Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why does it happen that doctors think a limb has to be amputated but then the patient manages to keep it?	[ "The stories you hear, you hear BECAUSE they are incredible and are the extreme exception to the rule.\n\nDoctors are humans. Medicine isn't an exact science. If there's a 20% chance that if a limb isn't amputated it'll go necrotic and the patient has a 90% chance of dying, most doctors are going to strongly push f...
where do snails and slugs go when it's not damp?	[ "To their jobs, they have to make a living somehow. (But probably to find places that are damp)", "Snails will form a seal between their shell and whatever they're on (rock, plant, etc.) so that they don't desiccate in hot or arid environments. You can see an example of this if you have outdoor plants that come ...
What is the difference between Bacteria and Archaea?	[ "Well first, that use of \"kingdoms\" is very much out of favor. \n\nInstead, we refer to domains of life. The three domains are eukaryotes, archaeans, and bacteria. Within each domain are the PCOFGS (phylum, class, order, family genus, species), although at least within the eukaryotes the major phyla are then grou...
how do people know which mushrooms are fit for consumption and which are poisonous	[ "Experimentation, seeing who died after eating what mushroom. Watching what mushrooms and plants animals ate.", "Trial and error.\n\nWell, at least originally. At some point, people learned to identify safe mushrooms and distinguish them from poisonous ones, or test unknown mushrooms at least somewhat safely.", ...
Why do insects fly towards the light? How badly do human-made artificial lights affect insect populations?	[ "The difference is how close and small an artificial light is compared to the moon and sun some insects have evolved to rely on for navigation. If you navigate by, for example, keeping the moon to your left, no worries,you keep going in a straight lineand keep the moon to your left. \nBut if you mistakenly navigate...
Collagen Supplements	[ "Due to aging or other reasons, sometimes the body doesn't manufacture enough of a certain thing (collagen in this question). Supplements can supply that thing and if the form of the supplement is available for the body to absorb and use, the thing will function as if the body had manufactured it." ]
Why do most animals have the same “fleshy” colors on the inside?	[ "Most animals, including humans, use hemoglobin to transport oxygen around the body. Hemoglobin is a red chemical and your body is basically filled with it like a sponge, so you're mostly shades of red inside. When a new species evolves, it's unlikely to swap out a chemical that works for another. Some animals, usu...
How does touchscreen responds when we touch it? Why does it accidentally responds when we touch it with other specific objects?	[ "There are a few different technologies. I assume you are thinking of the touch screen on your phone screen. That works because the screen is electrified just a little bit, not enough for you to even notice. When you touch the screen it messes up the electrical field. The computer can measure how the field changes ...
How do massive storms form on the ocean?	[ "Storms are made when large amounts of moisture in the air condense and form into clouds. As these clouds grow and more moisture is added, the storm grows until the clouds can no longer hold the water and it starts to rain. Since the storms rely on water being added to the system to grow, being over large bodies of...
Why are abs split into a "6 pack"?	[ "Not all abs are.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSome people's aesthetics genetically have eight, six, and four packs. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nThe anatomy of the body can be seen here\n\n & #x200B;\n\n[_URL_1_](_URL_0_)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThere are just eight muscles on the outer most layer of abdominals. Your diet will give you the res...
How is the data for big polls collected such as "70% of American's believe X"?	[ "They take a sample size that should be as representative of the general population and then just calculate it." ]
- why is the typical USA work week 5 days on and two days of rest?	[ "It used to be 6 days a week (Sundays were for Church). The advent of labor unions were able to change labor rules to be 40 hours per week as the standard, and adding Saturday to the weekend. Labor unions became a thing during the Industrial Revolution (which got big in the mid 19th century).", "I heard in a do...
How come there’s just 1 line of continuous bubbles coming from the bottom of the glass if you’re drinking something like champagne?	[ "When you see a line of bubbles coming from a single point, that point is called a 'nucleation site'.\n\nWhat is happening is that there is probably a small imperfection in the glass there where a tiny bubble of air can be trapped. \n\nIt is much easier for an existing bubble to get bigger than it is for a new bub...
