Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why can’t we have both hands/feet be predominant instead of just having one side?	[ "It would be a waste of resources. When you are using fine motor skills one hand at a time is sufficient for most tasks. There is very little to gain from being able to use your hands equally well. So the ability to use both was never selected for as their were other uses for that brain power." ]
How does a CPU/GPU VRM work and do all processors have one?	[ "Trying to collect some memory...\n\nCPUs can switch from powersaving to full usage in microseconds. The task of the VRM is to provide stable voltage to the CPU under extremely fast and huge changes of the CPU's power requirements, by storing electric energy in very large capacitors. VRMs are rarely components of t...
Interprocess communication. What is exactly happening when two processes or threads on a computer send data to each other?	[ "Warning: technical subject, so writing this in some very ELI5 form is quite hard. This is more like ELI beginner programmer. To tell if you need anything clarified.\n\nOn Linux:\n\n* Shared memory. Two processes have access to the same block of of memory. Can be done with SysV shared memory with shmget, or mmap + ...
How do Japanese internet users use so many different characters to make custom emoticons and why did no one else do the same?	[ "It started on [2channel](_URL_0_). The culture and large audience of this text-only site led its denizens to go looking for characters to make pictures from, first [the Shift JIS character set](_URL_1_), but then later the whole Unicode character set.\n\nJust like on Reddit, text that looks like a picture stands o...
With all the talk about putting satellites with sub machine guns into orbit, what would happen if a bullet were to be fired down towards earth?	[ "Pls link to \"all that talk\". First bit: A bullet fired down would not actually go to Earth due to orbital mechanics - it would actually be best to fire the bullet backwards from the orbit. Now: bullets falling from orbit would just disintegrate unless they were very specially designed. They would likely have to ...
what is the incentive for GoodRX to get us cheaper prescription prices for free?	[ "The pharmacies pay for inclusion in the app/site's listings. They also pay a portion of the discount to GoodRx.", "The pharmacy pays goodrx a portion of the transaction total for accepting the discount card." ]
How are rappers able to talk about crimes they've commited in songs and get away with it?	[ "The same way Bob Marley could sing that he shot the sheriff and \"get away with it.\"\n\nThey're just lyrics, and not descriptions of real events." ]
what is plastic made of? I know its not made of natural materials, but what is it made of then? And how is a material not natural?	[ "plastics are generally made of synthetic polymers, which are molecules that are long chains of repeated units. They aren't natural materials in that the molecules that make them up don't occur in nature; they are created by chemical reactions, often a complex sequence of many different reactions, that usually star...
Why Do People Grow Wisdom Teeth Just To Have Them Removed?	[ "Wisdom teeth are vestigial. Which means that basically they are a hold over from the days when we used to need them to eat plants. Some people don't get wisdom teeth at all.\n\nThe issue with Wisdom Teeth is not the teeth themselves, but the fact that the jaw doesn't have sufficient space to support them and the t...
how do/why do amputees get phantom pains?	[ "The somatosensory cortex is an area of the brain that contains a map of all your body parts. It has neurons that process the sensory info from your fingers, arms, legs, etc. When a body part is amputated, the area of neurons in the somatosensory cortex that correspond to the sensory info of the amputated part stil...
How can we tell what a meteorite is composed of? Without having previously explored it.	[ "Imagine there is a mountain, and you go around collecting a thousand different Rock samples from different parts of the mountain. All of those rocks samples vary a little bit, but all of them are more than 90% granite. At that point, provided your sampling was done well, you can reasonably conclude that the surfa...
How do glues work at a molecular level?	[ "There are four answers to that and nobody is entirely correct saying any one of them. Depending on the materials you're gluing together and the glue itself it could be any combination of the four following theories.\n\nThe first theory is Adsorption. Basically that molecules in glue have a weak electrostatic attra...
; why are tattoos such taboo in some religions?	[ "Some religions believe your body is the physical property of God. You are just borrowing it for your time on Earth and at the end when you die he gets it back. You're not allowed to damage it because it's not yours and a tattoo is damaging the skin.", "For hebratic religions is was often to make it clear who was...
