Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
If America is sending troops and giving money away to our allies in need, is that tax payers money or does the US government have a way to make money by itself?	[ "It's taxpayer money one way or the other. Printing money doesn't (directly) create wealth. The simple answer to your question is that some tax revenue is budgeted for foreign and military aid. But if the government printed money to send overseas, it would inflate the dollar and everyone at home would be a little p...	[ "they raise capital by selling shares of ownership in their company, or by selling bonds in the form of debt. Tesla has gone to the well to get more money several times in the past year or 2. Works fine as long as investors believe theres a path to profitability." ]
; Why do ducks and some other bird species fly in formation?	[ "It's aerodynamic. Each bird gets reduced air resistance and a slight updraft from the bird ahead of it, meaning they can fly longer using far less energy. They take turns in the front position, which is the only place that's really tiring. Military jets fly in V formations for the exact same reason: the air flow r...	[ "* Open your favourite FPS game. * Run across the map, keeping an object in the skybox at a constant angle in your view. You will go in a straight line. * Now run, keeping a nearby object at a constant angle. You will circlestrafe right into it. When insect navigation evolved, the only lights around were in the sk...
Why don't Japanese TV shows "look" like movies, unlike US TV shows?	[ "Very different budget and style. MANY American shows look like Atelier, e.g. Big Bang Theory, every soap opera, every sitcom, etc. The surge of movie-quality TV shows is a pretty new thing in the US too." ]	[ "We can prevent some of the damage from the event, mostly by expanding communications so that a Tsunami Warning, for example, can be forwarded to the countries in its path. It is only this last decade which has seen Tsunami Warning systems begin operating in the entire Pacific Basin. These kinds of multi-national e...
Why aren't tornados represented in classical art?	[ "There's some discussion on native Americans and their interpretations and depictions of tornadoes on this old [thread](_URL_0_). Edit formatting" ]	[ "Your answer was removed shortly before you posted this question. It did not meet our standards. We ask that answers in this subreddit be in-depth and comprehensive, and highly suggest that comments include citations for the information. In the future, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with [the ...
Would pure, 100% solute free water kill bacteria due to water potential?	[ "No, bacteria have fairly solid cell walls. Think of a balloon in a string bag. The cell wall acts like a string bag which prevents the cell 'over-inflating' and bursting." ]	[ "Microwaves are not energetic enough to break up DNA bonds the way UV light does (which is how UV sterilizes, and causes skin cancer), so they cannot sterilize anything directly. However, they heat the food, which will sterilize it as surely as a stove or oven will. 180F is 180F, no matter how you got there, and fe...
what happens when I continue using 2-week contact lens for more than 2 weeks?	[ "Minerals may. Build up and scratch your eye. Bacteria may build up and cause an infection. The lens may wear out and tear during use which would leave you partially blinded until you get replacements" ]	[ "Awesome question, you’re right that the research about this kinda sucks. If you are good at interpreting/understanding research articles then check this out, if not then I’ll cover the details below so don’t worry: _URL_0_ Generally, research of this nature is done using model organisms, in the case of this study...
There are extinct animals and plants. By this measure, are there extinct biomes?	[ "Layman Alert! Perhaps these might have been classified as different biomes, had they existed today. - [Polar forests](_URL_2_) (with complete darkness during the winter) - [Epicontinental seas](_URL_1_) during \"hothouse climate\" (flooded continents resulting in vast shallow, tropical seas) Also, the [swamp fores...	[ "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...
When investigators find a computer's IP, how do they then locate the computer the IP belongs to?	[ "An IP (or rather, a range of IPs) will belong to a specific ISP. For instance, anything in the _URL_0_ range will be Comcast. All the investigators have to do then is arrange to get the proper authority to ask the question (warrant, etc...), and get in touch with Comcast and say \"On this date, at this time, who w...	[ "Kind of like data mining. Some companies will alert you if you buy something off a new website, or if the website is frequented by hackers. Let’s say you buy a bike online for $130. $130 isn’t that much money. However, people usually don’t order bikes off the internet. That’ll raise a red flag. And of course if th...
How do explosions trigger car alarms?	[ "Most car alarms detect movement on the car, like when someone tries to break in. If it is too sensitive, it can be set off by someone leaning on the side. An explosion sends out a massive shockwave, which shakes the car and sets off the alarm." ]	[ "Disappointed in the NY Times for publishing that. Seems like an stated fact so odd that it is worthy of an explanation \\- at least. Perhaps it was the heat of the engine running in an enclosed garage that did it But... if the cans opened from heat while in the location shown in the picture there should be quite a...
How come there are no noise cancelling apps out there? Cell phones have the necessary inputs and outputs. I would think someone would have done it a while ago.	[ "The processing for noise cancelling needs to be really fast, the input/output lag on phones is way to slow. It's around 10ms - 100ms depending on the model and OS. Thats way too slow. It needs specialized hardware." ]	[ "They make ones that will work with non dairy milks. The proteins and fats and sugars in milk are pretty unique which is why they can make cheese. You cant make almond cheese or coconut cheese, and you cant make dairy pudding with them either. Maybe someone can explain the science behind the interactions with the c...
Historical images of lions can be found from England to China, but I thought they can only be found in Africa... How are lions so prevalently symbolic?	[ "Here are a few threads to help you: _URL_0_ _URL_2_ _URL_1_" ]	[ "To Christianity, the cross is a symbol of Jesus' sacrifice of himself to redeem mankind of their sins and to allow humans into heaven. The idea is that Jesus willingly chose to suffer for all of mankind, and the cross is a symbol of the sacrifice and not a symbol of the suffering." ]
After the EU (or its predecessors the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community) were formed, were there any other attempts to construct similar organizations in other continents and regions?	[ "OPEC springs to mind as a vaguely Middle-Eastern alliance but it isnt nearly as strongly tied together and there is also an African Union that consists of all the African states except Morroco, and many countries are also suspended due to various conflicts and scandals." ]	[ "I mean as far as I know it is the same as when you finish mandatory education almost anywhere. You can go work, you can learn a trade, you can go to college (which typically focusses more on practical skills/trades) or a university (which is more academically oriented). The US typically conflates colleges and univ...
Is it possible to add enough salt (or other solute) to water such that it is still an aqueous solution, but dense enough for a man to walk on?	[ "Corn starch, but only if you run. A supersaturated solution will become solid under sudden stress, but remain liquid otherwise." ]	[ "I've actually built one for a science fair before. I used _URL_0_ as a reference guide: _URL_2_ _URL_1_ It worked, but know going in that you will not get a huge amount thrust. Your setup would probably do better, but it will still most likely not be a lot. What I ended up doing that had a more striking visual eff...
