Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Do dogs have bonds within their families?	[ "Yes. Most social organisms do. There is something called the Hamilton rule which was the first quantitative description of a phenomenon called kin selection; meaning that an organisms will risk its life (and/or ability to reproduce) to save the life (and/or the ability to reproduce) of those who are closely relate...
Why is it that before an orgasm you have a feeling willingness to do anything, but as soon as the orgasm passes you come to your "senses" (NSFW)	[ "According to some studies about human psychology, our disgust response is literally reduced the hornier you are. Which makes sense. Sex isnt really the most hygienic thing in the world haha. But once you're done, your disgust feelings return to normal.", "Acute, massive release of prolactin in certain regions of...
Was Bill Clinton impeached?	[ "Yes he was impeached for perjury (lying under oath) and obstruction of justice.\n\nImpeachment refers to any official being accused of illegal activity. So while impeached he was not removed from office. \n\nRichard Nixon was also impeached though he resigned before the trial.", "Yes. He was impeached for perju...
How do we sense that something is cold? Can we sense particle speed of objects?	[ "Temperature difference between two objects causes a bit of a flux between the two. So if object A is cold and object B is warm, the particles in object B are at a relatively higher energy state than A, and this energy gets transferred to A. And two things happen once this occurs: object A gains energy, that is get...
How is NASA able to download data from from satellite like Hubble telescope and Juno?	[ "There are antennas on Juno that send out the information and giant dishes in different parts of the world that can pick it up no matter what side of Earth is facing Juno. It takes about 48 minutes for the signal to make if from Juno to Earth at the speed of light." ]
Why does digital data have to be stored on a physical medium?	[ "There is no such thing as \"the digital space\". \n\nEverything persistent is physical. Everything. \n\nThe only non-physical things are signals such as radio or microwaves, but they too require amplification and boosting which again would require more hardware.", "If it's measurable, it's physical. The digital ...
Why aren't escalators activated by touch/motion to save on energy costs?	[ "Because keeping the steps moving at a given speed for most of the day is cheaper and has less wear on the inner workings than constantly starting and stopping." ]
Why is the first episode of a series always called "Pilot"? Why not giving it a real title even though it serves as a pilot?	[ "Most pilots do have a title, or at least a working title. But the word pilot is used as an adjective meaning \"done as an experiment or test before introducing something more widely.\" It's importance to the series is in getting its foot in the door so to speak." ]
why big tech companies aren't using their lobbyists to stop SOPA.	[ "I remember hearing on a podcast the idea that since many of these companies are quite new, they haven't had the time to lobby and make the connections the more established companies those in the RIAA/MPAA have formed.", "Fairly simple:\n\na) They think that the public effort should be sufficient to stop it \n...
why laptop charging cords have two parts.	[ "The specifics of mains power differ greatly depending on where you are, so power bricks are usually made to handle a wide range of input voltages and frequencies (usually 100-240V at 50-60 Hz). This is because economies of scale make it less costly to make a whole lot of one slightly more expensive part that's muc...
What is cyberpunk?	[ "It's a sub genre of science fiction that's mostly characterized as a dystopian future with:\n\nVery little nature/natural resources\n\nWorld owned mostly by corporations rather than countries or government \n\nHeavy use cybernetic augmentation like implants and limb replacements \n\nLarge gap between the slums/poo...
How can we be certain that there isn't another 'Earth' on the opposite side of the sun, always out of view of our telescopes?	[ "Its gravity would have an effect on our planet, the other planets in the system, and even(on a very small scale) the sun, as well as all the comets and asteroids constantly cutting through our solar system. As we have not observed any such gravitic effects(and we'd notice, because it would screw up trajectories f...
What is the log likelihood function and how is it different from probability?	[ "Probability is chance some random or hard to predict event will occur. Usually, we can't compute probabilities exactly, so we create a model. We say getting heads on a coin flip is a 50-50 probability, even though when we analyze the actual physics, the chances aren't exactly 50%. Probabilities can be distribut...
