Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Just a question about black holes...	[ "Black hole collisions are actually an active area of research in astrophysics. In general, when two black holes come near enough, they'll start by revolving around each other. The acceleration produces some (relatively) high energy gravitational waves, which is one of the main reasons people are interested in them...	[ "I recommend you repost this to /r/askscience. It's possible that an actual astrophysicist or someone with similar knowledge will give you a very credible answer there." ]
I have read that anechoic chambers make people "go crazy", feel uncomfortable, and even hallucinate. Why would sensory deprivation cause this kind of distress/altered perception?	[ "Is there any evidence to suggest that being in an anechoic chamber actually makes people \"go crazy\" and/or hallucinate? Or could it be that while the experience is quite stark and unnerving for people experiencing it for the first time - while also being told that they will \"freak out!\", they would, after a ...	[ "You get the full year's worth of radiation. From an outside point of view, we see that time is dilated and the astronaut is moving very slowly inside their spaceship. But we see the spaceship take a full year to reach its destination, and gets hit by all this radiation along the way. From the astronaut's point of ...
What is the Component Object Model (COM)?	[ "When two programs in the classroom want to pass a note about Suzy between them, COM is the kid sitting between them who gets the note, reads it and then passes it on." ]	[ "Looks entirely like a piece of modern die-cast costume jewelry. You can even see the parting line. It's not only modern, it's modern of very cheap mass-production." ]
Why don't scavenger animals that eat rotten meat get sick?	[ "Their digestive systems have evolved far stronger than ours, and more capable of obliterating all intruders. Our digestive systems have evolved to eat a bunch of different things rather than just one thing, and so it is worse at dealing with every possible threat." ]	[ "It is not a stupid question, nor is it a simple question. For cancer, researchers have bred \"Severe Combined Immunodeficiency\" or SCID mice, which do not have a functioning immune system. These mice can be transplanted with cancer cells from another organism (such as human) and the cancer will grow because there...
Why is "crapped my pants" grammatically correct?	[ "\"On\" or \"in\" are prepositions; they tell us direction, place, orientation, etc. It should be \"Now you just shit on my carpet,\" but we're allowed to get away with what the character said because it's verbal colloquialism." ]	[ "A sentence example might help: You need your password and login to access your account details. [NOUN] You need to log into your account to see the details. [VERB]" ]
Why do all Visas start with 4, all Mastercards start with 55, all AmEx's start with 37, and all discovers start with 6011?	[ "Basically, so that you can identify which provider issued the card (and the CC processer can tell who verify the number with). 1. The first digit identifies the provider (AMEX (3)/Visa (4)/MC (5)/Discover (6)) 2. The next six digits ID the issuing bank (Chase/BofA/Capitol One). It usually identify what \"brand\" ...	[ "Discovery Channel, TLC, The History Channel, they started out as niche channels...inexpensive programming aimed at a specific audience it was easier to target ads for. Then came Mythbusters, a big hit that appealed to a broader audience. Soon all the networks wanted to try to reach a wider range of viewers, and ...
Difference between a music producer and a movie producer?	[ "in music, a producer is typically a more creative role. They work with the band to decide which songs to record, how they should sound, what the final mix should be, etc. They also bring in session musicians or guests to achieve that sound. Certain producers are famous for the sound of their albums and the creativ...	[ "Android, up until 5.0, did a thing where it separated different parts of storage. There was system storage, which is where your apps go, and media storage which is where music/pictures/that sort of thing go. I'm not entirely sure why it was done, but it was generally implemented to have tiny spaces for apps and lo...
How do agricultural geneticists stop mass produced crops from all sharing the same/very similar genetic code?	[ "I would say it's not quite as bad as /u/WrecksMundi states. Although it's true that the crops we use have very little genetic variation, it's also true that there are small ongoing projects to preserve genetic variation that's out there, like seed banks. So if, for instance, a blight came along that wiped out ou...	[ "Think of a rare baseball card. If there's only 10 of them in existence, then everyone would want them and they would be willing to trade hundreds of chocolate bars for it. Now think if they printed 990 more of that rare baseball card. Now everyone has one, and no one is willing to trade a chocolate bar for it." ]
How do you test something for randomness?	[ "Reminds me of a joke: a brilliant computer scientist claims to have invented a computer that can generate truly random numbers (not psuedorandom, but truly random). He assembles a room full of mathematicians and scientists to demonstrate it. He asks the machine to give him a truly random number. The machine respon...	[ "Go to a new area of Australia (or wherever). Comb one acre very carefully, cataloging every species. Figure out how many new species there are. Do this in a few different places, figure out about how many new species there are in general, and extrapolate." ]
Why do planes need to turn?	[ "Planes don't turn mid flight for the most part. They do excalty as you describe. They do however turn, near the runway usually, for numerous reasons. Most obviously, the runway isn't aligned with the direction of travel. Or others, like they have other aircraft to schedule around with landing. Weather conditions ...	[ "Data. Pure, gooey, delicious data. Seriously though - the Airlines are collecting data on a massive scale. If they notice an uptick in travel to/from one city they will use that information to update how their resources are distributed." ]
What is the real origin and purpose of The Holy Ghost in Judeo-Christianity?	[ "I can answer this for Judaism: there is no Holy Ghost in the religion, the Holy Trinity is not considered monotheism." ]	[ "This is a pretty common question here; here's some links from the FAQ: _URL_2_ _URL_4_ and a few others that have been posted over the years: _URL_3_ _URL_1_ _URL_0_ Most posts agree that it is largely a post-war pop phenomenon with fairly little evidence to support it." ]
Why are home/domestic toilets made like they are, with a lot of nooks and crannies that are hard to clean?	[ "The modern flush toilet is pretty much a near-perfect design. You're not going to be able to improve on it substantially given the limitations of the water pressure coming into most building. So with that said, the interior shape of the trap and bowl is going to stay the same no matter what it looks like on the ou...	[ "Discovery Channel, TLC, The History Channel, they started out as niche channels...inexpensive programming aimed at a specific audience it was easier to target ads for. Then came Mythbusters, a big hit that appealed to a broader audience. Soon all the networks wanted to try to reach a wider range of viewers, and ...
The Big Bang Theory. Lately, all this talk about the Big Bang has made me wonder exactly what it is. But from what I can find online, I still don't completely understand.	[ "We have zero understanding of how to answer that question. Science literally hasn’t come up with words to talk about it." ]	[ "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why can't I hear very well while yawning? ](_URL_5_) 1. [ELI5: Why can't I hear while I am yawning? ](_URL_2_) 1. [ELI5: Why when we yawn we can't hear anything until the yawn is done? ](_URL_0_) 1. [ELI5: Why can't I hear when I yawn? ](_URL_4_...
