wakeup time. You may find going to bed at 11 instead of 10 may be helpful, as most tend to have a 3 hour sleep cycle", "Sleep is a pretty complicated biological process. it is not just \"being asleep versus being awake\", a lot of stuff is going on when you...
Why is antialiasing graphically intensive?	[ "I'm no expert and AFAIK there are some different types of AA, but it's not as simple as adding a blur (and either ways, a blur is still an extra filter that you'd be applying over the image, so it would be more intensive than no AA)\n\nThe one kind of AA that I know is that it samples the pixels around the edges o...
What is a mortgage? A reverse mortgage?	[ "A mortage is just a loan for a house or other piece of real estate. It is similar to a car loan except that it is usually for a much higher amount. They are generally for 15 or 30 years (because they are often for hundreds of thousands of dollars) and have an interest rate between 3% and 6%.\n\nA reverse mortage i...
How were the laser effects done in the original Star Wars trilogy?	[ "Rotoscoping is the correct answer. Rotoscoping is defined as any technique whereby animation is created on top of live footage, either with the intention to replace it entirely or to integrate it into the original shot.\n\nThe technology we use to achieve this in modern day filmmaking is different from the techniq...
Why do China and India have such large populations compared to the rest of the world?	[ "China and India are, and to the best of our knowledge, always have been, the most densely populated areas on Earth. They together have more than 20% of the world's farmland, and they produce 50% of the world's rice and 30% of the world's wheat. These two places have been at a population surplus thanks to abundant ...
why do so many people hate Obama? The economy is back up and unemployment is down? What has he done wrong?	[ "I think you can basically chalk it up to \"spin\". \n\nThe republicans and democrats are locked in a never-ending struggle for political power. Regardless of what's true or sensible, they'll both take any opportunity to make the other team look bad. \n\nFor some reason, most private citizens and media outlets al...
- Why are sporting events such as boxing matches on Pay Per View while events such as the NBA Finals and the Super Bowl widely televised?	[ "Fans of a team in a team sport can watch it play dozens of times per season, but fans of a professional boxer can only see him fight a few times a year. So boxing has to make all its viewership money on a few big-ticket fights per year while team sports can have seasonal TV packages. Even the big fights don't ...
What is so golden about the golden ratio?	[ "Not much, really. It is a number that crops up in nature a fair bit -- in the arrangement of leaves on a stalk, for example, or the shape of a snail's shell -- and perhaps because of that it is sometimes thought that things that are in golden ratio to each other are somehow more aesthetically pleasing -- \"golden\...
How private prisons make money.	[ "They charge the government a set rate per inmate for the cost of running the prison, which includes a profit margin.", "On top of getting government money to run them above and beyond what it costs them to actually be run, they employ inmates at extremely low wage jobs like telemarketing (or worse, working for [...
If I have an eyelash in my eye and blink and it's gone where does it go? Do I have a build up of junk behind my eyeballs?	[ "Junk can't get behind your eyeballs barring trauma, there's a membrane preventing that. In general material is flushed from your eyes by tears and/or blinking action.", "Most small particles that get on your eye will be pushed to the lower eyelid when you blink, then make their way to the corners from there", ...
Why big banks are considered evil.	[ "Imagine your parents are saving up money to buy a house. The house is very expensive and your parents don't have all the money that is needed at the moment to pay for the house. The bank says, oh thats ok, you just pay us a little bit every month until you make the full payment and you can move in right now. You d...
How I can hate my appearance and current health state at night before bed, and think of all the ways I can change, and then literally the next day, not care until the following night.	[ "you might not get this, and other people have very valid explanations of what to do, but what i'd strongly suggest is setting some time aside to meditate. self-hatred feeds on itself and its a slippery slope all the way down. try to focus on things that made you feel good on a particular day, small or big doesn't ...
Why should I hate the 1%?	[ "You shouldn't hate them, people who do are just jealous. I'm not saying they don't have unfair advantages; I'm just saying if you were given the choice you'd be rich too.", "BECAUSE IT'S NOT FAIR THAT THEY HAVE MORE THAN ME!!\n\nTAX THEM NAO!!! \n\n1% VS 99%!!!!\n\nTHEY CAN AFFORD IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE MORE THAN ...