As a baseball player, I have met many people that write with their left hand but throw with their right. However, I have never met someone that writes with their right hand and throws with their left. Why is this?	[ "From my experience as tennis/volleyball player: left handed players sometimes play sports as if they're right handed because they were tought so at a very young age. Most of the time it's because teachers just start with the assumption that everyone is right handed, and the young kids just copy it without realisin...
How do natural fields exist? (More specifically, ones found in the middle of forests.)	[ "It's part of ecological succession. Environments are constantly changing. It's a system that is complicated by an almost infinite amount of factors and conditions. Usually a glade represents an area that recently changed so that it could no longer support the other surrounding plants. This could be because of poor...
why do drills spin?	[ "There are really two things that are going on with a drill bit.\n\nFirstly, if you look at the tip of the bit, you'll feel that at the end are two sharp cutting faces. It's the constant movement of these cutting faces that removes the material in the first place - each revolution results in those cutting faces tak...
Explain "syntax and implementation" in regards to learning programming languages.	[ "Syntax is the rules of the language.\n\nIf I understood the vocabulary of English, but not the syntax, I might say something like \"explaining syntax, I am trying: to\". Even though I've put the words in the wrong order, and used the wrong punctuation, you can work out what I mean - but if you put the words in the...
Who owns a lot of the undeveloped land? Can someone just go off into the mountains, build a home off the grid with no repercussions?	[ "All land (in the US) is owned by someone. Most of the undeveloped land like you described is owned by the government.\n\nInterestingly most of this land the government will sell you for dirt cheap. So you could purchase it and live off the grid, but that is a very hard way to live.", "govt owns everything that i...
The Trayvon Martin shooting. Was out of the loop for a day or two.	[ "Trayvon Martin was a 17 year-old black male who lived with his mother in Miami, but was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida. On the way back to his father's girlfriend's house in a gated community on 2/26/12, a white, neighborhood watch captain named George Zimmerman saw Martin and was suspicious of him. He ca...
Why does someone stricken with Alzheimer's forget names and memories, but retain math skills and advanced vocabulary?	[ "They don't actually necessarily keep all of those. Vocabulary is very frequently affected by Alzheimer's, to the point that it can be part of the testing or a warning sign.", "Cracks knuckles I got this.\n\nOkay, so Alzheimers breaks down the connection between the cells in your brain. Slowly over time, it b...
If you have to have yogurt to make yogurt from "scratch", how does it form originally?	[ "leave milk out and let it naturally grow bacteria. Hope you have the right kind of non toxic bacteria." ]
Copyright / "Fair use" - how does it work?	[ "\"Fair use\" isn't something that is clearly defined. It is something that is determined in court if you are sued for copyright infringement. Only a qualified attorney could give you advice as to whether something could be considered \"fair use,\" and even then, the final decision is up to the courts of law in t...
What is this gray liquid coming out of my blender and how does it get there?	[ "The seal around the drive shaft which powers the blades inside the blender is not completely water proof. Liquid from inside the blender gets into the bearings and seals area where there is also lubricant and this liquid then slowly leaks out through the bottom onto the base." ]
Since a compass is a magnet, why do compasses always point towards magnetic north, but not a typical household ceramic magnet?	[ "The needle is long and floats on a bearing. Put your ceramic magnet so the North and South poles are parallel to the ground. Float it on water somehow and wait. It will orient itself with the magnetic field in your vicinity.\n\nCompasses orient with the magnetic field. One end points to the North magnetic pole, th...
Why do publishers have to pay royalties to voice actors when re releasing a game those VAs performed in?	[ "Because it's in their contract. \n\nA voice actor does voice acting in return for money. The terms of this are specified in the specific contract they sign. \n\nContracts may be set up so that the voice actor forfeits all rights to their performance, or retains some rights, and they may be paid all at once, or pe...
why do we sometimes wake up accidentally when our bodies are still obviously tired?	[ "It's more important to be able to respond to threats than to get a good night's sleep, and while modern life may be safe, this was not always the case.", "It could be a breathing problem. Maybe you have a cold and you aren't getting enough air flow (What I am dealing with right now) or you have sleep apnea and ...
