Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
How come tornadoes never touch down in big cities, and if one did, how bad would the destruction be?	[ "Tornadoes do hit cities, but most tornadoes hit in the Midwest (OK, KS, etc.) There are few large cities in those areas compared to the east and west coasts. In addition, tornadoes are prone to form in open spaces as they require certain wind and temperature measurements that often occur in those open spaces. Thin...	[ "> But, why doesn't Mercury just crash into the sun and why doesn't Pluto just \"escape\" the Solar systems with it being so far away? Because the planets are all moving sideways, which causes them to fall toward the sun, but always miss. That's really all an orbit is. It's actually quite difficult to get an object...
what is so special about celebrity/high price hair stylists?	[ "There's a very significant difference between your average $8 haircut and a $50 haircut by a stylist, but it quickly becomes diminishing returns. Generally, an experienced stylist is much more skilled at their craft, meaning the haircut you get will look better and last much longer. They also have the knowledge of...	[ "It's usually professions that don't earn that much that get tipped by richer people. waiters and cleaners often earn the minimum wage. Taxi fares might seem high but after taking off petrol and other costs for the car, they might not be making that much if the firm they work for takes a cut too." ]
What made Stalingrad such a focus of the Germans and what made it so particularly hard to take?	[ "Most of the answer has been given, but I would like to point out the importance of Stalingrad as a symbol; which relates to Hitler's preoccupation with them. For example, he organized the signing of the French armistice in the same place and even in the very same railway cart where the Germans had signed their arm...	[ "There was no need to because: - Sweden already produced and sold iron ore. - Shipping is by far the cheapest means of transportation. Kiruna (the place where most of the ore comes from) is nearer to Narvik than to any other navable port/waterway. - Baltic sea tends to freeze. In the end, it would have been a total...
How am I supposed to know what's legal and what's not?	[ "You're supposed to know how to be a moral person, not just blindly follow the law. Laws are there to determine if and how to punish you, not to guide you what to do." ]	[ "[Here is a good rundown on common steakhouse cuts.](_URL_0_) Feel free to ask your waiter as well. If he is good at his job he'll be able to give you all the ins-and-outs of the different menu options." ]
Why is linux less prone to hacks and viruses?	[ "It isn't naturally more immune to viruses than any other os, it is simply that linux isn't used nearly as much as windows. Viruses have to be programmed specifically for an os, since different os have different interfaces and such." ]	[ "Desktops have very standardised parts in terms of what will fit where and how much space they can take up. The motherboards are (generally) designed to conform to specific formats. There aren't really any similar standards for laptop designs - each one is damned nearly a custom job and the case is designed to fit ...
Would it be possible to maintain a constant stream of urine if one kept intaking fluids at a consecutive rate?	[ "If we assumed an average urine flow rate of 20mL/s, halved it (as you'd want to be urinating slowly) to 10mL/s, and assumed a 100% conversion of liquid intake into urine (obviously a vast overestimate) then you'd have to consume 36L of water in an hour to maintain a constant flow. This is obviously impossible as ...	[ "For Hoover Dam (or the three gorges dam in China): During dry season, when water flow is light, dig a detour that runs parallel to the original flow path. Block off the original path bit by bit, by reclamation with rocks. Empty the blocked \"pool\" that is formed at the original route by pumping the water away. Or...
The difference between a bank and a credit union	[ "Banks have shareholders who want to make money. Credit unions are shared ownership among members." ]	[ "I usually explain it to my friends using phones: & nbsp; Switch - You can call anyone in your area code but can't get anyone outside of your area code. & nbsp; Router - You can call people in your area code(switch), but anything not in your area code is forwarded from the switch to the router. The Router can for...
How long would it take for the water in a toilet bowl to fully evaporate?	[ "That depends on a boatload of factors. Atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity... It could take anywhere from a few days to a few months, and possibly never happen if the humidity was high enough." ]	[ "The biggest dependent here is how humid it is outside, if you are in Georgia where the air is really humid. You are just opening the window to more humidity. If you are in Arizona, it will dry out quickly." ]
why are consumers forced to watch ads when they already pay for TV service?	[ "Because, for all the money they make from customers, they make more from the advertisers to display those adds." ]	[ "I work for an ISP The Internet is like a series of roads. Let's say you built a road from your house to your friends. You and your friend could go real fast to each other's houses. But what if you wanted to go to some else's house? Or the mall, or school? You would have to connect your road with your towns road. ...
What is the reason for banning assault rifles? What makes them different than a semi-automatic hunting rifle?	[ "The \"assault weapon ban\" doesn't ban assault rifles. It bans scary looking guns. Yes, you are correct that the guns banned in the \"assault weapon ban\" are not particularly different as far as killing ability from a semi-automatic hunting rifle. Fully automatic assault weapons are still legal. Banning those mi...	[ "VPN creates a 'tunnel' between 2 computers. Everyone can see where the tunnel goes, but no one can look inside. TOR is a series of relay stations, where the station only know the previous and next station, so no single station knows the whole route." ]
When we say a food makes our body more alkaline, what does that mean exactly and why is it healthy?	[ "It's pseudo-science. Your body very tightly regulates the pH of your blood in a narrow range through a variety of mechanisms. Your diet has little effect on your blood pH. Even if it did, the promoters of this fad diet make claims like lemons make your body more alkaline, despite being a very acidic fruit." ]	[ "It has to do with your sleep cycles. For the average person, a sleep cycle will last around 90 minutes. You have light sleep, medium sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep, and they all take place within the cycle. When you wake up during REM sleep (at the tail end of the 90 minutes), you feel a lot better than when you...
