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Why does America drive on the opposite side of the road compared to England or other countries? | [
"Whoa. The vast majority of the world drives on the right, the UK and a few others are the weird ones :) [the distribution can be seen clearly in this graphic](_URL_1_) But...as for \"why\"? The [history section on Wikipedia](_URL_0_) covers it well. But...the TL;DR would be that we don't really know why it evolved... | [
"Get a protractor, tape or glue a straw to the straight edge, and tie a weighed down string to the middle. When you get on the plane, look down the straw at a star that you can easily pick out from the night sky (hope you're travelling at night!) and is viewable from both hemispheres, and mark where the string hang... |
Why do most mammals have the same colors? | [
"So, you're a mouse, or badger, or whatever. You're walking through the woods. You are surrounded by brown tree trunks, brown undergrowth, and brown dirt. What color do you want to be when a wolf or eagle looks in your direction? Or, thinking evolutionarily, if you are a beautiful pink badger, what do you think is ... | [
"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... |
Studying history at MA and Phd level. | [
"> Also is there a good site for listing different careers in history * _URL_2_ * _URL_3_ * _URL_1_ * _URL_0_ > but what can I do beyond that to increase my chances of getting into a top uni that will also make me a better/more knowledgable historian? * read, read, read. different time periods, methods, areas... a... | [
"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."
] |
Who came up with the idea that dying in battle led to afterlife rewards? | [
"a crafty warlord that needed to rouse troops in order to fight under false pretenses in order to promote his sole agenda."
] | [
"Not a historian, just someone who likes to lurk and learn new things, but I can maybe point you to a few similar questions I’ve seen about kids and their obsessions while you wait to hear from an expert. [This post](_URL_2_) has an ancient Roman source from u/rkiga that mentions a toddler obsessed with birds. Furt... |
Why can OLED tvs be so thin compared to a LED tv? | [
"LCDs can be made very, very thin as well. It just hasn't been a real selling point outside of the phone and laptop universe. But in the phone world, there's essentially no difference in thickness between OLED or LCD phones, and televisions made to chase maximal thinness would be very close as well. But stripped do... | [
"Here's a pretty good explainer. _URL_0_ Basically it comes down to different memory, different promises (reliability and service life), and different marketing."
] |
Can you recommend a good biography about Alexander Hamilton? | [
"For Hamilton's role as Treasury Secretary I'd recommend Ron Chernow's biography. It's not as strong on Hamilton's role as a soldier in my opinion, or the political situation generally, but it really shows Hamilton's brilliance on the establishing the financial health of the new country."
] | [
"I see several versions available online. [This](_URL_0_) one looks pretty comprehensive, though I haven't used it myself. That link is part of a [larger project](_URL_1_) that put Charles Keppler's *Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties* online."
] |
Why is peanut butter and jelly not a regular sandwich at restaurants while every other sandwich type is? | [
"PB & J is very cheap and easy to prepare. Restraunts that cater to convenience have to produce meals at a quality and for a price that customers would rather pay for than use their own time and resources to make. Things like ham sandwiches will be made with nicer meats, cheeses, and breads than the average person ... | [
"Here's a typical example: In multiple airlines around the world men are forbidden to sit next to children. If you're a man, you're assumed to be 1. a paedophile and 2. a child molester. It's actual company **policy**. It's like a black person being forbidden to enter a store without being escorted by a white staff... |
What's the youngest acceptable age to start drinking alcohol? | [
"There are minimum age laws because there is really no way to measure something subjective like maturity. So government uses a metric that is objective, like the age of legal adulthood or some other number, because it is measurable and enforceable with the lowest cost. In my anecdotal experience, I haven't met man... | [
"We are a pharma loving people. There is a newer prescription pill epidemic and I think it partially reflects that. People tend to think that because someone gets a prescription for these pills that they are safe and sanctioned. And in ways it is better than heroin in that it is regulated. However, many people are ... |
Why do some people nap on the daily while others do not? | [
"Well i dont sleep good at night time very often, so when i get home from school i crash right away. Im guessing its just based on your body clock and what time you eat/go to sleep. Basically it just depends what your daily schedule is...."
] | [
"I can't remember 100%, but in uni I remembering learning about how genetics is a huge factor, but of course environment plays a role too. So neurons in general have to reach a certain threshold to \"synapse,\" and in the case of pain/sensory neurons, the synapse=pain felt. If you have a higher threshold to reach i... |
How is alcoholism hereditary? | [
"There is some evidence that people have a genetic predisposition to addiction. Your dad's brain and body might react a little different to alcohol than everyone else. Enough that he becomes addicted to it easier than a normal person would. This genetic trait *could* be passed on to you. However do no discount the ... | [
"You specifically mention Scotch whisky. Don't forget that the aging is carried out in barrels at the distillery and not, for example, in the bottle after being shipped out. For Scotch whiskies the distilleries are in Scotland, so there was nothing stopping them carrying on producing and aging whisky as usual durin... |
What is equity and how does it work? | [
"Equity is ownership stake. Basically they are saying that they're giving you a $10k ownership stake in the business (ie. shares in the company). In order to actually get it you need to stay a year to get the first 1/4, and then you gain more each quarter you stay after that."
] | [
"Here's a tidbit from getting mail back from the exploration expeditions in the late 1700s and early 1800s back from, say, Africa, or at least Mungo Park did this when he set out looking for the Niger and many others under Joseph Banks did the same. On the back of these letters, they'd say that whoever delivered th... |
Why does a cars power and/or torque drop off at higher revs? | [
"Power usually increases with RPM, but so does the inefficiencies of the engine and drive train (power loss due to friction / heat). Early on, the change in power gained exceeds the change in power loss, right up until you approach the optimal power range. As you try to increase the rotational speed of the cranksha... | [
"The memory leak comment is wrong. I am a network engineer. I agree with the torrent explanation. Are you running torrent software? If not, there is probably something else on your laptop that's using bandwidth and is interrupted when you disconnect. Malware for example. Edit: I agree with /u/MojarraMuncher that th... |
How does an electric arc choose it’s path in air (ex: a lightning bolt or Tesla coil)? | [
"If you watch a [slow-motion video](_URL_1_) of a lightning strike, you'll see that before it hits the ground it sends out small \"feelers\" that go out somewhat randomly, but mostly downwards. Once one touches the ground, the path it took gets very bright (this is the most visible part of a lightning strike) as it... | [
"Neither. The planets orbit the Sun in circles (to a good approximation). That means they stay at the same distance. That is not useful if you want to go to other planets or leave the solar system. Interplanetary probes follow elliptic orbits. To get to Mars, for example, the orbit has its perihelion (the closest p... |
Why do some people buy branded drugs if there is an equivalent generic drug available? | [
"All the other reasons people are giving are valid, but I think for the majority of people it's down to advertising, pretty packaging, and the idea that spending more will get you something that's better."