Is dust able to stack up, let's say, 1 cm (0.39 inches) and how long would it take?	[ "Yes it can, and it depends entirely on the speed of dust production. Cotton flocking factory? Probably minutes. Intel clean room? Most likely never." ]
What happens behind the scenes when a person is clubbed and blacks out?	[ "Movies and TV show this pretty unrealistically. It's a lot easier to kill a person with a head blow than to just knock them out. This is especially true of hitting the back of their head, where the section of brain matter that controls a lot of autonomic systems happens to sit.\n\nUnconsciousness is usually cause...
What do modern spies do?	[ "OK, first, take whatever picture is in your mind, and make it about 50x more boring.", "If they told you, they'd have to kill you." ]
Why do dogs suck at hide-and-seek when they have a super sensitive olfactory sense?	[ "Remember that their noses are so sensitive that to them, the whole house is saturated with the smell of everything. Imagine trying to find one hidden bottle of perfume in the perfume department at macy's - it's just too much sensory input to be accurate in all those \"smells\" - (not saying you stink or anythin...
If I renounce my U.S citizenship where would i be deported to?	[ "You cannot revoke your citizenship while inside the country. The first step would be to leave.\n\nAssuming you were just visiting somewhere and then renounced your citizenship, that country may still be able to deport you back to the USA, just as a noncitizen. This would make some things like travel and work very ...
U.S internet costs a lot due to lack of competition. Why aren't many competitors in the U.S opposed to places like Korea?	[ "You have the cause and effect backwards here. It is expensive to be an internet provider because you have to physically run the lines and run the servers. In countries like South Korea the distance that you have to run things is short because the country is small. They also have a large percentage of the infrastru...
Why do some Internet Service packages come with data caps?	[ "Because they can get away with it. The cost for the Internet infrastructure that the company needs to provide are for peak loads, not total load. It is much cheaper for them to provide several TB of data a month for a customer that only uses it between 3 and 5 AM local time than it cost to get a few GB to someone ...
why are almost all the animals afraid of rain ?	[ "SOME animals can stand extreme heat, SOME animals can stand extreme cold, MOST are in the middle. \n\nBeing out in the rain means their fur will get soaked, and if it gets soaked it doesn't work to keep them warm any more. This is why we humans do not wear fur coats in the rain, we wore oilskins and now we wear sm...
Why does crickets chirp at night?	[ "They try to hide from their most common predators by staying quiet during daytime. And then come out during the night to attract a mate when it's too dark for birds to hunt." ]
If we re-built voyager today, but with the advancement of technology we posses. How much more could we learn, if anything?	[ "You'll need to be more specific. \n\nBest guess is you're refering to Voyager the space probe, or the Rutan Voyager aircraft, [but it could be a few things](_URL_0_)." ]
Why would a British Candy bar have different nutrition facts when sold in the USA on the exact same bar?	[ "1: they aren't the same bar, just because they're called the same thing.\n\n2: different regulatory requirements for what needs to be listed and how accurate it needs to be. Maybe the US doesn't require decimal places but the UK does and so they round for the US?", "Almost everything sold in America with sugar i...
Why can Red Bull still advertise that it "gives you wings" and not get sued for false advertising?	[ "The legal doctrine is called \"Puffery\". If a claim is so absurd (like giving you wings) or un-verifiable (like X's best burger) that a reasonable person would not consider it to be an objective statement of fact, then it's not false advertising. \n\n_URL_0_", "The legal doctrine around false advertising is tha...
Why do people experience déjà vu?	[ "If I remember correctly, it's a cognitive short circuit - so to speak. The brain working diligently, transferring visual and auditory stimulus to the subconscious for processing, when a few bits of data slated for 'real time' end up getting tagged as 'past memories'. \n\nWhen the data comes full circle and is proc...
