Split (3)

train · 273k rows

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how can DNA tests be used to show what your ancestry is?	[ "We don't have exactly the same DNA -- everyone has some mutations in various parts of the genome.\n\nSay you measure the DNA of 10 people from Thailand and their genome looks like this:\n\nACGTGCCCATCGCGATCG\n\nThen you measure the DNA of 10 people from Italy and their genome looks like this:\n\nAGGTCCCCATCGCGTTCG...
Stadium disasters	[ "It's worth pointing out that when you hear 'stampede' people think of Mufasa dying trampled in the Lion King. This is overwhelmingly not what happens. \n\nWhat usually happens in these cases is more appropriately referred to as a crowd crush. Something causes a large number of people to try to exit at once, or f...
Why is the symbol of the heart so different from what the actual organ looks like?	[ "The symbol developed in the Middle Ages, when it was very rare to obtain permission to dissect a body; knowledge of anatomy was quite rare. What's more, there were few drawings available, so that most people with any knowledge of anatomy relied on written descriptions of what the organ looked like.\n\nThe earliest...
"Quantum Cheshire Cats"	[ "They didn't discover a method of tearing things apart, they are observing a phenomenon they don't have a proper explanation for yet, as with many things in quantum mechanics. \n\nKeep in mind that I am by no means an expert.\n\nThere is a fundamental property true for all quantum objects, in that you cannot determ...
Why is Polygamy Illegal?	[ "It makes taxes, inheritance, divorce, and lots of other things very complicated.", "From a historical context, back in the mid 1800s, the Republican party referred to slavery and polygamy the the \"twin relics of barbarism\" and wanted to rid them from the territories. While the slavery part was obviously geare...
I've learned today that some bugs and flies sees the world in slow motion. How does that work?	[ "What we see isn't produced by our eyes but by how our brain interprets what our eyes see. For insects to see in slow motion just means that their brains process information from their eyes much faster than ours do. Also calling it \"slow\" motion is completely arbitrary as that is just a comparison to what we are ...
How is Microsoft making money from Windows 10 if they are giving it away for free?	[ "1. They collect data on you by default for targeted advertising.\n\n2. They have a lot of services that default or redirect to Bing, which they get ad revenue from.\n\n3. Much of their business comes from corporations using their products, not individual users. Indeed, Enterprise builds are not covered by the same...
What goes into starting an airline company?	[ "Firstly you need a planes the smallest and most popular Boeing is the 737, it will set you back £70,748,963.76 per unit though you could get a lower price for bulk buying, to note if you buy them just after a terror attack they will be cheaper. It is what RyanAir did just after 9/11 attacks. Note a 737 can only do...
The different types of alcohol (chemistry, not beverages)	[ "Ethyl alcohol is ethanol. It has the chemical formula H₃C-CH₂OH (two carbons). This is what you find in alcoholic beverages.\n\nMethanol has one carbon instead, with the formula H₃COH. This is what's dangerous in moonshine - methanol is much more toxic than ethanol because its metabolic products are formaldehyde a...
why does a bathtub of water eventually get colder than the room	[ "It doesn't. Our sensation of heat is not the same thing as temperature. Easy example: tile floors feel colder than rugs. In reality they're the same temperature. Our sensation of heat is because tile floor more readily absorbs our body heat than does a rug. The sensation of losing our body heat quickly is what we ...
What's up with merchandise at stores that have a certain price on the packaging itself?	[ "I worked at a store that was similar to Dollar General, a lot of the stuff we got in would have that printed on it, but we sold it for less. It's just how some manufacturer's package the product.\n\nI believe more often than not, those came from places where the store had its own manufacturer, and then we would ge...
Why is everyone so obsessed over Nikola Tesla? What could he have really done?	[ "What do you mean by \"could\"? He did plenty things, like inventing AC power and the induction motor, among a [long list of other things](_URL_0_).\n\nPeople generally like him because they view him as an underdog who wasn't given all the recognition he deserved, especially given his battle with Edison, in which E...