I recently became obsessed with the French Revolution and considering a graduate degree in history focusing on the topic. How do I decide where to apply? More generally how do I find out what schools focus on what aspects of history?	[ "I believe this may be more appropriate for /r/askacademia" ]	[ "When asking questions pertaining to feudalism, it's good to check the [FAQ](_URL_0_) on feudalism. There's a good explanation as to why the term is problematic. I would add a line to your question clarifying exactly which social and economics features you mean when you say \"feudal system.\"" ]
Hypothetically, could water put out a fusion reaction?	[ "Air is more than sufficient to put out a fusion reaction. Fusion reactors are appealing in the real world partly because they would be relentlessly safe. A near-vacuum of hot plasma made of hydrogen isotopes is confined at enormous temperatures by lasers or powerful magnets; turn the confinement off and the plasm...	[ "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." ]
The difference between debit and credit cards	[ "Debit = money you own Credit= amount of money the banks will allow you to borrow (and you need to pay back)" ]	[ "This CGP Grey video does a really good job of explaining it all. _URL_3_" ]
While swimming or having a bath, how much water do we absorb through our skin and where does it go? Does the type of water impact the amount absorbed (Saltwater vs Fresh)?	[ "Except for the outer surface, your skin absorbs almost no water -- it's waterproof. Notice you can't stay alive in a lifeboat just by putting lots of seawater on you. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why can't you treat dry skin by soaking it in water? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: How ...	[ "Yarr! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why do humans feel the need to wear clothes when the rest of the animal kingdom is naked? ](_URL_6_) 1. [ELI5: Why do we wear clothes? ](_URL_0_) 1. [When, why and how did we start wearing clothes? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: Why do humans, unlik...
Did Romans/Greeks study any (very) ancient languages in the way that people study Latin/Greek today?	[ "Emperor Claudius was able to read Etruscan, wrote a treatise on the language and an Etruscan dictionary. So yes, some Romans at least did learn ancient languages. From Claudius and the Etruscans by Keith Armstrong." ]	[ "There is a big difference between mimic a sound and understanding its meaning. Birds have a significant portion of their brain devoted to developing complex songs and sounds. They also have a voice box similar to our own, called a syrinx, that enables them to make these complex sounds. So not only do they have the...
Will human skin still burn due to sun exposure post-mortem in the same way it does on a living person?	[ "No. The redness of sunburn is caused by the presence of lots of blood in the skin to repair the damage from the sun. Inflammation cannot happen in the absence of circulation. On the other hand, skin damage from the sun may still occur." ]	[ "To add in my two cents (though I think khands has rather well summed it up), there was a sailor in Boston who was tarred and feathered for informing on smugglers. Within weeks he was serving aboard the HMS Rose. If tar and feathering was as truly incapacitating as is often stated, it is unlikely that a man could...
What are the "races four" mentioned in the 1919 version of God Save the Queen?	[ "In temporal order: Britons/Celts, Angles, Saxons, Normans. You know, the ones that a white, imperial power would actually want to put in their national song! We wouldn't really consider these \"races\" today, but rather \"ethnic groups.\"" ]	[ "BAt the time, it did vary state to state until the 1830's-1854 period known as \"Jacksonian Democracy\", where massive expansions of voting rights were undertaken. At the time of the ratification of the Constitution however, in Massachussetts and Kentucky for instance you had to own land to vote. Obviously you had...
Why do our bodies produce phlegm when we run/exert ourselves? How did making it harder to breathe help our ancestors?	[ "Well, remember that we aren't so much 'producing' phlegm as we are expelling unwanted things from our body through the medium of phlegm. Vomiting, for example, isn't intrinsically useful or pleasant, but it's a mechanism to remove harmful things from our body." ]	[ "Imagine your body is a phone. Not a Samsung Galaxy S56XL, just a regular one. You go and open 30 apps and the phone suddenly starts slowing down, right? Well, now imagine the common cold is a VERY consuming app for your cellphone, some kind of new Fortnite 2 game or whatever. Your body doesn't work as well when yo...
What are these green splotches around certain radar sites on the doppler map?	[ "each \"splotch\" is a radar site and it's either picking up moisture in the air or rain that's not hitting the ground. Quite common actually." ]	[ "You are looking at a picture that's taken from a system that has them in its interface. Basically if you look at raw footage of military camera's, you'll see the same thing." ]
The difference between agonists, partial agonists, inverse agonists and antagonists	[ "Agonist = molecule that binds to receptor and acts like the endogenous ligand, causing X effect. Partial agonist = molecule that binds to receptor and acts like the endogenous ligand but partially causes X effect. Not as strong. When placed with an agonist, acts as a competitive antagonist. Inverse agonist = mole...	[ "In addition to [Pompeiian graffiti](_URL_1_) and other [epigraphy](_URL_3_), much of which was quite crude, we also have the books for a number of comedic plays by [Plautus](_URL_4_) and [Terence](_URL_0_) and satirical poems by [Horace](_URL_5_) and [Juvenal](_URL_2_). And what were they like? Much like humor in ...
Intuitively, it seems all the sweetest fruits come from the warmest climates. Is that true? And if so, why?	[ "This isn't a full answer, but I'd suspect that it may be biased towards warm climates simply because [that's where most of the flowering plants are](_URL_0_) (sorry I couldn't find a bigger picture, but dark green/blue/purple areas are of higher species abundance)." ]	[ "A lot of variables control temperature. Different air masses, cloud cover, and wind mixing are just as important to regulating temperature as radiative heating is. Assuming a constant air mass, a noticeable time lag in the global radiative heating balance appears. As summer progresses, more heat is entering the E...
why is it impossible to isolate a magnetic pole?	[ "ELI5 attempt at an answer/counterquestion: can you isolate one end of a piece of string? You can cut off the end of the string, but the new, smaller piece now also has two ends." ]	[ "search askscience for a better answer but it would have to be very strong, I think there might be affects before you get strong enough to make the dimagnetism of water what kills you" ]
Why when i throw up does it come out of my nose?	[ "When you throw up it comes out of your stomach, up your esophagus, and out your mouth. The esophagus does not just attatch to your mouth. Your throat is combined of the Oropharynx and Nasopharynx. The Nasopharynx is from your nose to the back of your throat which is the Oropharynx. Sometimes you vomit with so mu...	[ "Also, a dog's system becomes used to a certain food an new food can upset their stomach even if there are no health problems involved. We randomly changed our first dog's food (didn't know any better at the time) and he started puking it and his poop went weird- had to switch him to people chicken and rice with s...
How many galaxies are there in the universe?	[ "There are probably hundreds of billions in the observable universe alone, but since we can be pretty confident that the observable universe isn't the entire universe, it's not unsafe to assume that what we can see only represents a tiny fraction of what's out there in total. So, 150-200 billion that we can see, pe...	[ "So let's say card number 1 is the Ace of Spades. So card number 2 can be 51 different cards Card number 3 can be 50 different cards Card 4 can be 49 different cards and so on. The math ends up being 52! (52 factorial) which written out is 52x51x50x49....x3x2x1 = 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,2...