The age of the universe is 14 billion years. Its radius is assumed to be at least 45 billion light-years. How is this possible, considering the max relative speed in the speed of light?	[ "One thing that solidified it for me. When I used to hear, \"The Universe is expanding\" I thought of everything moving apart from each other. But that's not exactly what is happening. There is actually more space now between point A and B than there just was. A better way to think of it is to think of the Univers...	[ "The formula for the relativistic Doppler shift for EM radiation is, from wikipedia: f = F sqrt( (1-B)/(1+B) ) where F is the frequency in the frame of the source and f is the frequency in the frame of an observer moving relative to the source with velocity B = v/c. For B < 0 the observer is moving towards the sour...
How do we learn emotions?	[ "There is a lot of research saying emotions are instinctual and not learned behavior. We all experience the same emotions, and no matter the culture or upbringing, can recognize the same emotions." ]	[ "I think it is hardwired into us. [Tommy Edison](_URL_0_) explains it better." ]
History of science question: When did microscopes become powerful enough that single-celled organisms could be discerned?	[ "Pretty much from the get go. When Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek first looked through his prototype in the late 1600s, he quickly stumbled on unicellular organisms and provided our first descriptions of them (also several other cell types and tissues). You can get an appreciation for the quality of his instrumen...	[ "hi! you'll find a few more morsels of info in these threads * [What was life like as a university student in 19th century Europe?](_URL_2_) * [When tourism in the modern sense begin? Has it always been common for people to go on 'vacations'?](_URL_0_) * [At what point did the buildings of Ancient Rome stop being j...
Is there a way to manipulate our gene so that we no longer have to sleep?	[ "People actually die without sleep for extended periods of time. It's not that we physically need it for our bodies, but it is very important in consolidating memories and brain organization, so I don't think we can do without it" ]	[ "If this was possible (it probably is) it would be a horrible idea. You would literally be slowing down the earth. Maybe the effect would be small at first, but it would build up over time. The question is only how long would it take to have an effect, and how bad would the effect be." ]
What is the purpose of the District of Columbia, why was it formed, and why is it under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress?	[ "We didn't want any one state to have the Capitol located within its boundaries. Previously Philly & NYC served, but that offered potential conflicts. By locating the capitol between two states (Maryland & VA), and making it autonomous, it essentially provides an additional check & balance. Something our system is ...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
Why do I fall asleep so easy when I'm not supposed to (ex: work meeting) but struggle when I am supposed to (ex: at night)?	[ "The answer is Anxiety. When you're in the middle of a lecture or a meeting you're focusing (or trying to) on the subject. However when you're trying to fall asleep there is likely nothing to attract your attention. Which means that your head goes all over the place. The enemy of anxiety is distraction because when...	[ "Taking melatonin works by replicating the natural release of melatonin in your system at sunset. You could get the same response by dimming all your lights and switching to redder light an hour before bed, but who wants to do that? If you take a small dose, you trick the brain into thinking that the sun has set, a...
What are strange states of matter ?	[ "The usual states of matter which people are familiar with a solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Scientists and five year olds have a clear idea of how such states flow, solids just sit there, liquids can pour and gases can float away. The unusual states investigated by the 2016 Nobel scientists involve very thin layers...	[ "Just a cloud of gas. The condensation is in momentum space. Some would say that superfluid helium is a BEC though." ]
If heat breaks things down, why does cooking your steak make it tougher?	[ "It is breaking down the proteins in the meat. But think of the proteins in the meat as little capsule toys filled with bunched up coiled springs. You destroy the capsule, all the little metal springs have room to expand and they wiggle and wobble and coil all over the place. They intertwine and knot like when you ...	[ "Actually, you are spot on! Metals are ductile and malleable (able to be bent/flattened) because they are composed of small grains which can move past each other when a force is exerted upon them. Image here of the crystal structure of some aluminum sheet: _URL_0_ The heat is generated by the friction of these grai...
How can we feel something when we never actually touch it (on an atomic level)?	[ "Lift your arm up. Do you feel a pressure trying to pull it downward? That is gravity, and even though nothing is directly touching you, the force of gravity is affecting you. The same thing goes for touch. Even though we do not really \"touch\" anything, we do feel the forces of the world interacting with us. We...	[ "Simply put for the same reason drinking water when you're not thirsty isn't as refreshing as when you're REALLY thirsty. Anticipating the bodies' needs doesn't trigger the same reward responses in the brain as fulfilling a need that is already present. Your muscles don't NEED to stretch right now, so you can't ant...
Why doesn't eating stimulate our gag reflex?	[ "The medical name for the gag reflex is the Pharyngeal reflex, if you haven't read it yet the [wikipedia page](_URL_1_) has more information on it and [swallowing](_URL_0_). There doesn't seem to be anything conclusive on what triggers the different variations of the gag and swallowing reflexes tho. One interesting...	[ "Probably just because you haven't practised doing it one way but do practice the other way because you do it out of habit. I've never really thought can do it both ways without a problem, and if you tried for about a week you probably would be able to as well. I think this because I remember what it was like learn...
Why does one chromosome change genetics so much?	[ "We each have 23 pairs of chromosomes. All of the instructions to construct a human body from scratch is contained in those. So \"one single chromosome\" is 1/23 of what makes you human! Suppose you bought a car kit and you had a 23-volume set of instructions on how to build a car. If you're missing any ones of tho...	[ "They moved the engines forward and up to improve efficiency by 14% however this affects the plane's center of gravity. To fix this they have the computer constantly correcting the attitude of the plane. If this computer fails the plane's aerodynamics changes and controlling it becomes challenging. Here's more in...
How exactly do those electronic 20 Questions games work?	[ "If I ask you a simple yes/no question, there are two possible answers. If I ask you two yes/no questions, there are four possible outcomes. (You could say 'yes' twice, or 'no' twice, or 'yes' and then 'no', or 'no' and then 'yes'). If you do this 20 times, there are 1,048,576 possible outcomes. If you ask 25 quest...	[ "It uses an ~~alcohol~~ ethylene based liquid, instead of water. So the clothes get \"wet\" to remove the dirt, they just never come in contact with h2o." ]
What is that feeling when you're talking to someone about something serious, where your head feels out of body and you feel so far away from the person, but they're right in front of you?	[ "Just to be clear, this is the feeling that everyone gets when they get lectured by their parents back during their childhood days, yes?" ]	[ "The light has nothing to do with it. Each eye has a field of view of about 160 degrees, horizontally. You can consider this to be a triangle, with one corner having 160 degree angle. What you are able to see at any distance is the length of the far side of the triangle. If the far side is only 1 foot away from thi...
