question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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At what point does someone stop sleeping and start being in a coma? | A person is considered to be *comatose* if they, for a period lasting **longer than six hours**, cannot be awakened, don't respond to external stimuli, lack a normal sleep-wake cycle and do not act voluntarily.
(source: Weyhenmyeye, James A.; Eve A. Gallman (2007). Rapid Review Neuroscience 1st Ed. Mosby Elsevier. pp.... | [
"People may emerge from a coma with a combination of physical, intellectual, and psychological difficulties that need special attention. It is common for coma patients to awaken in a profound state of confusion and suffer from dysarthria, the inability to articulate any speech. Recovery usually occurs gradually. In... |
From an evolutionary standpoint, what is the advantage for trees that have fruit that is sour, like the Lemon, or even poisonous, like the Manchineel? I thought animals eating fruit and defecating the seeds was an important part of plant reproduction. | Some seeds prefer, or even need, specific carriers. Consider this: a mammal chews a fruit and seeds, killing the embryo, whereas a bird would simply swallow and defecate it. To prevent mammals from chewing it's fruit, peppers are spicy. This spicy flavor is undetected by birds but not mammals. | [
"The species is variable because of selection pressure by humans to produce larger, fleshier fruits with a thinner exocarp. The avocado fruit is a climacteric, single-seeded berry, due to the imperceptible endocarp covering the seed, rather than a drupe. The pear-shaped fruit is long, weighs between , and has a lar... |
when jumpstarting your car, why do you connect the black cable to the engine block instead of the black/negative terminal? | Sparks near the battery can cause hydrogen fires. Sparks near the engine block are much safer. That said, modern batteries are sealed and pretty safe, but safer is always better. | [
"As the cars came out of turn four, without any warning, USAC officials suddenly displayed the white and green flag at the starter's stand, and the race was back underway. A startled Luyendyk, running about 85 mph, hastily dropped a gear, and punched the throttle. Almost the entire field was caught off-guard and, t... |
Which non-military event had the biggest impact on the course of World War II? | I think I would go with the death of FDR. With Truman being much less experienced with foreign affairs, the removal of one of the major architects of the Allies' success changed how the war came to a close. Gone would be the issues of how much Truman knew about the atomic bomb, and there would be different questions ... | [
"By 1916 a new factor was emerging—a sense of national self-interest and American nationalism. The unbelievable casualty figures in Europe were sobering—two vast battles caused over one million casualties each. Clearly this war would be a decisive episode in the history of the world. Every American effort to find a... |
To what degree (if any) do personal habits (e.g. slouching) attribute to scoliosis, torticollis, etc.? | I'm an instructor for musculoskeletal anatomy, so this question caught my eye! Personal habits such as slouching, leaning, and poor posture in general can most definitely lead to abnormal positioning of the spine/neck/head. In a small percentage of cases, scoliosis, torticollis, kyphosis, lordosis can be due to birth d... | [
"Scoliosis, is a medical condition where a person's spine has several irregular curves that are located between the neck and the pelvis. Symptoms of scoliosis in mild cases usually exhibit abnormal posture, back pain, tingling or numbness in the legs and in worse cases can exhibit breathing problems, fatigue, perma... |
Can wifi ever be as fast as fiber? | Fiber has a few advantages over wireless (I'll lump more RF technologies with WiFi, as WiFI is really more intended for local communications) it is not just about speed:
Range- With fiber a 10 miles is no big deal, longer transmission is not much harder although the optics are more expensive. Wireless requires large... | [
"In years 2012–2015 the data transfer speeds will be increased, so that the end users connected through the fiber-optic cabling will get speeds up to 2.5 gigabits, those with copper a speed of up to a 100 megabits and those connecting through wireless at either 42 or 100 megabits per second depending on the technol... |
What psychological techniques can be used to counteract procrastination? | Everything you want to know is in this previously, exhaustively explored thread: [Why do humans procrastinate and how can it be beat?](_URL_0_) | [
"Aversives can be used as punishment during applied behavior analysis to reduce unwanted behavior, such as self-injury, that poses a risk of harm greater than that posed by application of the aversive. Aversive stimuli may also be used as negative reinforcement to increase the rate or probability of a behavior by i... |
Why is the Great Leap Forward considered the biggest famine of all time? | You are suffering from a strong mathematical fallacy, based on notation. Rate is the _portion_ of the inititial population that expired from famine. When you use the phrase 'biggest famine' you are talking about raw death _counts_, not the death _rate_. If the only two people on a deserted island starved, by your me... | [
"Benjamin Valentino claims that the Great Leap Forward was a cause of the Great Chinese Famine and the worst effects of the famine were steered towards the regime's enemies. Those labeled as \"black elements\" (religious leaders, rightists and rich peasants) in earlier campaigns died in the greatest numbers because... |
How close was Japan to cracking Navajo code talkers? Was Japan aware Americans were using a Native American language as code? | I did a research project with Navajo sources on this. It sadly never was finished and published, but I was able to use local archives, talk to members of the Navajo community about their verbal histories and study the US military documents regarding the code. I was also studying Navajo Language at time as I am not Nava... | [
"The Japanese tried unsuccessfully to have him decode messages in the \"Navajo Code\" used by the United States Marine Corps, but although Kieyoomia understood Navajo, the messages sounded like nonsense to him because even though the code was based on the Navajo language, it was decipherable only by individuals spe... |
why do i sometimes see ads for the service i'm using to see the ad? | Because self-promotion is a way to retain customers. Also, they're usually ads for Pandora's premium service right? | [
"An ad in the lower third of a TV screen during a show helps to remind people what network they are watching. Called a snipe, this type of promotion targets people, especially younger people, who are used to seeing such items when they look at computer screens or cell phones. Some people have criticized the practic... |
why isn't the remote finder feature common on tvs? | Most TVs use IR (infrared), which require line of sight to the TV - (the remote sends a series of invisible 'blinks', like morse code).
The TV doesn't have a way to send a blink out, and even if it could, the remote is probably lodged inside a couch saying "screw you hippy i'm taking a nap, come and find me, suckah"... | [
"RemoteView is an electronic light table application, initially developed and released commercially by Sensor Systems in 1996. An electronic light table application makes it possible for imagery analysts to review satellite images on a computer instead of examining film or printed photographs. RemoteView was origin... |
how on earth is it a good idea to cross lanes of traffic like this on an overpass? | Cloverleafs are super-expensive to build, and stoplights cause inefficient traffic. In this design, there are only two stoplights (at the crossover), and only two turnabouts. Cars from the surface road don't have to stop at *any* stoplights before getting onto the highway if they're turning right; neither to cars getti... | [
"Pedestrians may dislike using crossing at intersections for other reasons, such as being uncomfortable dealing with traffic from several directions (whereas a jaywalker at a location distant from an intersection only needs to observe two directions of traffic), or wanting to avoid the extra air emissions generated... |
Did America's founding fathers believe the country would become a super power of the world in the next centuries? | It depends. More than likely, no. The thing about the founding fathers is that none of them ever agreed on anything. George Washington was an adamant isolationist, which is why the US broke their treaty with France to help them during their revolution like they did for us.
