Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
What is the purpose of a USB killer?	[ "some people just want to watch the world burn.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nit's essentially taking a stun gun to the computer.", "Is there a positive application to throwing a brick through a store window? Is there a positive application to putting a flaming bag of poop on somebody's doorstep?\n\nThere's not really much m...
Does the human eye have a frame rate?	[ "The eye does not see in frames, because life does not come in frames. A frame is only a measurement of something that is created as a still image, and then played quickly enough to create the illusion of movement. Life does not happen like this, there is no \"frame\" of a moment of something in real life.\n\n & #x...
What is real reason why the majority of Americans are struggling so hard to afford even the most basic human needs despite working 40+ hours a week? Why is there such a large gap between wages and the cost of living?	[ "Because every business is driven by profit , so they pay the least that they can legally .theres no incentive for companies to pay people livable wages , it just cuts their profit margin .", "basically, the prices of most goods have inflated and ballooned, while wages have remained stagnent.\nso we work more f...
How do the "check to ensure you're not a robot" things actually work? what prevents computers from "clicking all pictures with a car"? I'm especially confused with the ones that dont require you to do anything except check the box. Does somebody have an explaination?	[ "It checks the way that the person clicks the button (path, speed, etc) to determine if the clicker is indeed a human", "There's some secret sauce behind these tests, but they check a lot of things.\n\n1. How your mouse moves; if you move in straight lines at a constant speed or instantly jump from place to place...
What are the cores and threads on a processor and why does it seem like more = better?	[ "In bare bare basic terms a core is like an office and a the threads workers. More cores more space for workers. Some processors are able to have 2 workers per office (hyperthreading Intel and multithreading amd). More workers more productivity. Although it is not always the case.\n\nAnd the new ryzen 3600 for 200 ...
. Why aren't women's clothing sizes labeled the same as men's in the U.S.? Ie size 6 instead of size 38" 60" 34"	[ "Vanity sizing is a really effective marketing strategy for women unfortunately because we are continually pitched that our value as people is tied to a number, preferably one that is small. For instance if I go into one store and I’m a size 10 but I go someplace else and I’m a size 8, which is my low self esteem r...
Why are some bugs so determined to fly around your head even though you are literally trying to kill them.	[ "Bugs dont know youre trying to kill them. They fly around you because theyre attracted to the heat, moisture and smell of your body." ]
Why can't teeth repair and/or replace themselves just like skin does? What makes them not being able to, while being so vulnerable to eating sweets?	[ "Your skin is mainly made of living things. So it's soft, but can self repair. \nYour teeth are made mainly of minerals. So it's hard, hard enough to rip through skin and flesh, but there isn't really enough living things on the surface to repair much.", "just to comment on the end of your question: our teeth we...
Why isn’t every book advertised as a ”best seller”? And what’s the publisher’s criteria for choosing books that will be advertised as such?	[ "The New York Times is a news paper which publishes a list of the books that sold the most copies in the previous week.\n\nAny book that appears on this list of best selling books is a NYT Best-seller.\n\nIf it appears on the first place in that list it is a #1 NYT best seller.\n\nIf an author has previously writte...
Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.” ―Frank Herbert	[ "There is only one reality, regardless of what you believe. Nobody interprets reality perfectly. Belief defies reason, and sacrifices reality for comfort. This makes belief exploitable. Knowledge is more inline with reality, therefore less easily manipulated.", "Full quote is “They are not mad. They're trained to...
How does "bail" work in the USA?	[ "People often don't understand the difference between going to jail when you're arrested versus being sentenced to prison after being found guilty.\n\nThe point of going to jail after you're initially arrested is so you can be held until your trial date. However, there are ways for you to circumvent this part with ...
How does freezing your body/head work? Do your cells get frozen while alive? What is it for?	[ "The principle is that they do get frozen alive to be thawed at some other point in time when you could be brought back to life, however as far as I know it does not work since cells break down from the extreme temperatures. Cryogenetics it is called I think.", "They do practice cryogenics, but it's really expens...