How do companies measure customer satisfaction? Is it purely based on those surveys they ask you to take on your receipts that no one really does?	[ "Yes and no. Most use and base it on those, so if 10 people during that month do the surveys, it affects corporate and they \"yell\" at the DM's who in turn yell at the store managers. \n\nCorporate just count the beans, not really take into account that no news is good news. The only people who really take the tim...
Why are high frequency sounds more directional than lower frequencies	[ "It's due to diffraction \n\nDiffraction: the bending of waves around small* obstacles and the spreading out of waves beyond small* openings.\n\nLow frequency sounds have longer wave lengths and can wrap around things/go through openings. \n\nIn general, sound will bend around something smaller than its wavelengt...
Why does our blood pressure stay lower for a good while after a hot bath?	[ "Hot water causes vasodilatation which feed into two systems while in hot water - it helps to disappate heat but also, water warms up the blood in our body, raising core body temperature. After you get out of the hot water your body is not giving away all the heat you have accumulated at once, but body is disappati...
What factor decides the number of neutrons in an atom?	[ "An atom's nucleus is comprised of Protons (postive charge) and Neutrons (neutral charge), and this nucleus is orbited by electrons (negative charge). The number of protons and electrons is always the same, and this determines the element of the atom (i.e. Copper, Gold, Carbon, etc.)\n\nThe number of neutrons, howe...
Why do water balloons pop if they are left out in the sun?	[ "Ultraviolet light is really hard on latex. It rapidly breaks down the polymers. Under tension, it acts even faster.", "The water inside expands from the heat, while the rubber that makes the balloons loses elasticity and dries because of the sunlight" ]
Why do you get a burning sensation when drinking something cold after chewing mint gum?	[ "Mint tricks your tongues receptors that detect temperature. It activates them and makes it think its actually cold when the temperature hasn't necessarily changed. \n\nAdd cold water, and even more of those receptors are activated, your mouth thinks its freezing as if there was ice sitting there" ]
What happens when food goes “down the wrong pipe”?	[ "This is basically inhaling a piece of food. Albeit it has to be very small and it’s mostly simple to get it out. Just cough it up.", "You have one pipe going to your stomach for food and liquids and one going to your lungs for air.\n\nFood or liquid is not supposed to go into your lungs.\n\nIf you aspirate liqui...
how do eusocial insects work?	[ "In ants, workers are more closely related to their siblings than they are to their offspring. Therefore, they pass on their genes at a higher rate by helping their mother produce offspring than they would by producing their own offspring. \n\nThis is because males are haploid (have only one copy of each gene), and...
Was Nazi Germany really "socialist", or was that pure propoganda? If so, in what ways?	[ "It depends on your definition of socialist.\n\nIf you use the classical definition which is a system where the workers own the means of production (as opposed to a person with a lot of money who owns the building and gets rich by essentially renting the means of production to the workers); \n\nAn offshoot of this ...
Why aren't different human races considered different human species / sub species / variants?	[ "This is a very important question that I'm glad you asked. The idea of race among humans is a cultural concept rather than a biological one. To give you an analogy, think of humans as cars. Just because two cars are red doesn't mean that they are the same type of car. The color tells you very little about the actu...
why do you need to bring your temperature down?	[ "Up to a point, having a fever is a good thing when you're fighting an infection as in the case of sepsis (infection in the blood). Many pathogens don't fare well in even a degree or two of average raised temperature, while your body is much more resilient. It's still a pretty serious condition on its own, and seps...
Why does sore muscles feel both good and painful in the same time?	[ "I think it comes down to learned rewards. If in childhood you were rewarded through gifts from others or just to be able to get somewhere through exercise you feel good about it later in life. But as for me I wasn't encouraged to exercised and never did so sore muscles are the equivalent of banging my leg on the c...
How documentary series like 'Dope' get cartel members to agree to filming	[ "Some high level criminals are also narcissistic and love the attention.\n\n They also probably \"recreate\" a lot of the crimes they commit rather than have the film crew follow them around as they commit crimes.\n\n For example, in the episode with the guys smuggling drugs. Very doubtful they let a camera crew...