After the US gained independence from Grea... | [
"The \"American Century\" existed through the Cold War and demonstrated the status of the United States as the foremost of the world's two superpowers. After the Cold War, the most common belief held that only the United States fulfilled the criteria to be considered a superpower. Its geographic area composed the f... |
if cancer is basically a clump of cells that dont want to die, why/how do things like cigarettes, asbestos, and the literal sun trigger it? | Cancer cells result from mutations that disable the things that keep cell growth in check. Those mutations come from incorrect repairs to cell DNA, and those errors happen more frequently the more repairs take place.
Therefore things that cause damage that requires repairs increase the chances of developing cancer, st... | [
"Some substances cause cancer primarily through their physical, rather than chemical, effects on cells. A prominent example of this is prolonged exposure to asbestos, naturally occurring mineral fibers which are a major cause of mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the serous membrane, usually the serous membrane sur... |
how is it that the president can have the authority to authorize a nuclear attack but not a travel ban? | He actually does have the authority to implement a travel ban under section 212(B) subsection F of the immigration and nationality act.
_URL_0_
"Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may ... | [
"Only the president can direct the use of nuclear weapons by U.S. armed forces, through plans like OPLAN 8010-12. The president has unilateral authority as commander-in-chief to order that nuclear weapons be used for any reason at any time.\n",
"In the 115th Congress Lieu introduced H.R. 669 – Restricting First U... |
Plasma Gasification? Thoughts Please | From a chemical standpoint, the biggest problem with plasma gasification is that it makes big assumptions as to the chemical composition of the input waste (i.e. it's not energy-generating if you "feed" it the wrong things.) Beyond that, they are complicated and rely on high temperatures, which means that even if you c... | [
"Plasma gasification is an extreme thermal process using plasma which converts organic matter into a syngas (synthesis gas) which is primarily made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. A plasma torch powered by an electric arc is used to ionize gas and catalyze organic matter into syngas, with slag remaining as a by... |
can somebody please explain cosmic microwave backgorund radiation? | When the universe was very young—as in, less than 400,000 years old—it was very, very hot. It was so hot, in fact, that matter couldn't exist except in a form called "plasma". This is the kind of stuff the sun is made out of, except the plasma at that time was much hotter than the sun. One of the things about plasma is... | [
"A major recent focus of microwave radio astronomy has been mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) discovered in 1964 by radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. This faint background radiation, which fills the universe and is almost the same in all directions, is \"relic radiation\" from... |
why did pilgrims wear buckles on their hats? | Contrary to popular myth, capotains never included buckles on the front of them; this image was created in the 19th century. | [
"The capotain is especially associated with Puritan costume in England in the years leading up to the English Civil War and during the years of the Commonwealth. It is also commonly called a Flat Topped Hat and a Pilgrim hat, the latter for its association with the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth Colony in the 1620s.... |
how is fm radio still thriving as much as it supposedly is as a media source? | It's possible but the radio is also an easy way to hear new music. Some people don't want to decide which music to listen to or go out searching for a podcast, most morning radio shows have some music but also a talk show, which is a great way to get news. Add on that radio is free and many blue collar shops (mechanics... | [
"The consensus about radio in Canada as well as in most parts of the world is that it is a dying medium. With innovations such as television and the Internet, which have allowed for audio communication paired with visual, there has been less need for radio. Furthermore, the introduction of personalized and portable... |
Double slit experiment: what happens if you move the slits further apart? | Diffraction only happens when the gap is roughly equal to the wavelength of the wave passing through it. If you increase the size of the gap, diffraction just won't happen and the wave would pass through it like it would a doorway. | [
"In the double-slit experiment, the two slits are illuminated by a single light beam. If the width of the slits is small enough (less than the wavelength of the light), the slits diffract the light into cylindrical waves. These two cylindrical wavefronts are superimposed, and the amplitude, and therefore the intens... |
Does a galaxy receding from us at close to the speed of light due to the expansion of space experience time dilation and length contraction from our perspective? | The answer is **yes, at least in some way**. But to fully understand this you have to realize that the insights from special relativity can't be used in the big picture of cosmology. This means, among other things, that the special relativistic doppler formula should not be used to calculate the velocity of distant gal... | [
"Current evidence suggests that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, which means that the second derivative of the scale factor formula_23 is positive, or equivalently that the first derivative formula_24 is increasing over time. This also implies that any given galaxy recedes from us with increasing... |
can someone explain how to start your own company? | I regrettably don't have any first-hand experience, and I also would like to know more about this question, but I can offer what I witnessed from my mother starting her own company:
Know your shit. There's a lot of legal aspects to starting your own business (licensure, permits, documentation, etc.). I'm fairly sure i... | [
"Founders with an early-stage company are faced with the challenge of building a team with minimal people and cost. The process starts by listing out basic functions of a particular company (e.g., engineer, operations, finance) and then stripping down to the abstract job activities and skills that the company must ... |
What are some real world applications of the infinite sum of natural numbers? (1+2+3+...=-1/12) | First, let me stress this: 1+2+3+… does NOT equal -1/12. You can see my explanation in [this thread](_URL_0_).
The application of the regularization technique that has us replace that infinite sum with -1/12 probably rose to attention in recent years due to its appearance in one approach to the calculation of the num... | [
"In physics, approximations of real numbers are used for continuous measurements and natural numbers are used for discrete measurements (i.e. counting). It is therefore assumed by physicists that no measurable quantity could have an infinite value, for instance by taking an infinite value in an extended real number... |
why do some radios only come with the fm station and not the am | AM (_URL_1_) and FM (_URL_0_) radio are two different ways of encoding audio in a radio signal. the actual mechanics of converting the radio signal into audio you can hear are different, and the two different method require different circuitry or software to decode the signal.
