Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
If my pets got lost, would they stick together like in Homeward Bound or go their separate ways?	[ "When I lived closer to my parents, my siblings and I would all drop our dogs off at their house during the day as sort of a doggy day care. One of them was a magician and despite all sorts of \"fixes\", she would invariably find a way to unlock the gate to the dog yard and they would all go adventuring in the rura...	[ "Thai is actually an interesting question. The best answer I've heard comes from a book by Edward O. Wilson, \"The Diversity of Life\" Basically, wind currents, water, and birds' bodies and droppings can help move seeds and small animals extreme distances. Some Spiders for example, when young, create a web \"parach...
How does the google's "I am not a robot" reCAPTCHA work? How are they able to differentiate between a physical click and a programmatic click.	[ "So a lot of people are talking about the image recognition and not the tick box you're talking about so I'll chime in here. Really it has nothing to do with the 'click' and everything to do with what happens before that. The way your cursor moves across the screen. If it immediately snaps to the box in a perfectly...	[ "Separate the compounds in the peach using chromatography. Measure which compounds are the most common. Figure out what those compounds are using some analytical methods. Next, figure out how to produce these compounds. Look up literature for synthesis methods, test and experiment. Make different mixtures and test ...
Why do so many politicians in the US want to reject the deal with Iran?	[ "Because the republicans are trying to make Obama fail. This isn't speculation, they literally got together and decided to oppose literally everything he did, before he even took office. its really petty and childish, but they have completely changed positions on subjects just because Obama agreed with them." ]	[ "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 is there no video recordings of planetary fly by instead of just photographs, like Pluto etc?	[ "Here you go! _URL_0_ This is manipulated image data however, the cameras on New Horizons are not video cameras—specifically LORRI and Ralph. It will takes some weeks for all of the data to be transferred and analyzed by NASA/APL." ]	[ "I don't know the specifics of this launch, but generally they take a few days to get unmanned vehicles there so they can check out the systems and make sure everything's working well, then use the most efficient transfer burns to get to the station. You don't want an uncontrollable or poorly-controlled vehicle get...
Do animals go through puberty in the same way humans do?	[ "Humans are animals. [\"\"they all go through a similar process. There will be changes specific to reproductive behaviors, such as males trying to breed with females and females being receptive to males. Then there are also changes in the level of territoriality and aggression that correspond to the rise in hormone...	[ "A follow up question: Is it possible that they are potentially as smart as we are, but the lack of hands, appropriate communication (etc.) limits their ability to develop their potential?" ]
What is instagram stalking?	[ "Basically it's clicking on someone's profile and looking through their photos without that person being aware. It's \"stalking\" because you're virtually creeping on that person's activities and locations. Also, not all Instagram profiles are public. A private profile would make it harder to \"stalk\" someone unle...	[ "Is this an attempt at viral marketing? On the exact link you provided it says: > Infiniti’s Lane Departure Prevention system uses a camera to monitor the distance between the vehicle and lane markings. If the vehicle drifts, the system signals a warning and can help the driver return the car to the center of the ...
When did straight white teeth become a status symbol?	[ "I'm guessing this is a thing in the States? As with so many things, it probably started to become a status symbol as soon as famous people started doing it. This being said, the super white teeth American TV stars and politicians tend to have is not really a thing here in Europe (is this changing?). So it's not a ...	[ "I feel like this question is a bit outside of this subreddit's scope, it's really more of an economics question, plus if you look at [this graph](_URL_0_) then you can see that they were at very similar levels until around 20 years ago when they diverged, so anything following that violates the subreddits 20 year ...
what exactly are 'Daddy issues' and their cause	[ "The idea is that a woman will have unresolved issues with her dad that she unconsciously tries to work out or repeat with the romantic relationships she has with men. For example, let's say a woman's father left her family while she was growing up. In her dating future she could be afraid that her boyfriend would ...	[ "I think that's best answered by someone with an education in psychology and therapy, then speculation by a random person online. _URL_0_ Seems to me a good starting point." ]
What is a 401k and how does it work?	[ "401K refers to a section of the USA tax code that allows employees to reserve a portion of their yearly income and put it into a retirement account (referred to simply as a 401K). The money that you put into your 401K is pre-tax. Example: You make $20,000 in 2014. You have $2000 of that put into your 401K. Come ne...	[ "I encourage you to check out this youtube video _URL_0_ Explains it better than I can" ]
When is "y" considered a vowel?	[ "It's a vowel when it is (part of) a syllable you pronounce. Such as \"why.\" It's a consonant when it modifies a sound, such as \"Yoda.\" Taking the \"y\" away won't destroy a syllable in the word - you just get a different sounding word (\"oda\")." ]	[ "I'm assuming you watched Cooked, right? Leavened bread uses yeast. The yeast helps to break down the harder to digest nutrients in the flour making them more easily absorbed/broken down by the body. Fermentation is amazing." ]
Why are Xbox 360/PS3 Emulators not possible?	[ "Technically possible. Cost effective? Not according to the bean counters at MSFT & Sony." ]	[ "Actually it is being worked on presently, maybe you've heard of stem cell research? Same principle, but usually grown outside the body (currently), however there is a lot of talk about using straight injections for some issues, with spinal paralysis being a big one." ]
Is a Vegan diet objectively healthier? Not concerned about the morals behind it...	[ "Nope. You actually have to take great pains with a vegan diet to avoid nutrient deficiencies. If you put that much work into a regular diet, you could easily come up with something just as healthy." ]	[ "Thank you for your submission! Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): You can find the basic answer with a google / wiki search. Please start there and come back with a more specific question. If you disagree with this decision, please send a [message to the moderators.](_URL...
Why do production companies tell us about movie release dates 2 or 3 years before they are even set to come out in theatres?	[ "They’re also announcing it for other studios. Disney and Warner Brothers don’t want to both plan one of their big movies for the same weekend. Sales for both would suffer as a result. Disney is the reigning king of the box office right now (based on annual totals), and they’re basically calling dibs on the best ca...	[ "Your employer takes money out of your paycheck throughout the year to pay your local, state, and federal taxes. The amount they take out, however, is just an estimate how much tax you will probably owe at the end of the year. There's no way for the state, local, and federal governments to know what you actually do...
