query stringlengths 20 300 | positive listlengths 1 1 | negative listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|
What's going on with belly buttons? | [
"Your belly button isn't really connected to anything. It has some remnant structures hanging off of it internally, but beyond that, not much. The falciform ligament (round ligament, if you want to be specific) is a remnant of the umbilical vein and goes from your umbilicus to your liver. You also have the med**ial... | [
"Everybody's front page is different, depending on which subreddits you subscribe to. If you never subscribe/unsubscribe manually or you view reddit without logging into an account, you will see the default subreddits. The default subreddits are determined by reddit staff (presumably based on quality & popularity).... |
How do the hundreds of satellites in Earth’s orbit not crash into each other? | [
"Most simply, the same reason hundreds of boats do not crash into each other in the open ocean, planning and a HUGE amount of space per object."
] | [
"Very careful simulation based on testing data. Engineers have experimentally gathered data about all the different materials used to make the telescope. This data includes failure points given applied loads, vibrational frequencies, etc. They can use this along with a computational model of the sattelite to predic... |
Why do birth control pills need to be taken at the same time every day? | [
"For the same reason you should space your drinks evenly: consistency of the buzz. Shots too close together and your BAC goes above safe levels causing your date's stupid jokes to get funny. Shots too widely spaced results in your BAC dropping low enough to regret swiping right. So, taking your pill at the same tim... | [
"Satellites are on a set orbit. The scientists put the satellite into that orbit to begin with, so they know when and where in space the satellite is going to be. When they launch a new satellite, they just calculate the appropriate trajectory and launch time to get the new satellite into space without hitting the ... |
Why does albinism appear across species? | [
"Albinism is a mutation where the genes that generate pigment no longer function. Even if the genes that govern it are different across species, anything that causes them to not work will cause the same condition."
] | [
"Why are noses different in size, why are people different heights, why do we have different hair colors?"
] |
How commonly accepted is the dark matter theory, and are there viable alternatives? | [
"The major point is alternatives were and are considered, the trouble is none of them perform anywhere near as well as dark matter on a wide range of observations. None of them are any prettier either, they're just cludges. They don't explain the results they just allow the theory to be very mailable. When it comes... | [
"We do use antimatter currently for practical uses, ever heard of a PET scan? It would be the ultimate energy *storage* medium because gathering meaningful amounts of antimatter from nature is impractical. The best place to find it now is in the van Allen radiation belts."
] |
How do scientists determine the quantity of a species still alive in the wild? | [
"This would be done by individually counting each member, twelve is not a big number and scientists have tabs on each individual. For populations that are pretty significant you would use a statistical analysis of some kind. For example, let's say that we want to count how many snakes live in a certain area. We kno... | [
"[The Bureau of Labor Statistics does monthly surveys.](_URL_0_) Their sample is a data set of 147,000 businesses, and they rotate about 55k of those each year. Initially, they do phone interviews, and after a few months let firms self report. Since the IRS gets a nearly-complete set of that data as part of tax col... |
If an object could absorb all light. | [
"You would see a very deep black ball. Black is what we \"see\" when little to no visible light is present."
] | [
"The event horizon of a black hole scales with the mass of the black hole. r_h=2GM/c^2 for a Schwarzschild black hole, where M is the mass. What we really mean by the mass of the black hole is the energy content of the black hole (since E=mc^2). So any energy that crosses the event horizon is added to that total en... |
How do server farms work? | [
"Usually there is one or more boss computers who hand off tasks to the worker computers. Sometimes there is a big boss computer handing off types of jobs to little boss computers who then decide which worker computer will do each job."
] | [
"All those computers cost money. AWS sells time on those computers. When paying customers want to use them, the pi folks have to wait. They wanted to announce before March 124 (pi day) and that's how far they got."
] |
Why doesn't tape lose adhesion as it sits in open air? | [
"There's no chemical reaction involved with tape, it is merely an physical attraction caused by [van der Waals forces](_URL_0_). The kinetic energy of gases can overcome these forces."
] | [
"\"One of the most common ingredients used was dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride (DHTDMAC), which belongs to a class of materials known as quaternary ammonium compounds, or quats. This kind of ingredient is useful because part of the molecule has a positive charge that attracts and binds it to negati... |
Is the " never wake a sleepwalking person" thing true? If so, why? | [
"Not even slightly true. You should absolutely wake them. They might wander into traffic or fall down stairs, or something else dangerous. At the *very* least they might trip over something. It's very dangerous! They *might* be very confused (given that they won't know where they are or how they got there). It migh... | [
"* [Did people REALLY march into machine gun fire in 1914?] (_URL_1_) * [Were the Generals in 1914 grossly incompetent?] (_URL_2_) * [Did the French fight in line formation in August, 1914?] (_URL_0_) ^ These answers I've given above should be pertinent! Suffice to say that NO ONE walked into waves of machine gun f... |
Are there parts of the brain that can be physically damaged without immediate catastrophic effect? | [
"Yes, there are many areas of the brain that can be damaged without causing death/unconsciousness. The bizarre effects that have resulted from some such brain injuries has actually provided a huge amount of information about the brain. The most famous case is [Phineas Gage](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"That crossover is called the Optic Chiasm, and it serves to knit together visual field information. Imagine separating your visual field (the total area you can see) into left and right halves. Those halves do not directly correspond with your left and right eyes. Your left eye has some information from both the l... |
If there are infinite numbers between 0 and 1, how can even 1 second pass? | [
"I highly recommend Numberphile's [video on Zeno's Paradox](_URL_0_). While the mathematics of the problem is well understood, it's still debated whether it has been completely resolved from a philosophical perspective."
] | [
"We would spin for 8 minutes. Everything is on that delay. And of course we would not know that we were spinning around nothing because the light of the sun would still be coming to us."