Newbie reddit user doesn't know where to start?	[ "Go back to lurking. its not safe here." ]
What is Net Neutrality and why does it matter to me?	[ "As it stands, now, you've paid for internet access and you're able to connect to anyone you want. Would you like that to continue?\n\nThe companies trying to end net neutrality want a setup where they're able to limit connections to those that they've approved (presumably, based on contracts worth lots and lots of...
What is that loud vibration noise I hear when I open my car window on the freeway?	[ "Have you ever blown across the top of an empty beer bottle? Enclosed space, air blowing across the opening. Notice how the bigger it is, the lower the note? Now, imagine a beer bottle shaped like the inside of a car. That open window is like the spout of the bottle, and the wind like a giant mouth blowing acro...
You're not suppose to use Band-aids/coverings for a scarless and well healed tattoo. So why are they used for every other cut, scrape, or puncture for extended periods of time?	[ "For tattoos, the needle only goes a certain distance into your skin so it's not a full puncture. On top of this, the idea of a tattoo is to have the ink stay in your skin; if you cover it or use medicated ointment, you'll pull up the ink and ruin the tattoo in general.\n\nSince cuts, scrapes and punctures are woun...
Why when it is sunny out do you close one eye instead of closing both eyes equal amounts?	[ "This might be poor etiquette, but I'm going to direct you to [this extremely informative response to this exact question](_URL_0_) from AskScience.\n\nThe tl;dr version (quoted from the comment I linked above):\n\n > Your brain is processing just fine. It's more that a certain level of stimulation for the trigem...
Why do Jewish people make up just 2% of the US population, yet they are very dominant in many industries (i.e. banking, Hollywood, corporate, etc.)?	[ "Connections, hard work and a cultural importance of a good education.", "A big part of it is that all of these things were at one point considered fairly disreputable and not something that good WASP type people would be involved in. As people who faced quite a lot of discrimination historically but who are also...
what is the process of translation (microbiology)	[ "Translation is a very complex process.. anyway let me give you an outline\nIts like Lock and Key.. each set of 3 nucleotide corresponds to particular ammio acids..sometimes more that one type corresponds to particular ammio acid\n\nSo ribosome starts to read your mRNA strand and accordinly you will get ammio acids...
Reddit points, or why there are no posts with like 200,000, 500,000, or more upvotes	[ "[Because of the 1% rule](_URL_0_)\n\nSimply put, only 1% of the community creates content, 9% modifies or edits, and the rest just lurk (hence the term \"Reddit Lurkers\"). This is compounded by\n\n1. You don't need to upvote to view content\n2. You need to take an extra step to upvote (creating an account/logging...
Why don't they run political debates like competitive debating, with rules and a panel of judges who deduct points for logical fallacies, factual errors, etc?	[ "Because the candidates would not agree to that. They're not obligated to debate at all, they do so because they think it's an opportunity to show the voters how great they are. No candidate would agree to such a strict format.", "I have about 10 years of involvement with competitive debate, both at the high scho...
Why does nearly every frozen food require the oven to be preheated at 400 Fahrenheit? What is it about 400 degrees that's such a sweet spot?	[ "The hotter the oven, the faster it transfers heat into the food. Water requires a large amount of energy to melt, and a huge amount of energy to change its temperature regardless of what state it's in.\n\nA cool oven won't melt the food fast enough to avoid drying out or overcooking the outside. A hotter oven will...
When my house phone calls or answers a call, I get huge lag spikes on my computer?	[ "Do you have a cordless phone? Is your computer using a wifi connection? Some (mostly older) cordless phones operate on the 2.4 gHz band, which is also what wifi b/g and some wifi n networks operate on. Therefore, any communication through the phone will interfere with the wifi signal. If you are using a cordless h...
suggestion for the mods: Please add a current events section to the sidebar.	[ "Interesting idea. But also remember: the first answer to a question isn't always the right answer. But reddit voting tends to push one answer to the top, and then it tends to stay, even if it's wrong. It's good to have a little turnover.", "I love this idea. Every 10 minutes there is a post about \"EXPLAIN OW...