Do fish drink water?	[ "This seems like a legitimate question a five year old would ask." ]	[ "Here is a link to help. They basically have a tube that is separate from their throat, so they do not choke [click here](_URL_0_)" ]
Why is there an nth root symbol when you can just write it as an exponent?	[ "The nth root of a (positive) number, A, is the positive root of the equation x^(n)-A=0. The exponent A^(1/n) is the evaluation of the exponential function of base A at the value 1/n. They are two different things, but it just so happens that you can show they are the same. But, if you care about the equation x^(n)...	[ "I give you three $20 notes: +3 & times; +20 = +60 for you I give you three $20 debts: +3 & times; -20 = -60 for you I take three $20 notes from you: -3 & times; +20 = -60 for you I take three $20 debts from you: -3 & times; -20 = +60 for you Edit: Gold thanks! $ signs, and quick note - the result is the gain or lo...
[Biology] [Medicine] What would happen if a patient wearing a urinary catheter had a wet dream?	[ "Here's a diagram of male pelvic anatomy: _URL_0_ As you can see, the testicles pass sperm through the vas deferens (or ductus deferens) which eventually becomes the ejaculatory duct, which passes through the prostate, and joins the urethra. This is where semen and urine have a common route out of the body (though ...	[ "The sheet wouldn't split, because there's nothing to fill the gap that would form in the middle of the sheet. As long as you kept the vacuum pressure the same on both sides, there should be no effect on the divider at all. Pressure itself doesn't damage solid objects (like your aluminum sheet), but differences in ...
what is the difference between medical grade and chemistry grade chemicals?	[ "Medical grade is expensive. It has to undergo rigorous safety checks to make sure it is pure regardless of how it's made. Medical grade consumables and reagents are all screened for pathogens and viruses etc etc. No one in chemistry cares if their solution might have small traces of something like a rhinovirus. Th...	[ "Some states will only allow a two box minimum purchase of any OTC medication that has a decongestant in it because people will go from store to store, buying boxes of it for meth labs. The stores want ID, just in case you happen to be making meth and not a cold/allergies/bronchial issues." ]
What is happening to the human body when it consumes a lot of alcohol in a very short time period? And why do people tend to throw up from it?	[ "Vomiting is because of the body trying to purge itself. Alcohol is a poison, and when the body recognizes that it has ingested poison, it's first reaction is to try and purge to get as much of it out as possible, so it can focus on taking care of the rest of it. It might also just be trying to purge from rapid ing...	[ "Your mind relies on two senses to judge where your body is in space and how it's moving: your sight, and something called the vestibular sense, which relies on the structures of your inner ear help determine motion. Usually, those two things agree with each other, and everything's fine. But let's take the common...
If flying insects are attracted to light, why don’t they see the sun (or moon at night), fly toward it, lose oxygen because of altitude, and fall to their deaths?	[ "Moths, for example, use to moon to fly as an navigation point and aren't attracted towards light per se but will get confused by flying past sources of artificial light. They would never try and fly to the sun or moon." ]	[ "Think of it like static electricity pulling hair to a balloon. There's an additional force involved other than a mechanical grip from hooks on their feet. Size helps too. The smaller the bug the easier it is for them to \"stick\" and grip." ]
How effective would alcohol be in stopping a sore throat in the long term?	[ "Questions like this get asked often, the simple answer is \"it wouldn't help.\" Alcohol at high concentrations (say 70%) can kill many bacteria on contact but each time you ingest alcohol, you suppress the immune system. You may \"disinfect\" your throat for a moment or two, but the immune suppression will cause t...	[ "We are a pharma loving people. There is a newer prescription pill epidemic and I think it partially reflects that. People tend to think that because someone gets a prescription for these pills that they are safe and sanctioned. And in ways it is better than heroin in that it is regulated. However, many people are ...
What is the Tennessee Valley Authority?	[ "During WWII, the US needed a lot of aluminum for building bomber and fighter planes. The process to refine aluminum from bauxite uses huge amounts of electricity. To generate enough electricity, dams were installed through a large part of the Tennessee Valley. Water flowing through the dams turns generators to pr...	[ "Tangier Island, VA was long super isolated and they're considered to have the oldest original American accent in the country _URL_0_ They speak how Americans were believed to speak in the 1600s" ]
Why do people bleed less during surgery than then would with normal cuts?	[ "The scalpels are very sharp and tear less. Also there are electrocautery devices. Small arteries can be cauterized immediately to stop bleeding. Surgeons also clamp any large artery. The clamp pinches off the blood supply. Orthopedic surgeons working on the extremities will use ligatures, basically tourniquets to ...	[ "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing. In a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of money, you pay a b...
Why is it that if the US stopped making more pennies, the existing pennies would be worthless and transactions would have to be rounded 5 cents?	[ "Because most pennies are not rolled up and returned to banks. They go into giant jars or kid's math posters. Stores go to banks to get pennies, and the bank has to get them from the mint because outflow > > inflow. No mint would make pennies unreliable, and stores would have to handle that through rounding for cas...	[ "Let's say toll roads are run by Wal Mart. They then offer a discount - you can drive to Wal Mart for free, but still have to pay a toll when you go anywhere else. Sounds good, right? But then next year they double or triple the toll. Soon you can't afford to shop anywhere EXCEPT WalMart. Every other store then go...
might seem like a stupid question but where does our blood come from? where in our bodies is it made?	[ "They form from stem cells in bone marrow." ]	[ "You don't see all the light the enters your eye, you only see the light that hits your retina. Light comes from all directions, but once it hits the lens of your eye, it bends. Only the light that is bent so that it ends up moving toward your retina is actually detected. For any given place on your lens, only ligh...
How are child actors safely incorporated in to movies with explicit content (e.g. Schindler's List or horror movies)?	[ "The thing is, even the most terrifying movie is fun to make for the actors. Most horror movies are creepy by sound fx, cgi monsters or practical effects. Their goal is to scare the viewers. The actors don't experience any effects, sound or visual. The atmosphere is in the camera. If that's what you're asking, I ha...	[ "Gisela Perl wrote a book on her time as a doctor in Auschwitz in which she admits to performing hundreds, if not thousands, of abortions. Her story seems to imply that pregnancy was not unusual and that many in the camps knew that they would be at risk by continuing the pregnancy. Starvation rations would make the...
