Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Does everything have gravitational force? Even us?	[ "Yes. One famous experiment uses the gravity between metal spheres. _URL_0_ Also, you pull on the earth just as much as the earth pulls on you. It is just that your pull on the earth is hardly sufficient to effect this extremely massive object." ]	[ "\"Orbit\" is not some magical trajectory in space with special properties of weightlessness. Any trajectory that you take in space, whether in orbit around an object or not, is the same as \"freefall\" so long as you are not actively providing thrust. So after the rocket burn to send the craft towards the moon, ...
why does restoring an item diminish it's value	[ "If Pawn Stars has taught me anything, It depends on the item. If it's a collectible or one of a kind item, the key is it has to be unaltered in any way. That's why something old and rare AND in great condition is rare and worth a lot of money. Other things, if they are decorative or nostalgic in nature, it does a...	[ "Think of your vocal cords as if they were rubber bands. Brand new rubber bands (like when you are young) are tight and bounce right back after being stretched. Now think of an older rubber band (like when you are old), having being stretched over and over. It doesn't have the same elasticity it once had." ]
How did genitalia (or rather the dna of the genitalia) know how to be compatible with the opposite sex?	[ "They evolve together like everything else. The animals that had mutations that didnt allow them to reproduce with their species died and that was the end of their genetic line. There is actually a crazy example of this in bed bugs. Bed bugs copulation is extremely violent, so the females evolved to have thicker ch...	[ "The outside of cells and virus cells are covered in chemicals. Different cells are covered in different chemicals. Specific chemicals stick to other specific chemicals. Other chemicals don't do anything. It can help to think of it like many different colors of velcro. Blue velcro only sticks to blue velcro, it doe...
How did muzzle loaded pistols avoid loosing bullet while being carried?	[ "A muzzle loading pistol (or most other guns of the time) wasn't simply loaded with gunpowder and a bullet. Wadding made of paper, felt or other fibrous material was rammed into the barrel as well. This went between the gunpowder and the shot and on top of the shot itself. This served the dual purpose of stopping t...	[ "When an engine is brand new all the parts have a near perfect fit. As time goes on things start to wear and get a bit sloppy. As a result items that are supposed to rotate begin to get a bit of lateral wobble and in the cylinders pressure starts to get past the pistons on the outside." ]
Why do we have court drawings?	[ "Some trials don't allow cameras or video recordings. As a substitute, people draw what's going on. It's not crucial, but it's nice to have a visual representation of a trial, especially if it's high profile." ]	[ "I'm a journalist. I can tell you straight up : it's for audience. These videos create shock, which is the best hook television news has over the viewer. The whole ethics speech they'll give you about people having the right to see it is BS. Television is a business, news or not, sadly. This is even more true in th...
The Electronic Signature of Money	[ "The bank's systems simply will not process an increase in person A's account balance without a corresponding decrease in person B's account balance. It'll be automatically rejected as an invalid transaction." ]	[ "Because it's the most efficient shape. Is stacks and fits the hand well. Triangle shape would be very impractical to carry, stacks of square money would be very impractical to hold." ]
Can Carbon dioxide be used as a anesthetic	[ "In the sense that an anesthetic is defined as \"a substance that reduces sensitivity to pain\", I think you can say that it can be used that way. Unlike normal anesthetics, CO2 would be producing this effect by causing loss of consciousness followed shortly by brain damage and eventually death." ]	[ "Firstly - There are several countries that have changed enviromental policies, especially in Europe. However, the main reason some countries aren't doing more is that those kind of policies won't win your next election. Higher taxes on fossil fuels and meat for example is a good method to reduce CO2 emmisions, but...
Is there a max size planets, stars and solar systems can be?	[ "I think the mass of the planet is the important thing. There is a point where the mass of the planet compress so much that the pressure generated makes the core to heat up and ignite as a Star, so it no longer would be a planet. This mass limit depends on the type of the planet. Gas planets (like Jupiter) needs le...	[ "Absolutely, but right now our best bet is to look for conditions that we know are able to support life." ]
If the C/2013 A1 comet impacts Mars next year, how will it affect Mars missions in the near future?	[ "Sorry OP for not having an answer, but I have a question related to this that your question has inspired. Would NASA consider gathering the orbital debris from the impact by sending a spaceship to collect rocks and stuff to bring back home? Also, would they consider sending a probe to analyze the crater to possibl...	[ "Me and a buddy of mine at a NASA internship got a chance to get inside the JPL cleanroom the Curiosity was assembled in. He had to take 2 special showers before he went in, and wore a special anti-static robe, mask, and hairnet. Before they let us in they detailed the extraordinary precautions they take before let...
What happens when someone has a headache and they take headache pills?	[ "Acetaminophen (tylenol) is the most effective over-the-counter pain reliever for headaches, because it is selective for cells in the nervous system. Ibuprofen and aspirin are also effective but are not as selective. Acetaminophen works by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are produced in...	[ "Pharmaceutically? Nothing. There are VERY strict guidelines in place, all drugs have to be exactly the same in make up. Psychologically? A lot. Say you pay £0.45 for a pack of generic paracetamol, psychologically this WILL NOT work as well* as £4 pack of panadol. (Exactly the same active ingredients, excuse the br...
Why do we listen to Music?	[ "You might find [this article](_URL_2_ interesting. It's from a doctor at Duke University that works in cognative neuroscience. The conclusions are pretty complicated and hard to sum up, but basically it says people gravitate to types of sounds in music that mimic the rythems, tones and patterns in human speech. Th...	[ "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 ...
If beverage labels must contain the amount of sugar a drink contains then why don't they have to list the amount of aspartame they contain.	[ "Nutritional labels are for this that the body metabolizes. The body doesn't metabolize aspartame. Nor does it yellow #5." ]	[ "It's something that is worked out and agreed upon during contract negotiations. Hey Jon Hamm, how do you want your name displayed in the credits? \"With Jon Hamm\"? \"And Jon Hamm\"? \"Featuring Jon Hamm\"? \"Jon Hamm as Don Draper\"? \"Introducing Jon Hamm\"? It's all part of negotiations, and is the reason why c...
