Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
"The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor." - James Madison	[ "Yes it is real. And you are missing the followup sentence. \"Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought t...	[ "Originally they were written for fun or just to see if they could. The very first worm was supposed to catalog how many computers were on the early internet. It would copy itself to the next machine in order to get a count. But, there was a bug and it copied itself far too much, creating a problem. Most modern mal...
Do soap just kills germs or actually removes the stuff that contains the germs?	[ "Soap doesn't kill germs. It messes with surface tension of water allowing the water to get underneath the stuff on your skin. Its also abrasive so it physically removes the stuff. If it's antibacterial soap it will also kill germs, but this hasn't been shown to be any more effective." ]	[ "Imagine your hard drive as a giant wall, like the Great Wall of China. Now imagine that your files are painted on this wall (Images, text, music notes). When you delete a file, your computer finds the spot on the wall where that file was painted, and marks that section of the wall as \"free\". It doesn't scrub o...
how are gases (like helium) collected and put into containers?	[ "you freeze the air until it liquefies, the slowly warm it up again and distill off the different fractions as they vaporize." ]	[ "In the specific case of air in a whistle and water in a whistle, the what’s actually happening is this: the shape of the whistle causes a rapid rise and drop in air pressure inside the whistle. This is the vibration — sound. In text form the pressure goes HiLowHiLowHiLowHiLowHiLow. Unlike air, water does not comp...
How exactly do scientists select and then quantum entangle photons,electrons, and other particles?	[ "I interned with some theoretical physicists who worked primarily with quantum optical metrology, which often involves entangled photons, over the summer. They used a process called spontaneous parametric down conversion. The process basically using a photon pump to send photons through a special crystal or filter ...	[ "They use extremely fast camera shutters to capture a very short moment so you can see the light beam. However they can not reset the camera in time for the next frame so they cheat a bit by sending a new beam of light for the next frame. They make sure to synchronize the short beams of light with the camera shutte...
Why do muscles get weak when you're sick?	[ "Like your five: your body is using all your energy and nutrients to fight the bad thing making you sick which leaves less for your muscles." ]	[ "Our built up immunity can last a really long time... against viruses that don't change / evolve very much (like polio, chickenpox, etc.). But the cold and flu are constantly changing, they're like viruses on crack cocaine just constantly on the move and lookin' for that next high (in this case, the high would be i...
What would actually happen if the internet went down for 24 hours?	[ "Nine months from the date, there would be a huge baby boom." ]	[ "This video created by Vsauce 3 (Jake Roper) does a very good job explaining this: _URL_1_ I hope this answers your question. He also did another video on a simmilar line of - could you survive: _URL_0_" ]
What does this Nazi dinner guest story mean?	[ "He's saying that if people aren't offended enough by a Nazi that they wouldn't have dinner with them, they're Nazis too. As a corollary, he's saying if people aren't Nazis, they don't tolerate Nazis." ]	[ "Niépce's house is now a [museum](_URL_1_) and photography is not allowed inside, so unfortunately there is no modern photograph of the view from the window that I can find. That said, [on the website of the Harry Ransom Center](_URL_0_), you can see a sketch done by the historian Helmut Gernsheim, who rediscovered...
Do our brains calculate/"do math" or simply decide quickly when we are judging when to respond. . .	[ "Most of the work the brain does is pattern recognition and matching. When we catch a ball, the brain isn't performing parabolic math - it is recognising the shape of the arc the ball is traversing. The brain 'knows' the shape of the arc and can arrange to have the hands in a suitable position to intercept the ball...	[ "While we survived and grew as a species by being able to remember what didn't work from the past and plan for advancements in the future the main survival instinct has always kept us focused in the now. The now is there immediate danger is, where hunger and thirst are. The need to survive moment to moment is the m...
How bars or clubs charge huge crowds of people randomly ordering drinks.	[ "people either start a tab or they pay up front. it's part of a bartender's job to make sure they get paid for their goods/services. i'm sure some bars and bartenders will allow regulars to get away without paying upfront in certain scenarios, but that really depends on the business and employees." ]	[ "Generally the same rooms at the same time are the same price. The same rooms sold at different times are often different prices. Time is a component in selling hotel rooms Hotels may also list the same room on multiple online sources at different prices, depending on how the specific setup for that online retaile...
why does 60 fps on television/movies look so unnatural?	[ "There's a HUGE difference between a frame on a video game, and a frame on a movie. On a video game, that frame is a single instant snapshot in time. The amount of time in that snapshot is zero. On film, that single frame (at 60fps) is 1/60th of a second. It's a record of everything that occurred in that time fram...	[ "For just 2 objects we can take a photo of the situation and note down the time, then do a bit of maths and draw what it will look like in 9388472 years 83 days 2 hours and 23 seconds time, with just a bit of maths. With more than 2 objects, like 3, we can't skip ahead with mathmagic. We have to invent some kind o...
If fruits are produced by plants for animals to eat and spread seeds around then why does durian smell like rotten sewage?	[ "You can buy it in every grocery store in half of asia. Whatever you don't like about it is not sufficient to prevent it's wide distribution by humans, let along other animals." ]	[ "Mint and menthol are sensed in the body by special sensory receptors (cold receptors, TRPM8) very much like how spicy food taste spicy (TRPV1). Wasabi produces a similar effect but it's due to the noxious chemical/extreme cold receptor TRPA1. You have those receptors in your mouth and nose (and eyes). Those recept...
Why is it possible to see something in the dark with your peripheral vision but not when staring directly at it?	[ "When you look directly at something, the light falls on your fovea, where the majority and highest density of cones are. Cones are the light sensing cells that recognize colour, and they don't function well in low light. What does function well are your rods, which exist at higher densities everywhere else in your...	[ "Because, despite the speed, it still takes 24 hours for the Earth to turn once. So if you assume a 12 hour night, a star is only going to cross 1/12th of the sky in an hour. Also, the parallax effect - nearby objects appear to move faster than distant objects. And stars are a long way away. You can see the paral...
Why were Japanese war criminals not persecuted to the extent of German/Nazi war criminals?	[ "From what I can gather it was to make occupation easier, as to cause less civil unrest but Hideki Tojo was prosecuted and sentenced to death." ]	[ "Ha, I wrote a paper on this once. If I had to boil it down to one cause... I would say its the fact that in the US railroad infrastructure is (mostly) owned by private companies, which is fairly unique in the world. The US has the most sophisticated and impressive freight railroad transportation in the world (thin...