because of it's poorer audio quality, AM... | [
"BULLET::::- \"AM(/FM) only radio\": Before FM radio receivers came to the market, AM receivers were simply just known as radios. However, as AM/FM radios started to include turntables, tape players, CD players, and later on analog AUX inputs, satellite radio and even USB, AM/FM radios without bells and whistles wo... |
Why have so few transdermal medication patches been developed? | This doesn't completely address the question, but transdermal medications can have variable efficacy in elderly patients, as their absorption through the skin is often dependent upon hypodermal fat. As people age, this fatty layer decreases. Considering a bulk of pharmaceutical use is among the elderly, it stands to re... | [
"A transdermal patch is a medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream. Often, this promotes healing to an injured area of the body. An advantage of a transdermal drug delivery route over other types of medication delivery suc... |
why are all podcast ads for subscription services? | Subscription services are just a very popular startup business model currently, it’s a really successful one as subscription services generate good, solid, predictable, and real cash flows (of course only for those that succeed). Subscriptions are an amazing business to be in for most any company over a la carte sales.... | [
"Contemporary talk, music, sports and newscasts are significantly branching out to the internet and Smartphone App choices such as TuneIn Radio. Many independent and liberal talk show hosts offer podcast (digital audio Play-On-Demand recordings, see also iPod) subscriptions in order to support their on-going broadc... |
is it cheaper to automate processes than to outsource them to cheap labour? | It really depends on the product, the process and the size of the run. If you are trying to perhaps, bottle beer, or box cereal, a simple, constant product and process, automation makes sense if demand is high. You really don't want workers putting bottles of beer in six pack holders all day, and then placing them in... | [
"The machine is able to replace a worker, who works at one specific job with one tool, with a mechanism that accomplishes the same task, but with many similar tools and at a much faster rate. One machine doing one specific task soon turns into a fleet of co-operating machines accomplishing the entire process of pro... |
How does heat travel at an atomic level? | Temperature is a bulk property of matter- it doesn't make sense to talk about a "hot" atom or a "cold" atom- only large collections of atoms have a defined temperature. So, it doesn't really make sense about a "hot" atom coming into contact with a "cold" one.
In general though, when heat flows from one object to anot... | [
"Heat is defined as energy, and as such, it moves from higher levels of energy (i.e., temperature) to low. At the atomic level, heat is the motion of the atoms and electrons that make up a material. The more the particles move, the higher the heat. Excited particles bouncing off each other transfer the heat, moving... |
Why exactly do teeth have nerves? | Your jaw is extremely powerful and if you exerted its full force on your teeth you could shatter them. The nerves give you some indication of the pressure you're applying. | [
"Nerve fibers start to near the tooth during the cap stage of tooth development and grow toward the dental follicle. Once there, the nerves develop around the tooth bud and enter the dental papilla when dentin formation has begun. Nerves never proliferate into the enamel organ.\n",
"Cranial nerves are the nerves ... |
how does a heat pump work? | It's basically air-conditioning in reverse. The compressor increases pressure and concentrates heat on the refrigerant flowing to one coil while a fan moves air through it, heating the air and cooling the coil. This now cooled refrigerant flows to the metering device. These can be as simple as a stopper with a tiny hol... | [
"A heat pump is a device that transfers heat energy from a source of heat to what is called a heat sink. Heat pumps move thermal energy in the opposite direction of spontaneous heat transfer, by absorbing heat from a cold space and releasing it to a warmer one. A heat pump uses external power to accomplish the work... |
What happens to the mitochondria as an animal ages? Are their fewer per cell? Are mitochondria less efficient? | I would research this more using google, but from the literature that I’ve read, it appears that mitochondrial dysfunction occurs over time, and more mitochondria exist in cells that do not replicate (in G0, so muscle cells for example) as time progresses.
Not sure what the implications for this are, but I’d give this... | [
"The ability to ingest other cells enabled ancestral eukaryotes to build a much more complex cell. Once the capacity for consuming other cells was in place, early eukaryotes began to acquire internal membrane-bound organelles that included organelles that were once free-living prokaryotes. Based on phylogenetic and... |
what is happening when i turn off the television and the lights, and the television still looks to be dimly lit? | You mean old CRT TVs? The way those work is the back side of the screen is coated in phosphor. The TV makes images by firing a beam of electrons at the phosphor coating, making it glow. The beam moves from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, redrawing the entire screen many times a second.
When the electron beam stops, t... | [
"Many televisions and monitors automatically degauss their picture tube when switched on, before an image is displayed. The high current surge that takes place during this automatic degauss is the cause of an audible \"thunk\" or loud hum, which can be heard (and felt) when televisions and CRT computer monitors are... |
does a baby smell like s mix of its parents or a new smell to an animal with a more sensitive ability to detect odor? | While extensive studies have been done examining the ability for parents and newborns to identify each other VERY quickly after birth, I don't think there's yet been investigation into the similarities of babies to their parents. But given that dog trainers encourage new parents with dogs to first bring a blanket the ... | [
"Physiological, behavioral and anatomical evidence show that some species may have a functioning olfactory system in utero. Newborn infants respond positively to the smell of their own amniotic fluid, which may serve as evidence for intrauterine olfactory learning. Mammals’ sense of smell becomes mature at an early... |
the marvel cinematic universe and the film rights to their respective characters in the marvel comic universe. more specifically, quicksilver & scarlet witch. | Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch occupy a weird little grey area in the usage rights that Marvel licensed to Fox. They're mutants, children of Magneto, so they're part of the X-Men franchise. So Fox can use them. However, they're *also* long-term Avengers, and -- unlike Spider-Man and Wolverine -- most of their comic book... | [
"Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, focused on the Avengers and their related characters, whose film rights they still owned. Marvel was then bought by Disney in 2009, but could not use the X-Men or their related characters. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were an odd case, as they had... |
Does hair grow at a constant rate or in bursts? | Generally our hair grows fastest in the summer and it is more productive when people reach 15-30 years. After this period, as we become older, the natural hair growth process slows down considerably.
Stress is a major cause of countless health problems and hair is no exception. Constant stress can lead to severe hair ... | [
"The three stages of hair growth are the anagen, catagen, and telogen phases. Each strand of hair on the human body is at its own stage of development. Once the cycle is complete, it restarts and a new strand of hair begins to form. The rate or speed of hair growth is about 1.25 centimetres or 0.5 inches per month,... |
Katyn Massacre and Nazis | Although only focused specifically on Katyn for a small portion, [this](_URL_0_) will likely be of interest for you. | [
"The Katyn massacre (, \"Katyń crime\"; \"Katynskaya reznya\", \"Katyn massacre\", or , \"Katyn execution by shooting\") was a series of mass executions of Polish military officers and intelligentsia carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD (\"People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs\", aka the Sovi... |
Why can't we capture carbon with trees or technology? | Well, we can. And up to a point, we do.
The follow up question which will immediately pop up in your mind, is why it isn't a greater deal, and the short answer to that is that we've just begun looking into it, and of course cost and scale. Yes, it's expensive. And yes, people object to large-scale geo-engineering proj... | [
"Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch, wildlife habitat, or used to prevent erosion. Real trees are carbon-neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing. However, emissions can occur from farming activiti... |
why do people on reddit care so much about comment and link karma? | Human brains love being rewarded, even if that reward is just positive feedback (in the form of an upvote or a comment agreeing) from other anonymous users. It creates pleasure to get link and comment karma and displeasure to lose it.
