Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
What is the oldest name we have recorded and what is the oldest name still in use.	To add to the comment of /u/jschooltiger I know of several other names that date from around the same period. Due to the nature of how writing developed in Sumer that is in the context of accounting, trade and other economic interaction the first Sumerian names we have are those of slaves and accountants. We have the...	[ "The oldest known name is Sis or Siskia. Under the Roman Empire, it was for a time named Flavias or Flaviopolis. The Greek version of the older name, Σίσιον Sision, came back into use in the later Byzantine period. In Armenian, it is called Sis Սիս or Sissu.\n", "The earliest probable surviving mention of the nam...
How did Western culture come to associate specific colors with specific emotions (red rage, green with envy, feeling blue, and so on)? Are these emotional connotations universal or specific to Western culture?	I can speak to colors and moods association in early Modern Europe very generally. The color-mood associations are due the the Four Hum(u)ors or temperaments. This is the ancient idea that health is mediated by four constituent body fluids -- blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. We don't REALLY know where the id...	[ "Favoritism of colors varies widely. Often societal influences will have a direct impact on what colors we favor and disdain. In the West, the color black symbolizes mourning and sadness, red symbolizes anger and violence, white symbolizes purity and peace, and yellow symbolizes joy and luck (other colors lack a co...
What's the history of the indigenous people in British Columbia?	There are many tribes in British Columbia...do you have a specific one in mind? Also, what era are you looking at?	[ "The area now known as British Columbia is home to First Nations groups that have a deep history with a significant number of indigenous languages. There are more than 200 First Nations in BC. Prior to contact (with non-Aboriginal people), human history is known from oral histories of First Nations groups, archaeol...
how is auto stop-start on modern cars more fuel efficient? growing up i was always told that turning off and starting your car burned more gas than just idling.	What you were told was wrong, leaving your car idling for as little as 10 seconds takes more gas than turning it off and back on. I was told the same thing, but it's wrong.	[ "Vehicle automation can improve fuel economy of the car by optimizing the drive cycle. Reduced traffic congestion and the improvements in traffic flow due to widespread use of automated cars will translate into higher fuel efficiency. Additionally, self-driving cars will be able to accelerate and brake more efficie...
why are walmart employees notorious for being strange?	1. it's a shitty job. being "strange" makes it hard to get a job, but...if you're going to pay shit-wages you can't always being choosey. 2. I think if you worked at wal-mart for a while it'd make you strange, but...please only take number 1 above seriously. ^And ^number ^2.	[ "Gabbard has alleged that \"Wal-Mart had widespread surveillance operations against targets including shareholders, critics, suppliers, the board of directors and employees,\" and that \"most of his spying activities were sanctioned by superiors.\" It has also been alleged that the corporation assigned a \"long-hai...
How realistic would it have been for someone with a low IQ like Forest Gump to fight in Vietnam for the US?	u/Lich-Su answered a very similar question to this [here](_URL_3_) some time ago. In the United States, about 1.8 million men reached draft age each year in the 1960s, and roughly a third (600,000) were disqualified as unsuitable for military service, half of these for physical reasons and the other half for mental or...	[ "ARVN J-2 (military intelligence) discovered \"a steady rise in VC strength levels\". The American advisors of \"MAAG\" \"Vietnam\" were familiar with ARVN J-2 records, but \"this unfavorable trend had not appeared in MAAG reporting\" because in 1960 it had \"no intelligence shop\". Initial CIA \"efforts to fill th...
why would japan announce that they're going to resume whaling in antarctica?	It's their culture. "We're doing if for hundreds of years. It went fine till now. We don't question it, don't give a fuck". I love Japan as in their historical culture, politeness, etc. But this part... I don't know, they're not in for change or individual thinking. Just be another gear in society and don't question wh...	[ "On 5 January 2011, leaked US diplomatic cables revealed that the Australian legal challenge to Japanese whaling was heavily influenced by domestic political pressures and Australian government advisers were left deeply pessimistic about the prospects of success in the International Court. In its reports to Washing...
Do we have any other ways of producing electricity?	Yes there are! Batteries turn chemical energy into electrical energy. There is also the nuclear reactors used in spacecraft such as Voyager 1 which use a process called Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator which turn the heat generated by small nuclear events into electricity, this process can be though of similar to ...	[ "Electricity is most often generated at a power station by electromechanical generators, primarily driven by heat engines fueled by chemical combustion or nuclear fission but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind. There are many other technologies that can be and are used to gener...
Did people live like cavemen in 100,000 BC?	You should cross post in /r/AskAnthropology/ as they would have better knowledge to answer your question (this question is pre-history)	[ "The cave was first explored by Frane Bulić in 1890. It used to be thought that the cave has been continuously inhabited since the late Upper Paleolithic through the Mesolithic until the Bronze Age, i.e. from the 8th to the 3rd millennium BC. More recent results indicate an even older original usage - before 13,200...
why are glasses still so common when contact lenses and eye surgery are becoming cheaper?	Some people like wearing glasses. Some people don't like putting things in their eyes. Some people are afraid of surgery. Or, if they're like me, they've had the eye surgery but their eye sight regressed and the new shape of their cornea makes wearing contacts pretty much impossible.	[ "Although lenses are normally prescribed by optometrists or ophthalmologists, there is evidence from developing countries that allowing people to select lenses for themselves produces good results in the majority of cases and is less than a tenth of the cost of prescription lenses.\n", "Glass lenses have become l...
why does reddit go down and how do they fix it?	Like all web sites, reddit is built on top of special computers called servers. It happens that the servers that reddit uses are hosted by Amazon. There was a problem with some of the servers at one of Amazon's data centers in Virginia. Data centers are large buildings that house servers. The servers that had pro...	[ "Reddit released its \"spoiler tags\" feature in January 2017. The feature warns users of potential spoilers in posts and pixelates preview images. Reddit unveiled changes to its public front page, called r/popular, in 2017; the change creates a front page free of potentially adult-oriented content for unregistered...
why does depression make you gain weight?	People cannot gain weight unless they eat above their base metabolic rate, it's physically impossible, no matter what your third cousin's fat sister might tell you about her condition. That said if you are depressed you are definitely more inclined to simply not do anything, so you might not be doing any physical acti...	[ "In a major depressive episode, appetite is most often decreased, although a small percentage of people experience an increase in appetite. A person experiencing a depressive episode may have a marked loss or gain of weight (5% of their body weight in one month). A decrease in appetite may result in weight loss tha...
why do we no longer see bench style seats in cars?	The 2013 Impala was the last car to be made with a bench seat. They're not as safe, don't work well with airbags.	[ "Seating is improved by eliminating the bucket seats in favor of comfortable benches in bright colors in Red, Yellow and Blue. The interior has longitudinal seats on one side and transverse seating on the other, unlike previous IRT cars, which since 1910 have always featured all-longitudinal seating. One side is sh...
