Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
How does google maps know where traffic is heavy and light?	[ "Subscribers to google service who allow google to track their location. They then look at where this person is. If that user is on a road....say a highway, and the speed should be 65 (information they gathered from the various depts. of transportation and their own research) and this person on the highway is trave...	[ "The harder you set it, the more time the computer gives itself to examine every possible future situation -- what you might do next, then what it might do in response, then what you might do after that, etc. On low difficulty it won't look too far ahead." ]
Is gravity's effects instantaneous, or does its influence take time to reach an object, like light does?	[ "Gravitons move at the speed of light. Gravity is not instant." ]	[ "They appear to move slower relative to themselves. Consider a ball 1 cm across, and one 10 meters across. In the first second of falling, each will fall the same distance; about 5 meters. But the first ball will have gone 500 times it's diameter, while the second will have traversed barely one of it's radii, appea...
Why is negative and negative positive?	[ "I assume you're talking about multiplication. So let's say that I tell you, \"I want you to take three steps forward, and I want you to do that four times.\" That would result in your taking 12 steps forward (3 \\* 4 = 12). Now what if I say, \"I want you to take three steps backwards, and I want you to do that ...	[ "The ultimate decider here is etymology. English already had a native prefix for negating the meaning of words: un-. When you unbutton a shirt you perform the opposite action of buttoning it. But English borrowed a lot of Latin words, either directly or via the French. In both of those languages there's a differ...
How do we know so much about the Iroquois, seeing as they had no written language for records?	[ "Actually, a lot was written about them by the French and English. The French especially were interested in the fur trade trade, and so established diplomatic relations with lots of different tribes. The English also did likewise, although they were more interested in settlement and assimilation. There were also pl...	[ "Surveys. A survey about sexual activity might include a question about rape and if it was reported. When surveys from widely varying groups come up with similar numbers, they can draw conclusions. It's not extremely accurate, but it's all we've got." ]
How can _URL_0_ possibly contain 500 million lines of code?	[ "Th claim that there are 500 million lines appears to come from one unnamed source in a NY Times article. It's very likely that this guy was either misquoted or has no idea what (s)he's talking about." ]	[ "Imgur and other very large websites aren't run from a single mainframe, they have many different computers often in many different physical locations. If only one has access to a given image and it's over capacity it'll crap out while other computers, if not also over capacity, can operate just fine." ]
What is happening to us biologically when inspiration strikes?	[ "A certain brainwave is released for a split second on the sides of both the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of our brains, but only in a tiny spot. These brainwaves are called Gamma. Right now our brainwaves are at alpha or beta; Theta and Delta (even alpha) are associated with sleep and meditation:)" ]	[ "I learned about this researching how to help my kid be a better sleeper. Essentially, you are over-tired. There is a \"sweet spot\" for everyone regarding the time they should go to bed (just the right level of drowsy). Once you get past that, your brain thinks there must be an important reason for you to continue...
How do sports bypass assault/battery laws?	[ "It's consensual fighting, and under somewhat controlled circumstances that generally will work to limit severe injuries." ]	[ "_URL_0_ The short version is they were recorded during a sting operation in which police were informed of the show's activities. You have no expectation of privacy during the commission of a crime in most jurisdictions. Local law varies, though." ]
What would a universal currency, such as the Euro for the EU, do for our global economy as a whole?	[ "It would be pretty bad, in a lot of ways. The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that in order to do so, we'll need to have an international governing body to control monetary policy for the currency. I highly doubt any nation is willing to let go of so much of their power. Second of all, splitting monetar...	[ "The flatness of the universe is often a way to describe the topography of the universe in 4 dimensions. There is no real way for us to visualize an infinitely big 3 dimensional object curving, so instead we describe it as a 2d object and reserve the 3rd dimension to describe the 4d curvature. As for what this curv...
When a movie comes on tv and they swap out the curse words with other words who says the lines the actors? Or do the networks do it? Is there a separate script for that?	[ "It depends on the movie. Sometimes, they'll have the original actors record \"clean\" versions when they're doing the normal additional dialog recording after filming. There's even some productions where they'll film takes with the \"clean\" dialog during principal photography. Other times, they'll just use voice...	[ "Almost always.. It's not \"truly random\", it's what's called \"pseudo-random\" or \"fake-random\". Basically it takes a number of some sort (called a seed, possibly the amount of milliseconds since 1970) and use that as the input to a complicated math equation that is supposed to output a seemingly random series ...
Would it be possible to have more than one Internet?	[ "Yes. The internet is just a network of computers. A very large network, but a network just the same. Creating your own Internet is as easy as unplugging your router from your modem. You can do all normal Internet stuff provided you don't need to talk to any machines outside your network. Now, in general, you would...	[ "Symptoms are not caused by the virus, but rather by your body's response to the virus. So, as long as the viruses are similar in nature to each other, your response will also be similar." ]
How can marijuana be legal on a state level, but illegal on the federal level?	[ "The way it works in the United States is that you have two sovereigns. You have the federal government and the state government of whatever state you are living in. The two operate, more or less, independently. Thus, an activity can be legal under one sovereign but permitted under the sovereign. Anyway, yes, the ...	[ "The brownie or what not doesn't have to be hot for it work. You are correct that the THC is activated by heat; which happens during the baking/cooking process... Once this process happens it doesn't revert back when cool." ]
Why do we use mice instead of pigs for most testing?	[ "1. We're actually more closely related to rodents than pigs (humans and rodents are in superorder Euarchontoglires, pigs are in Laurasiatheria). On the other hand, pigs naturally have a somewhat more similar diet to us are are similar sized, which is sometimes useful. 2. mice are very fast to breed and inexpensive...	[ "During the siege of cities in Medieval times dead animals would be flung over the walls by means of catapults, inflicting disease and a form of psychological warfare. There is a story of Hannibal caging venemous snakes in jars and then throwing the jars onto an enemy ship, releasing the angered snakes upon the ene...
how a computer can read 5.6 billion ones and zeros and turn it into The Big Lebowski or Reservoir Dogs?	[ "Divide each frame of the movie into a grid. Say 640x480 Now assign a number to each color that the computer can display... let's say there a 16 million colors with black being 0 and white being 16 million. In each box of the grid number the color. Now you've got every frame of the movie as a number. Now for the s...	[ "Tell ya what. Next time you go to see a big budget movie, sit through the end credits. And not just for some extra scene -- actually look at all the names. If you want, try to count them. There will be hundreds, if not over a thousand names involved, from directors and actors and writers to carpenters and electric...