If matter can’t be destroyed, what happens to an object when it is vaporized?	[ "A vapor is still matter. So are the people who were \"vaporized\" in the atomic blasts in Japan; they were simply broken down into much smaller component parts, probably gas, ashes and dust.\n\nHowever, before they were vaporized, some of those poor people blocked the initial gamma ray burst and some part of the ...
How can it be that every lock in the world is different and there are not two of the same? Or isn't this the case?	[ "It isn't the case.\n\nIt would be theoretical possible to have every lock in the world be different by making them all a different size and shape but it would be highly impractical.\n\nMost locks operate with a series of different pins and lengths \\- your standard household lock would have somewhere between 100,0...
Technique	[ "At its primitive sense, technique for me implies that someone does something with a certain way. Now the differentiation between good technique, and bad technique, is how well they achieve their end. Technique should be automatic, incorporating itself into almost a subconscious behavior. It improves the way we fun...
how does catnip work and would it work on other animals.?	[ "Works just like any other drug. Changing how long or how many neutral transmitters are left in the cleft to bind to the receptor neuron.\n\nAs long as an animal has similar receptors to the ones a cat has it should effect them also.\n\nSee _URL_0_\nSome humans smoke it." ]
How come Germany get to keep the 3 world cups from when they were West Germany? Surely when East and West united it became a brand new country?	[ "Officially the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) ceased to exist, and it's territory was ceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. The current German state is technically the same one as west Germany, just with more territory than it used to have. Same as how the USA did not become a new country when Texas...
What is the photoelectric effect?	[ "Imagine for moment that electrons responded to sound instead of to light.\n\nAn electron will jump to higher energy levels in response to a sound of a specific pitch. Even if the sound is quiet it will still respond and jump to the higher energy level. However, even if the sound is very loud, if it is the wrong pi...
What is the Anthropocene, why is it important that it be recognizes as a real event, and why would anybody be opposed to such a thing?	[ "According to [Wikipedia](_URL_0_), it is \"a proposed epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems\". Epochs are portions of the history of Earth on a geologic timescale, \"longer than an age but shorter than a period.\"\n\n*For example, \"Jurrasic\" is a p...
...the immigration crisis. How can people be protesting kids? Why can't these children be adopted?	[ "These kids have parents. If someone adopted a child with parents that want them it's called kidnapping...", "First, someone has to adopt the children. If they don't, someone has to pay for their care indefinitely.\n\nTry to think about it this way -- Say it's only 20,000 kids right now. That isn't a lot. But if ...
How did European's become light skinned?	[ "Your skin has something called melanin which gives the skin its dark or light colour. More melanin means darker colour and less means lighter colour. The goal of melanin is to protect from UV radiation. Since there's less UV exposure up north, skin needs to produce less melanin and the people from there are thus l...
Why do small private colleges without large staff, facilities or research departments have such high tuition? Where does that money go?	[ "Because small private schools lack state-funding, lack large, research oriented programs that draw in grant money, and lack major athletic programs to draw in revenue. These reasons (and others, I'm sure) make it so that if small schools want to keep the lights on, they have to charge more in tuition. It is not, i...
What are charter schools and why are they so controversial?	[ "Charter Schools are publicly funded schools often ran by independent groups and may or may not be part of existing school districts. They are often given more leeway in terms of deciding rules and curriculum than other public schools.\n\nThe controversy is that they are publicly funded which means funding for a c...
The "internet" to someone from the 1950s	[ "Basically just go over the history of computers so that each step is easy enough to imagine from the last:\n\nYou know adding machines? Well we've made them better. Much better. Instead of being mechanically constructed to do sums or other things with numbers we enter with some buttons we've extended them to be ab...
Proxy War	[ "You really hate your next-door neighbour James, but you work for him and you can't afford to just up and leave. Instead, you get your friend Bob to go over and occupy James's friend Tom's time, so James can't spend time with Tom. Repeat until James has no friends.", "A proxy war is when two countries use a confl...