At what point is someone an addict	[ "When it starts to seriously affect your ability to live the rest of your life. When it is no longer a choice, but an unstoppable compulsion. Not an expert." ]	[ "They can't. They either have several jobs, are not the sole provider, are in extreme debt that they can never get out of or receiving government assistance. Or all of the above." ]
How far back could an average American go back in time and understand English as we know it?	[ "Hiya! Additional input and examples are very welcome here, but just FYI, this is one of the most popular questions in this subreddit, so there are several previous threads that can get you started. Here are a few.. * FAQ section: [How far back could I go and still communicate?](_URL_1_) a few more recent interesti...	[ "Your question is like: > Why do people keep telling me to take a pill my doctor prescribes when in ye olden days people didn't have access to the same pills? Clean water is way easier to get now than it was then. Since you have access to clean water you should use it. In the same way, getting a doctor to prescri...
Why are bedroom & bathroom each one word, but living room and dining room are two?	[ "Very simple. The reason for this is that 'living' and 'dining' are verbs, while 'bed' is a noun. Verbs: A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen. Nouns: A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea." ]	[ "1 dimension) meet me at Bologna St. Needs more information. 2 dimensions) meet me at the corner of Bologna St. and Cheese St. Now you know you're in the general vicinity of where you need to be. 3 dimensions) meet me on the 3rd floor of the office building at the corner of Bologna St. and Cheese St. Great, now you...
Electronics in microwave whilst switched off - damage?	[ "So you see the light inside the microwave? The actual microwaves that it puts out are more or less very similar to the light that the bulb puts out. Pretty much the same rate you see the light go away, the microwaves go away." ]	[ "If it's metal it would act as a Faraday cage. _URL_0_ _URL_1_" ]
How can music streaming numbers get tempered with?	[ "The company can change the numbers to whatever they want. There's nothing that stops them from doing it. It's their system, they control it, they can do whatever they want, there is no third-party oversight or audit. Of course, if they juice the numbers, they also likely have to pay the licensing fees on the highe...	[ "You agree to that when you use their service. The same way you agree to not use itunes to make a nuke > You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or ...
Emoto's water experiment and it's results.	[ "Water forms crystals when cooled (like snowflakes). Pure water forms more \"regular\" crystals than water with others mineral and chemical mixed in because they disturb Hydrogen Bonding between the water molecules. All that metaphysicals stuff, like emotion affecting water is pure bullshit." ]	[ "Penn & Teller: Bullshit! did a show on this, its very worth a watch, they break it down quite well and understandable. [Link to the full episode](_URL_0_) on youtube. Warning, NSFW language and boobies in like the first 2 seconds, because its Penn & Teller and thats what they do" ]
Did any general or army in the history used the "spies" as they are portrayed in the game "Team Fortress 2"?	[ "A specific example somewhat similar that I can think of is during Operation Entebbe (Israeli commandos sent to free hostages in Uganda), the Israeli troops travelled towards the airport in vehicles meant to mimic that used by Idi Amin, to avoid arousing suspicion. However, they came in a black Mercedes and accompa...	[ "No. Computers that run strategy programs generally incorporate a little bit of randomness in their calculations. Sometimes the randomness is introduced by humans tweaking the settings from run to run. Sometimes the randomness is built in by having the program call on a random number generator (which arguably deliv...
Why is FIFA's corruption largely condoned?	[ "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. If a new football/soccer league started, first of all, not every team would join it over FIFA. What we'd actually get is competition. Say maybe 30% of teams join the New League (NL) and the rest stick with FIFA. Now both companies are fighting for ratings, fighti...	[ "It takes a while to implement the changes. How would you like it if the law changed overnight and you had to pay fees/go to jail next day without having a chance to adapt yet." ]
How does pleading the fifth not equate to an admission of guilt to a jury?	[ "Because the jury is not permitted to consider taking the fifth as an admission of guilt. Also, it's important to remember that the jury will never hear a defendant assert his Fifth Amendment rights on the stand, because the defendant won't even be on the stand unless they have already waived their Fifth Amendment ...	[ "Because lying isn't illegal unless you're making factually inaccurate claims about a product in an effort to make people buy that product or when you're making factually inaccurate claims about a person that cause damage to that person. Don't get me wrong--I think that politicians should basically be considered to...
How much force would act on a dam across the Strait of Gibraltar if the Mediterranean sea was drained?	[ "> Would the size of the Atlantic Ocean make any difference to the force exerted, beyond a certain size? I.e. would adding oceans increase the force on the dam in a linear way? Or would the height of the dam be more relevant? All that matters is the depth, because that determines the water pressure, which with the ...	[ "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...
Reid Interrogation tactics, and why interrogators are allowed to flat out lie to get confession signatures	[ "In an ideal world, police would never lie, under any circumstances. In an ideal world, however, there would be no crime and therefore no need for police. This is not an ideal world." ]	[ "HIPAA only restricts certain types of organizations from revealing health information (basically healthcare providers and insurers, plus their agents). The Hospital---without a release from the patient---couldn't say much of anything about a famous person's injury or treatment, but the coach or the team can. It is...
Why do certain shots (e.g. drugs, immunizations, steroids) go in different places?	[ "The drugs that go in your butt and upper arm are intramuscular (IM) injections. Their site changes depending on how much the doctor is injecting. Lots of medication means more fluid, so it has to go into bigger muscles, like your butt. Smaller doses can go in your upper arm. (for the curious, the max volume is gen...	[ "Very often they’re actually remixes or edits. One major factor is time. On the album versions they tend to be longer, because nobody minds. There are different edits and mixes, for radio and ones for video. While less of a factor today due to much better electronics, another problem was speakers. When watching a ...
Why do jet skis eject a stream of water out the back, instead of using that extra stream for propulsion, or have it pointing backwards?	[ "If you're talking about the water than get's shot up, it's a Visibility Stream, colloquially a Rooster Tail. It gives a good visual indication of where the jet ski is, and what direction it's traveling in, particularly if you can't actually see the jet ski (i.e. the hull of your own boat is blocking the view." ]	[ "Jeeps and motorcycles are both largely enthusiast vehicles. Johnny Everyman who just needs to get from point A to point B typically won't have a Jeep or a motorcycle, because they're both somewhat impractical vehicles (until 2007 with the release of the 4 door Jeep Wrangler). Both Jeeps and motorcycles are often c...