When was cancer first discovered and labeled as a disease?	[ "Cancer was first identified as a disease 4,600 years ago by Imhotep. According to the book \"the Emperor of All Maladies\" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, there were no other records of cancer identification until 440 BC, when Greek historian Herodotus wrote of a lump in the breast of Atusa, the Queen of Persia. The tumo...	[ "The strongest motivators are civic pride and identity. A town that has grown large might consider itself successful on that account alone. There were many towns that were founded but did not grow, and disappeared. Sometimes the town grew due to the civic leadership, sometimes it was environmental factors, but the ...
How seriously was excommunication taken? How much did status/rank affect the threat?	[ "I don't know about Christian excommunication at the time, but Jewish excommunication was fairly serious until the Enlightenment. It essentially kicked you out of the community until you repented for whatever got you excommunicated. With a Jewish community as insular as it was, that was a pretty big deal. This is s...	[ "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...
What does it mean to "Optimize" a game?	[ "Generally optimizing in video games is trying to get the same result by doing less work. This is usually accomplished by smarter use of the platform on which the game runs or removing redundant/useless operations that were not obviously wasteful before" ]	[ "Computers run on sets of instructions telling it how to run all the parts of the computer and build an interface so you can use those parts. Say you're following a recipe for a cake. Then you finish the cake and someone comes along with a better way to make a cake by adding another ingredient and changing how muc...
how does velcro work?	[ "Velcro works by having two strips of material, one with lots of tiny hooks, and one with lots of thinner loops that the hooks can cling to when the strips are pressed together. [Here's a close up picture](_URL_0_) [Here's more pictures](_URL_1_)" ]	[ "Not sure anyone can explain it better than Richard Feynman: _URL_0_" ]
Does masturbation have any effect on mood, confidence or personality?	[ "Some of it: A lot of it has to do with the chemicals released after ejaculation: \"men release a cocktail of brain chemicals, including norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin, nitric oxide (NO), and the hormone prolactin\". [ref](_URL_0_). These chemicals make us sleepy afterward. So doing this sever...	[ "Anytime a time-saving technology is introduced and becomes wide-spread, it resets people's expectations for how long the associated task takes. So it's not really that people lose the ability to focus, but they lose the patience for things that take longer. It used to take a long time to prepare meals, but the mic...
What's that slimey gooey stuff in my mouth when I'm thirsty/after exercising?	[ "Saliva is 98% water, while the other 2% is made of other substances, such as electrolytes. Your saliva becomes more concentrated without water, giving it that \"slimy\" feeling. And that white ring around your mouth? A combination of salt, electrolytes and mucous." ]	[ "By a process called osmosis. Osmosis is a process in which water moves trough a semi-permeable (only water can move trough it) membrane to reach an equilibrium of solutes. If you put salt on an apple, you create locally a very high solute concentration, the only way that the concentration of solutes in the cell an...
Why do people always talk about a clean water shortage into the future? Doesn't all fresh water just evaporate and return to the lakes it came from?	[ "Most of the water on this planet is salt water which we cannot drink. We get fresh water when sea water evaporates and then rains inland [in lakes/etc]. It's really expensive in terms of energy [the Sun is big eh] and we're not getting more of it any time soon. So as our population grows and our need for water to ...	[ "Drop a marble down the edge of a round bowl. Unless your bowl is perfectly straight and your marble is perfectly round, it's gonna wobble and spin into the center. If a stream of water is flowing towards a drain and \"misses\" to one side, the water around it will push it sideways and back in, creating a swirl." ...
Locked and unlocked phones	[ "a locked phone is 'locked' into use on a single service provider's network. And unlocked phones may be used on any provider's network. This mainly applies to phones with sim cards, GSM phones." ]	[ "They probably offer lower end devices or different quality of service for Cricket to offset the price difference. Similar scenario with Sprint and Boost. Just trying to attract a different audience." ]
If loud noises are supposed to be stress inducing; then why does loud music help me to cope with stress?	[ "It's sudden unexpected loud noises that are stress inducing because they trigger the startle response. Rhythmic noises (music) that happen to be at a high volume do not because you are expecting them. _URL_0_" ]	[ "In your inner ear there are hundreds of tiny little hairs called cilia. Each one is a different length and thickness, and they will resonate in response to different frequencies. Hearing damage can be caused by a lot of different things, but a lot of energy at a specific frequency will damage those specific cilia ...
Why do guys shave when they are in the Military and in Space?	[ "Per regulation. Air Force is AFI 36-2903. It gives the appearance of uniformity and professionalism. Also, in case of a CBRN attack, if you're shaven, when you have the gas mask on, it creates a better seal to your face. So you don't get fucked up and shit." ]	[ "Well, since no one is answering this, I decided to hit the ol'Google and found this study: _URL_1_ Chest-hairiness correlates with [3α-androstanediol](_URL_0_) glucuronide, but not testosterone. 3α-androstanediol glucuronide is apparently a product of testosterone being used. However, testosterone itself doesn't c...
How can it be that the universe does not have a center nor an edge?	[ "if you imagined the Universe was a sphere, like the surface of your kick ball, where is the edge? where is the center of the surface? (not the center of inside of the ball, but the center of the surface of the ball) The thing is, every point on the surface of the kick ball is exactly like any other point, there is...	[ "Observation and calculation. Astrophysicists noticed that space is expanding, and that the expansion is accelerating. They did a bunch of math and figured out how much it's accelerating and how different things would effect this acceleration. They did more math and were reasonably sure that it was correct. So the...