] |
Before plastic, was the pacific ocean plastic patch full of natural floating debris? | [
"No floating island of organic material. This is because organic material is \"easily\" broken down, but plastic is not broken down. so it accumulates in the huge currents and makes a patch. Good news is recently scientists have discovered a bacteria that ACTUALLY eats plastic Source: _URL_0_"
] | [
"on Antarctica, here are some previous posts to check out for previous responses: [Do we know or do we have any evidence of any Peoples or societies that existed on the Antarctic landmass before it got covered in ice?](_URL_1_) [Is it possible that the native inhabitants on the Tierra del Fuego peninsula explored o... |
I'm having some trouble understanding Shannon Entropy, specifically calculating it for a "system" such as the english language. | [
"Think of shannon entropy as a way of measuring how efficiently the data could be losslessly compressed. The higher the entropy, the less redundancy and the less it could be compressed. All the equations are here, but that's the intuition: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Say you have a banana and an apple. How many ways can you arrange those on a table? You can put the banana on the table. You can put the apple on the table. You can put both on the table, or you can put none of them on the table. There are four ways total that you can arrange these fruits. This represents 2 to the... |
Why are so many video games requiring the user to be Online, even if they want to play a single player mode? | [
"Marketing and tracking. I bought \"TRON: Evolution\" when it first came out, thinking it was a single player with the option of networking. Nope. You have to either have or create a Microsoft \"LIVE\" account and log on to that in order to play a game that is locally installed. They track everything, and sell it t... | [
"Computers run on sets of instructions telling it how to run all the parts of the computer and build an interface so you can use those parts. Say you're following a recipe for a cake. Then you finish the cake and someone comes along with a better way to make a cake by adding another ingredient and changing how muc... |
I always hear how smokers live ~10 years shorter. Is it all due to lung cancer? If a smoker doesn't get it, does he live as long as nonsmokers? | [
"It's not all due to lung cancer. There are many other types of cancers that smoking cigarettes is linked to. Smoking also causes problems with blood flow, hardening of arteries and veins, oxygen distribution, and a host of other problems. Go [here](_URL_0_) to see more."
] | [
"Cavities have more to do with diet than brushing! I recall one study where a dentist went to a very remote village in Africa or Asia and they didn't have tooth brushes. He cleaned teeth and was amazed that after cleaning teeth that were completely black with built up plaque, there were no cavities or any real issu... |
The Netherlandish master painters of the 16th and 17th centuries give us an intimate picture of how life looked in the low countries of this time, but do we know how it would have smelled or sounded? | [
"It's possible my question was too broad, but how would city like Bruges or Antwerp or Amsterdam or Brussels have smelled at this time and what sounds might someone hear?"
] | [
"I once heard a guy on the radio who told that he performed transactions on the Dutch government national bank account, account number \"1\" at The Netherlands Bank. For instance, when the Netherlands needs to pay fees to the European Union, it is done from this bank account. I'm not sure if this account \"holds al... |
I'm looking for quotes where leading Bolsheviks argued that the October Revolution was a mass uprising of the people. | [
"Not really a quote, but have you tried searching for art from the Soviet era? A lot of it is of events from 1917 but skewed to support that 'mass uprising' claim - there's one of a mass of people storming the Winter Palace I think, when really it was just a few soldiers who went in to depose the Provisional Govern... | [
"Suppose you, as a lawyer, have successfully put away hundreds of criminals. Within the boundaries of the law. Now, you're caught doing it illegally *once* (e.g. bribing a jury). **Every** criminal you ever put away can now appeal their original sentencing, claiming that they fell victim to the same jury bribing th... |
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and why people think it disproves evolution | [
"The 2nd law of thermo basically says you can't become more organized in a closed system, as that requires energy and a closed system describes something that can't gain more energy. They misunderstanding relate this to evolution by saying that evolution goes against this law, but they don't realize the Earth isn't... | [
"Before I answer, may I ask who the speaker is for this particular lecture? Or if you have a link for me to listen to? I would like to know where they are coming from in their argument."
] |
Is there a scientific basis for the concept of "fresh air"? | [
"NOAA does research on air quality through their Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. [See their page here on understanding air quality.](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"It would be a lot more dangerous than just having a refrigerator. Children and toddlers especially would die more often, suicide would be easier. There would have to be unique locks put on them to prevent children and toddlers at least from getting in to them. Plus, murder would likely be easier. Deaths by neglect... |
What does "ozone" mean on the list of a water bottle's ingredients? | [
"Ozone is 3 oxygen atoms, it's fairly unstable, and often used as a sanitizer/sterilizer. Water bottling companies use ozone and UV light to treat the water before bottling, because when ozone breaks down, the result is O2, or the normal oxygen you breath. It's easier to put in bottled water, because chlorinated wa... | [
"California has some labeling and quality laws that are more strict than the rest of the country. If they didn't put that on there, then they could sell it in every state except California. So they just slap it on everything in order to avoid the hassle of worrying where in the united states it will wind up. If you... |
How can pulling one smalle piece of skin out from beside the nail hurt for so long? | [
"Think about all of the touching and feeling we do with our fingertips- you can sense hot and cold, pick up a tiny pin or gently touch a baby bird- we have extensive nerve endings in our finger tips. These abundant nerve endings are why injuries in the same area are so painful. Be aware that picking at hangnails ... | [
"Just depends on how your brain precieves (sorry for spelling) the responses from nerve endings. I personally hate being tickled and do not like the feeling."
] |
How do spy gadgets work? | [
"Well, they do not work in real life. They demand that you utilize suspension of disbelief. It means that for the sake of enjoying the fiction, you suspend your skepticism towards impossible or unlikely things. A simple example would be sound in space. In reality there is no sound in space, so you wouldn't hear exp... | [
"They use a wavelength of light that is cancer causing. Do you want to sit under a cancer causing light? Plus, they aren't all that effective to stop, say a sneeze from transmitting to another person. It takes some time to kill the germs."
] |
How did soldiers in Europe react when guns started to be used on the battlefields? Do we have diary enteries or letters describing their impressions? | [
"Am I allowed to twist OP's question a little? Are there any records of Native American (or perhaps other natives in isolated areas) reactions to gunpowder? It seems interesting since the opposing side would be so used to it, and the natives would have no idea what it is."
] | [
"Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_0_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t... |
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (Really bring it down) | [
"It's damn hard to ELI5 quantum mechanics, but here we go. The Pauli Exclusion Principle means that two of the same kind of fermion(a particle with a half unit span) cannot be in the same place at the same time. This explains why electrons have such strange orbits(its not actually an orbit, but lets just assume it... | [
"Well if we know how the hypothetical particle *should* react, we can build a detector based on that. If we still don't detect the particle, that's a clue that the model is incorrect. And this is what happened, if Wiki is to be believed."