What does the 8/7C timing mean for american TV shows?	[ "I, assume, you aren't American? There are several time zones in this country. That means a show comes on at 8 EST and 7CST" ]	[ "It's just an obsolete tradition now, that few care about. It started back when summer clothes and winter or formal city clothes were different, often made out of different materials. Such as cotton vs wool. And often the families of the gentry class would relocate from their winter home in the city to their summer...
Why is it that some wake up immediately when their alarms go off and others sleep through it?	[ "Part of it has to do with where you are in the REM cycle when it is time to get up. When you need to get up at a certain time, it is just as important to plan when you go to bed and how long you're going to be asleep when it is time to get up. So many people just set an alarm and stay up until they're tired or pl...	[ "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...
Do airplanes and helicopters fly better when the air's humidity is higher?	[ "Humid air is less dense than dry air, because N2 is 28 amu and O2 is 32 amu, while H2O is 18 amu. This means there's less drag and less lift when the air is humid. To generate the same amount of lift in humid air, an airplane must either fly faster, fly in a more nose high attitude, or fly with flaps. In practice,...	[ "The only danger associated with inhaling hydrogen gas (so long as it doesn't ignite) is possible asphyxiation due to the lack of oxygen being inhaled. This danger also exists in inhaling helium and to the same extent. So as long as the helium doesn't kill you, you can perform the same actions with hydrogen instead...
What is the significance behind the donkey and elephant used in American elections?	[ "Historically, both parties had used a vareity of animals to represent certain qualities they wished to express (either in themselves or in their opponents). Cartoonist Thomas Nast, who is considered one of the first and best political cartoonists, is credited with popularizing the donkey for the Democrats and the ...	[ "You mean the Animal Planet one? Hype and marketing. Then it became a euphemism for menstruation (I'll fill you in if you want, but it's gross sex stuff...) and took on a life of its own." ]
Does a candle burn wax or does the wax evaporate?	[ "The wax burns - it is the fuel that produces the light. The heat of the flame melts the wax which is then drawn up into the wick by capillary action, where it burns. The visible smoke is carbon, from the hydrocarbons in the wax." ]	[ "I used to work in a lab with a laser engraver and you could adjust the intensity down to cut or just burn a pattern onto paper. Laser engravers typically use CO2 lasers, which operate in the infrared so the laser is invisible. [Here is a laser engraver cutting paper](_URL_0_) and [here are pictures of etched paper...
What's the highest possible IQ?	[ "Theoretically you are correct. But even if IQ scores are theoretically perfectly normally distributed over the entire human population, no test can capture this. People are born and die every second, and there is no way to test every single human. So, an IQ test's scores has to be modeled on a small population and...	[ "I would check out It's Okay to Be Smart on youtube. They do a good episode on this (im bad at links)" ]
In determining blood type, the O allele is recessive to both the A and B alleles. Why is it then that O is the most common blood type and it's prevalence hasn't declined?	[ "So this is an interesting question. If I recall correctly from school, type O is what the earliest people had (postulated). Over time mutations have occurred leading to difference surface antigens like the A and B antigen. So while they are recessive, there are still many people with this. If two people who are bo...	[ "It all comes down to when you want to pay your tax liability. A Roth allows you to pay it now to avoid taxes in the future. Most people expect to be earning more and thus have a higher tax liability in the future, so a Roth helps by giving you a source of income without your taxes increasing. Another benefit of a ...
Why is it illegal to record a conversation with someone over the phone?	[ "This really depends on the jurisdiction. In those places where all participants in a conversation need to give consent to a recording, the reasoning is that it preserves their privacy--what we may choose to say in an ephemeral conversation is different from what we may say when a permanent record is being made. Le...	[ "Patents must describe, in detail, a very specific technological improvement. They don't just cover the general idea of a product. A computer talking to you has been around for years. A computer understanding speech has been around for years. A computer following instructions has been around for years. Combining th...
If a person was standing in the North Pole during the summer solstice, would the sun just appear to make a circle around the sky?	[ "Yes, thats exactly what it would look like. [Here's a video from not quite so north, but in the arctic.](_URL_0_) Far enough north (or far enough south during winter solstice) the sun never sets. Having been to northern parts of Scotland in the summer, having the sun up at 11:00pm or later can be a little unnervin...	[ "The problem is that the waste heat will always outweigh the temperature decrease from the ice. Its the same reason a refrigerator with the door open won't cool your apartment. The net effect would be to convert solar energy to heat. A more viable way to redirect solar energy is to put reflective particles such as ...
Is bonding angle between atoms in a crystal changed significantly under mechanical strain?	[ "It is difficult to have elastic strains much larger than 0.1 % in ordinary metals. Larger deformations are permanent, atoms get rearranged. Exceptions: whisker crystals (10 % elastic elongation, yes, also the distances between atoms) and superelastic metals (a reversible phase transition)." ]	[ "Ken Jordan's group at Pitt does a ton with different ice forms. Here's a link to his group page: _URL_0_ The publications there go into a lot of detail, but here's a bit of a TL;DR: The ice that you and I typically find every day has the oxygens arranged in a hexagonal lattice, but many of the hydrogens are diso...
Is it unfair for me to generalize most of the WWII German soldiers as Nazi's?	[ "Less than 10% of Germans joined the NSDAP. However, about 1 in 5 Germans served in the military. Not only military members joined the military, in fact they were originally banned from party membership, but a lot of every day people joined the NSDAP, whether because their profession required it or they thought it'...	[ "You may be interested in this similar earlier thread. _URL_0_ See responses by Blanglegorph, jonewer and myself. The short answer is that any positions of relative advance (e.g. Rocketry) tended to be out of desperation, whilst Allied advances (e.g. Computers) tended to be more a case of doing things they could af...
Does the photoelectron have a specific charge, and if not, how come?	[ "Yes, the photoelectron has a specific charge. That of an electron, because it is an electron. It is an elementary charge." ]	[ "Field lines are a tool to help you visualize, field lines don't exactly exist. The fields themselves are just fundamental. They aren't made out of anything, they are the \"stuff\" that makes things. Our pinnacle theory, the standard model of particle physics, just assumes that there exists fields for the photon, ...