Diagonalised matrices	[ "A matrix 'A' is diagonalisable is if it can be written in the form PDP^-1 , where D is a diagonal matrix. They are especially useful for calculating powers of matrices as A^n = (PDP^-1 )^n = PD^n P^-1 .This is significanly easier to compute" ]	[ "Usually this is done by parametric downconversion of light from laser. The light goes through fibers, not much to see. Here is a diy method with gamma photons from positron annihilation: _URL_0_" ]
Evidence for evolution that a five year old can understand	[ "The fossil record: we can look at the bones of animals that died a long time ago, and do special tests to tell us when they died. We can put this together to tell us what an animal, or its ancestor, looked like a long time ago. So far, they have shown up in the correct order. Speciation: say birds are blow...	[ "This is a great ELI5. I saw the title and thought \"Well that's easy. The water...\" and then I had nothing. Great question!" ]
Is the blue I see even slightly different than the blue you see?	[ "This is a good question! This is pretty much impossible to know or disprove because the colors we see is subjective to the processing of the brain. But yeah I guess it would be slightly different depending on age or other physical differences within the eye. Also we cannot describe the \"blue\" we see because ther...	[ "Have you ever walked into a room that had an odd smell, but three minutes later you couldn't really tell that the smell was there? Have you ever suddenly realized how hungry you are when someone passes by with a tasty looking snack? Have you ever had to pee, but you were busy doing something so it didn't really se...
How fast do electrons move in a circuit?	[ "Where are you getting your 2.5 x 10^-4 m/s from? That's likely your issue. Take for example the rough copper wire calculation done in wikipedia [here](_URL_0_). They do a \"reasonable\" copper wire and come up with a drift velocity of ~10^-5 m/s, so maybe that's where you got a number like that. EXCEPT, they assum...	[ "Keeping it fairly ELI5: The heat generated by electricity is due to resistance. Copper has very low resistance. The law of conservation of energy essentially means that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Only transferred/converted. By resisting the electrical flow, that energy must go somewhere. It is express...
How is it that protons and electrons have the same magnitude of charge (as in +1 and -1) despite the electrons being so much smaller?	[ "Why should protons and electrons have the same mass/charge ratio? I honestly don't know why you would expect that to be the case. Your idea is wrong, because mass (almost) always refers to rest mass." ]	[ "This isn't a measurable problem, but on average probably yes and at any moment in time no. Spin of particles can be flipped by interactions with other particles, specifically there are cases where angular momentum in one system can flip the spin in another. As things are warm and interacting though we would expect...
Why did ancient Greek amphorae have such impractical pointy bottoms?	[ "I've answered this before but I can't seem to find it now. If you you, that thread has more info on ancient amphorae. Two basic theories: A) the pointy ends were meant to slot into the cavities created by arranging a base layer of amphorae in racks on a ship. Imagine a ship's hull, with no decks, lined with racks ...	[ "This question is getting a lot of traffic after being [tweeted by @reddit](_URL_5_), so I thought I'd welcome those of you that haven't visited /r/AskHistorians before to the subreddit. Please do bear in mind that in order to keep the quality of answers here high we have [strict rules on comments](/r/AskHistorians...
When did socks become a standard piece of footwear?	[ "Socks have been around for a long time but even today they wear through far too easily. As a result, most people had resorted to foot wraps or using other substitutes. In Napoleon's Grande Armee, Marshal Soult's corp marched with tallow in their shoes instead of socks or stockings. Made them smell to high heaven ...	[ "hi! not discouraging more contributions, but FYI racism is a common topic in this sub, so there have been a few similar questions. I pulled up a few by searching 'racism'; check these out for previous responses: * [Europe had normal diplomatic relations with non-white nations before turning explosively racist to j...
Why was/is there such an incredible fear of Communism?	[ "Since I haven't seen anyone mention it yet, look into primitive communism, many tribes were successful for thousands of years without personal property and ownership of others labor. Unfortunately, models like these don't scale up well, but in smaller groups it can still be possible, the people in that system howe...	[ "The Armageddon Letters came out a few years ago and seeks to examine this exact same question. The authors try to look at the conflict through the eyes and experiences of JFK, Khrushchev, and - especially - Castro. [Kennedy's PoV](_URL_0_) [Khrushchev's PoV](_URL_1_) [Castro's PoV](_URL_2_)" ]
How can Switzerland have such a great health care system/infrastructure, and be so safe, if it has such a low tax rate, and lax gun laws?	[ "In regards to the gun laws in Switzerland...you can have a gun, it's the ammunition which is ludicrously regulated. Also they make more money from their banking and taxation of businesses than they do from income tax if I'm not mistaken." ]	[ "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 do urinal cakes work, chemically speaking?	[ "This article answers pretty much all of your chemistry questions. _URL_0_ It seems like they release an odor that masks the smell of urine by either sublimating (like dry ice becoming gas) or dissolving when you piss on them. They also have antimicrobial chemicals (which are variable) including quaternary ammoni...	[ "They use a wavelength of light that is cancer causing. Do you want to sit under a cancer causing light? Plus, they aren't all that effective to stop, say a sneeze from transmitting to another person. It takes some time to kill the germs." ]
Before speaking in public, even to small groups of people I know well, my armpits literally drip sweat. What the heck is going on?	[ "Your body has two types of [sweat glands](_URL_0_), apocrine and eccrine. Eccrine sweat glands are responsible for heat dissipation when you work out etc. Apocrine sweat glands are present in the axilla (armpit) and crotch/groin. These are stimulated by the adrenergic (think epinephrine/norepinephrine) system. Whe...	[ "A few reasons, first you may remember from high school chemistry the ideal gas law. PV=nRT, where P=pressure, V=volume, n= number of moles, R is a constant and T is temperature. If you spray a pressurized gas (the propellant in the can), which is typically butane or propane, as the gas comes out of the spray nozz...
What element has the highest specific heat? Additional, what compound?	[ "Maybe this will help with the element question (Hydrogen is highest, Radon (natural)/Technetium (synthetic) is lowest: _URL_0_ A quick search makes it seem like no compound is going to top gaseous hydrogen or get below Radon or Technetium." ]	[ "There is an instrument called a bomb calorimeter. Its just a relatively closed system that is filled with pure oxygen so that you can burn stuff. After you are done burning stuff you see how much energy went into raising the temperature of the water around the sample." ]
Can anybody identify these coins?	[ "Both coins are certainly Roman. The right portrait with the diadem and the large, wide open eyes is probably from the 4th century AD. The left one might be a century earlier, maybe from the reign of emperor Galienus (253/60-268 AD). You can also try to post this on /r/ancientcoins. In theory it should be possible ...	[ "From Left to Right: The [1939-1945 Star](_URL_2_) The [Atlantic Star](_URL_3_) The [Canadian Volunteer Service Medal](_URL_1_) The [War Medal](_URL_0_)" ]
How did the british manage to take control of the indian subcontinent?	[ "I'm a touch short on time, but very quickly: The Indian subcontinent was divided. It was a jumble of small rival \"nations\" much like the Holy Roman Empire, but even more divided. The British came and offered to support some of the locals in exchange for colonial rights. Said locals went and used british aid to s...	[ "The oldest condominium (i.e. territory with a shared sovereignity or territory with several sovereignities) I know about is Andora : basically, a country ruled by two foreign princes (one spanish cardinal, one french count/king/president) for the last 7 centuries. There are others, like an island between France an...