Why does the USA have CIA,NSA,FBI?	[ "FBI is internal, CIA is external, and NSA is oriented more toward signals intelligence than spies. Each has their own role but conceptually there is a lot of overlap and sharing of resources.", "The CIA, NSA, and FBI are (at least in part) intelligence agencies that gathers information. \n\nThe FBI has a dual ro...
Why does the Nintendo Zapper not work with modern televisions?	[ "The Zapper was very precisely timed to the screens (the refresh rate, specifically). It looked for the screen to be drawn at a certain exact moment, and used that data to tell if you had, for example, hit the duck or not.\n\nToday's plasma and LCD televisions have different refresh rates/timing, and are in fact le...
What are the curving lines that appear in digital photos of computer screens?	[ "[Moiré pattern](_URL_0_). It's what happens when the grid of pixels that create image on the screen and the grid of pixels that capture the image in the camera don't perfectly align, which is almost always because they only align at four angles (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) and are not aligned at every angle in-between." ...
In grade school we are taught that we can either use 3.14 or 22/7 as pi. But 22 divided by 7 is actually 3.1428(etc), not 3.1415(etc). Why are these used interchangeably?	[ "22/7 is the closest rational estimate of pi that we have which uses simple numbers in fractional form. This makes it useful to young students who have trouble with decimal representation or with multiplying numbers with several digits.\n\nFor the purposes of grade school calculations, it's a close enough approxim...
how actors who only work in bit parts, make a living	[ "How they make a living? Working in restaurants", "This [link](_URL_0_) shows what wages are required by SAG. The rates are outdated, and are different for TV actors, but it gives you a general idea of the pay rate." ]
Google and all it's add ons.	[ "If you have a Google account, all you have to do is go to _URL_0_ and you can check out Google docs for yourself. Just click the red create button in the upper left and create a new document. Just like Word, you can write some stuff in there, format it, etc.\n\nUnlike Word, though, the document is stored in your G...
What happens when I put a magnet up to a computer monitor, or television screen.	[ "A CRT display is based on firing a beam of electrons at a coated surface that lights up when hit by electrons. The display is controlled using an electromagnet to deflect the beam, so that the right bits light up to make the desired image. Moving another magnet close to the display messes up this control system. ...
How forums detect whether you're still online or not?	[ "They tag you as \"online\" when you visit a page of theirs. After that, you're \"online\" for a certain period of time (say, 10 minutes).\n\nIf you haven't done anything on the site for that time, you're tagged \"offline\". Otherwise, your \"online\" timer restarts.", "/u/daniu is right. Most forums detect that ...
Why do your emotions come in 'waves' after something very emotional occurs?	[ "most emotions come from chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenalin, serotonin, etc. When your brain starts to release these chemicals, it doesn't happen all at once. It begins to secrete them as if opening a valve. The flow starts slow until you get enough of the chemicals and your brain is fille...
Why does 100 degree F water feel hotter then 100 degree F weather	[ "When you put your hand in 100 degree F air the air around your hand starts cooling down. However only the immediate air around your hand. Air is a good thermal insulator which means that it will not transfer heat from the surrounding air to the air in contact with your skin very fast. The molecules are too far apa...
Why do we have historical evidence that Julius Caesar existed but none about Jesus Christ?	[ "Because Caesar was actually important back then, unlike Jesus.", "He wasn't a politician, a warlord, a general, a murderer. He was just some guy that had 13 other guys follow him around all the time. He was among 1000s of prisoners crucified so nothing exceptional there.", "/r/askhistorian's [take on it](_...
- Objectification of women?	[ "Objectification is the act of conceptually reducing someone to an object, a thing or tool based on their physical features or what they're capable of being used for, and otherwise disregarding their independence. \n\nA good reference to it i like is a line from Reggie Watts' song \"Fuck Shit Stack\"\n\n > I like ...
; Why is Jesus on a cross the symbol for the religion and used against demons?	[ "Jesus on the cross is dying for our sins, to absolve and protect all the rest of us. He protects us from our own \"demons,\" that is, our sinful nature.\n\nRemember, being crucified didn't destroy Jesus. He was resurrected shortly thereafter. It was merely an ordeal he went through on our behalf.\n\nI think I've g...