Why are “poetic” contractions such as (th’), (an’), and (o’) used, considering they’re not exactly easier to say nor write?	[ "Sometimes it's to preserve the meter of the poem. Shakespeare, for instance, liked to write in iambic pentameter. An iamb is a two-syllable unit consisting of an unstressed and a stressed syllable. For example, the word \"about\" is an iamb: the \"a\" is spoken with less emphasis than the \"bout\". \"Pentameter\" ...
What is Kernel?	[ "The kernel is a section of code within a computer's operating system that has the most amount of privilege and has direct access to the hardware. When a user has a program that needs to access the hardware, say to read from or write to a hard drive, the program must request permission to have access from the kerne...
why nuclear explosions are so devastatingly destructive	[ "There's of course the radiation side of things to consider, but really, the main reason they're so effective is because they're so darn powerful. Splitting or combining atoms (which the most powerful nukes do both of) releases an awful lot of energy. \n\nThe most powerful recorded nuclear test, the Soviet [Tsar ...
Why is it illegal for brands to sell less than 20 cigarettes a pack?	[ "Because smaller 10 packs were cheaper and so more accessible to underage or casual smokers they were banned." ]
How is an electromagnetic wave created and how does it propagate differently than mechanical waves?	[ "An accelerating charged particle is just a charged particle which has a changing velocity. An example would be a particle oscillating along one axis, which travels back and forth and thus has changing velocity - acceleration.\n\nElectromagnetic waves are self-propagating and does not require a medium to travel t...
Do animals have inner voices?	[ "Impossible to concretely discern but Iwould venture they have a form of it. Bear with me here.\n\nIt's been shown in humans that the broader your vocabulary, the more capacity you have for complex thoughts. The idea here is that if you have a term for a concept, you have at least a basic underatanding of it. So li...
Why couldn't a currency-less world where you barter for everything ever work?	[ "\"I need shoes.\"\n\" Ok what do you have to swap for them?\"\n\"Umm I can paint, work the cash register, clean. Or do you want a TV?\"\n\"Nah I don't need any of that stuff\"\n\"Oh\"\n\nIt would be far too complicated and difficult", "After a while, people would realize that it's hard to attribute some value to...
If we've discovered recently that modern humans are actually a mix of Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens Sapiens DNA, why haven't we created a new classification for ourselves?	[ "Two subspecies that don't fully diverge into new species generally won't get a separate name if they then create a hybrid.\n\nLook to man's best friend: all dogs are Canis Lupus Familiaris, and a hybrid with the original Canis Lupus (a wolf) doesn't get a new third designation, it's either mostly wolf or mostl...
Why does the carbonated foam from beer stay around so long but, the carbonated foam from soda is gone in an instant?	[ "there's a protein, which is a kind of molecule that makes up plants and animals, in the plant called barley that is used to make beer.\n\nthis protein doesn't like water. it will grab carbon dioxide to try to keep itself away from water. there is a lot of carbon dioxide in beer; it's what makes the bubbles. thi...
if Portuguese man of war are made up of multiple organism, how do they reproduce?	[ "They're not really fully specialized multicellular organisms like us, but they're not really fully free-living colonial organisms like algae either.\n\nThe man-o-war occupies a bizzare evolutionary half-step where the cells are related and have a minor degree of specialization, but they are not yet truly linked to...
how does a cut finger get resewn back on with full functionality?	[ "Using microsurgery. The surgeon uses very fine sutures to reattach nerves and blood vessels. For the surgery to be fully successful, the detached part of the finger must be kept cool an surgery must take place as soon as possible.", "Plastic/hand surgeon here. Replants are generally repaired structure by struc...
why is morning sunlight “softer” than afternoon light even uf the sun is at the same angle in sky?	[ "The light is the same, but different things may be going on around YOU.\n\n1. the dew or fog from a cold evening is evaporating in the morning, but is not doing the reverse in the afternoon. You can see this in the extreme in places that have \"foggy mornings\", but not foggy afternoons/dusk. That's gonna affec...