Why are bubbles always in the shape of a sphere? Why not in the shape of a star if I open up a star container under water?	[ "Curious about this box bubble, because I didn't see it over there when I just looked now. Got a link? Anyway, a bubble always comes in the shape of a sphere because of pressure. Air is pressing outward, the water is pushing back. If you open up a star shaped container underwater and (momentarily) have a star-shape...	[ "Banana fruits (flesh+shell) grow in clusters. If shells were round, they would have space in between, and pressure points where shells are in contact. To avoid that, shells follow a pentagonal-ish tesselation to better distribute pressure and minimize volume. Outside layers of skin are harder and inner layers are ...
Why Does My shower Curtain Pull Inwards All The Time?	[ "Contrary to the other responses posted so far, it's mostly not caused by convection. You can see this by running a cold shower. The water creates a vortex. This vortex is at a low pressure, which draws the curtain in. Source: the last paragraph [here](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Yes, the blanket or sheet analogy is just that, an analogy. The universe exists in 3 spatial dimensions, not 2. But that same bending and warping is still applicable, you just need to envision it in 3 dimensions instead of the 2. We just have no 3d analogies since we having nothing in our everyday lives to compare...
If the flu kills approximately 36,000 people in the US every year, why aren't we doing more to prevent it like we are doing for ebola?	[ "There is a lot of research being done for influenza. The NIH is spending approx $312 million [this year](_URL_0_) in research. Then there are multiple other companies doing private, independent research. The problem with seasonal influenza is that it mutates every year. There needs to be a lot of research to predi...	[ "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 is Confucianism?	[ "It is a system of beliefs based on the teachings of the Chinese philosopher confucius. It is based more in practical observation of the world than in any belief in some form of supernatural deity. In other words, we should act in ethical ways because it is the right thing to do and benefits society as a whole, not...	[ "Can someone explain the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's, please?" ]
What's happening in our brains when we're trying to remember something?	[ "The process is not completely understood, but it's thought to occur through the use of engrams or neuronal traces. Essentially these are encoded chemical changes in specific neuronal network pathways that make them more likely to fire in specific sequence, corresponding to the stimuli that triggered it. This is be...	[ "It stays on the disk until it is overwritten. Your computer basically takes the part of the disk the memory is stored on and says \"this stuff is ok to overwrite with new data.\"" ]
I shined a Green laser through oil and it changed color (Link to pictures in text)why?	[ "What you are seeing is a process called [fluorescence.](_URL_0_) Olive oil contains a bunch of organic molecules such as phenols that can absorb the green laser light and re-emit red light. It is this fluorescence that you are seeing when looking to the side of the beam." ]	[ "Your eyes work by constantly producing chemicals that is broken down by light. By measuring how much chemicals is in your vision cells you can find out how much light they receive. When it is light there is very little chemicals present and when it is dark there is lots of chemicals. However it takes your cells ab...
How does the Iron Man suit defy the laws of physics?	[ "In-universe: It doesn't. The arc reactor in Tony Stark's chest is the fruition of decades of research into cold fusion which started with an attempt to replicate the power of the Tesseract. Based on old Russian designs for the Tokamak device from Anton Vanko, Howard Stark created the first workable cold fusion dev...	[ "Magic. Or Dragons. Take your pick. Seriously, it's a work of fiction. Unless George R. R. Martin has explained it somewhere there isn't an answer." ]
Why is approximately 70F considered they most comfortable temperature when our internally temp is always around 98F	[ "Humans generate a lot of heat -- about 100 W at rest, and more when exercising. (Think about how hot a lightbulb gets, then spread it over a much larger human body) To dissipate this heat, it's much easier if the enviroment is cooler than your body. 70 F is the optimal tempurature for this. (THis is also why win...	[ "Research shows that people unconsciously think of $9.99 as being much cheaper than $10.00. So stores will get more sales for just taking 1c off from each sale." ]
What is the lowest theoretical temperature?	[ "Absolute zero, _URL_0_ At this temperature, all thermal energy is depleted. On the Celsius scale it is about -273.15 C. On the Kelvin scale, it's simply 0 K. Now while thermal motion is gone, this doesn't mean all motion is gone. Quantum systems have intrinsic kinetic energies which are always present, this \"...	[ "The rules of thermodynamics can be loosely put as: Zero: The universe wants to play a game where it changes your internal energy. One: You can't beat the universe. You can only hope to tie it. Two: You can only tie the universe at absolute zero. Three: You can't get to absolute zero. Building a machine that never ...
Was there ever a Spartacus style slave rebellion in the American South?	[ "I'm not sure what you mean by Spartacus \"slave rebellion\". Certainly no American slave rebellions reached even remotely similar heights as Spartacus's revolt against Rome. A few hundred slaves revolting was an extremely large number for the United States. Most notable slave rebellions, like the Stono rebellion o...	[ "hi! Could you clarify the scope of this question? Are you mainly asking about practices in Scotland / the British Isles roughly around the Civil Wars, or landowners anytime anywhere? [hint: [say the former](_URL_0_) ]" ]
How does upscaling work?	[ "If you're doubling the number of pixels, for example, you take the adjacent pixels and take a guess at what the one in the middle will look like. You can't necessarily take a simple average, because that might look wrong on edges and stuff, so IIRC there's edge-detection and stuff which copes with that." ]	[ "> What about in 1977? Would someone watching in a theatre have experienced all the detail that I enjoy now? Better. 1080p is lower resolution than film (inasmuch as film can be said to have a \"resolution\", when it really has a \"grain\", which is similar, but not quite the same). Movies that were shot on film ha...
Why don't we humans eat everything raw like every other mammal?	[ "Cooking food helps break it down allowing us to get more out of it. Some foods are toxic when raw, or in the case of meats can cause illness if they are not consumed very fresh. Different animals have different digestive systems to us so can break down food in different ways. For more info search, there have been ...	[ "A couple important things to remember: First, this is the hottest year since we've started recording them, and recent years have been similarly high. But another reason is because of how we design buildings. We design them to use air conditioning and the like. But back before AC, people had buildings designed to b...