Why is it reported that it's safe to use plastic water bottles the first time, but dangerous chemicals will leach into your water if you refill it for use later?	[ "According to the FDA, the plastic used in water bottles is completely safe for repeated use. They do add that you should wash your plastic bottles because they could have bacteria in them that builds up after being refilled multiple times. Per the FDA, the original source of the rumor that plastic bottles being re...
How did the debt grow so much when the deficit decreased under Obama?	[ "The deficit is the amount by which spending outpaced earnings.\n\nSo if the debt is 100k, and your deficit is 20k, now debt is 120k. As long as you have any deficit, the debt will go up.", "Because there was still a deficit.\n\nAny deficit means that your debt will grow; a smaller deficit just means that your...
Why aren't the lids of plastic water bottles recyclable?	[ "They are made of different plastics. Usually the soft plastic bottle is made of PET (indicated with number 1). The hard caps are made using PP (number 5).\n\nIt is currently not economically viable to recycle plastics PP, so most recycling plants don’t have the equipment to handle it. If a significant amount of PP...
Why is the download of a software update 100 MB, but does it need 1 GB of free space to complete the installation?	[ "Imagine you buy a new TV. You bring it home, you're gonna replace your old TV. Maybe the new TV is the exact same size as the old TV, so it doesn't take up any more space. But obviously it takes space just to switch them out. You're gonna make a mess, there's gonna be boxes, you have to move the old TV out of ...
Why do some companies refer to thier employees as "associates" and get wierd about it when you call them "employees"	[ "Because traditionally, \"associates\" are sort of partners in the company, but \"employees\" are assets. It's not official or anything, but people are soured on capitalism and this little pat on the back is meant to make workers feel better about it." ]
Why do audio recordings get higher pitch when played faster than normal speed?	[ "Pitch is how our brain translates wave frequency. Wave frequency is how many waves impact our ear in a given time.\n\nThe sound recorded is a series of wave formations to be recreated. Play it faster and it has to make those waves in more rapid succession. Thus it plays back at a higher frequency. Thus our min...
Why is it when in a heavy rainstorm, sunglasses can actually help make your vision clearer.	[ "> Wearing polarized sunglasses when driving in the rain during the day will help a driver see better. Polarized sunglasses work to block horizontal components of scattered or reflected light, which means they help counteract the scattering of light that atmospheric effects like fog or rain have on daylight. \n\n_U...
Why does 100 km/h not feel so incredibly fast when seated in a train or car whereas it does feel really fast when seated in an attraction like a rollarcoaster?	[ "* 100 km/h is a speed.\n* Humans don't feel speed, we feel force and force comes from acceleration\n* Acceleration is caused by two things:\n * Change of speed\n * Change of direction\n* When seated in a train or car you aren't accelerating very much. Sure there are small changes in speed and direction.\n* On...
Trickle Down Economics	[ "Answer: the idea is that by giving tax breaks to job creators/companies, theyll use the extra money to expand and hire more workers/produce more goods/etc. That will stimulate the economy and cause more people to have jobs and work.", "Honestly just have a look at the Wikipedia article for 'supply side economics...
Where do head lice come from? Not how they spread.	[ "Head lice come from eggs that are laid by other head lice. Head lice cannot spontaneously generate. An infestation starts by being spread from another infestation.", "The short of it is that lice infections don't start. Just like diseases, there are \"reservoirs\" of lice that don't get eliminated. At any give...
How do articles that a peer reviewed differ from non-reviewed articles? Who reviews these articles, how many people need to review an article before it qualifies as a reviewed article and what credentials do you need to be able to review an article	[ "1. Submission of Paper\n\nThe corresponding or submitting author submits the paper to the journal. This is usually via an online system such as Scholar-One Manuscripts. Occasionally, journals may accept submissions by email.\n\n2. Editorial Office Assessment\n\nThe journal checks the paper’s composition and arrang...