What happens when a heroin addict is shot and goes into kidney failure/coma/something like that? Assuming no one knows he is a heroin addict. Will he go through withdrawal? How do doctors diagnose something like that? How do they treat it along with treating the gunshot wound?	[ "Heroin and other opiate withdrawals are not deadly (such as alcohol or benzodiazepines). I assume the massive amount of either painkillers or benzodiazapines the hospital would have you on following a serious gunshot wound would completely satisfy your body's craving for any heroin/opiates", "My understanding i...
What happens when system32 is deleted?	[ "> what happens to the computer \n\nNothing at all will happen to the computer, your installation of windows may stop working though and you'll need to either repair or reinstall it.", "You can't delete System32 (completely) when running Windows, cause there are the core files and many of them will be in use. So...
How do insurance companies gain profit?	[ "By giving away less money than they charge. It's as simple as that.\n\nThey charge you for the risk you wish to cover, and it's reasonably certain that over a long period you will spend more on insurance than you will ever receive in payouts. Obviously some people will go the other way, but they'll be in the minor...
When hackers steal money, where do they send the money?	[ "Different hackers will do different things, I'm sure, but the cases I hear about are more about credit card fraud than redirecting funds. Hackers will get credit card numbers with codes and use those to purchase things. The cases I know about involved buying sporting goods and gift cards, presumably because they a...
If protests rarely work why do thousands of people protest?	[ "The idea that \"protests never work\" is flawed. Hell, civil rights in America came largely from \"protests\". Sometimes it's the only option people have to fight entrenched systems", "In France it works every single time. Lst one was Uber strike. Suddenly thr lawmakers decided Uber was illegal..." ]
Why does older furniture hold up so well when modern furniture seems to break in a few years?	[ "The modern furniture you're seeing is cheap modern furniture. There's modern furniture that holds up well, but it costs a lot more.\n\nWhy wasn't there cheap furniture years ago? There was. But you don't see it any more, because none of it survived to this day -- because it was cheap.", "I can't speak to the f...
Why do people ask for advice, yet get angry when it's given?	[ "Many times the advice isn't what we want to hear, and humans have a strong bias in favor of information that agrees with what we already know. That's also why politics and religion can be so divisive.", "People want their own ideas to be affirmed, not told a new point of view or that they're wrong." ]
Why does China feel the need to censor the internet?	[ "The CCP is ultra sensitive to criticism and the power of technology to cause disruption. They pragmatically understand that they need to keep a lid on dissent. The lesson they learned form Tiananmen Square was that free association and unfettered access to information would be bad for their regime - and in their...
What is the deal with fetishes?	[ "Our brains are pattern-seeking organs which create and strengthen associations between things. Consider Pavlov's dogs; they were trained to associate the sound of a bell with getting fed, and their brain commanded salivation even though it was outside their conscious control. Training is just intentional manipulat...
What would happen if the president divorced the first lady?	[ "The First Lady is not a legally-defined position, so it would in theory be just like any other divorce. Under the law as it currently stands, she would not be automatically entitled to Secret Service protection though the President could and probably would request it for her just as a security measure.\n\nIn terms...
Abductive, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning?	[ "Deductive reasoning is where you draw specific conclusions from a set of general principles. If I know that all dogs have tails, and my friend has a dog, I can deduce that my friend's dog has a tail.\n\nInductive reasoning is sort of the opposite, where you come to a general conclusion based on a set of fa...
IXPs like the Verizon building in NYC, and how it applies to transcontinental fiber, "backbone of internet" concept, etc.	[ "If you're an Internet Service Provider you need to be able to get your clients' traffic out to anywhere on the internet, so you have two options - either you carry it yourself to somewhere you can hand it off to the ISP of the place it needs to go, or you pay a bigger provider to take it there for you.\n\nISPs are...
Why is it that we laugh more when we watch a movie with others than we do when we watch the movie alone?	[ "Laughing is primarily a social signal that is used to indicate solidarity with others. If we are laughing along with other people, it indicates to them that we are similar to them (because the laugh shows that we like the same things). Robert Provines is a psychologist who has studied laughter and found that peo...
What does "quartz" mean when it comes to watches?	[ "Modern quartz watches use a tiny tuning fork made of quartz which is tuned to vibrate at a very specific frequency, which is counted to keep time. Quartz is used because it is piezoelectric which means it can be made to vibrate with a tiny electric current." ]
What is "scientific whaling"	[ "The big data point collected has to do with whale feeding habits, and whale ecology in general. By sampling the population, Japanese researchers have collected a large amount of data about whale feeding, and more broadly about the availability of krill and where the line is between underpopulation and overpopulati...