Why is our skin color the way it is? Why can't it normally be some random color like purple or green?	[ "Skin cells are translucent and colorless. When you pile a lot of them together, as in skin, they look white. In albinos and very white people, the skin color you see is just the White of the cells with some pink from all the tiny blood vessels. Skin cells produce a brown pigment called melanin, which protects the ...	[ "Basically, you have to be weaker if you want the kind of fine muscle control we have. Chimps and gorillas physically could not do the kinds of things we can do with our hands - sculpture, art, writing, etc. - because of the way their muscles are attached to their bones. They have better leverage because their an...
the "Men's Right's Movement"	[ "There is, of course, some bitterness going on in that subreddit, but that's going to happen anytime a subreddit reaches a certain size and does not (and should not) invalidate their arguments. In addition to what littleelf pointed out, the area that's the most frustrating to me personally is society's whole view o...	[ "Multi Level Marketing. Basically pyramid scam. For example tupperware parties, arbon, mary kay, isagenix, sentsy to name a few. Most will not make money." ]
How is it I can hate a song when hearing it for the first time but grow to love it after repeated listenings?	[ "Could be conditioning, you may happen to have been listening to the song when you were already feeling a sense of contentment and now you associate that feeling to the song whenever you play it." ]	[ "When you are doing something you enjoy you generally are not thinking very hard about the task at hand. The less you think about something, the less the brain has to work, the quicker it seems. At the same time, when you're suffering you're focusing (and over thinking), your brain is having to process more inform...
If the stars in the sky suddenly appeared exactly where they are actually located today (instead of appearing as they do now, where they were when light left them), which constellations would change the most? What other interesting changes would we see?	[ "There's a star in our galaxy (precisely in the Orion constellation) called [Betelgeuse](_URL_1_). Why is Betelgeuse interesting? It's a red giant. A red giant about to go supernova. Or rather, a red giant that appears on the verge to go supernova. So were we to have a snapshot of how Betelgeuse looks today -- i...	[ "Like instantly? We'd all keep moving at thousand miles per hour. We would all die pretty much instantly. The only people who might make it would be in the air. I'd imagine the oceans would fuck shit up too. Imagine the Pacific Ocean, all of the Pacific Ocean, all at once, rushing into California at a thousand mile...
How do cats purr and is it a voluntary action or involuntary?	[ "From what I have learned, it is generally believed that a cat's purr comes from nerve impulses that start in their central nervous system, which make the diaphragm muscles and vocal chords react, and hence produce the purring noise. Purring however is commonly used for communicative purposes. Cats start purring fr...	[ "[This critique](_URL_0_) (PDF) of the book \"The Singing Neanderthals\" seems to have a serious discussion on the topic. Now I'm out of time, but I hope later to summarize it for you. For now, I think it's important to note that Darwin in his book \"Descent of Man\" has already speculated on the subject: > \"When...
The "de-canonization" of Star Wars, as pertains to the new films.	[ "Star Wars has generated an absolutely massive Expanded Universe (EU) over the years. Fans have created all sorts of plots and characters, which became canonized after getting green-lighted. However, the new movies are expected to throw pretty much everything from the books/games/comics out of canon and create thei...	[ "Currently working on State theory for my thesis; Instrumentalism, Structuralism, and world-system analysis. Has anyone else worked with these concepts? Where do you fall on the Instrumentalism-Structurtalism debate?" ]
How bleak is the history of dental surgery/hygiene?	[ "[If you really want to know about this sort of thing in 18th Century Britain read The Knife Man by Wendy Moore.](_URL_0_) It details the medical career of John Hunter and while a lot of the book talks about his development of various medical procedures and extraordinary experiments (he once implanted a tooth into ...	[ "_URL_0_ study linked in other link _URL_1_ page 1136 has the key graph world war 1 and 2 had a pretty major impact on getting a generation of americans to keep a clean shaven look forced on them by the military. for this i'm assuming politicians aren't any different from the normal man. interestingly the safet...
How was the Chinese military able to grow from an ineffective fighting force (early WW2) to a formidable power (Korean War) in the span of just over a decade?	[ "I think the premise of your question is a bit flawed for a couple of reasons: * The KMT's military and the PVA that invaded North Korea were completely different beasts. The KMT army was a mechanised military that was organised along Soviet lines, whereas the PLA and PVA were mostly light infantry. The KMT army ha...	[ "Ahoy, fellow redditor. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: How did the British empire get so big and powerful ? ](_URL_1_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [ELI5: The British Empire ](_URL_3_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [ELI5: What allowed the British Empire to become what it became? ](_URL_2_) ^(_2 co...
How was a new knee ligament just discovered in 2013?	[ "Its not completely uncommon - for example I was associated with this study in 2006 _URL_1_ where using a new imaging methods we found the anatomy was not as described in most dissection studies. The upshot was that the way of doing the dissection masked the relationship between the tissues. New imaging methods all...	[ "Hi there -- while we've approved this question, we would like to remind potential respondents of our [current events](_URL_0_) (AKA \"20-year\") rule -- it's fine to discuss events through 1997 (inclusive) and their effects, but not events after 1997. Thanks!" ]
If the affordable care act requires that people with pre-existing conditions can not be denied by private insurers, why wouldn't everyone just wait until they were sick and then purchase insurance?	[ "You can only apply for insurance during \"open enrollment periods\" (the 2015 one ends February 15th) or under certain specific circumstances called \"qualifying life events\" (get married, be born, change jobs, things that might require you to change health insurance basically). If it's not an open enrollment per...	[ "The closer you get to the date, the fewer seats that are left - low supply, high demand, higher prices. The airline knows what the base cost of a seat needs to be in order for the flight to be profitable. They know how full those flights tend to be, and how much demand there is for anyone one flight. So they pric...
why does pouring milk (or any liquid) out of a jug or carton make the jug or carton pulsate?	[ "Ahoy, fellow redditor. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: When liquid is poured from certain bottles, why does it 'glug' and not just pour smoothly? ](_URL_1_) ^(_10 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why does juice come out in short bursts when I pour it? ](_URL_4_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [ELI5: ...	[ "Still cameras have a problem with the moire effect. That's where the rows and columns of the display sometimes coincide with the rows and columns of the camera sensor, and sometimes they don't coincide. That causes weird lines in the image. Video cameras also suffer from flicker if the display has flicker which is...