Identical Twins vs. Fraternal Twins; Genetics?	[ "Fraternal (Dizygotic) twins are produced when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm, with different amniotic sacs and placentas. They're no more genetically similar than other siblings. Fraternal twins can look remarkably alike (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are fraternal twins), or incredibly different. Ide...	[ "Many fertilized eggs die in nature. The fact that many die in cloning shouldn't be viewed with surprise or a fault in the process. The chromosomes are the same in every healthy (non gamete) cell, so other than avoiding those that could have been damaged by radiation exposure (UV light for instance), it shouldn't ...
How are babies capable of crying so hard for so long?	[ "Babies instinctively know how to best use their skull structure to amplify their sound, so they are super efficient while being loud. I'm not sure why, but I believe that as we age we learn to speak at more socially acceptable volumes, and lose the muscle memory to use our voices so efficiently. However, we can tr...	[ "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." ]
Can a mosquito transfer HIV?	[ "No. HIV doesn't survive very long outside of human body, and mosquitos do not inject you with other people's blood. What they do is inject you with their own saliva, so in order for a mosquito to transmit an infection, the pathogen has to go from blood that the mosquito got from person A to saliva that mosquito in...	[ "Some do, like the [Maasai](_URL_1_) who have a method of drawing blood from a cow without killing it There are also dishes made from blood, like [Black Pudding](_URL_0_)" ]
Where did the phrase “Kick the Bucket” come from when talking about someone dying?	[ "Upvoting for \"trust me, I know\" CW: suicide Also, here's what Google has to say on the etymology of that phrase, \"A person standing on a pail or bucket with their head in a slip noose would kick the bucket so as to commit suicide. The OED, however, says this is mainly speculative; The OED describes as more pl...	[ "The social elite of the 1800s had two basic groups. Old Money who were born into upper society and had generational wealth, and new money who were entrepreneurs and merchants who struck it rich and entered their ranks without having been born into it. So the Old Money people often went about creating complex socia...
Before optometry was invented, how did people with poor vision survive?	[ "Start with [these answers from an earlier post!](_URL_0_) Credit to u/sunagainstgold." ]	[ "Not a historian, just someone who likes to lurk and learn new things, but I can maybe point you to a few similar questions I’ve seen about kids and their obsessions while you wait to hear from an expert. [This post](_URL_2_) has an ancient Roman source from u/rkiga that mentions a toddler obsessed with birds. Furt...
Maggots seem to have a light-sensing mechanism that works sort of similar to what some of our earliest ancestors had. Is it possible or likely that they will evolve some sort of sophisticated eyes?	[ "Two points: Maggots already have sophisticated eyes, they just don't develop until metamporphosis when they transform into adult flies. Also, the ancestral condition of flies (Diptera) is probably sighted larvae. While the largest derived group (Brachycera) has mostly blind \"maggotty\" larvae that lack a head cap...	[ "Mosquitos and flies are 'bottom of the food chain'. Yes they bite us and annoy us. But mosquito larvae are amazing fish-food. They take tiny bits of algae, that are useless to most aquatic organisms, eat it, and convert it into a nice high protein snack for fish/fish-fry (Baby fish). MANY frogs rely on fly larvae ...
How can cats/dogs manage to sleep when they constantly hear the slightest noise(s) ?	[ "A brain is constantly bombarded by input from the senses (sights, sounds, smells, temperature readings etc). One of the things it does is filter that information and only passes on information to other parts of the brain which it thinks is important. An example is when two people are having a conversation a little...	[ "Because they recognize things that are not a threat, and they don't recognize people. Think of how comfortable you are around airplanes and helicopters, but what if an alien spaceship came along." ]
Why does mental illness seem more common today?	[ "Because gradually people are becoming more open and accepting of discussing mental illness, so it seems more common when the general population assess their own mental state in a more open minded manner. It has always been this common, but people didn't talk about it." ]	[ "Can you please give an example of \"everyone\" and of what \"recent reports\" your referring to? This is an incredibly loaded statement" ]
Why is the moon covered in craters while the Earth seems to have only a few?	[ "> Is it simply because of the Earths gravity and weather that the craters fade away? Bingo. The atmosphere makes most small meteors burn up before they even hit the ground, and those that do hit the ground are subject to weathering and erosion so don't last very long. The moon on the other hand has no atmosphere ...	[ "NASA has \"planetary protection\" protocols whereby rovers are meticulously sterilized before being loaded into the rocket, and the payload bays are air-tight. The protocols are especially strenuous for Mars and other destinations considered prime candidates for exobiology. The agency is so focused on this princi...
Why is the American drinking age higher than other contries'?	[ "That's due to [a 1984 law](_URL_0_) that tied federal highway funding to a drinking age of at least 21. States which set a lower minimum drinking age would lose 10% of federal highway funding. Personally, I think it sucks (especially with [Pennsylvania's really tough liquor laws](_URL_1_)), but even those are [s...	[ "Laws usually don't have to make sense. It is what the politicians and the lobbyists can make the people think are concerns." ]
Why do we gasp when surprised or scared?	[ "this is due to your \"fight or flight\" responce from your body, when your frightened your body immediately inhales air to extract the oxygen needed incase you needed run away asap." ]	[ "There are a few different answers because there are a few different psychological approaches. TheCanadianDoctor's answer is the biological approach. Using the behavioral/learning approach, I would say it was because when you learned that word, you learned it by forming a connection between the (echoic) sound and t...
What are the duties of the vice president? What makes a good VP?	[ "They are the President of the Senate, which means they have the power to break a tied vote. Also, they wait around in case the President dies. To be a good VP you really just need to be able to vote for whatever side the President tells you to vote for in a tie." ]	[ "The same way that you and I do at home. Do not use too much toothpaste, and spit if you start to build up too much drool or foam." ]
Why do Americans continually vote for Democrats and Republicans	[ "Because people would rather have the lesser of two evils NOW, over and over and over, than better outcomes long-term. People get scared into voting for the least bad of the two big parties because the other big party, if they get into power, will spell certain destruction for us all." ]	[ "This is a very common question. You can use search to find [all the other really good answers](_URL_0_ ). This is instant, and faster than ust typing in your question every time. It's a way of cheating elections. Read the others, and then ask a more specific question." ]
Is there any scintific evidence that whales or dolphins will die or go deaf because of the US Navy's underwater sound system?	[ "Some sonars, particularly low-frequency ones used by the oil industry, can damage marine mammal hearing. The details of this are complicated and not well understood, but are certainly being studied. If an article starts with this, however: > Stop the killing of 1,800 whales and dolphins and the deafening of 15,90...	[ "I think to best answer this question one should first take a moment and think about the life cycle of plants, how they disperse, and what a seedling needs to survive. Fats are an excellent source of stored energy. Many seeds are very rich in fats/oils which are used as storage energy for the embryo within the seed...