How does someone being intoxicated on things like pcp or spice make them resistant to tasers sending electricity through their body?	[ "A taser will cause localized muscle contractions while actively shocking, but relies on pain and shock (the medical kind, not electrical) to 'drop' people. Someone who is riding on the right chemicals (even just adrenaline, potentially) can have a great ability to ignore or not feel pain. Thus, being tazed will st...
Why is 'k' used as a symbol for 'thousand'?	[ "The k is used to symbolize the prefix \"kilo\" which is derived from the greek word for 1,000. Other common uses include a kilometer (or a thousand meters) or a kilogram (a thousand grams). \n\nC is similarly used to donate a hundred for a similar reason, derived from \"cent\" (greek for a hundred). Commonly used ...
How are bots used on social media for influencing in other areas than politics?	[ "There are plenty of services where you can pay someone in order to have their bots give you fake followers or likes on social networks like instagram or facebook. Many people use these services to promote their posts in hopes of attracting more attention from real people. Bots can also repost, which is done for si...
Why can't we talk to animals?	[ "Simply because animals don’t have anything like the same cognition as human beings. The sounds they make are only a ‘language’ in a rudimentary sense and don’t have the nuance necessary to engage in any kind of constructive conversation; therefore they cannot be ‘translated’ into anything close to a language syste...
How do foundations work? Example: Lebron James’ I Promise School has uniforms, food, and transportation cost covered for the kids. Where the does money come from?	[ "Donations from folks that want to know if this school format works better than other solutions. King James isn't planning to take over all education for everyone, only examine a format and try to learn from it." ]
Why do foods like wasabi and horseradish burn your sinuses when you eat them?	[ "Rather than the capsaicin found in chili peppers, horseradish is hot because of a chemical called isothiocyanate. Think of it like those liquid plumbing clog removers that come in separate bottles and are activated by mixing together. Basically, those two chemicals aren't hot by themselves, but the product is." ...
How old are the hairs on my body?	[ "I can't answer the whole question, but I can answer the one part about turning grey. No, they do not turn grey while hanging off your head. Hair has color because of cells called pigments which are like color deposits (you can see them in your hair under microscopes, pretty cool!). When hair grows out of your foll...
is vaping bad for you?	[ "Yes, but it takes time to figure out how much harm, what kind of harm, and how it compares to smoking various substances. There are good reasons to believe that vaping is safer than smoking the same substance, especially tobacco. Having said that, early evidence of immune system and lung damage from vaping (regard...
Can the prosecution say that the defendant is not guilty? And if yes, what happens?	[ "The prosecution can decide to drop the charges, immediately ending the trial. The defendant goes free.", "This would just be \"dropping the charges\" against the defendant. The prosecution represents the state, and part of their job is to decide if they have enough evidence to prosecute someone or not. If they...
Why do some numbers call just to stay silent on the line/ during the message left? What’s the point?	[ "* Some calls are made by mistake without the knowledge of the caller. \n* If such a call makes it to the recorded message part of a voicemail prompt, it is likely to continue until the voicemail recording session times out. \n* Sometimes toll numbers are called in a billing scam. The details are complex but the ma...
How do insurances profit and avoid misusage?	[ "> Always wondered how do car / house / personal liability insurances avoid \"cheaters\" or misusage?\n\nIf you make a lot of claims, your insurance rates go up. Also, the insurance companies know that a certain amount of fraud is inevitable and they build that into the premiums that they charge.", "As for profi...
Why is it that we all need to get out of the water when there's lightning but fish seem to be just fine?	[ "Fish near the surface where the lightning strikes die, but those swimming deep underwater and away from the lightning keep swimming. The charge dissipates in water.\n\nAs people tend to swim near the surface, on account of breathing air and all, which puts us right in range of the lightning.\n\n\nIn addition, land...
