question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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what do cows have in their body/diet that produces "magic" mushrooms from their waste? | It has literally nothing to do with cows. Cow poop is just fertilizer. Magic mushrooms are a species of mushroom. Only specific species of mushroom produce the chemicals known as psilocybin and psilocin. Which are responsible for the magic part of magic mushrooms. The cow poop has nothing to do with it, it just helps t... | [
"Ruminant animals, particularly cows and sheep, contain bacteria in their gastrointestinal systems that help to break down plant material. Some of these microorganisms use the acetate from the plant material to produce methane, and because these bacteria live in the stomachs and intestines of ruminants, whenever th... |
cogito ergo sum | If you are able to question whether you physically exist, then you do. If you didn't really exist, you couldn't be able to question your existence. | [
"The phrase \"cogito, ergo sum\" is not used in Descartes's \"Meditations on First Philosophy\" but the term \"the \"cogito\"\" is used to refer to an argument from it. In the \"Meditations\", Descartes phrases the conclusion of the argument as \"that the proposition, \"I am, I exist,\" is necessarily true whenever... |
For hundreds of years, lands stretching from Algeria to Bengal were under the rule of Turks. If Turks dominated for so long, why are Turkic languages, outside of Central Asia, limited to Anatolia and Azerbaijan? | For most of history, Turkic languages were not looked upon as prestigious or worthwhile. Most (perhaps all, though there may be exceptions) of the states of Turkic origin in the eastern half of the Muslim world used Persian as the language of court and intellectual life, for instance the Mughals and Safavids. In the Ot... | [
"Turks arrived from Central Asia and settled in the Anatolian basin in around the 11th century through the conquest of Seljuk Turks, mixing with the peoples of Anatolia. The region then began to transform from a predominately Greek Christian one to a Turkish Muslim society. Thereafter, the Ottoman Empire came to ru... |
how does reading help you write better? | It exposes you to new words, new turn of phrases, and expands your horizons. A good writer has to be a voracious reader. | [
"According to some writing theorists, reading for pleasure provides a more effective way of mastering the art of writing than does a formal study of writing, language, grammar, and vocabulary.\"Studies that sought to improve writing by providing reading experiences in place of grammar study or additional writing pr... |
how bad was body odor back in the day? roman times, ancient china, colonial americas, medieval europe, egypt, etc. if we truly could time travel, would the funky bo be a deal breaker for some ages? | [The Dirt on Clean](_URL_0_) addresses this question first and very simply. A great read. To summarize:
*Of course* there was body odor. But expectations for cleanliness were different (and have changed over the centuries, and are still changing). The most plausible explanation for the *stank* is that we simply don't ... | [
"For centuries, bathing was far from common in many parts of the world. Heavy colognes were used to mask body odor. Not until the late nineteenth century did chemists develop products that prevented the formation of body odors. Early antiperspirants included creams, solids, pads, dabbers, roll-ons, and powders. Tod... |
hydrogen peroxide for first aid. how does it work and what is the mechanism of action? | Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) decomposes into oxygen and water, creating highly reactive **free radical oxygen** species (Oxygen with an unpaired electron) in the process. These radicals oxidize organic compounds, effectively destroying cells. **Reactive Oxygen species**, compounds capable of forming Oxygen radicals, are a ... | [
"Another origin of hydrogen peroxide is the degradation of adenosine monophosphate which yields hypoxanthine. Hypoxanthine is then oxidatively catabolized first to xanthine and then to uric acid, and the reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme xanthine oxidase:\n",
"In basic solution, hydrogen peroxide can reduce a v... |
why are things that humans make considered artificial, and not natural? for example, a beaver builds a dam, and its considered natural. humans make food with materials that they made from natural resources but it would be considered artificial. | This is because of their very definitions. Artificial does not mean fake, it means the item was something that was made by human skill. As opposed to natural which means something that was created by nature - Eg. created by something other than human skill.
This is a case of words having different interpreted meaning... | [
"The beaver works as a keystone species in an ecosystem by creating wetlands that are used by many other species. Next to humans, no other extant animal appears to do more to shape its landscape. Beavers potentially even affect climate change.\n",
"Clive Dilnot goes further and clarifies that the artificial is by... |
Why can't human cells use anaerobic processes to create ATP when in an atmosphere of no oxygen? | The majority of ATP resulting from respiration is generated through a process called "oxidative phosphorylation" which involves using an electron transport chain to generate a gradient of hydrogen ions outside of the inner mitochondrial membrane and then allowing it to flow back in through a molecule of ATP synthase wh... | [
"Aerobic metabolism is up to 15 times more efficient than anaerobic metabolism (which yields 2 molecules ATP per 1 molecule glucose). However some anaerobic organisms, such as methanogens are able to continue with anaerobic respiration, yielding more ATP by using other inorganic molecules (not oxygen) as final elec... |
for a human, when is the period of most rapid development in the brain? | Not counting *in utero* growth of the brain, yes, the brain develops most rapidly in the first 3 years of life.