How close are we to building an image of an organism based on DNA?	[ "You would lack epigenetic information - patterns of acetylation and methylation to the DNA sequence (and other modifications we are as yet unaware of). These modifications can have huge repercussions to the organisms. [Prader-Willi](_URL_4_) and [Angelman syndrome](_URL_3_) are classic examples of how epigenetic r...	[ "Yes, there are a few in the pipelines, the oldest research is around phage, or phage technology. This was started in Russia and according to wikipedia is was researched and still is from as far back as 1922, I remember reading about in the 90's. Still haven't heard of anything commercial though - _URL_0_ There are...
Why do snow banks take ridiculously long to melt away?	[ "Snow is very good at insulating itself and things inside it because it's for a large part air as well as that it's white meaning it reflects most heat as well." ]	[ "You have to be in bed long enough for your body heat to be trapped by the blankets." ]
What is a major key and a minor key?	[ "When learning a song by ear, usually a good start is to ask \"is this a major or a minor key?\" If a song is \"happy\" sounding its in a major key. If its \"sad\" then its in a minor key... then from there you can figure out what exact key the song is in by playing a lead of sorts over it." ]	[ "OP-- are you asking about the shortest time interval needed by the brain to distinguish two separate sounds in time? (forward/backward masking) Or are you asking how far apart in frequency two tones have to be for our brain to distinguish them as two separate tones and not one combined tone? (critical bandwidth) O...
Is there a front side to a spiderweb?	[ "Probably the side from which insects are most likely to approach. Certainly for some of the sheet web spiders, there is a front (if the web is shaped like a tunnel) or a top (if the web is laid out over some grass). Writing spiders that build a web about 6\" away from and parallel to a building will wait on the si...	[ "One of the ways tickets can come from the factory is in accordion-folded stacks. (The other is on spools.) After they're fed out of the machine, the tend to fold back the way they were." ]
Why is alcohol consumption bad for sleep?	[ "Alcohol consumption in small doses improves the ability to fall asleep. In moderate to large doses alcohol consumption broadly de-regulates sleep by reducing REM phase ([1](_URL_0_))([2](_URL_1_)). Alcohol also [exacerbates sleep apnea](_URL_2_) presumably by reducing muscle tone which reduces blood oxygen and dis...	[ "Two social psychological concepts come to mind here. State dependent memory encoding and Erickson Arousal theory of learning. State dependent learning states that what ever state of mind you are in during encoding is the state of mind where recall would be optimal. Erickson arousal theory states that learning is m...
Why do internal hard drives cost more than external hard drives, despite same size and model inside the external hard drive?	[ "I can't really confirm your premise. External and internal drives of the same capacity start at approximately the same price range, with internal ones usually being a little bit cheaper." ]	[ "Say you have a hammer and nail. If the hammer head is bigger than the nail, then the force of the hammer is distributed evenly against the head of the nail. The nail will go straight into the wood. Now say you have a hammer and a nail, but the nail head is bigger than the hammer. When you hit the hammer against t...
What is the difference between a "compression shirt" and a shirt thats just too small?	[ "Cut and material, mostly. A shirt that's designed for compression is going to fit tightly in certain areas and not in others to allow for full range of motion, and be made from a very elastic, moisture-wicking fabric. One that's just too small may be binding, compress in the wrong areas (say, the neckline), and ma...	[ "I would have to guess probably the efficiency of the code itself. I wrote a program that converts images to black and white in real time (shows the conversion on screen) and before I streamlined the code it didn't matter how fast the pc was it took the same length of time to process basically. once i streamlined i...
Is there research to show an effective design for a roost for solitary bees in North America? Would it be the same as a roost for European solitary bees?	[ "The University of Florida [Honey Bee Lab](_URL_1_) has grad students working on native bee research and website that [includes instructions on building nest sites](_URL_0_) for North American Bees. I'm sure they can answer questions directly about species attracted. But in short most solitary bees that nest in tub...	[ "While the center of the Catholic church was (and remains) Rome, the origins of early Chirsitian monasticism can actually be traced directly to early Christian monks in Egypt. Christians in Egypt would seek solitude in the desert around the major settlements in Egypt, and would generally live what we would describe...
Why are so many animals, similar to our size and build, (monkeys), so much more stronger than humans?	[ "IIRC from my physiology lectures, it has to do with our nervous system being configured for dexterity work, rather than strength work. Our nervous system has evolved to fire small bundles of muscle fibers to manipulate the individual digits on our hands. Primates have this too, but not to the same degree as humans...	[ "It's just in their DNA. Even now, science can't fully explain the phenomena we call \"instincts\", even though we can see them in action, and have them ourselves." ]
Do slightly lower oxygen concentrations in the blood by smoking lead to a lower amount of oxygen consumption in the brain, and therefore impaired cognitive functioning?	[ "If I recall correctly, the average smoker experiences about a 5% reduction in oxygen carrying capacity by hemoglobin in the blood due to carbon monoxide. That level hardly qualifies as oxygen deprivation. Additionally, if organs of the body are starved for oxygen, heart rate and respiration rate will automatically...	[ "I imagine you are talking about the internal combustion engine (ICE)that is commonly used around the world in automobiles. Think of the classic \"fire triangle\" when thinking of these engines. You need 3 things to make something burn: Fuel, Oxidizer, and heat. In an ICE these components are a Petroleum product s...
If the eye is a muscle, why can't those with poor vision do 'exercises' to strengthen their vision?	[ "The eye isn't a muscle. It has 6 muscles outside of it that aim it, two types if muscles in the iris that adjust your pupil, and two types muscle in the ciliary body that accommodate for near vision. Poor vision from refractive error (what you are probably referring to) is usually because the eye is too long. It's...	[ "Think of fat like a savings account, and muscle mass as expenses. If you spend a little more than you take in in a particular month, you can withdraw a little from savings to cover the difference. But let's say you lose your job and have no money coming in (Starvation). Spending your savings is only going to work ...
Carbon Nanotubes and Encapsulation: What kind of interesting things occur when you place something inside a carbon nanotube?	[ "This is my field of research. My group in graduate school loaded ultra-short SWNTs (US-tubes) with [Gadolinium ions for MRI contrast enhancement](_URL_0_), with [AtCl for alpha therapy of cancer](_URL_3_), with [molecular iodine for CT enhancement](_URL_2_), and with [cisplatin for anti-cancer drug...	[ "There's an effect known as the [nocebo effect](_URL_2_) which is the opposite of a placebo. In that case, the patient recieves an inert treatment and has a negative effect, instead of the positive effect measured from a placebo effect. [This is a fun video that explains the nocebo effect](_URL_1_). It sounds like...