] | [
"In short, marketing. Long answer, just repeat that phrase like you're [Steve Ballmer at the MIX '08 conference] (_URL_0_). Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), and co marketed the hell out of Bottled Water claiming all these health benefits and the \"purity\" of it and how much \"better\" it was for you compared ... |
Why doesn't the phase velocity of light carry useful information? | [
"Imagine you have a light source (currently off) at one end of a medium and a detector at the other end. The medium is one light-second long. The group velocity of the frequency you're sending in this medium is 0.5 c, while the phase velocity is 2 c. After you turn on the source, the detector will start receiving l... | [
"It can and does. Check out the double-slit experiment. _URL_0_"
] |
Why doesn’t the LHC use an extra electric field to curve its beams instead of relying on magnets and the Lorentz force? Wouldn’t it be possible to have another electric field coming from the “sides”? | [
"Magnetic fields are more convenient for bending/focusing elements at high beam velocities than electrostatic devices. Electrostatic methods are used for very low-velocity beams (typical v/c ~ 0.05 or less). After the pre-acceleration is done and the beam has been injected into some larger accelerator, magnetic met... | [
"It's not voodoo magic. It's kind of like brushing your hair. When you get up in the morning, your hair (assuming you have more hair on your head than I do) is all tangled from tossing and turning and all that other jazz. This is what regular light coming from, say, a light bulb looks like. It's all tangled and sca... |
How does an induction cooking top work? | [
"If you pass current though a wire it is going to make a magnetic field around it. Similarly if you change the magnetic field around a wire you will make a current in the wire. So if you have two coils of wires close together and continuously alter the direction of the current though one you will get an alternating... | [
"The next time you're on a highway, look for pairs of embedded inductive loops in the roadbed. By measuring how long it takes a vehicle to pass between the two loops an accurate measurement of vehicle speed can be calculated. Since we know the distance to the next exit and the velocity of vehicles passing through, ... |
How were new kingdoms and powers formed, especially when they occupied the same mass of land | [
"Empires aren't held together by magic or some law of nature. An emperor has to make sure that their subjects are too content, too afraid, or too weak to rebel. That takes skill and luck and it's very easy to get it wrong."
] | [
"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 ... |
Why do people still inhabit areas which are susceptible to high-impact tropical storms, and other weather disasters? | [
"Every area is susceptible to some kind of disaster. We still need access to ports/ vacation areas (hurricanes/tsunamis), timber (forest fires), agriculture (tornadoes), movies and computer parts (earthquakes/forest fires/droughts/mudslides). It's just \"the cost of doing business.\""
] | [
"Sugar tastes good. When faced with a choice between that which is smart and that which is pleasing, most people will spend their money on the latter. A business exists to sell people what they *want* to buy, not what some might feel they *should* buy."
] |
Why does going outside to get some "fresh air" genuinely seem to help with headaches/feeling ill? | [
"Many possible reasons, including psychological factors, but a big one is that, even in an urban area, indoor air can be up to ten times more polluted than outdoor air given conventional ventilation and latently toxic building and finishing materials."
] | [
"As /u/SwedishBoatlover has said it causes the blood in your body to increase in pH. Everything in your body, including the CO2 that you produce, exists in an equilibrium. Our bodies were designed to have certain ratios of these things in our system and it relies on them to keep everything normal. In the case of yo... |
how does spinning make thread longer than the fibers of the raw material without falling apart when pulled? | [
"It's actually quite amazing, though on the scale you are speaking of it can be easily defunct by some finger work, it's actually all friction. The best way to explain it is to see it. Check out one of the best mythbuster episodes of all time to really understand what I'm talking about. Here's a clip from it -_URL_... | [
"[Angular momentum again](_URL_0_). It's the same reason solar systems have (most of) their planets lined up in one plane rather than orbiting all over the place (and why spiral galaxies are flat spirals). A rotating cloud of matter tends to collapse into a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation."
] |
Were there calls to polish the Statue of Liberty, when it was turning green? | [
"[This older answer might be of interest for you](_URL_0_)."
] | [
"Hiya. I do quite a bit of cell culture, so here goes. I would assume that the GS Supplement is causing your problem. A precipitate forming is certainly a major issue. I'm assuming that the Glutamic acid was what salted out, and is essential for Glutamine synthesis. As for the nucleotides instead of the nucleoside... |
Why are fish not scared of bigger animals like turtles, manatees or alligators when they are close by but completely freak out when a human swims close to them? | [
"Because they recognize things that are not a threat, and they don't recognize people. Think of how comfortable you are around airplanes and helicopters, but what if an alien spaceship came along."
] | [
"There are little tubes inside of your ear that have water in them. Normally, they help you tell which direction you're turning. Try it! Close your eyes and sit in a chair, and have your parent turn you in a circle. You can tell you're turning, right? Even though your eyes cant see anything, those tubes in your ear... |
Jean Jacques Rousseau's social contract | [
"Imagine a city with no streets or no road signals. Although it makes it extremely fast to get from point A to point B, you never really feel safe because everybody is driving around independantly. One day, the city proposes to build roads and signs to avoid crashes. Now although this makes you mad because you can... | [
"I think his creation of the Jefferson Bible sheds some light on his beliefs, at least in terms of religion and morals. _URL_0_"
] |
Were there any instances of animals which have been observed of naming humans? | [
"I know that crows, at least, can recognize individual humans, and adjust their behavior accordingly. I have also heard that groundhogs have specific names for 'blue square' vs 'blue rectangle' or 'red square'. I think I remember reading that they figured out 'brown haired researcher wearing green shirt' or somethi... | [
"A follow up question: Is it possible that they are potentially as smart as we are, but the lack of hands, appropriate communication (etc.) limits their ability to develop their potential?"