How do filming location scouts work to find fitting spots for filming?	[ "I've done film scout location before, however for low budget projects. First the director or producer or someone important who is woking on the film decides what they're looking for. If it's an outdoor kind of thing, then the scout will take a camera, find some places that are accessible but nothing to distracting...	[ "Because film making is a business. Who is more successful: someone making $40,000 today or someone making $30,000 in 1920? Clearly, the guy in the 20s was far wealthier. Studios measure the success of a film by how much money it makes for them. Just like any other business." ]
how can baking soda be safe to consume if it's made from ammonia?	[ "How can salt be safe to consume when it's made from sodium and chloride? Go look up someone dropping sodium in water on youtube, surely THAT can't be safe to put inside your body, right? See, thing is, chemical compounds are different from simple mixtures or ingredients. So when you say \"x is made from y\" do...	[ "Because effective soaps are basic. I don't mean \"simple\", I mean they are bases on the PH scale. Bases hurt when you put them on your eyeball. Sure you could make a shampoo that is not basic, but if you want a shampoo that actually works, you need to use a base. Baby shampoos are tear-free because they are neutr...
What actually happens when I get a shiver down my spine?	[ "It's called the pilomotor reflex and like its name it is a reflex. It is mostly stimulated by being a fearful little bitch but can also be caused by a flood of any emotion. A good example is when you scare the shit out of a cat, all the fur on it goes big to frighten the predator into thinking it's buff when it do...	[ "[Searched](_URL_1_) Top comment provided by [its_ametaphor](_URL_0_) > It is because you are scratching near a shallow (as in, closer to the skin) nerve area called a saddle region (usually your dog's back and sides of his legs and tummy) and his nerves think it's an itch and there is an involuntary twitch respon...
Can we get better at falling asleep, or is it something that doesn't change throughout the course of our life?	[ "other side of the coin: can you get better (more quickly alert, etc) at waking up?" ]	[ "We are human, so we cannot print exactly the same letter every single time we write a letter. We make errors that then become habit. People also hold the pencil differently which can lead to different hand writing and pressure on the point." ]
I heard 'saved by the bell' is a reference to when people would 'die' and be buried their family wasn't always sure they were really dead and would tie a string to their finger that would go to a bell, so they could ring it if they ended up waking up. Is there any truth to this?	[ "Yes and no... the type of burial you describe did occur (_URL_0_) but my understanding is that the expression \"saved by the bell\" actually refers to the bell that is rung at the end of each round in a boxing match. Frequently, one boxer will find himself trapped by the other -- \"backed into a corner,\" or \"up ...	[ "When you shoot an arrow from a bow, the energy of the bow is transferred to the arrow. It gradually (doesn't seem like it, I know) pushes the arrow downrange, from a full stop at full draw, to full speed when the arrow leaves it. All that pent up energy of the bow at full draw is efficiently transferred to the arr...
How do elevators make emergency calls?	[ "In our building they were just connected into the internal phone system just like the other extensions although they could only talk to the reception desk emergency number. Later we went over to IP phones so they had to wire in a number of conventional emergency phones all around the building, including the lifts,...	[ "Aerospace systems engineer here, working on new Airbus airplane (A350) long-story short: last time I was on an airplane, I texted my friend during every stage of takeoff to see when he would stop receiving texts. (in my opinion, there's absolutely no risk of anything bad happening)" ]
what are forces (gravity, magnetism) made of?	[ "According to general relativity, gravity is a deformation of space-time. Space-time is not flat and therefore objects do not follow naturally straight trajectories in space-time. This is why we perceive gravity as \"force\", which does not exist in reality. We interpret the curved space-time around us as gene...	[ "When a lot of stuff floats around it tends to group up... as those groups form they get more and more attracted to eachother. The more stuff there is the more gets attracted (gravety). Eventually there is so much stuff that the middle gets very hot! Everything there turns into this super dense ball. it keeps pulli...
Royal European Family Tree?	[ "This one here is pretty darn comprehensive, if somewhat dated. _URL_0_" ]	[ "There was a quite good documentary ([Kanalinseln im Krieg](_URL_4_)) on german television a few weeks ago (I just found, it's at least a year old), and I don't know if those ever get translated into english. But it might be a starting point, and maybe you can find a subbed version on the net the [BBC](_URL_5_) has...
If a second eye provides vision for depth, what would a third eye provide?	[ "A possible use for an extra eye in a human could be as a specialised eye that is different to the other two; an eye that can see well underwater, in low light, as a close-range magnifier, or in a different wavelength to the other eyes. A simple 'motion detector' eye on the back of our heads could be useful somet...	[ "it seems that a good olfactory system should work [in stereo] (_URL_1_). so, the animal should sense the local gradient of a scent in just one sniff through two nostrils (or flick of the forked tongue), and follow that gradient to the source by sniffing repeatedly. look at [this paper] (_URL_0_). they describe an ...
If a baby is born on the IIS, and the mother and father are astronauts/cosmonauts from different countries (USA+Russia), what is the citizenship of the baby?	[ "Citizenship is determined by the citizenship of the parents rather than the location. A person born in Germany to two English parents would get English citizenship by birth. So in your example the baby would have duel US + Russian Citizenship." ]	[ "To give a really basic answer (hoping somebody will jump in with a more thorough response), responses were mixed -- weren't they always? Religion is a useful category for examining the reactions of common people to the accession of James I. He was widely accepted as legitimate, but fairly quickly questions were ra...
When it's announced that some has died "peacefully" in their sleep....is it actually peaceful?	[ "A) Cardiac arrest can hurt, but it does not always hurt. Sometimes your heart simply stops. There is an entire phenomena called a silent heart attack were you have no pain and few symptoms. B) Nope. Not waking them up is part of what defines \"peacefully passing in your sleep\". Even if it were something that wou...	[ "It took quite a while for people to even notice that he was firing at them (I've heard reports that it was about the length of a song). The music and beat was so loud in that it masked the sound of gunfire. So a lot of people around him were already dropping by the time the general crowd knew what was going on. An...
If water contains hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are flammable, why does putting water on a fire put the fire out, not spread it?	[ "Water is Hydrogen ash. It's already been burnt. It won't burn again." ]	[ "You're missing a fundamental part of the equation: Water is a fluid. As the fish moves through the water, the water flows around the fish. There doesn't need to be \"space\" behind the fish for the water to flow into, because water is flowing behind the fish before the space can be created. In fact, it is due to...
Why is light unaffected by magnetic/electric fields?	[ "Light is a changing EM field. Adding a static Electric or magnetic field does nothing to alter the light (in free space) because light is a change in the field. let me explain this by way of analogy - picture a static electric field as the surface of a calm pond. The strength of the electric field is given by ...	[ "As the surface is composed of conductive plasma instead of insulating air, it is unlikely that a charge difference great enough to produce lightning could exist in the first place. Any charge on or near the surface would be 'grounded' to all the areas around it immediately instead of building up to a large dischar...