Why do we keep houses warmer in the winter than in the summer?	[ "Because you like wasting energy? I keep my house at 74 in the summer and 68 in the winter." ]	[ "Cells are more excited and move more when heated, when cooled they slow down. Sort of like when you microwave popcorn, if it's heated it'll pop and jump all around full of energy :) When there is an absence of heat (aka, cold) it is restful and unmoving. Your brain can rest easier when it isn't popping :)" ]
How long does water spend in the human body?	[ "Based on isotope labeling experiments, the half life is about 7 to 14 days: _URL_0_ This depends on how much water the person drinks (if they drink more it will be excreted faster)" ]	[ "[You breathe it right back out](_URL_0_). Some is diffused in the blood." ]
Can someone explain autism LI5?	[ "Autism is a very poorly-understood mental disorder. what we do know, however, tells us that there is an \"autism spectrum\" -meaning that it can range from moderate social awkwardness and misunderstanding in the form of Asperger's Syndrome, to severe isolation and even total lack of communication in some cases." ]	[ "Thank you for asking and answering. I was just asked what exactly is going on in Syria... my first thought - check r/explainlikeimfive." ]
In the context of the formation of stars, how is a gravitational collapse possible?	[ "There is, in fact, a critical point at which a gas cloud can collapse to form a star. It is known as the \"Jeans criteria\": _URL_0_ Basically, what happens is that the gas pressure of the cloud is no longer able to support that gravity that is pulling the cloud together. This could happen when the cloud is influ...	[ "First, the USSR under Gorbachev in no way tried to transition to capitalism. Gorbachev was, by all counts, a committed communist who believe that the USSR needed reform but that reform could make socialism* work. So that means your question has to be either (A) why did the soviet union suffer a political collapse...
How can Syria just shut off all internet?	[ "The internet comes into syria through one or several major cables. Find those cables, and disconnect them in some way. No internet." ]	[ "Different TLDs follow different countries' rules. In both Sweden and the US, the government isn't allowed to arbitrarily seize domain names- they have to follow some procedure, probably involving the courts, to do so. Swedish law and legal procedure allowed the government to get an order to seize the .se domain. U...
Why are judges who sentence violent gangsters publicly known, and why dont gangs target them if they know their identities?	[ "In countries where cartels have a large degree of influence, judges and such often are targeted. In less lawless countries, targeting judges for assassination is a great way to get the federal government to come down on you, hard which is much worse than local police." ]	[ "The G-20 is a gathering of some of the most powerful leaders in the world, and the media covers it thoroughly. It's a perfect place to protest anything you might want to protest. You have multiple leaders there, you have the cameras of the media on you, and you can be sure that one of the other leaders will make a...
Why do helium-filled baloons eventually fall?	[ "Helium atoms are incredibly small, even when compared to the size of various air molecules. Because of this, helium atoms are able to slip through the gaps in the rubber of the balloon. Over time, the ratio of helium to rubber (by mass) decreases, and the average density of the balloon increases. At some point, th...	[ "In essence you are correct - though the example you used would be better off with ants instead of dots (because dots can expand as you inflate a balloon). Also, it is important to note that particular example deals with the surface of the balloon only (not the inside). The force of expansion is weak compared t...
With all this fuss about net neutrality, exactly how much are we relying on America for our regular global use of the internet?	[ "I would like to know what the ISPs are thinking of Elon Musk's (and others) notion of covering the planet with satellite based service, and how would they compete with that? It seems inevitable that this is in some form the future of internet. And then as an aside, will the competition be companies throwing up MOR...	[ "We were British colonies that formed a country that was mostly autonomous from Britain in 1867. Over time we've gradually gained more and more independence to the point where our connection to Britain is entirely ceremonial. We happen to share a head of state. Why do we still do things this way? It's a combination...
How does gravity affect time	[ "Easiest explanation would be using your space-time view, though time dilation due to velocity is far easier to explain than gravitational time dilation. For all places in the universe, at all reference points, the speed of light must be constant in spacial dimensions. So, it has to cross that dip in space time in ...	[ "The more massive one falls faster, if they both have the same shape." ]
I first heard about the Bloop a few years ago. Between then and now, have we gotten any ideas as to what made the sound?	[ "Ideas, yes. Do we know what it is? No. What we know is that it almost certainly isn't man made and that it doesn't emanate from from any familiar geological event. The audio profile resembles that of a living creature, but the sound level is several times louder than the loudest animal we know of, the blue wa...	[ "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." ]
What were the lives of homosexuals in Ancient Greece like?	[ "Greeks back then did not cross the division line between homosexuality and heterosexuality. It was much more ussual to form a bond with another person, than to have sex with anyone they wanted to. Homosexual relationship between adult men did exist, but it was not common, because assuming the passive role for a gr...	[ "Greco-Roman male statuary definitely [depicts pubic hair](_URL_0_). For the other issues, there is a section in the [FAQ](_URL_1_)." ]
As someone who doesn't live in the United States, why is everyone suddenly talking about the confederate flag again?	[ "The recent shooter who killed 9 black people, because of self-proclaimed racism, had it emblazoned on his outfit. Causing people to think that perhaps having a flag whose primary association is with fighting a war to keep your slaves, flying above a state capitol building is in poor taste." ]	[ "EU's new data protection law (called GDPR) came into effect the 25th of may. It says that basically all (user) data collection should be disclosed and opt-in. This means that every service that ever collected data has to update its EULA in order to do business in the EU." ]
Why did European, Middle Eastern and Asian societies develop far more technology than indigenous civilizations in the Americas?	[ "IANAHistorian, but Jared Diamond's thesis from \"Guns, Germs, and Steel\" is basically that there are no large domesticable animals outside of the cradle of civilization. According to Diamond these types of animals are necessary to save a lot of labor and free people for more sophisticated endeavours like science,...	[ "It is certainly our diet. Meso-paleolithic humans survived on a diet of huge amounts of fiber (which cleans teeth when chewed) small amounts of sugar, absolutely no processed foods, etc." ]
Will the RedBull jumper experience heat as a result of the freefall?	[ "Yes but not much. First of all the heat of 're-entry' is primarily caused by the compression of gas in front of the object not friction. Regardless though the jumper is not traveling at speeds nearly that of interstellar objects or orbital velocity so they will experience heat from it just not too much." ]	[ "Hi, this question was asked not too long ago, I recommend you check out this link: _URL_0_ That should answer your question. In short, I believe you would nut suffer from dehydration in the traditional sense, but various other problems arise, which I suggest you explore that link for more info." ]
Why is China suffering from overpopulation, but Japan is suffering from underpopulation?	[ "Japan and China have wildly different cultures. Also, their birthrates (due in large part to the one child policy) aren't very different (1.4 vs 1.7 respectively). China recently relaxed the one child policy in an effort to raise its birthrate. The main difference is that, after WW2, Japan was already very urbani...	[ "Nuclear engineer here. 1, U235 absorbs neutrons of much lower energies than 238; the spectra are almost exclusive. That's why you need moderation (= slowing down the neutrons). Fast neutrons 'ignore' U235, slow neutrons 'ignore' U238. 2, Now how exactly would you 'add' U238 into enclosed, solid state ceramic fuel...