Why do some animals have superlatives?	[ "People aren't following any kind of rational process for deciding what names to give animals. Sometimes a superlative name sticks, and sometimes it doesn't." ]
how do touchscreens detect skin and rubber, but nothing else?	[ "Capacitive touch screens do not detect rubber, it detects conductive things. Styluses are made from a special conductive rubber or plastic that conducts electricity like your fingers do.", "Touch screens work with anything that can hold an electrical charge. Fingers, rubber, water etc all do. Towels, makeup brus...
How do all cultures throughout time know to utilize salt with food? Especially the non coastal areas? Is it just common knowledge for humans to know to search salt out? Like throughout all cultures, you can have a bunch of religions but salt and food is always a constant. Why is that?	[ "Sodium consumption is vital for virtually all animal life on this planet and all species have evolved a drive to find and consume it. Wild animals will find what are know as salt licks, which are literally patches of salt that have made it to the surface that the animals lick, plants that naturally have high level...
What determines the order of flavors? Why sauce might be sweet then spicy instead of spicy then sweet?	[ "You will smell before you taste. For example a fresh habanero will give a spicy aroma while cayenne powder will be an after heat. Remember that smell is an important component to tasting food" ]
Why does puking helps to relieve headaches?	[ "From personal experience it seems to be something to do with pressure in the head being somehow equalised by the rush of blood/pressure from vomiting", "Never heard if this before. But it reminds me of my issue, where I'll suddenly feel really sick for like 10 minutes followed by it stopping and ALWAYS a hard as...
What causes the thick spit that you can dribble out and then suck back up before it hits the floor?	[ "The molecular makeup of mucus, long strands of molecules make liquids more viscous. Same as egg whites." ]
How are genetically modified crops created?	[ "It's important to keep in mind genetically modified doesn't mean \"modified in a lab\". \n\nMost of our farmed food is genetically modified. Every piece of corn you've ever eaten is genetically modified. So for most food, the way it's genetically modified is the same way dog breeds are created—selective breeding. ...
Why do babies of a certain age laugh so much? What happens to make them lose their minds laughing at silly things.	[ "Remember the first time you heard someone with the last name of Butt? It's initial funny is overwhelming. Well thats happening all the time for babies because everything is new." ]
What happens in our ears when we have a big yawn and all sound is muffled or completely silent?	[ "During a big yawn along with your jaw and neck you also move your upper jaw muscles which constricts the ear canal making sounds feel muffled. \n\nSometimes those muscles vibrate , vibrating your inner ear and make you internally hear the sound you hear inside your ears during yawn" ]
Why is it funny when people fall / get hurt? Is it a nervous reaction?	[ "Most the time its not. Its when they get back up its a nervous relief" ]
How did last names stick?	[ "There are different kinds of last names. Job based, Location based, feature based, familial (son of, daughter of, descendant of, etc), and assigned. \n\nFor Job based names you took the name of the profession that you had. If you changed profession, then you would generally change or amend your name to reference t...
How do we know what music sounded like in ancient cultures?	[ "ELI5: \n\nWe often know what their musical instruments sounded like. \n\nAncient peoples sometimes left clues about how their instruments were made. Then, a smart man can make a copy of the instrument - and play it! Sometimes, musical instruments are buried with people, and we can make a copy. Sometimes, an ol...
How does cryogenic preservation work for both sperm/eggs and entire human bodies/entire human heads?	[ "The short answer is that the process is very similar, but the results are night and day. If you freeze a head, it's not coming back using any conceivable technology; it's done. In addition to the reality of widespread cell depolarization and death in the brain, what actually dying doesn't finish, the process of ...
How is looking up a hash table O(1), but looking up something in a normal array still O(n)? What's the difference between a hash table and a list of hashes?	[ "Accessing an array is O(1). Perhaps you mean searching for something in an array. If the array is ordered then searching is O(log(n)). For an unordered array the search is O(n).\n\nHashing means taking the search key and processing it in some consistent way to produce a single number which you can then use as t...
Why do ham and bacon taste completely different when they come from the same animal?	[ "There are a few of different reasons. One is the fat content, the second is how the meat is prepared, another is the location on the animal that the meat comes from.\n\nYou can even taste that last factor with other meats, like chicken. Compare the taste of a chicken breast (white meat) to a chicken thigh (dark ...
