Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
#Physics #Astronomy Expanding Earth hypothesis and possible solutions to make it work!?	No, it's not just the mass problem. There's also the entire geometry problem. Take the roundest egg you can find, break its shell into pieces. Now try and fit those pieces to a the outside of a football or basketball. You notice how the curvatures are all wrong? To get them to fit you have to either plastically def...	[ "Although the expanding Earth hypothesis is nearly universally rejected by geoscientists, it has been defended recently based on detailed small-earth modeling by Klaus Vogel and James Maxlow and by many others worldwide based on other relevant data.\n", "APEX science goals include studying the formation of stars,...
why high fevers make us loopy/silly	The purpose of a fever is to cook whatever invader is inside of you. Your body is going into the most primitive for of survival so it's not too worried about higher level things such as say doing algebra. Homeostasis (maintaining an even environment in the body) is very important for overall function. At a certain po...	[ "A fever can be caused by many medical conditions ranging from non serious to life-threatening. This includes viral, bacterial and parasitic infections such as the common cold, urinary tract infections, meningitis, malaria and appendicitis among others. Non-infectious causes include vasculitis, deep vein thrombosis...
Why did Early Christians call Hell "Hades" after the god rather than Tartarus?	Both Greek words, Hades and Tartarus do double-duty as both an abode for the dead, and a personified deity-figure, so the choice is not between naming a place after the god Hades and the use of Tartarus. It's a little unclear whether hades first referred to the god or to the place, I have seen texts arguing for ...	[ "The Christian doctrine of hell derives from passages in the New Testament. The word \"hell\" does not appear in the Greek New Testament; instead one of three words is used: the Greek words \"Tartarus\" or \"Hades\", or the Hebrew word \"Gehinnom\".\n", "As the Catechism says, the word \"Hell\"—from the Norse, \"...
why do i only seem to realize how drunk i am when i go to the bathroom?	Going to the bathroom is the experience that links me to all past drunk experiences. Every time I look myself deeply in the mirror and gaze into my soul. The experience transcends time.	[ "BULLET::::- Drunkenness is wrong because it injures one's health, and worse, destroys one's ability to reason, which is fundamental to humans as rational animals (i.e., does not support self-preservation).\n", "Contrary to claims in movies, actually being drunk does not improve drunken monkey or drunken fist. It...
How did America come to love sugar so much more than other countries?	At least part of the reason was [demand for rum.](_URL_0_) Rum is [made from sugar cane](_URL_1_), which we imported from the Caribbean, distilled into molasses and rum, then exported out again. Manufacture of rum was early Colonial New England's largest and [most prosperous industry.](_URL_2_) I am sure there are o...	[ "After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it and it became popular throughout society, first among the ruling classes and then among the common people. In the 20th century, chocolate was considered essential in the rations of United States soldiers during war.\n", "The sugar market...
Are there many cases of a 'food taster' actually consuming poison and dying on the spot?	I can't find any evidence of a poison taster actually dying from poisoned food or drink. There are a number of Roman tasters, or praegustators, who are known by name because their title was written on a tombstone, or through other records. Cause of death generally wasn't poison though. Praegustator was sometimes a ...	[ "Two common cases of acute natural poisoning are theobromine poisoning of dogs and cats, and mushroom poisoning in humans. Dogs and cats are not natural herbivores, but a chemical defense developed by \"Theobroma cacao\" can be incidentally fatal nevertheless. Many omnivores, including humans, readily consume edibl...
How much is actually known about the naming of US cities and towns after European cities? Did they really just give the city the same name as the place they came from?	Well, Wikipedia may not be the most nuanced and scholarly source for toponomic history. Pretty much every state has a book devoted to the sources of its placenames; the grandfather of them all is George R. Stewart's 1945 book Names Upon the Land. Stewart (pp. 46-47) vividly imagines the discussions held at the Mass...	[ "Note that not all towns whose names are the same as a foreign city are named for that city. For example, there is only one US place named for the Boston in England. That is Boston, Massachusetts; all the rest were named for it or after someone named Boston. Also note that places named after people are not on this ...
If we have a blind spot in the center of our vision from our optical nerve, how come when I close one eye I don't see a "hole" in my vision?	You do have a hole in your field of vision. Your brain is just reeeaaally good about making sure you don't notice it. It uses details from what's around it to infer what should be there, and fills it in for you. There are even certain tests you can do to make it noticeable. Edit: For example, open [this image](_U...	[ "The optic disc or optic nerve head is the point of exit for ganglion cell axons leaving the eye. Because there are no rods or cones overlying the optic disc, it corresponds to a small blind spot in each eye.\n", "The optic disc or optic nerve head is the point of exit for ganglion cell axons leaving the eye. Bec...
What do we actually know about the Big Bang?	"Big bang" can mean several things. For a cosmologist, it's a theoretical framework which claims that the Universe was hotter and denser in the past. If you push the predictions to the edge, they predict a singularity. We don't know anything about this singularity because we know our laws of physics fail before reachin...	[ "\"Big Bang\" chronicles the history and development of the Big Bang model of the universe, from the ancient Greek scientists who first measured the distance to the sun to the 20th century detection of the cosmic radiation still echoing the dawn of time.\n", "English astronomer Fred Hoyle is credited with coining...
How did King Kamehameha unite the Hawaiian Islands one by one?	##Part 1 In the work Voices of Resistance and Renewal: Indigenous Leadership in Education (2015), Housman writes concerning Indigenous leadership principles from a Hawaiian perspective in chapter three (pp. 49-75). In describing these principles, stories of Kamehameha's leadership are used to exemplify how these pri...	[ "The Hawaiian Kingdom ( Kingdom of Hawaiʻi) originated in 1795 with the unification of the independent islands of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi under one government. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian Islands became unified when Kauaʻi and Niʻihau joined the Kingdom of Hawai‘i voluntarily and without bloodshe...
why does israel collect palestine's taxes?	Because Palestine doesn't really exist yet. It's a complicated situation. The lands that are 'Palestine' are technically still owned by Israel. It's what is called a de jure state. The territory is nominally controlled by the Palestinians but they do not have true sovereignty yet.	[ "Israel collects taxes on Palestinian imports on behalf of the PA and transfers the results on monthly basis. Israel forces \"all\" Palestinian imports (and its exports as far as allowed by Israel) to go via Israel. Within the West Bank, all goods are unilaterally routed by Israel via military checkpoints and cross...
if cooking kills bacteria, why does it matter how long we leave meat out, or how often we thaw and refreeze it?	Cooking kills bacteria, but if the bacteria was alive long enough it could have left some pretty nasty stuff behind as waste. Cooking doesn't get rid of this waste and it can cause some serious health problems. Freezing and thawing multiple times is just bad for the food as far as taste and texture goes, unless the th...	[ "Untreated meat decomposes rapidly if it is not preserved, at a speed that depends on several factors, including ambient humidity, temperature, and the presence of pathogens. Most meats cannot be kept at room temperature in excess of a few days without spoiling.\n", "The decomposition of food, either plant or ani...