] |
If antibacterial soap is pretty much bullshit (i.e., regular soap just as good for washing hands), why do surgeons disinfect their hands prior to operation? Why not just lather those hands up with a bar of Irish Spring? | [
"They use far more than mere antibacterial soaps. Chlorohexidine, iodine-based solutions, alcohol, etc. _URL_2_ _URL_0_ _URL_1_"
] | [
"Say you have a hammer and nail. If the hammer head is bigger than the nail, then the force of the hammer is distributed evenly against the head of the nail. The nail will go straight into the wood. Now say you have a hammer and a nail, but the nail head is bigger than the hammer. When you hit the hammer against t... |
Why does America drive with automatic transmission for the most part, while most of the world still drives manual transmissions? | [
"1) Current automatic transmissions are actually more efficient than manuals. 2) Very small diesel engines never caught on in the US. 3) US tends to have more powerful vehicles, so small efficiencies from manual are not needed. 4) Manual sucks in stop and go traffic. I like a stick, but I understand why a lot of pe... | [
"Up until the 90s Doctors heavily recommended circumcision in the US and most people simply do what the doctor recommends. There is not real religious motivation to is despite what many claim, it is simply that the doctors say it is good so it must be good. You also have social inertia that you must overcome. It i... |
I have been studying a map of France, which looks nothing like modern day France, instead there are a bunch of tiny "nations" surrounding it. Why was France broken into theses tiny nations/vassals? | [
"Hey there! To help our resident French history experts, could you perhaps post this map or at least give a date on what time in French history it is showing?"
] | [
"Mexico did internally split: Texas revolted and went its own way. Remember, it was its own country for about 10 years before joining the US. Besides that, there were other internal splits. The Republic of the Rio Grande was a short-lived attempt at establishing an independent state in northern Mexico. There was a ... |
How/why do ions (or atoms) of the same group in the periodic table (such as Lithium/Sodium, Magnesium/Calcium, Nitrogen/Arsenic, etc.) have such different effects on the body's metabolism? Aren't elements that share groups generally supposed to have similar reactive properties? | [
"They have similar chemical properties. In the body however, reactiveness is not the point. Ions often bind to different receptors or flow through channels, where the only significant property is ion size, charge and hydrodynamic radius, so how much water is around the ion. Potassium is bigger than sodium, which is... | [
"Crickets, like all other insects, are cold-blooded. They take on the temperature of their surroundings. Many characteristics of cold-blooded animals, like the rate at which crickets chirp, or the speed at which ants walk, follow an equation called the Arrhenius equation. This equation describes the activation ener... |
What is the difference between waiting for the tea to blend with the water and blending it by force? | [
"Your method doesn´t give the tea enough time to steep and infuse the water with taste. Dipping the tea bag in and out doesn´t make a difference in taste or speed of infusion. However the water get´s colored more evenly faster because instead of waiting for natural dispersion the dipping basically whirls the water.... | [
"Part of the enjoyment of steak is the texture, and how as you chew flavorful fats and oils are releases. Also, as a solid block, your steak retains its heat for longer. But ones you pulverize it, all the texture is broken down, all the fats and oils are released and diluted, and it cools much more quickly."
] |
Do calories *exist* or or they just a measurement of energy like kilograms or meters? | [
"Calories are a unit of energy (IIRC 1 calorie ~= 4J) when you're speaking of food calories though you're actually talking about kilocalories, or 1000 calories. Bit weird, not sure why they did that. Also, meters aren't a unit of energy"
] | [
"using \"exothermic\" chemistery \\(reactions that release heat\\) and by muscle movement \\(which again uses up a lot of molecules in exothermic reactions as well as friction between the muscle cells during movement\\) Energy is usually stored as fat. Fat gets converted back into glucose which your body can use to... |
why is it that when we put cold feet in hot water it feels like it's burning more, but when we put hot feet in cold water it's relieving? | [
"The direction of heat transfer. When you're putting your cold feet in hot water, the hot water is transferring its heat to your feet and trying to reach equilibrium. There's a huge difference in temperature between your feet and the water so a lot of heat is transferred, so it feels extra hot. The opposite is true... | [
"So let's consider magnitude here. \"Near frozen\" water is around 0 degrees C (32 degrees F). \"Room temperature\" for humans is around 20 degrees C (70 degrees F). So our near frozen water is about 20 (38) degrees off from \"comfortable\". Boiling water is 100 degrees C (212 degrees F). By the same math it is aro... |
How do baby turtles instinctively know to head straight for the sea after they hatch? | [
"They use light, to determine which direction to go towards, since water is reflective. There has been a big issue in places like Costa Rica to replace street lamps and beachfront property lights with turtle friendly lights (I believe using pure yellow lights in the form of sodium lamps) or at least shield the beac... | [
"It's arbitrary. Before cars were invented, there wasn't a set way to go --- on a super-busy street in a big city, lanes would naturally tend to develop. But otherwise it was pretty much a free-for all, because horses are smart enough not to crash into each other 99.9 percent of the time. You can check out old pict... |
How can frogs survive being frozen during winter ? | [
"As long as cells are alive, organ can restart. The cells of these frog synthesize special proteins and trap glucose in high concentrations to act in similar to anti freeze. These prevent crystallization and cells survive. Cooling reduces metabolic activity of cells by inactivating enzymes and thus protecting them ... | [
"Here is a link to help. They basically have a tube that is separate from their throat, so they do not choke [click here](_URL_0_)"
] |
Do bacterial ecosystems develop in beards? | [
"I'm not sure if anyone has yet investigated the beard-ome, but there is at least this classic paper on the risks of bearded microbiologists: _URL_0_ There are of course bacteria in our beards of some sort or other -probably lots of *Staphylococcus* at the very least- but I don't know if they harbor a particularly ... | [
"_URL_0_ study linked in other link _URL_1_ page 1136 has the key graph world war 1 and 2 had a pretty major impact on getting a generation of americans to keep a clean shaven look forced on them by the military. for this i'm assuming politicians aren't any different from the normal man. interestingly the safet... |
AAA Batteries even in unused devices drain after first time use ? | [
"I don't think a first use has much to do with anything. All batteries slowly self-discharge over time, even when not used at all and sitting on a shelf. Some rechargeables at a rate as high as 30% per month, which is why NiMH rechargeables aren't the best choice for a remote. In a well made, simple remote, no powe... | [
"Mostly because the programmer that wrote them was lazy. He's using a SDK that simplifies access to different parts of the phone, such as accessing the gallery, accessing contacts, an so on. The default state is that all modules are active, then the programmer should deactivate the modules not used. If he doesn't, ... |
How are humans able to imagine things that don't exist or could not possibly exist? | [
"Human's greatest ability and the secret to our success is our ability to recognize and use patterns. Speech, writing, music, math, science, and all our other accomplishments are patterns that build upon the knowledge of the humans before us. Imagining something that does not exist is just figuring out something th... | [
"There is some evidence that mental imagery reactivates parts of visual cortex (including early visual cortex) that are active during perception in a top-down manner due to feedback from higher level visual areas. See the work of Stephen Kosslyn (a simple Google scholar search will turn up a slew of papers from his... |
Why is police hearsay allowed to be used against you but not for you in a court of law? | [
"That's not hearsay. That's direct witness testimony. \"During questioning he said he did it\" and \"During questioning he said he didn't do it\" are both exactly the same thing, legally speaking."