Did people have midlife crises when the age of death was significantly lower?	Honestly, the best explanation/theory I've ever read about midlife crisis was that it was maybe an instinct, but not caused by the man's age, but the evolutionary presumed age of his wife: Most people married others of a similar age. So for men in their 'mid life crisis', their wives are entering menopause, which m...	[ "The midlife crisis may mark the first reliable drop in happiness during an average human's life. Evidence suggests most people generally become happier with age, with the exception of the years 40 – 50, which is the typical age at which a \"crisis\" might occur. Researchers specify that people in both their 20s an...
How much influence has organized crime had on American politics?	This is a complicated question to say the least. The easy answer is that in certain corrupt areas organized crime has had, and continues to have, a strong effect on politics. In Chicago local leaders make deals with gangs for support (link: _URL_0_) There are also strong rumors that in NJ and Rhode Island the Mob cont...	[ "Organized crime was the subject of a large number of widely read articles in several major newspapers and magazines in 1949. Several local \"crime commissions\" in major cities and states had also uncovered extensive corruption of the political process by organized crime. Many cities and states called for federal ...
Why do we define the prime numbers to be greater than 1?	If we were to include 1, we'd have to make an exception to almost every theorem about primes. For instance, the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic says that every positive integer can be written uniquely as a product of primes. If we include 1 as a prime, this is no longer true, as we could write 6=2x3=1x2x3 = 1^(2)x2x3...	[ "A prime number that is one less than a power of two is called a Mersenne prime. For example, the prime number 31 is a Mersenne prime because it is 1 less than 32 (2). Similarly, a prime number (like 257) that is one more than a positive power of two is called a Fermat prime—the exponent itself is a power of two. A...
what would the short- and long-term consequences of abolishing the stock market be?	Without a place for the rich to invest their money, what would they do with it? Hoard it? Buy a million mansions? The stock market is one of the most beneficial things a rich person can use their money for, building successful companies that have investments to be able to hire the common people and pay them a wage. ...	[ "The Securities and Exchange Commission initiated a temporary ban on short selling on 799 financial stocks from 19 September 2008 until 2 October 2008. Greater penalties for naked shorting, by mandating delivery of stocks at clearing time, were also introduced. Some state governors have been urging state pension bo...
At the height of its power, what percent of GDP did the British Empire spend on their military?	Hi there! We've removed your question because it's asking about something like a name, a number, a date or time, a location, or the origin of a word - [basic facts](_URL_0_). We'd encourage you to instead post this question in the weekly, stickied ["Short Answers to Simple Questions"](_URL_3_) thread, where questions o...	[ "Goedele De Keersmaeker estimated the GDP of the British Empire using Angus Maddison's data. Keersmaeker estimated that the British Empire's share of world GDP was 24.28% in 1870 and 19.7% in 1913. The empire's largest economy in 1870 was British India with a 12.15% share of world GDP, followed by the United Kingdo...
how big or small can animals get?	TL;DR: Microscopic animals can be very small, down to 50 μm length. The main issue is the diffusion of oxygen. Smaller animals reside solely on the transportation of oxygen -the main resource in animal metabolism- by diffusion, this is because the [surface:volume ratio](_URL_3_): smaller organisms (smaller volume)...	[ "In their description of \"B. gabonica\", Spawls \"et al.\". (2004) give an average total length of 80–130 cm (32 to 51.5 in), with a maximum total length of 175 cm (69.3 in), saying the species may possibly grow larger still. They acknowledge reports of specimens over 1.8 m (6 ft), or even over 2 m (6.5 ft) in tot...
Is the reason that we can't unify gravity with the standard model because we are exploring the behaviour of subatomic particles under the influence of gravity?	Gravity is so weak on elementary particles that it is not observable, so no, it has no effect at the LHC whatsoever. The Standard Model for sure does not include gravity in it (you can work out predictions, there would be no planets if it was the end of the story). As a side note the experiment are underground to minim...	[ "Opponents of the gravity model explain that it can not be confirmed scientifically, that it's only based on observation. They also state that the gravity model is an unfair method of predicting movement because its biased toward historic ties and toward the largest population centers. Thus, it can be used to perpe...
What is peer review?	Journals tap established researchers in each field to be referees. * Send manuscript to journal * Journal classifies paper and sends manuscript to anonymous referees (a few days) * Referees read and comment on manuscript (a few weeks to a month) * Decision (accept, reject, or edit) and comments sent back to journal,...	[ "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 come animals can eat off the ground? does germs not effect them?	Not all germs cause disease. You can eat off the ground, too, and (depending on what ground you're eating on) getting a parasite is very possible, but most bacteria and viruses don't survive outside a body for a very long time. People ingest more germs than they think they do, and for the most part, its unavoidable.	[ "Among animals, facultatively kleptoparasitic species generally can survive by hunting or scavenging for themselves, but it often is more profitable for them to rob food from other animals kleptoparasitically, whether their hosts are of the same species or not. Such behavior occurs in lions and hyaenas for example,...
what happens when you press the elevator button more than once?	The signal goes to the controller, which has already registered your request for a car. It doesn't speed things along at all. Same with crosswalk buttons.	[ "Elevators often have a red two-way button on the control panel which is either marked \"Emergency Stop\" or \"Run/Stop\". Normally, the button is in the \"up\" or unpushed position, allowing the elevator to \"run\" in normal service. When the button is pushed, the elevator comes to an immediate stop. When the butt...
How credible is Freud's structural model in modern psychology?	Freud's model of the Id, Ego, and Superego is typically seen as an unscientific model and is commonly rejected in the modern psychological community for having no evidence to its existence, and no way of gathering any. It does continue to somewhat exist in psychoanalytic psychotherapy as it provides a good model for th...	[ "Freud's theory of personality is based on the idea that much of human behaviour is determined by forces outside awareness. The relation between the person and society is controlled by primitive urges buried deep within ourselves, forming the basis of the hidden self. Freud argues that much of our psychic energy is...
If I am standing on a beach at sea level, how far can I see into the horizon?	If you assume the Earth is a perfect sphere, the distance you can see is about sqrt(2Rh), where R is the radius of the Earth, h is the height of your eyes above the surface, and sqrt is the square root function. The radius of the Earth is about 6,371,000m. If you're 1.8m tall, then you get a distance of 4,800 metres,...	[ "To compute the greatest distance at which an observer can see the top of an object above the horizon, compute the distance to the horizon for a hypothetical observer on top of that object, and add it to the real observer's distance to the horizon. For example, for an observer with a height of 1.70 m standing on th...