If Japan in japanese is Nippon, why is it called Japan in english? Who named Japan Japan?	[ "It comes from the chinese name jih pun \"rising sun\" or something similar. Nippon is the japanese way to say rising sun. Så basically China named Japan Japan" ]	[ "The change came with the meeting between Nixon and Mao. Reading up on that meeting might be a place to start. The relationship between China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC) is interesting. Both governments consider them to be one country. As long as the exiled-government-of-China-which-resides-in-Taiwan continued (and cont...
Why are universities such as Harvard and Oxford so prestigious, yet most Asian countries value education far higher than most western countries? Shouldn't the Asian Universities be more prestigious?	[ "Oxford and Harvard typically place well in any inter-university student competitions that they enter and produce world class research. That's 100's of years of being 1st, 2nd or 3rd so they built up reputations. Consequently they have the most competitive entry requirements now because demand is so high which in t...	[ "Persia is now known as Iran, and Arabia is now known as the Arabian Peninsula. They are two completely different places, and are separated by a body of water known as the Persian Gulf. Check out the map of Iran on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean. These two lands have had different peoples, different rulers...
How can the U.S. Supreme Court rule that U.S. citizens can sue Iran (or another country in general)	[ "In general, you can't sue a foreign country. However, US law effectively says that if the claim relates to state-sponsored terrorism then the foreign country has already thrown out the rule book and you can sue in a US court. Iran is of course still free to refuse to recognise the court and to ignore any decision ...	[ "For your side question, the Scottish were part of the British army. At this point, England (which legally included Wales) and Scotland were all legally united into the Kingdom of Great Britain, due to the Act of Union 1707. However, King George III was also King of Ireland (which, while technically its own country...
Why is the colonization of Africa by the British, Dutch, etc. (The Scramble for Africa) generally considered a bad thing?	[ "The Coloninisation of Africa by the British, French, and other European Nations is \"generally\" considered a \"bad thing\" is now people regard Imperalism as a bad thing. As well as what came out of the Colonisation such as the mass killings in the Belgian Congo under the leadership of King Leapold the II. Also t...	[ "A few years ago in Australia a comedy show had a tribute band for The Jackson 5. They used black face. Harry Connick Jr was on the show and he protested against the band for using black face. He said he was quite offended and how back home in the US that just isn't accepted. However, he himself has done black face...
If someone is willing to tolerate some physical pain without taking any medications, will his brain/nervous system gets damaged because of the pain?	[ "No. Pain does not cause nervous system damage, any more than ugly pictures would break your TV." ]	[ "So the only way that the process of childbirth would change is through evolution of some kind. The only way evolution happens is if the genetically superior reproduce and those who aren’t die. Theoretically if there was a woman who could go through childbirth totally painlessly and she passed that trait on to her ...
How do nerves differentiate between hot and cold when on an atomic level heat transfer is all friction between electrons?	[ "So, the difference in sensing is based on the biology that transduces the cold or hot signal from the atomic level of heat transfer to the neurological signals that can be understood by the brain. You have different types of thermoreceptors which respond to cold and to hot. These are specialized nerve endings that...	[ "This is due to the 'gating' of pain: in its most simplistic form, there are inhibitory pathways which oppose nociceptive (pain-sensing) pathways when they are activated. These pathways are activated by fine touch, so the signals are \"switched off\" when the same skin receives fine touch signals." ]
In the 2002 film "Windtalkers" there is a scene where The Marines are accidentally fired on by their own artillery. Many are killed. What would be the likely outcome for those men who did the firing?	[ "I think OP should add to the question if the artillery was using wrong data or the scouts/hq delivered wrong data. Just as a sidenote." ]	[ "The Sun does create radio interference in such a situation (even though in most cases the Sun does not completely occult the signal Mars), and such an alignment occurs every 26 months. While I do not know the protocol for Curiosity, the way NASA has handled this in the past for Spirit and Opportunity is as follows...
Can a solar system or star get pulled into a different galaxy?	[ "In around four billion years our galaxy will collide with the Andromeda galaxy (Since galaxies are largely empty space with the odd solid bit - it won't be quite as violent as it might seem - probably). Assuming that the two galaxies subsequently go on their merry ways (imagine a comet having a close pass with the...	[ "The [glycocalyx](_URL_1_) plays some part in this. Essentially, sugars and proteins in the cell membranes protrude out and carry charges with them. These can be organized in such a way to keep cells appropriately distanced from each other so that they don't fall apart or merge. There may be other factors, but thi...
Many argue Hitler's biggest mistake during WWII was invasion of the USSR. Really?	[ "Lebensraum. Hitler wanted living space for his Aryan people. The land he wanted for this was mostly in the Soviet Union. He planned to settle millions of Germans in the East. War was inevitable with the Soviet Union because that was pretty much Hitler's chief aim of beginning the war in the first place. Attacking...	[ "There was no need to because: - Sweden already produced and sold iron ore. - Shipping is by far the cheapest means of transportation. Kiruna (the place where most of the ore comes from) is nearer to Narvik than to any other navable port/waterway. - Baltic sea tends to freeze. In the end, it would have been a total...
What exactly does high and low tide mean?	[ "If a tide chart says 7:30 is low tide then that should be the point when the water is at its lowest level locally, it's reached a minimum and will then start coming back in." ]	[ "_URL_0_ The wikipedia article is excellent and better than any of the answers in here so far. If you have specific parts you don't understand, ask away and I can help explain them to you." ]
How was battle cleanup done after a big battle (like, say, a siege assault)?	[ "You may find some answers in these previous threads in our [Popular Questions wiki](_URL_3_): * [How have dead bodies been disposed of after battles throughout history?](_URL_0_) * [How have dead bodies been disposed of after battles throughout history?](_URL_0_) * [Who cleaned up the bodies on D-Day?](_URL_2_) * ...	[ "Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_0_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t...
I got stabbed by a pencil in first grade. That piece of "lead" is still in my palm. Why?	[ "If your body can't eject foreign objects it wraps them in layers of tissue so they can't do any damage. It's not lead. > Most pencil cores are made of graphite mixed with a clay binder from [wiki](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "You know how a lemon battery works? One metal object, another different metal object, and an acid electrolyte between them. Replace the former metal object with foil, replace the latter metal object with your fillings and replace your saliva for the lemon juice. Now you have electrons whizzing between the foil and...