] | [
"When you tell a child \"don't ever lick cold metal\", you'll often find the kid with his tongue stuck to a metal pole as soon as you turn your back, even though it would never even think to do that if you said nothing. It's called reverse pshychology, and it applies to most people. You could say we just don't like... |
What makes water such a pure compound for all living organisms? | [
"I don't understand the question. Do you mean what makes water such an essential compound for living organisms?"
] | [
"Simply put, it is the most effective at what it does. This is sort of like how we use (potentially) deadly poison's for anesthesia. There are other potential options (botox for cosmetic surgery is basically a paralyzing agent), but none last as long and work as efficiently, so we don't use them. With anesthesia t... |
why do facial muscles(such as the ones near the eye) just randomly start twitching and lasts days? | [
"Dehydration causes electrolyte imbalances. This causes random firing of neurons that innervate muscle fibers causing them to twitch."
] | [
"Mirror neurons are a special type of neuron family that fire both when the organisms behavior is performed and when behavior is observed. The simplest to understand type is the motor mirror neuron. These neurons will fire similarly when performing an action (i.e. grasping something) and when observing that same ac... |
If nicotine increases the flow of adrenaline why does it feel relaxing? | [
"Because of nicotine addiction. You are feeling relaxed because when you smoke you are returning your body to the level of nicotine it is used to. If you aren't a regular smoker, nicotine has a much more stimulating effect."
] | [
"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 does our skin absorb poison but not water? | [
"Below comment is not true, pruning isn't caused by your skin absorbing water. Not all poison can pass through your skin. It's just a matter of the chemical in question and how it interacts with the outer layer of skin. Water can't pass through that layer, but other chemicals might. If you could absorb water one wa... | [
"One of the things to remember here is that children are not just short adults. Many of the body systems work differently, and that includes the immune system. The immune response of the adult is, in some cases, more potentially damaging to the person than the immune response of the child would be. Also, children a... |
As a kid, I could push out my stomach to make myself look fat. Why do I seem to have lost that ability? | [
"I don't know. But I don't push my stomach out anymore, I suck it in. Haha"
] | [
"You can compare it to trying to move a 10 kg box filled with marbles, and 5 kg of marbles without a box. For some reason moving the marbles are easier when they are in a box, even though you are moving more."
] |
Why is the city of Babylon uninhabited? | [
"Not to discourage further discussion in this thread, but /u/Daeres discussed the issue of Babylon's abandonment here: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Costs money to build and maintain the facilities, some countries don't feel like taking on the burden of that cost."
] |
How did carrier pigeons know where people wanted them to go? | [
"They didn't. Every carrier pigeon has one place that is their \"home\". They can always find their way home, no matter where they are released. But that's all they can do, so they're only able to deliver messages one-way, to one place."
] | [
"IP addresses can be used for a rudimentary location fix, but they're typically rather inaccurate (limited to the general region at best). Much better location data can be obtained by analyzing which WiFi networks your device is able to see. Google has a database of WiFi networks and their physical location (send f... |
How come, let’s say, your neck isn’t sore after you do 50 curl ups, but it is sore the next morning? | [
"Soreness often isn’t directly caused by exertion, but rather by your body’s process of repairing your muscles. So for some muscle groups this can be delayed quite a bit (like in your example)."
] | [
"There is a big difference between those 2 things: One requires more muscle mass. More muscle mass can generate more force. When you lift a weight you can slowly activate more muscles fibres contraction generating more and more force until it is enough to start lifting the object. Running on the other hand is a ver... |
How does wasting electricity actually have a negative impact on the environment? | [
"> It's not like the energy you don't waste is stored, from what I know that's impossible. Electricity doesn't come from nowhere, it needs to be generated which in most cases means burning fossil fuels. If you consume electricity it means the generators must work harder and burn more fuel in order to maintain the s... | [
"Most water first has to go thru a treatment plant before it gets to your toilet. If everyone uses too much water, the treatment plant can't keep up with the demand and we end up with a water shortage."
] |
The Tarantino Universe. | [
"In Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace (played by Uma Thurman) tells Vincent that she was an actress on the pilot episode of a TV show called Fox Force Five. The characters she describes in the TV show reappear in Kill Bill, which she also stars in. _URL_0_"
] | [
"As many as you choose to include in your theory. Do you have a specific QFT in mind, like the Standard Model?"
] |
Is it possible to alter the epigenetic structure of a zygote? | [
"Theres 3 different is it possibles to this situation; 1. Is it theoretically possible; it is _URL_0_ 2. Is it ethical; unclear, changing epigenetics can directly influence major factors in a human. Its the old designer baby dilemma ( _URL_1_) 3. Is it safe? unclear due to lack of studies"
] | [
"Tissue engineering - What are some ways to measure cell viability in 3D scaffolds besides MTT, CyQuant, live/dead and histology?"