What is the difference between Genetic Modification and Cross pollination?	Direct modification of genes is more potent, but I can't say that this makes it more or less dangerous. It's just a tool, and the risk is dependent upon the details of what you are doing. Responsible genetic engineering is just as safe as responsible cross breeding. [This](_URL_0_) is a good read if you're interested ...	[ "Hybrid pollination, a type of controlled pollination in which the pollen comes from a different strain (or species), can be used to increase crop suitability, especially through heterosis. The resulting hybrid strain can sometimes be inbred and selected for desired traits until a strain that breeds true by open po...
why are 28 pages classified in the congressional 9/11 report? if the terrorists were being supported by another country, shouldn't that information be public?	The government keeps secrets for a lot of reasons. For example, suppose the report contained information only available to someone highly placed in certain governments, A.K.A. a spy. Releasing that info publicly would likely get them killed.	[ "A 2013 report to Congress noted that the relevant laws have been mostly used to prosecute foreign agents, or those passing classified information to them, and that leaks to the press have rarely been prosecuted. The legislative and executive branches of government, including US presidents, have frequently leaked c...
How do doctors tell the difference between someone with ADHD and someone who just has a poor attention span (unfocused, undisciplined, etc.) ?	ADHD researcher here. If you are seeing someone who actually knows what they're doing, the process is a lot more intensive. You will go through a semi-structured interview about yourself, and then others who know you well (a parent, long time friend, etc) will be given the same interview about your symptoms. If both in...	[ "The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale is only applicable for adults with diagnosed or undiagnosed ADHD. A positive screening is not a proper diagnosis, but an indication that the adult should seek a healthcare professional for further analysis. Although the 6 question ASRS screener can be effective in diagnosing ADHD i...
As we gain weight, do we store more blood?	Yes, though normally it's related to height compared to weight. That is why people get hypertension because the blood has to be pumped harder through the adipose tissue to prevent tissue death, a good example of this if you've ever seen "Body Worlds" with the cross sections healthy/obese arms & legs. Here is a calcu...	[ "Weight gain can be accomplished through the ingestion of and storage of carbohydrates and fat. Under normal conditions, adrenal hormone receptors, type I and type II, mediate the storage of carbohydrates and fats during eating. In some cases, obesity in individuals is due to the overproduction of corticoids leads ...
Did Christians/Jewish groups ever perform acts of terrorism?	So this is a difficult question to answer due to the complex definition of Terrorism, however the answer is absolutely yes. For the sake of answering this question I am going to define terrorism as an act committed by a group against a civilian population in order to inspire fear. I am sure that some would disagree wit...	[ "Most scholars today trace the origins of the modern tactic of terrorism to the Jewish Sicarii Zealots who attacked Romans and Jews in 1st century Palestine. They follow its development from the Persian Order of Assassins through to 19th-century anarchists. The \"Reign of Terror\" is usually regarded as an issue of...
how come the f-35 program cost way more to develop than the f-22 despite being generally less technologically advanced?	F-35 is pretty much 3 different planes, that look similar. * Navy version has different wings and modifications to frame to support carrier landing. * Marine version has VSTOL. * Air Force version has better performance.	[ "F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin responded to the Canadian announcement, \"although disappointed with this decision, we remain confident the F-35 is the best solution to meet Canada's operational requirements at the most affordable price, and the F-35 has proven in all competitions to be lower in cost than fourth...
Did the Habsburg monarchs know about incest problems?	/u/cleopatra_philopater talked about royal inbreeding in [In societies where incestual marriage with very close degrees of relation was tolerated/celebrated (eg; brother-sister pairings in Egypt) did people ever notice or point out that the children of such pairings seemed to die more often than ones produced from non-...	[ "The Habsburg marriage negotiations revolving around the marriage of Queen Elizabeth I to Archduke Charles show the way marriage was often negotiated in royal families. The first phase began in 1559, with the initiative for a matrimonial alliance between England and Austria. However, the first phase was a failure a...
How close can two planets be to each other?	Yes, they most definitely will influence each other. How much? Well that depends on mass, distance, and just how different the planets are from each other. So for your SciFi example, You're probably imagining two planets of roughly equal size in proximity to each other, peacefully coexisting. That's possible, sure, b...	[ "The two planets are in a 4:3 resonance, meaning that every time the outer planet orbits the star three times, the inner planet orbits the star four times. The two planets are separated by only 0.35 AU (52 Gm). Because of the small separation between the two massive planets, the gravitational tugs between the two p...
how do altimeters work? (altitude detecting gauges)	Most of them are essentially pressure gauges. The higher you are above a given level the lower the air pressure.	[ "The altitude specified by the device is not the indicated altitude of the standard barometric altimeter. A radar altimeter measures absolute altitude - the height Above Ground Level (AGL). Absolute altitude is sometimes referred to as height because it is the height above the underlying terrain.\n", "An altimete...
why some movies get low rating on imdb and rotten tomatoes but it's still enjoyable and well liked by a lot of people?	Because an enjoyable movie doesn't necessarily have to be a good movie. The directing or acting or whatever could technically be "bad" but you still might like the story for example.	[ "The film has been widely criticized for having a lackluster plot and weak dialogue by users and critics alike on IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Netflix. Ratings range from 2.6/5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes, with one critic review each for fresh and rotten, to 4.2/10 on IMDb with overwhelmingly negative reviews from criti...
What causes the magnetic moment of charged particles like the electron?	I don't think you'll find a deeper "reason". It is a particle property, just like the electric charge and the mass.	[ "In atomic physics, the electron magnetic moment, or more specifically the electron magnetic dipole moment, is the magnetic moment of an electron caused by its intrinsic properties of spin and electric charge. The value of the electron magnetic moment is approximately . The electron magnetic moment has been measure...
Did Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley change R & B and Rock and Roll in any significant way, or did they just popularize the music among white Americans?	Not an expert, but I'm currently taking a History of Rock class and I might be able to shed some light on this, regarding Elvis specifically. First a little bit of background: It's generally agreed upon that the common ancestor of almost all popular music of the 20th century began with ragtime in the early 1900s – jau...	[ "Country music and country gospel loom large in the choice of songs. The songs of such country and Western legends as Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow and Gene Autry are among those featured. Lewis played most of the piano and Presley took nearly all of the lead vocals. The other participants easily follow Presl...