Why are people against Bill Nye all of a sudden?	[ "Mostly because he went out of his way (out of physics) into another areas of expertise (such as human sciences) in a very condescending way, while at the same time not being accurate in his descriptions. [An easy example of him being condescending while wrong.](_URL_0_) He clearly does not give an answer to the to...	[ "\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..." ]
What does SAP software do?	[ "First off, it's not off-the-shelf software that you buy and install on your pc - it consists of custom and customized packages, designed for each customer and supported by lots of consulting hours. SAP can provide pretty much all the software solutions required to run a business. That includes order processing, in...	[ "\"America\" can't, but Texans in his district certainly can. Once every two years they get the opportunity Mr. Smith is a congressman, and he represents one particular place. Only people from that place get to vote for or against him. Unfortunately Mr. Smith represents a wealthy area near Austin, Texas where I sus...
How does the body acclimate to cold?	[ "Your body undergoes certain physiological changes to the cold and...well...just about anything else, really. The body will also adapt to assume these postures more readily. It's not so much that your body is becoming better at dealing with cold, it is simply faster to scramble its various responses to cold if it i...	[ "We didnt, we lived in warmer climates until we learned how slowly over time as we moved north" ]
Have pedophiles and child molesters always been viewed as the lowest of the low or this is due to recent awareness?	[ "Related/follow-up question: did the Victorians think child sexual abuse was worse than now-accepted sexual practices that they considered immoral, like adultery or homosexuality? Or in the same league?" ]	[ "Because every group has negative connotations. What political party do you side with? Filthy limp-wristed liberals or racist war-mongering conservatives? Don't tell you're a wishy-washy hippy 3rd party voter! Any group that exists can have negative connotations applied to it, so you put yourself in the groups you ...
If the NSA can see everything (and assuming all other agencies can too) why don't they jail people who download illegal content off the internet?	[ "because its not a violation of criminal law, its a violation of civil law. if you violate criminal law a police agency can arrest you because you may be causing a threat to public safety. downloading content illegally is never a threat to public safety. if you violate civil law you can be sued by an injured part...	[ "The IRS doesn't know exactly how much money you will make this year based on a single paycheck, you might have a second job or a rental property or you might get a raise. They also don't know what deductions you qualify for or are going to take when they issue your pay cheque." ]
If crypto currency mining is so profitable, why aren't more people doing it?	[ "It's not profitable at all. The time for that is largely passed. The only profitable mining operations are large scale where people can take advantage of economics of scale stuff. You wont make more in bitcoin than you pay in electricity with even a damn good home rig. And bitcoin is TREMENDOUSLY over inflated. Le...	[ "As a student pursuing another degree after considering becoming a doctor I will offer my simple answer. Trying to become a doctor and complete medical school carries with it an extremely high risk of failure and requires that I dedicate all of my time to that goal to have a hope of success. Rather than potentiall...
How do "new with tags" name-brand clothes appear at a fraction of retail price on eBay? Is it all stolen/ counterfeit?	[ "A lot of companies use a bullshit markdown tactic. You have seen it originally $120 now $25. They planned at selling it at $25 the whole time. If it isn't \"marked down\" odds are you are really getting screwed. Take a coat a recently bought for example. I'm in the Midwest USA. Yes we have had a mild winter but th...	[ "Because they work. Scam artists and lazy people see an idea that brings money for little work, and they emulate that idea. Why fix something that isnt broken, right? Similar idea to why there are a million different versions of Minecraft and Bejewelled. The people peddling these things aren't innovators. They don'...
ELI15: What, neurologically, is intuition?	[ "There is no formal understanding of what \"intuition\" is. What we do know is that it is not classified under the heading of \"rational thought\" because rational thought requires higher brain functions that we are consciously aware of. Intuition is believed to be lower brain processing of previous experiences to ...	[ "Conveniently, PBS' It's Okay to Be Smart covered exactly this [a few days ago](_URL_0_). The short answer, if you don't want to watch the video, is because scratching causes very minor pain that cancels out the itchy signal (pain neurons override pretty much everything) and also releases serotonin to help soothe...
Why are there statutes of limitations for crimes?	[ "from Wikipedia (my interpretation in bold): here are three reasons that support the existence of Statutes of Limitation, namely: (a) that a plaintiff with good causes of actions should pursue them with reasonable diligence; **Basically, if the crime was that important, the person who was wronged should have don...	[ "Many cop/lawyer shows use real rvents to inspire episodes. This keeps the series current and relevant for viewers interest, can actually be used to inform the public, improves show ratings, and reduces headaches for writers trying to come up with ideas. But the show makers want to be sure it isn't thought to be \...
If electrically charged particles were fired into a black hole, what would happen? Would there be a point at which the electro-static repulsion of the particles overcame the force of gravity?	[ "If you send charged particles into a black hole the black hole becomes charged, and yes, there is a point where the electrostatic repulsion wins over the gravitational attraction. This happens when (in the right units) the total charge equals the mass of the BH, in which case it is called an extremal black hole. I...	[ "You're right that electrons are electrons, and every electron has the same mass. I think the article is saying mass when it means effective mass. When you apply a force to a free electron it accelerates according to a=F/m, where m is just the normal mass of the electron. In a material, the electron is constraine...
What is going on with Google Glass? Is it abandoned? Did it flop before it really hit the market? It sounded promising, in theory, so where is it?	[ "It's just gone back to RnD so that they can determine if it can be a profitable product or not. It's trial has ended so now it's up to wether they like the results." ]	[ "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: what makes pop rocks/popping candy 'pop'? ](_URL_2_) ^(_1 comment_) 1. [ELI5: What makes Pop Rocks pop? ](_URL_0_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [[ELI5] Why do pop rocks pop in your mouth? ](_URL_1_) ^(_18 comments_)" ]
Why were the Japanese unsuccessful in getting oil out of Malaysia in WWII?	[ "By 1944 the US navy had set up an impressive submarine blockade of the home islands. Oil was in such tight supply that the Japanese began to ship oil in barrels aboard warships returning home. As you can imagine, this technique wasn't able to replenish oil reserves. The last tanker to reach Japan arrived in March ...	[ "It may have cost a fair bit more in fuel - but the airline decided it was better to spend that and catch up so the plane would be in the right place for it's next trip in time and so the customers were happier." ]
If we are given the freedom of religion, why are children pressured and often forced into believing what the parents believe?	[ "Freedom of Religion regards the state's ability to establish a state religion, and the state's ability to create laws that favor one religion over another. It does not have anything to do with what your parents' want you to believe, any more than freedom of speech means your parents can't tell you not to swear...	[ "That's just it. It takes a while to amass information and use it. An animal just does whatever comes natural, aka 'instinct'. But humans are taught and trained and learn and practice and... and... Layers and layers of information and training to get us to the point where we can actually achieve more than the previ...