Why do parts of my body go all itchy when i have my shirt off for more than 10 or so minutes?	[ "A reation to dust, histamines, and other irritants." ]	[ "Your understanding of how heat work in atomic level is correct. But when you have bunch of atoms together, you will get a slightly different thing that react to heat differently. Your skin is made up of many big molecules (molecules= many atoms bonded together into one thing), and they need to be in a very specifi...
What makes 70mm film screenings different? (i.e. Dunkirk)	[ "For one, it's not a digital projection. Most movies you go see in a theater are projected digitally, but if you had gone 15 or so years ago, they would have all been projected with film. There is an ongoing debate about which is better. Digital tends to show a cleaner picture, but the detail is limited to a certai...	[ "What you were told was in fact correct. The people speculating here that a wider tire = larger area of tire touching the road are incorrect. See: _URL_1_" ]
Atmospherically, what happens that cause rain drops to be larger than others?	[ "[I will summarize this source for why raindrops differ in size](_URL_1_). When foreign particles enter clouds (dust, salt particles, etc), water forms around these particles, and rain drops form. These particles vary in size, so the rain drops also vary in size. A further source of rain drop size disparities is ...	[ "Ooh tricky! I think I would first try radar attenuation. Since radar waves will attenuate in water following a Beer-Lambert-type absorption law, maybe you could fire radar waves at a cloud, measure the attenuation deviation from the transmitted beam with reference to a beam that traveled the same distance but NOT ...
During middle ages, it is claimed that "church operated its own brothels. They may have been exclusive to the priests for usage." Is this true?	[ "I would not call the statement \"categorically false\" as /u/iamjeremybentham has, not at all. Gervase Rosser turned up cases of individual clerics owning and managing brothels in Westminster and London. Parish priests often had side jobs if their Church benefice was insufficient to support themselves (and very po...	[ "You are misunderstanding the availability of black owned banks. Banks required capital, money, to open. They also require expertise to operate and reliable borrowers. Black borrowers were not as financially secure as a whole as white borrowers. The expertise and the capital were not there either." ]
If the infrastructure 15 years ago is still being used by cable companies today. Then how can they provide such higher internet speeds?	[ "Let's say you have a 7 lane interstate. At each end there is a toll booth. In the past payments were processed manually and there was a receipt that had to print, but the printers were slow. Only do much traffic could get through. Fast forward to the future where you pay with the touch of a button and get an insta...	[ "Building is often done in bulk, dozens of houses at a time, which means you get economies of scale, not just in the materials etc, but in the laying on of services. Building a row of houses needs a trench dug for the sewer connections, for example, but you can do the whole row at one time - likewise the foundation...
Do insects, particularly cockroaches, use acid in their digestive system?	[ "It really depends on the insect. Mosquitoes, black flies and some lepidopterans actually have a basic stomach pH. However I did find a study on cockroaches that suggested that they seem to have an acidic stomach pH from around 6-2. If you're interested here is the link _URL_0_" ]	[ "The International Space Station uses ~~lithium hydroxide~~ zeolite to scrub CO₂ by ~~chemical reaction/absorption~~ adsorption, and the ~~chemical~~ zeolite can then be regenerated by heat. The equipment is called the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA). *edit: zeolite not LiOH per /u/RuNaa's comment below." ]
How is the the new reCAPTCHA that only requires a click of a checkbox more secure than the old, jumbled symbol-version of CAPTCHA?	[ "It's not really. If I recall correctly, users are now sorted into low-risk and high-risk categories. Low-risk users will get the simple checkbox, higher-risk users (e.g. already suspected of engaging in malicious activity or making too many requests over a short period) will get the harder and more secure jumbled/...	[ "Many sites still store unencrypted passwords and are easily hacked with SQL injection techniques. Some run their Web server as root and have their database server on the same machine, completely exposed. Never use the same password for sensitive services like your main email, your bank, insurance company, etc. U...
Why do we baptize children/people in general?	[ "your wife is probably the right person to ask about this. it doesn't matter what we say the idea is, it matters what she thinks its about. but at its core, Christian baptism is about original sin. the idea that all babies are born \"dirty\" because Eve ate the Quince in the garden of eden when she wasn't supposed...	[ "Politics. It's an easy issue to use to paint your opponent as \"evil\" regardless of which side of the debate they are on." ]
How do military guidance systems work when tracking fast moving objects that seem to lock on and track perfectly?	[ "In the video, the first part you can see the pilots actually moving (big cross hairs) the ATFLIR's view to keep the thing in view - this is manual or they can slave the view to the aircraft radar to some extent. Next, when that expanding box appears, the system has been told by the pilot to start picking up a the...	[ "> does the satellite emits one signal that is interpred by every single user on his own or do the satellite do any calculus that it send to the user. The satellite emits one signal. This signal contains, among other things, information on the time that it was emitted. GPS receivers collect this signal from multipl...
S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder)	[ "Basically, not getting enough sun makes you depressed. That's why one of the ways to alleviate it is to use a light box." ]	[ "From the exact same XKCD article that you linked: > (Climates can be hard to predict—for example, in our world, Somalia and French Guiana both sit on the equator, at the eastern coast of a continent, and seem like they should both receive a tropical sea breeze. But coastal French Guiana is dense rain forest while...
Why don't professional golfers use caddies that caddy courses daily instead of personal caddies?	[ "Keep in mind that to a professional golfer, the primary duty of the caddy is to be an adviser, not a club carrier. Caddies themselves are typically expert golfers, who know know both the course and the golfer they caddy for extremely well. They help decide which club to use, which way to aim, how to adjust for var...	[ "Generally speaking, merchants pay credit card processors for the privilage of taking credit cards. The processer will provide (or sell) you the terminal and they handle all the work of ensuring the card is approved and the formal request to the card issuer for the payment. Once a period (week/2 weeks/month/etc) th...
Why are some cities, like Paris, based on a spoke layout when it creates loads of space inefficient pointed corners for buildings? Wouldn't a grid have been far more sensible?	[ "Those spiderweb cities were founded and built out centuries before vehicle traffic was a issue. They're laid out for foot traffic and have a few radial \"spokes\" for horse traffic. Cities built up in the 19th and 20th centuries were planned with more vehicle traffic in mind specifically because of the traffic pro...	[ "There was a good BBC article on this topic recently. Basically there isn't any good scientific evidence to show that people that eat three equally sized meals a day is healthier than eating one meal a day. There is a lot of speculation that eating multiple small meals a day is easier on your digestive system, but ...