How does an economy crash.	[ "A crash can ultimately be caused by many different things, but they all have the same effect: money stops circulating. To over simplify a healthy economy; a baker sells bread, he uses that money to buy flour from a farmer, the farmer uses that money to buy equipment from a factory, the factory uses that money to ...	[ "The \"rally round the flag effect.\" Anytime there is a crisis that clearly is not the president's fault, it is common for citizens to band together and support the decisions being made. _URL_0_" ]
Why do hitboxes exist in video games? Why can't it just be "if object A hits 3D model B, it hits"?	[ "In ELI5 terms: because the math to calculate that sort of thing is very complicated and resource-intensive." ]	[ "Because taxes are complicated, and not all taxes relate to \"commerce\". For example, you pay taxes based on how much you make. But if you do something like donate to charity you have to pay less taxes. If you have an additional child you may end up paying less in taxes. If you get divorced you may have to pay les...
I have been petrified of heights my entire life i.e. I get severe anxiety when walking through the second level of a shopping mall and I am scared of climbing a 4 foot ladder, however I really enjoy flying in a planes and helicopters, why?	[ "Heights that are beyond our comprehension no longer seem high. It's beyond what we can perceive as a risk. Flying is relatively new to our species and it's not in us to register flying as a height risk. Some people have a fear of flying but are fine standing on a 10-story balcony; some people are the opposite, lik...	[ "Former Pilot here, Unless the device is right beside the equipment there is little chance of it doing anything. Helicopter pilots regularly have their phones with them in the cockpit. It is more of a safety concern. The most dangerous parts of a flight are the takeoff and landing people need to be on their toes i...
Would it be possible for a black hole to form in space without a dying star to create it?	[ "In the early universe, around when the first stars and galaxies were forming, the universe was composed of different elements than it was now. Over time, stars have converted hydrogen and helium into heavier elements, but in the early universe this hadn't happened yet, so there were a lot fewer heavy elements. Wit...	[ "Well it's a mixture of things. Some of it is kind of like an inertia, expanding from the big bang still. But the rules that govern the size and shape of the universe allow for it to continue to expand, depending on the relative amounts of mass and energy in the universe. From what we're seeing, there's more energy...
If my lights are dimmed to 50%, are they using 50% of the electricity?	[ "Dimming does reduce power consumption, in both old-fashioned variable transformer dimmers and modern SCR dimmers. Proportionality is quite complicated, though. First, humans perceive brightness in a logarithmic manner. What you might subjectively consider to be \"half as bright\" could be much less than 50% of...	[ "This comes from the way an analog mixer works and I think understanding this helps understand a good mix too. Each channel on an analog desk has an input, be it a mic (typically) or something else. These feed into the desk, there is no amplification at this point, just the microphone signals going straight in. Th...
Has most most of the Earth's gold been found and mined or is it likely we've only found a fraction of what's there?	[ "Earth's crust has an average gold content of 4 parts in a billion. We have gold mines ~4 km deep, let's just consider the first 4 km below ground. Then we have a total of about 4 km * 1/4 * (surface of Earth) * 3g/cm^3 * 4\\*10^(-9) = 6 billion tonnes of gold. It is estimated that about 180,000 tonnes of gold have...	[ "Most of the original discoveries were made by observing and documenting patients who had a brain injury which disabled or damaged a certain part of the brain and working out by the deficits in their perception or action, what that part was responsible for (for example google \"Phineas Gage\" if you haven't already...
why can't we divide by zero?	[ "10/5 = 2 2 * 5 = 10 So you see you are basically asking what number will multiply by the number on the bottom to get the number on the top. Since every number times 0 is zero it's impossible i.e. 10/0= ? because no number times 0 is 10." ]	[ "This is one of the most asked questions in this subreddit. Please search your question before posting. _URL_0_" ]
Faster than light neutrinos = possible time travel?	[ "No, there is no interpretation of time travel that corresponds with any observation. It would be like asking if my square property had imaginary lengths would the area be negative? You can put imaginary lengths into the area formula and compute that you get negative area, but that does not mean we are going to hav...	[ "Quoting [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) (a bit naughty, but it's a nice way to express what I think): > The proposed theory is inconsistent with quantum mechanics and critics have ruled it out on those grounds. Which is essentially saying what you pointed out, yes. If what they're doing is as easy as it sounds - just runnin...
If nothing can escape a Black Hole, how come Hawking radiation can?	[ "Hawking radiation is caused by half of a pair of virtual particles. Virtual particles are pairs of particles that are spontaneously created and instantaneously annihilate each other. If one of the particles appears outside the event horizon of a black hole and the other inside it, the one inside is lost to the bla...	[ "Light is not being pulled in by something that is moving. Light is following certain paths in a curved space-time geometry, and all of those paths are constrained to stay within the event horizon." ]
How DSLR cameras can record videos	[ "the reflex mirror is lifted and the light from the lens is allowed to hit the sensor continuously. in video mode, a DSLR is no different than a camcorder." ]	[ "A show like Jimmy Kimmel isn't on YouTube for the revenue, they're on YouTube because it's free advertising. They don't want you to watch all the back-episodes, they want you to tune in and watch the show as it's airing." ]
Why do some vitamin supplements provide thousands of % of your daily value?	[ "Not all vitamins can be absorbed 100%, and for the water soluable ones like the B vitamins, there's no real harm in putting a lot in. B12 in particular is very hard for the body to absorb, so you'll often see very high amounts. A and D on the other hand are usually lower, as the body can store those." ]	[ "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." ]
How is it possible that scientists can tell us about hundreds of planets light years awayt from us, but can't confirm the theorical 9th planet in the Solar System?	[ "We can detect exoplanets (planets in other star systems) by the way they affect the light that comes from their Sun. When they pass in front of their Sun, they block a tiny bit amount of light from it, which our delicate instruments are able to detect. The theoretical 9th planet doesn't lie between us and any Sun...	[ "They don't. There really isn't a good way to actually drill a hole in someone's head and check out their serotonin levels. Instead, they look at the symptoms, compare it to other cases, and then make a prescription. If the medicine works, great! If it doesn't, they discontinue that script and try something else. I...
Why does black text in picture files appear as more than one color?	[ "It's due to the application of a type of algorithm known as [subpixel rendering](_URL_1_), which is a form of [anti-aliasing](_URL_0_). It makes small text easier to read on LCD and OLED displays." ]	[ "The rods and cones in your eye (the vision receptor cells) only contain a finite amount of rhodopsin (the chemical that absoarbs light). After it absoarbs enough light, the chemical needs to be recycled, which takes some minutes. Until that time, those cells can no longer detect light or \"see\"... thus according ...