Why do flies always land on my monitor?	[ "Confirmation bias. They may well land on your light bulb. But you're not staring at your light bulb for hours and hours on end, so you wouldn't notice it as much." ]
I don't understand the federal assualt weapons ban expiring and now possibly being re-introduced. What did it do? What was then allowed after it expired? If it's brought back, what then?	[ "The ban put some superficial limits on new weapons purchases, such as placement of grips, folding stock, extended magazines, etc. Essentially weapons that were \"souped up\" and/or gave a more dangerous appearance. If you already owned weaponry that met the \"assault weapon\" definition prior to the ban going in...
Is it possible to have a solar panels system on a roof of a house and be fully energy self-sufficient?	[ "Absolutely. In some states you can even sell power back to the electric company for tax credits.", "Very dependent on where you live, and whether your house has been optimised for it.\n\nIn the right place, in the right house, yes. In Northern Europe in the winter, no. You might manage enough electricity but you...
If sounds passing through an object cause it to vibrate is it possible to create sounds such as the chirping of birds just by vibrating an object at the right speed or frequency?	[ "Yes. That is how speakers work. You induce them to vibrate in JUST the right way to produce the exact sound you want. You can turn any object into a speaker, but speakers are specially designed to not distort sound. If you try to turn a glass cup into a speaker, you will have distortions due to the natural frequen...
How do Fast Food Restaurants like KFC keep their recipes a secret, if they're distributed worldwide?	[ "They don't make everything from scratch in each restaurant. Things are made in a factory and shipped to the stores, similar to how you'd buy a box of Mac and Cheese. Inside they have a packet of \"cheese\" powder. You make Mac and Cheese at home when you open the box and follow the instructions, but that doesn'...
Why do shoelaces lose their ability to stay tied up over time?	[ "The same parts of the lace always are in the knot so they get worn smooth by the action of tying and movement while beinng worn. The smooth parts don't grip each other as well." ]
Why is buying things in bulk cheaper?	[ "From a purely economic stand point, there are two types of costs: Fixed and Variable. Fixed is say your rent, or start up costs, so for example to buy a teddy bear factory costs 100 dollars, while variable costs for example are a teddy bears costing 4 dollars per bear to produce. So in order to make one bear your ...
Are gatorade-like sport drinks actually effective as it seems they are? If so, how do they contribute to the athlete?	[ "In endurance sports, like triathlon, the race basically comes down to an eating contest. When you're really fit and have built the endurance, the upper limit for your endurance speed becomes how much energy the body can expend. It's very normal to see top level athletes expend 1000+ calories per hour. It's ent...
Why do our bodies not feel sexually aroused anymore once we have an orgasm?	[ "Because your body needs to worry about other things too, like eating and sleeping. If an organism was always feeling randy, he'd waste all his energy getting his groove on, and he'd be putting his health at risk.\n\nSo instead, we've evolved so that once the prime directive of breeding is handled, that impulse is...
Why do small dogs start to "swim" if you hold them above water?	[ "He's warming up for the eventual possibility that you are going to drop him in water.\n\nWhy else are you holding him over the water anyways.", "This is the same thing that happens when you put a dog down on the ground. They start stretching their legs so they don't land awkwardly and potentially injuring themse...
Why does the government permit lethal habits like alcoholism and sometimes drug addiction?	[ "The government has no power to prevent alcoholism or drug addiction. They can make these things illegal, but anti-alcohol/drug laws have been shown to be ineffective. Prohibition didn't work and created a great deal of violent well-funded gangs and corruption.\n\nToday lots of drugs are illegal, but people still...