The Warsaw Uprising in 1944 was done to liberate Poland, without Soviet control. Are there any other examples of terrible decision making for such a good cause?	[ "It wasn't Polish honor and nobility destroying tons of lives, it was German cruelty and Soviet passiveness. It's not like they didn't try to get outside help." ]	[ "A woman named Frances Wright did something like what you are asking in 1824. In Memphis, TN she bought two thousand acres of land from Andrew Jackson and would buy slaves. On this land she set up a co-operative labor system where they could basically work off their price of purchase and then they would be set free...
Is it possible for a corporation (or multiple corporations) to bailout the government, in a time of crisis, and obtain control of a country?	[ "Well technically it depends on the laws of the country. But I believe for every country the answer is no. When you buy a bond it's not a share of the government and holds no power, it's simply a promise to be repaid. Ultimately though it's issued by a government within their jurisdiction, it holds whatever power t...	[ "The shareholders are the owners of the company. The CEO of the company is the manager of the company, he doesn't own it (OK in most cases he may also be a shareholder, but usually not a majority shareholder). So how do the shareholders tell the CEO what to do? The way it works is through the company's Board of Dir...
Why does the Doppler effect work in astronomy if the Earth is travelling outwards from the Universe's expansion at the same rate everything else is?	[ "There is no center of the expansion of the universe. The expansion is happening in all directions and all positions within the universe. No matter which position you took as an observer, you would see expansion in every direction. Your understanding of the Doppler effect seems fine, it's your understanding of metr...	[ "If you are going somewhere for the first time you are devoting a lot more processing power to following directions and looking out for signs/landmarks, etc. That makes time and distance seem greater. There is also the anticipation of some event/experience to keep you mind working hard; again creating a feeling of ...
What is the difference between borrowing and buying a stock?	[ "You understand correctly. Oddly enough it is legal to sell a stock you have borrowed, as long as you replace it (buy back an equal amount of identical replacement stock) in time to return it to the owner." ]	[ "Here's a pretty good explainer. _URL_0_ Basically it comes down to different memory, different promises (reliability and service life), and different marketing." ]
Why can't you divide by 0?	[ "The problem here is that 0 has some multiplicative properties that no other number has, since it's the additive identity. a + 0 = a for all a, right? (And if a + z = a, then z = 0.) So ab + 0b = ab for all a and b, and that means that 0b = 0 as well for all b. What is division? a divided by b means the question,...	[ "Not enough energy to. It's like lighting a match in a snow storm and expecting it to melt everything. Sure, the match is hot, but theres a lot more cold than there is hot." ]
Can I have help with a derivation of the Lorentz transforms?	[ "For Q3, Lorentz boosts are hyperbolic rotations which mix space and time coordinates. The space components and time components in the Minkowski metric come with opposite signs, if this were not the case, there would be no causality. Any set of two events could happen in either order with a choice of reference fram...	[ "Kirchoff's law of thermal radiation says, more or less, that bodies that are good absorbers (darker) are good emitters of EM radiation. Good reflectors (lighter/mirrors) are poor emitters of EM Radiation." ]
How do cars know how fast they are going?	[ "Old cars had a cable with a gear which would usually hood to the transfer case or the transmission. The cable would spin at a fixed ratio to the output shaft. Inside of its nylon tube the cable spins and turns a set of nylon gears in you gauge cluster. The people who put the car together at the factory would look...	[ "Google Android has a feature that sends location data to the google servers, even if you have GPS turned off. If you use a Google Android phone, you can actually view your own data if login to Google and goto this site: _URL_0_ What Google is doing is fetching all this data that is sent from all the Google Android...
How much did Egyptian scholars contribute to modern Egyptology	[ "Hi! Just wanted to let you know that while we encourage people to get in touch with flairs who might answer their questions, and bring the relevant threads to their attention, we prefer that you do this by sending them a PM. The public ping puts them on the spot, and if they don't answer (either because the questi...	[ "Follow-up question: How much did the Aswan dam affect the system? Did the construction of the dam have a significant effect on the benefits brought by the floods?" ]
Why African American unemployment, education participation, and single parent households all increased drastically after desegregation?	[ "There was a massive increase in incarceration rates in the US that began roughly in the same era, which hit black communities harder than other groups. Without getting into the why questions about that, a lot of the issues you mentioned are tied to it." ]	[ "I'm guessing that you're mainly thinking of domesticated animals and not wild ones. In that case the answer is here _URL_1_ - The tl;dr = there is a coloring pattern (known as \"Merle\" in dogs) considered attractive in inbred domestic animals (think border collies). It confers a very high incidence of heterochrom...
How do I start learning about politics and world news?	[ "Here's how I did it. Read a few articles every day. If something interests you, crack open Wikipedia and read more background on it. Ask questions to well-informed people in your life (or online). And get your information from multiple sources, I can't emphasize this enough. I usually use the New York Times, The E...	[ "Believe it or not, Microsoft have an excellent page on this: _URL_1_ Also, the \"dummies\" series have a good one, too: _URL_0_" ]
Can someone please explain why everyone in the star wars universe needs to be constantly reminded that the Jedi exist/existed when the Jedi were some of the most powerful and well known beings in the galaxy.	[ "From what I can find, there were only about 10,000 Jedi at the time of the purge. The population of the galaxy was roughly 100 quadrillion. So only one in 10 trillion people are Jedi. If we took the entire population of the world, and multiplied it by a thousand, there still probably wouldn't be any Jedi in it. If...	[ "There are two strips of brain cells that run from ear to ear across the top of your head (The sensory-motor cortex). One strip is used to control all your movement in your body the other registers sensation all over your body. We can actually map out a person's body on these strips. When a person loses a limb, the...
The little 'lumps' in our lips. What are they and why do we have them?	[ "The little lumps that you feel in your lips are the circum oral muscles with their fat covering.. Anatomically orbicularis ori. The lumpy consistency depends on the amount of fat present in the sheath. On the corner of the lips and on the inside, some people have yellowish granular lumps no larger than a pinhead.....	[ "It is called Helmholtz Resonance. It only happens when you have one side open and the rest closed so if you have the front left window open you wont hear it if the back right window is also open. Its like when you blow air into a glass bottle and it hums. The air is coming into the car and it wants to get back o...