Is there any scientific explanation for human intuition?	[ "Generally intuition comes from your brain subconsciously picking up and processing clues. One simple form is [subitizing](_URL_0_), where you can look at a small number of objects and just instantly know exactly how many there are without having to count them individually." ]	[ "Explained by Daniel Dennett in a wonderful 25 minute video _URL_0_" ]
Why do students typically only learn their multiplication tables up to 12?	[ "Multiplying numbers greater than 12 comes up infrequently enough in most people's life that the time taken to memorize larger numbers is greater than the time required to open up the calculator app on your phone. Before smartphones became ubiquitous they would try to get us all the way up to 20, but despite never...	[ "Generally, it's done in a minor key where the tune is altered, so anything can be spoopy when done that way (Have you seen the Teletubby episode in black and white that plays a Joy Division Song over it?). Also, one of the early films to do this was Nightmare on Elm Street where kids are jumping rope and singing ...
How does passing smoke through water filter it?	[ "THC is not water soluble, but much of what I assume you mean by smoke is. The water dabbs at the water-soluble part like a paper towel dabbing at spilled juice. It doesn't get all of it, but some is better than none." ]	[ "Interesting point, Europe's rivers were so polluted when the New World was discovered they would not drink the water from the American rivers and streams - Also why beer was so common, they did not understand disease, but boiling the water - sterilized it, and making the beer probably covered up a lot of bad taste...
What's the difference between a carbohydrate and a hydrocarbon?	[ "\"-ate\" means oxygen. Carbohydrate = carbon, hydrogen, oxygen Hydrocarbon = hydrogen, carbon" ]	[ "Because what's considered \"high amounts\" of things in air is actually quite a tiny amount. For example, pollen count is measured in grains of pollen per cubic meter of air, and the websites that I see to track it have \"very high\" pollen levels at around 10. That's 10 grains of pollen per cubic meter. Hardly so...
Why is anything to the power of 0, 1?	[ "If you rewrite the exponent of some number N to the 0 power (N^0 ) as a fraction, the numerator and denominator are equal, and therefore it is equal to 1. take (N^x )/(N^y ), this is equal to N^(x-y). To get N^(x-y) to equal N^0 , x must be equal to y. (N^x )/(N^x )=1 = N^(x-x)=N^0 (for any x)." ]	[ "This would depend entirely on the way the specific calculator was designed. The check could be done in software before the actual division operation is carried out, or if the software does not do this check the processor that carries out the division operation will fire a Divide By Zero exception, which will trigg...
Do secret services actually do cool movie things or it's just office work and/or normal police operations?	[ "They typically don't do \"cool movie things\" because real life isn't a cool action movie. About the most they've done recently (at least, publicly) is get in trouble with prostitutes, get drunk, and sneak into the white house when they shouldn't. Behind the scenes, they're responsible for keeping the President sa...	[ "Audio engineer- using \"natural sound\" AKA \"wild sound\" from the set is pretty uncommon. We spend many hours adding sound and ADR (dialog replacement) in a sound studio. TL;DR All the sound you hear is not from where the scene was shot." ]
Is Aspartame (artificial sweetner) really that bad for you?	[ "Maybe, maybe not. There are people who cannot tolerate the products that it is metabolized into and therefore should not consume aspartame. It is a [rather specific disease](_URL_0_) and you'd know if you had it. There were cancer scares, but they seem to have been scientifically overblown. Current opinions are th...	[ "> Medical doctor Donald Unger crackedthe knuckles of his left hand every day for more than sixty years, but did notcrack the knuckles of his right hand. No arthritis or other ailments formed in either hand, earning him the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine, a parody of the Nobel Prize. Source:_URL_0_" ]
are external hardrives essentially bigger USB drives, or is there something that differentiates them	[ "From a user standpoint they operate the exact same. From a technical standpoint if the external drive is a solid state drive (no moving parts) it is effectively the exact same as a flash drive. If it's not a solid state then it reads and writes using a spinning disc." ]	[ "Ahoy, matey! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: How do corticosteroids help you get better? ](_URL_0_) ^(_3 comments_) 1. [ELI5:The difference between different Asthma medications ](_URL_2_) ^(_3 comments_) 1. [ELI5: What is the difference between a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammator...
If you covered the interior walls of a room with solar panels, would the room feel darker than before?	[ "Assuming your walls were a lighter color first then yes, though solar panels wouldn't really be any different than dark fabrics in this case. Most of the reflected light would be eliminated so the same amount of light would get into the room but less would make it to your eyes, making things gloomy." ]	[ "I wish I had a 5 year old that I could get to pronounce zooxanthellae :) Corals are like tiny farmers that farm tiny plants. Sometimes, the tiny plants can't survive because something happens that hurts the plants, and then both the plants and the coral farmers die. There are a lot of things that can hurt the ti...
How are new laws always being passed, are we supposed to know about every new law being passed?	[ "A lot of law works on the basis of things like the [reasonable person](_URL_0_). This helps to apply consideration where people break laws they did not know exist. Were their actions that of a reasonable person or were they clearly aware that what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. '[Ignorantia juris n...	[ "A combination of peripheral vision and experience. Although you're not looking at the passenger side, you can still see it in your peripheral vision. And with a bit of experience (which you get while you're learning) your brain can take this information and work out quite accurately where the front passenger-side ...
Do spicy foods actually increase metabolism? If so why?	[ "It’s more complicated than that: it doesn’t speed it up per se as much as it irritates the GI tract which speeds up the expulsion by the intestines which leads to decreased length of stay in the tract leading to decreased caloric absorption from what you eat. To say it speeds up metabolism isn’t a correct statemen...	[ "I'm sorry that I'm no expert, but I remember reading about this the last time a similar question was asked: _URL_0_ Basically, you percieve time faster after your run because of endorphines released during the work out, which means that the music seems slower. This is apparently also why a lot of rock musicians pl...