What is 'credit' and why is it so necessary in today's society?	[ "Credit is borrowing from a rich person to pay for something expensive that you don't have the cash for right now. The rich person (bank) gives you the large amount of money, and in turn you pay a fee to the person (bank) for using their money to buy the expensive item.\n\nCredit is necessary because the majority o...
What are people referring to when they say "The Church"	[ "It is the Christian religion, normally referencing either the dominant philosophies held by most denominations or \"all\" of christianity, or they are referencing the specific doctrine of the church being talked about in the conversation or the dominant denomination of the region they life in. Context of the conve...
What would happen if someone dies in space without a suit?	[ "It depends where you are.\n\nIf you're in the solar system, you're body would swell from radiation, and you'd freeze a very long time from when you die. \n\nPeople often think you freeze instantly. This is false as there is nothing in space to \"steal\" your body heat, like air on Earth.", "Theyd just slowly suf...
Why can't manatees be protected from boat propellers with a metal cage device surrounding the prop blades?	[ "It might work better to put a metal cage around the manatee's. Or body armour." ]
Why does the cuban government tolerate guantanamo on their territory? Especially if one considers their bad relations in the past.	[ "Cuba had been trying to get independence from Spain for most of the late 19th Century. As part of the Spanish-American War, the US encouraged them to rebel.\n\nAfter the war, the US controlled Cuba and considered annexing it, but instead installed a government and constitution friendly to the US. One of the earl...
How did life come to be on Earth?	[ "We have pretty much no idea. I will give you a few things to discuss with your daughter though.\n\nTalk about how we are stardust. Every atom above iron is produced only in a supernova. When the star explodes it creates new atoms and disperses the ones which already composed it. It is believed that our solar s...
Why do we blush when embarrassed?	[ "The reason is that your body secretes a bit of adrenaline during these situations, which causes your heart rate to go up and your breathing to become faster. The blood vessels in your face also dilate; that is, they open up to allow more blood to flow." ]
how do we know the taste of highly poisonous substances? Or do we have no idea about it?	[ "\"Highly poisonous\" is a broad category.\n\nIf it's so poisonous that once you taste it, even if you spit it out, you're dead, then the taste wouldn't matter to help prevent you from dying.\n\nOn the other hand, if it's deadly only if swallowed, but you won't die if you taste it and spit it out, then standard evo...
The Occupy Wall Street protests.	[ "Have you tried searching before posting this? This has been asked a dozen times, and some of those answers might be helpful." ]
Why are we more likely to have a heat stroke if we've had one before?	[ "In a nutshell, it has to do with heat tolerance. In Construction we learn about it as acclimation. Your body needs time to adapt to a hot environment, and so the general rule of thumb is small doses of exposure to excessive heat and then gradually your body can tolerate more. \n\nEvery season reacclimation is need...
Why is it better to have more but smaller cylinders in an engine, rather than fewer larger ones?	[ "The stroke (the length of the piston movement) limits the effective rotation speed of the engine: The rate at which air flows into the cylinder depends on the crossection of the valves. If you increase the stroke length, you increase the size of the cylinder, and with it the amount of air that needs to flow in it ...
Isn't lobbying just a legalized form of corruption?	[ "Lobbying is trying to convince elected officials to change the laws (or not change them) in a way that is beneficial to your interests. Not only is that not corruption, but the right to petition for a redress of grievances is so important that it's right there in the First Amendment, along with freedom of the pres...
How come mosquitoes are useless to the ecosystem as a whole?	[ "No, eliminating anything could have potential impact. What has been found with mosquitos so far is that we don't know of any serious impact on any ecosystem that wouldn't be filled by other species. That doesn't mean there isn't one, just that we don't know of one. As far as other parasites go, some very peacefull...
How does oil lubricate an engine without combusting or contaminating the fuel?	[ "The fuel is sprayed into the cylinders, where it mixes with air, is compressed, combusted and then evacuated out. \n\nEngine oil is not put directly into the cylinders. It gets pumped and directed to just about all of the other internal components though. \n\nWhat separates the inside of the cylinder from the r...
Why are Neanderthals always drawn with huge noses?	[ "Because the size of the nasal opening is large, so it is inferred that the nose itself would be large as well." ]
Why doesn't everybody come together and vote third party?	[ "People are afraid of wasting their vote on a candidate who won't get many votes, and thus cannot win. It's one of those situations where everyone stands in a circle and says \"I'll vote 3rd party if you do\", and the other person says \"I promise I will. Together we can make a difference!\"\n\nThen everyone secret...