What did early cnidarians (and sponges) eat?	[ "Sponges and many cnidarians today feed on plankton, which has been around since the Precambrian." ]	[ "One medeval trope I was disappointed to learn was false was that of the cozy inn, [this post better clarifies the reality of travel lodging in the middle ages.](_URL_2_) As for warfare in England in the early middle ages, most soldiers who possessed horses would ride them to the field but dismount and form a shiel...
If you commit a crime that's illegal in your home country but not where you committed it can you be prosecuted when you go back to your home country. How does it work?	[ "That depends on your home country, and what you do. For example, the US doesn't care if you go overseas to smoke some weed, but will throw your ass in jail for a couple decades if you go overseas to fuck kids." ]	[ "Special relativity tells us, given how events appear to one observer, how they will appear to another observer, when those observers are moving relative to each other. So you can ask in special relativity what would happen if an object traveled faster than the speed of light (but still going forward in time). It t...
Why aren’t dominant traits always more common than recessive traits?	[ "Dominant traits aren't preferentially passed along between generations, they just express more strongly if they are passed down. If a dominant gene is rare, it may continue to be rare unless there's some selective pressure killing off animals without it." ]	[ "HiBecause you're looking at different sets of data. Saying we share 50% of our DNA with a banana (I think thats a bit high) is looking at 100% of the DNA. Sharing 12.5% of your DNA with your 1st cousin is only looking at the small section of DNA that's different among humans. If you look at all of your DNA it's o...
How do Magic Eye pictures work?	[ "I'd like to add this. In WWII they retrofitted some Spitfire airplanes with up to 5 cameras that used this exact same principal to take 3D areal recon photos of Europe. The cameras were aligned just right (and pilots trained just right) take take photos that could be put under a special viewing device bringing the...	[ "_URL_0_ The wikipedia article is excellent and better than any of the answers in here so far. If you have specific parts you don't understand, ask away and I can help explain them to you." ]
Moments and Hydraulics.	[ "I think you will have to define your question a bit more. Are you generally asking us to explain correlation and translation of pressure and forces?" ]	[ "Followup question: Is it possible to use a gyroscope instead of the back rotor to keep the helicopter from beginning to rotate with the blades, or is that not a thing gyroscopes are able to do? ^^gyroscopes ^^are ^^basically ^^magic ^^to ^^me" ]
Would a jet that's engines are exactly as hot as the exhausting gasses of a heat-seeking missile cause the missile to try and chase it's own exhaust gasses?	[ "No. The missile wouldn't even sense it's own gasses. It has a heat sensor that points forward and aims towards the largest source of heat it can detect. That's why planes use flares to counteract them." ]	[ "Imagine a very large, elongated cloud of hydrogen in space. It's slowly falling in on itself due to gravity, but it has no angular momentum, so everything is falling toward the center. There's a star nearby. Because of the elongation of the cloud, one end of it is nearer to the star than the other end, but it's a...
How does charcoal work? Doesn't burning wood the 1st time defeat the purpose of reusing it as fuel?	[ "When you make charcoal, the heat splits off molecules from the wood which contain mostly carbon and hydrogen atoms. These contain a lot of energy, but they need a lot of oxygen to burn completely, which results in a rather low temperature and smoke. What remains is relatively pure carbon, which burns much hotter, ...	[ "Meat cooked at high temperatures forms heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In long term very high concentrations these can cause cancer in lab rats; it is unclear whether occasional low concentration exposure (such as eating occasional BBQ) is dangerous. This may simply be a cas...
What is happening, physically, when you feel like you've burned off your taste buds with hot tea, soup, etc?	[ "You've destroyed the nerve enedings. That's why sudden pain then numbness. The mouth regenerates very quickly however, thus feeling will come back in a relatively short amount of time." ]	[ "Think of your body as a battery. Believe it or not, there is an electrical signal running through it. (This is why you are able to interact with touch screens and conduct static currents) So keeping this in mind, biting into tin foil completes an electrical circuit in your body, and the energy runs through the se...
Physically/chemically, what is the difference between 'good chills' and 'bad chills'?	[ "I forget the name of it, but a form of good chills is, by some of the population, a reaction to a very good performance, like musical or acting. I'm not a scientist, but I would guess that the chills part has to do with a fairly complicated meta cognitive process. What I mean is there is a lot of higher level thin...	[ "The pain relievers available over the counter are either NSAIDs (like aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) or acetaminophen (aka paracetamol or Tylenol.) Both act in some way to reduce the effect of a group of enzymes called cyclooxygenases (COX) which are important in producing inflammation. NSAIDs inhibit COX all over,...
Why did the first great empires of the world originate in Mesopotamia?	[ "Mesopotamia is incredibly fertile, and this area of the world is the birthplace of agriculture. Without farming (and not just eking out an existence, but farming that produces a surplus), you don't get urban settlements or the stratification of society into distinct social classes. You basically had the richest an...	[ "On phone so short unsupported answer: it's the only place where humans/climate/etc haven't killed most or all of the megafauna." ]
If a water molecule is made of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom, can i mix 2 liters of liquid hydrogen and 1 liter of liquid oxygen to make water?	[ "If you do it with a platinum catalyst you can, or by heating it up to the point that they hydrogen burns in the presence of the oxygen. There is a chemical reaction that takes place, it creates a bond between the hydrogens and the oxygens. To make that bond you need a bit of extra energy to push them together enou...	[ "There are enzymes in your blood that attack the peroxide and turn it into water and oxygen. The bubbles are what that looks like. As a sidenote, though, you should not put peroxide on wounds. It kills germs, but it kills everything else it touches, too, including healthy tissue. And since you have a cut you'r...
Why do people refer to Cats with a letter C, and then spell Kittens with the letter K?	[ "Kitten comes from merging cat and kiteling (a young animal)." ]	[ "Actually, for timekeeping purposes, we use the cesium atoms' vibrations in the atomic clock as THE definition of the correct time. We set all our clocks to that one clock. It also keeps track of smaller units of time than it displays, since cesium atoms vibrate at exactly 9,192,631,770 Hz. We know the time dow...
How were train-mounted guns/cannons used during WW1? Were they to be used while the train was stopped, to shoot at stationary targets while moving, or to prevent people from chasing it down?	[ "The response you want on this question is probably this comment chain by /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov _URL_0_" ]	[ "There really wouldn't be much of a point. A well trained horse will know to avoid obstacles, not run into other horses, and even know how to take you home without any input from the rider if it's familiar enough with the rider's usual habits. Point being, with horses, yes, you can give them commands, but it's a l...