How does google maps get satellite photos without clouds in them?	[ "1) Take many photos. 2) Discard photos with clouds in them. Problem solved." ]	[ "I am guessing, that other than the obvious stuff like tolls and/or bridges etc... It might be making traffic predictions that there MIGHT be traffic during the trip, so it avoids the route." ]
Why has Scandinavia got its shit together so well?	[ "It's friggin' cold in Scandinavia for 6-9 months of the year. The kind of cold where nothing grows and you die within hours of going out unprotected. That environment forces you to have your shit together, plan ahead and cooperate with others, otherwise you die, simple as that. Over the centuries, it has lead to a...	[ "hi everyone! just a reminder to respondents to be mindful of this sub's [\"20-year rule\": no discussion of events/conditions post-1994 please](_URL_0_)! thanks! OP, if you'd like to carry on this discussion for more recent years, consider x-posting this question to /r/AskSocialScience." ]
What is a MAOI, how does it work, and what are the effects that one would notice from taking one?	[ "monoamine oxidase inhibitor, it's a type of chemical/drug, typically used as treatment against depression when other types of anti-depressants don't seem to work. Essentialy, there's a process in your brain cells where an enzyme called monoamine oxidase remove the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin and do...	[ "Could somebody explain how, if true, small amounts of alcohol is good for you?" ]
How do record companies keep track of songs played on radio to collect royalties?	[ "Those other answers are technically wrong I'm afraid. Radio station royalties are very different to streaming. A radio station pays royalties for the right to play a song for a specific period (say 1 year), and they can play it as much as they want. If you are a musician and you hear your work on a station that ...	[ "TV Stations actually don't really \"pick\" commercials. Stations have advertising slots open for anyone who is willing to pay to advertise there. Now for the advertiser that slot must be worth the money they are paying to sell their product. That's why is you were to watch Nick, Disney or Cartoonnetwork you see a ...
Will someone please explain a "Union" to me?	[ "A union is a group of workers united to achieve a common goal. If a single worker attempts to negotiate with a multinational corporation for better pay, that worker will get fired and the company moves on as if nothing happened. If ALL of the workers bands together into a union and collectively negotiate with the ...	[ "Super generally you just melt metal, they mix, and then when they harden (almost immediately) they are fused together. Like melting 2 flavors of ice cream then refreezing them. here is a list of welding processes: _URL_0_ The basic differences are how things are heated to melting." ]
How could Tories be so supportive of the monarchy but also devoted Catholics?	[ "You have to distinguish between Catholic and Roman Catholic. Many Tories were \"high church\" Anglicans or Anglo-Catholics. They still called themselves Catholic and celebrated a Catholic-style mass, but most were loyal to the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are still \"Anglo-Catholic\" churches today that are...	[ "This might be easier for people to answer if you gave a specific time and place. Are we talking about Italian renaissance choir boys or Chinese imperial officials? Edit: specific time not a specific Tim" ]
Why are we able to commit suicide?	[ "We aren't \"hard wired\" to do anything. Biology, and particular behavior, aren't nearly so simple as that. Human behavior is the product of a vast and overlapping series of feedback loops plus all the cognitive stuff that makes us able to think and learn. There's nothing so straightforward about any of it." ]	[ "This video created by Vsauce 3 (Jake Roper) does a very good job explaining this: _URL_1_ I hope this answers your question. He also did another video on a simmilar line of - could you survive: _URL_0_" ]
What do you do when a tornado is coming when you don't have a basement?	[ "Get a weather alert radio. You're unlikely to get more than about 15 minutes warning. If you can, seek shelter with a neighbor. If not, stand in a doorway away from any windows. Some work places have shelters; so do some public buildings." ]	[ "Most have a [relay phone](_URL_0_) in their homes - they use an interpreter. [TTY](_URL_1_) is also available on mobile phones, landlines, and in 911 centers." ]
Is life expectancy going up now that smoking isn't as prevalent?	[ "Life expectancy in the US has risen ~5-10 years since the 1960s, but there are so many other factors that have come into play over that time you can't attribute the increase to any one factor. It is somewhat more informative to look at things like change in rates of diseases caused by smoking (lung cancer, COPD), ...	[ "[This thread](_URL_0_) by u/efini lists a number of people who claimed to be the last former living slaves. Although many of the claimants have unverifiable claims, you'll see that Peter Mills's census records do support his age claims - he was born in 1860, three years before emancipation and died in the 1970s, a...
Why doesn't the UK have as close ties with Canada as they do with Australia, New Zealand or South Africa?	[ "Do you have sources for these statements? I am Australian and maybe a third of these statements do not accurately represent Australian culture as I know it. For example: tea culture being larger than coffee culture, courgette instead of zucchini, the use of 'trainers', and the description of our education system e...	[ "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 happens when you take antibiotics and probiotics at the same time?	[ "You're actually supposed to do that. Antibiotics just kill bacteria. All bacteria, indiscriminatingly. That includes beneficial bacteria, of which we have a LOT. Probiotics help replenish the beneficial bacteria you're supposed to have." ]	[ "Antiviruses hook system calls to add their verification routines. System calls addresses are stored in the system service dispatch table (SSDT). Simply put, when a program wants to open a file, it tells Windows \"Open file.txt please\", and Windows looks at the SSDT where is the function to open a file, and calls ...
Why is the water colour in Flint discoloured?	[ "Anytime I see a yellow/brown colored water I immediately think iron ions in the water. Iron is harmless so if you drink it, there won't be adverse effects. Of course the taste will probably be terrible and if there is iron leaching into the water, who knows what other things are also leaching in there." ]	[ "Your faucet has a screen on it sometimes referred to as a diffuser. If you unscrew the diffuser from the end of the faucet, that probably won't happen anymore." ]
How and why did Latin die?	[ "Latin did not die. Latin is still spoken by millions of people today. We simply call it by other names now because it has evolved over the years: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc. That is Latin. Do you mean why is the classical form of Latin no longer the \"lingua franca\" of the educated classe...	[ "If you were to build a 'super' car, would it be the fastest? The car that uses the least fuel? The one that can carry the most cargo? The one with the most amounts of seats? The one that fits in every parking space because its small? Different people create different languages for different reasons. Some are supe...
Why do Saturn’s Rings form horizontally instead of evenly distributing across the 3D space of the spherical planet?	[ "For the same reason the solar system overall looks like a disk, and galaxies are usually disk-like: That is the only stable arrangement where no more (violent) collisions happen. If you have a spherical arrangement then things will bump into each other all the time. After sufficient time nearly everything either h...	[ "Ken Jordan's group at Pitt does a ton with different ice forms. Here's a link to his group page: _URL_0_ The publications there go into a lot of detail, but here's a bit of a TL;DR: The ice that you and I typically find every day has the oxygens arranged in a hexagonal lattice, but many of the hydrogens are diso...
Why did Britain and France want to give independence to African countries before WWII?	[ "I'm somewhat confused by this question, so let me ask you to clarify: 1) You're writing on the Suez Crisis, but you want to know about attitudes before WWII? Just confirming. 2) What evidence leads you to conclude that \"Britain\" and \"France\" (by which I assume we mean to imply their governments rather than ele...	[ "A trait of sickle-cell Anemia is that it makes the people that have it resistant to Malaria. Now, under normal conditions, having sickle-cell Anemia would be a purely negative trait. However, in areas where Malaria is common, such as sub-Saharan Africa, having Sickle Cell Anemia might actually improve your chances...