What is a core and thread in a CPU, and what exactly do they do?	[ "Imagine you are working in a restaurant, let's say a burger joint. A thread corresponds to a specific task, in our example we'll say there are the tasks: \\`make patty\\` \\`assemble burger\\` \\`fry fries\\` and \\`serve customer\\`. A thread is doing one of those tasks through to completion. Now, you can only ha...
Why when falling asleep or very tired certain people have a full body shudder and wake up?	[ "It's actually you're brain testing to see if you're asleep yet and ready to dream. As an ELI5, I'll skip the terminology. \n\nYour brain paralyzes itself when you dream to ensure you don't act out what you're dreaming. When you flinch like that, then your brain knows it isn't ready to switch into full REM yet.", ...
What is an algorithm? What makes it difficult to define?	[ "It's not really that difficult. It's a series of steps needed to do something. Long division could be called an algorithm.", "An algorithm is only difficult to define if the task it is solving is complex. Right?\n\nLet’s define some _preconditions_. There are two things in our universe. You and a sealed envel...
How does rubbing our temples or forehead help alleviate a headache?	[ "Depends on the headache, but many are tension related so massaging the scalp, temples and neck relaxes the muscles around the head the same way that massaging a stiff and aching leg would help alleviate some tension.\n\nSome headaches are caused by pressure differences in the blood vessels around the skull too, so...
How does air conditioning work?	[ "Expanding gas cools its surrounding. \n\nCondensing gas to a liquid heats up the surroundings. \n\nA/C exploits this property by condensing gas outside your home (in a condenser) using a pump to carry heat from the inside. \n\nHeat is collected inside your home in an evaporator. The evaporator is where the liquid ...
Why does a low power TV remote work after I bang it on a hard surface?	[ "Corrosion can build up between the battery and the battery terminal inside the remote. When you bang the remote against a hard surface, you cause the battery a shift slightly inside the terminal, scraping off a tiny bit on corrosion where the terminal contacts it. This allows for a better connection between the ba...
- Do things hurt even when they don’t seem to? For example, if I hit myself but it doesn’t necessarily hurt, does my body still register it as painful? Do people with a high pain tolerance still register the pain but just don’t feel it?	[ "Pain is just your body’s way of saying “stop! You’re damaging yourself.” If you don’t feel pain, it’s because those signals aren’t firing. So in that sense, no, the pain doesn’t exist\n\nIn terms of low pain tolerance, it depends. Some people are accustomed to pain so they can tolerate more of it, like tolerances ...
How can you determine the height of a mountain	[ "You'd be interested in a concept called [topographic prominence](_URL_0_). It's a measure of how much higher a peak is than the lowest contour line that doesn't contain a higher peak. (And these heights are calculated against a theoretical level surface of the earth, which you might as well think of as sea level...
Why is it easier to sing deeper tones and really high pitched tones with a kind of "dead zone" between the two?	[ "Not sure about the deeper...but when you say high pitch with a “dead zone”, i think you may be referring to falsetto? The reason there’s a “dead zone” between your normal voice, like say on a scale of 1-10 if highness, your normal voice hits a 6, but you can falsesetto 9-10, sort of missing 7-8, is because your no...
we raise our one eyebrow when we get suspicious, why?	[ "cultural norms. It sticks out because it breaks facial symmetry. The ability to raise your eyebrows or arc one at a time is genetic but it's not necessarily attributable to a thought of suspicion", "Why do we show our teeth when we smile? Most creatures in the animal kingdom signal that as fierce anger. I don't ...
The meaning of this Leo Tolstoy qoute.	[ "Tolstoy is phenomenal. What she’s saying is “if you truly love me, leave me alone.” But it’s untrue. Her lips are saying one thing that she hopes will be true if she says it out loud. But her eyes are conveying something different. \n\n“She strained every effort of her mind to say what ought to be said. But inste...