Why isn’t flint Michigan fixed yet?	[ "Define 'fixed'. The Department of Environmental Quality tested water from multiple sites around the city and said it's within legal limits, from a strict point of view, that is 'fixed'." ]	[ "Costs money to build and maintain the facilities, some countries don't feel like taking on the burden of that cost." ]
How do 'palate cleansing' foods work?	[ "Basically they introduce a very powerful taste so that the memory of the bite coming next isn't conflated with what you just ate. Otherwise it would be difficult to pick up the subtleties between, say, certain dishes of sushi. Fun fact, that ginger that comes with your sushi (called gari) serves this purpose. A lo...	[ "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 are those coins being sold on TV so 'popular'?	[ "The commercial is VERY deceptive but they aren't lying. They are selling a coin plated in 31 mg of gold. That is why they can advertise. I think they actually sell them b/c people don't do their research into gold. They are taking advantage of all the news reports of the increased price of gold. The face value of...	[ "Their claim hasn't been verified in any scientific way. If I gave 10000 people a sugar pill and 1000 of them lost weight I could legally claim that the pill helps with weight loss. It wouldn't make the claim true, and the results might not be repeated in a larger sample population. The disclaimer would keep people...
Why France has a foreign legion?	[ "> Other nations have tried to emulate the French Foreign Legion model. There have been units composed of foreign recruits in China, Israel, the Dutch Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indische Leger (KNIL), the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1960s and 1970s, and Russia and Spain. Beyond its reputation as an elite unit often enga...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
How did lobsters become expensive in the US?	[ "These threads might interest you: [What brilliant marketer was responsible for the conversion of lobster from a peasant food to an expensive one?](_URL_1_) by /u/devratta [How did lobster go from a low class food to delicacy status in America?](_URL_0_) by /u/bobbleheader *[When and how did shellfish become a ...	[ "Laws usually don't have to make sense. It is what the politicians and the lobbyists can make the people think are concerns." ]
What would happen if the planets aligned?	[ "Not much really. It happens pretty regularly and the biggest effect it usually has is to make people freak out." ]	[ "Not enough energy to. It's like lighting a match in a snow storm and expecting it to melt everything. Sure, the match is hot, but theres a lot more cold than there is hot." ]
Can animals have autism? And if so, why don’t we see the effects like we do in humans?	[ "I would expect that any socially complex animal could have a form of \"autism\". It's strictly behavioral, so preforming repetitive actions or motions, or being socially inept to a degree would be visible. Maybe, because of their ineptitude, they're outcast from social groups and die too quickly to be properly obs...	[ "A few things to realize before trying to draw conclusions like this: * Science is an evolving process that doesn't end with a single study. One study's results could be refined or contradicted by other studies, and it takes multiple iterations to suss out the truth. * Science journalism is terrible. University PR ...
What is the historical root of the persistent antipathy between Marxist-Leninists and Trotskyists?	[ "It's difficult to incur what it is that is bothering you from the way you have worded your question because Trotsky and all people in the Fourth International would insist on being Marxists-Leninists themselves. The Fourth International is reviled by a plenty of people for a very large variety of reasons." ]	[ "One: known patterns of spread and parameters of the patient. For instance, a woman in her earlier thirties with tumors in breast, ribs, and brain is most likely to have breast primary with bone and brain metastases. Two: pathology. Take a biopsy, or a tumor excision, and look at it under a microscope. Some tumors ...
How did Wells Fargo benefit by creating 2 million bogus accounts?	[ "Wells Fargo, the company, didn't benefit much, if at all. However, Wells Fargo had monthly quotas of new accounts that their employees had to meet or they were subject to disciplinary action. Since it's quite difficult for a bank branch employee to generate interest in creating additional accounts (bank branches a...	[ "A company doing \"bad\" things doesn't matter in terms of the health of the company as long as that company is still profitable. Oil companies, for the moment, are scandal-proof because we don't have any other viable options in terms of energy production. The only way BP would ever disappear is if consumers trende...
How do pillows that claim to cool your head work?	[ "Thermal conductivity. Essentially the pillow is at room temperature, but your head is typically ~20°F warmer. Heat, much like a gas, always tries to hit equilibrium (everything at the same temp.) As such. The pillow will absorb the heat from your head. Now here's where the claim comes in. Different materials will...	[ "Because the design of the chips is made such that even though it's a quad core processor, it doesn't run as fast/hot as a desktop quad-core. they're designed to run slower so as to not overheat. And have you felt the back of a phone after it's been recording video or something for more than 5 minutes? I use a dash...
when monkeys learn sign language do they just repeat things or do they sign for themselves	[ "Koko, the most famous of the gorillas that learned sign language, did a [live chat](_URL_0_) with people over the internet back in 1998. If you read through it you can tell that it's hard to determine how much exactly she understands, and how much of the conversation is colored by the person doing the interpretati...	[ "Sort of. As you can see in Jurassic park 3, they can find out the shape of the voice box and get an idea of the nature of their vocals. They probably couldn't work it out exactly, and a lot of Jurassic Park is sort of filled in gaps." ]
How does the brain calculate the passing of time independent of simple estimation? Is there a biological mechanism?	[ "There are circuits in our brain that line neurons end to end, making small feedback loops based on the time it takes to have the signal make a full lap. Smaller loops are integral in music, rhythm, and even rhythmic movements like walking, swimming, blinking. This very strait forward process is thought to be at wo...	[ "I encourage you to read David Deutsch's book The Fabric of Reality. The chapter on what time is (and isn't) will likely help you think about these things. It's worth the effort to read the book. (It is written for non-specialists who are willing to think.) Deutsch, by the way, is a theoretical physicist who has ...
Can one use microwaves from satellites to melt the iron core of mars in an attempt to reactivate the magnetic field?	[ "Microwaves have a rather small penetration depth in most materials. They won't go deeper than a few meters before the intensity has reduced to effectively nothing. That means that you'd be heating up the crust, which will rapidly shed its heat back to space. And if you'd pump enough energy into it for a signiciant...	[ "we would have to start out in protective domes first. but the plans for long term colonization include terraforming, which is a fancy word for planet engineering. elon musk recently said the fastest way to get that done would be by nuking the polls. the slow way would be to introduce plant life or algae to make ox...