How does electricity "know" which path has the least resistance?	[ "Imagine you have a circuit with two different resistors in parallel, connected to a battery. At the moment you close the circuit (i.e. turn it on), you will have electrons leaving the negative side of the battery. They will push against the other electrons on the wire, which will then push on the next ones, etc. S...	[ "Elektricity is lazy and always takes thé shortest route back. Meaning from pin 1 of the taser to pin 2 of the taser" ]
Why do men go bald but not women?	[ "Women can go bald, but male pattern baldness, specifically is a recessive trait on the X chromosome, meaning that it will only be expressed if you dont have a dominant version of that trait. Women have two chances to receive the dominant version (they're XX), but men only have one chance (they're XY), making it mo...	[ "Fish and Reptiles continue to replace their teeth throughout their lives. A tooth falls out before it gets old and worn, and a new one grows in its place. Early in our evolutionary history, mammals gained specialized, differentiated teeth (incisors, molars, canines) that allow us to feed more efficiently, but at ...
How does inbreeding results in so many diseases and deformities?	[ "There are many recessive genes in the population which create dangerous dysfunctions in an individual with 2 copies of the gene (1 from each parent), but cause no problems or provide advantages in individual with only 1 copy. If your family has some of these potentially dangerous recessive genes, inbreeding make...	[ "Because it messes up power of attorney on the deathbed and division of the estate" ]
Evolutionarily, what is the purpose of toenails on humans?	[ "If you'll notice, our evolutionary cousins, the Great Apes, also have toenails. Even old world monkeys have toenails. In fact, it seems that most non-human primates have nails. So this actually answers part of your question: the purpose of toenails is not human-specific. More on the evolutionary function of nails ...	[ "For gripping things of course. Their particular pattern is basically random because it hardly matters." ]
Why doesn't the moon crash into the earth?	[ "It doesn't float away because of the gravitational attraction between the moon and Earth (why does gravity work? it's not well understood). On the other hand, it doesn't crash into the Earth because it has a tangential velocity (like swinging a yo-yo around yourself)." ]	[ "A) Endeavor is being moved to Los Angeles to be put on display in a museum. B) The space shuttles are pretty much flying bricks. They're meant to fall out of the sky allowing some degree of control. Their wings cannot provide the needed lift, and the engines aren't designed for forward movement through the atmosph...
Reddit: What drives genetic changes in the modern human species? (Why don't we "look" the way we did 75-100 years ago)	[ "I would guess it has more to do with model selection than any sort of evolutionary process. Our standards for \"attractive\" have changed over the years. Check the weights on females specifically." ]	[ "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." ]
If caffeine is flavorless, why do uncaffeinated sodas taste differently than their caffeinated counterparts?	[ "Caffeine is not flavorless; quite the opposite, in fact. In its pure form caffeine is quite bitter. That said, the caffeine concentration in soda is generally overpowered by the sugar (though the absence of caffeine could certainly change the taste profile of the beverage)." ]	[ "I've had ADHD my whole life and wondered why I was yawning and drowsy after my daily espresso. My little sister was actually prescribed Mountain Dew before she went to school since, like ADHD meds, its a stimulant and has proven effects to actually calm the hyper active brain. Even upwards of 15 shots of espresso ...
Life as a British family in what is now Pakistan in the 1920/30s	[ "Offhand, I have no idea what their lives would have been like, but I can recommend a book. Check out Empire Families by Elizabeth Beuttner, it's about the families of imperial civil servants and other administrators, and how they dealt with living in India. If you want to research them in particular, your best ...	[ "Hi, I've approved the post, but just a note to you and potential respondents: this subreddit has a 20-year rule against discussing current events, so any answers will have to cut off at 1997. If you're looking for answers that can include 1998-2012, do consider x-posting elsewhere, eg. a foreign affairs sub like /...
Is there a relativistic theory of accelerating frames?	[ "Well, general relativity covers frames in a gravitational field, which are equivalent to accelerating frames. [This paper](_URL_0_) (pdf) seems to cover what you're interested in." ]	[ "[This post of mine](_URL_0_) answers a similar question (\"what does it mean for time to expand?\" or \"if time is relative, how do we know the age of the universe?\"). I strongly encourage you to read through it and the links therein for all the details. The short answer is that it is possible to unambiguously ta...
Given a constant stream of oxygenated blood, can a brain think by itself (with no body attached)?	[ "In all likelihood yes, assuming that waste was disposed as well as blood and nutrients were able to get in. Everything the brain needs, oxygen, nutrients, waste disposal, a system of moving all this junk around, is presumably taken care of so there's no reason to assume that the brain wouldn't function as normal."...	[ "Roko's Basilisk is an argument about AI. It argues that; a sufficiently powerful AI would have an incentive to punish people who had thought about the AI/known about efforts to create the AI, but that did not assist in the creation of the AI. These people could be seen as \"hampering the efforts to create the enti...