What effect do Beta2 Agonists have on the retina?	[ "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...	[ "> Nothing about it makes sense to me. How does this work? It is simple: Saps pay money for a red LED light and believe any pseudoscientific nonsense that is tossed their way. The scam artist makes a load of money off this fad. Of course it doesn't do anything, there is no evidence that the \"therapy\" works, but t...
Why is rabies so deadly and can remain “dormant” for so long?	[ "Rabies take a long time to move through the nervous system from the bite site to the brain. During that trip, it tries to stay as sneaky as possible because a strong immune response would kill it. When it gets to the brain where it \"takes over\" it essentially short circuits the brain. Because the brain is a priv...	[ "Generally the areas damanaged depened on two factors * metabolic demand * blood supply The first factor should be obvious. Neurons that have high resting metabolic demand are going to run out of energy first. Note that the brain depends on aerobic energy production and can't really get by like muscles do with an...
How do you raise a pleasant kitten that will be good around children?	[ "One of the key things to do is get kittens frequent and positive human interactions as early as possible since that helps cats become accustomed to having frequent and safe interactions with humans. Those first few weeks are a critical period. With that in mind, the temperament of a cat, like people, is not somet...	[ "The same way you can be in the same yard as a bee. You only get stung if you are a threat. Just ask Steve Irwin." ]
How do inch fractions work?	[ "Imperial rulers actually are not divided into 20 fractions. If you look at [this diagram](_URL_0_) you can see that it's divided into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 intervals. But (as an american) the only time I actually hear anything other than 1/2 or 1/4 inch being referred to, it's an engineer or a machinst who has h...	[ "You know how authors write long stories using letters and words and the rules of grammar and writing? Its just like that. With enough knowledge of how to read (math), these kinds of explanations make sense. Dont feel bad that you cant read it. Its just like if you tried to read a story in a language you dont know....
Why do cats have the need to push stuff off the tables and shelves? What kind of an instinct is that?	[ "It's a predatory thing. They eat rodents. Some rodents such as possums play dead. They keep nudging their prey to confirm cessation of life. The fact that they push it off the table is just shear coincidence and clumsiness." ]	[ "In the days before cable or satellite, TV goes there reception through an antenna, often a pair of rabbit ears attached to the top. TV broadcast are pretty finicky, and don't travel nearly as well as radio. So you had to mess with the rabbit ears a lot and put up with bad signals. Very minute adjustments were afte...
What's the best time to start a rising to establish Home Rule in Ireland?	[ "Wait till these \"British\" are asleep in their citadels, then rouse your army and attack them in the night. Fire your arrows upon their houses and kill their families, smite them with your swords and grind them under the wheels of your chariots! Let the British gnash their teeth and be driven from the land of \"I...	[ "The IRS has admitted to unfairly targeting groups during the 2012 election, based solely on the fact that their requests for tax-exemption contained the words \"Tea Party\" or \"Patriot\" in the name. The initial revelation on Thursday claimed that this was solely an activity of \"lower-level\" employees in Cincin...
Do more physically attractive people tend to have more pleasant (or even sexy) voices? What role does voice play in human mate selection?	[ "Production of the sex hormones testosterone/estrogen/progesterone contribute to secondary sex characteristics; in males one of those is the deepening of the voice. In a sense a deeper voice could signal a mate capable of reproduction. Babies have also been proven in studies to better recognize high pitched voices...	[ "Most of this is because the mapping of symbols on the page to sounds is arbitrary. When speaking you're mapping sounds to meaning. This is something you brain has specifically evolved to handle. For written text we've invented some arbitrary symbols, we've decided that they map to specific phonemes (or they map in...
I have a BA in history and would like a PhD. How do I look for graduate programs? What do I look for in a program? Are there helpful websites where I can learn about many programs at once?	[ "I asked something similar to this a while ago _URL_4_ Congrats and good luck. I hope this helps. It helped me I'm actually going tonight to a campus visit to look into a masters program." ]	[ "Yes, in fact that is exactly what that program tests for." ]
Apoptosis implies that cells "know", most of the time, how to detect a defective cell, and how to target these cells? If so why can't we replicate this process to eliminate cancerous cells?	[ "Lots of cells do gain mutations that would be cancerous but since this apoptosis mechanism is in place they are removed without cancer being presented. It is usually cells with multiple mutations (one of which disabling the apoptosis pathway) that become cancerous." ]	[ "Evolution doesn’t routinely do luxuries. Can your current form and life-processes keep you alive in your current environment long enough to breed the next generation? Yes? Then you are “successful enough”. Rinse, repeat, refine through those generations. If the need to regrow limbs and organs was the only thing ke...
If hyperglycemia / insulin resistance impairs angiogenesis, do people with Type 2 Diabetes have a lower risk of cancer?	[ "This proposition would hold true if angiogenesis was the only factor involved in cancer. Cancer however has in most cases many promoters and many safety systems that failed. In reality the trend goes in the other direction. Many studies have found that patients with diabetes are at higher cancer risk. We dont know...	[ "I wrote a detailed response about Tom Holland's documentary [here](_URL_0_), using primary source to argue that something very similar to modern Islam did exist quite early on. Also worth noting that Crone and Cook's Hagarism thesis is not taken seriously anymore (or even at the time) - it literally used only th...
Why is pi considered irrational if we can measure it physically?	[ "A rational number can be expressed as a ratio of two integers. Pi cannot be expressed as such a ratio. Therefore, it's irrational. It has nothing to do with being physically abled to be measured. _URL_0_" ]	[ "See my post [here](_URL_0_). Notice that I construct a well-ordering on a countable set S, and that well ordering cannot be used to form a bijection between S and the natural numbers." ]
How do banks earn money to expand and have interest for us?	[ "Your money just doesn't sit in a room and wait for you to need it. They lend out your money to other people for home loans, business loans and personal loans at a considerably higher interest rate than they pay you. All that money difference they keep." ]	[ "I've always wondered this too. I know for sure they get money from the ads on their page because of the amount of viewers coming in each day. I've also heard that its by the number of views per video or total subscribers. That I'm not to sure about tho." ]
Why do we use the word "late" when talking about deceased people?	[ "One lesser-known meaning of \"late\" is \"recently, but not any more\". If, for example, you say, \"A man late of London,\" you mean he used to live in London until just a short time ago, but now he lives somewhere else. From that came the expression \"The late Mrs Smith,\" which was used as a euphemism to avoid u...	[ "Let's say you wanted to gamble at the horse track. You think Three-Legged Limpet is the horse to win on (despite having only three legs). You decide to place a $100 bet, but you don't have $100 on you now (payday isn't until tomorrow). The bookie agrees to take only $20, with the understanding that you will pay up...