What is the Fahrenheit scale based on?	[ "The Fahrenheit scale is: 0° is the temperature brine freezes 100° is the average temperature of the human body edit: formatting" ]	[ "The formula was designed to fit the data obtained from testing and experimentation. THAT is the reason the formula fits." ]
Why did the KKK burn crosses?	[ "[Wikipedia has a decent article on it](_URL_0_). To ELI5 it, it used to be a Scottish rite to declare war, and was picked up by the KKK after that idea was included in a novel romanticising the KKK called The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. It's used partially in the form of a war declaration, and partially the idea ...	[ "They need them to make sugar, which they store during the Winter as they don't need to use it." ]
How do magnetic bands on cards work? And how do other types of cards work without them?	[ "The black stripe consists of a ferrous metal. Different areas of the stripe is magnetized in different directions. As the card moves close to a wire it will induce a bit of current that can be detected. The different directions of the magnetic field will induce the current in different directions. If you apply a s...	[ "Its not the strip, its the device your swipe into and the internet. The strip is just an identifying mechanism to tell whose account to draw from." ]
How much clothing did people wear in antiquity?	[ "Middle Eastern clothing has changed very little over the past 5000 years. The hallmark of Middle Eastern clothing is a shawl covering the head and long robes (not trousers). This is how the ancient Hebrews dressed, and this is how the Arabs still dress to this day. _URL_2_ _URL_2_" ]	[ "Hi everyone. Since this is the kind of question that can attract non-expert responses, just a friendly reminder that all responses must comply with [sub rules](_URL_0_), and that [personal anecdotes](_URL_1_) are explicitly not permitted in /r/AskHistorians." ]
Why do I sometimes feel the urge to jump off a cliff when I'm near one, and stab myself with a knife when I see one?	[ "In a situation that your brain finds dangerous or perilous, you brain will often try to prevent you from doing something stupid by constantly reminding you that a dangerous option exists, and for you to NOT do that thing by constantly keeping it at the forefront of your mind so you don't forget the danger of the s...	[ "The chemical imbalance theory of depresssion is questionable. For example, most antidepressants on the market are a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. However, there is also an antidepressant that is a serotonin reuptake enhancer. And the fastest acting antidepressant in the world, ketamine, doesn't act on serotonin a...
What are the steps in liquefying natural gas?	[ "It mainly involves removing impurities in the gas and then using very low temperatures to condense it to a liquid. Normal natural gas is mostly methane, but also contains things like carbon dioxide and water vapor. As a gas, those aren't really a big problem, but if we want to liquefy it, the temperatures involved...	[ "The Department of Energy has a web site that lists the breakdown. _URL_0_ In short, for Sept 2011, 63% of the price was crude oil, 14% refining, 12% distribution/marketing, and 11% taxes." ]
What is the point of voting if the electoral college can overturn the votes and has the last say?	[ "Most states have laws saying that their electors cannot vote opposite what they're supposed to." ]	[ "The Taxes tanken from our checks are estimates. Sometime people pay too much or too little. When doing our taxes we figure out how much we really owed. Some payed too much and get a refund. Some paid too little and need to make up the difference" ]
What was the closest any person was distance wise to ground zero when either of the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, and they subsequently survived without immediate major ill effects? By immediate major ill effects, I mean acute radiation poisoning, bad burns, etc. Not cancer 30 years later.	[ "I looked through my copy of “A-bomb Drawings by Survivors” ISBN978-4-00-022765-0 which is a truly amazing collection of drawings from memory of survivors including the story, distance from epicenter, and time the drawing took place. The closest I could find was about 220 m, but it was later there were no survivors...	[ "> Also, it is necessary to know that sunburn is a long term effect and that it does not immediately surface on the skin. So the belief that if the skin feels cool immediately after a dip in the sea, it will not sunburn is again a false belief. This is a false belief considering the fact that sunburn is a continuin...
Why do digital screens display colors with RGB values when RYB are the primary colors?	[ "Red, green, and blue are the additive primary colors. Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow are the subtractive primary colors. Pigments work by absorbing (subtracting) light and computer monitors work by emitting (adding) light. You might notice that printer ink usually comes in CMY plus K (black) for efficiency and quality ...	[ "Brains easily perform many, many tasks hat are difficult for computer. Take that we know brains are optimized for pattern-finding. Consider intelligent life forms have to interact with a real 3-world and real time. Which means they can check their expectations. Testings a supposition is as simple as rotating an o...
what goes on neurologically thats makes one person smarter than another?	[ "Depends on what you mean by smarter. Your brain has billions of little engines that are all talking to each other, as well as gas tanks to pull out stored information. The better these engines are at communicating with each other, the more gas tanks that are supplying fuel, the more horse power you are going to ge...	[ "Setting aside the terminology of \"race\", it's entirely down to selective pressures of the different environments. In equatorial regions where the sun is plentiful, having a lot of melanin is useful in protecting against cancer. The further north/south you go from there, the less sun there is, so having less mela...
Why didn't the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters burn up upon reentry when everything else falling from space either disintegrates or gets tremendously hot?	[ "The SRBs were jettisoned at about 45 km altitude 2 minutes after launch, so they weren't going fast enough to generate enough friction to burn up." ]	[ "Hard candy (like a lollypop or a Jolly Rancher) is made from sugar, corn syrup, water and flavoring. You heat the ingredients together and boil the mixture to drive off all of the water. Then you let the temperature rise. What you are left with is a pure sugar syrup at about 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). When it ...
what are moles on our skin and why do we have to be careful about not damaging them and risking cancer?	[ "Moles are little areas of the skin that produce excess melanin (pigment) and cells, i.e., raised, dark areas of the skin. Damaging them isn't actually all that big of a deal. But any mole can become cancerous--excessive exposure to the sun is a big risk factor, but it can happen entirely spontaneously--specificall...	[ "A smaller animal, all other things being equal, has more surface area relative to its volume. More surface area is more area that has to push air out of the way as you fall. This results in a counter force, as you push on the air, the air pushes on you. The result is you hit a top speed (in an atmosphere) called ...
Where did the structure of the week come from? Like, why are Saturday and Sunday a weekend? Why a weekend at all?	[ "A day of rest is in the Bible (as in \"and on the 7th day (after Creation) God rested\") to the Jews this was the Sabbath (celebrated on Saturday) and to Catholics this day was on Sunday (the day Jesus resurrected) Having both days was much more recent. It's part or social reforms limiting the work week to 40 hour...	[ "Listen to me. It's sleep cycles. People have been posting questions like this to ELI5 for months now. I got this answer form a previous ELI5. The answer is sleep cycles! Each sleep cycle is 90 min. If you wake up in the middle of one, you feel tired all day. So be sure to sleep in intervals of 90 min: 90 min, 3 ho...