If women wear hijabs because appearance doesn't matter, why do they wear make-up	[ "Women don't wear hijab because appearance doesn't matter, they wear it because in their culture it's inappropriate to display their hair/shoulders. They still want to look good, it's just that part of their culture is being modest." ]	[ "For the cathedral, they wouldn't just be building a new roof, it will be a restoration process which takes time. It is also a cultural heritage site which means it's important to history and protected by many rules and laws. Any plan to rebuild should be reviewed and approved by the pertinent authorities and the p...
Why didn't Native American and African civilizations advance at the rate of European and Asian ones?	[ "Regarding Native Americans, you may find /u/snickeringshadow's [answer](_URL_15_) informative. Regarding Africa, and with a dubunking of Jared Diamond's work, you may find /u/khosikulu's [answer](_URL_13_) informative. Additionally, regarding Africa, see /u/snackburros's [answer](_URL_14_)." ]	[ "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...
What would the implications be of controlling respiration over a longer length of time?	[ "The rate at which you breathe is controlled (chiefly) by the pH of your blood. Consciously speeding up or slowing down your respiratory rate might lead to some unwanted consequences related to blood pH like [respiratory acidosis](_URL_1_) (if you slow down your breathing) or [respiratory alkalosis](_URL_0_) (if yo...	[ "Depends on what level the study is at. Look at people who regularly eat lots of red meat and bacon, and compare it to people who don't If there is a difference in cancer rates between the two groups, something is causing a higher rate of cancer. Maybe work place exposure, food, lifestyle etc. Then take genetically...
Why doesn't a vacuum have the temperature of "Absolute Zero"?	[ "A vacuum doesn't have a temperature. Temperature is the kinetic energy of particles. You don't get cold by touching a vacuum because there is nowhere for your heat to go. when you touch a cold object, like ice, you get cold because your molecules knock into the object's molecules, transfering energy, heat, to the...	[ "You have a flask with solvent that has dissolved gasses in it. You close off the flask. You freeze it. At this point, gasses that were dissolved in the solvent are effectively trapped in the solid. When you evacuate the flask, you remove the headspace which is whatever atmosphere was there previously and then rese...
Why is it painful to move your leg after it goes numb?	[ "I assume you're referring to the pins and needles feeling? Your foot \"falling asleep\" results in pressure being put on different nerves or blood vessels so electrical impulses/nutrients and oxygen can't be sent to the limb. So when you adjust your position and relieve that pressure, the nerves start to function...	[ "Our brains didn't evolve with cars in mind. They evolved with, like, being hunted by a jaguar (or whatever) in mind. So your brain doesn't know what to do with a car. It thinks hey, we're sitting, our body's not really doing anything physical, there's very little activity or stimulus... this seems like a good time...
Why is propane fuel used for forklifts but not street cars?	[ "You need pressurized containers that are more dangerous in case of collision/puncture in an accident. Because it needs to be pressurized you need to keep the tank cylindrical or spherical which greatly limits packaging options. I'm pretty sure that for the same range you'd also need a larger tank." ]	[ "Some agents that are physically damaging to the throat will cause damage going up, added to the damage they caused going down. Vomiting is also not ideal in situations where the person could pass out (risking the airway due to continued vomiting while unconscious) or in situations where the chemical can froth up i...
When we are born before we learn any speech, what language do we think in?	[ "shapes, sounds, experiences, pictures. Our thoughts are probably reflective of our current cognitive ability, so, I imagine early stage thinking would have been mostly imagery. And possibly similar to how animals \"think\"." ]	[ "Memories are similar to data stored in a computer - it either reads (looks back on a stored memory) or it writes (logs and saves data / memories). When you’re about to fall asleep, your brain is going from conscious to unconscious, where it won’t write new memories. Without storing information, you don’t remember ...
At a molecular level, why do super hot and super cold objects induce pain when we touch them?	[ "On a basic level... The hotter something is, the faster its molecules move. When you touch a super hot object, it actually damages the cells in the skin because the molecules are excited, and at a certain point, actually begins to overheat the water in the cells. That's what causes burns... As well as actually \"...	[ "Think about how adding Sodium Chloride (table salt) lowers the freezing/melting point of water. The salt molecules interfere in the crystallization process of H2O, meaning that the temperature required for crystallization has to lowered to compensate. [Nak](_URL_0_) a Sodium Potassium alloy, has a lower melting p...
Why military forces use standard-capacity magazines for their rifles if there are magazines with much higher capacity?	[ "Simplicity, low cost and, often overlooked, the means to carry, exchange and manage magazines in the heat of battle would be my guesses. Very large capacity mags tend to be bulky and heavy." ]	[ "Monsanto seeds are not unproductive. Monsanto worked on developing a type of seed that did that, nicknamed the \"Terminator\" seed line. But farmers vocally opposed it, so they stopped development. The thought was that if it escaped or cross-pollinated, it would cause wild plants to stop reproducing, and thus end ...
Whatever happened to those arsenic-based life forms?	[ "Turns out the experiments published were less than convincing. There were quite a few blog posts and letters in Science that went back and forth over the presented data. No one, except maybe the original experimenters, really believes (yet?) that this is a new arsenic-using life form. _URL_2_ _URL_0_ _URL_1_ Some...	[ "When you say \"Does this apply to modern day\", do you mean to ask whether it is still the case that the family of Otanes \"submit[s] to the rule of the king only so far as they themselves choose [and] continues to be the only free family\" in modern-day Iran (or Afghanistan, or Iraq, etc.)? If that's really what ...
How did this DNS change help?	[ "The addresses of every computer on the internet is a number. However humans find it easier to remember words. So instead of typing some long number you type: _URL_0_. DNS is the service which converts the word addresses into numbers. In your case, the DNS that xbox uses must have had the wrong number for HBO Go....	[ "Has she logged into your Google account from her computer? Or has she ever used your IP address?" ]
How come when I tune to a radio station with no reception in my area, I hear static rather than silence?	[ "You, friend, are listening to the background noise of the big bang, fluorescent light fixtures and highly differentiated bits and pieces of past 2.5 Men episodes." ]	[ "TV Stations actually don't really \"pick\" commercials. Stations have advertising slots open for anyone who is willing to pay to advertise there. Now for the advertiser that slot must be worth the money they are paying to sell their product. That's why is you were to watch Nick, Disney or Cartoonnetwork you see a ...