Was getting attacked by large predators a problem for early American colonists or frontier settlers?	Governor Bradford only makes a single mention of wolves in the context of actual encounters. While scouting for a location to set up their colony some were heard howling in the darkness and frightened off with gunfire. > So being very weary, they betooke them to rest. But aboute midnight, they heard a hideous and gr...	[ "Frontier warfare during the American Revolution was particularly brutal, and numerous atrocities were committed by settlers and native tribes alike. Noncombatants suffered greatly during the war. Military expeditions on each side destroyed villages and food supplies to reduce the ability of people to fight, as in ...
how do computer screens work and how do they display images	In LCD monitors an electric current is sent through the crystal,rearranging the 'spin' of the picture to display a certain color. There are 3 layers, a plastic screen, a color censoring sheet and the crystal _URL_0_ see the color a backlight at the bottom of the monitor is passed through the setup so you can see it. C...	[ " A monitor displays information in visual form, using text and graphics. The portion of the monitor that displays the information is called the screen. Like a television screen, a computer screen can show still or moving pictures and It’s a part of Output Devices.\n", "Normally, the software in a computer treats...
why is it only red light that develops photos? what makes red able to do this as opposed to any other color, or even natural daylight?	Red light doesn't develop photos. Photos are developed with chemicals. They use red lights in dark rooms because black and white film is insensitive to red light, so you can see what you're doing without exposing the film more. For colour film, you in fact open the film and put it in a lightproof tank, in a lightproof...	[ "Implementation of color photography was hindered by the limited sensitivity of early photographic materials, which were mostly sensitive to blue, only slightly sensitive to green, and virtually insensitive to red. The discovery of dye sensitization by photochemist Hermann Vogel in 1873 suddenly made it possible to...
why does doubling cooking temperature not cut cooking time in half?	That would lead to a burned exterior and a raw or undercooked interior. It takes time for heat to be conducted through what it is you're cooking, and your goal is to reach a certain internal temperature without destroying the exterior.	[ "The higher temperature causes food to cook faster; cooking times can typically be reduced to one-third of the time for conventional cooking methods. The actual cooking time also depends on the pressure release method used after timing \"(see Pressure release methods for details)\" and the thickness and density of ...
Were there different ethnic neighborhoods in the city of Rome where ethnicities clustered, such as the Chinatowns in various US cities?	To a point. Around the Aventine, for example, there has been found a cluster of Palmyrene inscriptions, which indicates that there was a community there. Palmyra was an oasis city in Syria at the center of a number of trade routes that is famous for the strength of its local identity and the visibility of the expressio...	[ "New York City and the surrounding area, including Long Island and parts of New Jersey, is home to 12 Chinatowns, early U.S. racial ghettos where Chinese immigrants were made to live for economic survival and physical safety that are now known as important sites of tourism and urban economic activity. Six Chinatown...
are organs the same size for everyone or are they bigger for naturally bigger people and vise versa?	While there is some amount of variance, the average dimensions and weight of organs are the same throughout all of humanity according to a rough height metric. A 6'5" adult male would have about 30% larger lung size than a 5'10 adult male, assuming all other factors are "average". Fatter people will have heavier org...	[ "There are also criticisms of size and organ trade-offs, including criticism of the claim of a trade-off between body size and longevity that cites the observation of longer lifespans in larger species, as well as criticism of the claim that big brains promoted sociality citing primate studies in which monkeys with...
What were the Finns doing during the Viking age? What kind of contact did they have with their Nordic neighbors?	'the Finns' are in fact very problematic term for the Viking Ages. Do you mean the word as current Finlanders, or, 'the Finns' in contemporary and medieval Scandinavian sources? If you mean the former, it would be very difficult for me to answer except for very general outlines, based on the meager archaeologica...	[ "The Vikings from Scandinavia were born into a seafaring culture. With the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Baltic and North Sea bordering the southern borders of Scandinavia, seafaring proved to be the means of communication for Scandinavians. \n", "Contact between Sweden and what is now Finland was considera...
why are some things transparent when in liquid form but not in solid form?	It all depends on the bonds forming (this is actually more of a chemistry question). When a thing changes states (like solid to liquid) the way its molecules bond changes and these bonds might form structures that bend light in a different way.	[ "Most liquids and aqueous solutions are highly transparent. For example, water, cooking oil, rubbing alcohol, air, and natural gas are all clear. Absence of structural defects (voids, cracks, etc.) and molecular structure of most liquids are chiefly responsible for their excellent optical transmission. The ability ...
what should i do when someone around me has a seizure?	Help them to the ground and put them in the recovery position. Call 911 regardless. Worst case they'll just check his vitals and leave. Seizures can cause permanent damage the longer they run. EMS will have Clonazepam they can give to help ease the seizure. They'll also check for a medic-alert bracelet or necklace that...	[ "Potentially sharp or dangerous objects should be moved from the area around a person experiencing a seizure, so that the individual is not hurt. After the seizure if the person is not fully conscious and alert, they should be placed in the recovery position. A seizure longer than five minutes, or two or more seizu...
Reddit, why doesn't corn on the cob turn into popcorn when heated in the microwave?	Certain [genetic varieties of corn](_URL_0_) have different propensities for popping. Zea mays averta is most commonly used for popping corn, while zea mays saccharata is a type of sweet corn (that you would eat off the cob). They differ in a way (starch content I believe) that makes one structurally "right" to pop, ...	[ "Microwave popcorn is unpopped popcorn in an enhanced, sealed paper bag intended to be heated in a microwave oven. In addition to the dried corn the bags typically contain solidified cooking oil, one or more seasonings (often salt), and natural or artificial flavorings, or both. With the many different flavors, the...
how did non-contemporary technology navigators/explorers get to their desired destination with such accuracy?	Latitude can be calculated very simply by measuring the angle of the sun at Noon with a sextant. Longitude is measured using a clock, by subtracting the time difference between local Noon (measured with that same sextant) and Greenwich time (you have to carry a watch set to GMT on the voyage). Cook had both of these t...	[ "Many skilled underwater navigators use techniques from both of these categories in a seamless combination, using the compass to navigate between landmarks over longer distances and in poor visibility, while making use of the generic oceanographic indicators to help stay on course and as a check that there is no mi...
Did the Neanderthals have music?	Possibly. In Slovenia in 1995, a paleontologist named Dr. Ivan Turk found a section of cave-bear femur at least [46,000 years old](_URL_1_) (and probably older than 50,000 years old) that appears to be a [Neanderthal flute](_URL_2_). It was found in a layer of earth linked to the Middle Paleolithic (meaning: when Nea...	[ "Archaeologist Steven Mithen speculates that the Neanderthals possessed some such system, expressing themselves in a \"language\" known as \"Hmmmmm\", standing for Holistic, manipulative, multi-modal, musical and mimetic. In Bruce Richman's earlier version of essentially the same idea, frequent repetition of the sa...
why are the careers of famous people so damaged by rape allegations when there's been no trial?	There have been accusations since at least 2000 of Cosby behaving inappropriately and his career wasn't damaged. None were proven and he settled out of court on some. His career isn't being damaged by one rape allegation it's being damaged by multiple rape allegations that seem very credible. At some point it s...	[ "Although rapes are becoming more frequently reported, many go unreported or have the complaint files withdrawn due to the perception of family honour being compromised. Women frequently do not receive justice for their rapes, because police often do not give a fair hearing, and/or medical evidence is often unrecor...