Why do shop owners seem to prefer credit/debit cards over cash?Don't they pay fees for each transaction?	[ "In my experience shop owners especially small business owners much prefer cash" ]	[ "Traditionally, it was very very difficult for an author to publish their book and get it sold in stores. The logistics involved in getting a printer, getting stores to buy that book, having that book shipped to stores, having the book advertised, were so complicated that it just made sense for authors to get throu...
Would a laser beam pointed perpendicular to my vision, in a vacuum, be visible?	[ "Without a scattering process, nor some gravitational influence lensing the light back towards you, you'd never see it. This is why when you look up at the night sky, it's black and dark despite being absolutely saturated in solar radiation as evident for how bright the illuminated moon or daylight is." ]	[ "Many people posting here haven't actually taken a nerf gun apart and looked at it and are speculating that spring loaded guns could shoot fine in a vaccum. Well, here's a picture of a [maverick](_URL_4_) being taken apart for modding. You can see the spring is pushing on a piston-cylinder assembly. The nozzle on t...
What does the fact that humans have an endocannabinoid system say about our evolutionary and historical relationship to marijuana?	[ "It says nothing. Animals evolved a large variety of lipid signalling molecules, including cannabinoids, to regulate biological functions (mainly the immune system). Plants evolved cannabinnoids as a method of communication and defense. Ultimately, the endocannabinoids are produced from arachidonic acid, which is o...	[ "I'd probably go for how high-calorie food tastes delicious. Obviously in a natural competitive environment, food's not readily available, and so the sense of taste evolved to enable identification of high-calorie food (as well as identifying bitter poisons) so you can find the best possible food to keep you from s...
When dropping a counter into a slot from the exact same postion on a pegboard/plinko/pachinko style game what is it that stops the counter from falling the same way everytime?	[ "If you could drop the counter into the same position in exactly the same way and the game was in exactly the same state then it would fall exactly the same way. However, you can't do that because even though it may seem like you are doing things the same way on the large scale, on the small scale there are very ti...	[ "The short answer is: an awful lot of correlation. First of all, the tides always follow the moon's position in the sky, and change time throughout the month in a way that matches the moon's shift from being visible in the early morning or late at night. Second, the tides get stronger when the moon is closer to the...
How many images does a CT scan produce?	[ "The product of a CT scan is a 3D model which can also be thought of as a vertical stack of \"slices\" through the human body. Typical CT scans will generate 64-slice models, though newer higher resolution models can generate 128, 256, 320, or even 640 slice models." ]	[ "Retailers used a small machine with two rollers that made a carbon copy of your details and those of the retailer on a triplicate carbon copy slip. That is the reason your credit card still has raised lettering in the front. You got one copy, the retailer kept one and the other copy was submitted to the bank for c...
Why are cars shaped aerodynamically, but busses just flat without taking the shape into consideration?	[ "A lot of busses are designed for urban environments where they are stopping and starting a bunch and not really reaching the high speeds where aerodynamics becomes more relevant." ]	[ "We live in a 3 dimensional world. This results in something called the \"square-cube law\", which states that as an object grows in size its volume grows faster than its area. For example if we have a 1 foot cube it has 1 foot in volume. But a 2 foot cube has 8 cubic feet in volume. A 3 foot cube has 27 cubic feet...
Do children still in the womb have excess waste? If so, how do they dispose of it?	[ "Fetuses in utero do urinate into the amniotic fluid. This is an important part of fetal development, since the fetuses then 'breathe' in the fluid into their lungs to help their development. This is why patients with Potter's syndrome (congenital malformation of the kidneys) will also have poor lung development. F...	[ "Compared to what other mammals? All of the other large primates, dolphins, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, seals and other pinnipeds, equines, wild cattle worldwide, wild goats, wild sheep, deer and other cervidae, llamas...all have a single baby, or rarely, twins." ]
If cars running on hydrogen became more common wouldn't it increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and cause more rain?	[ "Conceivably, yes, but keep in mind that gasoline and diesel also produce a large amount of water when they are burned--ever seen the exhaust of a car on a cold morning? That's the moisture in the exhaust showing up as fog briefly before it dissipates, much like when you see your breath in the same conditions." ]	[ "There are two factors to consider: 1. Obstructions. 2. The weather. Specifically temperature and humidity. The larger the wavelength (lower frequency) the easier it will be for sound to diffract around obstructions. So when you talk about an urban environment, or an environment with other sorts of obstructions, th...
Recommendation for sources on Early Modern Somalia (esp. the 18th century)	[ "Online? You won't find much. I. M. Lewis's A Modern History of the Somali (\"revised, updated, expanded\") is still the standing work, with the newest edition in 2003--but a lot of the material hasn't changed since first publication over 50 years ago. I'll see if there are any newer works on parts of the country...	[ "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!" ]
Why has industry and manufacturing declined so much in countries like the US and UK but not in Germany?	[ "Your question is based on a faulty premise. I don't know about the UK, but manufacturing hasn't significantly declined in the US. By most measures, manufacturing output is now slightly lower than it was in 2007, but higher than it was at almost any point before that. See the following graphs: _URL_0_ _URL_2_ _URL_...	[ "A couple reasons. In the United States, the burden of proof is on the prosecutor to show that the defendant committed the crime. This \"presumption of innocence\" makes preparing a case hard work, because to win, the prosecutor has to convince 12 regular people that, with absolutely no doubt, the defendant commit...
What happens when the Dalai Lama dies?	[ "the elder monks read \"the signs\" and it leads to a town or location where the child whose body is a vessel for the spirit of the Dalai Lama is now in. signs can be visions, or direction of the wind, or many other things. this is buddhism. where the spirit of a being is continuously reintroduced to a new bodi...	[ "They often do get mixed up. What comes out of a crematory oven isn't ash, it's mostly bone dust and chunks, that get ground up in a big blender called a cremulator, and then bagged up. There are almost always at least traces of multiple sets of remains, though they do sweep out the oven every time. It's not consid...