Why do sunsets/sunrises turn pink and orange, but those colors aren't present with the sun is actually up?	[ "White light is every color of light combined.\n\nWhen you see a rainbow, what you're seeing is the different waves of light separated.\n\nAt sunset/sunrises, sun light isn't aimed directly at you. It hits the atmosphere and bends to where you are. So instead of seeing an intense white light, you'll see shades of c...
Why does every elevator have a "door close" button if almost none of these buttons actually work?	[ "They work fine when the fire key is turned.", "They do work (sometimes), but most people press a floor button first, which have the 'close door' command built in. If you're standing in an elevator which hasn't been called to a floor, there will be a period before the doors close automatically that pressing door ...
Movies used to show people dialing numbers like 555-1212. Why couldn't film producers secure ordinary phone numbers from the phone companies by buying them outright?	[ "They can, and have. But why pay money when you don't have to? Also, they might not have that number forever, so whoever gets it after them will still get harassed. No point.", "Why do something that costs money when 555 numbers are free?", "7 digit numbers are local. 734-2322 will get you a different person de...
Why can Netflix stream at 2.0 MB/s, but Steam can't get above 500 KB/s?	[ "I think you are confusing megabytes (MB) and megabits (Mb). Does your ISP offer you 4 MB/s or 4 Mb/s? Megabits are far more commonly used when ISPs tell you your speed. A 4 Mb/s speed is roughly 500 KB/s (kilobytes) per second) so that sounds about right and your Netflix is probably able to utilize near the full c...
Can a commercial aircraft, like a Boeing 747, do a looping?	[ "They can't loop in the nice circular sense. They don't have enough thrust to make it over the loop even if they start at max speed. However, if you're careful, you can get far enough over than, when you stall out, you're past vertical and can \"flop\" over to complete the loop in a rather ungrateful manner. You ar...
Why do people snort coke? Does coke get in the bloodstream through your lungs?	[ "Nope, it enters through your sinuses. Your sinus cavity has all kinds of membranes that the drugs can enter your bloodstream through, and the effect is pretty quick. The only really quicker ways are smoking or injecting, which both require some equipment and preparation - snorting is quick and easy. Eating or d...
Why is it that certain weapons, like poisonous gasses, are banned from use in warfare by the Geneva convention, yet countries and governments can still use them against their own population, such as tear gas to control riots?	[ "Geneva convention is largely a gentlemen agreement. No one wants their soldiers getting gassed or having to patch up wounds from hollow points. Its easier to just say no one gets chemical weapons and fight with conventional weapons, then it is to say \"there are no rules\" and everyone have them. Its already illeg...
Why can't I buy health insurance whenever I want (in the US)? What is a "qualifying life event?"	[ "If you could buy insurance whenever you wanted, then no one would have insurance until they were sick. Why would you? if you can buy insurance whenever, just wait until the doctor says that you have the serious disease, or until your kid is in the ambulance, and buy the insurance then. You save the money you have...
How do we create saliva in our mouths and where does it come from?	[ "I don't have any reference materials, so I can't to much detail, but nobody else answered yet, so I'll do a summary.\n\nSaliva is a combo of mostly water and proteins with a little bit of dissolved salts. It comes from salivary glands that are placed in several places around your mouth. Mostly under the tongue. A ...
Why do we have a tax bracket system as opposed to a continuous sliding scale?	[ "Probably just to simplify things. Imagine being an employer or personal accountant, having to count how much taxes someone pays. Brackets lets them estimate their income, choose a clearly defined bracket, and see how much income tax is. On a sliding scale, they will need to know their exact income for the year, an...