] |
How are the delegates we see at the republican and democratic national conventions chosen? | [
"They are nominated by their state parties. So, for example, the California Democratic Party has a state convention, where they nominate what delegates and alternates they want to send to the National Convention. There are also \"Superdelegates\" - you may remember hearing about them during the 2008 election. Thes... | [
"I'm in the car right now (not driving), so hopefully someone can better elaborate. Rosalind Franklin took X-ray photographs (crystallography?) of the DNA double helix. She was working with James Watson and Francis Crick who published the information and received the Nobel Prize for the work. Franklin was not award... |
What animal has the longest tail proportional to its body size? | [
"It most likely depends how you define tail. Where tail is the caudal vertebrae of a vertebrate, I'm fairly certain that the answer would be a limbless lizard. There are a number unrelated groups of lizards which have lost their limbs, and characteristically they all have very long tails (as opposed to the long bo... | [
"Yes, [koalas for example have a terrible problem with chlamydia](_URL_0_) which is having severe negative effects on the population in the wild. The disease is transmitted not just in male-to-female sexual activity but indirectly as well (such as from nursing mothers to their children), and some koalas engage in h... |
How are publishing companies allowed to sell copies of classical texts, such as anything Shakespeare, and make a profit off of them? | [
"The works are in the public domain. Anyone, even you or me, could publish a complete Shakespeare and reap any profits. Not that there would be many, because everyone who wants one already has a complete Shakespeare, but you could do it."
] | [
"Well thats actually something that has been happening a lot in the game industry recently. There have been quite a few remakes / remasters. This year alone we got a re-releases of the last of us, kingdom hearts 2 and 4 Halo games so it's a thing that is happening. I think though that you more asking why don't they... |
The different types of alcohol (chemistry, not beverages) | [
"Ethyl alcohol is ethanol. It has the chemical formula H₃C-CH₂OH (two carbons). This is what you find in alcoholic beverages. Methanol has one carbon instead, with the formula H₃COH. This is what's dangerous in moonshine - methanol is much more toxic than ethanol because its metabolic products are formaldehyde and ... | [
"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... |
What gives a band's music the distinct sound that allows you to identify the band even if you've never heard the song? | [
"Musical style, of course. But also the selection of instruments and how they are played. I work as a sound engineer, and there are a few of my friends i can recognize when are playing. And I guess in the same way you might recognize an author through the writing style, you might also recognize the way the music is... | [
"> More specifically, how is it that waving your hands over it produces different pitches? There are two antenna which output radio waves in order to detect the relative position of the performer's hands. That input is used to modulate an audio signal. > And why are the hand positions so awkward looking? The input... |
Why do (most) people enjoy being warm but not cold? | [
"Cold things absorb heat. Hot things give off heat. Our bodies are warm, we give off heat into the air. That's why skin naturally feels warm to you. If the air is cold it keeps sucking our body heat, our bodies need to keep using energy to make more heat which keeps getting sucked away. This is uncomfortable. The a... | [
"Look at it like a phone and charger. If you put a load of energy into the phone (more than it's rated for), it'll do serious damage almost immediately. If you use an underrated charger, it'll put only a little energy in, but the phone will use more than it's getting and eventually die. Heat is just a form of ener... |
Self-checkout machines have existed for at least a decade now. Why has the technology not improved at all over that span of time? | [
"Mind you, some grocery chains are heavily unionized and they have language in the contracts preserving jobs even with the rise in highly accurate automated check out systems. I'm willing to bet this is a major factor for some chains. Amazon GO is on the bleeding edge forefront obviously, but even Sam's Club is in... | [
"I don't know for certain, but think about it: Plants are sedentary. They find a particular kind of environment that suits them well and, for the most part, stay in one place for their whole lives. They don't need to develop systems that allow for locomotion. They don't need to develop complex tissues and organs th... |
What are loop corrections in particle physics? Why are they necessary? | [
"In particle physics, we can't do calculations exactly: no closed-form solution exist. So, we are reduced to do calculations using perturbation theory (think Taylor series), doing an expansion in a \"small\" parameter. Edit: The \"small\" parameter can be, depending on the case, the coupling constants or h-bar; the... | [
"Think about things bouncing around. Imagine a box with a fan in it. Put 20 balls in ithe box. Now imagine a basket to one side just the right size for the balls. Turn on the fan. The balls jump around randomly. At some point a ball will fall into the basket. This will happen at a given rate which will depends on h... |
Did people in British colonies (eg. Canada, Australia, New Zealand) consider themselves British or did they moreover identify with the colony? | [
"You may be interested in my answers in these previous threads: * [At what point did Australians and New Zealanders begin to consider themselves as distinct from the British?](_URL_1_) * [Why did Great Britain grant independence/autonomy to Australia and Canada? Was it political necessity or were there economic con... | [
"The Albanians don't call themselves \"Albanians.\" Their word for themselves is \"Shqiptarët,\" and their name for their nation is \"Shqipëri.\" This isn't uncommon, really. The Koreans don't call themselves Koreans. That name is derived from the name of one dynasty, the Goguryeo. Their name for themselves is \"Ha... |
Can someone explain the principle and or workings of entropy ? | [
"Take an egg. Throw it at the ground. It broke. Now, put it back together. Make a fire. Don't add any more wood. Let it burn forever. Were you able to do either of those things? Do you think anyone can? Do those things sound reasonable? Entropy is all around us. We're all familiar with it, it happens all the time."... | [
"This video by Numberphile explains Encryption fairly well. Not exactly what you are asking but it might help non the less as it does touch on why primes and factoring help with the process. Edit: [A link to the video might be handy](_URL_0_) The key is that there is a number, an astonishingly huge number (Twitter... |
What happened if corporal punishments accidentally led to death in 17th century England? | [
"Were some of these corporal punishments ever intended as a death sentence while not officially being one?"
] | [
"Hi there -- while we've approved this question, we would like to remind potential respondents of our [current events](_URL_0_) (AKA \"20-year\") rule -- it's fine to discuss events through 1997 (inclusive) and their effects, but not events after 1997. Thanks!"
] |
Prior to 16th century expeditions to Greenland by Europeans, had Norse accounts of the "Skræling", or indigenous peoples of Greenland and Vinland, been dismissed as myth by European scholars? | [
"I would like to see an answer to this. I would also be curious to know how much knowledge there was at that time about the old norse accounts."