What historical events led to Latin American having the most violent cities in the world?	[ "It would be difficult to trace a clear \"causal\" reason for violent cities, but some factors that one could consider: a) the extremely violent nature of colonization in Latin America, which involved the death of millions of indigenous Americans through armed conflict and disease; this was often excused under rhet...	[ "Hi readers! Since questions like these often attract anecdotal answers, just a quick reminder: you are in /r/AskHistorians, so do ensure that answers are comprehensive and informative, and based on solid source material. Personal anecdotes or other casual chitchat/speculation/opinion are not accepted as answers he...
Why are snowflakes shaped the way they are, not just blobs of ice?	[ "They grow in patterns for the same reasons that crystals and other minerals do, due to the underlying structural arrangement of their molecules and how they are able to bind with each other." ]	[ "The weird taffy looking object that can be rendered as if it were a real 3D object that you see depicted as a Quaternion fractal isn't actually the fractal itself. It is a 3D \"slice\" of an undepictable 4D Julia Set. If you slice a 3D sphere the cut face is a 2D circular thing. If you slice a 3D cube parallel to ...
Why do prescription glasses work backwards?	[ "The exact shape of the lens isn't what causes refraction. It's the variation in thickness, which is the same whether the lens is facing forwards or backwards." ]	[ "Totally winging this, but I'm guessing it just wasn't diagnosed much before reading small text became a part of daily life. If you learned to read when younger but need bifocals at 40, who cares if you already know everything you need to know?" ]
Did the Christianisation of Europe cause an end to tattoo art in Europe until it's reintroduction during the age of discovery?	[ "Tattooing being rediscovered by Europeans during the age of discovery is a myth, here is a quote from Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu writing about Marquesan tattooing he saw in the 18th century \"We should be wrong to suppose the tattooing is peculiar to nations half-savage; we see it practised by civilized Eu...	[ "You're going to need to narrow down your time frame here, keep in mind you're asking about a time frame of 1000 years over a very, very large area of land with vastly different cultures. You'll be more likely to receive an answer if you narrow the question down to a more specific time." ]
Why do gas prices change daily but other goods remain almost constant?	[ "Because gas is sold at a much closer state to the raw material. That's rare, most consumer goods have enormous value added before they're retail goods. [Oil prices](_URL_1_) and [wheat prices](_URL_0_) have very similar volatility, but bread prices don't move nearly as much as gasoline prices. That's because whea...	[ "Supply and Demand. Company A makes and sells widgets in China. They use Chinese Yuan to buy the supplies for the widgets, pay the workers making the widgets, and receive as payment for the widgets. I am an American with US Dollars in my pocket, and I want to buy widgets from Company A. To do that, I need to posses...
Why, when releasing ear pressure - that might come from a flight, does one ear consistently release before the other?	[ "Just gonna wing it here and take a guess. For you ears to relieve pressure at the exact same time, they have to be identical in structure. So any sort of abnormality on one side can make one ear easier to pop over another. Another potential reason I can think of is any soft of inflammatory process in the ear can d...	[ "In the studio or broadcast where music is mixed some instruments are panned left or right. Following the l/r on you headphones preserves the intended left and right balance. Movies as well will sometimes pan things from side to side as you see things move across the screen. It would not seem correct to see somethi...
Why does wearing sunglass improve visibility when it's raining and snowing?	[ "some sunglasses polarize the light. When it's raining outside wet surfaces cause light to reflect from all different directions which causes glare; when you polarize the light only light in the correct orientation relative to the lense is allowed to enter which reduces glare." ]	[ "Looking at an object in a mirror is the same as looking at the object at a distance of (distance from you to mirror) + (distance from object to mirror). To see something, light travels off of an object, through the pupil and to the retina. The pupil focuses this light so that lands correctly on the retina. Blurry ...
What happens to cancer cells once the host body has perished?	[ "They die. Cancer cells need food (glucose, protein, etc) and oxygen to stay alive - these typically come from blood supply. Cancer cells have the same metabolic genes as our normal cells, maybe they play around with what fuel they use or how much oxygen they use, but the core mechanics and enzymes are the same. S...	[ "It gets broken down. This process releases energy, which you use to run on the treadmill or whatever you're doing. The byproducts are turned into Carbon Dioxide and exhaled." ]
Why when you oversleep, say 10+ hours, sometimes you wake up with slight headache?	[ "dehydration bro. Your body is still functioning over those 10 hours, so it's like your body has been fasting. that's why breakfast is important." ]	[ "Even while doing nothing your body is hard at work doing many things such as: Fighting diseases (which your body has faced before) Contracting Muscles (Eg. Pumping blood around the body) Digesting food Respirating (Processing Oxygen from breathing) Creating Proteins for repairs Conducting Mitosis (How Skin, ...
Why is it that I have a hard time swallowing a tiny pill, yet I have no problem swallowing large amounts of food?	[ "By the time you swallow food, it's been mashed up until it's soft and coated in saliva so that it's lubricated to slide right down your throat. Most pills have neither of those characteristics." ]	[ "In order to take insurance from a company, the doctor must negotiate, in advance, what prices they're going to charge for services. They then need to make sure that they have the appropriate billing/reporting policies/procedures/systems to submit bills and actually get them paid. It might not be worth the extra wo...
Could the Earth's magnetic field in any way be utilized as an energy source in orbit?	[ "Yes, this has been tested on a number of missions, and is known as an [Electrodynamic Tether](_URL_0_). It can work both ways (to generate power) or to apply force to the spacecraft system. That said, using it to generate power is probably less mass efficient than solar cells. However, it would have applications a...	[ "Do the best with what you have. Florida and California are US launch sites because they are good enough. There's certainly an advantage to an equator launch, but logistically and practically its far easier to launch from home... and cheaper! Baikonur (Kazakhstan) fits a similar idea... although being the USSR's la...
Stand up and be counted! It’s time for the third AskHistorians census!	[ "I was forced to do this census by our barbaric and despotic moderators. The reach of their oppression has no bounds. OPPRESSION! Do you not see the violence inherent in the system!? ~~Workers~~ Users of the World, UNITE!" ]	[ "Congratulations to our winner of this month's book giveaway, Andrew Stead! The selection of books we have available this month are: A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne, recommended by /u/Bernardito. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline, recommended by /u/kookingpot. ...