Why are there more fluent Welsh speakers in Wales than Irish or Gaelic speakers in Ireland & Scotland, when the latter were conquered by the English hundreds of years later?	There are a multitude of factors which will impact whether a language thrives or dies out. Welsh, [according to Alan R. Thomas](_URL_0_), hits on a number of these: geography, regional linguistic homogeneity, and perhaps most critically, prestige status. Although there was a sociolinguistic split in Welsh society dur...	[ "The Welsh language is in the Celtic language group, whereas English is in the West Germanic group; consequently the English language is further from the Welsh language in both vocabulary and grammar than from a number of European languages, such as Dutch, for example. Comparatively few English people can understan...
why don't toilets have an overflow hole to keep them from overflowing all over the floor? (like sinks do)	What other commenters haven't explained is that the drain at the bottom of the toilet is literally an overflow hole already. The way a toilet works is that the S-bend in the pipe behind the toilet rises higher than the water level in the bowl. This is a "hill" that the water can't get over. But if the water level ri...	[ "A blocked vent is a relatively common problem caused by anything from leaves, to dead animals, to ice dams in very cold weather, or a horizontal section of the venting system, sloped the wrong way and filled with water from rain or condensation. Symptoms range from bubbles in the toilet bowl when it is flushed, to...
Are modern Greeks descended mostly/entirely from Slavs?	You dont see this question asked a lot in a modern context because modern historians do not touch topics like this. The reason they dont is because its a nationalistic question, not just for Greece but for all those nationalist groups in other countries that dont like Greece or Greeks. These are the kinds of questions ...	[ "Some pockets of Greek populations probably remained for some time, and to this day, some communities in the Hindu Kush claim to be descendants of the Greeks, such as the Kalash and Hunza in Pakistan, and the neighbouring Nuristani in Afghanistan. \n", "Relations between the Slavs and Greeks were probably peacefu...
why is it so important to keep global temperature increase under 2°c until 2100? where did this number originate from and what happens if we cross it?	Above 2 degrees and you start to trigger feedback loops such as ocean acidification, release of methane trapped in Arctic ice etc. The idea is that 1.5 - 2 degrees is bad but can be mapped whilst even 2.5 degrees could quickly become 3, 4 or 5 with no possibility to reverse the process. I'm sure you'll get some better ...	[ "According to Berkeley Earth's list of average global temperatures by year, the average global temperature for the 1850-1899 period was 13.8 °C (56.9 °F). Because greenhouse gases have increased rapidly since the 19th century, the average global temperature was 15.0 °C (58.9 °F) for the 2013-2017 period.\n", "In ...
why do we care if iran gets a nuclear bomb? they would be insane to try to use it against us, even if they had one. so why is this such a ballbreaker for us?	Nobody is afraid of nuclear weapons actually being used, aside from a few loud-mouthed fear-mongers who say that Iran will bomb Israel or some shit. The true story is that, a nuclear Iran will mean a new Cold War between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Those two nations are at each others throats, desperately vying for politi...	[ "BULLET::::- A potential reason behind U.S. resistance to an Iranian nuclear program lies in Middle Eastern geopolitics. In essence, the US feels that it must guard against even the possibility of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapons capability. Some nuclear technology is dual-use; i.e. it can be used for peaceful ener...
movie soundtracks: is there a particular order/way the songs are put on the cd? if so, how does it work?	I would've assumed it was chronologically according to where in the film they were?	[ "Apart from soundtracks from the TV series, there have been three CDs known as which include the full versions from the opening and ending themes. Each of the CDs also have an extra DVD with the original videos. The two movies have also had their own original CD soundtracks.\n", "While the official CD release of ...
Why did the North American Bison never take off as a source of beef?	Oo, I can do this! I'm not a historian, but I come from 4 generations of ranchers, and we started ranching in the mid-1800s, when the Bison wasn't totally gone. So I can give you some history about the attempts to use Bison and cow/Bison crossbreds (the "Beefalo"). The very short answer is that Bison are problem...	[ "Despite being the closest relatives of domestic cattle native to North America, bison were never domesticated by Native Americans. Later attempts of domestication by Europeans prior to the 20th century met with limited success. Bison were described as having a \"wild and ungovernable temper\"; they can jump close ...
the nhs reform bill that has been passed in the uk	The Conservative government so far has been going around talking about their 'big society'. This has meant 'making work pay' (reforming welfare), 'putting parents and teachers in control of schools' (reforming education) but healthcare is more complicated. 1. They want to put GPs all together in a big pot (consortium)...	[ "The publication of the NHS Long Term Plan in January 2019 marked the official abandonment of the policy of competition in the English NHS, with integrated care systems to be created across England by 2021, mergers of Clinical Commissioning Groups and probable merging of NHS England with NHS Improvement, though thi...
why boiling water becoming vapor (gas) doesn't separate its atoms and become air?	I think percentage means amount of water in air compared to the amount of saturation, so ir humidity is 80% it doesn't mean that 80% of molecules in air are H2O, it means that air can only fit a bit more water before it's oversaturated	[ "Liquids may change to a vapor at temperatures below their boiling points through the process of evaporation. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon in which molecules located near the liquid's edge, not contained by enough liquid pressure on that side, escape into the surroundings as vapor. On the other hand, boiling...
Why didn’t the Romans or Persians ever attempt to conquer Arabia before the rise of Islam?	Rome did actually attempt to conquer the east coast of the Red Sea and southern Arabia during the rule of Emperor Augustus in the first century BC. The territory roughly corresponding to modern day-Yemen was then occupied by the Sabaean Kingdom, one of the main incense-producing regions of the ancient world. It also p...	[ "While the Byzantine Roman and Sassanid Persian empires were both weakened by warfare (602–628), a new power in the form of Islam grew in the Middle East. In a series of rapid Muslim conquests, Arab armies, led by the Caliphs and skilled military commanders such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, swept through most of the Mid...
how a vegan diet would reverse evolution.	Now that we have a global economy, you can find the essential amino acids (protein), fats (ω-3 and ω-6), vitamins, and minerals that you need in all kinds of food. Being vegan at this point would have little to no effect on your metabolism or biochemistry, as your liver will break down most of the plant derived product...	[ "In 2012, Cameron, his wife, and his children adopted a vegan diet. Cameron explains that \"By changing what you eat, you will change the entire contract between the human species and the natural world\".\n", "The vegan diet became increasingly mainstream in the 2010s, especially in the latter half. \"The Economi...