Also if you have low karma it makes it harder (slower) to use the site. | [
"Since 2006, each user has the opportunity to express their opinions on the site, by pressing the '+' or '–' button for comments and posts. In the same way, they can express their attitude to each individual user on their profile page. Depending on the number of the '+/-' entries the user receives, it is shown as a... |
why do i have to be 18 to buy a lighter? | Because that's the legal age to buy tobacco and tobacco paraphernalia? | [
"Disposable lighters sold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States (since 1994) must incorporate child-resistant features. The European Union added the same standard in 2010. The inexpensive alterations have resulted in fewer juvenile-set fires and deaths. One firefighter was quoted as saying \"Chil... |
Dual pregnancy by two different men? | Yes, it's possible to have multiple ova fertilized by sperm from different men. Sperm can live for several days, and multiple ova can be released over the course of several days in a single ovulation cycle. That means it's possible for more than one ovum to be fertilized and implant, resulting in a pregnancy of multipl... | [
"Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy. Twins can be either \"monozygotic\" ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos, or \"dizygotic\" ('fraternal'), meaning that each twin develops from a separate egg and each egg is fertilized by its own sperm c... |
What is the precedent for the 'one phone call' if you are arrested? | Turns out it's just a Hollywood invention, in real life if you're arrested it looks like in some places they aren't even required to grant you a single phone call, and in others it's stipulated as a "reasonable" amount of calls. If you'd like to read more - _URL_0_ | [
"Arrests under English law fall into two general categories—with and without a warrant—and then into more specific subcategories. Regardless of what power a person is arrested under, they must be informed that they are under arrest and of the grounds for their arrest at the time or as soon after the arrest as is pr... |
buddism | This may not be something a 5 year old will 100% understand, but I am explaining a religion here so I'll do my best to keep it simple.
Buddhists believe that:
1. Everything is always changing, nothing stays the same, by accepting this you will no longer hold on to things that cannot last- this helps them accept death... | [
"Creepersin is an American horror punk/goth rock band that was formed in Orange County, California. Creepersin was known for loud guitars (as in \"Last House on the Left on Mockingbird Lane\") and sleepy vocals (as in \"Proceed with Plan 9\"). Their lyrics are mostly inspired by old horror and exploitation films su... |
Are any of our direct (evolutionary) ancestors alive today? And if so, which is the one that is closest to us? | Your closest evolutionary ancestors are your parents :)
Okay, all kidding aside, it looks like the answer is no. Diagram [here](_URL_0_). Our direct evolutionary ancestors *H. heidelbergensis* died a while ago, and we helped to kill off the *H. neanderthalis* subspecies, so.
Honestly, it isn't surprising that we're t... | [
"The RTB claim that all current humans are descended from a specially created couple that lived about 50,000 years ago and that there is no common ancestor between humans and other primates is disputed in a scholarly essay by evangelical geneticist Dennis Venema. There is strong genetic and fossil evidence suggesti... |
why is the force of gravity lower in water then on land? | It's not less, it's exactly the same.
There's just a new force involved, bouncy, that's pushing you up while gravity is pulling you down. It could be argues that bouncy is simply the force of gravity applied differently, but that's not really important for this argument.
| [
"If formula_7, formula_8 is positive though generally much smaller than formula_4. Because water is much more dense than air, the displacement of water by air from a surface gravity wave feels nearly the full force of gravity (formula_10). The displacement of the thermocline of a lake, which separates warmer surfac... |
Why is it apparently accepted that different breeds of cats and dogs have certain personalities, abilities, and levels of aggressiveness, but not different races of humans? | This is really a snakepit of a question and I don't know how to answer it completely.
It's important to note, though, that dog and cat breeds are extensively inbred compared to human races, and are much less genetically diverse. This makes it a lot easier to predict how a puppy will turn out than how a child will turn... | [
"Dogs and cats have a range of interactions. The natural instincts of each species lead towards antagonistic interactions, though individual animals can have non-aggressive relationships with each other, particularly under conditions where humans have socialized non-aggressive behaviors. \n",
"Most feline pets in... |
how is braille used/interpreted in cultures with complicated writing systems (arabic, japanese, etc.)? does each language have its own unique braille alphabet? | For [Chinese braille](_URL_0_) see here. It uses "multiple characters" for one sign. | [
"Hebrew Braille () is the braille alphabet for Hebrew. The International Hebrew Braille Code is widely used. It was devised in the 1930s and completed in 1944. It is based on international norms, with additional letters devised to accommodate differences between English Braille and the Hebrew alphabet. Unlike Hebre... |
why does your brain automatically read words and why can’t you stop it from doing so? | Our brains are wired to pattern match. By teaching kids to read, we shortcut the patterns at an early age, and it becomes habit. Try looking at a totally different language and you certainly won’t automatically read it. | [
"More recently, they have turned their attention to how learning to read may depend on a process of \"neuronal recycling\" that causes brain circuits originally evolved for object recognition to become tuned to recognize frequent letters, pairs of letters and words, and have tested these ideas examining brain respo... |
Why do so many American suburbs have the word "Heights" in them? And why is this naming trend not present in other English-speaking countries? | I am not an expert, but I believe it has to do with the fact that the wealthy use to have their homes built on the hills surrounding cities. These would often be called "the heights". So as suburbs developed to give an impression of wealth some would have "heights" in their names.
It could also be that they are devel... | [
"Much of the term's history evolved from the Appalachian area of Pennsylvania, which includes most of the T and most of the Pittsburgh area. Since the early 1800s, Pittsburgh has been one of America's major cities with a distinct association to the Midwest. Its geographic proximity to Ohio and West Virginia creates... |
south atlantic anomaly | The South Atlantic Anomaly is an area of low earth orbit where radiation is particularly high, due to the shape of Earth's magnetic field. This means that satellites pass through these areas are bombarded by high-energy particles, which cause cumulative damage to electronics.
This damage occurs since electronics such ... | [
"The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is an area where the Earth's inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth's surface, dipping down to an altitude of . This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites to higher-than-usual levels of radiation.\n",
"... |
why does the greenhouse effect doesn't work both ways? | It’s different wavelengths of light. The sun sends us a broad spectrum of light which warms the earth. The earth radiates back to space light primarily at longer wavelength infrared spectrum. Greenhouse gasses only block infrared light. It’s similar in concept to blue blockers sunglasses which also only filter out a na... | [
"\"Greenhouse effect\" is actually a misnomer since heating in the usual greenhouse is due to the reduction of convection, while the \"greenhouse effect\" works by preventing absorbed heat from leaving the structure through radiative transfer.\n",
"The anti-greenhouse effect is a mechanism similar and symmetrical... |
Why are haunted housed historically depicted as Victorian-style in pop culture? | The classic Hollywood haunted house from horror movies is French Second Empire style and not the later Victorian/Queen Anne style. The archetypal houses in "Psycho" and "The Addams Family" have clear Second Empire details like a square central tower and mansard roofs.