Why do standardized tests each have unique and seemingly arbitrary score ranges? (e.g. SAT 400-1600, ACT 1 to 36, LSAT 120-180, MCAT 472 to 528, USMLE Step 1 1-300)	[ "The short answer is that it is arbitrary.\n\nThe longer answer is that the scoring systems reflect the priorities of the test makers.\n\nMany test creators intentionally set the lowest score far above 0 to make it more obvious that they are interval scales, not ratio scales. In other words, a score of 900 on the ...
If Flash and Java plugins are going to be removed from Firefox and Chrome, why can't they make "good" versions of the plugins that will still work?	[ "The problem isn't with the plug-ins but rather security issues with the core languages of Flash and Java. Mozilla (which makes Firefox) and Google (which makes Chrome) feel that there aren't ways to make safe use of those languages for web-based services through your browser.", "Web advocates prefer open standar...
Why is it that humans have a lot more distinct feature where you can tell one apart from another, but animals almost always look the same?	[ "Three things: There’s a phenomenon where people have a hard time telling people of a race different than their own apart, because their brain hasn’t practiced seeing those types of faces. I would assume this is also the case with animals. Basically, we’re good at identifying human features because we see them a l...
Why do we move our whole body around while playing a video game as if we are in the game?	[ "Your brain consists of neurons that are connected to one another, and these connections strengthen over time through repetition.\n\nIn your whole lifetime you've learned that the way to evade an object flying at your head is to move certain muscles. So when some neurons send a signal \"there's something flying at ...
How Car Lighters Work	[ "At the basic level, wires that don't conduct electricity well generate heat as they resist the flow of it. When you plug a cigarette lighter into your car's port, the electricity does just this: generates heat on a wire. Once it glows red, it is hot enough to light a cigarette if touched to it.", "It's a poor re...
The body can self heal wounds and broken bones etc. Why not regrow limbs after amputation?	[ "It is theoretically possible, as some species of lizards con do it. However, evolution drove us towards scar tissue, which serves to seal the wound from infection long before the limb could regrow.", "As Onisake points out, re-growing a limb would mean activating stem cells and growth pathways that haven't been ...
How do spacecrafts such as Juno send data back to earth?	[ "Via radio waves. NASA and other space agencies have huge antennae arrays that can pickup the very weak signals that are being sent by the probes." ]
Please ELI5: why too much salt is bad for you.	[ "Basically too much salt can increase your blood pressure (bad) as your body has limited ability to remove it.\n\nThe reason salt increases your blood pressure is due to a concept called homeostasis. \n\nSay you have two water tanks with a pipe in between them with the level equal.. if you add water to one, half th...
How does Sensodyne toothpaste work?	[ "Essentially, your teeth get sensitive when the dentine within the tooth is exposed. On a microscopic level, the dentine has these little tubes that pass on impulses to the pulp, which is the nerve on the tooth. \n\nSo when you get a cold ice cream on it, it will transmit the signal straight to the pulp, giving you...
How do they determine the caloric value of different foods?	[ "Originally they used a [bomb calorimeter](_URL_1_) but now it is just calculated using the [Atwater system](_URL_0_) from the percentages of individual components.\n\ni.e.\n\nif we know the energy in a single gram of protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, or sugar then we just need to know how many grams of each is in...
Why is Oman such a 'quiet' nation despite being right in the middle of chaos?	[ "I should begin with the disclaimer that I'm not an expert in the subject. That being said, I do have a very strong interest in geopolitics and can hopefully provide a half-decent answer until someone better educated comes along. Of the top of my head, I can think of three potential reasons for why Oman is relative...
If diamond is the hardest substance, and you can only cut it with other diamonds, how were diamonds originally acquired?	[ "Diamond is very hard, which means it is very resistant to scratching. It has a very low toughness though, which is the resistance to impact.\n\n[\"Somewhat related to hardness is another mechanical property toughness, which is a material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact. The toughness of natural d...
Why did TV and computer screens used to flicker in videos, and now they don't?	[ "CRTs work by scanning a electron beam left to right 15 to 100 thousand times a second while scanning top to bottom at 50 to 120 (numbers are approximate) times per second. That fills the screen, but the beam only hits one spot at a time. The phosphors glow brightly at first but start to fade quickly. By the time a...