If medical science continues to advance, theoretically, how long could humans live?	[ "> This was probably due to better nutrition and modern medical advances. Arguably, most of the increase in life expectancy is due to better public health practices rather than medical advances. In the early 20th century, many diseases were on the decline as a result of safer drinking water and better sanitation pr...	[ "Such hypothetical / speculative / open-ended questions are better suited for our new-ish sister sub /r/asksciencediscussion. Please consider reposting there instead." ]
The United State's position with North Korea, and how come we seem to be doing so little to stop them?	[ "Because it would cause issues..say we go to war: What happens when we win? Who gets the north? China or SK? China would NEVER let the United States be so close to the border. What do you do with all the refugees? We could utterly massacre the North Korean military in days. The United States invaded Iraq and was i...	[ "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." ]
How is helium stored?	[ "To supplement what joshq68 said, the reason it rises in the balloon is because gaseous Helium is less dense than standard air, but as density is mass/volume you can imagine if you cram all that helium into a really heavy steel cylinder it's now much denser than normal air and thus doesn't rise. EDIT: The other co...	[ "Banks. Bank accounts. Some of it (maybe a lot) might be in very liquid assets (investments that can be sold for cash quickly) but mostly the same as you and me... only a shit load more." ]
How does ibuprofen work?	[ "Special enzyme in your body called COX-1 and COX-2 are converted into some type of acid then into something else, and into other chemicals when you feel the pain. COX 1/2 have active sites which is basically like \"empty\" space, there is where that acid is settled. If we put ibuprofen in that space instead of...	[ "I could try to explain it to you, but this video is all you really need: _URL_9_" ]
Why do I hear so much about censorship in Australia? How did they get to be so strict about what they censor?	[ "1. Why do you hear so much about it? Because your journalists had a slow news week. 2. How did they get to be so strict about what they censor? Honestly, age. We have a large baby boomer population that votes again and again to keep the status quo. For the longest time we weren't actually censoring video games tha...	[ "not related to disk - its related to your bandwidth speeds. your telco who provides your internet service allocates you a certain amount of bandwidth. since downloading is what is most important to customers, the telcos allocate more bandwidth for downloading and less for uploading. (imagine they allocated them ev...
Is there a direct, calculable relationship between (sealevel) temperature and latitude?	[ "I'm not a scientist, but I have a Geography degree. The angle of the sun's rays (or [insolation](_URL_0_) ) is the single biggest determining factor for a given place's temperature - it literally drives the seasons. This is directly related to latitude. One of the biggest concepts that makes a place's temperature ...	[ "The idea that it was a different time in different places predates the empire. The Greeks understood the spherical nature of the Earth since at least the fourth century BCE, with Eratosthenes calculating a good rough circumference for the Earth. Hipparchus of Nicaea in the second century BCE even proposed a method...
Isn't the zeroth law of thermodynamics essentially the transitive property?	[ "That is correct yes. But you can't just assume that temperature has the transitive property. We have to state that if TempA=TempB and TempB=TempC then TempA=TempC. This may seem obvious but not all properties are transitive. For a quick and not great example, Protons attract electrons Electrons attract positron...	[ "You only get a net flow of heat from areas of high temperature to low, so a heat engine could only work off ambient heat if the ambient temperature was different from that of the engine (or can be manipulated into being different, the most commonly used way being to change the pressure of a gas)." ]
How do cake makers do the icing that looks exactly like an image?	[ "they're printed in edible ink/icing, then applied to the top of the cake." ]	[ "I assume you're referring to this post? _URL_0_ If so, that doesn't happen naturally. Someone drilled a hole in the ice, took a fish and let the ice refreeze over its tail." ]
Why does Tupperware never dry in the dishwasher?	[ "Plastic won't hold heat the way metal utensils and glass do, so less evaporation." ]	[ "The one I go to puts stickers on the lids to track how old a plate is. When whatever time has passed, they pull the plate in and dispute of it." ]
If you were in a car, in stationary traffic and somebody crashed into the back of you..would it be better to be in 1st gear with the clutch down or in neutral with the handbrake on?	[ "You'll want the vehicle in neutral, handbrake off and foot off of the brake pedal. This way, when you are hit from behind, you create an elastic collision and your car will roll forward. Just be sure not to roll into the car in front of you. EDIT: I treated this as a physics question, and gave advice that would mi...	[ "By asking this question, I am assuming that you are wet-shaving. The main goal of shaving is hair reduction. When you shave with the grain (in the direction of hair growth), you allow the blade to remove hair without much resistance. Resistance in shaving requires pressure, and pressure leads to cuts and blee...
Is there a reason why all or most IP addresses begin with 192.168..?	[ "192.168.x.x is part of the 'private' range of addresses set aside by the Internet masters (APNIC). Whilst these are valid addresses, they are specificically designed not to be transmitted across the wider Internet. There are actually 3 such sets, (Class A, B and C). These are: A: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255. B: 17...	[ "Marketing. It makes the reader more easily relate to them. They aren't really a group of editors and publicitsts pushing the book, it's just that one person in a small town that wrote a story." ]
[political sciences] When addressing a controversial issue, like legalization of drugs, why can't lawmakers make a trial-law, trying out how it will work out for some time, and then deciding wether to let it stay or not?	[ "We do have a fairly good method for enacting laws on a temporary or trial basis, and it's called a [sunset provision](_URL_1_). A sunset provision is basically an expiration date for a law or regulation that will cause the law or regulation to cease being in effect if the law or regulation is not reauthorized. Oft...	[ "Governments give tax breaks and subsidies to corporations to lure them in to their area. The idea is that bringing that business to the area will, ultimately, bring more business and jobs to the area which, theoretically, will bring jobs to the locals and more tax revenue for the government. Again, theoretically, ...
If atoms make up everything, what makes up the space between an atoms nucleus and electrons	[ "Nothing!!! really, there is nothing there. Just the fields - the electromagnetic, gravitational, higgs and probably many that I don't know about and humans have not yet discovered - from which the particles are created and in which they interact." ]	[ "When you drive, your wheels are always between you and the road. Does this mean that you do not move up and down with the road? (Negating the effects of your shocks) you will still feel the entire topography of the road as if you were in direct contact with it. To avoid confusion it is better not to look at the fo...