How did the Jesuits go from being "God's Soldiers" of the Counter Reformation to being a relatively liberal organization within the Catholic Church?	The key document that drove it was the Jesuit's adoption of education - they didn't originally set out to be educators but kind of fell into it after holding all sorts of offices in court during the Early Modern Period. Just when science, opening up the East and the study of vernacular literature became important, the ...	[ "The Jesuits were the most effective of the new Catholic orders. An heir to the devotional, observantine, and legalist traditions, the Jesuits organized along military lines. The worldliness of the Renaissance church had no part in their new order. Loyola's masterwork \"Spiritual Exercises\" showed the emphasis of ...
is it normal for members of the american government to sue the president?	It's not exactly what I'd call common, but it's not impossible. You can basically sue anyone at any time for anything. This doesn't mean that the judge won't just throw your case out of court though. I'm fairly certain that's what's going to happen here. Nothing will be accomplished except for a waste of time for the...	[ "Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation, in federal court, against him or her, for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office. In particular, there is ...
how has the u.s. economy changed since the 1970s?	That is a hell of a question with a million parts to it! Society has changed a lot, as has science and technology for countless fields and professions. Thus, more specialization is required for the highest levels of education due to so many fields existing. This means expansion and growth of more colleges/unive...	[ "The United States has been the world's largest national economy in terms of GDP since at least the 1920s. For many years following the Great Depression of the 1930s, when danger of recession appeared most serious, the government strengthened the economy by spending heavily itself or cutting taxes so that consumers...
Why do some people faint/vomit at the site of blood/severe injury and others not?	This is semi-layman speculation, so please don't downvote me to hell for trying! This is due to the [vasovagal response](_URL_0_). Essentially, when presented with a trigger such as a cut or injury or even seeing someone else get injured, a cascade of responses fire off. > On one end of the spectrum is the cardioin...	[ "One theory in evolutionary psychology is that fainting at the sight of blood might have evolved as a form of playing dead which increased survival from attackers and might have slowed blood loss in a primitive environment. \"Blood-injury phobia\", as this is called, is experienced by about 15% of people.\n", "Th...
if i store 1 gb of files in the cloud (dropbox, google drive, etc.) how many gb on servers is that for the provider?	It's probably 3GB, plus backups- storing data in 3 locations is pretty standard to keep it safe (the primary, a backup, and somewhere offsite). Which costs them next to nothing to store because hard drives are dirt cheap.	[ "Entire folders can be downloaded as a single ZIP file with OneDrive. For a single download, there is a limit of 15 GB; the total ZIP file size limit is 20 GB; and up to 10,000 files can be included in a ZIP file.\n", "There are also storage limits to individual Gmail messages. Initially, one message, including a...
How Did the US Navy Do Against the British in 1812?	It should be noted that while the US Navy mustered 23 ships with about 550 guns, American privateers fielded over 500 ships with almost 3,000 guns. The U.S. Navy took 254 prizes, while privateers seized another 1,300 prizes.	[ "The U.S. Navy saw substantial action in the War of 1812, where it was victorious in eleven single-ship duels with the Royal Navy. It drove all significant British forces off Lake Erie and Lake Champlain and prevented them from becoming British-controlled zones. The result was a major defeat for the British invasio...
why do springboard/platform divers sit in a jacuzzi after their jump?	The water in the diving pool is cold, and when you're cold, your muscles tense up a little, and your circulation gets worse, especially around your extremities. Divers need to be very flexible and very precise with their movements, so they need to warm back up before their next dive - the jacuzzi warms them up so that...	[ "The divers of the group are informed of the intention to ascend, using the thumb up hand signal, and if not already neutrally buoyant, will adjust their buoyancy, and hold the inflator mechanism ready to dump excess gas from the BCD as it expands during the ascent. Increased buoyancy of the BCD and dive suit due t...
Will the universe ever retract in on itself, creating another big bang?	Evidence seems to be to the contrary. Cosmic Inflation is accelerating, outstripping Gravity's ability to pull everything back together. We still have another 1 to 100 Trillion years of star formation left, but after that, grab your blankets, it's going to get rather cold and lonely.	[ "A more specific theory called \"Big Bounce\" proposes that the universe could collapse to the state where it began and then initiate another Big Bang, so in this way the universe would last forever, but would pass through phases of expansion (Big Bang) and contraction (Big Crunch). \n", "Various new models of wh...
stock values	A stock is like any other product and its price is influenced by supply and demand. People buy stocks to either: participate in the company's earnings in the form of dividends and capital gains (which is more often the case) or gain control of the company (which is rarer, but could massively influence the stock price)....	[ "Intrinsic value (true value) is the perceived or calculated value of a company, including tangible and intangible factors, using fundamental analysis. It's also frequently called fundamental value. It is used for comparison with the company's market value and finding out whether is the company undervalued on the s...
Here's hoping this can be answered maturely... what is the science behind the inability to urinate while you have an erection?	Since sperm travel through the urethra at high pressure, the passageway to the bladder needs to be closed off in order to prevent "backflow" doing ejaculation.	[ "Physiologically, urination involves coordination between the central, autonomic, and somatic nervous systems. In infants, some elderly individuals, and those with neurological injury, urination may occur as an involuntary reflex. Brain centers that regulate urination include the pontine micturition center, periaqu...
If silica sand (which is what the insulated plates on the space shuttle were made out of) has a melting point of 3200F, and our thermosphere can reach 3750F, then how did the Shuttle pass through without major malfunctions?	Basically, the thermosphere is very hot but also very thin. It doesn't have a high energy density. It's true that if you left the space shuttle in the thermosphere for a while, it would eventually suffer damage; however, it would take a while. This is similar to how boiling water (100 C / 212 F) is more painful to sti...	[ "\"Columbia\" was destroyed because of damaged thermal protection from foam debris that broke off from the external tank during ascent. The foam had not been designed or expected to break off, but had been observed in the past to do so without incident. The original shuttle operational specification said the orbite...
do hallucinogens have the same effect on reptiles that they have on humans?	I don't think a reptile can have an existential crisis, followed by a period of self-discovery and then settle on a period of emotional nirvana.	[ "Other species claimed to be capable of producing hallucinations include several species of sea chub from the genus \"Kyphosus\". It is unclear whether the toxins are produced by the fish themselves or by marine algae in their diet. Other hallucinogenic fish are \"Siganus spinus\", called \"the fish that inebriates...
How many blacksmiths would be in a castle? To smith all the weapons and armor.	You may be interested in [this previous answer](_URL_0_) that I gave about supplying medieval armies. At least by the high and later Middle ages (the period that produces the castle we think of), Weapons and armour would not be made in a castle, normally, but bought from armouring centers elsewhere. Some particular roy...	[ "While there are many people who work with metal such as farriers, wheelwrights, and armorers, the blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things like nails or lengths of chain.\n", "Schlaikjer began blacksmithing in the early ...
for the digits of pi (that we can calculate) is there a trend of certain digits being more common than others.	I don't believe there is. But check out this video. If you're into math it's pretty interesting and I believe it may answer your question. [Mile of Pi - Numberphile](_URL_0_)	[ "While the PiHex project calculated the least significant digits of pi ever attempted in any base, the second place is held by Peter Trueb who computed some 22+ trillion digits in 2016 and third place by \"houkouonchi\" who derived the 13.3 trillionth digit in base 10.\n", "Later computers calculated pi to extrao...
how are claw machines - a game of chance - legally allowed to present themselves as games of skill?	Are you sure you seen them marked as "game of skill"? They probably don't.	[ "Claw cranes are the most common example of a merchandiser. The player guides a claw in an attempt to pick up a prize and drop it into a hole. Other types of merchandisers can offer prizes ranging from cheap and inexpensive to high end merchandise such as handheld game consoles and mobile phones.\n", "A claw vend...