How is a 'sense of impending doom' a medical sign/symptom?	[ "I've had it before, and I guess I'd use the metaphor of, say, try describing an itch to someone who's never felt one before? If you've felt an itch you wouldn't call it intangible, it's very very tangible-feeling even if it is mostly psychological. And everyone who's felt an itch knows exactly what I mean by the w...	[ "Read Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko. It deosn't give an actual reason, but the made up one is pretty cool. Russian distopic modern fantasy. Seriously though, my guess would be either: 1. Extra energy (I sometimes just start running places too.) 2. Seeing a little critter or something that you don't." ]
Why did the UK and France support Finland in the Winter War but not the Continuation War?	[ "The simple answer is simply because Finland allied itself with Germany and fought against their ally, the Soviet Union. During the Winter War, UK and France had not yet allied themselves with the Soviet Union (due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact)." ]	[ "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 was the Vietnam War so protested?	[ "The protests were caused by a few key factors. 1. The War was pointless. - The US got involved in Vietnam due to concerns of communism spreading to South Vietnam. First and foremost, this was simply a proxy war against Russia, which shouldn't have cost 60,000 US citizens their lives. 2. The Draft. - On top of this...	[ "Follow-Up question: Were the Great Leap Forward and Four Pests Campaign disastrous?" ]
How did the Ummayed and the Abbasid caliphates manage to keep ethic tension at a low and maintain their caliphates in the middle east?	[ "For the most part they utilized local rulers and tribal groups to keep the peace. They only directly ruled the central areas of their kingdom and were largely unconcerned with the outlying areas as long as supplies and goods continued to flow and there was no military threat from their enemies" ]	[ "Can you clarify your question? I see a map of a county in AZ detailed with geographic representations, and another map of the town boundaries in MA. You should look at similar maps to compare the 2 [MA](_URL_1_) and [AZ](_URL_3_) If you're asking about the make up of the political boundaries (i.e. Why does AZ not ...
If the pope was able to prosecute Luther in Germany and block his works in England and France, why do we not consider this an empire? Why are Germany and France called nations instead of state's of the Roman Catholic empire?	[ "States* Anyway, this got me thinking about how we frame the past. It seems like nations didn't really exist until the secularization process." ]	[ "Because we aren't german. Germania was the latin name for that area." ]
How do celebrities get their "premium" usernames on social networks (like @justinbieber, etc...)? And if they pay for these usernames, how much? How does such a purchase usually pass off?	[ "Awesome, something that I can answer! Background about me: I currently have over 200 unique twitter usernames that I have 'saved' and occasionally sell to others. Lots of 3 character usernames, with a couple 1/2 letter ones as well. Work for a big brand that spends over 500k monthly on Twitter/FB. If an account d...	[ "Birds do: _URL_0_ > Baby Parrots Learn Their Names From Their Parents > > ... each bird has its own signature call that others use when addressing it and that the bird uses itself in avian “conversation.” Scientists have long wondered where these calls come from. Now, a new study of wild parrots shows that e...
how does "old faithful" erupt so consistently	[ "[It doesn't](_URL_0_), at least, not anymore. The 1983 Borah Peak earthquake set the schedule off balance, and another in 1998 really changed things up. Geysers are fed by underground rivers that lie above a pool of magma. After an eruption, the water begins to fill back up and the pressure increases. Pressure ca...	[ "Yes. That's why the second law is treated as a statistical law in modern times; it governs what will tend to happen, not what absolutely must happen every time." ]
Could humans live on Jupiter or Saturn in floating colonies similar to the ones which have been proposed for use on Venus?	[ "_URL_0_ _URL_3_ _URL_0_#The_Saturnian_system Problems : * Radiation * Gravitational Well Various moons of those two planets are better prospects, particularly Titan of Saturn : _URL_2_" ]	[ "> I’ve seen a lot of scientists say we can’t get through the Van Allen belts Who in particular? Were they working on the Van Allen belts, ionizing radiation in general, or biological impact of ionizing radiation? We can go through them easily, and if you don't spend days there the total dose is not a significant c...
If a person were underfed to the point of stunted growth and delayed puberty, what would carbon-dating their bones reveal?	[ "It would still reveal about when the person died. I don't think current carbon dating methods are going to be accurate to within a decade for example. Carbon dating allows us to deduce when the living material was grown. Dating bones will tell us when the bone was formed but not necesssarily when the organism died...	[ "Obesity is still seen as an ideal look for women by many in [Mauritania](_URL_0_) where some parents who can afford it send their daughters to [fattening farms](_URL_3_). The practice is called leblouh or gavage. Many [African cultures](_URL_1_) prefer a more rounded female figure. This ideal is indeed linked to i...
How did Facebook become so popular? Especially since Myspace used to be so huge.	[ "Facebooked used exclusivity at first to drive demand, then learned from MySpace's mistakes. Remember how MySpace was infested with glitter and sparkle, and six billion videos that crashed your browser because some emo 15 year old thought she was original? Remember how Facebook was having none of that shit? They ...	[ "Cooked something really nice? Show it. Lost a few/lot of extra pounds? Show your transformation off. Have kids that make you feel proud to be their parents? Show why you are. Have cats that you love? Sure why not, just show it, people love animals. People like to show others things that they are proud of." ]
How is secondhand smoke so dangerous even though smokers inhale a much higher volume of smoke for long periods of time before developing health problems?	[ "Both are bad. Smoking the cigarette is really bad, second hand smoke is just bad. While the health effects of primary smoke is very clear, the health effects of second hand smoke are harder to quantify because it depends on how much you are around smokers, for how long, etc. It's very clear that exposure to cigare...	[ "Heat is transferred in different ways, and some of these go into your car, but not out. This is the \"greenhouse effect\". Heat from the sun arrives on Earth in the form of radiation. Radiation can pass through air, and through your car windscreen. But it gets absorbed by the things in your car, like the seats and...
Why does drinking water and it hitting stomach acid not have the same affect as pouring water into acid in a science class?	[ "For one things, different acids are different chemicals and would react to water differently. For another, the water you drink is not hitting pure acid. It's hitting a slurry of partially digested food and the acid breaking it down. If your stomach is empty than I don't believe there is acid in it at the time. ...	[ "If you have ever seen a meniscus in a graduated cylinder you will have your answer. Water will climb the sides but even if you fill water up to the top of the cylinder the water will not climb over the top. Having something above the top (like a pool of water) is only going to exert pressure against this climbing ...