Do we know where any dark matter is?	[ "It's all around us. It seems to be very diffuse, present at very low densities in all the space inside and around galaxies. There's about 600 grams of it inside the Earth at any one time. As far as we know you can't find a chunk of it anywhere, but if you're inside a galaxy, you're never very far from some (in fac...	[ "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." ]
Is it actually possible to be "scared to death" as in die from fright?	[ "Yes. It is called Tako Tsubo Cardiomyopathy. Generally it is a response to extreme emotional stress which causes the body to release massive amounts of catecholamines. This can lead to left ventricular ballooning, which can lead to Myocardial Infarctions (Heart attacks), Ventricular arrhythmias and death. Edit: Sp...	[ "TL;DR: Power. A big part of our social structure is based on one person having power over other people. Most of us either want to lead, are jealous of the leader, or understand we're not the right person to be that leader. We see this in a lot of other animals like horses and sheep. The large-and-in-charge 'st...
Why people put the TL;DR at the end of posts instead of the beginning?	[ "Because those people hate people, and that hatred is only intensified with each letter they type, building to words, and words to sentences, sentences with meaning and weight that they know deep down in their hearts will be left unread. Leaving the tl;dr at the end is their one last defiant act of passive aggressi...	[ "I feel like this should be in /r/answers. I can't imagine this is a complicated concept that needs to be simplified. This is a subreddit for explaining complex things as simply as possible, not a subreddit for asking questions a five-year-old would ask." ]
Why don't people use glasses to give them better than 20-20 vision?	[ "That's what a magnifying glass is for. Our world is built around average visual acuity, and having a slightly improved acuity doesn't benefit people all that much. For example, being able to make out the contents of your computer monitor from a few more feet away is useless, since you still have to be able to rea...	[ "Let's say you have a 7 lane interstate. At each end there is a toll booth. In the past payments were processed manually and there was a receipt that had to print, but the printers were slow. Only do much traffic could get through. Fast forward to the future where you pay with the touch of a button and get an insta...
Why is the Sahara a desert when other places at the same latitude are tropical rainforests?	[ "Look across the United States, if you draw a band across the US centered around San Francisco, CA. Coastal community, fairly foggy and cool year round. Nothing like the climate in Salt Lake City, Denver, and so on. Latitude, geography, wind patterns, proximity to the ocean plus others are all factors in the weath...	[ "> How come the tardigrade didn't evolve to match its surroundings It did. The tardigrade is adapted to deal with drought, and all the rest is just bonus side effect." ]
How do radioactive substances kill us?	[ "_URL_0_ Radioactive subtances are substances that are unstable in the short term (meaning, they decay into lighter elements). When they decay, they emit energetic particles (alpha, beta, gamma radiation) that affects the chemical composition of our body's atoms, damaging them. Depending on how much radiation you a...	[ "Suppose we are sneaking around at night. I can signal you to do something by blinking my flashlight, that is the basics of communication. Radio waves are the same sort of thing as visible light, just with a much larger wavelength. We can and do do the same sort of thing with UV light in television remotes, but we ...
How do power outages happen when too many people are using electricity?	[ "Imagine a bathtub full of water, the water represents electricity. The bathtub has a faucet, which represents the generation of electricity. Imagine now that there are little holes in the bottom of the bathtub, all plugged up. When ever a home needs power, unplug the drain and let the water flow out. Now imagine ...	[ "Think of it like a hose... and a room made of sponge. The light bulb is a hose, spraying water (light) everywhere. The room is a sponge, absorbing the water (light) all the time. The moment you turn the light off, it's like closing the faucet to which the hose is attached. It stops spraying water (light) everywhe...
Why at somewhere around the turn of the century did pubic hair for the majority of women suddenly become fashionable to mostly if not totally remove?	[ "In high school my friend was given 500 playboys from 1960 to 1980. We managed to pinpoint the disappearance of the bush to around march 1973." ]	[ "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...
Put a phone in a cup; you get amplification, why? Isn't it just as likely that the redirected/reflected sound will be out of phase?	[ "It’s because you’re directing the sound better. Your phone kind of just throws waves out in all directions. By directing the sound waves you’re increasing the intensity of them. If you stand directly behind the cup instead it will sound super quiet" ]	[ "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 ...
Why do clouds flatten out on the bottom side closest to the surface, yet have such tremendous shape variations everywhere else?	[ "They don't flatten out as such, which suggests they're hitting something and spreading after falling. It's the other way around: the water vapour that forms the cloud rises until it reaches a level (which is relatively flat) where the air is cool enough to make it condense into visible water droplets (ie a cloud)....	[ "Air acts like blankets for the earth. If you are lying in a cold room under two blankets it is warmest right next to your skin, coldest outside all the blankets, and medium temperature in between the blankets. Having an atmosphere is like a whole stack of blankets keeping our heat from escaping to space. The highe...
Psychologically, what are the factors that influence the likelihood of a friendship from forming between two people? What factors influence rejection?	[ "Similarities, even with diverse experiences or goals, help friendships grow. Discomfort and lack of trust cause rejection." ]	[ "Some parameters that might be different: * Brightness. A TV that's not bright enough will be difficult to watch in brightly lit environments, like a sunlit room. * Contrast. The difference between the brightest and darkest color the TV can display. Higher contrast means deeper blacks and brighter whites. * Color r...
How did the United States pay for the Louisiana Purchase?	[ "This was answered before. [Here's the previous answer](_URL_0_). originally posted by /u/stravadarius" ]	[ "Nixon impounded spending passed by Congress at a high rate, and Congress removed Presidential authority to do so: _URL_0_ Nixon was weakened by Watergate and was unable to stop this. Most Presidents since have asked to get the authority back, Congress has never agreed." ]
Are heterosexual women attracted to homosexual men's pheromones?	[ "> no pheromonal substance has ever been demonstrated to directly influence human behavior in a peer reviewed study.[23][24][25] The role of pheromones in human behavior remains speculative and controversial.[26]:191 _URL_0_" ]	[ "For shapes called [homoeoids](_URL_0_), there is a [generalization of Newton's shell theorem](_URL_1_). In potential theory (for gravitating systems or electrostatics) this theorem is often used to invert the Laplacian for ellipsoidal distributions." ]
What's the best adaptation of The Romance of Three Kingdoms to enjoy with my young son? Or how about The Water Margin?	[ "You can give the manga [Sangokushi](_URL_0_) a try; it's marketed as a \"faithful adaptation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms\". It also runs for 60 volumes. Also, Cao Cao did nothing wrong." ]	[ "Could you please clarify what you mean by family? Does it mean family in the modern sense of the term (father, mother and kids) or does matriarchal families (mother, kids, mothers brothers, and unmarried sisters) count? (i.e are you looking for cultures where kids were looked after by non-blood relatives?) In [Spa...