Mirepoix, or slight variations of it. What's the significance of onion, celery, carrot and why do they appear in almost every European cuisine?	This would be an excellent question for r/AskFoodHistorians as well!	[ "Allium polyanthum, called the many-flowered garlic, is a Mediterranean species of wild onion native to Spain, France, Italy, Morocco, and Tunisia. It is widely cultivated for its edible and potently aromatic bulbs and foliage.\n", "The origin of the blancmange is obscure, but it is believed by some that it was a...
How far away from our solar system would our Sun still be visable enough to be in an alien constellation?	Only 30-40 light years. Our sun has an absolute magnitude of ~4.9, which by definition means it would have a magnitude of 4.9 when seen from 10 parsecs away (~33 light years). Our eyes on the clearest nights with no light pollution can only see things brighter than about 5th magnitude, so the sun would already be almo...	[ "In a 2009 interview with the Discovery Channel, Mike Brown noted that, while it is not impossible that the Sun has a distant planetary companion, such an object would have to be lying very far from the observed regions of the Solar System to have no detectable gravitational effect on the other planets. A Mars-size...
why can't evolution just be a part of creationism's plan?	Simply put, you can, if you want. Some people do just that. Whether or not to believe that an intelligent creator guides a scientific principle like evolution does require a lot of justifying, as evolution relies on random mutations that are usually NOT beneficial to the organism in question. I would be left with th...	[ "Creationists argue against evolution on the grounds that it cannot explain certain non-evolutionary processes, such as abiogenesis, the Big Bang, or the meaning of life. In such instances, \"evolution\" is being redefined to refer to the entire history of the universe, and it is argued that if one aspect of the un...
why doesn't soil's "usefulness" run out?	It doesn't run out in nature because the soil is constantly being replenished by rotting vegetation, animal poop etc. Worms and other little creatures take that stuff, process it and boom..."new" soil. Source is long but gives you your answer: Biological: In many soils, earthworms play a major role in the conversion o...	[ "The soil is produced from decomposing organic matter and the breakdown of bedrock, but is generally poor in nutrients; most nutrients are found as superficial detritus and within the living components of the ecosystem. There are multiple reasons for why the soil is generally very poor in nutrients. Firstly, the wa...
How much protection would chainmail give a warrior in the earliest medieval period?	Questions like these are always impossible to answer precisely, or in any quantifiable sense. We haven't any surviving, fully intact mail shirts from the 6th century, nor can we reconstruct it exactly - the metallurgy, if nothing else, will always be a bit off. There have been some limited tests performed using reconst...	[ "Chainmail was the prominent form of armor during the 13th century. A precursor to plate armor, chainmail protected its wearer from opponents while allowing mobility, and was extremely effective against edged weapons and thrust attacks.\n", "The most common type during the 11th through the 16th centuries was the ...
why is happening leidenfrost effect?	Pan is so hot that bottom of water drops evaporate immediately and form a vapor cushion for the droplet to hover around on abs insulate the drop from evaporating. In other words the steam below the drop isn't hot enough to evaporate it, even tho it's vapor itself.	[ "The Leidenfrost effect is a physical phenomenon in which a liquid, close to a surface that is significantly hotter than the liquid's boiling point, produces an insulating vapor layer that keeps the liquid from boiling rapidly. Because of this 'repulsive force', a droplet hovers over the surface rather than making ...
why do my previously broken body parts hurt when it rains.	no one knows for sure. but some theories.. _URL_0_	[ "Complete tears of the plantar fascia are often due to sudden trauma or injury. Often, the rupture will be accompanied by a popping sound and painful snapping sensation. The bottom of the foot often bruises and swells. Former NFL athlete Peyton Manning suffered a complete rupture in 2015. \n", "Rain will quickly ...
Did America offer offer France any assistance during the French Revolution (Or France asking for US aid) and how did the political elite of the US react to the demise of its ally.	By demise of "its ally" are you referring to the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 or Napoleon seizing control?	[ "France's desire to keep their aid to the United States secret was evident during the 1777 incident involving Arthur Lee and Silas Deane. Lee, who frequently aided the Committee of Secret Correspondence, suspected Silas Deane, a colonial agent in France, of financial wrongdoing. In order to prove Deane's wrongdoing...
Where would an RNA World abiogenesis ideally take place?	I had a professor explain his theory, and I like it more than anything I've heard in literature, so I'll pass it on to the best of my abilities. If you are familiar with how PCR works, you know that it relies on temperature changes to begin the various steps: very high temp to denature the DNA, lower temperature to re...	[ "The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on Earth, in which self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins. The term also refers to the hypothesis that posits the existence of this stage.\n", "The hypothesized existence of an RNA world does n...
Where in the Universe it is the darkest?	[This is certainly one very dark place.](_URL_1_) That darkness is a molecular cloud. Lots of dust and gas that obscures all the stars behind it from our view. Edit: Thanks to kodiakus who prompted me to find the [same area in IR](_URL_0_)	[ "Krsna passed over all these planets and reached the covering of the universe. This covering is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as great darkness. This material world as a whole is described as dark. In the open space there is sunlight, and therefore it is illuminated, but in the covering, because of the absence...
why does coke in a glass bottle, or in a can, taste noticeably different from coke from plastic bottles?	The polymer that lines aluminium cans might absorb small amounts of soluble flavor from the soda. Conversely, acetaldehyde in plastic bottles might migrate into the soda. The FDA regulates this kind of potential chemical contact, but even minute, allowable amounts could alter flavor. Glass is apparently the best for ke...	[ "Mexican Coca-Cola is sold in a thick or glass bottle, which some have described in contrast to the more common plastic American Coca-Cola bottles as being \"more elegant, with a pleasingly nostalgic shape\". Formerly, Coca-Cola was widely available in refundable and non-refundable glass bottles of various sizes in...
why do the drawstrings on sweaters and hoodies always try to come out of the hoods when they are run through a washer and dryer?	My guess is that one of the drawstring ends can easily get snagged by other garments or other parts of the hoodie, then as the washer or dryer turns the clothes are tossled and the string is pulled. Imagine the drawstring end getting sandwiched in some jeans then as the washer spins the jeans move away from the hoodie ...	[ "Sweaters are often maintained by washing or dry cleaning and the use of a lint roller or pill razor. But airing (and rinsing in pure water if necessary) is considered better than washing with soap or another detergent, especially when not all of the natural oil (lanolin) has been removed from the wool. The use of ...