] |
What is happening in Hong Kong? What is the protest about? | [
"This is a very brief explanation but HONG Kong was a formerly controlled by Britain until 1997 as a result of the opium wars. As such under this 99 year British rule, the people of Hong essentially enjoyed a very westernized style of government and were sovereign from China. This is no longer the case as the treat... | [
"Vox and Kurzgesagt made pretty good videos 'bout it. Check 'em out [here](_URL_0_) and [here](_URL_1_). You're welcome!"
] |
Ohio revised code 2331.12 - No person shall be arrested on fourth of July or Sunday | [
"Cursory reading: it's applicable to the court of common pleas for civil cases. You can have a judgment issued against you for which you'd have to pay some sum. The execution of this process can occur via arrest until the debt is paid with certain exceptions, some of which are those days outlined in the linked part... | [
"Ever try to schedule time off with a boss who views his employees as disposable indentured servants? It's an excellent way to hear that your vacation pay will be your severance package. One would think that ought to be illegal, but it turns out that the courts really don't care."
] |
how does lane assist technology determine the difference between a driver not paying attention and drifting out of lane vs a slow lane change? | [
"You (are supposed to) use your turn signal when purposefully changing lanes."
] | [
"Simpler explanation: I write you a letter that says \"This letter was sent from < my address > on < date > and < time > . Please send me a letter back as soon as you get this, with the exact time and date you received this. You follow the instruction and send the second letter back to me. When I get your letter, I... |
Why does supercooled water form a slush from nucleation but if it just freezes it is solid | [
"To begin with, let me lay down a few basic things about heat/temperature. Temperature is essentially a measure of how much energy a substance has. The lower the temperature, the lower the energy, and vice versa. Phase changes (going between solid, liquid, and gas) usually have a large energy change associated with... | [
"You want the silicon to have exactly the right impurities. To do that you start with extremely pure silicon and then you add the impurities you need (doping). Directly mixing it with the silicon before forming a crystal is possible. Irradiating it with neutrons is another option. Shooting atoms in with a particle ... |
Why do Europe's roads appear to be always freshly repaved, and America's roads are crumbling? | [
"Frankfurt is a big rich city, so you're seeing the best the roads get. I'm in the UK and we have plenty of potholes. I know some of the guys who work on testing the road materials used in the US, and the testing is second to none. In America there are strict rules on the quality and testing of road materials to ... | [
"Gargatua already gave great answer. I'd like to just give one example of a place where the matter carried by glacier has formed a clearly visible large landmark. In Finland there are three ridges called [I, II and III Salpausselkä ](_URL_12_). They were formed around 12 250–12 050, 11 790–11 590 and 11 300–10 400... |
How does outside influences (i.e. prescriptions, turmeric, etc.), effect how the body fights infections? | [
"The first antibiotic was found by accident when a scientist discovered his petridish style experiment where he was growing bacteria, contaminated with fungal spores. In it he found that bacteria wasn't growing in a radius around the fungus, and isolated the chemical the fungus was using to keep the bacteria away:... | [
"Let's say you hire two security guards to guard your bank - without telling each other. When one of them sees the other enter the bank at night, with a gun, would you be surprised if he just shoots him? The security guards will be able to work as a team, only if they know each other and work out a way to share the... |
Why are social encounters so much easier when we are children? | [
"Social skills are built through experience. When you're a kid, you don't have much experience. When something that might be a bit socially awkward happens to you when you're a kid, you won't have 1000 experiences to compare it to. Funny thing is that obsessively comparing social situations to past experiences can... | [
"The popularity of comic book characters and acceptance of the geek subculture, mainly. people aren't scared to show that they enjoy these things anymore."
] |
Why hasn't there been more public demonstrations in America concerning the revelations about the NSA spying programs? | [
"Because most people who do not live in a cave realized decades ago that this has been going on. Very few people and/ or countries are that naive, not to know that this is going on in every country in the world"
] | [
"The short answer is that most everyone appreciates that his anonymity is a part of the wonder of Banksy, including Banksy. Banksy isn't making art to be famous, just to be Banksy. People love that, and it gets reinforced. If Banksy came out with a line of laundry detergent or a book about how to make Banksy style... |
- Could someone please give me a run down of Israel and why everyone hates them? | [
"Ohkay, grossly simplified version: The Jewish state of Israel was created in the aftermath of WWII, effectively giving the Jews their own country. The Palestinians who got kicked out as a result are not happy. The Arab states are not happy with their new neighbor. This animosity continues on into present day, with... | [
"[**Search before submitting**, especially when asking about current events. The search box is in the upper righthand corner of the page.](_URL_0_)"
] |
If neurons do not divide like many other cells throughout the body, how does brain cancer develop? | [
"The brain also contains non-neuronal cells that normally provide a number of supportive functions. The cells, such as glia cells, retain the ability to undergo cell division. Tumors arising from these cells (gliomas)make up the vast majority of all malignant brain tumors. Other types of brain cancer also arise fro... | [
"Building a car is easier than *rebuilding* a car that's been obliterated in a ghastly accident. You can follow the same steps to build the new car every time and it'll work every time. Rebuilding the totaled car is a lot trickier. Each case is unique. What's damaged? How badly? What can be saved? What needs to be ... |
What is exactly potential energy? | [
"It's simpler than that. An item has energy put into it, energy is not inherent in the object. In your example, identical objects, different distances from the earth, came to be different distances from the earth due to different amounts of work done to each of them. That work is stored and released in equally diff... | [
"Just imagine the electrons in a cable as little balls pushing each other trough a pipe. That means the pipe is always full and If you flick the lightswitch it just needs the distance of one electron to be moved to start the lightbulb"
] |
Why can't we accelerate something to beyond the speed of light? | [
"\"Beyond the speed of light\" does not exist. As a reference frame asymptotically approaches the speed of light, its spatial dimension in the direction of motion approaches zero width, and its time slows towards being stopped, relative to the stationary observer. A reference frame with zero width and no time elaps... | [
"To say what would happen, you need a reliable theory. But there are no reliable theories in which ftl travel is possible. There are plenty of crazy theories with ftl travel, so I guess you could pick one and use that, but it would be no less scientific to save yourself the effort and just make it up :)"
] |
[Physics] Does photoelectric effect experimental techniques destroy materials? | [
"You see charging effects in SEM imaging (which usually happens at the same time as an EDS measurement) if the sample is not conductive enough. If the sample is conducive, electrons return to the sample through the grounded stage."