Some schools in my area are bringing back mandated rest periods for Kindergarten. Are there benefits for the students by bringing naps back? Or cons?	[ "The serious issue with mandated rest periods isn't actually a health related issue. While young children are most definitely polyphasic sleepers, meaning they have multiple sleep episodes per day, the serious issue with this is scheduling. The inherent differences in children will almost certainly mean that they w...	[ "JFK was elected in 1960. Recognizing the importance of the \"space race,\" and the significance of scientific and technological development, immediately began a program of fostering education at all levels. Science and technology flourished, and US education became even more globally famous for excellence. Unfortu...
Why is the U.S. life expectancy so relatively low when compared to other developed countries?	[ "Our incidence of heart disease is quite a bit higher than many other developed countries, undoubtedly due in large part to our diet and increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Being the #1 killer of people, that has to play a part." ]	[ "Horse meat isn't rare at all. You can get it in many parts of europe. Tastes ok too. Anyway, that's culture. The same reason we think that bacon and eggs is a breakfast food, and don't eat grasshoppers." ]
What's the advantage to a diesel engine in a car?	[ "Diesel fuel contains about 10% more energy than the same amount of gasoline, and so a diesel engined car will do more miles per gallon. The trade off is a noisier, harsher engine, but the technology has advanced significantly over the last few years. Previously, diesel engines were preferred because of their simp...	[ "1. Security: If someone manages to steal your credit card, your bank account is unaffected, and you'll ultimately not be responsible for any of the fraudulent purchases. The worst that will happen is that your card will be unusable for a while. If your debit card is stolen, your actual money will be gone for at le...
Why does repeating a simple word many times make the word harder to say?	[ "I do not possess as degree in the neuroscience or science in general but since no one has responded. It's a process called semantic satiation. Your brain has a lapse in assigning meaning to a word when it's repeated. Some research on an ugly looking website I found. _URL_0_" ]	[ "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 Futurama Theorum	[ "Two people switch minds. Once they've switched those two people can't switch back with each other. So how do you get them to switch back? The Futurama theorem says you need two 'spare' people to perform the re-switch, completely _regardless_ of how many people have been mind switched. Doesn't matter if it's 20 or ...	[ "If you can't find an answer here you can always try e-mailing whatif@xkcd.com and hope it gets featured there, because it sounds like a question that would fit. Sorry I can't help any further =/" ]
Why do radio stations only play singles?	[ "A couple of reasons, mainly it is because there is a finite amount of time for them to play songs and they want to play songs that a) the audience wants to hear and b) songs that are being promoted by labels. Sometimes a DJ will have a show where they play older/B-sides/etc but the regular radio stations just want...	[ "They don't. It's a marketing ~~lie~~ gimmick. I used to work for a company that did a similar thing by mail. New customers were supposed to sign up by a certain time for special rates but as a specific matter of policy we'd give those rates to anyone who mailed back the special offer." ]
Why do carbonated drinks help with stomachaches?	[ "Carbonated water, extracts of lemon and lime and sugar or high fructose corn syrup are the basic ingredients in most lemon-lime sodas. Carbonated water assists in hydrating the body when dehydration occurs from stomach sickness. The carbonation found in this soda can also ease symptoms of indigestion but there's n...	[ "Temperature is really a measure of the kinetic energy of a fluid. So, the hotter the water is the faster the molecules in it are going. Fast molecules react faster with the alkaseltzer." ]
Why do some people (myself) think in events and others spoken word.	[ "I've always felt that language influences the way we think. But even before a word is formed in our minds, the idea precedes it. For some people, the word forms faster and the idea BECOMES the word. Only in dwelling on the word does the idea persist in the mind. You're probably a visual thinker who does not use wo...	[ "After learning your memories have a direct influence in sound interpretation. What you know are the lyrics directly influence your interpretations of sound that \"should\" correspond to what you know. Otherwise, our brain keeps and open possibility of what those sounds can correspond to..." ]
Why do Americans refer to the president as "the most powerful man in the world", when he so clearly is not?	[ "That's the point. Even with all of the checks and balances, the president of the US is definitely the most powerful man in the world." ]	[ "Simply put, it is the most effective at what it does. This is sort of like how we use (potentially) deadly poison's for anesthesia. There are other potential options (botox for cosmetic surgery is basically a paralyzing agent), but none last as long and work as efficiently, so we don't use them. With anesthesia t...
What keeps two plates of metal from combining?	[ "The surface of metals are imperfect due to oxidation and defects such as scratches and such, so that would be a barrier to fusing. Even if the surface was perfect and the fused metal would have a lower free energy than the separate metal, there will be a high energy transition phase that will require some initial ...	[ "Worked in a bar for years. The reason why they stick is because the glasses are warm and wet. When they cool down, the trapped air in between the glasses cools and condenses. Normally, the space glasses might let in some air, but because of the water that forms a seal, no pressure is relieved. Effectively you've f...