Why do people snort drugs when they can just take it normally, like in form of a tablet?	[ "A pill or tablet takes a while to dissolve in your stomach and enter your bloodstream. If you crush it into powder it enters your bloodstream much faster." ]	[ "Surface area difference of food to taste buds/nasal passages. Sipping a drink versus chugging a drink makes for very different tasting experiences." ]
Why would a human colony on Mars be better than one on the Moon?	[ "Because mars has an atmosphere, water, and gravity. Any settlement on the moon would have to live on what they brought with them. Mars has natural resources." ]	[ "You should try reading \"World Without Us\" by Alan Weisman to answer that question." ]
How long will it take before the Canadian & US dollars are closer in value again?	[ "Chances are not anytime soon. Canada's economy is in a downturn (most resource-heavy countries are right now). The US economy is strengthening. This will put pressure to keep the exchange rate where it is right now, maybe even lowering it if stuff continues to worsen for Canada. How long will that last? Hard to sa...	[ "Temp also has a lot to do with air currents. A wind pushes hot air from south america into the US during winter and we get a record high temp in february. A wind current that would normally blow south could have decided to stop and blow back towards the arctic." ]
How do herbivores gain enough protein/nutrients in their grass based diets to become such tank like beasts. (Like Bison)	[ "By the utilization of multiple stomachs. These are what allow for the extraction of the necessary nutrients for both growth and survival. They also seek out minerals like sodium in salt licks etc." ]	[ "The Roman army was incredibly disciplined and aggressive. Each soldier was trained to defend himself and his comrades in mutually supportive formations. This discipline was the key to the strength of the Legion, no matter who attacked the Romans they were always able to resist the destructive initial charge then u...
Why does an automatic watch - a device that tracks something as simple time - such an incredibly intricate series of tiny cogs, levers and pendulums on the inside?	[ "I think you are looking at it from the perspective of modern technology. Now a days the mechanical complexity of most products is a lot lower than it would have been before computers. For example look at a [mechanical calculator] (_URL_0_). Now a days you can still buy very complex watches because it's just impre...	[ "The authors of the study that I believe you are [referring](_URL_0_) to weren't sure what internal mechanism is guiding it. And this paper was put out nine years ago and I don't see anything on it since then. However insects and animals in general are capable of doing things we think have to think about (counting ...
How do cities without bodies of water/rivers nearby deal with sewage? Examples: Johannesburg, South Africa or Lodz, Poland.	[ "Jo'burg does have a river - that's where some of its sewage goes. [According to the Jo'burg Water Authority, treated effluent is discharged into the Jukskei River, used to irrigate fields, or pumped to the Kelvin Power Station for use as cooling water.](_URL_0_) Similarly, Lodz has plenty of waterways - 18 of them...	[ "From the perspective of viruses and bacteria that affect humans... Germs aren't (supposed to be) everywhere in your body. Many fluids in the body are normally sterile, including: blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), synovial fluid, and urine. As far as why some human disease germs can live outside the body for long ...
In light of reading the article about the fossils found in Venezuela. How are scientists able to know if a fossil is 1200 years, 12 million years old or 200 million years old?	[ "Super simple version of radioactive dating: Radioactive substances have a half-life, or, the time it takes for half an amount to decay. So, say you have one pound of the radio active material in question, the half-life is the time it takes for that material to decay to half a pound. So if you know the substance's ...	[ "If you know that something degrades by X amount over a certain amount of time, you can extrapolate how long it would take to completely degrade. Similar to a half life" ]
What makes our bodies itch? And why does it feel so satisfying to scratch it?	[ "An itch is the body's way of attracting attention to an area on the body that hasn't been touched in a while. This is a survival instinct to check for wounds. I can't remember where I read it but it sounds like a valid theory to me." ]	[ "The outside of cells and virus cells are covered in chemicals. Different cells are covered in different chemicals. Specific chemicals stick to other specific chemicals. Other chemicals don't do anything. It can help to think of it like many different colors of velcro. Blue velcro only sticks to blue velcro, it doe...
Why do Vacuums have a variable power setting. When would you ever use low power?	[ "The advice the salesman gave me when buying my current vacuum cleaner is that just because the rated wattage is higher on one model, it doesn't mean it's any better - the electric motor will still be cheap even if it's a more expensive model, and will burn out quicker if you're giving it more power. In light of th...	[ "Many people posting here haven't actually taken a nerf gun apart and looked at it and are speculating that spring loaded guns could shoot fine in a vaccum. Well, here's a picture of a [maverick](_URL_4_) being taken apart for modding. You can see the spring is pushing on a piston-cylinder assembly. The nozzle on t...
How does a metal detector not detect itself?	[ "The \"sensor\" part of a metal detector is made of coils of wire, usually in a plastic of epoxy shell. Metal detectors don't detect metal directly. They detect changes is magnetic permeability. They send out a magnetic signal and measure how the surroundings effect it. Sure, many parts like the arm are metal, but ...	[ "It photographs the paper and compares it to real bills. Also real money has magnetic ink they can use to double check them." ]
Why do felines have tongues that feel like sandpaper?	[ "Cat tongues are covered in backward pointing hooks called papillae, which are made out of keratin - the same stuff that hair and fingernails are made out of. [Here's a closeup of a cat with very prominent papillae](_URL_0_). These hooks function like a comb when the cat grooms itself, and give it traction on mor...	[ "You may seem as a better provider and do not conquest for territory as much (i.e. you don't hog the litter box) you're like a savior that opens the tuna can. Also, you're like 8 times their size, make friends in high places etc... [Edit] Omg gold on my 6th or so post in my reddit career?? I... I.. I'd like to than...
How do cells know what kind of cell to be and how to arrange themselves?	[ "Generally, by \"communicating\" with the cells around it. They \"read\" and respond to protein signals emitted by neighboring cells which identify what they are and, in turn, the newly developing cell starts to develop to match." ]	[ "I use Android, but it does the same thing. I think it just uses GPS to figure out where you spend time everyday and makes an educated guess." ]
The record for holding your breath underwater is 22 minutes. How is that possible?	[ "A combination of lowering your body temperature (to slow down bodily functions, which in turn use less oxygen), a low resting heart-rate that circulates more oxygen per pump, and practice." ]	[ "There are many things that can contribute to life spans, lifestyle, metabolism requirements, genetics. Telomeres are one genetic control on life span, and is specifically why [lobsters can live for such a long time](_URL_2_). In some cases, it may be a [single gene](_URL_1_). If you're interested in a thorough rea...