Why didn't the Imperial German Navy, make more attempts at commerce raid in World War I.	There are essentially two phases to German commerce raiding in WWI. The first was carried out by cruisers and auxiliaries that were based in the German colonies. However, these were hunted down relatively soon after the declaration of war. In 1915-17, we see the second phase, consisting mainly of converted merchant shi...	[ "At the start of the war, the German Empire had cruisers scattered across the globe. Some of them were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. The British Royal Navy systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect allied shipping. For example, the d...
what is the source of the idea that animals and insects can "smell fear?" any credibility to fear having a smell?	When people are scared, their breathing and heart rate both increase. Your body temperature rises, and you exhale more CO2 than normal. Insects can detect this, and are attracted to you. Not because of the fear, but because a big hot CO2 making thing flailing around is probably worth investigating. Keep in mind, much ...	[ "A related concept is labeled \"biased learning\" (Alcock 2001:101–103) and \"prepared learning\" (Wilson, 1998:86–87). For instance, after eating food that subsequently made them sick, rats are predisposed to associate that food with smell, not sound (Alcock 2001:101–103). Many primate species learn to fear snakes...
Was ancient Mesopotamia democratic before power was consolidated by kings and emperors?	The idea of "Primitive Democracy" in ancient Mesopotamia seems to still hold currency. Jacobsen's work has been cited and elaborated in books by several big-name assyriologists like Saggs, Oppenheim, and Kramer. I found [this conference paper](_URL_0_) by one Benjamin Isakhan which gives a pretty thorough review of th...	[ "Kings, emperors and other types of monarchs in many countries including China and Japan, were considered divine. Of the institutions that ruled states, that of kingship stood at the forefront until the American Revolution put an end to the \"divine right of kings\". Nevertheless, the monarchy is among the longest-...
How do the chains on a bicycle work?	Torque is the result of multiplying force by distance. The reason that it's easier to turn a nut with a wrench is because you are applying the force some distance away from the axis. Move twice as far away, and you only need half the force to develop the same torque. Bicycle gears work the same way. In the lowest ge...	[ "A bicycle chain is a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle, thus propelling it. Most bicycle chains are made from plain carbon or alloy steel, but some are nickel-plated to prevent rust, or simply for aesthetics.\n", "While a chain tool is required to shorten simple ch...
what are spider venoms made from, how does a spider produce it?	Spider venom is not all the same, but most are neurotoxins which are polyamines or polypeptides. Spiders produce it from a gland they have.	[ "Spider venoms work on one of two fundamental principles; they are either neurotoxic (impairing the nervous system) or necrotic (dissolving tissues surrounding the bite). In some cases, the venom targets vital organs and systems.\n", "Spiders in this genus are specialised spider killers. They attack potential vic...
why do our eyes burn/sting when something gets in them?	The eyes are one of, if not the most sensitive part of the body, it's simply them getting irritated. Just like a corrosive substance will irritate your skin, the eyes are so sensitive that dust, smoke or even an eyelash will cause pain. Because they are so important, we evolved with super sensible eyes to protect th...	[ "Chemical eye injury may result when an acidic or alkaline substance gets in the eye. Alkali burns are typically worse than acidic burns. Mild burns produce conjunctivitis, while more severe burns may cause the cornea to turn white. Litmus paper may be used to test for chemical causes. When a chemical cause has bee...
Is it possible to use cosmic rays to generate electricity? In other words could we use cosmic rays to power solar panels or other types of materials?	Sure, in principle. But the remnants of cosmic rays that reach sea level are minimally ionizing radiation, which means that they don't deposit very much energy into things. You won't get much energy from them.	[ "The sun's rays can be used to produce electrical energy. The direct user of sunlight is the solar cell or photovoltaic cell, which converts sunlight directly into electrical energy without the incorporation of a mechanical device. This technology is simpler than the fossil-fuel-driven systems of producing electric...
When the Mongols were poised to attack Europe, how aware was western Europe of the impending attack?	They were on the whole pretty unconcious of the threat. The only prior knowledge Europe had had of the Mongols came from garbled stories that Crusaders had heard about Mongol conquests in the East. As they had very little idea as to what was actually going on they came up with a distinctly distorted image. The rumors o...	[ "The advance into Europe continued with Mongol invasions of Poland and Hungary. When the western flank of the Mongols plundered Polish cities, a European alliance among the Poles, the Moravians, and the Christian military orders of the Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights and the Templars assembled sufficient forces to h...
why do oil refineries/wells have these burning tubes?	I used to work at a refinery, and by talking with the operators there are several reasons. First, there are a lot of byproducts that are created that would be harmful such as Benzine-based derivitives. The best way to dispose these are to burn them. Secondly, it's a venting system. If there is a failure in the alkali...	[ "Pipelines transmit gas to boilers, dryers, or kilns, where it is used much in the same way as natural gas. Landfill gas is cheaper than natural gas and holds about half the heating value at 16,785 – 20,495 kJ/m3 (450 – 550 Btu/ft3) as compared to 35,406 kJ/m3 (950 Btu/ft3) of natural gas. Boilers, dryers, and kiln...
if most voters disagree with corporate lobbying and company funded candidates, then why do we still vote for them?	Some states experimented with severe term limits for politicians in the 1990s. The idea was supposed to be that if you kicked out all the career politicians and forced voters to elect fresh faces who had no ties to lobbyists, then you would get a corruption-free system. It didn't work at all. It turns out that if ...	[ "BULLET::::- In January 2010, the Supreme Court held that the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections. While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns or coordinate their activity with campaigns, they may seek...
explain how american investing works. buying/selling stocks, bonds, trusts.	Stocks involve giving money to a company in return for a say in how it is run and a share in its future profits. If the company does well, you can resell the stocks to someone else for more than you bought them. Buying a bond means you are lending money to a government. After a predetermined amount of time, they must ...	[ "Davis believes stocks represent ownership interests in real businesses and therefore devotes significant time and resources to rigorous fundamental analysis of companies, all while maintaining a strict valuation discipline based on a concept known as “owner earnings” (i.e., the normalized cash earnings power of a ...
why cables - like laptop charging cable and phone usb cables- stop working without any obvious damage ?	The wire inside the cable might break over time, that's why sometimes your headphones work in only certain positions, and then stop working altogether. It might also be that the electronics inside the adapter got messed up due to prolonged use, since using it makes it heat up. I hope that answer was detailed enough.	[ "Many cables claiming to support USB-C are actually not compliant to the standard. Using these cables would have a potential consequence of damaging devices that they are connected to. There are reported cases of laptops being destroyed due to the use of non-compliant cables.\n", "Tripping on an iBook cord or yan...