] | [
"Yes, they are. In Greek myth, King Minos attacked Athens, and Athens asked for terms, where Minos requested 7 men and women to be offered to the Minotaur, named for Minos, king of Crete, to be eaten. Theseus once came to Crete to slay the Minotaur, and with the help of Ariadne and the clew or ball of thread to fin... |
Why is printer ink so expensive? | [
"At least part of the answer is that it's priced so the printer company will make a profit after selling you the printer for next to nothing. However, I also expect that printer inks actually are somewhat expensive to make because they have to meet stringent requirements to work well in ink-jet printers. (Such as h... | [
"Your question reminded me of this frikkin awesome documentary of about planned obsolescence. [Video snippet](_URL_0_), and the whole documentary, I can't find... but Im sure someone else may be able to. ELI5 version: Because companies want you to keep them in business."
] |
Why do so many games have a "start" screen where you have to push a button before they decide to start a several minute loading process? (I'm looking at you, Battlefield 4) | [
"The primary reason is going to be player input. Let's say you omit that start screen, and just begin loading. All of a sudden, the player is sitting there, as you say, for minutes at a time, before anything happens. Is the game working right? did I do something wrong? is it frozen? By forcing a player to hit start... | [
"Dates back to ancient Rome. In a lot of old languages, they hadn't invented the space or the period yet. Like just long unbroken strings of letters. So they started making the first letter of a word huge to indicate new paragraph. The tradition kept, and in the middle ages, they'd hand write/paint a huge fancy let... |
Why do people have different pain tolerance? | [
"Pain is the subjective experience of a complex biological response to noxious (i.e., painful, harmful, otherwise bad for health or survival) stimuli. In other words, everyone barring extremely rare exceptions has the biological infrastructure to produce pain: neurotransmitters, nerves and axons, regions of the bra... | [
"Look at it like a phone and charger. If you put a load of energy into the phone (more than it's rated for), it'll do serious damage almost immediately. If you use an underrated charger, it'll put only a little energy in, but the phone will use more than it's getting and eventually die. Heat is just a form of ener... |
How is insurance profitable for insurance companies? | [
"> What am I missing here? Risk pools and terms. The life insurance company is offering you $100k in coverage for $20/month for some fixed amount if time (let's say 20 years). Their also offering it to thousands of other people too. Let's say they think there's a 4% chance you'll die over the 20 years. On the surfa... | [
"No expert but I'm going to take a guess. It gets darker and colder causing more people to spend time indoors than outdoors. Because of this, they'll get more viewers. More viewers = more money."
] |
Why are people so angry about bank bailouts after the GFC, wouldn't they lose all their savings if the banks had been allowed to fold? | [
"Those big banks have insurance against such things, so even if they went under, the people would still be able to withdraw all of their money (up to a certain limit). You, me, and Joe Schmo across the road would still have access to all of the money in our accounts, but Bill Gates would be out billions of dollars.... | [
"The general explanation for this is that an individual movie (particularly a big budget action-type film) has only one shot to be successful. A TV show costs less per episode, and has more time to spend establishing characters and bringing in viewers. A movie has basically one or two weekends to make it's budget b... |
How can a bank be fined for billions of dollars and not have a criminal charge of some kind for the people involved? | [
"One reason is that criminal charges require \"proof beyond a reasonable doubt,\" but civil charges like fines only require 51% of the evidence to support the charge. For the government, a lower burden of proof makes the case much easier (and faster and cheaper) to win."
] | [
"A company doing \"bad\" things doesn't matter in terms of the health of the company as long as that company is still profitable. Oil companies, for the moment, are scandal-proof because we don't have any other viable options in terms of energy production. The only way BP would ever disappear is if consumers trende... |
When spelling a word wrong and going "That doesn't look right", is that us using a different part of our brain to see pictures instead of sounding out letters? | [
"You don't read by reading individual letters as that would be grossly inefficient. Instead you read word shapes more logographically and your mind kind of fills in the gaps. We read in a series of jumps along and between the lines, stopping and fixating on a group of letters (in the form of words). In about 1/4 of... | [
"Too many things to count, but I'll generally try to divide it into two broad categories: 1. The way our muscles and cavities are made and aligned. This refers to the composition of the muscles which make up our vocal folds, pharynx, soft palate, etc. Also, the ways the tunnels and tubes in our throat are connected... |
What was the source of gunpowder for the colonial militias during the American Revolution? | [
"The American colonists had very limited supplies of gunpowder and very limited capacity for manufacturing more of it (precise figures are in the link.) Had there not been a foreign source of gunpowder it is very doubtful that they could have been successful in their revolution. Who was this crucial benefactor? [Wh... | [
"Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to [our rules](_URL_1_). This policy is further explained in this [Rules Roundtable thread](_URL_3_) and this [META Thread](_URL_... |
At what point in the day are you the most mentally productive? ie when is the best time to revise/study? | [
"It's very individual, so there's no finite answer. Some people are fresh at 6am in the morning, others at 10. Also depends if you nap doing the afternoon and when (which is highly recommended if you study). Personally I prefer to starting studying by waking up around 8am, wake up slowly and study from 10am to 1pm,... | [
"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 a word start to sound weird after saying it multiple times? | [
"Because it begins to lose your association with the idea it represents... IE - you say the word \"little\" and your mind immediately pictures something small.... if you continue to say \"little\" on repeat for a minute, it is just the sounds of the word coming out of your mouth and not the mental association with ... | [
"I think we develop a \"been there, done that\" mentality in ways. I can not watch cartoons now. No matter what the topic. The irony is I just can't pay attention to cartoons."
] |
Why is there no thunder or lightning during winter? | [
"Thunderstorms are formed when warm, humid air rises and cools. Since warm air is a prerequisite for a thunderstorm to form, it's not that surprising that thunderstorms are less common in the winter months."
] | [
"Commercially frozen meat is often flash frozen, this means that the ice crystals formed are small and don't damage the meat cells very much. If you freeze meat at home it's a much slower process, Large ice crystals form an like little spears puncture the cell walls of the meat. This means that when it defrosts the... |
What makes speech "sound like" a particular language, besides accents? | [
"Thar be prosodic cues be makin' English sound English, e'en ye canna hear all the words over the wind whippin' through the sails. Summat these be the way the pitch be risin' and fallin' o'er the sentence; summat others be the ways we be combinin' sounds or no in English. I reckon ye may be findin' these rules fer ... | [
"There is a genetic predisposition to seek out the exotic. In social terms, this is expressed very easily through finding folks that look similar enough but sound different enough to demonstrate that they are from a different genetic pool. This is one of the many remnants of our evolution that keeps us from inbreed... |
How did the 2004 tsunami claim so many lives even though the wave wasn't very tall? | [
"Tsunamis aren't dangerous because of their height, they're not necessarily much taller than ordinary waves. However, they're EXTREMELY wide and get higher the closer to shore they're getting. The thing that makes tsunamis dangerous is the fact that water keeps coming and coming for ages. It just drags things and p... | [
"No computer which controls a power plant should ever be directly connected to the Internet. Stuxnet worked because of the incompetency of the operators. Nuclear accidents never happen as acts of god, they _always_ happen because people made layers upon layers of mistakes."