If the human mouth has so much bacteria that a bite is almost guaranteed to get infected, why do we want to put a fresh cut in our mouths?	[ "From what i'm aware of, the bacteria in our own bodies is safe for our body, so it wouldn't matter whether it got inside our own body. The reason we put the cut in our mouths is because it's an instinctual action because saliva has healing properties. Same reason why animals like dogs lick wounds.", "Our bodies ...
How do large sea animals leap so high out of water?	[ "When you and I jump straight up, we can push ourselves upwards over the span of a few feet if we crouch down first. When a whale or a dolphin jumps, they can start off deep and get a \"running start\" towards the surface to build up speed. Humans can do this too, but only horizontally, which is why the world recor...
How it is possible that we haven't ran out of possible melodies in music?	[ "The total number of possible melodies is finite, so we could theoretically run out of melodies, but it's a very big number.\n\nDefine how long a sequence of intervals needs to be to be called a \"melody\". Let's say seven intervals, making the song eight notes long. There are twelve intervals, so 7^12 = 13.8 billi...
The reasoning behind the United States choosing to not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.	[ "At the time, the US position was that since certain developing countries such as China and India weren't being asked to sacrifice more that the US shouldn't have to sacrifice either.", "The Kyoto Protocol set targets for developed countries like the U.S. However, as the Kyoto Protocol would obviously have econom...
What are the rational arguments that would convince average Americans that giving ISPs the right to control internet traffic is a good idea?	[ "The best arguments I've heard is that if they're allowed to charge certain sites (say Netflix) more then they'll be able to use the money to build out extra capacity to handle Netflix's traffic. Which is in theory good... \n \nBut that's not how it would work in practice. There's no incentive for them not to jus...
Why commercial breaks have more volume than the shows on tv?	[ "By law, in the US at least, TV stations and cable networks are required to play commercials at the 'same average volume' as the programs they accompany.\n\nThe Commercial Advertisement Loudenss Mitigation (CALM) Act was passed by Congress early in the decade and the rule has been enforceable by the FCC since 2012....
Why can't the weather be predicted with 100% accuracy?	[ "Greetings from your friendly neighborhood meteorologist:\n\nThe short answer is chaos. The weather is physics, and the only way you can perfectly predict physical outcomes is if you can be sure of practically everything going INTO them. For example, the rise and set of the sun every day. We know what dictates t...
why does the Republican Party want less government intervention economically but more government intervention socially (and the opposite for Democrats)? Why isn't there a consistent "more government" party?	[ "The Republican Party does not, categorically, want more social intervention--it is host to both libertarians and social conservatives, whose views widely differ. Some Democrats, for their part, advocate for some reduced forms of intervention as well (such as decriminalization of marijuana), but the party also has ...
What causes an Ovarian Cyst?	[ "There's a large number of things that can cause a cyst, which are, simply put, an abnormal sack of fluid that collects and grows. Most ovarian cysts are benign, but they can also arise as a secondary effect from other conditions such as endometriosis. Cysts can also occur from menstruation where the follicle conta...
Why does grated cheese taste so much better than whole lumps?	[ "some people like their cheeses in pieces. Personal preferences" ]
Can someone explain the differences in tropes and style in romance ( novels, shows, etc.) through different time periods.	[ "I'm gonna go on a limb here and try to explain part of it. If you look at the beginning of theatre then the Greeks divided it into two categories. They had comedies and tragedies. The comedies were funny and light while the tragedies had sad endings where everything goes to shit, like Oedipus (marries his mum, pok...
How differences in how we fall asleep affect the quality of said sleep?	[ "The short answer is the circadian rhythm. When you feel tired is not only determined by how long you have been awake but also by the time of day. Humans have been sleeping at night for a long time, so your brain will usually pick up on clues from the environment, such as darkness, and tell you to go to sleep.\n\n ...