What did middle class Russian women wear in the late 1700s and early 1800s?	What do you mean "middle-class?" The middle class is an extremely recent phenomenon and is largely only has significance as a sociological category in the United States. In the 1700-1800s in Russia we are still deep in the system of Soslovie which is most similar to European feudalism so really there is no "middle clas...	[ "Early nineteenth century dresses in Russia were influenced by Classicism and were made of thin fabrics, with some semi-transparent. Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun wore these types of dresses with a short skirt (reaching to her ankles) when she lived in Russia between 1785 and 1801 and many Russian women copied her style....
Do Dark Matter and/or Dark Energy remain of the same quantity through time?	Dark energy and dark matter are two completely different things which unfortunately share similar names. While the density of dark energy remains constant as space expands over time (and is itself the cause of the accelerated expansion), dark matter much like any other matter dilutes as the universe expands lowering in...	[ "The final component, dark energy, is an intrinsic property of space, and so has a constant energy density regardless of the volume under consideration (\"ρ\" ∝ \"a\"). Thus, unlike ordinary matter, it does not get diluted with the expansion of space.\n", "This class of theories attempts to come up with an all-en...
How did scientist come up with and prove carbon dating?	So, as you may know, the number of protons in an atom determines what kind of element it is. In it's stable form, carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, and is otherwise known as carbon 12. Nitrogen, the next element on the periodic table, is most stable with 7 protons and 7 neutrons, aka nitrogen 14. Sunlight in our a...	[ "In 1947, Braidwood had learned about carbon dating from his Chicago colleague Willard Libby, and he began to use the method in order to make his dating of artifacts more precise. Also in 1947 the Oriental Institute's Jarmo Project in Iraq was launched by Braidwood. It was an early example of an excavation aiming t...
Why doesn't lightning travel at the speed of light.	Photons travel at the speed of light i.e the light entering your eyes from the lightning bolt. The actual particles travelling through the lightning bolt is electrons and they don't travel at the speed of light, like electrons in a circuit. Simply put, electrons have mass and therefore they can't travel at the speed of...	[ "Leonardo da Vinci wrote in a notebook: \"Every body that moves rapidly seems to colour its path with the impression of its hue. The truth of this proposition is seen from experience; thus when the lightning moves among dark clouds the speed of its sinuous flight makes its whole course resemble a luminous snake. So...
Question for someone that understands the FDA drug approval process.	As a result of that FDA report, mifamurtide was denied approval by the FDA > As previously announced, in the U.S., the Company continues to work with the COG as well as external experts and advisors to gather patient follow up data from the Phase 3 clinical trial of mifamurtide and to respond to other questions in th...	[ "The purpose for adding FDA-approved indications in the United States is to ensure that healthcare providers can easily identify appropriate use of drug therapy. Gaining FDA approval is based on the body of scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of a drug treatment. The scientific evidence is gathered in ...
Did Henry VIII make divorce legal only for himself, or for the whole nation under the Church of England?	Just to make a distinction... Henry VIII never actually divorced any of his wives. * Catherine's was an annulment. It was declared an invalid marriage due to her previous marriage to Henry's brother, Arthur. * Anne Boylen's was an annulment. It was declared an invalid marriage due to her (supposedly) incestuous relati...	[ "In order to allow Henry to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn, the English parliament enacted laws breaking ties with Rome, and declaring the king Supreme Head of the Church of England (from Elizabeth I the monarch is known as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England), thus severing the ecclesiastical str...
why do you lose your radio signal(fm) when you've driven a fair distance into a tunnel, but you don't regain it until you're completely out of it?	It depends on the direction the FM signal is coming from. Think of it like a beam of light (actually, radio signals technically are light!) where solid structures casts shadows. If the light is shining towards the entrance of a tunnel, then the inside of the tunnel is still lit up near the entrance. At the exit, the...	[ "In analog radio systems, as receiving stations move away from a radio transmitting site, the signal strength decreases gradually, causing the relative noise level to increase. The signal becomes increasingly difficult to understand until it can no longer be heard as anything other than static.\n", "Although radi...
what causes the vibrant clouds when a rocket is launched at night	You're seeing condensation trails from the rocket exhaust. As the rocket fuel burns, it creates water vapor. That water vapor condenses and freezes in the upper atmosphere. It happened to show up very well in this launch because of the time of the launch. It was past sunset & dark on the ground, but the sunligh...	[ "These condensation clouds can often be seen appearing around space-bound rockets as they accelerate through the atmosphere. For example, they were frequently seen during Space Shuttle launches, about 25 to 33 seconds after launch, when the vehicle was traveling at transonic speeds. Similar effects were also visibl...
for those of you who are looking for a simple explanation of complex things: simple wikipedia	Unfortunately, only has a very small fraction of the pages real Wikipedia has.	[ "There are many variations on how to express this objection. William F. Vallicella holds that organized complexity as such does not need explanation, because when in search of an ultimate explanation, one must in the end accept an entity whose complexity has no external explanation. Dawkins has stated that we shoul...
why can't you make a bit-for-bit copy of a disc and use that as the original?	The disks used on gaming consoles have special components of the data tracks near the inside of the disk. These components can be neither read nor replicated by standard drives. Only the drives used in the consoles themselves can access and utilize these proprietary features.	[ "Copy Control also does not prevent copying a disc by recording it as analog audio through a computer's sound card, which only causes a slight degradation in audio quality. More substantial is the loss in recording speed. This weakness, inherent in all digital copy prevention systems, is known as the \"analog hole\...
why does putting pressure on a specific point on your neck 'cure' a creak in the neck?	It's possible you have a "pinched nerve" essentially the muscles in your neck are cramping and by pressing on it you release some of that pressure on the nerve. It's also possible that it's just simple muscle fatigue and pressing on the affected muscle group stretches it out like stretching out your back. As for exactl...	[ "Neck stiffness, stiff neck and nuchal rigidity are terms often used interchangeably to describe the medical condition when one experiences discomfort or pain when trying to turn, move, or flex the neck. Possible causes include muscle strain or sprain, cervical spine disorders, meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrha...
People say that a nuclear bomb is equivalent to X tons of TNT. Well, if X tons of TNT were actually there instead of a nuclear bomb, will it have the same effect?	It's an equivalency of energy They could also equate it too calories or joules but tnt they think is more relatable To answer your question directly no it would not explode the same simply because a nuclear bombs volume is smaller than that many tons of tnt and many other factors	[ "So, one can state that a nuclear bomb has a yield of 15 kt (63×10 or 6.3×10 J); but an actual explosion of a 15 000 ton pile of TNT may yield (for example) 8×10 J due to additional carbon/hydrocarbon oxidation not present with small open-air charges.\n", "The 15 megaton (Mt) nuclear explosion far exceeded the ex...