What are the advantages of blinking in a nontraditional orientation?	[ "TIL ducks aren't birds.\n\nBut from what I've read, most birds blink sideways because their range of motion includes much more vertical movement than ours.\n\nWe basically stay on the flat-ish plane of the surface of the earth, so while the eye is opening and closing, we can still see most of that plane except wh...
Where do commercial, patented seeds come from?	[ "> I've heard that most commercial seeds are patented products genetically modified to only yield one crop, forcing the farmers to buy them again next season.\n\nThat's not really true. So-called \"terminator genes\" do exist that can be used to make seeds only good for one generation, but they aren't commonly us...
. It’s 40C outside, it’s 4pm, the sun is shining. Why do most of the cars I see have their headlights on?	[ "Most cars these days come equipped with \"Daytime Running Lights\" (DRL), which means at least one part of the headlight system is turned on at all times even if it's the middle of the day and there's no ta cloud in the sky. It's a safety feature that helps make your car more visible. It might not be as useful on ...
How the heck does 3D printing actually work? Can you print using different materials (metal, wood, etc)?	[ "Little pieces of material are fused together. It only works for fusable materials like plastic or metal. Wood is cellular life, a completely different sort of thing.", "3D printing takes a model and makes thin slices of it, called layers. Think of it like your normal paper printer; It goes left and right to ma...
Why do different knots have varying strengths?	[ "It comes down to the friction it can cause. However there is no one knot that can prevent movement from all directions so we make more than one for different uses.", "Some knots like a \"figure of 8\" contract in on themselves when pulled, rather than being pulled apart. The only problem is if its taken a dynami...
If Earth is moving at 110000km/hr in space, how do astronauts return back to Earth without crashing?	[ "Its because the Astronauts are moving with to the earth when they leave the atmosphere, its like how you can throw a tennis ball straight up and down in a moving car without it zooming off behind you at 100kph", "The same reason you don't go crashing into your garage at ~1,000 mph (how fast the Earth rotates) ev...
How do you use discord and all of it's different features?	[ "It's pretty direct with its functions, but yeah it can be complex if you're making a server or taking a hard look at the settings" ]
Why do people look “scarier” when they are illuminated from below?	[ "I think any time portions of the face are hard to see, your brain doesn’t know how to react, causing fear. There are all sorts of studies about looking at smiling faces vs frowning faces and what it does to your heartrate. Also, sometimes that lighting makes the eyes the only thing that shows. Lastly, it’s been us...
What is the “God Particle”, and how does it work?	[ "The \"God Particle\" is a sensationalized name attached to a particle called the \"Higgs boson,\" named for the physicist who first theorized its existence.\n\nThe Higgs boson is a consequence of something called the Higgs field, and the Higgs field solves a problem that particle physics had been grappling with ...
Where and how do mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts form?	[ "Generally speaking mountains form in one of two ways.\n\nThe primary way is due to plate tectonics. The surface of the Earth, the continents and sea floor are broken up into a series of plates which sit on top of the mantle which is made up of liquid molten rock. As a result the plates are in constant but very slo...
how exactly do one way glass work, and how can you see from a tilted glass in a car but can't see from the outside?	[ "It's just a matter of refraction and reflection. \"One-way glass\" is just normal glass, but usually a little thicker to provide more chance for light to bounce. But basically one side is in dark and the other room is in light. Just like it's hard to see into a house during day, verse the ease during night. The br...
If humanity we’re to disappear, how long would it take the earth to return to a state of ‘pre-humans’	[ "I don’t think it ever truly would. We have, for better or worse, changed the landscape of the planet greatly. I am assuming you mean if humans disappeared but all our stuff is left behind. There would be so many problems with nuclear meltdowns, there would be Chernobyl’s all over. Possibly after several eons, all ...