How can we be so sure atoms exist even if we haven't even seen one?	[ "We have seen them Here are images of two molecules.you can even see the individual atoms _URL_0_" ]	[ "We have a pretty stong understanding of anatomy and cellular biology. Its not a big guess we just actually know what we are made up of... We gained that knowledge through centuries of medical science, chemistry and biology. So put more bluntly, we measured it." ]
If a point has zero dimensions, how does it exist?	[ "A point is a mathematical entity - in other words, an idea - so it exists in our minds. All that \"has no dimensions\" means here is just \"has no size\". A point has one or more coordinates, however, which describe its location in the space in which the point exists (on a curve or a surface, in a volume, or in a ...	[ "The human mind is incapable of comprehending \"nothingness\", because we've never experienced it. Think of it this way: If you've never seen the color red, but you're aware of the idea of the color red, how would you describe the color red to someone else? You couldn't. You'd have nothng to base it on." ]
How did chickens survive natural selection?	[ "We selected chickens to be like this. The wild ancestral chicken (probably the Red Junglefowl) can fly a decent amount, run pretty quickly, isn't nearly as fat, camouflage pretty well, and the males have giant spurs on their feet. People have bred chickens over thousands of years to be fat and flightless so we can...	[ "We make good guesses based on what little examples of skin have been preserved as impressions in stone, and what other animals we know that are similar are like. As we learn more, our guesses get better and hopefully more accurate. This is why we now believe that many dinosaurs had feathers, when we didn't before....
Why was the cup of Italian ice I had (that had been in my freezer for a long time) so slimy on the top?	[ "The water near the top evaporated and left a highly concentrated syrup layer (the sugar, color, and flavorings)" ]	[ "It's from the olive oil. Oils have what is called a [smoke point](_URL_0_) where the oil's carbon chains will degrade into soot which is essentially solid chunks of incompletely combusted carbon. Same kind of smoke you get from campfires and barbecues. You should probably cook at a lower temperature, or use a diff...
how we know what a black hole is.	[ "We can't see them. But we can see how they distort the space around them. Everything has gravitational pull, and the denser something is the more pull it has. Light is subject to gravity, and only an object so dense that light cannot reflect off of it (\"escape\" its pull) could distort the light around it to the ...	[ "Every object's gravity is stronger the closer you are to it. Until you get close to its event horizon, a BH's gravity is almost the same as that of ay other object with the same mass." ]
How do Sim cards work?	[ "EI5 Answer is: A \"serial number\". Each card contains a unique number that is used to identify the phone owners account. The phones themselves all communicate with the carrier network the same way, following a established standard regardless of brand / model. This is why two people on the same phone carrier can...	[ "It's an [RFID chip](_URL_0_). In some countries, it can contain biometric information to confirm the identity of the passport holder, making it harder to forge the passport. In other countries, it just contains the same information found written in the passport. We're currently in a sort-of transition phase where ...
Why does the colour black attract and store heat?	[ "You've got it slightly wrong. The reason why an object is even black in the first place is because it absorbs all the light. In other words, the color of an object depends on how it absorbs, reflects and refracts light. When an objects absorbs a lot of light, it will, by definition, be a dark color." ]	[ "Simple terms, darkness releases melatonin, which helps us fall asleep, and probably to protect our eyes while we sleep." ]
How does a spinning black hole differ from a stationary black hole? Also, can we tell the difference between the two just by looking at their gravitational signatures?	[ "A spinning black hole is [stationary](_URL_1_). Which is distinct from [static](_URL_0_). The difference between a spinning black hole and a static one is the spinning. There [can't](_URL_2_) be anything else. And yes you can, in principle, extract these numbers (modulo any degeneracy, I've not thought about that ...	[ "So, do you mean on the edge of the event horizon? (some one will be able to sort of answer you on that.) Or do you mean inside the event horizon, on the possible surface of what is believed to be a singularity? cause we don't know that one at all, it gets weird in there." ]
Size of universe and the big bang, help a simple boy :)	[ "Simply the universe did not start as a single point in space. Also remember space isnt always going to be linear like you and I perceive it. space an easily fold back towards itself just like mass can distort space." ]	[ "The biggest proof isn’t exactly mathematical but observed. There is a 4 kelvin background radiation uniformly spread everywhere we look. It is thought to be the remnants of the explosion. Nasa actually has a pretty comprehensive list _URL_0_ It was less like someone sat down and did the math and more like someone ...
How do business that hire illegals not get in trouble? How do they expense the labor costs?	[ "* illegal aliens are using fraudulent documents * they pay them cash under the table (not hard if you deal with a lot of cash, like a restaurant or a bar) * they don't hire the illegal aliens, they hire a contract company who provides them...which goes the another contractor, which goes through another contractor ...	[ "I was audited 3 years in a row due to no fault of my own. I filed my taxes and received my refund. 3 years later I got a letter saying I owed 1600 in back taxes from 3 years before. I checked the letter, brought my w-2's and 1099 and 1098's to the irs in Maitland Fl. They went over everything and found that my emp...
Are we aware of any linguistic differences between the Korean spoken in North and South Korea that have developed since the end of the Korean War?	[ "Everybody, please remember that anecdotal evidence isn't appropriate for an answer on /r/askscience, even if you know Korean. [Here is an actual article on the topic](_URL_1_). If you can't access it, try sci-hub." ]	[ "From my understanding (will need to edit in a source one I track it down,) the different hemispheres are actually pretty consistent as far as spread and symptom patterns go. In fact, they used data from this past southern hemisphere season to identify that this upcoming season will be rough for the northern hemisp...
Artificial candy flavors like banana & watermelon (et al) don't really taste like the real fruit. Yet these "candy" fruit flavors are usually pretty consistent among all candies, drinks, etc... Where did/do these pseudo-fruit flavor parallels come from?	[ "Artificial banana flavor is actually based on an extinct species of banana." ]	[ "Keep in mind that musical instruments create a sound by vibrating; instruments with different shapes can have a variety of different [overtones](_URL_0_), and the degree to which these different vibrations damp (i.e. stop) is going to have an effect on the sound of a note. A sustained note can feature a variety of...