Why do you hear ringing in your ears?	[ "Driver errors between hardware and software.\n\nYour ears pick up EVERYTHING. The sun is a nuclear explosion that's been going on every day of your life, ever wonder why you don't hear it?\n\nYour brain filters out the background noise and only \"records\" what is important.\n\nRinging in your ears is when that sy...
How does skin tan? Why is it so dangerous without proper sunscreen?	[ "When UV rays hit our skin, our cells produce a chemical called melanin. The melanin darkens the skin which protects from the dangerous UV rays. Without the proper sunscreen however, the skin may not produce enough melanin fast enough to protect itself and you'll get burned.", "Tanning is dangerous because the UV...
Songs Translated from English - Translate Words or Meanings?	[ "Usually the overall meaning will be kept but the words will change so they rhyme. As in 99 red balloons.", "Most will do a combination of both. Depending on the source language and the language it’s being translated in to, there may not be an exact translation available. Sentence structure and word conjugation c...
What are the differences in the degrees of murder?	[ "1st degree means you planned ahead. You intended to kill this person, planned it out, and did it.\n\n2nd degree means you didn't plan ahead, but you did intend to inflict serious harm or even kill the person. Typically denoted as a crime of passion when someone makes you so emotionally unstable that you kill them....
How can an insurance company deny a surgery/medication/etc?	[ "The healthcare contract doesn't say \"cover all medical expenses\". Some used to say things closer to that, but ObamaCare eliminated these \"Cadillac Policies\" as unfair and an obstacle to having minimal healthcare for all. \n\nYou need to read the fine print. One piece of fine print that varies quite a bit is...
How viagra works as an erectile dysfunction medicine and also to help with high blood pressure?	[ "The reason you don't have a boner all day every day is because the blood vessels are all constricted and blood can't get in. Viagra makes these vessels relax and open up, and blood goes in. This also lowers your blood pressure in your arteries because the arteries also relax and open up, and stop squeezing so hard...
How attenuation works in an optical fiber	[ "This is a big question worth a full lecture.\n\nThe following links assume you already know how optical fiber works.\n\nHere is an article that goes into some detail on absorption and multiple types of scattering _URL_1_\n\nFor multi-mode the attenuation is greater because the fiber is larger than in single-mode f...
How do we know where to mine for crystals, gold, etc?	[ "The lowest hanging fruit is found by exploring the land and finding raw chunks of gold in a stream bed. Follow the stream up to where you don't see chunks of gold anymore, backtrack a bit and start digging. \n\nWhile you're digging, pay attention to the types of rocks that are in the formation. What do they look...
How do you store medicine properly when it's hot?.	[ "The perfect choice would be a small fridge that you can set to 15 to 20°C. Wine fridges can do that I believe.\n\nBut realistically there isn't much you can do. Buying an AC would be so expensive that it'd be 10 times cheaper to just get new meds should they really break down. You can put them in a cold room. Mayb...
What is QAnon and how did it become a thing.	[ "This is better in r/outoftheloop, r/answers, or r/conspiracy." ]
what causes the phenomenon of ‘speed wobbles’ ?	[ "When the front wheel, which in motion wants to go in a straight line, hits a deviation in the road and changes direction from the direction of travel it will try and oscillate to find a straight line.... Often times it will over osscilate and try and correct back the other way which will cause a cascading series o...
does friction lead to entropy?	[ "In a tiny way sure, just like everything does to some degree. Friction causes heat, heat radiates out to somewhere else, which then transfers a little bit beyond that next medium. And so ad infinitum", "There are two kinds of friction: \"kinetic\" friction, and \"static\" friction. Kinetic friction leads to...
When you record a festival show or concert why does the music play back much quieter on recordings?	[ "The small mics on your phone are very different from your ears. Also the phone has some audio processing that likely detected the super loud concert level audio and automatically turned down the input sensitivity on the mic.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nHave you ever listened to phone recordings of concerts from 5-10 years a...