] | [
"Most equipment is not EMP hardened, but a lot of it is, especially command stations and such on bases and server farms, and some other specific things (like tanks) EMP would be a devastating effect to many things... but if someone uses an EMP weapon, well then they better prepare to get nuked in response for using... |
Do dogs, or other mammals, become sore after strenuous activity like humans do? | [
"Dogs and other mammals get sore, get arthritis, get colds, feel pain, get cancer.... pretty much everything that can happen to us can happen to them. Your dog just either hides it better (it can sometimes be difficult to detect) or is better used to the strenuous activity than you are."
] | [
"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 do figure skaters avoid extreme dizziness? | [
"If you look at their head while spinning, it isn't just going around and around. They look at a fixed point, then when they can't sustain that angle, and whip it back around. Apparently that helps. _URL_0_"
] | [
"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"
] |
When and why did the popular depictions of the Devil and Hell change? | [
"Though I can't answer the whole question, I'd like to point out that the Inferno doesn't depict Hell itself as cold -- only the lake in which traitors are submerged. Satan's in this area because his crime was betraying God. This wasn't a standard depiction of Hell or Satan at the time, it was because Dante was lin... | [
"My guess? When you're dealing with a lot of makeup, prosthesis, special effects its easier to hide flaws. You can see acne under makeup in high def, you couldn't really see that back in the day. Just a guess."
] |
how to predict trajectory angle and power to shoot a target at known distance (for games like Bowmasters and pocket tanks). | [
"The range formula allows you to calculate the horizontal distance from the initial velocity (Vi) of a projectile at a certain angle (theta): R = Vi^2 * sin ( 2 * theta) / gravity"
] | [
"Kepler looks at a small part of the sky but it \"sees\" thousands and thousands of stars. It records their brightness to a high precision. Over time, if that brightness changes, it may be due to a planet passing in front of the star (it could be other things like the star itself changing brightness or sunspots, et... |
When did militaries start using spears, and why did the use of these weapons sticked out for so long, so widely ? | [
"The spear was probably the earliest weapon used by \"armies.\" There were probably tribal bands with clubs and stones before that, but keep in mind spears were ancient hunting implements. They had a long life for a number of reasons. They were easier to make than swords as they were just a pole with a pointy end. ... | [
"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... |
What was the Investiture Controversy? | [
"Investiture just means appointment. In the case of the investiture controversy, it was a conflict about who got to appoint people to official position in the Catholic church such as bishops. At the time, ruling Kings and other lords would appoint people to these positions within their realms. In the 11th and 12th ... | [
"he killed someone, he was uber famous, he got away with it. one of the primary examples of celebrity priviledge in law."
] |
How does sunscreen work? | [
"[Here is a video of sunscreen under UV light.](_URL_0_) Sunscreen contains a combination of organic chemicals which absorb UV light, and metallic particles which scatter and reflect UV light."
] | [
"Humans and other diurnal animals evolved to sleep at night. We're most vulnerable when sleeping, so it makes sense that we would want to sleep when we're least likely to be spotted by a predator. So our sleep cycle is regulated by a chemical called [melatonin](_URL_0_). Melatonin is sleep juice. Your body starts c... |
How did the states of the U.S attain such unique names? | [
"The names of the states come from many places. One source of many state names was native tribes and words. For example, the Dakotas and Missouri are named after natives local to the area while Michigan and Kentucky come from native names of places. Some states were given names derived from peoples names such as Ge... | [
"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... |
How did the demographics of the Roman army change under the Republic? What social and cultural changes came about as a consequence? | [
"Off the top of my head, the reforms of Gaius Marius seem to be the most relevant topic to start with. Marius raised armies from the Head Count, which were a teeming mass of the lowest class of citizens in Rome. Previously, armies had been raised from landholders and their sons, but as Rome had more land to protec... | [
"Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or person, please feel... |
Why do objects moving closer to the speed of light gain mass? | [
"They don't. Relativistic mass is an outdated concept that is no longer used in modern books. There are two reasons why we don't use dynamic mass anymore: Holistically, relativistic mass seems to suggest some change in the structure of an object, which obviously cannot be the case since relativistic mass is obser... | [
"Imagine you build a spherical shell around the sun, just bigger than the sun itself, and that the shell is absorbing all the incident radiation. Each square-meter of this shell would be receiving a very large amount of power from the sun. Then imagine you double the radius of that shell. Now, because its surface a... |
Do women experience a build up of estrogen if they don't masturbate like men? Why or why not? | [
"[Relevant](_URL_0_) thread. It doesn't seem that men actually build up testosterone through not masturbating. In fact, the act of intercourse causes an increase in testosterone levels itself – abstaining will cause a drop in T. Alternatively, you might think that they would build up sperm. That's not the case eith... | [
"Anyone feel free to add but according to a PHD in physics: \"They do, and you've just never noticed. But if you have a big enough mirror and can point it toward a radio tower, you can test it out yourself. Point this big mirror at the FM radio tower, and get out a portable FM radio. Now start at the mirror and sta... |
How do DNA tests work? | [
"u/coloradogrlatheart gave a pretty good explanation of the process, so I'll address the other part of your question about ancestry. The answer is, it depends on your definition of accurate. They're certainly scientifically legitimate, but depending on the company you use, your results are only as accurate as the d... | [
"There's a database which has a big list of what malicious code looks like. It goes through that to see if there's any malicious code in the file."
] |
How were photographs edited prior to advances in editing software? i.e. those old photographs of Stalin where people were phased out | [
"For that kind of thing, they literally used an actual airbrush -- which is why photo editing software has \"airbrush\" tools, and why we use the word \"airbrushing\" to mean both retouching of photos and the practice of excluding people or events from the history books. A skilled artist using a small airbrush woul... | [
"[This post](_URL_0_) has links for pictures of all the Apollo landing sites. These pictures were taken by a satellite around the moon. It's essentially impossible to take pictures of these sites from Earth. Kind of hard to believe at first, but it's true. You would need an unbelievably large telescope because the ... |
When you look at NYC from New Jersey at night why does it look like the lights are moving? | [
"I've never been to USA, but if you are refering to faint flickering than it's caused by atmosphe. It's same effect when you look at tarmac on hot day. The air over the ground is much hotter and rises. The hot is at the same replaced by colder air from above and mixing of those two causes the image to warp and flic... | [
"It has to do with relative position in the three orbits. Have a look at [this diagram](_URL_0_). Earth is in blue, Venus in green, and Jupiter in orange. Venus appears to pass in front of Jupiter, despite being closer to the sun than we are."