Why do invasive bacterias/viruses have surface presenting antigens?	[ "Antigens aren't all made on purpose. An antigen is any molecular bond that will trigger an immune response. Some of them are just natural products of the way proteins are folded to make cell walls, cell membranes, or viral protein shells.\n\nWe deliberately use antigens as a way to screen what is inside of our b...
why are the tines on corn cob holders asymmetrical?	[ "It takes a lot more force to first pierce the cob than it does to slide the tine in further once it's in. If the tines were the same length, it would take a lot more force to push them both in at the same time." ]
What is the legality around a TV film crew filming illegal activities? Like filming heroin production and smuggling across country borders. Or addicts buying and using meth?	[ "22 years in TV news (US). \n\nWhen seriously working on a journalism assignment, this not necessarily illegal.\n\nBut, as a journalist, one cannot actively assist or enable the illegal activity. It’s important to act as an observer only. \n\nAlso, if someone’s life may be in danger, ethics may require you to notif...
Do artificial sweeteners work on insects? Could I use diet soda to kill off an ants’ nest?	[ "I mix up about a teaspoon each bicarbonate of soda and icing sugar with a little water and leave it near where I see ants most. They can't separate the sugar from the bicarb so take it back to the queen anyway, which kills them all.\n\nApparently, ants can't fart and bicarb causes gasses inside the stomach. So the...
What is TIME?	[ "“Time” is the process of change. We observe the passage of time when we watch a process take place, such as sand falling in an hourglass or a planet completing a circuit around the sun. \n\nLook at it this way: You turn an hourglass upside down and watch the sand fall. The hourglass changes its state in that it...
Why do movies have deleted scenes?	[ "Editors have to ask questions like whether a scene properly moves the story along, whether it's necessary, or whether it adds too much length to the movie. A children's movie generally needs to have a shorter length than a movie for adults, because children, especially small ones, have little attention span and ti...
Why don’t you have to split white and coloured clothing in laundry anymore?	[ "You do. Coloured fabrics can bleed the first times you wash them, and discolour whites.\n\nIf everything in the machine is old and washed several times, no worries, mix them. Bit with new clothes, always separate, even one new sock can really ruin your day.", "Yes you should, I got a Rise Against tour tee that w...
How does sustainable forestry work?	[ "Tree farms tend to work pretty well. Where I live in the Southern US (Georgia) there is a large lumber industry. Everywhere you go there are free farms. Mostly long needle lines. A vast majority are planted pines.\n\nBasically a lumber company can buy out 20 tracts of land and cut one per year. Each time they cut ...
What is ASMR exactly and how is it supposedly pleasant to the ears?	[ "This is the best answer I've ever found.\n_URL_0_\n\nPlus it comes from a great comic to read.", "ASMR is an actual physical sensation, it’s not just a metaphor. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never felt it, kinda like trying to explain colour to a blind person, but it’s tingly and sorta runs down your back. If ...
What actually happens when you "lose your voice"?	[ "Our ability to speak and make other sounds comes from our vocal chords, which are [flaps of tissue located in the larynx](_URL_0_) vibrating. Hoarseness or \"losing your voice\", also called dysphonia, happens when the vocal folds can't vibrate properly due to inflammation from an infection or overuse. There are o...
why helmets have an expiration date and how their effectiveness is reduced	[ "helmets protect you by absorbing the kinetic energy (vibrations) of an impact. They do this using specially designed styrofoams. Styrofoam breaks down over time due to the oxygen in our atmosphere. Eventually, it breaks down enough to stop safely protecting your head." ]
How does alternating current work?	[ "So let's think of a circuit as a a bunch of people holding hands in a circle, each holding a baseball. Direct current is each person constantly passing the baseball to the person on their left. Alternating current is giving your ball to the person on your left, then them giving that ball back you, then you give it...
how do calculators actually work?	[ "Calculators are complicated circuits operating in binary. Binary is a way of counting using only two numbers, 1/0: 0000,0001,0010,0011...\n\nFor simple operations the calculator utilizes a so called full adder: a circuit that compares 3 inputs to two outputs. \nYou can imagine it like written addition. There are ...
Why aren't species that have huge populations, like humans or bugs, having a commensurate number of mutations and thus branching off new species?	[ "2 reasons. First is that simply, not enough time has passed. Modern humans have existed for about 200,000 years. That's simply not enough time for speciation to occur. The second is that we don't exist in isolated populations, which is how speciation occurs. Humans from all over the world are constantly exchanging...