What types of meat were eaten by the colonists of Colonial America?	[ "I assume you mean British North America here? If so, beef and pork were mainstays, with roast beef being something like the British national dish. Pork - usually as ham or bacon, in my readings - was a cheaper alternative. Chickens provided both eggs and meat. Sheep provided both economy and luxury meats, in the f...	[ "I just want to take a moment to thank Dan Monroe, Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. His continued neglect of the Phillips Library Collections, and ensuring that the collection was unavailable both physically and digitally to researchers over the past 2 years (and for the forseeable futur...
Would a gay slave-owner in the antebellum southern US who sexually exploited his male slaves be regarded as more scandalous than a straight slave-owner who did it to female slaves, or was there an implicit "it's not the Sin of Sodom if it's just your chattels" type rule?	[ "While it doesn't directly address your question, [/u/sowser's answer](_URL_0_) is a particularly in-depth look at whether buck breaking existed (no) and why same-gender sexual exploitation of slaves is is probably not captured that well in the historical record." ]	[ "This occurs in sex-role reversed species, and is typically accompanied by a polyandrous mating system. Both sex-role reversal and polyandry are pretty uncommon. The northern jacana is a famous example of this. The females are more brightly colored than the males, and they defend territories that contain several ne...
How does the ever-increasing proportion of the air that is carbon dioxide affect human respiration and development?	[ "CO2 makes up about .03% of in the air; this is up about .005% from .025% in the last decade or so. CO2 composes a much larger percentage of dissolved gases in your blood. Therefore it is doubtful that this increase could have any effect on development or respiration. Edit just to clarify: atmospheric CO2 at sea l...	[ "Firstly - There are several countries that have changed enviromental policies, especially in Europe. However, the main reason some countries aren't doing more is that those kind of policies won't win your next election. Higher taxes on fossil fuels and meat for example is a good method to reduce CO2 emmisions, but...
Why is gold worth more than silver?	[ "Originally, because Gold was rarer, therefore harder to get hold of: the standard rule of supply and demand means that a rarer metal, where both are in demand, will be more expensive. Nowadays, silver is actually rarer, but the perception has been, for hundreds of years, that gold is rarer and more expensive... so...	[ "Here's a pretty good explainer. _URL_0_ Basically it comes down to different memory, different promises (reliability and service life), and different marketing." ]
What would have been the most common religion in the Midlands of England circa AD450 to AD550?	[ "Though Christianity came to Britain while it was under Roman rule, the first king cited in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle to have converted to Christianity was [Aethelbert](_URL_2_), who was supposedly converted during [St. Augustine of Canterbury's](_URL_1_) mission to England in the 590s CE. These books may serve to...	[ "I just want to take a moment to thank Dan Monroe, Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. His continued neglect of the Phillips Library Collections, and ensuring that the collection was unavailable both physically and digitally to researchers over the past 2 years (and for the forseeable futur...
What happens to the DNA in blood that you're receiving in your system?	[ "Red blood cells don't have DNA, but you may get some from white blood cells. However, it is essentially inconsequential and will eventually break down." ]	[ "They distribute it to banks, so when you get paid (let's say your employer deposits your pay electronically) and you withdraw some of it in cash, sometimes that's brand-new money they're handing you." ]
In the section "Rice Paddies and Math Tests" of his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that modern differences between Eastern educational practices and Western educational practices can be traced back to their respective agricultural legacies. To what extent are his claims accurate?	[ "Could you provide the specific claims? What is the causal link Gladwell draws?" ]	[ "Basically, Obama says that higher education (college) should be a right. People should all be able to go to college with help from scholarships, loans, or grants. Romney thinks that it should be reserved for those who can afford it. The government should not help students go to college by having low-interest loan...
How does a Medical Examiner determine the Cause of Death?	[ "Mostly by autopsy. Cutting the body open, looking for anything that looks wrong. Looking at the heart for signs of a clot, lungs for blockage etc. Blood tests are also taken to test for anything unusual like heart attack signs ( enzyme) or drink/ drugs. Everybody dies for the same reason, the heart stops, medical...	[ "[William Chrystal](_URL_0_) has made it his late-in-life calling to advance the case of Alexander Hamilton. He maintains that we know so little of Hamilton's legacy as a founding father because he died early and Jefferson and his followers had control of shaping the perception of that early period (and Hamilton, w...
Why do I sometimes hear a loud, high-frequency ringing noise in either one ear or both at random times?	[ "Sounds like you're describing [tinnitus](_URL_0_). Read the article for more information - there are many different causes." ]	[ "Envision jello on a plate. Now envision hairs are growing out of the plate and in to the jello, and the jello is topped with small pebbles that are stuck to it. If you tilt the plate, the weight of the pebbles being pull ed down by gravity causes jello to skew, bending the hairs inside in that direction. That is h...
What happens if you send DC into a computer power supply or a wall adapter?	[ "Depends on how the power supply is put together. If the first thing the input power hits is a [diode bridge](_URL_0_), that will accept a DC input with negligible losses. But some designs (especially older ones) pass the input AC through a transformer before converting to DC. Transformers don't work at DC, so a tr...	[ "You would lose your stuff and have no way to get your money back. You're not actually \"buying\" anything, you're paying them money for a license to use a thing. You don't have any right to it, in the same way that they can ban your account without giving you a refund." ]
Why did china suddenly start developing a lot faster economically than India?	[ "I feel like this question is a bit outside of this subreddit's scope, it's really more of an economics question, plus if you look at [this graph](_URL_0_) then you can see that they were at very similar levels until around 20 years ago when they diverged, so anything following that violates the subreddits 20 year ...	[ "Each culture has an 'in' to a particular business in each area. So, one Korean family will come and open a dry cleaning business. When their cousins come, they will tell them the tricks of the trade and the regulations and have the business model set, so their cousins open up another cleaning business one town ove...
What is the process used to make seasonal flu vaccines BEFORE the flu season comes? Who does it?	[ "[This page] (_URL_0_) answers the question thoroughly. The answer is that the WHO and other health agencies make an educated guess during the previous flu season which strains they think will be prevalent the following year. The guesses are not always completely right." ]	[ "Your employer takes money out of your paycheck throughout the year to pay your local, state, and federal taxes. The amount they take out, however, is just an estimate how much tax you will probably owe at the end of the year. There's no way for the state, local, and federal governments to know what you actually do...
Historians of Reddit, What has happened in the years after a Political Party dies and where does the replacing party rise from?	[ "The easy answer is that in the American political system, major parties don't die. The last time a major party died was in the lead up to the Civil War, when the Whig Party broke apart on the issue of slavery. Since the end of the Civil War (150 years ago), we've had the Democrats and the Republicans. While some m...	[ "Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_0_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t...