Do the theories of /r/pornfree and /r/nofap hold any scientific weight?	User SteezmasterJones has alluded to the argument about pornography affecting our respect for women and objectification, which I don't know of research that directly speaks to the question, so I'll tackle this from a different angle. Novelty, habits, and habituation. Society seems to have welcomed the advent of digita...	[ "Several journalists have criticized NoFap after having participated in its programs. According to Elizabeth Brown, neuroscientists have questioned some of the claims made by people on NoFap. One psychologist, David J. Ley, wrote: \"I'm not in opposition to them, but I do think their ideas are simplistic, naive and...
Why are Uranus's moons equatorial?	So first, let's get this out of the way: The idea that Uranus got knocked on its side by a severe impact early on is an old theory, and in the past 20 years this idea has strongly fallen out of favor. It turns out it's almost impossible to have an impact large enough to turn Uranus on its side that doesn't completely o...	[ "Like the other giant planets, Uranus has a ring system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The Uranian system has a unique configuration because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its solar orbit. Its north and south poles, therefore, lie where most other planets have their equator...
why does polishing a white object to a high sheen not turn it into a mirror?	There are two kinds of reflection: specular reflection and diffuse reflection. Specular reflection is when a beam of light hits an object, and is reflected back in one specific direction. If you shot a laser at a specular reflective surface, it would bounce right back and look pretty much the same as it did going in...	[ "Diffuse reflection from solids is generally not due to surface roughness. A flat surface is indeed required to give specular reflection, but it does not prevent diffuse reflection. A piece of highly polished white marble remains white; no amount of polishing will turn it into a mirror. Polishing produces some spec...
if pain is your body's way of telling you to stop doing something, then why does exercise hurt?	Med student currently procrastinating from my dissertation on pain here. Pain is a signal warning you of potential damage. In the case of exercise, you are ripping muscle fibres among other things, hence it is painful. In a wider sense your body cannot tell if something will be good long term, only short term, this is ...	[ "An exercise should be halted if marked or sudden pain is felt, to prevent further injury. However, not all discomfort indicates injury. Weight training exercises are brief but very intense, and many people are unaccustomed to this level of effort. The expression \"no pain, no gain\" refers to working through the d...
how does baking soda remove scratches from spectacles	It is a really mild abrasive. It will only remove tiny scratches. That is also why it is a tooth whitener. Basically if it doesn't fully dissolve, it is slightly harder than glass and grinds it down.	[ "Baking Soda or Dry Ice Blasting is an environmentally sustainable method of removing graffiti. This process involves using abrasive particles to safely remove the paint without damaging surfaces. Surfaces that respond well to blasting are concrete, brick, stone, wood, and glass.\n", "Baking stones can be cleaned...
today's xkcd comic, "where citations come from".	I hope this doesn't double-comment. I submitted a response and it didn't work (damn IE). Here goes again: The punchline is the fact that just because a Wikipedia article has a "source" listed does not mean that fact is true. The storyline is as follows: 1. Joe makes up a random "fact" and posts it on Wikipedia 2. A ...	[ "The \"Comiclopedia\" is an online encyclopedia which features biographical information and illustrations, comic strip images, album covers, frame grabs, and memorabilia about every individual comics artist whose name can be identified by signature. All artists are alphabetized and can both be looked up by name or ...
why do people prefer someone who is a lot like them than someone who is not?	This is both quite a bit of a generalization, and very much subject to individual taste. While there's some truth there, it's absolutely not that simple. And there's also the conventional wisdom (equally flawed) that opposites attract. A decent article on the subject: _URL_0_	[ "In a 1984 interview, Carroll said \"I've never played a role quite this unlikeable. And I like that. I like that very much because I think very often, particularly minorities, it's almost required of them that they are nice people, and I don't want to play a nice person.\"\n", "They also pass somewhat weird comm...
why a car maneuvers better in reverse than forwards.	The front wheels of the car are the steerable wheels, they tell the back wheels where to go. It is easier to place the static wheels where they need to go first and then adjust the front accordingly.	[ "In a normal turn, rear wheels follow the front ones because resistance to motion in the forward direction (in which the wheels turn) is significantly less than in the sideways direction. The latter provides the centripetal force that makes the rear end of the car follow the turn. When the driver locks the rear whe...
Why does the Pauli exclusion principle cause the strong nuclear force to be repulsive at short distances?	The strong force between nucleons, the residual strong force, is sort of an amalgamation of many quark-quark interactions. It's sort of analogous to intermolecular forces in chemistry, where it's a manifestation of some kind of Coulomb interaction between many particles. If you look at potentials for modeling inte...	[ "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...
How has the image of Death (the grim reaper) changed over time? When and why did he come to be represented with a dark hood and scythe? (X-Post Art History)	re your second question, there was a similar post a couple of months ago, so check it for previous responses: [Where did the grim reaper as a symbol of death come from?](_URL_1_) ... also, this post won't really answer your first question (I don't think), but you may find it interesting as the thread includes many ex...	[ "\"The Reaper's Image\" is a horror story by American writer Stephen King, first published in \"Startling Mystery Stories\" in 1969 and collected in \"Skeleton Crew\" in 1985. The story is about an antique mirror haunted by the visage of the Grim Reaper, who appears to those who gaze into it.\n", "The more or les...
why do some exercises really have a noticeable effect on my muscles and others just makes my muscles tired?	In the first scenario (curls), you're working your muscle near its maximum ability. This causes small tears in the muscle, and your body rebuilds those tears stronger than they were before as a way to adapt to it (get stronger). In the second scenario (circles), you're not working your muscle as hard as you can: you'...	[ "Research has clearly shown that exercise is beneficial for impaired muscles, even though it was previously believed that strength exercise would \"increase\" muscle tone and impair muscle performance further. Also, in previous decades there has been a strong focus on other interventions for impaired muscles, parti...
Has an earth year always been 365.25 days?	No, it has been considerably different from 365.25 days in the past, but the reason is not that the orbital period has changed significantly but rather that the length of a day has. The rotation of the earth is slowing, due to the influence of the moon, and this causes days to get longer. There were more days in a y...	[ "BULLET::::- Earth's orbit (Sidereal year): The Hindu cosmological time cycles explained in the \"Surya Siddhanta\"(c.600 CE), give the average length of the sidereal year (the length of the Earth's revolution around the Sun) as 365.2563627 days, which is only a negligible 1.4 seconds longer than the modern value o...
what makes a password stronger than another?	Because some types of attacks will do what's called a 'dictionary attack' and try dictionary words and thing based on them (apple, Apple, APPLE, etc). If you have to brute force a password (meaning try every possible combination) then as you add numbers, case, and specials the number of possible combinations goes thro...	[ "Using strong passwords lowers overall risk of a security breach, but strong passwords do not replace the need for other effective security controls. The effectiveness of a password of a given strength is strongly determined by the design and implementation of the factors (knowledge, ownership, inherence). The firs...