Why do refrigerated canned beverages feel colder once you shake them?	[ "Well, one reason could be that you warm the liquid directly adjacent to your hand, then when you shake it you mix the liquid to expose different liquid to the surface you are heating.\n\nJust like how you flip the pillow to get the cold side. The pillow isn't any cooler, you're just now touching a cooler part of i...
why do women have periods for 3-7 days, why can’t it just all bleed out at once?	[ "Period is uterine lining being disposed of from the body (this is not exactly blood). The purpose of the uterine lining is used to grow a baby in the womb. When the egg is released monthly and and not fertilized, the body gets rid of everything it would have been using to grow a baby. It’s not possible for it to h...
What's the phenomenon when reading subtitles helps us make out words from white noise?	[ "Your brain is really good at taking in information from everywhere it can to solve problems. We think of sensation and perception being as simple as detecting information that is available, but there's a ton of processing involved, and none of the processing happens 100% separately from the other senses. You sense...
What actually is a game engine, and how do they differ from one another? (e.g. Unreal Engine vs Cryengine)	[ "Think of the game engine like a medium, or a canvas, a computer world where the laws of physics have been made, but it's completely, or very nearly, empty. Even though it's called an engine, it's all just computer programming.\n\nOnce you have your engine, the game developer then comes in to create the world withi...
How hasn’t natural selection weeded out individuals with bad eyesight, fatal allergies, and everything of the sort?	[ "For natural selection to work, those individuals need to be culled from the gene pool before they reproduce. None of the disorders you mentioned aside from anaphylaxis is fatal. And anaphylaxis is well controlled with epinephrine.", "Because we generally don't let people with such conditions die on the street or...
How are emergency numbers (e.g. 911) handled near borders of countries?	[ "Well in the EU it's the same for all countries and they route 112 to the nearest emergency dispatch. While standing in one country and being connected to a different countries cell tower could cause issues they generally inform the correct emergency service and worst case a German ambulance will pick you up in Bel...
why a diesel engine is so much more powerful than an gas engine.	[ "It isn't. An equal size diesel and petrol engine will produce different horsepower, and the gasoline engine will make more of it. The difference is that a large diesel engine making the same amount of horsepower as a gas engine will make loads more torque and consume less fuel. This is why trucks and tractor trail...
How does probability help in making decisions, like if someone told me there’s 49% chance of rains today, that does not help me in deciding whether to carry an umbrella or not, as it still might rain?	[ "In essence this comes down to risk management, and in general you can say: \n\n > risk = probability x impact\n\nSo probability in itself doesn't give enough information. You also need to account for the impact. \n\nFor example, we can assign an \"inconvenience cost\" to both carrying an umbrella and getting wet....
Why can you remember nothing about a subject, but as soon as someone reminds you about one small piece of it, the rest comes flooding back?	[ "Neuroscientists have discovered that when someone recalls an old memory, a representation of the entire event is instantaneously reactivated in the brain that often includes the people, location, smells, music, and other trivia. Recalling old memories can have a cinematic quality. Memories often seem to play out i...
Is there anything, legally, that prohibits the immigrants in the detention centers in the US from leaving?	[ "They were caught trying to illegally enter the USA which is covered under Title 8, Section 1325 of the U.S. Code (U.S.C.), or Section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.). They are being held for processing right now. Due to them being a flight risk, they are held in detention until a trial date ...
How did cursive become basically a requirement for schools?	[ "Until the 1990s home computers weren't really widely available, so people actually wrote things out by hand in large quantities. Sure in the late 1800s and beyond you could use a typewriter to be extra official, but if you ever have the chance to actually use one you'll see why people often opted not to.\n\nHandw...
How can music streaming numbers get tempered with?	[ "The company can change the numbers to whatever they want. There's nothing that stops them from doing it. It's their system, they control it, they can do whatever they want, there is no third-party oversight or audit.\n\nOf course, if they juice the numbers, they also likely have to pay the licensing fees on the hi...
Why is the dish sponge yellow?	[ "Originally, washing sponges were made out of [sea sponges](_URL_1_). In fact, sea sponges are not named after the kitchen cleaning tool, but the opposite: the kitchen tool is named after the marine animal.\n\nSea sponges are very simple animals that live in colonies of cells, anchored to the sea floor or a rock. T...