Are daily vitamins really that necessary to take?	[ "Some vitamins are not water soluble. For instance, you can take a great deal of vitamin C. You’ll just pee it out. (Extreme doses can cause some discomfort.) However, vitamins A,D,E and K along with others can be very dangerous when misused. Overdose can occur and can have issues from skin discoloration to death. ...
What are neural networks?	[ "Think of neurons as groups of people in different rooms of a building. Each person is very good at one thing and only one thing.\n\nFor example, people in the first room can only smell stuff. And each one can only tell you the probability of it being a certain thing. So one guy can smell and tell you that he’s 40%...
Fourier Transforms	[ "The Fourier transform allows a function to be broken down into a sum of sine and/or cosine waves (although e\\^i can be used as well) of varying frequency and amplitudes. The goal is to use constructive and destructive interference from the waves to match the original signal as closely as possible.\n\nThe frequen...
How do they balance planes that have uneven numbers of seats on either side of the aisle, such as 2-1 or 3-2?	[ "Left Right balance is pretty much a non-issue. The people are all very close to the center of mass so it doesn't create much torque even if wildly imbalanced. Adjusting the trim flap a tiny bit on the end of the wing 10+ meters away results in significantly more torque.\n\nOnly front back balancing really matters ...
how low pain tolerance and high pain tolerance works	[ "Pain is actually a very complex process. See, what you experience as pain happens in your brain, not your nerves.\n\nNociception (literally “harm perception”) is the process of a pain-sensitive nerve detecting a noxious stimulus and sending a message back to the brain. All peripheral nerves terminate at the spine,...
Why is the water’s surface (in the swimming pool) see-through from above, but is not when looking from underwater?	[ "What you're seeing is called total internal reflection, and it's something you learn about in physics class when you study things like lenses and optics. It all has to do with the angle between the ray of light and the surface of the water.\n\nLet's pretend the water is perfectly horizontal, and doesn't have a...
What is the difference between "instantly" and "instantaneously"?	[ "'Instantly' is relative to a preceding action, similar to 'immediately'. If something happens instantly, it happens right after the preceding action. E.g. 'I clapped my hands, and the lights instantly dimmed.' The actual act of dimming from brightness A to brightness B may take several seconds, but the word 'in...
Why is some light warm and cozy and other kinds are harsh and cold?	[ "Yellow light (warm light) looks like, and remind us of fire, which is warm and cozy.\n\nBlue light (cold light) is more like ice, which isn't as cozy.\n\nThis is why different light bring different sensations" ]
The difference between daily, weekly and monthly disposable contact lenses.	[ "The products are the same but the difference is in the service level, and therefore the price.\n\nIf you buy \"daily lenses\" and they rot after two days - you are on your own. So, the product costs a little less per lens.\n\nIf you buy \"monthly lenses\" and they rot after two days, the manufacturer is liable for...
Why steel wool burns the way it does - moving slowly like it's just super hot, but not actually producing a fire	[ "The steel wool oxidizes, effectively becoming rust. As steel requires a shitload of energy to vaporize, it pretty much doesn't produce gasses to burn, so the reaction only happens at the surface of the steel, not in the air around it. Iron oxide is far weaker in tension and shear than steel, so the integrity of th...
Why do some plants and fruits grow in certain part of the world but not in others?	[ "Different tolerances to different climates. Some plants need warmth and sunshine all the time and others can do fine up north.", "Different climates and if we're talking naturally, the fact that a lot of areas of the world with similar climates are isolated from each other, so plants that evolved in one place c...
why hasn't there been any attempt to push for an universal language for us to use?	[ "There has been. Esperanto was designed after World War 2 to reduce the possibility of war due to miscommunication.", "After religion, language is probably the second most culturally sacred thing that most communities protect. While the idea of a universal language is not mutually exclusive to a cultural first la...