As to why this became the archetypal "horror" sty... | [
"The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969. Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973. Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by openin... |
How do interlocking basalt columns, such as those seen in "The Giant's Causeway" in Northern Ireland, form? | First, you need to form an even layer of hot molten rock. The two best ways of doing that are either a lava flow, or a sill (a sill being an intrusion of magma along a bedding plane between sedimentary rock layers).
That then gives you a hot flat plate of rock, which begins to cool.
Any cooling liquid, given time, wi... | [
"It features unusual and impressive basalt columns, the same type which make up the Giant's Causeway, Ireland. As the volcano's lava cooled, it formed distinct columns or pillars with five to eight sides, called columnar basalt. When hit on the tops with a hammer, the columns make musical notes of varying pitch.\n"... |
Is peer review essential? (philosophy of science(?)) | Philosophy time!
As with any useful word in a useful language, "science" is a complex. Certainly an isolated individual can engage in scientific inquiry, so "science" in this sense doesn't require peer review. However, we live in a society with many scientists, and in that society, "science" is a social enterprise. Pe... | [
"Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competences as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are used to maintain quality standards, improve performance, and p... |
how do cows pollute so much and why is this happening? | Cows release methane and a lot of it, approximately 70 to 120kg a year. Like carbon dioxide, methane is a greenhouse gas. However the negative effect of methane is much higher than carbon dioxide (what we breath out and what plants breath in to make oxygen), the amount worse methane is for the climate compared to carbo... | [
"One reason why cows burp so much is that they are often fed foods that their digestive systems cannot fully process, such as corn and soy. Some farmers have reduced burping in their cows by feeding them alfalfa and flaxseed, which are closer to the grasses that they had eaten in the wild before they were domestica... |
It's 1776, how would I drink beer at home? | In Sweden, most people would brew a dark, cloudy and weak beer (1-3%) at their own farm from their own produced barley. This was stored in kegs or barrels and drunk by everyone (including young children) from wooden tankards or mugs.
Stronger beer, but still dark and cloudy, was brewed by brewers usually close to tow... | [
"Prior to the Revolution, New Englanders consumed large quantities of rum and beer, as maritime trade provided them relatively easy access to the goods needed to produce these items. Rum was the distilled spirit of choice, as the main ingredient, molasses, was readily available from trade with the West Indies. Furt... |
Is it likely that the United States would have invaded Grenada following the October 1983 Beirut barracks bombing even if Maurice Bishop hadn't been deposed earlier that month? | For context:
* Grenada is a small nation, but its alignment with the USSR and Cuba provided strategic advantages to those nations. Grenada was on the opposite side of the Caribbean from Cuba. The construction of an airfield on the island by Cuban soldiers threatened to establish a real strategic threat to commerce an... | [
"The reason given by the U.S. Administration of Ronald Reagan to justify the October 1983 invasion of Grenada was to rescue American medical students at St. George’s University from the danger posed to them by the violent coup, as well as to return the country to its democratic status, that had overthrown Grenada’s... |
what happens when a limb loses and then regains it's feeling? | Hi there, excellent question.
When pressure is placed on a nerve(neuron), this prevents signals from getting through.
There are 4 main types of primary afferent axons:
**A-alpha(I):** Control skeletal muscle. Fancy name is Proprioceptors
**A-beta(II):** Mechanoreceptors of the skin. Innervate touch, hair receptor... | [
"In the phenomenon of phantom limb sensation, a person continues to feel pain or sensation within a part of their body that has been amputated. This is strangely common, occurring in 60–80% of amputees. An explanation for this is based on the concept of neuroplasticity, as the cortical maps of the removed limbs are... |
Why is the weak nuclear force between 2 protons in the nucleus, 10^-7 times the electromagnetic interaction? | The driving reason for this is that the weak force is carried by massive particles, so the strength of the force drops off exponentially with distance, whereas the electromagnetic force is carried by photons which are massless and hence produce a force that only drops off geometrically.
There's a good discussion of th... | [
"At short distances (less than 1.7 fm or so), the attractive nuclear force is stronger than the repulsive Coulomb force between protons; it thus overcomes the repulsion of protons within the nucleus. However, the Coulomb force between protons has a much greater range as it varies as the inverse square of the charge... |
Would a bubble be absorbed by the water around it? | Yes - for most gasses, solubility in water increases with pressure. | [
"If a bubble or an object exists which collects gas molecules this collection of gas molecules may reach a size where the internal pressure exceeds the combined surface tension and external pressure and the bubble will grow. If the solvent is sufficiently supersaturated, the diffusion of gas into the bubble will ex... |
How do we know if subatomic particles are spherical? | It's an artist interpretation. The currently accepted model, the standard model (or more generally quantum field theory itself) models fundamental particles (photons, neutrinos, quarks, electrons) as pointlike, i.e. they are mathematical points, so they occupy no volume at all. This might seem weird to your common sens... | [
"While the model Eq. () offers a reasonable approximation for almost-spherical particles (e.g. biomass burning aerosols), it no longer provides a viable description for the non-spherical case. Particle shape is known to have substantial effects for the scattering in side- and backward direction. Recent studies show... |
in WW2 was it easier for non-Germans to volunteer for the SS compared to the Wehrmacht. | The SS had the strictest policy about proof of German blood, and needed to get a certificate called "Großer Ariernachweis" (Greater Aryan certificate) with the added information that showed proof of pure Aryan blood back to at least 1750.
| [
"Non-Germans in the German armed forces during World War II were volunteers, conscripts and those otherwise induced to join who served in Nazi Germany's armed forces during World War II. In German war-time propaganda those who volunteered for service were referred to as \"Freiwillige\" (\"volunteers\"). At the same... |
why don't video game industries use sd cards instead of discs? | Compared to SD cards, Blu-ray discs are extremely more cheap to mass produce. Even with DVD's, you as a consumer can buy a 50 pack for pretty cheap. | [
"Nintendo DS and 3DS storage devices are used to store a licensed developer's work-in-progress images, homebrew video games, and downloaded commercial games (since the Nintendo DS is not sold with a rewritable storage medium). Licensed developers, however, can use a blue Intelligent Systems Nitro Emulator box to fl... |
if police officers are not required to tell us when they are undercover, what stops all police offers from just wearing normal clothes and always being undercover? | Why would they?