Why did a US ship shoot down Iran Air 655?	So, the Iran Air tragedy is rooted in the larger Iran/Iraq conflict. The US, at different times, supported both sides in an effort to produce a politically acceptable victory. But most importantly, the US favored stability, and tried to prevent further escalation of the war. After all, both Iraq and Iran were massive o...	[ "Thereafter, Iranian attacks on neutral ships dropped drastically. On 3 July 1988, , while engaged in a fierce gun duel with Iranian boats, mistook Iran Air Flight 655 for an Iranian F-14 and shot it down over the Strait of Hormuz. All 290 passengers and aircrew aboard the Airbus A300B2 died, including 66 children....
I want to learn about the past 120~ years of European history.	May I suggest the French Revolution as a starting point? For both social and military history. Hitler also refers to it many times in Mein Kampf it played directly into his thinking. It was also the starting point for the century that was filled with revolutions which had an immense impact. I don't have any sources a...	[ "European History Online (\"Europäische Geschichte Online, EGO\") is an academic website that publishes articles on the history of Europe between the period of 1450 and 1950 according to the principle of open access.\n", "BULLET::::- Robinson, James Harvey, and Charles Austin Beard. \"Readings in Modern European ...
Is it actually possible to run across water?	According various [online calculations](_URL_0_) a person would need to run at about 80km/h in order to generate enough thrust against the water. Smaller animals, like like basilisk lizard , have less mass and a higher power to weight ratio and can briefly run across the water.	[ "\"'Running across the world\"\" is a difficult task, taking years to accomplish.Technically it would be impossible to run across the world having bodies of water, especially the vasts oceans, separating one land mass from another. People who attempted to run across the world have their run divided into several leg...
How useful are cryoprotectants in preserving tissue?	One of the main uses of cryoprotectants is to prevent ice crystals from forming. We're mostly water, so freezing tissue causes the water to form crystals which rips cells apart. A lot of it depends on what you're using as a cryoprotectant. I see you're interested in humans. I work with yeast, and we use 25% glycerol ...	[ "Cryosurgery is an old modality for the treatment of many skin cancers. When accurately utilized with a temperature probe and cryotherapy instruments, it can result in very good cure rate. Disadvantages include lack of margin control, tissue necrosis, over or under treatment of the tumor, and long recovery time. Ov...
how does someone with insomnia continue living?	From personal experience, You can last atleast 5 days with a 30 minute nap somewhere around day 3-4. Also, It's not like Insomniacs never sleep. They just have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.	[ "No other person with total insomnia has lived for such a long period of time. It was likely that he died for other reasons, not sleep deprivation, as his insomnia did not seem to have any effect on his health.\n", "BULLET::::1. Transient insomnia lasts for less than a week. It can be caused by another disorder, ...
how does the ufc get away with paying their fighters so little?	Supply and Demand, to put it simply. The public is apparently willing to pay hundreds of millions to watch Mayweather and Pacquiao, and just the same UFC fighters are apparently willing to fight despite not receiving such massive payouts. If, as a collective whole, UFC fighters were unwilling to fight without getting...	[ "UFC fighters are paid per fight, with amounts depending on how well-known the fighters are and how well sponsored a fighter and an event is. Fighters will typically get paid money to fight, called show money, with an additional bonus if they win, called a win bonus. Despite not being officially confirmed by the UF...
why does stretching a muscle help it heal faster?	There is no good evidence that shows static stretching does anything useful. Dynamic stretching (which is actually just moving around) is evidence based to be useful.	[ "An active stretching regimen can strengthen muscles because stretching affects muscles in a way similar to strength training, just on a smaller scale. A stretching regimen has been shown to increase weight-lifting abilities, improve endurance, and assist in plyometrics. Research shows that StretchTrainer users can...
Speed of light VS Age of the universe?	This has been asked a bunch of times, check these out [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) [_URL_3_](_URL_3_) [_URL_1_](_URL_1_) [_URL_2_](_URL_2_)	[ "Another adjunct, the varying speed of light model was offered by Jean-Pierre Petit in 1988, John Moffat in 1992, and the two-man team of Andreas Albrecht and João Magueijo in 1998. Instead of superluminal expansion the speed of light was 60 orders of magnitude faster than its current value solving the horizon and ...
if all the baby boomers start pulling out their money from rrsp/rifs and "the market" in general, will the stock market suffer?	The question is not if... it is when. Baby Boomers are not going to die and leave those accounts to the children, they will be spent on vacations, medical expenses, their kids/grandkids college educations!	[ "It is expected that the aging of the baby boomer generation in the US will increase the demand for this type of instrument and for it to be optimized for the annuitant. This growing market will drive improvements necessitating more research and development of instruments and increase insight into the mechanics inv...
The evolution of sleep (questions inside)	All eukaryotes, and some prokaryotes (cyanobacteria) exhibit circadian rhythms; only in the phylum 'bilateria' have we seen photoperiodism thought (this is a once in a lifetime/season event that is critical to the organisms fitness). There are several proposed reasons for sleep, but nothing is proven. Because DNA dama...	[ "One challenge studying sleep evolution is that adequate sleep information is known only for two phyla of animals- chordata and arthropoda. With the available data, comparative studies have been used to determine how sleep might have evolved. One question that scientists try to answer through these studies is wheth...
why does a laptop's battery life decrease over time?	Most (if not all) modern batteries in laptops and electronics are lithium-ion (li-ion) based. When you charge it, an electric current carries lithium ions from a lithium cobalt oxide cathode to a graphite anode. When you turn on the device, the ions then run in the opposite direction, to the cathode. Each time you c...	[ "Battery life is limited because the capacity drops with time, eventually requiring replacement after as little as a year. A new battery typically stores enough energy to run the laptop for three to five hours, depending on usage, configuration, and power management settings. Yet, as it ages, the battery's energy s...
Are some liquids heavier than others?	Indeed they do. Liquid water has a density of 1000kg/m^3, liquid mercury has a density of around 13500kg/m^3, and liquid steel is around 8000kg/m^3. The weight of liquids works no differently than solids. The only difference is that they flow and thus must be put in a container to be weighed.	[ "A heavy liquid is a solution or liquid chemical substance with a high density and a relatively low viscosity. Heavy liquids are often used for determination of density in mineralogy, for density gradient centrifugation and for separating mixtures.\n", "It is referred to as \"heavy\" because its density or specif...