Does the density of a material have any relation with its thermal conductivity?	They are positively correlated, for example [here is a plot of thermal conductivity and density of different kinds of snow](_URL_0_). A simple way of thinking about it is that heat is conducted by atoms bumping into each other, and this can happen more readily when the atoms are closer together.	[ "The electrical conductivity of a bulk layer of particles depends on both surface and volume factors. Volume conduction, or the motions of electrical charges through the interiors of particles, depends mainly on the composition and temperature of the particles. In the higher temperature regions, above , volume cond...
why does my congestion move from nostril to nostril with gravity?	My best guess (I don't really know) is all congestion is is a mucus/fluid build up in your nasal cavity, not exactly in your nostrils so I kind of imagine it as water in a bottle. It moves around based off gravity but if won't just drip out on its own.	[ "The ventricles are stronger and thicker than the atria, and the muscle wall surrounding the left ventricle is thicker than the wall surrounding the right ventricle due to the higher force needed to pump the blood through the systemic circulation. Atria facilitate circulation primarily by allowing uninterrupted ven...
The dynastic union of Castile and Aragon seems to have rapidly coalesced into a unified Spanish kingdom. Why couldn't the later dynastic union of Spain and Portugal achieve the same results?	Well your premise is wrong, Castile and Aragon didn't coalesced into a unified Spanish kingdom, it didn't do that until the Spanish War of Succession (1705-1715). Before that, the territories of the Spanish crown only had two common institutions: the Monarch and the Inquisition. But for the rest, each territory had th...	[ "Under Isabella and Ferdinand, the royal dynasties of Castile and Aragon, their respective kingdoms, were united into a single line. Historiography of Spain generally treats this as the formation of the Kingdom of Spain, but in actuality, the two kingdoms continued for many centuries with their own separate institu...
Did people of Indochina know of the Australian landmass before European discovery?	Yes, they did. Fishermen from Makassar, in southern Sulawesi, travelled to the north and northwest coast of Australia for months every year from at least the mid-eighteenth century, quite possibly from the mid-seventeenth century and – according to at least seven contested, hard to explain but carbon-dated items – perh...	[ "While Australia's territory (originally known as New Holland) never became an actual Dutch settlement or colony, Dutch navigators were the first to undisputedly explore and map Australian coastline. In the 17th century, the VOC's navigators and explorers charted almost three-quarters of Australia's coastline, exce...
Was the Soviet union during cold war always poor and just postering wealth?	Well, you have to consider the context. The disparity was there even before the Soviet Union existed. The Russian Empire was much poorer (per capita) than Western Europe or the United States. It was significantly behind in industrialization, human development and infrastructure. If fact, the poor state of the Russian e...	[ "One of the greatest strengths of Soviet economy was its vast supplies of oil and gas; world oil prices quadrupled in the 1973–1974 and rose again in 1979–1981, making the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy, and was used to cover multiple weaknesses. During this period, the Soviet Union had the lo...
Do you think camera quality will ever be good enough to be measured in gigapixels?	The technology for gigapixel images already exists, but it's not being used in traditional cameras yet. For example, the [Pan-STARRS](_URL_0_) survey uses a 1.4 gigapixel camera. Each of the images taken with it is ~2Gb. The difficulty in moving them to traditional, handheld cameras is that 1 billion pixels (current...	[ "A detailed comparison in 2006 by a professional photographer of drum-scanned 10×12.5 cm (4×5″) images and digital 39-megapixel images on a medium-format camera found resolution very similar, with the scanned images slightly better. Color accuracy was not compared as digital profiles for the digital back were not a...
Does every culture in the world assume a 24hr day? What are some alternate time keeping units in the world and throughout history?	This isn't really a science question. Except that it's acceptable for scientists to use 24 hours a day as a measurement according to the [SI](_URL_0_). But that's just science fitting the older cultural phenomenon for convenience. Why not try /r/AskHistorians?	[ "The 24-hour time system has its origins in the Egyptian astronomical system of decans, and has been used for centuries by scientists, astronomers, navigators, and horologists. In East Asia, time notation was 24-hour before westernization in modern times. Western-made clocks were changed into 12 dual-hours style wh...
How does relativity affect orbital mechanics?	The scenario is impossible. It's impossible to have a classical orbit with speed greater than c (anywhere on the orbit) and the entire orbit being outside the Schwarzschild radius. Schwarzschild Radius = 2μ/c^2 Maximum speed of orbiting particle = √(((1+e)μ)/((1-e)a)) Minimum distance from central body = (1-e)a If ...	[ "The above classical (Newtonian) analysis of orbital mechanics assumes that the more subtle effects of general relativity, such as frame dragging and gravitational time dilation are negligible. Relativistic effects cease to be negligible when near very massive bodies (as with the precession of Mercury's orbit about...
What determines how much of an ingredient you have to add to a dish in order for the dish to have a noticeable change in flavor?	Taste is quite complicated so it is not always a linear 'more of X = stronger flavour', although that will generally be true if you are talking about something simple like adding more sugar to water. It also depends on what the other flavours in the dish are already. For example if you over brew your coffee it will ta...	[ "The flavourings and spices differ from region to region, for example, some use more vinegar. The size of the pieces also varies, as does cooking technique: some sautee the meat prior to cooking it in the sauce, while others add the diced parboiled meat directly to the sauce. \n", "The current ingredients vary sl...
what makes fruits taste different from one to the next?	Not sure on the chemistry behind fruits but as for mimicking a fruit, flavours have been mimicked for years without actual fruit extracts. Strawberry milks being a common one.	[ "The fruit's taste has been compared to a combination of banana and passionfruit or a combination of banana, cucumber and lime. A small amount of salt or sugar can increase the flavor. Some also eat the peel, which is very rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber.\n", "In the type most often grown in Florida, the USA,...
the social construction theory in feminism	People act the way they do because it's been taught to them both consciously and subconsciously. In other words, teachers and parents actively enforce the roles, and observation of the way the world works and looks reinforces them. It is not only for men and women but for races, too. Different races only exist becaus...	[ "The social construction of gender is a theory in feminism and sociology about the operation of gender and gender differences in societies. According to this view, society and culture create gender roles, and these roles are prescribed as ideal or appropriate behavior for a person of that specific sex.\n", "The t...