Drag. The origin, history and culture of men dressing up as women.	[ "I don't know if this is the origin, but it's certainly part of the history:\n\nIn ye olden tymes (going back to Shakespeare and far earlier), it was unlawful (or at least very very frowned upon) for women to act on stage. Boys were frequently used to portray women, and some actors even found a rich niche acting in...
Why is the Great Gatsby considered to be the pinnacle of American Literature?	[ "your question is a bit flawed because all art is subjective, so what you may think to be a rather dull book can be considered to be a masterpiece by a lot of other people (myself included). And it's for the latter reason that books like The Great Gatsby attain status as a \"classic\"; because enough people agree t...
What, exactly, is poo made of?	[ "I'll tackle the Fiber question and I can punch it out with how tired I am.\n\nBasically we cannot digest fiber; so what happens is it is a long polysaccharides chain that scrapes the side of your intestines as it passes and this stimulates your bowels to release a mucus. This mucus helps lubricate the feces as we...
the current terrorist threat that is causing the US to shut down embassies in the Middle East	[ "A conversation was allegedly intercepted between two top level members of AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) speaking in very general terms about a terrorist attack in the very near future. Given what happened at Bengazi last September, the Obama administation is using an abundance of caution because the las...
Examples of tax deduction and exemption	[ "tax deduction is something you paid taxes on when you got it, but can remove it from your taxes at the end of the year. Most business expenses count, so if your office bought a table then you spent earned money (usually taxable) on that table, but since it was a business expense you can deduct the cost of that tab...
Why don't any larger animals have compound/multiple eyes like bugs do?	[ "Depth perception, visual acuity, and distance. Compound eyes don't fair very well on any of those factors, all of which are far more favorable than having a large cone of view, especially in light of possessing other senses (namely hearing and scent) and ocular muscles.", "Because the only real advantage Compoun...
In the Imperial Measurement System, why are "pounds" abbreviated as "lbs."?	[ "[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nJust use the search function next time?" ]
Why is it that you cannot fix a flat tire if the hole is on the side?	[ "The tread surface of a tire is much more rigid because that's the part of the tire designed to make contact with the road. The sidewall is much more flexible because it is designed to adapt to changes in tire pressure without bursting. Sealing the tread is easy because the patch will remain relatively still, but...
Why does pouring water on grease fire increase the amount of flames?	[ "Grease is an oil, it's a liquid at burning temperatures.\n\nOil and water don't mix, so when you squirt water on grease you get balls of water in oil and vice versa. The balls of water in oil are a big problem. The oil is over 212˚F (100˚C) so the water boils into steam. The steam expands, spreading the oil int...
how Americans are okay with insanity they call insurance companies	[ "There is. Pretty much everyone hates the insurance companies. But half of us don't think that any of the proposed alternatives would actually be any better. \n\nAlso, for the majority of Americans the healthcare system is actually quite good, despite what you see on reddit. Quality care is available without si...
Why does electricity conduct better through different materials?	[ "In a metal the electrons 'float' in a sea around the nuclei, they are not bound to a specific atom. In wood each electron is mostly bound to a specific nuclei. The flow of electricity depends on how free the electrons are to move around." ]
Why is it advised to cut down on salt when one is bodybuilding?	[ "Someone can feel free to correct me, but I believe this is due to the osmosis of the water in our body. With too much salt, the water in your body will retain more making you look bloated. Potassium helps this, because then you will have more potassium for the sodium potassium pump. So the salt or sodium will be r...
How are acids named? (Chemistry)	[ "It's a combination of systematic naming and what's always been done.\n\nIf it's an organic acid, that is, it has a carboxylic acid group in it attached to some number of other carbon groups, it is named based on the IUPAC naming scheme, for which wikipedia is probably your best explanation. Examples of organic ac...
Rhythmic modes in Medieval music	[ "I could be mistaken, as I'm not overly familiar with older forms of music theory, but I thought medieval rhythmic modes were just the first (known) attempt in history to denote rhythm in the written form. Prior to the advent of medieval rhythmic modes sheet music contained pitch information, but the rhythm of an...