] |
Why did italy perform so poorly during ww2? | [
"This topic has come up a few times before. One thread answered this question with remarkable detail but unfortunately I couldn't find it (sorry, reddit search function is not very good). I did manage to find this one though, and it touches on this subject: _URL_0_ Citation: Jimmypickles. \"Why was italy considere... | [
"In addition to what MI13 mentioned in their excellent answer, you have to keep in mind the tactical employment of Early Modern pike formations bore only superficial resemblance to Macedonian phalanxes. They both carried pikes, and that was it. The Spanish, on the cutting edge of military development in the 16th ce... |
Is there something wrong with being honest with children about life, from a child psychology standpoint? | [
"Probably my greatest mentor in pediatrics once told me, \"If a child is old enough to really ask a question, they are old enough for the answer.\" That doesn't necessarily mean they need a scientific response (ie, you don't have to explain sex to a 3yo who asks where babies come from, you can just say \"they grow ... | [
"\"Simplifying\" is not the same as \"dumbing down\", for one. Take the rules of this sub, for example - we don't *literally* explain things like we're talking to a 5-year-old even though we *do* try to simplify to the degree a layperson can understand. And that's another point. Say I'm a high-level network securit... |
Why is the complicated sky-crane system necessary for the Curiosity lander? | [
"A rocket based landing alone is very difficult on mars, as it has more gravity than the moon. This includes the logistics concerns of carrying that much fuel that far. Mars is especially hard to hard to land on, the atmosphere is too diffuse to use wings, aero brakes or parachutes alone for most stuff, and the gr... | [
"Insurance. Companies with high-cost, high-risk tasks like sending a $200M thing into space pay BIG insurance premiums for just these kinds of situations. It should be noted the launch today was a *test launch*."
] |
how airplanes slow down so quickly when landing (while already on runway) | [
"Thrust reversers. The structure of the plane's jet engines are reconfigured so that the jets are *reversing* the thrust. In addition, the wings and flaps are in positions that generate a lot of drag. This all slows the plane down really fast."
] | [
"[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."
] |
Since all the oceans are connected how come there is so much variance in water color around the world? blue, green, clear, brown, etc.... It would seem everything has been around for so long it would have had time to "merge" | [
"The ocean isn't a stagnant pool, massive underwater currents constantly circulate the ocean. The different colors you see come from various sources, the depth of the water, temperate, algae, mineral content. Like you get that *gorgeous* light blue in the Caribbean because the water is shallow near the islands and ... | [
"> Why are there many different sockest Because different engineers thouht that different things would be important for a socket, e.g. ability to transfer a lot of current vs. small size and simple (=cheap) construction. > Was this a big lapse in planning when electricity came about? People did not have much elect... |
[Physics] How can a singularity be possible given the Pauli exclusion principle? | [
"Singularities are not thought to be physical. They are (literally and figuratively) holes in the general theory of relativity. Hopefully a quantum theory of gravity will tell us what's really going on at the center of a black hole."
] | [
"not *disproven* per se, but yeah, it seems to strongly indicate that Big Crunch won't happen."
] |
Why do so many cultures around the world use the symbol of ouroboros? | [
"A shape that has no apparent beginning or end and goes all the way back round to it's starting point when you try to draw one - not a massive leap to tie that to continuity and infinity. Similar symbolism exists for it because, well, it's a pretty obvious symbol to use for that sort of thing."
] | [
"This is a pretty common question here; here's some links from the FAQ: _URL_2_ _URL_4_ and a few others that have been posted over the years: _URL_3_ _URL_1_ _URL_0_ Most posts agree that it is largely a post-war pop phenomenon with fairly little evidence to support it."
] |
/r/Blind has ~300 subscribers, how do blind people use reddit? | [
"They have programs on their computers that read the content to them. Depending on how good they are at listening to the speech and how fast the have the speech turned up, they could very well be using reddit better than you are. I've seen people using their speech software turned up so fast, it sounds like a tape ... | [
"Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: How did we figure out how many protons each element has? ](_URL_0_) 1. [ELI5: How did scientists figure out how many protons are in an atom? Or, even, what an atom is made of? ](_URL_1_)"
] |
Is it possible to predict the length of a bond based on its bond order? If so, how? | [
"Yes, it is - The higher the bond order, the shorter is the bond length. There isn't a clear mathematic relation between the two, as bond length primarily depends on the atomic radius. (Which decreases across the period and increases down the group.)"
] | [
"Placing a chicken bone in vinegar for 2-3 days is a classic elementary/middle-school science demonstration; overtime, the acetic acid slowly strips the calcium from the bone leaving behind only the elastin and collagen fibers. At this point you can easily bend the bone (within reason) without breaking it. Once ben... |
Is it better for your currency to be more valuable or less valuable? | [
"It depends on your economic strategy. If you're a net importer you want your currency to be strong, so it is worth more when you're buying things. If you're a net exporter you want it to be relatively weak, so your products are less expensive for your customers to buy."
] | [
"control engineer here (we try to discribe a system with a mathematical modell and then try to find the best solution to manipulate it) eigenvalues are very important in any system that has more than one variable we want to control (like an autopilot for a plane that has to observe heigth, speed, direction and even... |
Why is ice-cream that's melted then frozen much harder to scoop than fresh ice-cream? | [
"There are two things that make ice cream soft - the ice is in very small crystals, and tiny bubbles of air mixed into it. When you melt and refreze it, some of the air bubbles merge to create bigger bubbles with more solid material around them, and the ice crystals that form are much bigger, tying the mass togethe... | [
"To enable a substance to expand out of a can (it had to be compressed to fit inside) the molecules must be allowed to \"re-expand\" and bump each other further apart, in an effort to match the outside air pressure. To do this, the molecules inside demand more energy to allow the expansion to occur. *That* means th... |
why is light the gold standard for the top speed in the universe? | [
"No matter how much I tried, I could not explain it as well as [minutephysics](_URL_0_) on YouTube."