The 1946-2000 map of Palestine is frequently used in debates about the ongoing conflict. Does it provide a reasonable picture of the development of the conflict?	I have seen this map and similar variations of this map before. The first map is probably depicting private rather than political land ownership. Politically all of the land in the first image is owned by the British Empire in what was known as the British mandate of Palestine. Britain acquired this land and other Mid-...	[ "Many critical cartographers have engaged in counter-mapping to rewrite the narrative of the history of Israel’s expansion into territories contested with Palestine. One example is the Counter Cartographies Collective’s map of how much of the land belonged to which country since 1948. Another example is how Palesti...
how the united states is in so much debt, but day-to-day life seems completely normal.	The same reason you can be 10s or 100s of thousands in debt from college loans, car loans, mortgages and credit card debt, and still live "normally." Debt doesnt matter, so long as you are capable of paying it back (with interest). The US has debt by issuing bonds and treasuries, and eventually people cash them in. A...	[ "Except for about a year during 1835–1836, the United States has continuously had a fluctuating public debt since the US Constitution legally went into effect on March 4, 1789. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly report on the amount o...
Was Pope John Paul I poisoned by powerful members in the Vatican?	Of course if I could definitively answer your question here I would be a very rich man, as this is still an incredibly contested event. That being said, we can make a few assertions. The 'freemasons' you refer to are P2. This was a secret and illegal lodge in Italy, something akin to a covert government, comprise...	[ "Pope John Paul I died in September 1978, only a month after his election to the papacy. The timing of his death and the Vatican's alleged difficulties with ceremonial and legal death procedures have fostered several conspiracy theories. British author David Yallop wrote extensively about unsolved crimes and conspi...
is there any consequence to the increasing number of illegal immigrants (primarily and specifically, hispanic) in the united states?	Yes. Their children will be American citizens, and they will be voting in about thirty years from now. And they have a lot of children.	[ "The estimated population of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US fell from approximately 7 million in 2007 to 6.1 million in 2011 Commentators link the reversal of the immigration trend to the economic downturn that started in 2008 and which meant fewer available jobs, and to the introduction of tough immigration ...
In the Roman Empire, were their notable high-status people who had ethnic backgrounds that today we would generally categorize as black African, Indian or East Asian?	Whilst it doesn't directly address your question, this earlier answer by u/cleopatra_philopater may be of interest (as may some of the quotes from Mary Beard in the article linked by the OP): [Given the recent furore concerning Dr Mary Beard, I wondered if there are any official accounts of black Roman officers or any ...	[ "The Roman Africans were generally local Berbers or Punics, but also the descendants of the populations that came directly from Rome itself or the diverse regions of the Empire as legionaries and senators.\n", "Roman writers described people with physical characteristics of sub-Saharan Africans as \"Aethiopes\", ...
How did Rasputin survive?	There's always more that can be said, but you might enjoy these older posts. /u/kieslowskifan on [how the myth was created](_URL_0_). and /u/carlton_the_doorman gets into the [actual assassination.](_URL_1_)	[ "Rasputin is a huge, violent evil mystic who lives in Siberia. He and his band of raiders have terrorized Siberian villages for years. Rasputin is obsessed with immortality, and has his assistant prepare numerous medicines to slow down his natural aging. When he learns that one of his supposedly dead daughters is a...
when i am woken briefly in the night, i often have no memory of it by morning, why is this?	When you fall asleep, your hippocampus, the area of your brain responsible for learning and memory, sort of switches off, or into "sleep mode." Most likely, you're still in a dream-like state, or experiencing a parasomnia, and the hippocampus hasn't kicked back into gear.	[ "[...]And while you sleep you don’t know what happens either, what could have been changed while you have been sleeping. If things are different when you woke up just now, it could have been different before and you might not have remembered. Or if it is the same, the scenery, one way or the other you don’t see muc...
Why doesn't the Coriolis effect on the Earth create a perpetual westward wind?	/u/I_Cant_Logoff correctly pointed out that wind is slowed down by friction on the Earth, which means that there should not be a permanent westward wind. In fact, meteorology is very complicated and chaotic, so that any simple picture you might have is necessarily subject to instabilities and large perturbations. That...	[ "A consequence of the Coriolis effect, Ekman theory explains that oceanic flow at the surface is directed at 45 degrees to the right of the wind stress in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, winds blowing from the southwest result in eastward currents, while winds blowing from the northeast result in westward currents.\...
if mass production and automated efficiency lowers the cost per item, how do podunk smaller grocery stores sell their own (lower volume) products for far less $?	Could you give some examples? I'm not sure whether you're talking about mass-produced store-brand goods, bulk goods, or what.	[ "The smaller convenience stores typically have very few perishable items because it is not economically viable to rotate perishable items frequently with such a low number of staff. Smaller convenience stores also do not generate the business needed to sustain food spoilage rates typical of grocery stores or superm...
is it fact that frequent readers are smarter, and if so, what happens in the brain during reading to cause this?	That's a lot like observing that frequent runners are agile. Frequent reading builds focus, making it faster and easier to recall what you've read and integrate it into your understanding. When you do something over and over, the brain strengthens those pathways. When you don't do something much, the pathways get re...	[ "Reading and writing have some correlation with intelligence. It appears, for example, that reading classical texts can at least temporarily increase intelligence because they are highly coherent in their composition. LVT focuses on the operations that create structure. It is a compositional technique that also aid...
Why are there exactly 7 full notes? (Music)	The most basic interval is an octave, which represents a doubling of frequency. The second most basic interval is a fifth, which is a ratio of 3:2, or a fourth, which is a ratio of 4:3. These are the perfect intervals, and all other intervals can be derived from them. The perfect intervals have been part of music th...	[ "In everyday language, these notes are located between two semitones and they are essentially heard in Arab and Greek music throughout Europe and Eastern countries, in Turkey, Persia, as well as in Africa and in Asia. They were also used in tempered scales by certain European microtonal composers during the 19th ce...
Is there any hard evidence that the USA has secretly influenced Brazilian politics to put a "puppet" president in power?	It depends on how you'd define such things. The best candidate is the 1964 coup against João Goulart. The coup was not engineered in the US. But the coup plotters involved the US early on. The US provided money and CIA resources to support the plotters. President Johnson also sent the carrier USS Forrestal along wit...	[ "In a telephone conversation, President Johnson spoke on the phone from his Texas ranch with Undersecretary of State George Ball and Assistant Secretary for Latin America, Thomas Mann. Ball briefed Johnson on that status of military moves in Brazil to overthrow the government of Joao Goulart who U.S. officials view...
why is "boohoo" a word used to represent crying?	I'm guessing it's a sort of onomatopoeia. Like "buzz" for insects or "meow" for cats. When people cry, sometimes it sounds like "boo hoo", so it sort of stuck. Same with "wah!"	[ "In Chinese, (), meaning \"Crying\", refers to an asterism consisting of μ Capricorni and 38 Aquarii. Consequently, the Chinese name for μ Capricorni itself is (, .). From this Chinese name, the name Kuh was appeared.\n", "\"Crying Song\" is a song composed by Roger Waters, bassist of the British rock group Pink ...