Where do uploaded files go?	[ "Part of why you are having conceptual difficulty here (which others have addressed) is because the internet isn't just a big sea of information: it's a network of other computers. Any data \"on the internet\" is hosted from a specific computer somewhere." ]	[ "Whenever you design a computer component, figuring out how to balance the cost of it against the performance is a major decision to make. The first versions of USB were designed around low power, low speed devices, like mice, keyboards with some webcams and printers at the high end of things. As such, the standard...
What would happen if you told a police officer that you didn't understand your rights after hearing the Miranda warning?	[ "Explain my rights to me... like I'm five?" ]	[ "The Sun does create radio interference in such a situation (even though in most cases the Sun does not completely occult the signal Mars), and such an alignment occurs every 26 months. While I do not know the protocol for Curiosity, the way NASA has handled this in the past for Spirit and Opportunity is as follows...
Obama's trade agreement plans and the controversy surrounding it.	[ "The TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) is a trade agreement between the US, Japan, and other pacific nations analogous to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) between the US and many European nations. The controversy comes from the fact that the full terms of the agreement have not been made public, so no on...	[ "Since this is a homework question, we expect a little more effort from you. What research have you done so far for your paper? What are your findings so far? Is there anything specific you have a question about?" ]
Would a knot work with a frictionless rope?	[ "Yes, most knots would work without friction, because for them to become undone by pulling on the ends, the rope would need to physically pass through itself." ]	[ "Nice work, you've discovered Olbers' Paradox :) This was a much-discussed problem in antiquity. _URL_0_ Take a read of the wiki page, it's very good at explaining. And ask away if there is more you want to know." ]
How does China raise money under a communist tax system?	[ "China's tax regime is similar to that of most other countries, consisting of primarily: * Personal taxes, such as income tax, which is levied on individuals and small businesses * Business taxes levied on company profits and on goods sold * Property taxes levied on property owners and users There are also plenty o...	[ "They have some personal property that provides them with an income, mainly in the form of land rents. For the soverign, they get the Duchy of Lancaster, while the heir to the throne has the Duchy of Cornwall. These monies can be saved or invested or given away. For instance, Prince Charles has invested in [organic...
Are blood cells in larger mammals bigger than cells in smaller mammals?	[ "Mean red blood cell diameters (in micrometers) * Cow: 5.8 * Mouse: 6.0 * Rat: 6.5 * Human: 7.7 * Blue whale: 7.7 * Chicken: short 7.3, long 12.1 * * African clawed frog: short 9.5 , long 16.0 * *Bird and amphibian erythrocytes are elliptical so have a long and a short diameter. In answer to your question, blue wha...	[ "Depends on what level the study is at. Look at people who regularly eat lots of red meat and bacon, and compare it to people who don't If there is a difference in cancer rates between the two groups, something is causing a higher rate of cancer. Maybe work place exposure, food, lifestyle etc. Then take genetically...
When the LHC found the higgs boson how did they know it was the Higgs boson and not just another particle?	[ "It has the predicted coupling strengths to the various other particles. Because the Higgs field gives mass to the various particles, the Higgs particle's couplings to other particles should be proportional to their masses. Also, the found particle has the predicted spin (zero)." ]	[ "The \"standard model of cosmology\", i.e. [the lambda-CDM model](_URL_0_) treats dark energy as the result of having a non-zero cosmological constant. \"Constant\" being the key word. Ideas like the Big Rip only come about when you imagine a cosmology where the cosmological \"constant\" is actually some elaborate ...
If denying your child food and water is child abuse, why is allowing them to become obese and unhealthy not?	[ "When I worked in childcare, we had a 70lb two year old and in that case child protective services did intervene. He wasn't taken away and his parents weren't charged with anything. It was demanded that he get physical therapy and healthy food and the family be educated. It turns out they just didn't know how bad t...	[ "I shot both fashion and portrait photography and there is a simple explanation. When people look at themselves in a mirror they tend to look at their best angles. In an image you see the reality...all unflattering angles and facial expressions. In snapshots these are usually not good angles and expressions. So al...
How does a combustion engine work?	[ "There is a chamber into which gasoline is pushed. Inside that chamber there is a solid tube called a piston. The gas is ignited by a spark plug and it explodes, forcing the piston upwards. The piston is attached to a crank that then rotates under the force of that pushed piston. This rotation causes another piston...	[ "_URL_0_ The wikipedia article is excellent and better than any of the answers in here so far. If you have specific parts you don't understand, ask away and I can help explain them to you." ]
In nature, why is there no opposite to “disease”, for example, a kind of virus or pathogen (but the opposite) that mentally or physically enhances our abilities?	[ "There is, it is called mutualism. Our intestines are lined with millions of bacteria, they help us break down our food and make it easier to digest. Oral flora can, for some people, prevent cavities or plaque buildup. There are many other bacterium and parasites that can benefit us. If you're at the store, take a ...	[ "Imagine a huge crowd of people trying to get into a building with two doors. For them, the doors look identical, but inside the building, one of them leads to a nice, wide corridor, but the other leads into a tight maze. You dont know that one path is much easier than the other, but since the tight path is clogged...
Why can't the Japanese government just shutdown the Fukushima nuclear plant?	[ "If you mean shutting it down to prevent any further radioactive material to leak out. That won't work. Shutting down the nuclear plant will not suddenly make the radioactive material inside become not radioactive. It will still be radioactive and it will still leak out of the cracks. I am not sure if it is the rad...	[ "Creutzfeldt-Jakob is a terminal disease that wastes away the brain. There is no cure and while there have been some progress in developing blood tests for the prions that cause the disease, its not to a point where you would want to risk infecting someone with degenerative brain disease. There's relatively little...
How was the moon created?	[ "Definitely! Nobody was around when the Moon was created so we have to use evidence we have now and develop theories which match what we actually can see. _URL_1_ Regardless of how it was created, the Moon has been extremely important in the development of life on Earth. _URL_0_" ]	[ "Imagine a dry lake (if you've ever seen HOLES then this is a good one to think of). If an animal was walking along the shoreline (or even near the final place the water evaporated), its foot prints would be set into the mud. The mud would then harden when the water evaporated, leaving a stiff mold behind. Let's sa...