How do scientists make wildlife population estimates?	[ "They'll take a certain environment that an animal exists in. Then they'll take a section of that environment and try to track/record the number of that animal that exists in that section. They'll multiply that recorded number in the section by how that section compares to the total area of that environment (the se...
Why do Americans feel the need to remake British TV shows?	[ "The same reason British television tries to adapt American tv shows. For example: In With The Flynn's(Grounded For life), Brighton Belle's(Golden Girls), Love By You(Mad About You), Nobody's Perfect(Maude), Upper Hand(Who's The Boss), Days like These(That 70's Show), Married for Life(Married with Children) and so...
How do cranes get up to higher floors when tall buildings? And then how do they get down?	[ "_URL_0_\n\nSimply put, the crane builds itself as it needs to, and tears itself apart as it needs to. \n\nIt is immensely fascinating to watch (hence why the link is in the beginning).\n\nTo give it more like an ELI5.\n\nThe crane is modular, so you can add pieces to the tower as you need, or remove pieces from th...
Why are chemicals in glowsticks considered harmful, but the ones in a glow in the dark wristband are not?	[ "To say it in one breath:\n\nGlow-in-the-dark items react against previous exposure to light, whereas glow sticks rely on the chemical reaction of mixing two prepackaged chemicals. That's why you have to \"break\" glow sticks in order to mix the two otherwise separately stored chemicals." ]
Why do hydrogen atoms possess radioactive capabilities in space?	[ "It isn't that they take on radioactive capabilities. It is that when something is traveling really fast, the kinetic energy increases. So, when it hits something, it can cause a lot of energy release. In this case, the basic equation is something like KE = 1/2mvv (I don't know how to do 'squared'). where 'v' is ve...
How can some criminals show their face on television, and then still come back for a second season?	[ "I believe it's because you cannot prove that what they're doing is actually creating illegal products. It's similar to how you see videos of famous musicians or artists smoking marijuana but they never get prosecuted for doing it. It's also similar to when you watch true life on MTV and those people do harder drug...
Why do different colors evoke certain emotions in people? (e.g. red and anger, yellow and hunger)	[ "They don't, by-and-large. It's a cultural myth that colors alter moods or cognitive function in any meaningful way outside of the placebo effect. \n\nRed is \"anger and hate\" in the USA (due to anti-communist propaganda, most likely), \"joy and luck\" in China, \"love and passion\" in Russia (and many cultures th...
Why does hot water soothe a bug bite?	[ "It seems to be linked to the nervous response. \nThere are a number of different ideas out there. \n \nOne claims that it's a process of denaturing proteins that would cause the itch. But that explanation wouldn't portray very good proteins. We would have proteins failing every time we take a shower. ...
What makes people lazy? Were people lazy while living in the wild?	[ "Basically the human body wants to survive and we have an innate desire to get that surviving done with as little energy lost as we can. The more energy we expend, the more calories we need to eat to make up for it, so saving those calories is an evolutionary advantage. Take into account as well that people hunter-...
How do cities that offer free wi-fi not run the internet providers out of business? And if they do, how do they get away with it?	[ "Free wifi is generally fast enough to do email and shop online, but not good enough to stream movies, play games, or download large files in a timely manner. Many people are willing to pay extra for better speeds." ]
Do different Satan names mean different things?	[ "Well, yes. Lucifer doesn't refer to the Devil as the Devil, it refers to the Angel that fell to create him. Lucifer means \"Morning light\" or \"falling light\" and was supposedly one of the Archangels that fell because God wanted angels to serve humans.\n\nSatan is the Abrahamic Devil. He is Lucifer when after he...
How do stomach acids & enzymes break down foods exactly enough to be useful nutrients and amino acids, but not enough to break those down into unusable molecules and elements?	[ "Because although acid is necessary for the reactions to take place efficiently, food digestion is actually driven by enzymes, catalysts that facilitate specific reactions and not others. Digestive enzymes facilitate the breakdown of proteins to amino acids and complex carbohydrates to sugars, but they do not facil...
Microchips, how do they work?	[ "Well, a CPU is mainly a collection of billions of tiny parts known as transistors, all interconnected with wires to form logic circuits.\n\nA transistor can be described as an electronic switch. It operates like a normal switch does, it has an input, output, and switch, but the difference here is that the switch i...