Hypnic Jerks.	[ "I'm pretty sure I've read that they exist because our ancestors used to sleep in trees and if they fell asleep in the wrong position they would fall unless they woke up in time to grab a branch and save themselves. So it's your body's vestigial reaction to you feeling like you're falling out of a tree. \n\nCould b...
Why are there bacteria that can break down Styrofoam?	[ "Nutritional value as we know it is measured for humans. We need sugars and proteins and the like. In theory, if it can be burned, it can be food for an organism. Pretty much all of the life that you can think of consumes oxygen, reacts that oxygen with hydrogen and carbon, and releases water and co2. The hydrogen ...
What causes sleep talking and sleepwalking?	[ "As I understand it (and this is not my area), your body is supposed to release hormones/chemicals of some kind when you sleep that essentially paralyse you and stop you from acting out your dreams. Sleep walking/talking are the result of this process failing, so you're just acting out what your brain is processing...
What’s the difference between infant formula for 0-6 month olds and formula for 6-12 months old?	[ "It's essentially a marketing ploy and therefore depends on the manufacturer. There is a single set of FDA (or equivalent) requirements for infant formula, but the age-specific formulas may have differing amounts of vitamins, corn syrup, etc. It's perfectly fine to use newborn formula until 12 months (at which poin...
what am I doing and why does it work?	[ "“Hi I’m Chris Hanson. Have a seat.”\n\nBut fr I used to design a pair of sneakers in my head done to every little detail. A pair of Air Force ones to be exact. Something about the little details got me" ]
What is the difference between normal steel and galvanized steel?	[ "Galvanizing is a process of adding a zinc coat to the steel. It should make the nuts last longer and prevents rust.\n\nThe actual process is slightly more complicated but this is essentially it." ]
How do archeologists and paleontologists look at a specific bone and figure out what animal it belongs to?	[ "It's a game of elimination really. Scientists can date a bone so you know roughly white time period any given fossil is from. That excludes any known animal not around in that time period.\n\nYou can compare the bone to any known animals alive or dead. If you find a close match, you can start looking into more det...
Why do TV shows and movies have opening credits if the credits are shown at the end?	[ "Opening credits are advertising, both for the major companies producing it and for the movie or show itself. It's part of the 'star system' where big names are promoted, and used to promote future works.\n\nEnd credits are more about documenting the rest of the cast and crew.", "Back in the day, it was a stipula...
Why does cold water intakes more CO2 than warmer water and it holds it better?	[ "It's true of most gases and most solvents.One of the best ways when it is necessary to degas liquids for lab use is to agitate while heating to a little below boiling point.\n\n\n > Increased temperature causes an increase in kinetic energy. The higher kinetic energy causes more motion in molecules which break [bo...
How do cows get their nutrients if all they eat is grass?	[ "So someone asked this earlier and then deleted their account so here we go again. The grass. We don't get any because our digestive system can't break it down into a useful form but because cows have 4 stomachs they can", "Cows have specialised teeth, stomachs and bacteria to enable them to break down the tough...
How and why does milk help soothe the burning sensation after eating spicy food? Why does water make it worse?	[ "It actually has more to do with the chemical that makes food spicy, capsaicin, being soluble in fat. It dissolves into it and gets pulled away from your pain receptors in your mouth. There are many other fatty and oily foods that work too.\n\n_URL_0_", "It's nothing to do with acids or bases.\n\nCapsaicin binds ...
Why, despite all milk producing mammals did human chose cow's milk?	[ "Domesicatability.\n\nHumans consume several different species milk including goat and sheep, but cow milk is particularly popular because of cows predilection for domestication. Cows are easy to farm, therefore they are cheap to farm, therefore cow milk is cheap source of protein and nutrients, therefore we consum...
Why do they say not to use your phone while gas is being filled in the car?	[ "Static charge and electromagnetic radiation (radio waves) can cause fuel to ignite. But your phone is not putting out a very high amount of energy at all, and the fuel pump systems these days are very well protected, so the chances of that happening are probably worse than the chances of winning the lottery.\n\n...