What factors determine the order in which a bat folds their wings?	[ "All animals do favor one hand over the other, though whether they favor left over right depends on the individual (just as it does with humans). A particular population of bats may show, for example, 60/40 split between who is right pawed and who is left pawed. You can see that [these two bats](_URL_1_) though the...	[ "I know that they did take into account movement from the earths tectonic plates when measuring. You have to bear in mind that this is one of the world's best funded scientific organisations which employs thousands of scientists, i'm pretty sure they thought of this." ]
How much choice do soldiers get in terms of weaponry?	[ "Not much by the looks of it. Goes under the stigma: standardization equals success If a soldier is on the field carrying, for example, a MP5, which, whilst having good accuracy, has nowhere near the stopping power or range needed in a soldiers weapon, he has to rely on his teammates to engage targets at longer ran...	[ "This is going to be a country specific answer. In the United States, both 42 USC 1983 and the Americans with Disabilities act are the controlling law. Basically, a state actor like a prison guard can not abuse prisoners. Not giving an amputee some means of mobility would be abuse. Therefor, a wheelchair, prosthet...
Why have the Republican/Democrat parties seemed to have swapped places since the 19th century?	[ "No, you're right, and the answer is really really complicated. Wars, the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement, have changed a lot of things. For a long time, the Democratic Party was split between mainline Democrats and \"Southern Democrats\" who agreed with Republicans on everything but slavery and civ...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
How does Google know my location even when I am using a laptop or a device with no GPS?	[ "IP addresses can be used for a rudimentary location fix, but they're typically rather inaccurate (limited to the general region at best). Much better location data can be obtained by analyzing which WiFi networks your device is able to see. Google has a database of WiFi networks and their physical location (send f...	[ "[This video explains quite well how it works online, specifically Youtube](_URL_0_) TL;DW: Youtube only sends information about changes between frames of a video. Since there is usually very little difference between 2 frames the server can just say \"ehhh take what you had last time, shift this part a tiny bit th...
How can we accurately estimate the number of trees on the planet at any given time? How accurate is our estimation?	[ "Hey, I'm on Google earth counting them manually. I started 2 years ago with California but I have to keep restarting because of the fires. Can you start in Japan and work your way west. I would really appreciate the help." ]	[ "The Royal Society evaluated various methods of geoengineering options to mitigate global warming, along the criteria of effectiveness, affordability, timeliness, and safety. In particular, afforestation was rated as having a limited potential for carbon dioxide removal, and was given a low effectiveness rating and...
Is there a mathematical relationship between a wings lift and angle of attack?	[ "A reasonable rule of thumb for most airfoils is that for small angle of attack, C_L_ = C_L,AoA=0_ + 0.1(AoA) where AoA is measured in degrees (or equivalently C_L_ = C_L,0_ + 2 & pi; & alpha; for AoA measured in radians), which is a result from thin airfoil theory, and which this airfoil obeys. Or were you...	[ "I had spend 2 hours writing up a long post about 3U+AB and how it would probably be a picture of that plane taken during ZG26's deployment to Greece during April-June 1941, including a cunning deduction from me showing that the plane in the background most probably is SB+GO. It was all very pretty with links to so...
Why is the spine arched (in the lumbar area) instead of just being straight?	[ "Rigid things crack and break under repeated impact. Flexible things bend, absorb, and stay intact. The bends in your spine work the same way as rubber tires on a car or the shock absorbers on bumps in the road when you're driving. If you had solid wheels and no shock absorbers then your car would absorb all the sh...	[ "Atmospheric refraction/lensing. Light that passes through the Earth’s atmosphere that doesn’t hit the surface will be bent around the curvature of the Earth by refraction and leave the atmosphere at a different angle. Here’s a decent diagram demonstrating this: _URL_0_" ]
How are pictures that are larger than the resolution of your device opened up?	[ "Have you ever loaded a 4K UHD YouTube video on a 1080p device? Well, 3840x2160 has exactly 4x the amount of pixels as 1920x1080, so what happens is that every 4 pixels (imagine a 2x2 square) gets made into 1 pixel, the color of that pixel is the average color of all 4 pixels. Photos are more difficult as they ha...	[ "it's explained on the [original post](_URL_0_) about it, basically the file has do be decoded to play and something about it causes a memory leak in iOS because of the specific decoder it uses EDIT: and thanks for a new way to fuck with my iOS pals" ]
Some throttling rocket engines have reduced Isp compared to their non-throttling versions. What causes this?	[ "Your title seems to imply that in two rocket engines that are identical in every way except for the ability to throttle the one with the ability to throttle would always produce a lower Isp. This isn't the case. At the same throttle level these two engines would have the same Isp, but as the throttleable engine re...	[ "Crickets, like all other insects, are cold-blooded. They take on the temperature of their surroundings. Many characteristics of cold-blooded animals, like the rate at which crickets chirp, or the speed at which ants walk, follow an equation called the Arrhenius equation. This equation describes the activation ener...
Why isn't it a good idea to purchase a single lottery ticket to win the super lottos that come around for hundreds of millions of dollars?	[ "Because the odds of winning are so small they can effectively be ignored. The odds for the powerball are 175 million to 1. The odds you will be killed in a lightning strike are 125 thousand to 1. That means you are 1400 times more likely to be killed by lightning than win the powerball. Given that getting killed h...	[ "Think of relative speeds. Not everyone gets on or off the highway at highway speeds, and this is a large cause of traffic. You're asking that the fastest people share the same lane with some of the slowest people. That's going to both be dangerous and make the problem worse." ]
EILI5: How does sound transfer to tapes and/or records?	[ "Sound has two main attributes, frequency and dynamics (pitch and loudness). This can be represented using electricity that goes up and down higher the louder it is, and moves faster the higher the frequency is. This electricity is then changed into magnetic energy. Tape is ran over the magnets at a certain speed, ...	[ "I feel like this should be in /r/answers. I can't imagine this is a complicated concept that needs to be simplified. This is a subreddit for explaining complex things as simply as possible, not a subreddit for asking questions a five-year-old would ask." ]
Why people think crystals have powers, healing ability, or other capabilities and why? Is there any scientific evidence?	[ "Humans have a tendency to believe all sorts of hocus pocus after observing a false positive or two. We're hard wired to assume that a pattern exists even if the data is merely noise. This was vitally important to our ancestors since assuming the rustling in the grass was the wind when it's a saber-toothed cat was ...	[ "Never underestimate the [placebo effect](_URL_0_). Even being in a place that looks and feels bright and open can affect your psychology and actually improve physical symptoms. Additionally, hospitals (at least in the US) compete with each other and by having pleasantly buildings it may entice patients to return i...