How close could we send an unmanned spacecraft to the sun ?	[ "We could make one crash into the Sun if we really wanted to do that. Basically, if you can send something out of the solar system, you can also crash it into the Sun. But of course it's a bit pointless to send anything into the Sun. Orbiting the Sun at a close distance is considerably harder to do. [Solar Probe Pl...	[ "The mean surface pressure is only 0.6% of that of Earth, so you'd need a very large balloon. VERY large. Then, you'd need to overcome any winds, which would require plenty of power, which means large power systems, and an even bigger balloon. Plus you'd need to fill it, meaning you'd have to deliver hydrogen or he...
Is there a strong case for arguing that Mallory and Irvine might have summited Mt. Everest in 1924?	[ "There is indeed a fairly strong case. Mallory's body was found a few years ago in a position and in a condition which people have suggested shows that he was on his descent. The last time that they were seen alive, they were very close to the summit and there's certainly no reason to think that they didn't reach i...	[ "Wildlife photographer here. They do it with long lenses, and weeks of squatting in cold, damp nature blinds, waiting for the right scene to happen in front of them. I cruise around Yellowstone for days at a time with a 600mm lens looking for critters. Or if you happen to be Walt Disney, you cheat. For the 1958 wil...
How come mp3 file qualities from Youtube Converters deteriorate with time?	[ "You'll have to clarify what you mean by \"deteriorate with time.\" Once a file is downloaded to your computer, unless you mess with it, the only thing that can happen to it is degradation of the medium containing the data, colloquially called \"bit rot.\"" ]	[ "Standards for data presentation have changed. If you attemted to load a site as it were when 3g was in its prime, it would load wonderfully. The problem is that as wireless data capabilities have increased, so has the complexity and amount of data in sites to make good use of it, to the point where the outdated tr...
Was there ever a city in America that was successfully able to limit the mafia from making a foothold?	[ "Are you asking Mafia exclusively or organized crime in general?" ]	[ "Can you clarify your question? I see a map of a county in AZ detailed with geographic representations, and another map of the town boundaries in MA. You should look at similar maps to compare the 2 [MA](_URL_1_) and [AZ](_URL_3_) If you're asking about the make up of the political boundaries (i.e. Why does AZ not ...
Why all diagrams showing the big bang shows something like a cone. Shouldn't this be showed like a sphere?	[ "They use one dimension to show time. That leaves two spacial dimensions to work with for showing the size of the universe, and a 2d sphere is a circle. A circle getting larger as you go through the third dimension (representing time) gives a cone." ]	[ "One theory is that the now extinct north African plant silphium plan was used in Cyrene in the seventh century b.c. as a form of birth control. The plant became so important to the Cyrene economy that they minted the seed pods on their coins (the heart shape we know today). The theory is that the shape was associa...
What happens to a splinter/glass shard/metal fiber/etc that's been in your foot so long that it stops hurting eventually?	[ "When a foreign entity enters your body in this manner, the body will attempt to \"wall\" it off. As a side note, wood splinters tend to have oil on them which may intefere with this process and has an increased chance of infection. You should always remove wooden splinters when you can. Had a splinter in my hand f...	[ "As time passes you put the event or issue into its proper perspective as you learn more about it and things around it. Often times that makes you realize how inane some things are." ]
Do rainbows have colours beyond our visible spectrum, and if so how far?	[ "yes they do for the specifics of how rainbows are created [look here](_URL_0_) First of all, water droplets have a certain size. Frequencies low enough that have wavelengths that aren't much smaller than the water droplets don't \"see\" them as a single entity, sort of treating the whole rain as a single material....	[ "It really depends on what you mean by \"see.\" If you mean see with the unaided eye, then no we cannot. If you mean unambiguously detect and visualize, then we can. _URL_0_" ]
How useful was studded leather armor? Who used it and why?	[ "'Studded leather' and 'leather armour' are gifts to the world from D & D, rather than being actual historical armour types, at least in the western hemisphere. There is reference to tourney armour being made of 'cuir bouilli' (hardened leather; the exact hardening method being subject to a lot of debate), sometime...	[ "If you're new to the thread, please don't post the Mythbusters episode again. Mythbusters is entertaining but it's not history (or more specifically, it's not historical proof of anything.) The short answer is no, not that we know of. /u/davidaop, our pirate expert, and I have both answered [questions about th...
If a person is unconscious from a trauma for several days, is there a way to forcefully wake them up?	[ "There are ways to chemically or physically stimulate their central nervous system, and that might make them wake up, but not only is the chance slim and the dangers way higher than the chance of success, why would you do that? Let them heal." ]	[ "I don't so much think of it as an evolutionary thing. There's really no benefit to being confused. It comes down to computing power. Your brain just takes a minute to recall old information/piece together new information to develop an idea of where you are and how you got there. I'm currently in flight school and...
Why is cancer most common in reproductive organs that are exclusive to each sex?	[ "The most common types of cancer in U.S., Europe, Australia and other countries with high percentages of light skinned people is basal cell carcinoma of the skin. It is not usually included in the lists you link to. In fact if you look under the graph there is a specific statement that non-melanoma skin cancers (ba...	[ "Think about how incredibly dangerous and taxing it is for a woman to have a child. They're unable to mate for a year minimum, risk death and have a huge need to then care for the child. If you're a male who has invested in a woman, there is a very clear incentive for you to make sure that she doesn't go through th...
Why are SSDs so much better than HDDs?	[ "SSDs are silent, use less power, and have a much faster read/write speed compared to HDDs. The tradeoff is that they are more expensive per GB of storage space." ]	[ "I have a chackboard with 100 words written on it. You ask me to delete every word that starts with A which there are 6 words. They're written randomly on the chalk board. I need to search for the words, and then neatly delete the words without deleting anything nearby. But you instead asked me to delete everythin...
What is physically happening to photons when light dims over distance?	[ "We're talking about the intensity of a spherical light source as you move away from it correct? The reason for the dimming isn't because the photons have changed—a distance blue light is still blue—but because there is simply less of them. The flux (or light per area per time) is what is decreasing. This is requir...	[ "Additionally to your pupil dilating, you have two different types of receptor cells in your eyes called rods and cones. Cones are used for color vision and during well-lit conditions, whereas your rods are used for black and white vision, peripheral vision, and dimly lit conditions. Part of your eyes adjusting to ...