How did 'John/Jane Doe' become the generic name for an unidentifiable person?	[ "In English law before the 19th century, there was a lot of emphasis placed on very technical matters. This often led to the real issue not nicely fitting in a standard lawsuit form. For instance, if you had a dispute with someone about who owned a piece of land, you couldn't really sue them directly to argue that ...
When upside down, how are you still able to swallow.	[ "Peristalsis.\n\nThat is the name for the contraction of myscles that forces food along its path. It is what allows you to eat upside down and what allows astronauts to eat in 0 g. \n\nIncidently, not all animals have it. Birds dont, which is why they tip their head up when swallowimg and why we can't take birds in...
How does "Whataboutism" differ from giving context to information?	[ "\"Whataboutism\" was a technique first used by the Soviet government and press in order to deflect criticism by America of the USSR's human rights record. Whenever an article appeared in an American newspaper of, for example, Stalin's purges, the Soviet press responded with a critique of racial segregation in the ...
How do ad networks work?	[ "Ad networks generally have agreements with a lot of popular websites. The ad network pays the sites to place their ads, and vendors pay the ad networks to display their ads in those spots.\n\nWhen / if you click on one of those ads it brings you to the vendor's website. The ad network tracks where you saw the ad...
What determines if you are burning fat, muscles or calories?	[ "I assume you meant \n\n > What determines if you are burning fat, protein, or carbohydrates?\n\nIt is dependent on a number of factors, the type of exertion does not matter. Running or weight lifting alone do not determine which energy source your body uses. As I think you meant to say, there are three energy rese...
Why are you ordered to register as sex offender if you are peeing in public? There is no sexual matter involved in peeing.	[ "There is no sexual component in peeing, no. But there is a sexual component in purposely showing your genitals to other members of the public. \n\nThe thing is, it can be very hard to gauge the motive someone had when they were peeing in public. Were they genuinely desperate and couldn't wait, or are they peeing t...
Why do you bite your tongue, cheek or lip while chewing?	[ "We use our tongue and cheek to position and rotate the food between our teeth. When we push a piece of food the wrong way or overestimate the amount of force needed to position the food, we bite ourselves. Chewing wouldn't work so well if we were just chomping up and down letting the food fall where it may!", "I...
Why do doctors offices that know they're going to busy only keep one available doctor in office? Why are the others just having a day off?	[ "So a lot of this will vary based on where you are and what type of \"doctor's office\" you are talking about. But in general doctor's offices (and some other businesses like cable companies) will schedule very tightly to attempt to see as many people as possible. Yes, this means longer wait times for the consumer ...
How did we develop all this advanced technology in less than 300 years when it took us hundreds of thousands just to learn how to farm?	[ "The major catalyst was the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th century.\n\nPolitical stability and the ability to efficiently produce food were contributing causes to the industrial revolution happening.", "Technology is a multiplier, not an adder. In other words, if you wanted to add a long li...
Why do planes need to be pressurized?	[ "At high altitudes the atmospheric pressure is very low - there's less air than there is down at the surface. If the plane wasn't pressurized there wouldn't be enough air to breathe.", "Wherever there's gravity, the pressure of any fluid (liquid or gas) increases with depth. So, your ears pop when you dive to the...
Why Do Movies Shot 30 Years Ago Look “Old” When Played Now?	[ "Technology in camera equipment has come a long way. Lenses have gotten better. Lighting has gotten better. The art of film has been perfected over the years. But I think the main factor of this \"old\" look has to do with post production. Back in the 70s and 80s they didn't have the computer power to color correct...
If permanent colonies were built on the Moon, how would someone born there be effected on Earth due to the differences in gravity?	[ "The moon does have gravity. It's a lot lower than Earth's, but it's still there - a lot more than the microgravity experienced on the ISS. \n\nAll we can really do is theorise, but the likelihood is that if someone grew up/lived a long time in lower gravity, coming down to Earth would be pretty traumatic. Your b...