Is there any evidence of music that sounds similar to modern or classical rock, that was created prior to 1900s, or earlier, even if it wasn't mainstream at the time?	[ "It might help if you specify what you mean by \"similar\". For example, obviously there was no music with the electric guitar or basses that are signatures of rock music. But if you mean using three/four-chord progressions then there are folk songs that could match that definition." ]	[ "To give a slightly different example that /u/Vampire_Seraphin's a current excavation off of the coast of Sri Lanka at a fishing village called Gotavaya is the first marine excavation of an ancient shipwreck in Indian waters. It is dated from the first century BCE/CE, which was the peak of the ancient trade, but as...
How do soda filling machines fill up bottles so quickly without the bottles exploding?	[ "Counter pressure. The bottles are pressurized to the equivalent pressure of the soda going in. Bleed a little pressure off and the bottle fills up. remove the fill tube and screw on cap right away. All this is done at near freezing temperatures so the soda isn't as volatile. It's the same way as for beer and spark...	[ "With some difficulty. This was an issue in the Apollo 11 landing. Neil Armstrong had to send a message back about slosh in the descent engine tanks, and the Apollo 12 descent stage was modified as a result. But in a launch, the tanks are tall and narrow. They start off full and there is little side to side motion ...
If modern medicine can keep people with life threatening and hereditary diseases (bad genes) alive, will their genes, which are able to continue, make a large amount of the population in the future dependant on medicine in order to survive and live?	[ "If someone has a defect in their genes that would normally give them less of a chance to reproduce and modern medicine is able to keep them alive and give them more of a chance to reproduce, then yes, they will potentially be adding that defective gene back into the gene pool. As far as your second statement goes,...	[ "Non-human animals have these instincts because if they didn't, they wouldn't reproduce. So having the most successful mating behaviour is 'maintained by natural selection,' i.e. those that have the instinct reproduce most successfully and eventually become most common. Humans are a lot more socially complex than o...
Why did Google Fiber's replacement "Google Wireless Broadband" fail to expand/develop more?	[ "Google probably realized that it wasn't going to be as profitable as they expected and decided to stop dealing with the hassle that is being an ISP with physical lines to maintain" ]	[ "One hot topic recently has been the detection of gravitational waves. Just as there is a spectrum for electromagnetic waves, there's also a [gravitational wave spectrum](_URL_2_). One point has been discovered so far, by LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It's essentially a telescope th...
How did the N.R.A. get to be so powerful in American politics?	[ "the surgeon general position is one that greatly affects what is determined a \"health risk\" the nominee in question is anti 2A and believe firearms to be a health risk. he would be in the position to influence how healthcare (aka insurance, hospitals, doctors, lawsuits) perceives firearm owners." ]	[ "Because most people who do not live in a cave realized decades ago that this has been going on. Very few people and/ or countries are that naive, not to know that this is going on in every country in the world" ]
When WWII ended did we release German spies when we released POW's	[ "I don't have any records stating either way, but people convicted of espionage are not typically considered 'prisoners of war' as they were not committing internationally recognized acts of war, and were not a part of another nation's armed forces (generally being a part of an intelligence office) so I would suspe...	[ "Follow-up question: Were there any slave owners who tried to illegally sell their newly freed slaves to countries that still had slavery?" ]
Why do some body parts (e.g. breasts and penises) vary so widely in size and appearance while others (e.g. fingers and ears) stay within a relatively narrow range of size and appearance?	[ "It's because breasts and penises are soft tissue while your fingers have bones in them. The bones are what ultimately dictates their size, and don't allow for as much variance across the population." ]	[ "Say you have a hammer and nail. If the hammer head is bigger than the nail, then the force of the hammer is distributed evenly against the head of the nail. The nail will go straight into the wood. Now say you have a hammer and a nail, but the nail head is bigger than the hammer. When you hit the hammer against t...
How could one become a debt collector, then buy their own debt for pennies on the dollar?	[ "You can't. Individual debts aren't sold, they're bundled up in big chunks and then sold in bulk. You're not going to be able to buy your old phone bill from T-Mobile, you're going to buy thousands of old phone bills at pennies on the dollar in the hopes that you'll collect on enough of them to a few more pennies...	[ "We aren't really sure why, but it doesn't seem that something like that can be done. Think about it like your bladder; you can build up a need to urinate, but you cannot urinate so much that your bladder is more than empty." ]
How did the first parasites evolve?	[ "We call viruses \"obligate intracellular parasites\" and viruses are incredibly ancient - RNA viruses perhaps remnants of long-dead RNA only world. I don't think it was a symbiotic relationship gone wrong, rather the realisation that it was a lot easier to steal someone else's stuff rather than collect it for your...	[ "> Why? What are the arguments for each possible \"starting point\", and is one of the options \"more correct\"? Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party \"won\". Hamilton's Federalist Party died out. Factions developed in the Democratic-Republican party in 1824. The Jackson faction was what ended up becoming today...
Whats the difference between the energy we get from carbohydrates, caffeine and having a great cardio?	[ "You don't get energy from caffeine. Caffeine makes you feel more alert because it competes with adenosine for its receptors in your brain. Adenosine is one of the chemicals which make you feel sleepy. In short, caffeine doesn't replace energy, it just numbs you to the sensation of not having any. I'm not sure what...	[ "Coke Zero: Same taste, artificial sweetener. Diet Coke: Different taste, artificial sweetener. Coke Life: Same taste, mix of artificial and natural sweetener (so 60% less cal instead of ~0cal)." ]
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Republic - AMA	[ "This one kinda goes past the Republic into the Principate period. At what point did Romans (mainly the literate and educated) realize they were no longer a republic, but instead a monarchy? How did they accept this given there was such a strong hatred for monarchy within Republican Rome?" ]	[ "This submission has been removed because it is [soapboxing](_URL_1_.), [promoting a political agenda, or moralizing](_URL_0_). We don't allow content that does these things because they are detrimental to unbiased and academic discussion of history." ]
How can the tiny radio in my cellphone broadcast a signal so far?	[ "The receiving antennas on the tower are very sensitive. But it isn't quite as amazing as you might think. Radio is just a form of light that our eyes can't see. Think of it as really, really deep red light. As you probably know, even human eyes can see a light flashing a few miles away if the eyes have become...	[ "Most new cars embed them inside the windshield or rear window which gives them a much better and bigger area of reception. The wire used is nearly invisible to the eye and you don't have to worry about a motor burning out or breaking it in the car wash as with the telescoping ones." ]
What happened to the Roman Empire following the death of Romulus Augustulus?	[ "Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed emperor as a child by his father Orestes, who used his son as a figurehead. The boy emperor was deposed by Odovacer (allegedly Odovacer was the son of a Hunnic ambassador, Edeko, during the reign of Attila). However Romulus Augustulus didn't die when he was deposed but was allowed...	[ "I am by no means an expert on this topic, but I can point you towards a very good book I read a few years ago. [Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle](_URL_0_) discusses the trial of [Ossian Sweet](_URL_1_), an African-American physician who killed a white man in self-defense in 1925 Detroit. The man was part of a white m...