Where does the garbage that they clean off of beaches go?	[ "Yes, it just ends up in the dump, unless they bothered sending the recyclables to recycling. Garbage doesn't randomly spread from the dump to other places, it ended up on the beach because people littered there." ]
How concerned would a moon base be about an asteroid hitting since the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere?	[ "Not terribly. The Earth is going to be the main catcher of such asteroids. Despite all the pock-marks on that moon, it doesn't actually catch very many of them. It's just the craters on the moon never go away, save when swallowed by a larger crater.\n\nMicrometeorites are a bigger problem (er, rather, a large -er,...
Airborne ocean dwellers	[ "Escaping predators, showing off for mating purposes, shedding parasites can all be reasons why they leap into the air it is then down to the species and circumstances as to what is the main driver.", "There may be a number of reasons and different ones for different animals. A flying fish is more likely to try ...
How does a ballbot (a robot that balances and navigates on a single ball) stay balanced? They look like they could easily tip over.	[ "Have you ever tried balancing a long pole or stick on its end with your hands? You have to move your hands towards the direction the stick is falling to keep it upright, and with a little practice your can do so pretty reliably, even while you walk around. \n\nNow imagine if we replace your hand with a motorized b...
What is the physiological process of emotional tears?	[ "Tears are all produced by the lacrimal (lachrymal) gland, but psychic tears (sad tears) also coincide with other bodily responses, due to their production being driven from the hypothalamus in the limbic part of the brain. - _URL_0_" ]
Why is that usually the richer people get, the more conservative they become politically?	[ "Once you have something to lose you May begin to feel threatened by the “takers”...or something like that.", "Conservative economic policy tends to lean on the side of less taxes and less government regulation, which are good for corporations and not as much for the average person. So, once you get more wealth a...
Why aren’t all American kids educated equally in America?	[ "In most areas, the school system is supported by local property taxes, so if it's a poor/rural area, the tax base won't be as big.", "Questions about the US are generally better in r/askanamerican.", "Unequal access to information, due to inferior resources. Doesn't matter how passionate a teacher is if they'...
Why do some parts of the body burn/tan more easily than others?	[ "Thin skin can sunburn way faster. Because there is less area /depth to absorb the energy. Thin skin also has less hair to protect it." ]
Why do the nails on my ring fingers grow faster than the other nails?	[ "> ELI5: Why do the nails on my ring fingers grow faster than the other nails?\n\n\nYou're weird\n\n\nJust kidding. Most of it has to do with blood circulation. Some people's fingernails grow at different rates. Some people find that different fingernails on one hand grow at different rates . Some people find that ...
- Why is the process of cooling products down so much slower than heating them up?	[ "The speed of heat transfer is proportional to the difference in temperature between two objects, which means how long it takes to heat or cool something is (non-linearly) proportional to how large a temperature difference you can make between the desired temperature and the heat source/sink you're using. (It's al...
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.	[ "It's essentially talk therapy for a current issue you're having where your counselor makes you categorize the issue into thoughts, actions, and emotions and then address how each of the three relate to the other until you've realized where the unhealthy aspect of the problem is and rationalized your way out of it....
I understand that caffeine works binding to the same receptors that our natural sleep inducing chemical binds to, thus blocking them and making us feel less sleepy. How then, can you overdose on caffeine? It shouldn't quicken you up more than it should stop you slowing down or what?	[ "Caffeine does a lot more than just block sleep hormone receptors. It is also a stimulant which works by forcing a fight or flight response from your body. This is why caffeine not only prevents you from getting tired but actively perks you up. The fight or flight responses are what can cause the adverse health ef...
As breasts are designed to feed babies, why do women have two instead of just one?	[ "Average litter size rounded up to the nearest even number because symmetry is easier to code for.\n\nMammals that have more babies in a litter have more nips", "We don't really know since evolution isn't a sentient entity that we can ask questions of. We can't even run double blind trials. In most cases we can't...