Self driving cars become common. Who is responsible for crashes and accidents?	[ "It is impossible to answer this question. The laws / terms of insurance have not been written yet. Like so many things, they probably won't be written until the first accidents start happening.", "The owner of the car that caused the accidents.\n\nJust because the driver was removed doesn't mean that road rules ...
why does water taste so sweet after vomiting?	[ "I'd say there are a couple of reasons. \nFirstly, the water washes away the acid residue left over in your mouth by your stomach fluids, causing relief of the burning sensation and that might be perceived as sweet. \nAlso your body is most likely craving water due to the sudden onset of dehydration that was probab...
What is the actual purpose of having a United States Space Force?	[ "I think the idea is to split the responsibility for space off of the Air Force, much like how NASA was split off for civilian aerospace work. The Air Force actually spends more on space operations than NASA (moreso if you include agencies like the NRO). Putting that as it's own organization would, in theory, let t...
Why baseball stadiums are different sizes	[ "Tradition. And more than any sport, baseball is a slave to tradition.\n\nWhen professional baseball was in its infancy, there were no dedicated stadiums. Teams would play wherever they could find the space, usually somewhere used primarily for something else. The Yankees, for example, used to play on polo groun...
Why does your skin heal faster at night than during the day? May it be for cuts, wounds, spots, acne etc...	[ "Because your body's resources aren't dedicated to moving you around, talking, seeing, etc. Also because you're not moving around, touching your injuries and generally making things worse.", "When your in a survival situation the stress hormones released block the ability of your body to put resources into non-ur...
What causes blood to seep out of cuts and scrapes?	[ "For blood to come out of a wound, some kind of blood vessel must be damaged. If the cut or scrape is very small, then these blood vessels were likely capillaries.", "Blood vessels come in a variety of sizes based on their exact purpose. Veins and arteries move blood around the body after being pumped by the hear...
- What are undersea cables, and how do they work?	[ "Undersea cables (aka submarine cables) are made up of bundles of fiber optic cables running along the ocean floor that connect different parts of the world (e.g. North America and Europe) to exchange data/internet communications and telephone conversations.\n\nThe first submarine cable was laid all the way back in...
I was always told not to put a fridge or AC on an extension cord. Why?	[ "Refrigerators and AC units have a much higher peak power draw than most household appliances. An extension cord that isn't rated to handle that kind of draw could overheat and short, or cause a fire.", "Anything that allows current to flow also loses a little bit in resistive heating. (Technically, this isn't tr...
How are humans able to talk and hear their voice inside their head?	[ "Something to do with the brain neurons (maybe associated with the limbic system and hypothalamus) that ultimately leads to consciousness. Consciousness is still a mystery unsolved -- no one really knows what it is, how to accurately define it etc. But that voice inside the head operating while you carry out other ...
in the USA, when does a dad (or mum) in full time employment see their children?	[ "You work 9-5 in a lot of jobs, meaning that you see your kids in the morning and evening." ]
Why does it hurt significantly more standing on a 10 min bus ride, over walking for 20 minutes when commuting?	[ "Standing tends to strain the same muscles over a long period of time. Walking spreads the load over several sets of muscles, so that while you're technically expending more energy no one set of muscles have to bear the load for the entire period.", "Static postures cause lots of things to occur - but mostly it a...
How do TOR/.onion sites make you completely anonymous, even to the government/FBI?	[ "Note: Tor is a bit more advanced than just proxying. \n\nTor works like this:\n\n* There is a big, public list of trusted friends. These friends know how to talk to each other in private\n* You send a message to one of these trusted friends (call him Friend1) that contains a key.\n* You send a second messa...
- Can things like light waves or radio waves become radioactive?	[ "Light and radio waves are both kinds of radiation. Specifically, they are both non-ionizing EM radiation. What \"non-ionizing\" means is basically that they won't come barging in and jack up your DNA. X-rays and gamma rays on the other hand are ionizing EM radiation, and definitely will smack your DNA upside its h...

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