] | [
"> I don’t even know if this question makes any sense I’m just curious. It makes sense in that I understand what you're asking, but it doesn't make sense in that it's a meaningless question; it has no answer. A photon is always traveling at c in all reference frames, and to measure the passage of time, that can't b... |
How was the 13 Billion year expected heat death calculated? | [
"13 Billion is the [age of the universe](_URL_2_). A very compelling piece of evidence is the [cosmic microwave background](_URL_1_). The [inevitable Heat Death of the Universe](_URL_3_) is on a much [much longer timescale](_URL_0_)."
] | [
"Math. After we were able to accurately monitor and figure out the body's course it was simply (not that simple) math and physics that told us where it would go. (EX: at day 12 month 5 yr 1981 it was here, on day 27 3rd month yr 1984 it was here, insert big math problem, and we now know that on day 1 month 1 yr 198... |
When robots take over almost all of our jobs, how would a UBI (universal basic income) exactly work, and how would it succeed where communism failed? | [
"UBI doesn't really have much to do with Communism. If anything, it's opposed to Communism since it doesn't involve popular or even government ownership of the means of production, just a redistribution after the fact of wealth generated in a capitalist or quasi-capitalist system. The basic idea of UBI is that you... | [
"Neighbor across the street: \"Hey Tommy, will you mow my lawn?\" Tommy: \"Sure, I'll do it for $5/hr.\" Neighbor: \"How about $3?\" Tommy: \"I want $5.\" Neighbor: \"OK, well I'll just ask your brother.\" Tommy: \"My brother and I and all the neighborhood kids decided together that we weren't going to mow lawns fo... |
What are the fundamental differences between face lotion, body lotion, foot cream, daily moisturizer, night cream, etc.?? | [
"Worked as a cosmetics chemist for 2 years after school. It varies depending on the function of the lotion/cream. If its a general moisturizer very little difference, maybe a slightly different ratio for the thickener to decrease tackiness for something facial rather than something advertised for the body. However ... | [
"Different gasoline taxes. Different distances between the nearest refinery. Different blend requirements for the gasoline(California). Different requirements on who's allowed to pump gasoline into a car(Oregon/New Jersey). Different minimum wages. Different property values for a gas station sized plot of land. Dif... |
Why does my breath smell so bad in the mornings? | [
"You're dehydrated, and mouth bacteria thrive in dryness. When you go to sleep, your salivary glands stop moistening your mouth, and these drier conditions allow bacteria to multiply, and in turn, start crapping everywhere. This is also why Mouthwash will make your breath smell nice at first, but make it smell like... | [
"Sweet tasters are blocked by ingredients in toothpaste. So you only taste the bitter parts of OJ"
] |
What did people with bad vision do before corrective lenses? | [
"Most people wear glasses so they can read. In the past, reading was less important, so people were less impacted by poor vision. Also, there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that reading contributes to needing glasses."
] | [
"Follow up: what materials were used in the construction of various homes/commercial properties? And who constructed them - did they have architects, etc for homes of regular folk? Or did poor people build their houses themselves?"
] |
What is the primary difference (or differences) between natural selection and molecular evolution? | [
"It's an extremely fine line and frankly a worthless distinction. He's basically arguing that mutation is what drives evolution for two reasons: 1) Selection can't really happen without mutation to create differences so that there can be selection. 2) It's possible for a mutation to occur and spread through a popul... | [
"Ease of use. Becoming proficient with a bow could take years and requires a certain amount of strength. You could teach someone to use a musket in a fraction of the time."
] |
Why do babies have that new baby smell? | [
"Babies don't really smell of anything. The smell everyone loves is a combination of the cleansing products, baby oil, talc etc."
] | [
"It's just in their DNA. Even now, science can't fully explain the phenomena we call \"instincts\", even though we can see them in action, and have them ourselves."
] |
What factors contribute to the way a person's handwriting looks like? | [
"Off the top of my head: * How, where, when, and by whom they were taught to write * How much practice they've had * How often they actually write by hand * What writing instrument, paper, and surface they're using * Their mental state * How carefully and at what speed they're writing * How old they are * Whether o... | [
"Your answer was removed shortly before you posted this question. It did not meet our standards. We ask that answers in this subreddit be in-depth and comprehensive, and highly suggest that comments include citations for the information. In the future, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with [the ... |
Why do we wake up with those lines on our arm sometimes? | [
"Sheet wrinkles. When you've slept soundly, you've laid in one position for so long that any wrinkle in the sheets where you are lying becomes an imprinted wrinkle in your skin. Usually they are pretty cool except when one (or more) go right across your face making you look horribly disfigured."
] | [
"There is no chemical bond between the elements on the surface of your skin and the mattress, however there are chemical bonds holding your skin together."
] |
Why does sound fade when I yawn? And what's with that bass sound when I yawn especially hard? | [
"When you yawn, two things happen that affect your ears: 1. The eustachian tube opens. This tube equilibrates the pressure across your eardrum. It's normally closed to maximize the sound energy reaching your cochlea. When you yawn, some of that energy is lost to the tube (specifically, to an impedance mismatch - it... | [
"One of the coolest properties of waves are that they are linear, meaning you can add them together to get a new wave. That new wave obays the wave equation just like the two original ones. So check this out here is a plot of sin(x) and of sin(2x) and of their sum. _URL_0_ Notice that two of those plots just look l... |
How come when the Reddit servers are down, they can still provide the Failure message? | [
"The server in question is most likely the database server. When you access a page, reddit's web server needs to ask the database for the data. The database has a limited number of available connections, so if too many are currently in progress, it will refuse more connections. The web server will then get an error... | [
"The business cycle. This is just how capitalism works--it goes from boom to bust and back. Actual hard answers are complicated bits of economics that are beyond an ELI5."
] |
How do we know the density of other stars? | [
"Stars fit nicely into a spectrum of classes based on their mass and composition. We can tell by looking at the light they produce what type they are, and we can simulate the life cycle of each type."