Why can't people who have had cancer in the past donate blood?	[ "Some cancers (like leukemia) go into remission. Other cancers (like melanoma) don’t go into remission; patients are considered “NED” meaning no evidence of disease. Doctors don’t see any cancer but it could, in theory, still be present. Cancers like melanoma can travel through the vascular (blood) system, so cance...
please ELI5 ... why is the headrest part of most car's seats designed to be so angled forward?	[ "Headrests aren't there to rest your head against, but to protect you from whiplash or worse if you're in an accident. When a car decelerates VERY quickly (like in a head-on collision) and you are wearing your seat belt, then your arms and upper torso will fly forward very quickly. The three-point seat belt keeps y...
Where does the color in food go once we consume it?	[ "Remember when you played with play dough as a kid. If you mixed all the colors up you just end up with a big brown lump?" ]
Why are the Israelis and Palestinians in a conflict?	[ "Century? Thousands of years. They trace the fight all the way back to Genesis. God promises Israel to Abraham and Sarah's* descendants. Abraham and his wife are in their 90s. She can't have kids so she tells him to sleep with one of her servants. He does and they have a kid, Ishmael. God says, \"No, dummy, I said ...
Why do some fruits have pits or seeds with cyanide in them?	[ "To discourage animals able to digest the seed (rather than just pooping it out) from eating the seed.\n\nIn this way it is more likely to have the offspring survive, and thus reproduce themselves." ]
Why do cops put white towels on the shoulders of saved victims in crimes scenes on the movies?	[ "I don't know about white towels, but ambulances have foil heat blankets that are used to treat hypothermia and are also used for shock. One of the symptoms of shock is cold, clammy skin, so presumably these blankets, which can trap body heat, help with that." ]
How does one get from observing the present universe to deciding how things must have happened in the past and how things are going to happen in the future?	[ "I'm guessing you mean Big Bang. There are two big pieces of evidence to support that theory.\n\nWe look at a galaxy that is some distance away and we see it going away from us. Then we look at a galaxy that is twice the distance, going twice as fast. Then we look at other galaxies and we see that they have the sam...
Why do night vision cameras cast a shadow?	[ "Many night vision cameras use an infrared lamp to illuminate the scene being recorded. You can't see that light, but the camera can. Hth." ]
Why is it that the hair on our head grows without a limit, while the rest of the hair on our bodies only grows to a certain length?	[ "Because your head hair does grow to a limit. It's just a longer limit than the hair elsewhere", "All hair follicles have a terminal 'length'. After a certain period of time, that strand dies and the hair falls out. A new one begins to grow in it's place. The time is just much shorter for things like eye brows an...
East/West Berlin divide still visible from space due to different lightbulbs	[ "East Berlin uses sodium vapor lamps for street lighting that look yellowish, West Berlin uses mercury vapor lamps, and those produce blue-ish white light. Both are commonly used for street lighting. Sodium is more efficient, mercury produces a better light spectrum.", "I'm guessing that the difference is the typ...
How to calculators randomly generate numbers?	[ "computers and calculators, assumin no input, cannot generte random nunbers. what the do is invoke an algorithm (a series more specifically) that generates what appears to be a uniform and random series for all purposes. wait long enough and the patter eventully emerges, be it a million digit long.", "They take t...
Why do news channels care so much about who breaks the story now? Doesn't the internet make everything break at the same time?	[ "You want people to watch your channel instead of your competition. If you have a reputation for only getting the story after everyone else, people will be less likely to watch your channel. Sure, the fastest way is to get the info online, but the majority of people who watch news channels do so because they don't ...
Why does toast bread keep all the cheese in while normal bread lets the cheese ooze out?	[ "I understand your question. \n\nIn lots of places in Europe, they have their usual bread, which most of North America would see as fancy bakery bread. It's either a sourdough, a fluffy white loaf or a dark rye. What they call \"toast bread\" looks what a North American would think of as regular bread. A pre-sliced...