When we see rainbow in nature, why is it U-shaped?	[ "It's actually circular. You're seeing sunlight refracting back towards you at a specific angle, and there's always a circle of pathways that make the correct angle.\n\nUsually half the circle is blocked by the ground, but if you're high enough to be above the rain you can actually see the complete circle." ]
The criteria required for an organism to be a different species from other similar organisms and why there are many different variations in humans yet we're all the same species.	[ "In sexual animals, all that is required is that the species must be able to make viable offspring. A kangaroo and a dog cannot make a baby. A horse and a zebra can, but a zorse is not viable, since it cannot make children. Thus a horse and a zebra are different species. There are very rare exceptions to this, bu...
What are enzymes	[ "They're a kind of protein that makes it easier for chemical reactions to happen by acting as a catalyst. They're needed because without them a number of biologically relevant chemical reactions wouldn't occur fast enough at body temperature. Digestion of food, for example, would be drastically slower.", "An enz...
Why do airplanes always experience turbulence when passing through clouds?	[ "They don't. They experience turbulence while going through unstable air (updrafts from changes in temperature, jet streams, drops in air pressure, etc.). Clouds typically make the air more stable" ]
What would happen if you shot a gun on a hoverboard? How would a muzzle brake change the outcome?	[ "Newton's Third Law of Motion would happen!\n\n > For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.\n\nThere is force pushing the projectile out of the barrel of the gun, so there is an equal force pushing the gun (and you holding it) backwards. If this force is stronger than the force of the hoverboard p...
Why do things discolour when left out in the sun?	[ "The energy from the solar radiation (usually referred to as UV spectrum) energizes and changed or breaks down the molecules that either absorb /reflect different parts of the spectrum.\n\nThereby changing what is reflected back at us and we sense as color.\n\n\nOh damn it’s Explain it like I’m 5.\n\n\nUm, okay......
How do railroad crossings know to go down when a train is approaching?	[ "My dad told me there was a current sent through the rails and when the train would get close the current would short out through the axels of the train cars causing a trigger to the signals. As a kid He would lay wire across the rail to put the crossing arms down to stop traffic as a prank. That was the 50s and pr...
Why is grass wet in the morning when it hasn’t rained in ages?	[ "It's dew. When the temperature drops below the 'dewpoint' the water molecules in the air can condense on to surfaces, making them wet", "Air always has a bit of water moisture in it. The warmer air is, the more water moisture it can hold. \n\nAt any given temperature, the ratio of moisture in the air to the max...
How can a single speaker, such as earphones, produce highs and lows at the same time	[ "[This figure should help explain it.](_URL_2_)\n\nA shows 4 waves each with different frequencies and C shows what you get when you combine those waves together. (Ignore B and D). A combination of different sound waves creates a single wave with a unique pattern. So instead of a speaker moving in and out by same a...
What is social mobility?	[ "Social mobility in the context you're describing is the ability of a person or group to move across socioeconomic stratas. The main question is generally whether an individual can accumulate wealth and become a social elite despite not having been born into this elite class." ]
Why does Microsoft Office require 100mb updates for all of its products on a monthly basis?	[ "Please read this entire message\n\n---\n\nYour submission has been removed for the following reason(s):\n\n* Information about a specific or narrow issue (personal problems, private experiences, legal questions, medical inquiries, how-to, relationship advice, etc.) are not allowed on ELI5 (Rule 2). \n\n\n\n\n-...
Why can all the areas in our mouths repair itself with new skin, but our gums can not?	[ "Our cells can only figure our their function from their surroundings and interactions.\n\nA wound in the skin of our mouth is surrounded by other skin cells. The new cells see those surrounding cells and realizes they should function as skin.\n\nThe gums attached to your tooth are different. They expect a firm att...
how does a country “change currency”? If hypothetically the UK switched to dollars or Euros, how would that actually go down?	[ "Banks just switch your balance over to the new currency at a predetermined exchange rate. For a period of time they, and by extension retailers, will accept the old currency for deposits/payment, but will only let you withdraw/refund you in the new currency.\n\nSo if you go to buy groceries and pay in Pounds, the...