Why does soap clean your body and yet make the shower filthy with grime at the same time?	[ "Soap dissolves fat, making it easier to wash of. However soap dosent magically teleport away fat. The fat is still there. It's instead dissolved in a mixture of dead skin cells, soap and water. Which gets stuck to the ceramic", "In true ELI5 fashion:\n\n🎵\n\nThe itsy bitsy soap bar picks up all the grout\n...
How does flicking a switch on a bicycle's handlebars cause it to change gear? What mechanism moves the chain to a larger/ smaller gear?	[ "If you take a look at your bike, you'll see cables snaking from the switches on the handlebars down to each set of gears -- specifically, to a little thing attached to each set called a derailleur.\n\nAssuming a mechanical derailleur (there are some that use motors to achieve the same effect), pushing the button...
We can tell the age of trees by the rings in the trunk and fish by the rings on their scales. What's a scientific way to tell the age of humans?	[ "Generally teeth are a rough indicator of age, and things such as skull and pelvis size are used postmortem to determine age. None of these are 100% accurate though. \n\nSorry that's a bit of a non answer but I tried.", "Biologically, if we talk about DNA, each strand has caps that protect the chromosomes, thos...
Why does fog only appear in certain areas and not others; e.g. fog appears every night at one end of a local street but not the other?	[ "Fog means you can see water droplets = condensed moisture in the air, as fine droplets\n\nIt implies there's no wind (it would blow away) ; And the temperature is low enough for the moisture to condense into water droplets \n\nAt one end of the street it may be too windy (fog cannot accumulate fast enough to see...
Why can't surgeons just pull out huge chunks of body fat at a time with a glove or a modified vacuum hose?	[ "The fat isn't just floating inside you. Its attached to your organs and blood vessels. Tearing at it is gonna cause issues.", "Using their hand requires a hole in your skin big enough to fit their hand. This large incision would lead to scarring when it is stitched up.\n\nLiposuction uses essentially a modified ...
Why do they say it roses are red violets are blue when violets are not blue?	[ "For most of history there was an English word dedicated to violet, it was just called royal blue. I don't remember why we got the word violet, but the rhyme didn't use violet because violet didn't exist as a word. It's like how dinosaurs weren't called dinosaurs before we invented the word dinosaurs.", "They are...
How could single payer public healthcare, and the increased taxes incurred, ultimately cost less for individuals than private insurance in the US?	[ "The insurance companies sit between people and medical services. Single payer reduced the number of middle men who process claims and all that. Let’s middle men = less money being paid to them = cheaper overall cost \n\nAlso the idea is to get more people and corporations to pay in (taxes) thus spreading the cost....
How does limiting withdrawals to $10,000 help prevent money laundering?	[ "As far as I understand, the law doesn't prevent you from withdrawing more than $10,000 in cash. It just obligates banks to report to the government that you did. Also, the same \"anti-money-laundering\" law established reporting standards for both deposits and withdrawals. It's more obvious why mandatory reporti...
Why are honeycombs hexagonal? Why not triangular, circular, etc.?	[ "All cells start out circular when the bee draws it out with her wax. Once it has been joined with an adjacent circular cell, the wax is heated and it melts into a flattened shape, becoming hexagonal. \n\n[Study done on this subject](_URL_0_)\n\nThe cells on the open edges of honeycomb are rounded. \n\nI'm a beekee...
if e.coli is already present in ones colon, why does it make you sick to ingest?	[ "There's harmless e. coli and there's harmful e. coli. The ones chilling in your intestines is harmless. The ones that make you sick are harmful.", "Different strain of e-coli. The one in your gut is harmless, but the one that makes you sick release toxins hence food poisoning and now you are sick :( .", "Like ...
How do the manufacturing companies ensure that the insides of the food packaging packets are thoroughly cleaned ?	[ "Depends on the package, but there is usually some sort of cleansing step right before filling and sealing.\n\nTake bottles for instance. On the bottling line I worked at a brewery, empty bottles first entered a sanitizing machine that flipped them upside down and blasted them out with peroxide and water, then were...