Why does water in tropical areas look so crystal clear and light blue, but in other areas is darker blue and murky?	[ "Lack of nutrients/plankton/sediments. The ocean near Louisiana/Texas is murky due to outflow of Mississippi river. The water near Galveston is usually pretty brown but turned clear recently due to change in currents. _URL_0_" ]	[ "There's fluid within tiny tubes in your ears, and these tubes have hairs on them. Your brain pays attention to these hairs and how the fluid moves them in order to figure out where you are in space and how you're moving, but it also uses what your eyes see. Normally, your eyes and ears tell your brain the same thi...
How do we know that red shift means the universe is expanding vs. things just being red?	[ "We're not just looking at the actual color. We take a prism, which is something that \"refracts\" light into all its different wavelengths (like a rainbow), and filter incoming light through it. But the light an object emits will have gaps in its rainbow, because its atoms are absorbing light at those particular w...	[ "The biggest proof isn’t exactly mathematical but observed. There is a 4 kelvin background radiation uniformly spread everywhere we look. It is thought to be the remnants of the explosion. Nasa actually has a pretty comprehensive list _URL_0_ It was less like someone sat down and did the math and more like someone ...
Why have some South Africans been attacking migrants recently?	[ "The king of one of the more sizable South African ethnic groups stated in an interview that foreigners were taking jobs and that they needed to \"go home\". He's since said the newspapers falsified this quote, but many people who recognize him as a leader have acted on this statement to try and force migrants from...	[ "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...
Did people from previous centuries have a "'90s, 80's, 70's-type cultural thing?	[ "You may be interested in some of these previous questions: * [When in the past did year abbreviations switch over (ex, '90s to 1890s vs 1990s)?](_URL_2_) * [When did people begin referring to decades as unique time periods, culturally. As in what the 'the 80s' suggests today. For people in 1901 did 'the 1880s' car...	[ "I initially was extremely sceptical, as the thread question is both wide-ranging and oddly specific. However, reading your explanatory post I got a much better idea of what it was you are looking for. You raise several valid points and I think the questions you are asking are interesting ones. But you mostly answe...
Why don't airplanes use the same seatbelts as cars do? Or vice versa?	[ "Well, airplanes don't because there isn't anywhere to attach the shoulder belt. The seats aren't strong enough for that. Small aircraft typically have 3 or 4point harnesses." ]	[ "Becsuse all tux's basically look the same, just different sizes and are a basic loose fit. Easy for many men to wear the same thing. But theres a bajillion styles of wedding dresses and different styles for different shapes and they're usually fitted. Odds of finding a generic sized dress in a style you like that ...
Why is a fast food burger that is 100% Beef less healthy for me than a 100% Beef burger I make at home?	[ "Eating burgers at home every day also would be bad for you. There's nothing inherently unhealthy about a burger, even if it's a little high in fat & salt. The fast food experience, OTOH, where you pair that burger with a big cup of sugary soda & a big basket of deep-fried potatoes, is getting you into a place ...	[ "Your blu-ray was probably a remastered version. The original physical film that the movie was recorded on is extremely high resolution so if they make the blu-ray from that, it's high quality. An older copy of the movie is low quality because you're watching it from a VHS tape, which is both low res and can degrad...
How much fossil fuel usage do electric cars save (compared with gas engines) as the electricity they use is often generated from fossil fuels anyway?	[ "They don't really save that much in fossil fuels if they are powered by them originally, but you can't power a gasoline car with hydroelectric, or solar, or wind, or nuclear power. But another major benefit is that even if you ultimately use fossil fuels to power an electric car, those fuels can be burned in a pow...	[ "I would really like to hear an educated answer too, but in lieu of that... Fiberoptic cable transmits data using pulses of light, as opposed to electrical pulses on standard wires. As such, they can only be used to send signals, not as power lines, and each end of the cable needs a special light sensor/emitter to...
Why does soap make water bubbly?	[ "A bit of basic chemistry here. A soap molecule has a part that \"likes\" water and an end that doesn't like water so much. What happens is that all the soap molecules arrange them self in a way which traps a thin lay of water between them in a double soap layer. Imagine 50 people lying on the ground shoulder to sh...	[ "It's an [autonomic response](_URL_0_) which may be triggered by your visual observation of the bubble. Your nervous system can anticipate things, and something like a moving bubble near your arm could trigger that. Do some science: for example, do you feel it when the bubble isn't in your field of view? How about ...
What is the importance of irrational numbers?	[ "even the square roots of certain numbers (like 2) are irrational. pi and e are in a sense even more.. let's say you need to put in more work to describe them. the roots are zeros of polynomials with rational coefficients. pi and e aren't. when you start out with rational numbers (ie fractions of integers ) and co...	[ "When you take any medication, someone has to have calculated how long the drug lasts at each dosage level. They have determined the correct dose for each body weight. They know how that medication is affected by other drugs, including how the duration or decay rate changes. To do these types of calculations, scien...
Why does a blue LED light show up brighter in my peripheral vision than staring directly at it?	[ "Your retina contains two types of photocell; rods and cones. Cones are concentrated strongly at the centre of your vision and are responsible for detailed and colour vision. Rods are concentrated at the periphery of the retina and cannot sense colour or fine detail, but are much, much more sensitive to light. They...	[ "The photon from the laser pointer will travel infinity until something stop it. But the laser itself contains million of photons, and the further they travel, the further they are away from each other. You can test it yourself by pointing at something and walk closer, the dot become smaller but more clear, walk ba...
Why was the Lebanese Space Program so advanced, and what happened to it?	[ "I'd be interested to know whether, and to what extent, it would have been subsumed into French aerospace programs (and eventually the European Space Agency) and continued there." ]	[ "Back then people still needed jobs, now they dont and can practice harder for longer. And science helps by showing then methods on improving motions. You cam find cool videos on youtube" ]
In Gangs of New York, there's a scene where Irish immigrants disembark the boat they traveled to America on, sign one paper giving them citizenship, and another enlisting them in the Union army. Were new immigrants enlisted this easily? Did this affect immigration?	[ "Similarly, what was the immigration policy like for the confederacy?" ]	[ "Selective Service is basically the register for the draft. It categorizes all males 18-25 on their eligibility status for service. If the US ever enacts a draft this list will be used to fill the ranks of the armed forces. It's largely not a big deal and is essentially an insurance policy for the US in times of ne...