Why can American workers lose their pensions when employers go bankrupt?	[ "Pensions and 401ks are different. \n\nPensions are paid by your employer. Every payday you make $2000 and your employer kicks in an extra $25 and when you retire you can draw off that fund that's been building since you started working there. And typically there are rules that say when you retire your pension will...
Why does faces start to morph and distort in weird ways when you stare at them for a long time?	[ "The main theory is called disassociation fue to lack of stimuli.\n\nTo put it simply, your brain is designed to take in the world around you and process it. When nothing is happening your brain basically gets bored and starts acting up. The reason faces get so weird is because of the amount of information in a fac...
Why does spinning around make you dizzy, furthermore why does being dizzy make the floor feel like its moving around?	[ "When you swirl a glass of water, then stop suddenly, the water inside keeps swirling. There's a similar sort of thing inside each of your ears. As you spin, you're swirling the water inside those structures. When you stop, the water keeps swirling, so your brain thinks that you're still spinning.\n\nIn response to...
How are plant based meats and burgers made?	[ "I did a course on plant based meats in Berkeley. It was an engineering course so I’ll focus on some technical details.\n\nSo the main idea for plant-based meat (PBM) is to find a source of protein that has similar nutritional value as meat, and optimally the same taste, texture, colour and smell.\n\nA popular mate...
What is the difference between algebra and calculus?	[ "Algebra deals with numbers, and formulas / equations / relationships between numbers. Calculus deals with functions, and relationships / transformations between functions.\n\nBasically, algebra is \"basic math\"; you have numbers and you have rules about what it means to add, subtract, multiply, etc. You establi...
Why do muscles stiffen and lose flexibility? And why does stretching sometimes feel good and sometimes hurt?	[ "Lots and lots of reasons. But ELI5. Muscles get stiff because they get used to being short and all the fibres get tighter and closer together. It can also be because of literal knots in the muscle. Imagine you cut a piece of string in half, to make it whole you have to tie a knot in it. The string is shorter ...
What is plaque next to teeth, how is it created?	[ "Plaque is a thin layer of bacteria eating the sugars in your mouth. \n\nIt is linked to diet generally. More sugar = more plaque. \n\nI think mouthwash just kills the bacteria. I don't think it washes away plaque. Maybe it does idk.\n\nIf you brush/floss often enough and don't eat too much sugar, you'll be fine. I...
If somebody spits at a crime scene before it takes place and they swab it by accident, could they be charged with DNA evidence?	[ "It possible they would be identified & questioned but if they had reasonable explanation of how spit came to be at the scene & there was no other evidence connecting the spitter to the crime then it highly unlikely they would be considered a suspect let alone charged because the spit alone would never be enoug...
If cold air condenses, how can it be true that the lower the pressure gets the colder it is?	[ "Imagine your body has the same properties as air and I placed you into a box that you fit into perfectly. I cool you down, you condense (take up less space) and as such, your body stops touching the wall of the box and you have more room to wiggle.\n\nNow say I heat you up and you expand, you're going to start pre...
why does US employment law allow such incredible insecurity?	[ "It's actually worse than you think.\n\nThe two week notice is a common requirement for the employee to provide the employer. IE, if I am an accountant at a company and I want to gracefully quit my job to take employment somewhere else, I should provide a two week notice to my boss.\n\nBut in most, if not all, ...
How does our body REALLY react when we starve ourselves or consume way too few calories a day for a period of time and how come it essentially leads to weight gain most of the time?	[ "Your metabolism will adjust to however many calories you feed it. Up to a certain point. Extreme starvation will put the body into starvation mode or a low metabolic state. Once you've reached this mode and you start eating normally again it takes time for your body's metabolism to adjust." ]
Explaining a Sonic Boom	[ "Its important to remember than a sonic boom is not an \"explosion\" or event that happens at the moment you break the sound barrier. This seems to be a common misunderstanding. As an aircraft travels through the air above the speed of sound, it creates a very high pressure shock wave that trails behind it in a con...