Have we seen a new species?	[ "A precise definition of \"species\" is unsettled, and is referred to as \"the species problem\". Scientists will use a definition that depends on the nature of the current study. With such a variety of definitions, emergence of new species has been documented." ]	[ "It's less to do with being exposed to light and more the fact they're removed from their natural habitat, which is usually vastly different in places without light i.e the deep sea. Exposure to different pressure, climates, oxygen levels, food sources etc." ]
Beginner explanation to building my own computer	[ "/r/buildapc was made for you, see their beginners guide _URL_0_" ]	[ "First you are gonna need a [wallet](_URL_3_). Next find a dealer,[This on is for the US](_URL_1_). [CoinBase](_URL_2_) is pretty good. However, if you don't to buy bitcoins you can set up a [miner](_URL_0_). Hope this helps." ]
Are fields real or just a mathematical tool?	[ "The strongest statement physics can ever make is \"this model makes accurate predictions.\" It cannot tell you whether the model is what's \"really\" going on or not, because there is no other way to test the model. Whether something is \"real\" or not is a matter of philosophy. You could argue that any model whic...	[ "Why? Because multiplication is the correct way, it agrees with physical measurements. Think about if m_2=0, if you add m_1+m_2 you will get a force. Clearly there should be no gravitational force between m_1 and m_2, when m_2=0. Also, Feynman on why questions: _URL_0_" ]
I'm getting flu/cold. What does science say I should do?	[ "We aren't allowed to give medical advice. This is because none of us here can properly examine and diagnose you over the Internet. Go see a doctor." ]	[ "This is askscience, Respond with sources and credentials please." ]
Why do dry/chapped skin ache after mosturizing?	[ "Nerves are more sensitive when they are moist/warm. Same way you can't taste anything if your tongue is dry and can feel temperature much more if your hands are wet. Once you moisturise your hands the nerves become more sensitive to temperature and touch. Which can ache if the skin condition is bad enough and has ...	[ "From _URL_0_ \"... Like Magic Shell, Carvel’s Brown Bonnet chocolate topping instantly forms a hard shell around ice cream. And, just like Magic Shell, one of the main ingredients is coconut oil. Tropical oils, including coconut, are naturally high in saturated fat—consisting of about 90 percent of the stuff. As P...
How did Asian Americans go from being a distrusted and abused minority to having the highest college graduation rate?	[ "Many asian american parents feel the only way to escape poverty and live a comfortable life is to get a higher education. Thus, the parents usually put education as a top priority and as a result more asians are graduating college." ]	[ "_URL_2_ columnist William Saletan waded into this issue several years ago with similar questions to yours. Here's an article posted AFTER his initial article and several followups, all of which can be reached via links within the article. It's an interesting journey with commentary from psychologists, statistician...
Did red and green have negative/affirmative connotations before traffic lights?	[ "hi! there's room for more on this, but fyi, you can get started on this post from the FAQ's section on [Traffic](_URL_1_) [How did we come to choose green, yellow and red as the standard colors for traffic lights?](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "* /u/pangerandipanagara answered [\"If modern ideas of 'civil rights' like freedom of speech arise out of Western Enlightenment thought, what kinds of parallel or perpendicular ideals can we identify in pre-20th century \"Eastern\" cultures?\"](_URL_3_) * /u/mikedash on [\"Was everyone religious in the old days, l...
In computers, the main hard drive is labeled C:, and any other hard drives or storage media you install is named D:, E:, F: and so forth. Where are A: and B:?	[ "Once upon a time, hard drives as we know them were a luxury in personal computing. You had a floppy disk drive for your operating system - 1.44 precious megabytes. This was A:/. You also had another drive, typically a floppy disk drive for whatever else you wanted to do - 1.44 precious megabytes, this is B:/. Then...	[ "Simple: because (most) (common time) music is made for dancing — and humans have two feet, and can step forward and back. Start - left foot forward - right foot forward - one foot back - another foot back (start). Feel free to substitute \"step right\" or \"step left\" or \"lift\" or \"put down\" or \"shake it al...
Why do oil and fluid leak from equipment if set on its side?	[ "Almost all systems like those you describe have to have some sort of ventilation. The crankcase, for example, usually has to have some way for small amounts of gas which blow past the piston to get sucked into the intake and burnt. That means there's somewhere what amounts to a pipe which can carry oil if tipped u...	[ "Not all cans are like that. I've got cans of pet food in my cabinet that stack perfectly. I've got cans of Bumblebee tuna that stack just fine too. It's most likely just that particular brand's decision to use a different can. Maybe that type of can is cheaper or maybe they can save money on manufacturing by using...
Will things like beards never evolve out of humans because we can shave?	[ "Yes, the ability of humans to alter their environment affects evolution. (Hinder evolution would imply a goal) But if there was a strong preference for smooth faces it would still be possible that there is a selection pressure for beardless men. The men with strong growth of beards have to spend more resources (ti...	[ "Your asking essentially the chicken or the egg. Example, Did you stomach evolove first and create your brain and extremites to feed it. Or did your brain grow your stomach to power it. Har to say, as without something to feed the stomach, we would have no stomch. Without the brain to run everything, we wouldn't ha...
Is there color at the atomic/sub-atomic scale?	[ "Color is really a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum we call visible light (you may recall ROY G BIV for the colors of the rainbow, that range of colors is visible light). Each section of the EM spectrum has a certain energy, and depending on what energy is present you have a different color. Things that are ...	[ "You are probably talking about some kind of electron microscopy (most likely [Scanning Electron Microscopy](_URL_0_)). These images are grayscale because they are simple intensity maps. Now, you are completely right in thinking that it would not work to acquire images of ~30 nm components using standard optical mi...
What is the Chiral Molecule and what does it mean for us?	[ "\"Chiral\" isn't a specific molecule, it's a property of certain molecules. Look at your hands, they have the same structure, but they are mirror images of each other. They don't over lap in the same orientation. In the same way, molecules can be Mirror images of each other. You can have a left handed molecule, a...	[ "When you burn the living shit out of charcoal, the fire and heat clears away all the bullcrap impurities, leaving a chunk of carbon that is almost purely the carbon Lattice that makes up the structure, and almost nothing else. Now, carbon super likes to bond with things, it's a bit of a chemical slut in that way. ...
Mehmed the Conqueror was planning to conquer Rome itself when he died unexpectedly in 1481. But was it just a pipe dream, or was the Ottoman army/diplomatic situation really strong enough to conquer Rome?	[ "Followup: If the Ottomans really were strong enough to do this, do we know of any details of military plans the Ottoman military might have had to take on this monumental task? For example, did they plan to campaign up the Peninsula from their occupation in Otranto at the time of Mehmed's death, or did they plan t...	[ "Karachi (largest city in Pakistan) is currently experiencing some large problems; both in crime, and politically. This is in part due to [Altaf Hussain](_URL_0_) who is the founder and leader of the [Muttahida Quami Movement](_URL_1_) - a political party in pakistan based in the city of Karachi. The problems surro...

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