Clearly marked police presence is a crime deterrent. Very few police activities involve being sneaky and doing undercover stuff (though that's what you see on TV and the movies). A lot of what police do, like helping people, really isn't possible if you don't know who they are. | [
"Undercover agents should not be confused with law enforcement officers who wear plainclothes. This method is used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. To wear plainclothes is to wear civilian clothes, instead of wearing a uniform, to avoid detection or identification as a law enforcement officer. However,... |
can someone please eli5 why accretion hasn't affected saturn's ring? | Can someone please ELI5 accretion? | [
"The brightness and purity of the water ice in Saturn's rings has also been cited as evidence that the rings are much younger than Saturn, as the infall of meteoric dust would have led to darkening of the rings. However, new research indicates that the B Ring may be massive enough to have diluted infalling material... |
how do ads load on bad service but normal content doesn’t? | Youtube (through Google) have many, many servers across multiple regions of the world to store their data. Very popular content may be hosted on multiple servers to constantly have it closer to the viewer, and on faster servers.
Less popular, more normal content will not necessarily be copied on multiple servers, or s... | [
"Because infomercials may sometimes take a sensational tone, and because some of the products and services sold may be of a questionable nature, consumer advocates recommend careful investigation of the sponsor, the product and the claims before making a purchase. To that end, some stations and networks normally ru... |
what the pirate bay are fighting for and what they hope to achieve in the future | The right to get free copyrighted stuff on the internet so that you don't have to pay content producers. | [
"The Pirate Bay has sparked controversies and discussion about legal aspects of file sharing, copyright, and civil liberties and has become a platform for political initiatives against established intellectual property laws and a central figure in an anti-copyright movement. The website faced several shutdowns and ... |
What is to prevent a spaceship, like the USS Enterprise traveling at "WarpSpeed" from not hitting objects in space while in motion? Granted they are not traveling through wormholes. | Nothing is stopping you from hitting things. But keep in mind a) that space is really really empty, and b) it's science fiction. It's usually explained that they aren't traveling through normal space as such (hyperspace/subspace), so they can't hit things in the way. The problem of seeing where you are going was a majo... | [
"Players control a spaceship which lacks weaponry, instead, having to fight by swinging around a mace made of trash particles that are tethered to their ship. The mace can be controlled using by using the ship's own momentum to drag it along behind, and rapidly changing direction to swing it at enemies and obstacle... |
If energy can't be created, what's happening in this scenario? | It came from separating them in the first place. This resulted in the potential energy that was converted into kinetic energy as the planets attracted each other. | [
"Energy is also transferred from potential energy (formula_8) to kinetic energy (formula_9) and then back to potential energy constantly. This is referred to as conservation of energy. In this closed system, energy cannot be created or destroyed; therefore, the initial energy and the final energy will be equal to e... |
weightlessness scenes in movies | I don't know what they did for the expanse, but Apollo 13 was filmed on the vomit comet, it took several hundred runs according to [IMDB](_URL_0_) | [
"Principal photography took place over 44 days in Thailand. In preparation for the roles, the actors playing the prisoners spent several months losing weight. Since weight gain is accomplished more quickly than weight loss, the film was shot in reverse, with Bale fully regaining his weight during the course of the ... |
the recent cs:go gambling drama with differnt streamers and the website csgo lotto | _URL_0_
this explains a lot. You can't gamble on your own site. You can't advertise for something you own without expressly stating you own it. | [
"\"The Lottery\" pokes fun at the excitement surrounding the lottery held during the fall of 1731. In particular, Fielding mocks both those who sell or rent tickets and those who purchase the tickets. The portrayal of the ticket vendors emphasised the potential for deceit and the amount of scams that were possible.... |
why it took this long to find another planet behind pluto? | The further out you go, the less light planets reflect and the harder it is to see them against the backdrop of the stars. Pluto was only discovered with very painstaking comparison of images of the sky, with it very faintly moving between images (unlike the stars). Modern technology has made this easier and helped us ... | [
"Exploring Pluto was contemplated since its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, but Pluto presents significant challenges for exploration because of its small mass and great distance from Earth. The two probes of the Voyager program, launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn, had also the ability for an exten... |
how does gmail's undo a sent email feature work? | they send the mail not instantly, they hold it back for a moment. if you decide not to send the mail it had never left your mailbox. | [
"Gmail allows users to 'archive' emails. Archiving removes a conversation from the inbox and can be accessed via the 'All Mail' section. In Gmail, the 'All Mail' section displays all of a user's emails, excluding the ones in Spam and Bin. Technically, when a message is archived, the 'Inbox' label is removed from it... |
how is beer made | I make beer and wine so I guess I should chime in on this one.
First, let's look at the basic ingredients:
1. Grain
2. Water
3. Hops
4. Yeast
The basic overall concept is to get the yeast to eat what's in the grain and the waste of the yeast is what we use to get tipsy.
In order to do this we first water the grains ... | [
"Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source (commonly malted cereal grains) in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found ... |
How did the hubble space telescope not move when talking this photo? | The telescope did move. It was in orbit. It was kept pointed on the same area of the sky. At that distance, the difference in the angle from which the area is viewed when the hubble is on one "side" of the earth versus another, and even the much larger movement of the earth itself and the sun relative to the center of ... | [
"After Jimmy passingly mentions the Hubble Space Telescope, a man in the audience dressed head to toe in New York Yankees apparel named Milky J (Bashir Salahuddin) enthusiastically begins listing and showing photos of astronomical features photographed by the telescope, each one punctuated by him yelling \"Hubble g... |
Why don't we use the Saturn V anymore? | We don't use the Saturn V because we can't - we don't know how to build them anymore. Oh sure the plans are still there but every engineer who worked on them and every facility to actually construct them are long dead and long dismantled.
The Saturn V was designed in the 1960's - 50 years ago. It was the masterpiece... | [
"The Saturn V-3, also known as the Saturn MLV 5-3, was a conceptual heavy-lift launch vehicle that would have utilized new engines and new stages that were never used on the original Saturn V. The Saturn V-3 was studied by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in 1965.\n",
"The baseline for the Saturn II was a Sa... |
What happens in your brain, chemically, when you wake up? | Sleep and wakefulness is regulated by a group of nuclei in the brainstem called the RAS (reticular activating system). These nuclei produce different chemicals. Some nuclei produce GABA and galanin, which promotes sleep. Other nuclei produce noradrenaline, orexin/hypocretin and histamine, which promote wakefulness.
So... | [
"Large parts of the brain that are activated and sending signals during waking are inactive during NREM sleep and become reactivated during REM sleep. It is based on the fact that the brain and its neural circuitry is plastic and self-regulating, especially in its own activation and inactivation. This was observed ... |
How did the first ever logic gate chip get made? | Well I am a rising junior in computer engineering so I'll give this my best shot! Logic gates are made up of transistors, a device that has been around since about 1925 which you can read here: _URL_0_.