Can you get diabetes if you eat sugar daily but always burn it through sports and endurance exercising?	[ "Yes and no. \n\nYes because anyone can get diabetes. There are multiple types. Type 1, also known as Juvenile Diabetes because it normally develops in children, is when your immune system attacks the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Type 1 diabetics will need to inject insulin for the rest of their life. \...
Is the seasoning or the noodles unhealthy in Instant Ramen?	[ "It's both. The noodles are deep-fried prior to being packaged which makes them high in calories and saturated fat. The season packets use a ton of a salt because it's an easy way to enhance the flavor for cheap. Both are bad independently, so together they are worse.\n\nDon't believe the msg hype, unless you have ...
how come the Alphabet and Cyrillic share so many letters that are either identical or very similar looking, and are sometimes pronounced the same/similar and sometimes not?	[ "The Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet are both based very heavily on the Greek alphabet. \n\nWhich is why \"a\" (alpha) is the same in all three, and why \"gamma\" is a г or \"rho\" (Р) are the same in Cyrillic and Greek.\n\nHistorically, Slavs adopted a form of Greek Orthodoxy (one major branch of Ch...
Why don’t muscles show up on X-Rays, but do on MRIs?	[ "X-rays are effected by dense substances like bone so they are clearly defined on X-rays. MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imagers work by vibrating molecules under a powerful magnetic force show entirely different views of the body - _URL_0_", "For the most part x-ray photons pass easily through the muscle whereas pass...
Why does poured liquid drip down the side of a pitcher if not poured at a sufficient angle?	[ "Water really likes to stick to things. When you pour at an angle, the force of gravity is more than the sticking force, so it just falls. But when you tip it just a little, the water will pour over and cling to the surface, and hold on as long as it can." ]
Does weight lifting damage your spine?	[ "Not really... Unless you're using improper form (thus putting extra stress on your spine instead of your muscles and joints), lifting too much for your ability level, or are pushing your body to the extreme.", "It doesn't if you exercise properly. In many cases bad exercise form leads to lower back injuries as i...
Why are USB drives default to FAT32 and not NTFS?	[ "Supportability\n\nNTFS is only semi-supported in operating systems other than Windows. Linux and BSD have a free and open-source NTFS driver, called NTFS-3G, with both read and write functionality. macOS comes with read-only support for NTFS; its disabled-by-default write support for NTFS is unstable.", "NTFS c...
What is the difference in viewing experience in a theater between 35mm film and digital	[ "It's a completely different process. Each has unique artifacts that the other simply can't reproduce. It's also a function of the cinematographer, who may or may not choose to use the media's artifacts for artistic reasons.\n\n35mm film can exist with several different aspect ratios, through the use of special p...
How are schools of fish so organized with their movements if they don’t make noise and can’t communicate?	[ "Fish have sensory organs along the sides of their body, called the lateral line, that can detect changes in water pressure. When one fish turns, it creates vibrations in the water other fish react to, maintaining their schooling pattern.", "They watch each other, and each tries to turn in the same direction as ...
Why does macaroni and cheese lose so much flavor when refrigerated then reheated?	[ "When you re-heat things in a microwave, water molecules are what absorb the microwaves and receive the energy. With things like cheese, that makes the water kind of separate out and makes the cheese more 'soggy and stringy' instead of 'foamy'. Texture changes taste. \nIf you re-heat your Mac and cheese in an o...
why does eating unhealthy foods make your body crave unhealthy foods?	[ "One simple mechanism is due to blood sugar levels. \n\nMost of your body can burn sugar for fuel, or other stuff. Your brain can only use sugar (with a few exceptions).\n\nTo keep your muscles and whatnot from using up all the blood sugar and killing you, your body uses insulin as a signal for when it's ok for the...
Why are muscles sore the first time you work out after a long period of inactivity but not the second time?	[ "We do not have a very strong understanding of [Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)](_URL_0_). The leading theory is the pain is the result of the small tears your muscles which occur during the part of movement where your muscle is contracting but lengthening (eccentric phase). Muscles can only contract (shorten)...

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