] |
Why do the rocks that make rings on planets all stay on the same path? Couldn't they orbit in a different direction? | [
"They could orbit in different directions, but the result would be that they would crash into each other. Eventually, all the objects going in the \"wrong\" direction will be either knocked out of orbit or bumped into going the \"right\" direction. After millions/billions of years this process is already complete. ... | [
"A long time ago in places like Greece, Rome and even before that in really, really long ago places like Sumeria, and Egypt people made up stories about the stars/planets and the pictures they thought groups of stars made. These stories were usually about beings they considered to be gods or demigods (the word demi... |
Why is not a violation of the Fourth Amendment for the TSA to search Valet Parked cars at airports? Video Inside | [
"There are many exceptions to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment. One of them includes border searches. If you are at the border or a border equivalent (international airport), the government can search and seize without a warrant. Basically, the fourth amendment protects against UNREASONABLE searches ... | [
"Penn & Teller: Bullshit! did a show on this, its very worth a watch, they break it down quite well and understandable. [Link to the full episode](_URL_0_) on youtube. Warning, NSFW language and boobies in like the first 2 seconds, because its Penn & Teller and thats what they do"
] |
Why does self inflicted pain hurt less than an outside source? | [
"Because you're expecting it and have control over it."
] | [
"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 clothing/shoes ends up on the side of the highway | [
"Kids. It's always kids. If a one of the plausible answers is kids, then it's always kids. (Unless the question is whom to have sex with next...)"
] | [
"These answers were largely true years ago, but not so much today. The large outlet shopping centers you see all over are not selling off quality, or outdated goods. The manufacturers make other specifically for the outlet markets, usually of slightly lower quality. Source: worked for Levi Strauss and they have doz... |
When did people first start wearing shoes? | [
"Ötzi the Iceman is a well-preserved naturally mummified man who lived about 3,300 BC. The body was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, hence \"Ötzi\". He wore wide waterproof shoes possibly designed for snow-walking or even as part of snowshoes. Its complex design used bearskin soles, deer-hide top panels,... | [
"Hi OP, this is a cultural question, so it would greatly assist anyone considering answering if you could specify which culture you're asking about. For example, the name of a cultural group / country / geographic region, plus a rough time period. Otherwise, this question is simply too broad, as it encompasses almo... |
Where does the new neutron come from when two hydrogen atoms fuse into helium? | [
"In low mass stars, the nuclear reaction that leads to the production of helium is called the [proton-proton chain](_URL_1_), and it takes a full four hydrogen nuclei to produce a helium nucleus. On a basic level, the two sets of hydrogen nuclei (protons) each react in pairs to create a pair of positrons and a heav... | [
"Around 1669, there was a German alchemist named Hennig Brand. He was in search of gold, and thought that it came from within man. What color is gold? It's a shade of yellow. What else is yellow that everyone is familiar with? Urine. So off went Hennig on a quest to extract gold from pee. He boiled down 5,500 liter... |
Hypothetically, if a president is found guilty of any criminal offence how would that work? As in can you actually arrest someone whose title is commander in chief | [
"The US Justice Department’s opinion is that a sitting president cannot be indicted or arrested. Congress can, however, impeach a president and, upon conviction by 2/3 of the Senate, remove the president from office. Once the president has been removed from office, that can be indicted and prosecuted. So, prosecuti... | [
"A CPU can be considered a \"jack of all trades\" processor. It packs many functions under the hood to be able to do all sorts of things. At one time before graphics cards became pretty much standard for playing PC games, they even did the processing for that. A CPU can and in most situations has other chips helpin... |
If solar power is economically feasible, why don't more businesses use it to power their stores? | [
"It's *barely* economically feasible, and even then, that's only the case if you happen to be in an area where the electricity rates are relatively low. Pile on top of that the **huge** up-front cost of installation (not just buying the panels, but getting them installed, wired to the grid properly, getting the nec... | [
"The setup cost is immediate and it takes a long time to see the benefits (longer than the average term of office)."
] |
For the electromagnetic and the gravitational field, we have seen light waves and gravitational waves. Are there waves for the weak and strong field? | [
"In principle there could be, but the equation of motion for the weak fields are modified by a mass term (the masses of the W and Z bosons are around 90 GeV), and as for the strong force, the gluons are massless, but strongly-interacting particles are confined at low energies."
] | [
"Before electroweak symmetry breaking, there are 4 massless gauge bosons mediating the electroweak interaction: W^(1), W^(2), W^(3) (symmetry SU(2)) and B (symmetry U(1)). After the symmetry breaking, the massive W^+ and W^− are formed form orthogonal linear combinations of equal parts W^(1) and W^(2). The W^(3) an... |
Is there such thing as a "sugar high"? | [
"As far as I'm aware, there have been a few studies on children and how sugar affects them. _URL_0_ There was no evidence found in any of them to the support of the 'sugar high'. The only thing which was confirmed was that parents who knew that their children were given sugar rated their children as being more acti... | [
"So you're imagining something like a giant tower raising the house to an altitude of 400km. Doing some math, gravity at this altitude is 8.69 m/s^(2). That's measurably lower than on the surface and you may be able to realize if you let something fall and use a chronometer to see how much it takes to hit the groun... |
What gives Polyester it's useful properties? | [
"\"Polyester\" is a broad class of materials. You're probably referring to polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) which is the polyester used for soft drink bottles and most fabrics. It is hydrophobic because its chemical structure is largely hydrocarbon based, with only weakly polar carbon-oxygen bonds at some i... | [
"those shows feature new colors or patterns, materials / fabrics, or silhouettes. the outrageous garments used in the shows are designed to get attention from the media - if the show gets good press, then the mass production elements (colors, materials) get highlighted and the designer gets an ego stroke. you'll f... |
Why are autocorrects getting less correct? | [
"Google Keyboard has been the best auto correct software I've ever used, it's fast almost always gets the word right, unobtrusive, and it leanrs what worda are most commonly used."