Why does everyone hate on Nestle	[ "Because they use water that we think of as a public resource (it's hard to really believably own water) and then sell it to people, often ruining the water supply or at the very least profiting off of a resource that ought be the publics. To many it feels like paying someone to sell you a nice lawn and then havin...
Why did HIV take so long from the time it jumped species (sometime in the early 1900s) and began circulating among humans to blow up into a global pandemic in the 90s?	[ "We don't really know the first time HIV infected a human. It could have happened many times prior to the beginning of the pandemic, but it simply never spread beyond the initially infected person because of the remoteness of the location, low population density, or we didn't identify it because the HIV virus was u...
What quarks are; pertaining to the subject of particle physics, and what their purpose is, aside from building blocks to atoms?	[ "It sounds really arsey to say, but the answer to your question is that \"quarks are quarks and they have no purpose\".\n\nQuarks are fundamental particles. That means they're the very smallest, most basic building blocks of the universe. We don't know what they're made of, or even if they are made of anything/have...
why does a broken leg essentially mean a death sentence for a horse?	[ "Horses legs are under high tension with tight tendons from the knee down. This means that when they break they often shatter. That same tendon situation also means there fairly little blood flow down the leg which makes healing slow. That means that the horse would have to spend a long time on only 3 legs, somethi...
Why does the sky turn green(ish) when heavy thunderstorms / tornadoes are imminent?	[ "Tornadoes typically happen around very tall storm clouds, which scatter light and make the sky mostly blue, and they typically happen later in the day with the sky tinted yellow/red from the sunset.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nYou mix the deep blue with the yellow red and you get a greenish sky" ]
Why do movies shot on 35mm today look more vibrant and high resolution than 30 years ago despite film technology not drastically changing in that time?	[ "The same is also true for audio, but the ability to capture video data has outpaced the ability to process that data and display it. In the case of video, 35mm film has a roughly 11880 x 7322 resolution in an ideal scenario. With film in excellent shape and proper processing, remasters can be done with excellent q...
Why do humans take so long to reach full-size compared to other animals?	[ "There’s no pressure to grow fast. Some of us grow faster than others but no one generally dies because they’re late bloomers. If it was the case that human children faced some kind of predation then the faster growing ones would survive to sexual maturity more frequently and the genes that caused the faster growth...
What does the "cap space" in NBA actually mean, and how it is used and calculated?	[ "All of the teams in the NBA (and many other pro sports leagues) agree to limit the amount they pay their players to a certain total, this is called a salary cap. This helps prevent teams with lots of money from buying up every good player while smaller market teams can't afford to compete.\n\nNext year's salary ca...
Why would anyone buy a bond with a negative yield?	[ "Lots of reasons:\n\n1. you're buying \\_your own\\_ bond. Most bonds require a liquidity level in the issuer to match obligation out there, and buy buying back they can decrease the liquidity level required. \n2. they may be effectively trading \\_currency\\_ - e.g. they currency it's issue in is going to change ...
Why do TV video clips from the 90s and 2000s look so low quality?	[ "Video has progressed this far......\n\nWe went from 240p to 480p then 720 and 1080 \n\nNow we are close to commercial 2k and 4k standard video format. Just that's it's currently minimum industry standard to stay at least 720" ]
why is it that when you massage your own scalp/body you feel no satisfaction vs. the pure satisfaction when someone else massages you?	[ "Your brain has a LOT of things its keeping track of and doing without any thought or effort needed from the conscious mind. One of those things it keeps track of is exaxtly this. Your brain knows its you doing it.\n\nSimilarly, the part of your brain that helps you navigate obstacles in a busy room isn't entirely ...