I'm hoping /r/AskHistorians could help me identify what era this Soviet uniform I bought today is from. Pictures inside!	[ "Your uniform is definitely not from WWII. It is a (incomplete) parade uniform for a warrant officer in the Motorized Rifle troops. The uniform is of the style that the Soviet army was still using at its collapse in 1991. The label should have the date of manufacture, and it appears that it is 1985, although I am n...	[ "Could it be Robert Owen? He was manager and part-owner of the New Lanark mill in Scotland, and among other things he paid employees in currency instead of tokens (as was customary), pressed for ten and later eight hour workdays, etc. He's a pretty seminal figure in pre-Marxist socialism." ]
What is the origin of the "gay accent"?	[ "Hello from /r/linguistics. This is a pretty common question so I decided to answer your query in our [Historical Linguistics FAQ](_URL_1_)." ]	[ "Well as far as I know it started with this prank video: _URL_0_ And after that it simply went viral." ]
Why does lower energy electromagnetic radiation like visible light and radiowaves move at the same speed as higher energy ER like gamma rays and x-rays?	[ "Because it's all bound to the speed of light, so the product of wavelength and frequency equals the same constant" ]	[ "Both special relativity and general relativity affect clock rates. * Special relativity: Faster moving clocks run more slowly, so a low orbit (fast moving) clock runs more slowly than a high orbit (slow moving) clock or than a stationary clock on the Earth. * General relativity: Low altitude clocks run mor...
How can dark matter be huge a substantial part of our universe but we can't see or detect it?	[ "In much the same was as how bacteria and atoms were a huge, substantial part of our day-to-day lives but we couldn't see or detect them either. We don't currently have the means to meaningfully observe and explore dark matter. That doesn't mean it can't possibly exist. It just means our understanding is limited by...	[ "We do use antimatter currently for practical uses, ever heard of a PET scan? It would be the ultimate energy storage medium because gathering meaningful amounts of antimatter from nature is impractical. The best place to find it now is in the van Allen radiation belts." ]
What happens when someone breathes in a brown paper bag and why is it supposed to calm them down?	[ "One thing that happens when you panic is that you hyperventilate. This means you are breathing too fast and you over oxygenate your system, which is great if you are having to flee a tiger and need the oxygen to fuel your muscles but bad when you are having a panic attack and have no outlet for the nervous energy....	[ "One of the easiest ways to to write a short paper on the book. It doesn't need to be a proper academic review, simply a few bullet points and/or paragraphs where you sum up the book, its arguments, and its evidence. I usually write about 1-3 pages this way of bullet points with a couple sentences about each poi...
Why do we need a seperate ball sack?	[ "your testicles need to be able to regulate temperature in order for sperm to survive. Hence the separate sack outside the main body." ]	[ "We are. We've just inverted the names to save on ink. Basically we've first discovered one and called it matter. Then we discovered the opposite and called it anti-matter. Which is which doesn't really matter at all." ]
Why do American sports leagues all have roughly the same number of teams?	[ "For the most part, this likely has to do with them all or mostly being in locations that are large population centers. This number also provides for relatively easy divisions with the same number of teams - NFL has 4 in each, MLB has 5, etc. Cities/Metro areas that support all Big 4 sports teams - Phoenix, LA/Ana...	[ "It has to do with the contracts the networks sign for the show. Typically shows are contracted by the season - but often they will buy a season with a certain number of episodes with an option to buy more episodes under that contract if the show is successful. For example - They will sign a contract for 1 season o...
How do cough suppressants work?	[ "Dextromethorphan is probably the most commonly available cough suppressant in the US. There is a part of your brain that makes you feel the sensation that you need to cough; dextromethorphan is thought to interact with this part of the brain to suppress the sensation." ]	[ "Most likely the placebo effect. No one really knows why but your brain can be tricked, so long as it thinks you are getting medicine you will feel a bit better. Even if you got nothing but a starch pill. Very strangely it still has an effect even if you find out afterwards that you were taking a placebo." ]
Sometimes I feel that warm drinks help you easily concentrate on your task, is it true?	[ "I'm sure there could be a much more complex mechanism behind 'warm drinks' leading to better brain function in the body (stimulants like caffeine, l-theanine, sugar). However, focusing strictly on the warmth aspect, the heat could simply be dilating your blood vessels, leading to more blood flow across your body,...	[ "When you eat chocolate, the cocoa butter melts in your mouth, causing the tasty chocolate flavors to coat the taste buds. If you have water in your mouth, the chocolate will either not melt or else it will melt and then seize up into a tight, solid mass because water interferes with the way cocoa butter solidifies...
What AOL actually does, in 2015?	[ "And you wouldn't believe the amount of people who still use aol email addresses, so this will get aol some ad revenue" ]	[ "Because the types of permissions people are usually concerned about are usually... * Location data, either current or past * email, phone contacts The vast majority of laptops and all desktops do not have GPS chips, so location data isn't a concern. While people may store email addresses and phone numbers on their...