Will the oceans eventually recede back due to the increase in temperature?	They'll [eventually boil off due to increased solar output](_URL_0_). The salts won't evaporate.	[ "That the oceans warmed in the past significantly faster than we thought would imply that the effects of climate change could be worse than currently expected, placing the planet's sensitivity to toward the higher end of its possible range.\n", "The loss of the oceans could be delayed until 2 billion years in the...
what do best men, maids of honor, grooms men and bridesmaids do in a wedding?	The best man holds the ring until the vows, the maid of honor holds the bride's bouquet during vows, and the others just stand up there awkwardly watching the ceremony	[ "During the ceremony, it is customary to include bridesmaids and groomsmen in the event. The members of the bridal party are chosen to share the happiness with the couple getting married. Including bridesmaids in the ceremony originated as a technique of confusing evil spirits as to who the actual bride was. Grooms...
During the Age of Sail, how did sailors keep from freezing during the night	The answer is pretty basic, really: ships would have a galley stove and often a small stove in the wardroom (where the officers gathered) that would warm the space. Sailors would wear oilskins to prevent getting wet, and wool clothes that keep you warm even when wet. Space and crowding was also something that would tak...	[ "Throughout this period sailors supplied or made their own clothing. Sailors developed traditional clothing suitable for their work: loose-fitting trousers with belts made of rope; tunics that slipped over the head, with arms to above the wrist so that the cloth would not foul in ropes passing through a cleat or pu...
why do you change from breathing perfectly normal, to snoring when falling asleep?	Snoring is usually caused by some sort of obstruction in the upper part of your airway. During sleep, your muscles start being relaxed and they may collapse a little to block your airway which results in snoring.	[ "However, because the diaphragm is largely driven by the autonomous system, it is relatively spared of non-REM inhibition. As such, the suction pressures it generates stay the same. This narrows the upper airway during sleep, increasing resistance and making airflow through the upper airway turbulent and noisy. For...
I've never liked math. I thought it was boring. Now I see it's practical. How do I teach myself it?	_URL_0_ Algebra and calculus are good, it really depends on what you need it for or what you've realised it is practical for. Any more info?	[ "Her first book, \"Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail\", was a \"New York Times\" bestseller, and was favorably reviewed by Tara C. Smith, the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa. The book also r...
viruses - can i get them only by running executable files (.exe, .bat, .com, .jpg.exe), or are there other ways?	Yes, and the gist is that it comes down to interactions. When two different types of "things" interact, it is an attack vector and can be exploited. Two different kinds of things can be "a browser displaying some media" or "a viewer executing a macro" - where a container attempts to perform an action that isn't neces...	[ "Taking advantage of this default behaviour, virus writers and other malicious programmers have used names like codice_14 for their creations, hoping that if it is placed in the same directory as the corresponding EXE file, a command or batch file may accidentally trigger their program instead of the text editor co...
If you get wetter from running in rain than from standing still, do you get more sunburnt from running in the sun than from standing still?	Light exposure does not change based on your movement, unless your move into shadow or under cloud coverage. Other factors may play like if you sweat, you will have more protection against the sun, etc.	[ "Several drivers tried to anticipate a heavier rainfall by stopping for wet tires very early in the first light shower. Panis, Cristiano da Matta, Jacques Villeneuve and Nicolas Kiesa all stopped on Lap 6 or 7, only to find the track beginning to dry already by Lap 8. Beginning with Villeneuve on Lap 9, they all st...
Would’ve Neanderthals been able to build and use boats?	The presence of Mousterian-style tools on the Greek islands of Kefallinia and Zakynthos suggests that they might have done, according to [this](_URL_1_) 2012 article. (See also popular press summaries [here](_URL_2_) and [here](_URL_0_))	[ "Among the earliest known watercraft were canoes made from hollowed-out logs, the earliest ancestors of galleys. Their narrow hulls required them to be paddled in a fixed sitting position facing forwards, a less efficient form of propulsion than rowing with proper oars, facing backwards. Seagoing paddled craft have...
Time dilation effects the hour in miles per hour- which effects speed, which effects time dilation?! How can this work?	I'm a little confused by the wording of your question but I will try to answer what I think you are asking. To begin relativity is what happens between frames. So in your frame you will measure a speed, the passage of time, and the length of objects in your frame, all of these are correct measurements. Now if an obse...	[ "The current precision with which time dilation is measured (using the RMS test theory), is at the ~10 level. It was shown, that Ives-Stilwell type experiments are also sensitive to the formula_3 isotropic light speed coefficient of the SME, as introduced above. Chou \"et al.\" (2010) even managed to measure a freq...
Can a gas/smoke stick to an adhesive surface? And if so, at what density would it require for this to possible?	Smoke or gas? They're very different. A gas is a chemical that is above its boiling point and has evaporated, like water vapor, oxygen, and other components of our atmosphere. Smoke is a colloid, a solid aerosol to be specific. It's made of solid particles of ash/soot suspended in the air, which absolutely do eventual...	[ "When smoke comes into contact with the surface of any substance or structure, the chemicals contained in it are transferred to it. The corrosive properties of the chemicals cause the substance or structure to decompose at a rapid rate. Certain materials or structures absorb these chemicals, which is why clothing, ...
black circles from lack of sleep	A lack of sleep can make your skin more pale, which in turn makes the blood vessels under your eyes more visible.	[ "The Dark Desert is a transition phase between life and afterlife on the Discworld (and is a part of Death's Domain). It is described as having brilliantly-lit black sand, under a black sky studded with cold bright stars, stretching away to distant mountains. Living people can cross into it, however, it is then har...
how come turning wifi/data on and off again makes it work better?	Like pretty much anything computer related, resetting fixes an abundance of issues. By starting something over it is forced to run all it's code from the beginning, refreshing anything that might have gotten out of whack. I don't have a specific technical answer because it could be a whole number of things making you...	[ "Time switches can be used for many purposes, including saving electric energy by consuming it only when required, switching equipment on, off, or both at times required by some process, and home security (for example switching lights in a pattern that gives the impression that premises are attended) to reduce the ...
why do a lot of song recordings fade out instead of ending like a live version would?	They were designed to be played on radio or in clubs, where one song would be smoothly overlapped and transitioned to the next song without a clear stop in the music. Sometimes in popular music the artists just didn't have a creative way to end the song.	[ "A recorded song may be gradually reduced to silence at its end (fade-out), or may gradually increase from silence at the beginning (fade-in). Fading-out can serve as a recording solution for pieces of music that contain no obvious ending. Both fades and cross-fades are very valuable since they allow the engineer t...

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