] | [
"The answer is we can't... *yet*. Don't think others haven't thought about these things decades ago. What you're thinking of is a version of Von Neumann probe. The lack of any detectable \"alien\" Von Neumann probes is one of the stronger arguments the Fermi paradox poses, as these probes could spread through the g... |
What is the "no-effect" level for lead exposure in human beings? At what threshold does lead exposure begin to have demonstrable effect and begin lead poisoning? | [
"Google is great for this kind of question: _URL_1_ _URL_0_ \"The Centers for Disease Control (US) has set the standard elevated blood lead level for adults to be 10 µg/dl of the whole blood.\" That's a pretty small amount for a chemical that derives from an element that can be found in bulk (kg) amounts. Many plac... | [
"To construct an experiment, you have to ask a question that needs to be answered. And often that question takes the form of a hypothesis that needs to be either confirmed or refuted. The hypothesis is the question you want to ask the universe. But the universe has a habit of being kind of secretive and not very ob... |
Why can a country have homeless people living on the streets, but asylum seekers get to move directly into accommodation? | [
"In Germany nobody needs to be homeless. If you don't have a single Euro to your name, are drowning in debt and have nowhere to live, the state welfare system will pay for a reasonable apartment and give you a monthly allowance to get by. As several people have already pointed out, the people that still do live on ... | [
"Brokerages and hedge funds literally purchase servers that are within blocks of the exchanges to shorten the distance their electrons have to travel to the exchanges. This will make their trades happen in smaller portions of seconds and allow trades to happen rapidly. The difference between that and your banking f... |
What are some lesser known epidemics of the past? | [
"The bubonic epidemic no one ever hears about: [The Plague of Justinian](_URL_3_). It is estimated to have killed over twenty-five million people, only 25% of the casualties caused by the Black Death, but the PoJ was the first recorded instance of a (confirmed) Yersinia pestis epidemic."
] | [
"You have excellently clarified your original question with some more specific ones, but you might attract more, and better, answers if you specify a narrower time period or location. Did you have any in mind?"
] |
Nearly 30 years after the Iran-Contra affair, why is there still such little discussion of the CIA's verified involvement in drug trafficking? | [
"Ahhh yes...do as we say, not as we do. They do it, and it's in the \"interests of national security\", but when anyone else does it they are criminals who deserve to go straight to prison."
] | [
"Well, this so called peace treaty is much more complicated than people seem to believe it is. Although one of the primary negotiations was a ceasefire between FARC and the government, FARC's primary intention is to change the constitution in order to have a political say inside Colombia. If you want to know more a... |
Why does coffee make me need to poop? | [
"Caffeine stimulates peristalsis (muscle contractions) of the gastrointestinal tract thus causing the urge to go No. 2."
] | [
"I don't know, but I suggest you stop eating at White Castle."
] |
How much light could you get out of a small light source with a clever mirror system? | [
"Unless I'm very much mistaken, mirrors can't increase the output of a light source, they can only change the direction of the light emitted. Are you thinking of (for example) the reflectors behind flashlight bulbs and car headlights? Because that's only increasing the apparent brightness by taking the light that w... | [
"It's generally true, in that it takes a lot of photosynthetic energy to produce that apple, but obviously it varies a ton. As for measuring something like this the first step would be to measure the dry weight of the apple to figure out how much assimilated carbon is in the fruit. Then you would need to determine ... |
Why can we transfer data wirelessly, but not energy/electricity? | [
"we can! think about it, how do we transmit information? With electromagnetic waves. those are basically light waves (except we can't see them). So it's like blinking a flash light at them, with morse code. when you put your hand near the flash light, you can feel that the beam warms you up! That's energy! So all w... | [
"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... |
Could you explain to a layperson why people hate the Nissan Cube so much? | [
"Because it's ugly beyond comprehension. That's it. Nothing more to add."
] | [
"It came into the market late and is behind in multiple aspects. The app store is catching up but still behind android or ios. There are also some features that aren't available but should be. Give it time, they are gaining ground in the market."
] |
We see things that orbit on a very large scale (planets and such), and things that orbit on a very small scale (molecules), so why don't we see things orbit on a medium scale? | [
"The difference in size between the Sun and its planets is enormous; the gravitational force between two objects is directly correlated to mass. That said, where are you getting the idea that molecules orbit anything?"
] | [
"First off, oxygen itself doesn't actually burn, oxygen *facilitates burning* for other things. In order to have a flame you need something that oxidizes (like oxygen) and something that *can be oxidized* (like wood, metal, etc). Second, most things require a certain temperature before they will actually sustain b... |
Lottery strategy problem: 10% chance of winning $10k vs. 50% chance of winning $2k. Over a hundred times played is there a better strategy? | [
"As other have pointed out, both strategies have the same expected payout ($100K), but the first strategy has a greater variance. With the first strategy, there is a greater chance of getting more than $200K, for example, but also a greater chance of getting less than $50K. [Here's what the probability density of t... | [
"While eating them over 20 days or in 1 day will be the same net amount of caloric/sugar intake, spreading it out allows your blood sugar levels to be more consistent. eating a bag of candy at once will spike your blood sugar - this is bad! If you are diabetic, this is REALLY BAD and can lead to a number of health ... |
Can solar panels in space convert energy from particles other than photons? | [
"Yes, they definitely could. But there's simply a lot more energy out there in sunlight. Most of the particles in interplanetary space near Earth are ions that form a (very tenuous) fluid called the \"solar wind\". The solar wind is supersonic -- it flows away from the Sun at several hundred kilometers per second, ... | [
"You ever see an old movie or slideshow projector? Shine a light through a tiny picture then through a lens and it projects this massive image on the screen from a tiny picture. Turns out we can do that in reverse. Shine a light through a big picture and lens and we can project a tiny image on a tiny screen. Sc... |
Are there any methods other than surgery that actually increase penis length? | [
"[LINK TO SOME INFORMATION](_URL_0_) \"Here’s the kicker – there is no truth or science behind any one of them. They are all pure and simple scams, designed to separate out the foolish from their money. Nothing more than snake oil salesmen, and sadly as educated as we are, we still remain gullible. Hey, if I could ... | [
"Pretty much anyway a file can get onto a computer. Downloads, injection like a USB or something etc"
] |
Why can some people withstand more spice than others? | [
"there's actually an interesting Vox video just about this question. [\"Why we learn to love spicy food\"](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"There is a name for it. I don't remember what, but it's an eye sensitivity to the light. It's genetic."