Why is it that mass transportation in America was never fully developed? In addition, why did America grow such a large car culture?	I'm currently abroad and don't have access to my books, but I think I can do enough from memory to at least give this a go. Your question has a bit to unpack — what would a "fully developed" mass transit system look like, for example? Does New York City have a system that measures up to developed-nation standards? If ...	[ "The introduction of the Interstate Highway System and the suburbanization of America made automobiles more necessary and helped change the landscape and culture in the United States. Individuals began to see the automobile as an extension of themselves.\n", "The advent of the automobile signaled the end of railr...
why do we sometimes feel sorry (or emotional) for inanimate objects?	I think it's because we tend to personify things. And that happens when we're kids, thru pretend play. And toy story doesn't help. I remember when I was little thinking my toys were alive when I wasn't around. Damn! If I had only written that out as a story.... I could have been rich!!	[ "Displacement of object: Feelings that are connected with one person are displaced onto another person. A man who has had a bad day at the office, comes home and yells at his wife and children, is displacing his anger from workplace onto his family. Freud thought that when children have animal phobias, they may be ...
How does a source of light, with finite surface area, send light in infinite directions?	If you go far enough away, it will no longer be continuous, and you'll only detect the occasional photon. If you set up a large detection screen, there will be finite distance between the locations where photons are detected.	[ "A directional light source illuminates all objects equally from a given direction, like an area light of infinite size and infinite distance from the scene; there is shading, but cannot be any distance falloff.\n", "In nature, a light source emits a ray of light that travels, eventually, to a surface that interr...
why aren't the scopes of sniper rifles on the side any more?	This was done because those guns fed from stripper clips, which required loading straight down from the top. Well, you can't put a scope in the way of your bullets or it's not much of a rifle anymore. When countries switched to magazine feeds from the bottom of the rifle, you could mount your scope in line with the ...	[ "The single most important characteristic that sets a sniper rifle apart from other military or police small arms is the mounting of a telescopic sight, which is relatively easy to distinguish from smaller optical aiming devices found on some modern assault rifles and submachine guns. \n", "The telescopic sights ...
how do birds know not to fly in the path of a kite and its strings?	No, but they have hearing to detect the buzzing of the wind in the lines. They also have excellent collision avoidance hardware in their brains and they use this sort of sound cue to stay in formation for long flights.	[ "Square-tailed kites can glide or soar, depending on the positioning of their wings. For gliding, the birds wing are held in medium modified dihedral, and when soaring the wings are in a medium to strong dihedral, and the tips of the primary flight feathers are curled up. These birds are well suited to flight, and ...
what is actually happening when, after a day in the ocean or riding rollercoasters, the body will almost simulate the feelings when you're staying still?	There's a few reasons why this happens, and it's actually been a source of contention for centuries now. This is part of where the term "Sea Legs" comes from. When you are on a boat, or a roller coaster or other similar behaviours, your brain, vestibulocochlear system (The tubes of fluid in your ears that help maintai...	[ "After being on a small boat for a few hours and then going back onto land, it may feel like there is still rising and falling, as if one is still on the boat. It can also occur on other situations, such as after a long train journey or after working up a swaying tree. It is not clear whether sea legs is a form of ...
a lot of celebrities that aren't nominated for anything still get to go to the oscars. how do they decide of the non-nominees who goes and who doesn't?	Last year's winners (for the big categories) are invited to present their award this year. The Academy invites other A-list people to present or sit in the audience for ratings and prestige, especially if they had a movie this year. Studios get a certain number of seats that they can give to anyone, obviously executi...	[ "The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 25, 2007. With his latest unsuccessful nomination for Best Actor, Peter O'Toole became the most nominated performer without a competitive win. Another oddity in the Best Actor category is that four of the five nominees were only nominated in that ca...
why do we include "indigo" in the rainbow?	> I have always believed that "indigo" was included in the rainbow simply to make the acronym Roy G. Biv work It's the other way round - the acronym comes from the colour names. We have Newton to thank for the names of the colours in the spectrum. He initially distinguished five colours (red, yellow, green, blue, v...	[ "Indigo is a deep and rich color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine. It is traditionally regarded as a color in the visible spectrum, as well as one of the seven colors of the rainbow: the color between violet and blue; however, sources...
Why does the Double Jeopardy Clause exist? What was the Founding Fathers' reasoning for not re-trying someone when new evidence arose?	The reasoning for including it in US law is discussed in many modern cases. To use one example (Green v The United States 355 US 184 (1957)) > _"The State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, thereby subjecting him to em...	[ "Finally, the Court had held in \"Forman v. United States\" that a new trial following a reversal—no matter the ground—never constitutes double jeopardy: \"It is elementary in our law that a person can be tried a second time for an offense when his prior conviction for that same offense has been set aside by his ap...
why do certain songs turn us on?	You do know that being "turned on" means that you're horny, right?	[ "\"Turn Up the Music\" is an uptempo electronic dance, and house song, which last for a duration of three minutes and forty-nine seconds. Instrumentation is provided by pulsating beats, synthesizers and percussion. \"Rap-Up\" described the production as \"synth-heavy\". The song opens with Brown singing \"Turn up t...
Is the Periodic Table the best design we have or just the most common?	The periodic table is organized using the number of protons an element has (which determines the element) and also by electron orbitals. This is why elements in the same group (column) behave chemically similar. If you take a basic college level chemistry course, most of what you learn are the properties of matter us...	[ "The periodic table of mathematical shapes is popular name given to a project to classify Fano varieties. The project was thought up by Professor Alessio Corti, from the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London. It aims to categorise all three-, four- and five-dimensional shapes into a single table, ana...
how do movie productions supply "era specific" props?	Typically they outsource. They don't own all the props, other companies make/collect and loan them to them for the production, or they hire another company for set construction if it needs to be specific. Some bigger companies have in house prop designers too for really specific and important props. It depends on the s...	[ "It exhibits original props, costumes and sets from feature films. There is also a section on how films are made, including information on all the major studios. Original pieces include costumes and props from British films, 'Little Nellie' from \"You Only Live Twice\", an original Superman meteor, the Rank Organis...
Why does a magnet fall slowly through a conductive pipe?	Wikipedia: An eddy current (also known as Foucault current) is an electrical phenomenon discovered by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1851. It is caused when a conductor is exposed to a changing magnetic field due to relative motion of the field source and conductor; or due to variations of the field with time. This ...	[ "Currents bound inside the atoms of strong magnets can create counter-rotating currents in a copper or aluminum pipe. This is shown by dropping the magnet through the pipe. The descent of the magnet inside the pipe is observably slower than when dropped outside the pipe.\n", "As the magnet moves with respect to t...
how does right and left handiness work? and why can't i do things as well with my off hand?	Increased motor dexterity isn't free, it takes up real estate in the brain. And since you, and in particular your primitive ancestors, seldom needed to have it both hands, you are better off using that brain space just once, and letting the rest be used for other things. It is kind of like having an umbrella. One um...	[ "Also, it is not uncommon that people preferring to use the right hand prefer to use the left leg, e.g. when using a shovel, kicking a ball, or operating control pedals. In many cases, this may be because they are disposed for left-handedness but have been trained for right-handedness. In the sport of cricket, some...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.