Why do us humans eat less during a hot summer day?	[ "Digestion requires your body to some work, which generates heat. Carbohydrates (starches and sugars) are easy to digest and don't produce much heat, proteins are harder and produce more heat, fats are in between." ]
why do your ears pop when you're on the highway and roll up the windows?	[ "I'm fairly sure it's because having the windows down creates negative pressure in the car, and closing them equalizes it?\n\nSomething to that effect. It has to do with a change in pressure from the air moving past the car and pulling air out from inside, and closing the windows blocks off that suction" ]
how does your body tell you that you are hungry?	[ "do you mean the symptoms of being hungry or the mechanics of the sense of hunger (yes hunger can be scientifically classified as a sense, we apparently have somewhere between like 10-50~ senses...)" ]
Why are bleach bottle caps so loose?	[ "Are you talking about the child-safety feature, where there is an inner cap and an outer cap and you have to squeeze or push down on the outer cap in order to make the inner cap turn (in the loosening direction)? If so, that is a child safety feature." ]
What happens the the white/clear puss that fills a pimple if you refrain from popping it?	[ "it either bursts on its own at some point, often when you are asleep. Or it gets slowly broken down by your immune system at a rate it can handle safely, at which point the extra material making up the pimple slowly shrinks, dries up and falls off." ]
why can a high speed 4g signal reach me anywhere but wifi has trouble reaching me in the next room?	[ "There are 2 factors to consider.\n\nFirst is your surroundings. Radio waves, like a 4g signal or wifi are just electromagnetic radiation, like light. They pass through some things well, but are blocked by others. Having multiple walls, or a big HVAC unit, or a metal building between you and the transmitter can blo...
How do vinyl record players know what sounds to make just by running over the grooves?	[ "Think about phones: when you talk into a phone, a membrane inside the phone vibrates according to your voice, and uses a special electric circuit to transform these vibrations into an electric signal. There are many ways to make this kind of circuit, but the general idea is that you can transform specific movement...
why do magnets lose their magnetism over time?	[ "Keep in mind that perfect magnets do not lose magnetism over time or use (for the same reason Earth does not \"lose gravity\" if you jump). It is not an intrinsic property of permanent magnets.\n\nMagnets losing magnetism instead has to do with imperfections in their construction, and mechanical and thermal wear-n...
During the Apollo missions, what is the purpose of the "beep" you hear regularly in the background?	[ "They are called Quindar tones and they served to turn the transmitter on and off such as with push-to-talk. The issue is that to keep track of the astronauts from a rotating Earth required a worldwide network and frequent switching between transmitters and receivers. The tones mediated all that, so they should in ...
How can we determine about dinosaurs' looks just by their skeletal remains? For example, one cannot imagine humans having boneless parts like ears just by looking at their skeleton.	[ "Very possible. For example, it took quite a while before we realized many dinosaurs were feathered precisely because there wasn't a ton of fossil evidence for that being the case for quite a while. Nobody really knows for sure what dinosaurs looked like. What we have now are educated guesses. The guesses get more ...
Why do pigeons not get dizzy when shaking their head.	[ "They're actually keeping their heads still while they're bobbing!\n\nIf you focus on their heads, between the bobs, their head and thus eyes are fixed in the same position while their body moves. When they move too far, they have to bob their heads to the next fixed position.This is to keep their vision still to d...
If you were able to shoot a bullet perfectly straight in the air , would it come down at the same spot or would the earth's rotation effect it?	[ "Let's isolate the variable from confounding factors. Let's fly to another planet, with no atmosphere, which is not rotating. On this planet, you can fire a bullet directly up, and it will fall directly down. No questions asked.\n\nLet's fly to another such planet, but one that is indeed rotating. From that surface...
Why do ceiling fans that are used more often collect dust quicker than ceiling fans that aren’t used much?	[ "Air flowing over a surface builds up static charge. The static buildup attracts dust to stick to the moving fan blade.\n\nAlso, a spinning blade will pick up any oil or grease residue launched into the air from cooking. The dust will stick to the sticky residue and can build up over time. Same thing for tar residu...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.