What will happen if Iran can export oil again?	[ "It will likely cause the worldwide price of oil to fall since there is more supply. I've seen estimates of a 15-20% drop once they come fully online. The other consequence is that Iran will have more money, which could have unpredictable results." ]	[ "Usually steep fines and punishments when caught. And it is when caught, not if caught." ]
Why do people in the same family often share similar-sounding laughter?	[ "Laughter is a learned trait, like talking, so you laugh the way your brain learned how to laugh. All that is through observational learning." ]	[ "Most people copy ideas. If the tribe A comes up with a good idea, then tribe B next door will copy it. Or tribe A's good idea may make it powerful enough to conquer tribe B and force them to adopt their idea. Isolated communities may not be exposed to outsiders' ideas (like modern technology) so they don't copy th...
Why are portraits, any paintings of humans really, almost always left or right-facing instead of directly forward?	[ "People often look less flattering when faced front on. If you’re creating an artwork you most likely want it to look as aesthetically pleasant as possible. This would be much harder if the subject looked ugly. Also when drawing or painting the (technical) purpose is to create depth. Facing front on would decrease...	[ "hi! you'll find a few comments on map orientation in this FAQ section * [Why is north shown as \"up\" on maps?](_URL_0_) and this recent post has a comment on the cardinal directions in general, plus links to several more related posts. The quick tl;dr is that the directions we currently use are relative to the su...
What happens to people who commit a felony in Washington, D.C.	[ "[This page](_URL_0_) seems to have most of the information you want. \"Numerous agencies are directly involved in crime and justice matters in the District of Columbia. Criminal justice functions in the District of Columbia are divided between local and federal agencies, in a way that is unique. Much of the feder...	[ "The word is that the Denver Colorado dispensary was funded by money received from Mexican drug cartels. The DEA got word through an informant and shut it down. Tldr: local$$= ok Cartel $$= fed jail" ]
During WWII, how was it decided who would go to the Pacific and who would go to the Atlantic theaters?	[ "The biggest determining factor was which service you were affiliated with. Marines were sent almost exclusively to the Pacific theater, due to their focus on amphibious warfare and the island-hopping nature of that fight. Since both major theaters involved a significant ocean voyage, the navy was involved in both ...	[ "They plan the landing sites well in advanced. It is determined by terrain (will it be a safe landing), different features (what looks interesting to study), and by past landings (they want to spread out so they can study as much ground as possible)" ]
Why do people who have depression sleep a lot?	[ "It feels better not to be conscious. It's also physically exhausting to be depressed. People forget that depression has physical symptoms, not just psychological symptoms." ]	[ "It's called [mind-wandering](_URL_0_). It's long been thought that the [default mode network](_URL_1_) is what drives this. This network refers to a number of regions in the brain which show greater activity when people are not engaged in any active task (or are engaged in an easier relative to harder task). The i...
My Greek Grandmother (YiaYia) doesn't know much about this Greek military medallion in her jewelry box...	[ "The Greek words are PISTIS, AGAPE, PATRIS and the last one I think is ELPIS. Translation: Faith, Love, Country (lit. \"fatherland\") and Hope. That's all I can do." ]	[ "Michelin began as a general travel guide for motorists, intended to help promote the brand new technology of automobiles, and the sale of Michelin tires. It originally also had maps, instructions on how to change tires and hotel listings. Over the years, Michelin began to realize how popular the restaurant secti...
What the hell just happened?	[ "[ supercooling](_URL_0_) Water can be cooled below its freezing point without freezing. When it gets disturbed it'll freeze." ]	[ "- Affect is a verb, and means to have an effect on. - Example: This comment will affect your understanding of words. - Effect is a noun and means a change that is a result of something else. - Example: The effect of learning new words means you will be more clever. - However, you can also use effect whe...
What is Chaos Theory?	[ "Chaos is \"when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.\" In other words, chaotic systems have no actual randomness - knowing the current state would tell you everything you need to know to determine the future state - but in practice they're unpr...	[ "Explained by Daniel Dennett in a wonderful 25 minute video _URL_0_" ]
Why do objects further away from us look smaller?	[ "Because the angle of observation is much smaller than with a near object. This is especially important since our high-tech 3D eyes are very close to each other and fail to give you an accurate feeling about objects that are further away. So the brain relies on two kinds of information; the first is what you know, ...	[ "The Theory of relativity. The same reason time seems to pass In a blink when you're enjoying a night with friends, yet seems to last an eternity during the last 10 minutes of work." ]
Whats the real story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident? (Vietnam War)	[ "Neither of the reports were fabricated. What we have to understand is that incorrect judgements or reading of situations are very common in conflict situation and confusion, 'the fog of war', is very present. The first attack, on the 2nd of August, was an attack that actually did happen and has been confirmed by t...	[ "From _URL_0_ \"... Like Magic Shell, Carvel’s Brown Bonnet chocolate topping instantly forms a hard shell around ice cream. And, just like Magic Shell, one of the main ingredients is coconut oil. Tropical oils, including coconut, are naturally high in saturated fat—consisting of about 90 percent of the stuff. As P...
Why I have to poop so badly, but when I go to the bathroom, the need goes away.	[ "A variety of factors are in effect here, such as the general health of your digestive tract and how badly you need to go. However, the primary factor at play is [the posture your body is currently in](_URL_0_) (standing upright lessens the need while squatting down makes you feel it even more)." ]	[ "The process you seem to be missing is... well, it's your actual question. Sometimes, it takes longer to write. You don't always have the same level of inspiration, you don't always have the same level of motivation, and every writer has to occasionally fight with writer's block." ]
How come I can't put metal in the microwave, when the inside of a microwave is almost entirely metal?	[ "The microwave is shielded by a faraday cage, keeping the charge that isn't absorbed by something inside the microwave from affecting things outside of it (although some interference does leak out). When you place something in the cage that is metal, it will arc towards the cage (the same way it was intended) as th...	[ "The eardrum is normally airtight, so while the eustachian tube can open to allow air to flow between the pharynx and the middle ear, there's no direct pathway from the middle ear to the outside of your body. That's why your ears get \"plugged\" when the atmosphere pressure changes, such as when you take off in an ...
I've heard that 300 is a common number in ancient texts signifying some great number. Is this is true, does this cast doubt about the 300 Spartans?	[ "It may be that 300 could be used as a formulaic large number in some contexts, but it seems unlikely in the case of Herodotus' or Diodorus Siculus' estimates of the Greek army at Thermopylae, since both use larger numbers for other groups - for example, Herodotus has the Tegeans and Mantineans both sending 500 sol...	[ "Let's say you're a game developer, and you wanted to give out codes for people to get into the beta of your game. You decide to do this by giving access to one person to start, and then every Friday everyone in the program can invite 4 friends. So on the initial day, you only have 1 person playing. But after the 1...

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