How is it legal for to pay someone for sex as long as you film it and call it porn, but prostitution is illegal?	[ "Check [this](_URL_0_) out. Basically, \"the distinction is that, at least in theory, porn stars are paid to act and prostitutes are paid for sex.\" Sex is a part of a porn star's 'role' - you could argue that they're being paid to act, not to have sex specifically, and therefore they're protected under the First A...
Filing for Bankruptcy	[ "I'd head over to /r/personalfinance\n\nThis is a complicated topic that would be poorly answered in ELI5." ]
How did the Tupac hologram work ?	[ "firstly, it wasnt really a \"hologram\" as we would think of in a science fiction movie or something like that.\n\nit is an illusion technique called \"pepper's ghost.\" the wiki entry is pretty good on it:\n_URL_0_" ]
Why are ancient ruins underground?	[ "Not all of them are. Plenty of ancient ruins are above ground.\n\nThat said, the simply answer is detritus builds up. In old forests you are walking on layers and layers of decomposing leaves. Every year new layers of leaves, wood, mulch and other detritus are added while at the same timethe lower layers slowly de...
Why do pictures of far away galaxies appear so crisp and beautiful but recent images of an asteroid near earth is grainy and of poor quality	[ "The difference is like:\n\n* Asteroid...looking at a golf ball, at night, located across the street from you.\n\n* Galaxy...looking at a spot light, at night, pointed at you from a block away.", "The galaxies are really, really, really, like f-ing huge. They are also quite far away, but as it turn out a 1-mile w...
How gangs work	[ "Super long response:\n\nI had a friend in school that was assigned to my community college through a gang rehabilitation program from east LA.\n\nOnce you are charged and associated with a specific gang, you can not be in the same vicinity as any other known parolee of the same gang. The gang culture is a really a...
Pluto's Orbit	[ "Pluto isn't actually an oddball. Most dwarf planets have highly eliptical, angled orbits. [see this side-view image of the solar system with several dwarf planets and kuiper belt objects highlighted](_URL_0_)" ]
We see meteor showers around the same time every year.I would assume they would come at different dates as we rotate around the sun. How are they predictable?	[ "They occur when Earth passes through a large collection of space rocks. Since we go around the Sun on a round path that repeats every year, we know we are going to be back in that spot on about the same date.", "Comets leave debris in along their orbits. The earth intersects these orbits at about the same time ...
How come that sugar has such an intensive taste but does not smell at all.	[ "Your tongue has sensors for very specifc things: salts (to make sure you get enough salt in your body), sugars (because they are energy rich), bitter compounds (this is really a bunch of similarly shaped big molecules, many poisons are here and that is why the tongue tastes them. Anything not poisonous but still b...
Why is US point-of-sale processing so haphazard?	[ "First, not all Debit Cards work as Credit Cards. If there isn't a Visa/MasterCard logo on the card, chances are pretty high it is only a Debit cards. Debit cards typically have a PIN number associated with them that has to be entered in order for the transaction to be approved. This acts as a security feature to k...
If you built a house several miles away from anyone else, is anyone (or any government department) obligated to provide you with electrical access?	[ "It kind of depends on how they are regulated.\n\nHere in Sweden, for example, the power companies operate under concessions. One of the concession rules is that the power company must connect a new customer who is willing to pay the actual cost.\n\nThat means, basically, that they are legally forced to give you ...
How, on a technical level, did Carnegie Mellon (reportedly) help the FBI unmask Tor users?	[ "Here's my lame attempt to take something uber complex to ELI5 level: \nYou know those card trick games where the guy mixes up the cards really fast and you're trying to guess which one it is? That's kind of like Tor. Tor gets a bunch of people to volunteer to be relays. When a request comes in, they pass it rando...
What determines the speed limit of a road?	[ "For traffic engineers it's the 85th percentile. In other words there is an assumption that 85% of drivers will drive at safe speed for road conditions. Speed studies are done, and this determines the speed limit.\n\nUnfortunately, the traffic engineers recommendations are often ignored by politicians, who set spe...

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