Durring the week i can get 8 hours of sleep and feel like i got 2, but durring the weekend i can get 5 hours of sleep and feel like i got 10. Why?	[ "When you sleep, you're doing it in cycles that last roughly 90 minutes. Interrupting these cycles mean that your brain doesn't quite finish the recharging it normally does during sleep, and you will feel more tired and like you only got a few hours of sleep. During the weekend, you are probably waking up naturally...	[ "Everything your brain does requires energy, including \"nothing.\" Specifically, to stop yourself from having certain types of thoughts (let's call them \"dumb ideas\"), other parts of your brain capable of critical thinking, evaluation, scenario modeling & if-then extrapolation have to exert metabolic energy. Lat...
Do the muscles of animals work the same as the muscles of humans in regards to growth?	[ "Their muscles are like ours, responsive to conditioning but limited by genetics. Sporting animals will have a different body composition compared to their couch potato counterparts. Their muscles also atrophy like ours, for example if casted after a break or retired from athletics. Source: none." ]	[ "The current recommended training regime of astronauts on ISS will keep most of their muscle mass and bone density or even increase them in places. There is still some refinements needed to make it perfect as there is some issues with bone density in the pelvic region as the astronauts do not balance enough when th...
Did people in the Elizabethan Era believe that bathing removed the purity of baptism and is this why people rarely bathed?	[ "Not to discourage further responses, but here are some earlier answers on bathing during this period: u/sunagainstgold on [Is it true that baths and personal hygiene were considered dangerous for your health during the 16th/17th century in Europe?] (_URL_0_) u/notepaperpen on [What was hygiene like in medieva...	[ "As a reminder, [top-level answers](_URL_0_) in this community need to be \"comprehensive and imformative.\" Single-links to Wikipedia and unsourced opinions do not clear that bar. This question already rests on a part of history hamstrung by the fuzzy diagnostics of diseases in the past and an almost unavoidable b...
How does someone source a history book? What's to stop me writing a book about history and making it all up?	[ "You would source documents and records of the time as well as statements from people who were alive at that time. Just because it happened some time in the past doesn't make the writing exempt from needing reliable and accurate sources in order to back up its claims." ]	[ "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." ]
The other day there was a woman who controlled a robotic arm with her mind. Could someone attempt to Eli5 how the interfacing mechanism works with the brain?	[ "They mapped her brain activity and used the information writing the program that controlled the arm. The Doctors told her to think about moving her arm at the shoulder in all different directions, this caused brain activity in certain, specific areas; the Docs record this information and applied it to the program....	[ "> How did we get metal to think? By: * building an electrical component (transistor) where a voltage on one line can act as a very fast switch on a different line. * finding a super-miniuaturized production process for these components. * wiring them together in increasingly complex systems to store numbers, do c...
Is our sense of time affected by the rate of chemical reactions?	[ "It is much more complicated than that, and is a very active area of research. A professor at my school, David Eagleman, studies this stuff. He's a complete badass, check him out: _URL_0_ edit: one of his famous experiments involves using magnetic energy to slow the propagation of some signals in the brain, and i...	[ "Im pretty sure its because you actually fell back asleep those moments it seems to go by in a flash... because you lost consciousness." ]
Why do computers become slower over time?	[ "Several things. On an installation level, each program you install adds 'weight' to the operating system by giving it more tasks. These aren't always removed cleanly when you uninstall, which makes it important to reimage your computer about every year. Additionally, if you use a standard hard disk drive, the driv...	[ "a program is like a piece of cloth occasionally a hole is found so you put a patch on it but the cloth remains the same size when you want to make a cloth a blanket then you make it bigger this is called bloat" ]
[US Legal Question] How can a mandatory blood draw at a DUI checkpoint be legal?	[ "when you get your license, you agree to consent to all BAC testing. if you dont, they take your license. driving isnt a right, its a privilege." ]	[ "Because politicians pass laws that appeal to emotion in order to get votes rather than actually analyze the existing law for necessary changes. A politician has a hard time running on bills he or she didn't help pass." ]
what's actually happening to us when we "burnout"?	[ "Will power is finite. It's not an unending well like some people would like you to think. For those that willpower comes easy to, they can by very dismissive of those for whom it comes very difficult. Might take you 5 will powers to not eat that cookie. Might take someone else 50 will powers. There are things tha...	[ "I'm sorry that I'm no expert, but I remember reading about this the last time a similar question was asked: _URL_0_ Basically, you percieve time faster after your run because of endorphines released during the work out, which means that the music seems slower. This is apparently also why a lot of rock musicians pl...
Why, when singing, do people's accents become less pronounced?	[ "I actually read a really cool article about this a couple of days ago! [One of the reasons is that the rhythm and melody of a song can constrain a singer's natural speech so that their accent appears to disappear.](_URL_0_) Accents come from variations in cadence and intonation in speech. These variations are ofte...	[ "The pitch is the same. It can be altered but is not. Your radio is not producing the bass portion as well as the other two. So you pay attention to the treble part more." ]
Has casual clothing existed throughout history, and how have its styles changed in different time periods? For example, what might Genghis Khan, Caesar, or Napoleon, have felt comfortable wearing at home on a quiet evening?	[ "I'm sure examples of casual clothing abound throughout history, but my favorite is that of Thomas Jefferson. When Senator William Plumer arrived to meet Jefferson at the President's House in Washington, D.C. on 1802, the president was \"dressed, or rather undressed, with an old brown coat, red waist-coat, old cord...	[ "Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_2_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t...
When you bump, scrape, or acutely injure yourself, why does it instantly feel better simply by putting your hand over the injury?	[ "Your nerves are mostly sending either pain or pressure signals to your brain. However, they can only send one signal at a time, and pressure takes priority over pain. So when you get hurt and apply pressure, your body thinks \"ok there's pain and pressure but since we can only send one signal to this meatbags brai...	[ "Ecologist here- I can't cite anything specific right now since I'm at work and don't have the time to do research but from a behavior standpoint tapping objects could be from positive reinforcement from a learned behavior. E.g. You're standing in line at a fast food joint waiting for someone to take your order. Y...
Why can't you put metal in the microwave?	[ "You can, but it's going to kill your microwave. The flat metal case around the microwave will ground the microwave energy away from the magnatron . A sharp object like a fork in a bowl is going to collect that excess energy till the electric potential sparks to a wall. These energy burst also cause feedback in the...	[ "We're not supposed to use our phones at gas stations?" ]

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