The difference between Architects and Engineers in the design of a project, and how they work together	[ "In as simple terms as possible, the architect comes up with the design of the building/area/whatever itself, and engineers figure out how to make the design work as closely to what the architect wants. They go back and forth about what is and isn't possible, costs, etc to come up with the final plan. In short: Arc...	[ "Many bridges have been ignored for decades, because shutting down major bridges = traffic nightmare for years and no mayor/governor wants to be the person that caused that. The electrical grid is absurdly inefficient. We could save a significant amount of energy consumption just by building a new tech electrical g...
How does a tick bite cause people to become allergic to things such as meat, poultry, etc?	[ "_URL_0_ Is this the thing you're referring too? The lone star tick's saliva contains a certain protein, which is also present in most mammalian meat. If you're bitten, your immune system may start to recognize the protein as a threat, meaning it will start an immune reaction against any meat you may eat that conta...	[ "yes, all the time. One cool example is the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi. Bacteria in the genus Borrelia express a protein which elicits an antigenic response in vertebrate hosts (we mount an immune response), called [vlsE] (_URL_1_). Once our immune system mounts an effective response against th...
Why is there such a big difference between the English name for Germany and the French name for it (L'Allemagne)?	[ "The etymological origins for Germany are different for both languages. Germany comes the Latin Germania while Allemagne (Alemania in Spanish) comes from a specific Germanic tribe, The Alemani. While in German, Deutschland, just means land of the Germans." ]	[ "Forming words and sentences is a different skill set to matching heard words with their translated counterpart. You can hear cheval and connect that with a horse but being able to know you want the word for horse and that the word is cheval is harder. Basically multiple choice being easier versus short answer on ...
Infinity: are there different types?	[ "Yes, they are different types of infinities. However (I'm going to blow your mind), there is exactly the same number of numbers between 0 and 1 as there is between 0 and 2. Two infinities are considered the same if you can \"translate\" one infinity into the other one. Like, you can translate all of the number bet...	[ "> all cars are red. \"Hey I bought a car, Jack!\" \"Oh, then it must be red!\" *Jack did a deduction.* > \"This is swan number 1000, and again it is a white one.\" \"Therefore it must be that all swans are white.\" *Jack did an induction.* You might have noticed that though the deduction is always sou...
When two beams of laserlight are put in perfect, destructive interference, where does their energy go?	[ "They don't interfere and just lay there forever. Each beam keeps going on its own way. Destructive interference has a misleading name; nothing is \"destroyed\". The two beams just appear to cancel each other out - for the duration and the extent of the interference, but once they are out of the area, they are unch...	[ "It's a neural connection. In ophthalmology there are two rules: Hering's law and Sherrington's law. Basically together these two laws describe the way the eyes can work together. Whenever your brain tells you to look right, for example, it sends a signal to both eyes to tell them to turn right. It sends the same s...
How effective is stretching when looking at a) building muscle and b) losing weight?	[ "This is probably a better question for /r/fitness or /r/flexibility. I haven't read anything regarding the effects of stretching of any kind on losing weight in particular. For gaining muscle, static stretching has show decreased effects related to explosive output and may lead to an increased chance of injur...	[ "Frequently sensations like that are caused by pinched nerves. A nerve somewhere got caught between shifting bones/muscles/tendons and the pinch mechanically activates the nerve, the same way hitting your \"funny bone\" creates that shooting pain down your arm." ]
Was it ever not okay to talk about WWII immediately after the war, and if so, how many years passed before it was okay to speak about it openly?	[ "In Germany : you can watch the movie \"Im Labyrinth des Schweigens\" a movie about nazism after WW2. In France : you can read the very good autobiography of George Semprun \"l'ecriture ou la vie\" i know there is a french and spanish version but an english version must exist. He was in Auschwitz and the book focus...	[ "Hi there, those interested in recommending things to OP! While you might have a title to share, this is still a thread on AskHistorians, and we still want the replies here to be to an /r/AskHistorians standard - presumably OP would have asked at /r/history or /r/askreddit if they wanted non-specialist opinion. So ...
how long (based on realistic current CO2 emission projections) can we carry on as a civilisation before we irreversibly change Earth's climate putting us on a donward spiral towards extinction?	[ "Well we're already about at the point where we're not going to be able to avoid some major extinctions and disruption of ecosystems. But if you're talking about the extinction of humans, I don't think that's going to happen from climate change. Don't get me wrong, it could get really bad in the worst case scenario...	[ "More or less. Fire suppression reduces the frequency of fires below the historic average. The density of trees increases as does the amount of dead wood laying on the forest floor. This build up of \"fuel\" for the fire leads to fires that are more intense and more difficult and expensive to put out. Add to that t...
How exactly did mercenary bands travel from place to place for work? Did they settle in an area for extended period of time until they were hired?	[ "Follow-up: What was life as a mercenary like? How long would one expect to be in the business, and under what conditions would one leave?" ]	[ "The same way they do now: using satellite and microwave transmissions. Using the internet is kind of sketchy, because of a lack of control of the bandwidth that can cause the connection quality to drop, which is why other technologies are preferred when feasible." ]
How much power does a radio receive from the wireless radio signal? Is this enough to do anything with?	[ "Back in the cold war days, many small \"bug\" radio transmitters in Britain worked by rectifying BBC Radio 1, a powerful radio station that blankets that nation. Instead of trying to incorporate and hide a battery, spies would run a little wire out from the bug to pick up tiny amounts of power from the aether. The...	[ "Likely based on maps of coverage area, overlaid with maps of where people live. The accuracy of either type of map isn't perfect (if coverage is blocked by a very specific hill in an otherwise-covered area, for example). But it's feasible to cover basically all of a big city, and these small urban areas contain ...
Why are names from certain countries spelled in ways that are unintelligible, instead of being spelled phonetically?	[ "Different languages have different phonetic systems, and despite the widespread use of English, its peculiar spellings are just as much an obstacle to others as their systems are to us. For example, Gaelic, which has existed beside English for centuries, still insists on spelling its words with gaelic phonetics, w...	[ "Lower right corner, there is your tray, click on the icon that looks like a keyboard, and change the setting to US English, or just US. If you don't have this little icon, look for a little taskbar that can be anywhere on your screen, usually at the top. Change it to US settings. It happens whenever you change yo...

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