In recipes, why don’t we bake cakes and other baked goods to certain temperature, like we do with meat? For example, if I’m cooking brownies isn’t there a standard temperature at which they are done? And wouldn’t that make it easier to not over or undercook them?	[ "Cooking meat to temp is primarily to kill off bacteria. While it does affect the result in terms of texture and taste, it doesn't change the overall structure of what you're eating. A steak is still a steak at 135° or 160° or even raw at room temp.\n\nBaking is more of a chemical process. Just getting the center o...
why does melted cheese taste better?	[ "It's largely about how it feels in the mouth. Once a piece of cheddar has been heated to around 150°F, the matrix of milk proteins that provide its structure begins to break down, and the cheese takes on a creamy texture that many people find appealing.\n\nSource: popsci" ]
Why is it when we eat spicy foods, we get a runny nose in the process?	[ "Capsaicin, the thing that makes spicy things spicy, works by activating the receptors in your skin which detect (thermal) heat, making them think there's something hot there.\n\nWhen you eat something containing capsaicin, it is dissolved in your saliva and some of it enters your nose via the back of your mouth. W...
Why does the moon appear to be larger when it's just raising than when it's high up? And why does it look more yellow during this time?	[ "It's all about perspective. The moon appears to be bigger when it's rising, because your brain has something to compare it to (hills, skyline, mountains, horizon etc.). Without anything to compare it to, it's difficult for humans to judge the size of things.\n\nAs for the yellowness or the moon, I believe it has ...
- Why do nightmares cause you to get bad/poor sleep even though you are sleeping?	[ "It's a stress event. It's like asking why are you tired after a road trip, but not after sitting around the house all day. Driving may not be the worst thing ever, but it's certainly more taxing than watching Netflix on your couch.", "It's not exactly that nightmares are a cause of sleep loss but are more a symp...
what the tension between the USA and Iran is due to.	[ "There are two somewhat equally correct answers.\n\nThe first reason is that the U.S overthrew irans democratically elected government, and installed a pretty ruthless dictator leading to a massive backslide for the country. To be fair to the U.S this was mostly caused by the british, but the U.S was more then happ...
How does your body know when you have chewed your food enough to swallow?	[ "Practice. Years and years of constant practice. We use our tongues and the other senses of our mouth to \"test\" the texture, moisture, and consistency of food constantly as we consume it and consider whether it is to a state in which we can easily ingest it. Sure, it's not an exact science but we can pretty well ...
Why does pediatric feeding therapy often involve force feeding?	[ "This is a severely autistic child. A child with this level (presumably) of autism might not eat _at all_ without a physical intervention. At severe levels the neurologic development that you'd hope would suppress resistance to interaction in favor of consumption of getting to eat just isn't happening. \n\nSo...\...
Where do cell phone towers get their power?	[ "Towers have backup batteries, they are indeed hooked up to the grid, but in the event of a blackout they have backup power for 3-4 hours.", "They are connected to the grid, but also have back-up batteries and/or generators to keep them powered for a time even during a power outage.", "Most western countries ha...
How do some medications cause suicidal thoughts?	[ "Hey, I'm a mental health professional but not a doctor, so I'm going to give this my best shot based on my personal knowledge and experience. \n\nSerotonin is an incredibly important hormone in our brains (also commonly called a neuro-transmitter), which plays a significant role in energy, good sleep, motivation, ...
How do smoke detectors work?	[ "There are two types. These are simplified explanations. The photoelectric ones shine a light through an air gap onto a photocell. If smoke is present, the light which hits the photocell changes. The change is sensed and triggers an alarm.\n\nThe ionization type contain a tiny amount of radioactive material which e...
Why is it better/easier to learn a second language at an early age?	[ "Because leaning as a kid is built into our brain. We are setup to learn as much as possible when we are children. Especially language. And this gets less and less pronounced as we grow up.", "All people are born with the possibility of learning any human language. As children grow and they learn their local lang...
what exactly happens when you experience a heart palpitation, the brief pounding or fluttering in your chest?	[ "Usually this is because your heart is simply put, just beating faster because you were doing something that required your heart to increase in speed to keep the blood flow through your body to keep up with whatever is happening around you. For example, short runs up your stairs, maybe picking up a heavy object tha...
Can someone explain to me how Powerline Adapters(Networking) work in terms of sending data packets over an electrical line? It confuses me that there is no data interference when the powerlines are already occupied with 110v. Thanks	[ "The power lines have 110v but it is at a steady, relatively slow frequency. The data transmission is done just by wobbling the steady wall power frequency slightly, something within the normal margin of error for power delivery but also recognizable by the right hardware looking for it.", "Its the same way they ...