] |
I've been seeing on Reddit the idea that Europe before WWI was a "powderkeg" of alliances. This seems to suggest that the general balance of power philosophy actually helped lead to WWI directly. How do historians view this analysis? | [
"Hey, I wrote extensively on this in the past. Check out the post and reply if you have further questions :) * [ Why was WWI considered \"inevitable\"?](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"You may also be interested in these previous posts about Marx's historical philosophy: * [To what extent did Marx's theory of historical materialism influence historical thinking in general?](_URL_0_) * [Marx vs. Weber: Who ya got?](_URL_1_)"
] |
How was Joseph Goebbels able to achieve such a high position of power within the Nazi party when he himself was disabled and physically handicapped, contrary to the Nazi parties ideals? | [
"I didn't know he was disabled. Without meaning to sound coarse, what were his disabilities and were the known to the general public?"
] | [
"The van is not an order of battle, it is the first of 3 parts in an advancing military formation (an army on the march) - the advanced guard's job is to seek out the enemy and pin it down for long enough so that the main body can swing in and crush them. A good clear example of this, abeit in the Napoleonic Era, w... |
A (possibly dumb) Question regarding Egyptian Mummies and tobacco. | [
"2 is almost certainly the right answer. You might not be an expert on Egypt, but when really simple answers to dilemmas present themselves you should often listen to them. If something radical like this actually had evidence behind it, we would be descending upon it like flies into honey. Historians and archaeolo... | [
"For what it's worth, the [Book of Snuff and Snuff Boxes](_URL_0_) has the earliest dated box as from 1655. To my eyes, the hair style and dress look closer to 1850s."
] |
Can immunization be passed on? | [
"If the modification using CRISPR occurred in the sperm or egg, yes, that could be passed on to offspring."
] | [
"Epigenomics is the simplest of answers, you should read about it, I think you'll find it interesting. The wiki page is a nice summary. It talks about processes that affect the translation/expression of our DNA. Simply put having the same DNA, as the twins do have, does not mean those genes that are key in developi... |
Why is there rules for war? Isn't war illegal? | [
"war isnt illegal per se. Countries can formally declare war on another country. The rules of war, or international humanitarian law (as it is known formally) are a set of international rules that set out what can and cannot be done during an armed conflict. The main purpose of international humanitarian law (IHL) ... | [
"The IRS doesn't have all our information. Filing your taxes is good for you because you get to tell them you shouldn't really have had to pay as much taxes as you owed, and if they agree they'll give you a chunk back. Filing taxes is good for the government because if they later discover you made income without pa... |
why does helium make your voice so high pitched? | [
"Your voice is a product of air going through your vocal cords. Helium is lighter than 'normal air' meaning it interacts more gently with your vocal cords. This is also why heavier gasses make your voice lower."
] | [
"Imagine lots of tiny bugs on a birthday balloon. They crawl really slow. But blow up the balloon bigger, and as the balloon gets bigger they might move away from each other faster than they can crawl. They aren't really crawling faster, they're just getting more balloon between them."
] |
How did the first cell form? | [
"/r/askscience for the latest theories and not some wild guesses."
] | [
"Well when two hydrogen atoms and one dirty little blonde oxygen atom from accounting make sweet sweet love in the copy room...things get a little wet."
] |
The evolution of organs and organ systems | [
"Your asking essentially the chicken or the egg. Example, Did you stomach evolove first and create your brain and extremites to feed it. Or did your brain grow your stomach to power it. Har to say, as without something to feed the stomach, we would have no stomch. Without the brain to run everything, we wouldn't ha... | [
"Yes, there are many examples. These are just a few: * Chimpanzees: [Ex. 1](_URL_2_), [Ex. 2](_URL_3_), [Ex. 3](_URL_0_); there are [many more](_URL_1_). * [Monkeys](_URL_6_) * Whales: [Ex. 1](_URL_5_), [Ex. 2](_URL_4_) * Birds: [Ex. 1](_URL_8_), [Ex. 2](_URL_7_)"
] |
why children feel delayed pain. | [
"I think it's because they're still developing *how* to react to certain injuries. You'll notice too that they'll look around for their parents just after they've hurt themselves. It's like they're looking for justification to react. I've seen kids fall, look up at their parents, and the parents will say something ... | [
"Everything you're giving them is a flavor explosion they have yet to experience, outside of breast milk or formula. As you feed them more things, they discover that \"Hey, this thing is my favorite so far\" and since they're babies...they don't want the mashed broccoli anymore, they only want the apple strawberry ... |
How are firefighters trained to deal with fire's inside skyscrapers/high rises? Specifically on floors high enough that water from ground level would struggle to reach. | [
"Tall buildings have their own fire-fighting hoses (or connections for them) fixed into the building at high levels for this reason. These are fed by emergency pumps and water tanks built into the building's own infrastructure, meaning that pumping through hoses from ground level isn't necessary."
] | [
"People with lots of spare cash are at historic highs. Worldwide interest rates are at historic lows. Bank accounts are not good places to store cash right now, because they effectively hemorrhage around 1-3% of your wealth every year. So rich people all over the world are desperately looking for alternative ways ... |
Why does internet cost so much more here in the US? | [
"ha, you havent seen australian pricing then :P few reasons - in many countries, they believe internet is a human right so the government puts a lot of money into infrastructure. - Privatisation and only a few major brands = less competition."
] | [
"What data? Something the ISPs are creating themselves, or the internet in general?"
] |
Why does rhyming in poems and songs appeal to us? | [
"In addition to patterns (good comment u/elbobosan), tradition is a big part of it. Essentially, we like what we’re used to, and poetry/songs have been based around simple rhyme structures for millennia. This is due to the fact that before reading and writing were common skills, rhymes made stories much easier to r... | [
"Imagine you have a machine that reads a ribbon of symbols and follows an instruction based on those symbols, such as \"advance one step\", \"rewind 3 steps\", or \"stop\". Now imagine some kind of glitch occurs and the machine finds itself unable to continue acting the way it's supposed to due to getting the wrong... |
How fast can Humans go (Moving through space) and survive? Assuming we don't accelerate so fast it kills us? And how long would it take to get to light speed? | [
"Accelerating at a comfortable 1g - i.e. so that it feels just like the gravity of Earth - it actually only takes about a year to reach relativistic speeds close to the speed of light. The only danger of moving at this speed (relative to the galaxy) is that the vacuum of space isn't a total vacuum, and you're rammi... | [
"Yarr! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why do humans feel the need to wear clothes when the rest of the animal kingdom is naked? ](_URL_6_) 1. [ELI5: Why do we wear clothes? ](_URL_0_) 1. [When, why and how did we start wearing clothes? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: Why do humans, unlik... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.