What's that feeling you get after a hot shower were you're not sure if you're sweating again or still wet? And are you sweating or still wet?	[ "Yeah, you're sweating while you're in the shower and you're sweating while you're outside of it in the humid room. Pretty annoying, if you ask me." ]	[ "Think about it this way. The humidity of a room is 50. The moisture of a soft cookie is 75 and the moisture of a hard cookie is 25. Over time they both begin to level out to a moisture of 50. The hard cookie is softer in comparison to it's original state and the soft cookie is harder in comparison to it's original...
Why is a mylar blanket (first-aid blanket) effective against hypothermia/heat loss?	[ "Space blanket's work by providing a reflective surface. A fair amount of heat that escapes ones body is due to radiative processes (as opposed to conduction [touching], or convection [breeze]). By wrapping you in the mylar blanket, any heat that is radiated from your body just bounces back! In the meantime, it als...	[ "What you are missing is that the exhaust gas velocity depends on the gas molecular mass M. You can calculate it using [this equation](_URL_0_) of the exhaust gas velocity in chocked flow. Basically the lighter the gas the faster it can go and the more efficient with you mass you are. However for a given tank (ie a...
What is the tingling sensation that I feel when the blood rushes back to a body part that has fallen asleep?	[ "That's not blood rushing back, because limbs don't fall asleep by having their blood supply cut off. It's caused by pressure on a nerve cutting off communication between that body part and your brain. The tingling sensation is the nerve starting to re-establish equilibrium after the pressure is removed, which caus...	[ "It's just one of the things we simply don't know. A known thing is that rapid temperature changes can trigger a vasovagal response. Also, holding ice behind the ear can be seen as a type of cold pressor test, a test that actively targets the sympathetic nervous system. Since the vagus nerve predominantly consists ...
If Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space (currently at 135AU), how can the theoretical Planet IX orbit the sun at upto 1500 AU?	[ "The border of our solar system is pretty vague and open to interpretation. Some would say past Pluto, some would say past the Oort cloud, etc. There's been a few different times when there were reports of Voyager leaving our solar system and it really all matters on where you define the border to be." ]	[ "There is a greenhouse on Mars caused by the predominantly CO2 atmosphere, but it's relatively small because the atmosphere is so thin. For the three planets that experience a significant greenhouse effect, the amount of warming is strongly a function of how thick the atmosphere is: - The expected global tempera...
Why is metal heavier than objects like cardboard or paper etc.	[ "You're neglecting density. Density is mass divided by volume. If you rearrange that equation, you get mass = density x volume. So two objects of the same volume with different densities will have different masses. Metals tend to be much more dense than cardboard or paper, so they weigh more." ]	[ "Credit cards are designed to last for years, hotel keys are designed to last for days or weeks, so hotel keys use cheaper magnetic materials." ]
Why didn't scientists just send a probe with heaters to melt through to the "surface" of Lake Vostok?	[ "Plus, the whole drive of getting there was to study an environment with the cleanest water system on the planet. Although not by much, melting the ice to get there could lead to contamination and I'm sure preservation is one of their key objectives (The project was shut down once because of this very reason)." ]	[ "Do the best with what you have. Florida and California are US launch sites because they are good enough. There's certainly an advantage to an equator launch, but logistically and practically its far easier to launch from home... and cheaper! Baikonur (Kazakhstan) fits a similar idea... although being the USSR's la...
What are the attorneys doing to get celebrities or people in power get a lighter sentence for a crime than regular person who might get a more severe punishment?	[ "theres a number of things going on here: * Rich people can afford an good attorney. Poor people cannot. * There is a massive systematic bias in favor of rich people. If you come from a wealthy background, the judge, jury, prosecutors, everyone, views you more favorably than they would a poor person in that posit...	[ "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing. In a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of money, you pay a b...
The Paradox of Two Charged Capacitors	[ "I'm a layman, since the question itself is layman-inaccessible, can the answer be any different? Suggest posting this in /r/science" ]	[ "The Ghostbusters infamous backpacks are supposed to be \"positron colliders\". When positrons collide with electrons, they either destroy them or scatter, they dont create magic lassos." ]
How were French forces involved in the war against Japan in WW2?	[ "I would also like to know the same thing for the Dutch forces" ]	[ "Guiscard was a Hauteville, and that family had friendly relations with the duke of Normandy. Hautevilles assisted William in his invasion of England. Guiscard moved to the Italian peninsula in 1047, when he was in his early 30s and William was in his late teens. I can't find any documents showing a direct relation...
Why can some people function on a lot less sleep than others?	[ "In some cases, it's conditioning. If your body and mind are used to functioning off of 5 hours of sleep per night, you're less affected by it. In other cases, it can be age related. As people get older, they need less and less sleep. A 15 year old might need 10-12 hours of sleep to feel rested, whereas a 50 year o...	[ "It depends on many factors: * Energy consumption rate * Body weight and fat * Age * Genetics * Many, many other ones" ]
Why does the sun shine ?	[ "The sun is so massive that the force of gravity on the inside is strong enough to start nuclear fusion. It's shining from the energy released by literally pressing hydrogen atoms together until they're helium." ]	[ "Inflatable beach balls are mostly empty space, too. The thing is, light bounces off the outside surface of the beach ball and back into our eyes, just like it bounces off the electrons around an atom's nucleus." ]
How often in nature do insects have mid-air collisions? Whether it is bees of the same colony or insects merely passing in flight; and do they use corrective action or just crash?	[ "They just crash. Someone posted a slow-mo of a bee hive today and not one but two different bees crash into each other. So to answer your question, all the time." ]	[ "I know a guy who does mobile development and has had direct contact with both the Chrome and Android teams. This may seem insane (because it is!) but the two teams are pretty much at war with each other. Yep, massive, massive infighting. It's gotten so bad that the Android team will not fix bugs reported by the Ch...
Why do humans and some animals cuddle with each other when sleeping?	[ "Correct me if I'm wrong, but most humans actually sleep better in separate beds according to research since it allows you maintain a cooler body temperature while sleeping whereas you are sharing extra body heat while cuddling. Now why do people cuddle? Cuddling can release hormones that are responsible for feelin...	[ "Changed the flair from \"Earth Sciences\" to \"Psychology\". Although φ is not my field, I believe you will find a large part of your answer by researching the concepts of \"imprinting\" and particularly of \"cuteness\" (no, really - it's a thing; at least the way it was defined by Lorenz it is...) and the researc...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.