However, production chips are made of silicon transistors which was created in 1954 by a few guys it would go on to ... | [
"The 4004 was the first random logic circuit integrated in one chip using the MOS (metal–oxide–semiconductor) silicon gate technology (SGT). It was the most advanced integrated circuit (IC) design undertaken up until then. Hoff, head of the Application Research department, had formulated an architectural proposal c... |
What Equipment Would a World War Two/ Korean War Tank Crew Have Inside Their Vehicle? | To give you a rough idea, here's a US M4's crew standing next to it's equipment: _URL_2_
Here's someone recounting his experience fighting in WW2 as a tank crewman who trained on an M4 Sherman only to discover he was going to be fighting in an M3 Stuart. With no turret.
_URL_1_
Furthermore, while I'd call into que... | [
"The (also known as the Ke-Go) was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but, like the American M3 Stuart light tank, was not designed to combat other tanks. Approximately... |
Since our galaxy is spinning, does the night sky as I see it and the position of the stars gradually move over time? | The stars move through our perceived celestial plane, but very very slowly. It's called Proper Motion. Since ancient Egyptian times, Sirius has moved maybe the width of the moon, relative to distance stars.
The star with the greatest proper motion is [Barnard's Star](_URL_1_).
In an extreme case, the stars near the ... | [
"In either hemisphere, observations of the night sky show that the visible stars appear to be moving in circular paths, caused by the rotation of the Earth. This is best seen in a long exposure photograph, which is obtained by locking the shutter open for most of the intensely dark part of a moonless night. The res... |
why is there so much competing information when it comes to fitness? for every weight loss or fitness "fact" you can easily find someone saying the exact opposite, to the point where it's very difficult to find reliable information on fitness/weight loss/diet. | There are a lot of people with very little knowledge or training making a lot of claims. These people, be they famous fitness personalities or just gym trainers, make money by sounding like they know what they're talking about.
In reality, there are a lot of things that we don't know about the human body. | [
"Weight loss and fitness competitions reflect a broader trend in consumer and corporate fitness around using games and money to provide accountability and motivation for health-related activities ranging from weight loss to regular gym use, healthy eating and smoking cessation. A study published in the Journal of t... |
Jewish money-lenders: how did they collect? | Jews were most certainly banned from the use of organized violence, that privilege only belonged to lords or kings. However, because Jewish merchants loaned money to these most powerful groups, they could sometimes call upon them to force dead beats to pay up.
However, violence wasn't the most common way of encouragin... | [
"This branch was used for robbing the Dutch Jews, mainly living in Amsterdam, of their possessions. Not only bank accounts at other banks were confiscated, Jews were also forced to deposit their art collections, jewels etc. at this bank. If a Jewish family was deported from their home, their possessions were sold. ... |
How did we get 3n+1 and n/2 for the operations in the collatz conjecture? | Because that's the conjecture. If you change them, it's a different conjecture.
Note that they work particularly well because 2 and 3 are relatively prime, and the concept of "even/odd" is well understood, even by those casually familiar with the relevant math. | [
"In the triangle case, the Fermat problem consists in locating a point D with respect to three points A, B, and C in such a way that the sum of the distances between D and each of the three other points is minimized. It was formulated by the famous French mathematician Pierre de Fermat before 1640, and it can be se... |
If samples were brought back from every planet (and including Pluto), what would each one smell like? | I assume you mean their atmosphere:
Mercury: There isn't a substantial atmosphere to sample, so there wouldn't be much of a smell.
Venus: The Venusian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and nitrogen, neither of which can be smelled. However, it is also 0.015% sulfur dioxide, which supposedly smells similar to a ... | [
"One source of Mars samples is what are thought to be Martian meteorites, which are rocks ejected from Mars that made their way to Earth. Of over 61,000 meteorites that have been found on Earth, 132 were identified as Martian . These meteorites are thought to be from Mars because they have elemental and isotopic co... |
the shape of bread | The split in the top is a line cut into the top by the baker. As the yeast in the bread is warmed, it bursts into activity and releases a bunch of gas causing the bread to rise. As it rises above the edges of the pan, it starts to spill over. If the baker does not put a line down the center, the bread can split in r... | [
"In general, the categories of bread derive from the type of dough (or batter). Some shapes, such as roscas (rings) or cuernos (crescents), may be made with different doughs, but are distinguished by different names. Breads of the same category have the same basic flavor, but differ in shape and additives. Conchas,... |
Why does the human brain contain folds? Are they indicative of something else? | sucli and gyri (the grooves and ridges, respectively) exist to increase surface area of the neocortex. This allows for more grey matter, which is where things like spacial reasoning, decision making, language, and most 'intelligent' behaviors occur within the brain. | [
"The arrangement of these folds differs from human to human, and is believed to account for the differing cognitive abilities of individual humans. It has been found by neuroscientists that the cerebral neocortex accounts for roughly 76% of the human brains total volume . The neocortex is predominately associated w... |
Is there a scientific definition of sentience - and at what age/stage do humans achieve it? | As this is tagged "Psychology", I don't think the field offers a definitive, or close-to-definitive, answer to this question. While Developmental Psychology offers a few different explanations (whether you're a Piaget follower, or a Erickson fan), but one of the most enduring is the concept of Theory of Mind.
Theory ... | [
"In the philosophy of consciousness, \"sentience\" can refer to the ability of any entity to have subjective perceptual experiences, or as some philosophers refer to them, \"qualia\". This is distinct from other aspects of the mind and consciousness, such as creativity, intelligence, sapience, self-awareness, and i... |
Will plant life feed off of increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere? Is Le Chattelier's principle applicable? | CO2 isn't typically the primary factor determining net ecosystem productivity. Instead, the availability of precipitation, the diurnal temperature range, and soil nutrients set the overall uptake carbon dioxide by the environment. | [
"Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affects plants in a variety of ways. Elevated CO increases crop yields and growth through an increase in photosynthetic rate, and it also decreases water loss as a result of stomatal closing The growth response is greatest in C plants, C plants ,are also enhanced but to a lesser... |
I'm aware that Hitler punished the mentally disabled, but did this also include those with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety? | Generally speaking, no, but that really depends on the severity of the depression or anxiety (or both) in a patient.
Some background: At the time Aktion Tiergartenstraße 4, the programme of euthanasia used on those considered 'handicapped' under the Nazis, was implemented, psychiatry was still limited, coming off of ... | [
"According to their eugenics policy, the Nazis believed that the disabled were a burden to society because they needed care and were considered an affront to their notion of a society composed of a perfect race. About 375,000 people were sterilized against their will due to their disabilities.\n",
"Margarete Hiel... |
how come we instantly recognize faces (the eyes, nose, and mouth) when we look at a certain arrangement of objects? | Basically our brain is tuned into finding patterns and faces, even where there are none.