If water levels are rising, why don’t we have methods of mass de-salinating/purifying water to solve droughts in the US?	[ "TLDR: it's more expensive than alternatives\n\nDesalination technology is currently expensive to operate and produces toxic waste.\n\nThe plants are large, complex, and require a large amount of power to operate. By comparison drilling wells, cleaning existing freshwater and waste, or building aqueducts costs cons...
why are statues of men in the Roman time period always portrayed with tiny genitals?	[ "Because having large genitals was seen as barbaric and uncivilized, therefore the ideal male form was to have smaller, minimized genitalia. It was an aesthetic choice based on the era's preferences.", "I'm pretty sure that having small genetalia was a sign of intelligence and big ones where not. Kind of interest...
Why does boiling water soften potatoes, but hardens eggs?	[ "The composition of potatoes and eggs are different thus resulting in the different changes when they are subjected to high temperatures [via the boiling].\n\nPotatoes contain starches in a compact form known as granules and when they are heated they swell and absorb water. This makes the straches more soft and all...
How do surgeons create a sterile field for surgery?	[ "Scrub you down with disinfecting agents, then open up many packs of sterile drapes to create the “field”. Wash their hands then put on sterile gloves (generally two sets) in a specific manner so as to not ever touch the outside. Also the surgical gowns are made in a way such that you never have to touch the outs...
Why are laptop and tablet batteries often split into several smaller cells instead of having only one large cell?	[ "If you hook multiple cells together in series where you put positive to negative that increases the voltage but keeps the amperage the same. Three 1.5 volt AAA cells connected in series become a 4.5 volt battery with 1000 mAh. \n\nHooking them in parallel puts their amperage together but keeps the voltage the same...
What are Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) & if the supplement form is of any use.	[ "They are 3 of the essential amino acids, meaning they cannot be produced by the body. Leucine, isoleucine, and valine. They are also used in certain medical treatments. As long as you eat enough protein, whether it is animal or plant based, and don’t have a disease that causes issues with them, you don’t need to s...
why is using cruise control more efficient than simply maintaining the speed manually?	[ "When you drive without cruise, you tend to speed up and slow down quite a bit, by a few kph. Every time you speed up that couple kph, you waste a small amount of gas. Then there are up and downhills, which both suck up your gas. You tend to speed in both, and on larger uphills might give way more gas than nececsar...
Why is heat bad for batteries?	[ "This happens due to a variety of factors and depends heavily on the cell chemistry. One prominent factor is the increased rate of side reactions at high temperatures that lead to loss of conducting ions. There’s also a contribution of accelerated degradation of the material structure if exposed to higher temperatu...
a human body always pees when it has to take a dump, but not want to take a dump every time it has to pee?	[ "The muscles used to have a bowel movement cause pressure on your bladder, causing you to release both. \n\nYou're better able to isolate the muscles of your bladder.", "Peeing is controlled by the detrusor muscle which is part of your bladder. Thus you can contract your bladder and nothing else. For pooping the ...
What happens in the body that triggers hunger? Is it a time based thing or blood sugar or something?	[ "It's a bit of everything. There's a hormone called ghrelin that rises when fasting and then drops off after you eat. Blood sugar is part of it and represents short term reserves. There's another hormone called leptin which is related to body fat and represents longer term reserves." ]
If oxygen isn't very flammable why is it needed for fires	[ "Its not flammable, but oxidizing. A fire needs three Things: a flammable substance, a certain temperature and oxygen. Oxygen is What reacts with the flammable substance in an exothermal reaction, in the course of which heat ist released", "Oxygen itself is not flammable but it is part of the reaction that causes...
Why does mint flavored stuff taste fresh?	[ "The receptors in our mouths that sense cold are also triggered by menthol, an organic compound found in mint. So basically menthol makes you think your mouth is cold.\n\nSimilarly, spicy food triggers the same receptors the sense heat." ]

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