What exactly is a lobbyist? And why do people dislike them so much?	[ "A lobbyist is someone who is paid to advocate for a group or an issue to politicians. Every day, they will phone up various politician's offices, arrange meetings with them, throw parties and invite them, and so on. There is a wide variety of tactics involved, most of which cost money or time - money and time whi...	[ "a program is like a piece of cloth occasionally a hole is found so you put a patch on it but the cloth remains the same size when you want to make a cloth a blanket then you make it bigger this is called bloat" ]
Genetic diversity between dog breeds?	[ "What makes two breeds different is a collection of phenotypical traits. There are genes that control the appearance of the hair, the color of the hair, the shape of the head, the set of the ears, and so on. Different breeds have different collections of genes, and they have been bred so that they ONLY have that co...	[ "Why are noses different in size, why are people different heights, why do we have different hair colors?" ]
why are my mom's mortgage backed securities worthless if only 20% of mortgages failed?	[ "I'm guessing it would depend a lot upon the particular package of mortgage-backed securities she bought and from whom she purchased them. It is possible that her particular bundling comprised a much larger proportion of sub-prime mortgages that defaulted, effectively devaluing the whole program." ]	[ "There is a block with 10 lemonade stands, they all do pretty good business. One day, Big Ass Mega Lemonade opens. The original 10 go out of business and the former owners get jobs working for BAML. Those 10 owners make a lot less money - and the owner of BAML, who happens to live far away, takes all that money an...
"Everything was better when I was a kid"	[ "Because when you were a kid, you were largely unaware of the problems of the time." ]	[ "I would explain it, but since a) 'explanation' implies a modern, non-plural power relation and b) age is just a social construct, you'll just have to come up with your own interpretation." ]
When Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter, what did the comets hit? And why didn't they just go straight through the planet...?	[ "Jupiter is believed to have a rocky core, albeit a very small one compared to the planet's volume. The comet fragments hit the gasses that comprise the outer layers of Jupiter; either the fragments disintegrated on impact, or the atmosphere slowed them down until they sank down towards the core. [Marks left by the...	[ "The \"jelly\" inside jellyfishes is the [mesoglea](_URL_0_). It is present in all cnidarians but it is extra thick in jellyfish. It is composed of connective tissue and water and doesn't have very many cells, so I don't have any guesses as to what would happen if you punctured it." ]
If Earth spun faster, would we feel it?	[ "I don't think we'd feel it, but I do know some other effects that would occur. The Coriolis effect would be a lot more pronounced, acting over smaller distances (although, still probably not over the space of a toilet bowl). ~~Storms would be really really violent.~~ That's all I've got...somebody else want to tak...	[ "Here's a [picture](_URL_0_) that might help explain. That figure is the \"analemma\". You can create such a thing by taking a picture of the same location in the sky (assuming the Sun is there) at the same time of day throughout the year. What you'll notice is that the Sun doesn't just trace a line back and forth,...
What is the difference between a church and a synagogue?	[ "A church is where Christians go to pray. A synagogue is where Jews go to pray. Not quite sure what else you want to know." ]	[ "Different ingredients, different storage situations, different flavirong, different length of time they are aged." ]
How do you keep the blood flowing in a heart transplant surgery? And how do you make the new heart start beating again?	[ "A bypass machine and ventilator. Along with a crap ton of blood products. And your body is packed in ice to reduce body temp so everything slows down and gives them more time. To restart you get a zap directly to the heart, and a pacemaker. Source: had heart valve replaced was \"dead\" for 18 min and had my blood...	[ "It's all about having an atmosphere, since that's what helicopters need to fly. [This article explains it quite nicely ](_URL_0_) Here's a relevant quote: *\"Elysium was that—unlike an airplane cabin—its atmosphere wasn’t canned up in some hollow tube. A landing spacecraft could enter its air like it would on Eart...
Why is dust almost always grey?	[ "The color of dust is determined by what the dust is made up of. Since you state that you were thinking of this while cleaning, I'll make the assumption that you are talking about [household dust](_URL_0_). > The specific dust mix in any household differs according to climate, age of the house and the number of p...	[ "Analog TVs had a circuit called the [\"color killer\"](_URL_0_). It was designed to eliminate any color from the screen when B+W programming was being received. The B+W signal did not have a [color burst](_URL_1_) reference signal, and it is the absence of this color burst which triggers the color killer. Static m...
In the Odyssey, why had the now-grown Telemachus not inherited Ithaca and ran away his mother's suitors by the time Odysseus returned?	[ "I know that in Ancient Athens it was highly unusual for men to participate in politics before the age of 30 (G.R. Bugh, 'The Horsemen of Athens', but many other places as well). Of course, different time and place, but it at least makes likely the idea that he wasn't yet considered to be of adult age. I hope someo...	[ "You're going to have to be more specific. Do you mean early church as in St. Thomas? If so, there would be no need to communicate with Rome. They weren't Roman Catholics and the doctrine of Papal primacy hadn't been fully developed yet. If you mean the coming of the Portuguese, they would've worked through a nunci...
How do things get colder, such as the air temperature cooling down or a drink getting colder, what makes things get cold?	[ "Thermodynamics. Heat is movement (temperature is average kinetic energy). Particles bump into things all the time, and when they do they lose energy. When they lose energy they get colder. Newtons law frames it as hot will alway go to cold (fast stuff will always bump into slow stuff)." ]	[ "The answer to this is actually more complicated than you would think. It all boils down to the fact that the surface layer of the ice underneath the object is partially melted. However, the reason for how this top layer melts is somewhat of a scientific controversy. People used to believe that the pressure exerted...
What exactly are the Freemasons?	[ "Freemasons are members a of social club. They gather once or twice a month and hang out. Outside the meeting hall, Freemason try to improve society and themselves. They do so by volunteering or doing other charitable acts. Freemasons consider one another as brothers, and like real brothers, they will help eachothe...	[ "Thank you for your submission! Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): You can find the basic answer with a google / wiki search. Please start there and come back with a more specific question. If you disagree with this decision, please send a [message to the moderators.](_URL...
Are there any scientific studies that support corporal punishment of children as helpful or conducive to their mental and emotional maturity?	[ "I have cleared this thread of all speculation and anecdote. Please refrain from answering with speculation and/or anecdote. Follow up questions to the lead question are, of course, welcome. EDIT: Please do not reply to this comment." ]	[ "It's actually a popularized myth that \"scientists thought an ice age was coming in the 1970s\". [This PDF](_URL_2_) contains a study of all peer-reviewed literature from 1965-1979 concerning climate change. Of the 49 articles that predicted changes to global temperatures, 42 predicted warming, while only 7 predic...