Why do orthodontists put a permanent retainer on your bottom teeth, but not your top teeth?	[ "Uhh, I have a permanent retainer on my upper teeth. Maybe it's just you given your certain condition, the orthodontist decided it wasn't necessary." ]	[ "Let's say your computer is a line of students (programs) in primary school waiting to be served lunch (processing resources). Skyrim, the school bully, has the notorious reputation of beating other kids up to get the Fullscreen pass which allows him to cut in front of the lunch line so he gets the highest priority...
So if people can get sued for having a song that sounds like another song. Will we eventually run out of beats and rhythms and stop making new different music?	[ "Not any time soon. For example, in 1787, Mozart created a game when you rolled dice to randomly select measures you could put together to build a waltz. Turns out there are over 700 trillion combinations, meaning every man, woman, and child in the world could each have 100 million unique waltzes \"composed\" by Mo...	[ "> I run a mile, and I already feel pretty tired. That's because you haven't trained to run long distances. Humans evolved to be able to run down prey in a process called [persistence hunting](_URL_1_). Our ability to shed heat by sweating (instead of having to pant), and the configuration of our skeletal system a...
Why tap water needs to be filtered or distilled for it to be healthier?	[ "You normally don't, and most municipalities are required to provide you a water quality analysis. Unless you personally have really bad pipes, you're fine. Some people will tell you that filtering makes the water taste better, but that's a subjective thing. You might also need to filter water for special needs ...	[ "There are little tubes inside of your ear that have water in them. Normally, they help you tell which direction you're turning. Try it! Close your eyes and sit in a chair, and have your parent turn you in a circle. You can tell you're turning, right? Even though your eyes cant see anything, those tubes in your ear...
Why can I use headphones as a microphone and not a microphone as a speaker(s)?	[ "You can if the mic is a dynamic (electromagnetic) mic. Most mics are electret condenser mics. If you do try to use a dynamic mic as a speaker, you will get very little sound and will burn out the coil if you try to get more sound. Microphones are made with thin wires and small diaphragms." ]	[ "You know how when you exercise too much you are sore the next day and can't run/jump/whatever as much as normal? It's like that except instead of your arms or legs being sore it's your vocal chords. When your vocal chords can't work as well your speech is handicapped similar to running when your legs are sore." ]
What is known about the sleep patterns of chimpanzees, and does it tell us anything about the "natural" pattern in humans?	[ "Not an expert on circadian rhythms but I know that modern humans didn't usually sleep 8 straight hours a night even a couple hundred years ago. It was very common to wake up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night to do things. Prior to the industrial revolution both biphasic (sleeping twice a day) and p...	[ "Walking around in a tight circle a few times would mat down tall grass to sleep on and also disturb and kick up any bugs or snakes that might be lying in the dog's chosen spot. There might be a social element to circling, too. Wolves and wild dogs often travel in packs and have strict social hierarchies." ]
why we're finding so many Earth-like planets all of a sudden.	[ "Because now we have the technology to do so." ]	[ "I'm no expert, but I think it stems from how the human pelvis is still too similar to the pelvis of 4-legged animals. In order to stand upright without getting hip problems, we have evolved a more narrow pelvis. That would be fine except that we also get a huge advantage from having a huge brain. The conflicting g...
Has there ever been a three-way battle? If so, what happened?	[ "[Has there ever been a three way battle?](_URL_1_) [Has there ever been an example of a three way battle or war?](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Can you please clarify what specific historical time or times and locations you are interested in? I may be able to answer your question, but as posed it isn't a historical one." ]
Is there any way to acquire an immunity to urushiol?	[ "I have also heard that eating a single leaf from the plant can give immunity, though there is no evidence I've seen to back these claims and I sure as hell wouldn't try it or recommend anyone else trying it. The local pharmacy used to sell a product called \"The Poison Ivy Pill\" that claimed to boost immunity, an...	[ "Working in a restaurant builds up a tolerance for hot items due to callused skin. They also are required to tell you the plate is hot due to liability, in many cases it's an over exaggeration." ]
The US Civil War featured tons of new technologies and tactics. How would the US military have stacked up against the European Powers towards the end of the Civil War, as far as weaponry, numbers, and tactics are concerned?	[ "You might be interested in reading the answers linked by u/petite-acorn and u/EnclavedMicrostate in response to [this question](_URL_0_) from yesterday." ]	[ "The tight formations of the Romans fell apart relatively quickly. They packed tight when entering a battle keeping their shields right next to each while keeping spears pointed out, almost like an armadillo crossed with a porcupine. The moment that they actually started to engage it broke apart into a larger forma...
In Greek mythology, whats the difference between a titan and a god?	[ "The Titans, also known as the elder gods, ruled the earth before the Olympians overthrew them. The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus. Cronus was told he was destined to be overthrown by a son, so he ate all of his children at birth (until Zeus). Most of the Titans fought with Cron...	[ "Playboy is a household name. 0G Juggs isn't. One looks good on any modeling resume (not to mention the contacts), the other is kinda limited." ]
How do scientists know there are x unknown animal species if they weren't discovered yet?	[ "If I recall from ecology, basically what happens is that you can chart how many new species have been found each year (adjusted for how many people/man-hours were spent actively looking), and the resulting graph shows a gentle curve and leveling off over time - indicating a point in the future where it's flat (mea...	[ "We can see how fast the universe is expanding right now. When we look at distant stars, we are looking into the past, and that lets us see how fast the universe is expanding in the past. This gives us enough information for us to use General Relativity to predict the expansion of the universe all the way to the pa...
If all of the mass in the universe was to be inside of one black hole right now would the event horizon be larger, smaller or the same size as the universe is right now?	[ "That black hole cannot form. In fact, that mass is already inside its own Schwarzschild radius: if you do the calculation that radius is about equal to the radius of the observable Universe, so you can tell already something doesn't add up. An intuitive understanding for this is perhaps as such: the uniform distri...	[ "Such hypothetical / speculative / open-ended questions are better suited for our new-ish sister sub /r/asksciencediscussion. Please consider reposting there instead." ]
Main-sequence star and solar system formation - how does it work and collect at the center of a solar system since Helium and Hydrogen are much lighter and less massive? [Astronomy]	[ "The vast majority of the mass in a molecular cloud (where stars form) is hydrogen and helium, it clumps up and forms a protostellar core. Much of the mass has already fallen into this core before the planetary disk even forms. And much of the heavy elements do fall into the Sun. It's just that once the central sta...	[ "There are slight differences on earth, yes, but consider Mars. Mars has a more elliptical orbit than Earth. Than means that Mars is actually farther from the sun during the southern winter. Mars actually goes around the sun more slowly then too. That's why most scientists and science fiction writers put a first Ma...

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