Here is the link:
_URL_0_ | [
"Neurobiological research has identified separate areas of the brain responsible for recognizing faces. In humans, identifying unfamiliar faces activates one region of the brain (the Fusiform face area) while recognizing familiar faces also activates another area of the brain (in the lateral midtemporal cortex). A ... |
when an active, obese person gets liposuction and surgery to get rid of the extra skin, are they muscular underneath all the fat because of how much weight they had to carry before? | Probably not. Chances are, the obese person moves everywhere quite slowly and struggles up steps - just like you would if you were carrying an extra 100-200 pounds. Their muscles may be slightly stronger, but it's not significant or enough to generate big muscles just sitting "under" rolls of fat. | [
"In an obese person, excess adipose tissue hanging downward from the abdomen is referred to as a panniculus. A panniculus complicates surgery of the morbidly obese individual. It may remain as a literal \"apron of skin\" if a severely obese person quickly loses large amounts of fat (a common result of gastric bypas... |
Do humans also emit radiation at lower frequencies than infrared? (microwaves, radio, etc) | Yes, humans emit radio waves and microwaves due to thermal emission, but only a very small amount compared to infrared waves. Take a look at these [thermal radiation spectral curves](_URL_0_). The curves just keep going out to longer and longer wavelengths with out every reaching exactly zero. | [
"Since 1962, the microwave auditory effect or tinnitus has been shown from radio frequency exposure at levels below significant heating. Studies during the 1960s in Europe and Russia claimed to show effects on humans, especially the nervous system, from low energy RF radiation; the studies were disputed at the time... |
Is a functioning human brain hot? | Yes, the brain does dissipate around [20 or 25 watts](_URL_1_). It would also be warm because blood from other organs is bringing their heat and taking some away. The whole human dissipates around [100 watts](_URL_0_). | [
"The resting human body generates about two-thirds of its heat through metabolism in internal organs in the thorax and abdomen, as well as in the brain. The brain generates about 16% of the total heat produced by the body.\n",
"Humans and primates use the sudomotor response to cause thermoregulation, or control o... |
Is there a possible scenario where two events, A and B, can occur as: A then B, A and B simultaneously, and B then A, all using three different relativistic frames? | Let's answer this in SR. Forget about GR.
Given two events A and B, we can consider the invariant spacetime interval between them:
> (Δs)^(2) = -(Δt)^(2)+(Δx)^(2)+(Δy)^(2)+(Δz)^(2)
The notation "Δt" means the difference in the time coordinate between the events, and similarly for Δx, Δy, and Δz. The two events can... | [
"BULLET::::- Relativity of simultaneity: Suppose two events occur simultaneously () along the x axis, but separated by a nonzero displacement . Then in , we find that formula_16, so the events are no longer simultaneous according to a moving observer.\n",
"Two events are called simultaneous in a chosen reference ... |
why can i go a day without food at home but when i am at school i feel so hungry after a lesson? | Possibly because you are much more active at school/see other kids eating/smelling more food? | [
"A 2012 study undertaken by Netmums found that one in five mothers would regularly miss out on meals so as to be able to save their children from going hungry. Also in 2012, London charity Kids Company named five inner London schools where 70% to 80% of pupils do not always have food at home or do not know how they... |
Is battery technology going to get better anytime soon or should we expect Lithium batteries to be our best option for the next couple decades? | The US DoEnergy has a [project](_URL_2_) to increase automotive batteries' capacity 5-fold, in 5 years and have batteries 1/5 their current cost. A battery researcher in my office says their project is achievable.
Other elements they're looking at are [Sodium](_URL_1_) and [Magnesium](_URL_0_) | [
"Independent reviews of the technology discuss the risk of fire and explosion from Lithium-ion batteries under certain conditions because they use liquid electrolytes. The newly developed battery should be safer since it uses glass electrolytes, that should eliminate short circuits. The solid-state battery is also ... |
why does heartburn become more of an issue when you get older? | It's not so much your increasing age that makes it a problem, it's the recurrence. The longer you suffer from chronic heartburn or GERD, the more damage occurs to your esophagus. As a result this increases your risk of heightened symptoms such as difficultyswallowing, esophageal bleeding, vomiting, and an increased ri... | [
"Another factor that may contribute to chronic wounds is old age. The skin of older people is more easily damaged, and older cells do not proliferate as fast and may not have an adequate response to stress in terms of gene upregulation of stress-related proteins. In older cells, stress response genes are overexpres... |
Is it possible for blood type to change? | You should probably get that double checked. | [
"All the common blood types, such as the ABO blood group system, are genetic polymorphisms. Here we see a system where there are more than two morphs: the phenotypes A, B, AB and O are present in all human populations, but vary in proportion in different parts of the world. The phenotypes are controlled by multiple... |
What were some the leading theories on magnets until we learned about electromagnetism? | The pre-Socratic philosopher Thales of Miletus seems to have believed that magnets contained souls because they can move and be moved without any apparent outside force. This was a result of his belief that the soul was a cause of motion.
However, our information is all second hand and it's nearly impossible to separa... | [
"These theories of electricity and magnetism were thought of as two separate phenomena, until Hans Christian Ørsted noticed that a compass needle would deflect from magnetic north when placed near an electric current. This caused him to develop theories that electricity and magnetism were interrelated and could aff... |
What characteristics of a medium affect its permittivity? | Permittivity is related to the polarizability and density of the medium which determines how much how much of a dielectric effect that medium can generate--which is modulated by the effective permittivity. Here's a little write up I did awhile back taking linear polarization on a line into account:
_URL_1_
Here's ... | [
"In general, permittivity is not a constant, as it can vary with the position in the medium, the frequency of the field applied, humidity, temperature, and other parameters. In a nonlinear medium, the permittivity can depend on the strength of the electric field. Permittivity as a function of frequency can take on ... |
How did miners during the middle ages find metal ore deposits to mine? | Georgius Agricola wrote *De Re Metallica* in the mid-1500s, which is a detailed description of mining practices at the time.
The full text of *De Re Metallica* is available from Project Gutenberg:
_URL_0_
From Book & nbsp;II:
> The miner, after he has selected out of many places one particular spot adapted by Nat... | [
"In the 19th and 20th centuries a lot of mining for metal ores took place in the town, concentrated on lead, silver, zinc and copper. The Romans had already dug for ores using open cast mining, which continued throughout the Middle Ages. The many indentations on Blöskopf Hill bear witness to this period of history.... |
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