Why is the heart slightly left in your body when most of your body tends to be symmetrical?	[ "The heart sits slightly to the left, the major vessels do sit in the center of the body, however the right side of the heart carries deoxygenated blood which must go to the lungs, this does not require much pressure, however the left side of the heart must push blood to the entire body so the heart must have a lar...	[ "How loud a noise is in one ear, relative to the other ear, allows the brain to estimate where the source of the sound is coming from. When both sounds in each ear are in sync and being received at the same volume, your brain figures that the source of this noise must be located between your two ears; the middle (o...
What Twitter does with the extra 20 characters	[ "On Twitter, you can have other people's tweets sent to your phone through text message. If the max was 160, you wouldn't be able to tell who sent the tweet because the tweet took up all the characters allowed in a text message. So basically, 20 characters for usernames, 140 for content." ]	[ "Apparently that's no longer the case, you can (and should) leave the caps on now: _URL_0_" ]
Did any dinosaurs live in Japan?	[ "> Japan was originally attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent. The subducting plates, being deeper than the Eurasian plate, pulled Japan eastward, opening the Sea of Japan around 15 million years ago. The Strait of Tartary and the Korea Strait opened much later. Barnes, Gina L. (2003). \"Origins ...	[ "There is a good deal of room for fresh responses to this question. But I briefly summarised the main controversies [in an earlier thread here](_URL_0_). The short answer is that we have no certainties about this at all, only a lot of supposition and a certain amount of reasonable deduction. Even the discovery of f...
Why is the interior of the pyramids at Giza still a mystery?	[ "First; getting permission from the Egyptian government to even study the pyramids is a huge process, and they turn most people down. Second; the rules regarding what you can and can't do in the pursuit of studying the pyramids are also very strict. You can't expose them to any kind of radiation, for example, or c...	[ "This guy explains it very nicely: _URL_0_ Generally the idea of the hemi is good, but it is not very efficient when you design the layout of the valves and sparkplugs, and it is difficult to get a good compression in. Pent-roof is the way to go." ]
Why do windows reflect better when it's dark outside?	[ "They don't actually reflect better. The difference is that there is far less light coming from outside so you can see the reflected light from inside more easily. It is the same sort of idea behind how you can see stars at night but not during the day; they don't stop shining, there is just other light overpowerin...	[ "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 ...
If a battery is depleted to 80% then charged to 100% then depleted to 80% again. Is the same part of the battery being used?	[ "Battery doesn't work like that. You're imagining that the battery is a glass of water and it depletes at a level. Think instead of an airtight bank vault that you are trapped in. You breath in the oxygen from all around you. You don't breath in the oxygen at the top first. Eventually, your respiration is impaired...	[ "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...
Why was Germany held responsible for WWI if Austro-Hungarian declared war on Serbia first?	[ "Not to stifle discussion but this thread [\"If Serbia started the ball rolling on the events that triggered WW1, why is Germany always portrayed as the prime evil in the war?\"](_URL_0_) should give you a sufficient answer." ]	[ "Three of the oldest bits of European folklore to manifest in early sources are: 1. the story of the incredible journey and magic flight from the monster that manifests in the Ancient Greek tale of Jason and the Argonauts; 2. the story of the ogre who is burned by the hero; this manifests in the Odyssey with the Cy...
What caused the Philippine American War? And what was the reaction of the journalists at home and the war correspondents abroad to American atrocities?	[ "There was a thread not too long ago that asked similar questions that may be useful for you. [Thread here.](_URL_0_). The reasons for the decision by the United States to engage in a colonial experiment are vast and I will provide you with three books to check out. The first is Ernest May's Imperial Democracy\",...	[ "Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to [our rules](_URL_1_). This policy is further explained in this [Rules Roundtable thread](_URL_3_) and this [META Thread](_URL_...
In music, why don't the people who produced the musical aspects of the song get as much credit as the person who preformed the song?	[ "Because typically these people sell there own rights in exchange for royalty percentages or in some cases a fixed number. They still get credit, but not as much as they would if they done it on there own. A good example is NeYo. Hes written for so many people. One more notable case was Beyonces Irreplaceable. He i...	[ "One of the coolest properties of waves are that they are linear, meaning you can add them together to get a new wave. That new wave obays the wave equation just like the two original ones. So check this out here is a plot of sin(x) and of sin(2x) and of their sum. _URL_0_ Notice that two of those plots just look l...
American Civil War historians, what was the political climate like preceding the war and are there any similarities with today's political climate?	[ "I am not sure this question is quite a fit for this sub. The first part certainly is, but generally /r/askhistorians isn't where an analysis of modern politics, even in relation to historical politics, is made. /r/AskSocialScience might be a better place to try! That said, at least in regards to the political atmo...	[ "Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_2_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t...
32 bit processor vs 64 bit processor	[ "When we talk about number of bits in a piece of computer hardware, it's like the number of digits for the base-10 numbers we're used to. A computer uses numbers for doing 2 main things - for holding values and doing calculations, and also for keeping addresses of where things are. A 32 bit number can tell you wher...	[ "Are you watching blu ray? Is it a good transfer? (Example: despite being made in the early 80's Blade Runner Ultimate Director's cut blu-ray is one of the best you can buy) How good is your blu ray player? Is it a ps3? All of these factors contribute to what you determine as a home viewing experience being inferio...
You have a room that is a vacuum, with magnets on the floor only, and a magnet levitating off the floor. Does the magnet stay in place or does it move around in the X/Y direction relative to the room?	[ "See [Earnshaw's theorem](_URL_0_). There can be no stable equilibrium via any arrangement of permanent magnets that allows one magnet to levitate. That said, there _can_ be an unstable equilibrium, like balancing a ball on a point of a needle. So the result of your bet really depends on how rigorously you've defin...	[ "Conservation of angular momentum. If you're standing on the edge of a platform, your angular momentum is zero. If you start wheeling your arms in a clockwise fashion, your trunk will have to start turning in a counterclockwise fashion so that the total angular momentum of your body is still zero. This is what you ...
What is happening when I have a brain freeze ?	[ "Something cold touches the roof of your mouth, such as ice cream. This cold sensation causes the nerves to go haywire, causing pain, it also causes the blood vessels to constrict, causing more pain. To stop it, have some warm water, or put your tongue or thumb against the roof of your mouth." ]	[ "You die. And are apparently miserable and in pain until you do. _URL_0_" ]

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