Why do we get bored of things that were fun ?(eg: video games, sports)	[ "This is one of the mechanisms that influences humans to seek out novelty. Your brain cannot afford to only reward one behavior forever, or you would waste away in front of your computer. Getting bored is a way to keep you from getting stuck in that kind of loop. I can't find any information on the physiological me...
ELI5: Why do certain noises/textures (e.g. a fork scraping on a plate, the feeling of velvet) provide such an unpleasant sensation?	[ "For me it’s certain cloth and towels.. dry friction makes a squeaking noise and I lose it. The thought of biting down on a towel makes me hair stand up on end.\n\nFor my mother, it’s certain wood textures.. Cutting boards, wooden spoons, etc.\n\nI don’t know the accurate answer but it probably has to do with senso...
How a country "Annex" a portion of another country without it's permission?	[ "It's illegal in every domestic (Ukraine) and international definition. But what do you do? Start a war with Russia?" ]
How did brand names(such as Band-Aid or Chapstick) become the unofficial name of that product?	[ "It's usually because a particular brand achieves a very high level of market penetration (market share) and becomes synonymous with a product." ]
What happens to deceased soldiers that are left behind after a battle?	[ "For Marines we are trained to leave no man behind and many Marines have gone back and drug the bodies of the fallen into friendly territory. Also there is some respect paid to the dead and allowing retirval from both side, not always the case and some never return. This is what the POW/MIA is about. Since there is...
Why are there faces carved into Mount Rushmore? Who are these figures and what must they have achieved in order to be put on there?	[ "Washington - first president\n\nJefferson - drafted the Declaration of Independence\n\nRoosevelt - major reformist, set up national parks and other big deals\n\nLincoln - freed the slaves\n\nAll four were very significant presidents.\n\nedit- Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt also set up the country to come out of the ...
Why are there different names being used for ISIS (e.g. ISIS, ISIL, or IS)?	[ "Because ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.\nISIL stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. And IS just means Islamic State. Different ways of saying the same thing.", "Its just a difference of translation on the last word in the Arabic name (mostly). The Arabic name for the group is الدولة ا...
What is P2P network? I know it has already been answered here but I still don't get some basic things. Details below.	[ "What you're asking for is called [IP routing](_URL_0_) and is one of the fundamental structure of the internet as we know it today. The basics of it is everything with an ethernet or WiFi adapter keeps a routing table which tells them if I want to access X address, send the packet to Y because he know how to get t...
How is The Pirate Bay still up and running when all the founders are in prison?	[ "To answer the latter part of your question: a little while back TPB moved to a highly distributed cloud architecture. You can't confiscate a server that doesn't physically exist, and thanks to the way they designed the system nobody knows which cloud providers are actually hosting the servers (not even the provide...
What is the purpose of pre-cum?	[ "It also \"cleans the tubes\" before sex, adjusts the PH for the little swimmers, and keeps them from gumming things up on the way.", "_URL_0_\n\n > Pre-ejaculate is believed to function as a lubricant and an acid neutralizer.\n\nand\n\n > Acidic environments are hostile to sperm. Pre-ejaculate neutralizes residu...
Why can't Greece just say 'screw it' and go back to using the Drachma?	[ "Because being part of the EuroZone has all sorts of trade benefits. If Greece switched to the Drachma, the Drachma's value would obviously be a tiny fraction of the Euro.\n\nFor the Greeks themselves, if they switched it would be expensive for them to import goods since the Drachma would hold much less value than ...
How do baseball players catch an inbounded ball with their ungloved hand without breaking their hand?	[ "I don't know anything about baseball, but I can answer in terms of cricket, where the ball is slightly heavier, harder and fielders don't have any gloves.\n\nEssentially when you catch the ball, you're not (supposed to be) stopping the ball dead, you allow the momentum to carry your hand(s) back slightly, or you a...
Why do most musicians wear black when performing?	[ "I think the idea is so that you focus on the music, and not what the artist is wearing. This makes particular sense for backup performers because you don't want the audience's attention drawn away from the main performer.", "Johnny Cash \"Man In Black\"\n\nWell, you wonder why I always dress in black,\nWhy you n...
What is ShadowBanning	[ "Shadow banning in general means someone is banned in a way that either other people can't verify/notice someone is banned, or the subject of the ban won't ever be notified/notice. Or both.\n\nOn reddit it means the former as far as I know, though I could be wrong." ]

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