] | [
"Yuo can raed taht way beauce we dno't acluatly raed ervey letter in a wrod, we raed the shpae of the wrod. It's sungrisiprly esay to raed tihs, but relaly anoyinng to write lkie tihs, so the rset I copeid form the intnernt. \"i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pwe... |
If electrons move from orbit to orbit instantaneously and without being in between orbits, does it mean they move faster than light? | [
"That representation is erroneous. Electrons exist in an atom as probability distributions. There are no \"orbits\" as you may think of them. When an electron changes levels (\"orbits\") it isn't magically jumping from one place to another. Instead its just getting more energy. This allows the electron (on average)... | [
"Stable and long-living particles are harder to find than short-living particles, but stable particles are also less common (we don't see any of them around on Earth apart from the few known stable particles). If they have an electric charge, we can measure them going through the detector. They would typically be h... |
Why does our body become dependant to substances | [
"To be clear the detox and being clean for a few weeks or months, depending, will stop the physical symptoms of addiction, shakes ect not cravings. So when you take a drug that changes the way your body/brain functions your body will slowly become accustom to the drugs effects and the will be less effective, this ... | [
"A follow-up question: Why do some people love that feeling while others detest it?"
] |
Why does adding numbers and symbols to a password make it more secure | [
"It increases the \"depth\" required for a brute-force attack. If you knew, for example, that a password were all lower-case letters, you would have to try only 26 characters for each position. For an 8-character password, there are 26^8 possible passwords to try. If you use upper and lower cases, it goes to 52^8, ... | [
"A credit score isn't a measure of how well you manage your money. It's a score of how well you manage the bank's money. In other words, it's a measure of how likely you are to pay back the bank, which is the main thing they care about. If you have lots of accounts, lots of debt and never miss a payment? You're th... |
EL5: why gas prices fluctuate so much. | [
"You are asking a much easier question than I initially expected from the title. Some gas stations have better deals (through volume bonuses, etc) with the supplier and can therefore sell gas at the pump for less."
] | [
"I feel like this should be in /r/answers. I can't imagine this is a complicated concept that needs to be simplified. This is a subreddit for explaining complex things as simply as possible, not a subreddit for asking questions a five-year-old would ask."
] |
Did everybody talk really fast 50 years ago and beyond, or was it just a part of the acting style for old movies? | [
"I'm trying to think of films from the 60s that had particularly fast speech and drawing a blank. Could you give some examples?"
] | [
"Sounds like you have a mismatch between your audio configuration and your actual speakers, or your center channel is turned way down. If, for example, you're set up for 5.1 but only have stereo speakers, the dialog is being sent to a center channel speaker that doesn't exist."
] |
[Physics] What is the fastest plausible speed you think humans will ever be able to travel? | [
"Arbitrarily close to the speed of light. You're doing it right now in fact, at least compared to the reference frames of cosmic rays. > you think that some day we can hit light-speed? No."
] | [
"I'm sorry to have removed this question, but this falls under a poll-type question and is prohibited according to our rules. The problem with questions like these is that they invite speculative answers and the risk is that the thread is going to end up more like an /r/AskReddit thread than a thread we want here."... |
At what speed, approaching the speed of light does time dilation become noticeable? | [
"You personally wouldn't notice anything because in your reference frame you'd feel at rest. If you were to compare your clock with some externally viewed clock, it's a matter of how precise you measure time. With atomic clocks you can notice differences at hundreds of kilometers per hour. I don't know how well hum... | [
"You're right, they'll both see the other slowed down. And they're both right. The thing is though, unless they turn around to meet back up, it doesn't change anything physically/logically. And if they do turn around, they must accelerate, which breaks the symmetry of special relativity"
] |
Why does Iran want to wipe Israel off the map? | [
"The term 'Wiped off the map' that Ahmadinejad used has also thought to have been either an incorrect translation: _URL_5_ > The \"wiped of the map\" translation originated from the state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency. This translation's use in the media has been criticized. Arash Norouzi, artist and co-... | [
"They know we aren't afraid to use our nuclear weapons. Bring it on mutant spiders, we got enough rockets for all of you!"
] |
What made the United States such a powerful country? | [
"The territory of the continental USA is in a good place geographically; it's not a big desert or a large frozen wasteland. It is rich with natural resources and fertile land. It is surrounded by vast oceans and has been, throughout its history, relatively safe from a foreign attacks. On the political side, governm... | [
"If you have Netflix there's a very good documentary titled \"the world without US\" It explains your exact question."
] |
I am dyslexic and never *got* what a verb, noun, etc. is... can somebody explain in a way I might understand? | [
"A verb is a 'doing' word. It can fit into the blank in the following sentence: I like to ____. A noun is a 'thing'. It is an object or item. It can fit into the blank in the following sentence: I have a ____. An adjective describes a noun. It can fit into the blank in the following sentence: That is a ____ [noun].... | [
"Google is faster, because Google has already done all the searching ahead of time, and built an index. Imagine you have a thousand page book, and I ask you to tell me every page with the word \"cat\" on it. The way your computer does the search is by flipping through each page one by one looking for the word \"cat... |
Why do people claim that tube power amplifiers are louder watt for watt than solid state amplifiers? | [
"Not the full story but part of it has to do with the way an amplifier handles distortion. Modern solid state amplifiers tend to sound very bad when driven into distortion requiring the listener to turn the volume down. Many tube amplifiers produce harmonic distortion that tend to sound better to our ears leading t... | [
"Heaters which radiate a lot of infrared will cast a warm radiance across a room, but might not heat up the air much, while a convection heater will warm up the air but isn't cosy to sit close to. Depends what kind of warmth you're after: something to warm your feet, or something to take the chill out of the air. B... |
what would the common cold do to my body if my immune system was switched off | [
"A virus like the common cold uses your body's cells to replicate itself. It enters the cell and makes copies of itself using parts of the cell's interior. Then when it's ready it explodes the cell killing it and spreading many more baby virus's (don't know how to pluralise that). Cell death is bad if too much of i... | [
"> what happens to the computer Nothing at all will happen to the computer, your installation of windows may stop working though and you'll need to either repair or reinstall it."
] |
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