Development doesn't mean growth in mass alone, however. It also means refining neural connections, which also means that some connections are lost in a process called [neural pruning](_URL_0_). This is neces... | [
"WAVE cites the research finding that between birth and age 3 the synapses (or connections) in the infant brain multiply 20 fold, and develop 85% of the human brain (and that 95% of the brain is developed by age 4). This speed of development causes the brain to be acutely sensitive to environmental experience durin... |
Black holes. If they did not exist, could galaxies sustain themselves? | Nope. The black hole in the middle of the Milky Way (Sagittarius A\*) represents 0.04% of the mass of the galaxy, whereas the Sun (which the planets orbit) represents 99.8 - 99.9% the mass of the solar system.
So if Sag A\* were to vanish tomorrow, the Galaxy would remain together, and the orbits of the vast majority ... | [
"It is thought that supermassive black holes like these do not form immediately from the singular collapse of a cluster of stars. Instead they may begin life as smaller, stellar-sized black holes and grow larger by the accretion of matter, or even of other black holes.\n",
"They saw that the clouds of gas before ... |
Can a winter storm have an "eye"? | Yes. Both low and high pressure systems, in fact, can have well-defined centers of circulation around which winds swirl (in the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise for low pressure systems and clockwise for high, if I haven't totally lost my mind). This is not a peculiar feature of tropical cyclones (hurricanes).
A... | [
"For storms with a clear eye, detection of the eye is as simple as looking at pictures from a weather satellite. However, for storms with a filled eye, or an eye completely covered by the central dense overcast, other detection methods must be used. Observations from ships and Hurricane Hunters can pinpoint an eye ... |
how do they get fizzy drinks inside cans? | Have the can with the top not on, pour in fizzy drink, immediately seal it with the top. Very little space left inside the can to let the fizz escape from the liquid. The small amount that does pressurizes the can, ensuring more cannot escape. | [
"Canned drinks were factory-sealed and required a special opener tool in order to consume the contents. Cans were typically formed as cylinders, having a flat top and bottom. They required a can piercer, colloquially known as a \"church key\", that latched onto the top rim for leverage; lifting the handle would for... |
How come Glow in the Dark objects seem really bright, but don't illuminate the area around them that well? | The other answers are a bit too vague or incorrect. Answering this and the follow up question.
Just for information, the unit for the total "amount" of visible light emitted by a source per square meter is called a 'lux'. One lux is roughly one candle's light (per square foot).
According to [Wikipedia](_URL_1_), a mo... | [
"Some examples of glow-in-the-dark materials do not glow by phosphorescence. For example, glow sticks glow due to a chemiluminescent process which is commonly mistaken for phosphorescence. In chemiluminescence, an excited state is created via a chemical reaction. The light emission tracks the kinetic progress of th... |
What the hell happened to me last night!? INCEPTION (for real) details inside... | Short answer: [sleep paralysis](_URL_0_). Your brain woke up from your dream, but your brain and muscles were still disconnected. This disconnection (termed atonia) is necessary to keep you from physically acting out your dream, but sometimes it can hang around a little too long. | [
"She tells the story that one night she was awoken by a hard blow to her body. The pain ran down her spinal column and she bent backwards in an arch. She felt an immense, warm caress massaging her entire body. She went back to sleep, but then experienced a second, even stronger, blow. She felt as if her heart had s... |
how does an external battery pack continue to charge my phone when bot my phone and the pack have the same level of charge. | Say you have a 2 liter bottle and a 20 oz bottle, although both may be at 50 percent capacity, the 2 liter still has more in it. | [
"The charging protocol (how much voltage or current for how long, and what to do when charging is complete, for instance) depends on the size and type of the battery being charged. Some battery types have high tolerance for overcharging (i.e., continued charging after the battery has been fully charged) and can be ... |
why do humans like/dislike different food if we're all hardwired to only want energy? | While our bodies (on a cellular level) view food as energy and nothing more, our brains view it as much more. The chemicals in, let's say a chocolate bar, come into contact with the receptors on your tongue and send a signal to your brain and your brain perceives the chocolate bar as tasty or yucky. Taste is just a per... | [
"Eventually, compulsive overeaters continuously think about food. Food is the main thing on their minds; when deprived of it, the person may engage in actions similar to those of hard drug addicts, including an uncontrollable search for the substance, and in devious behaviour, such as stealing or lying.\n",
"Comm... |
Is a vaccine still effective if the person is already infected with the virus? | Yes - a good example is the [rabies post-exposure prophylaxis treatment](_URL_1_),which combines a vaccine with anti-rabies antibodies. Research has also shown that [vaccination in the early stages of chicken pox can resolve the infection](_URL_0_). | [
"Some people cannot be fully protected from vaccine-preventable diseases by direct vaccination. These are often people with weak immune systems, who are more likely to get seriously ill. Their risk of infection can be significantly reduced if those who are most likely to infect them get the appropriate vaccines.\n"... |
Are all particles in the electromagnetic spectrum photons? | The electromagnetic spectrum is simply the range of frequency of photons. | [
"Most particles have unique combinations of signals left in each detector sub-system, allowing different particles to be identified. For example, an electron is charged and interacts electromagnetically, so it is tracked by the tracker and then deposits all of its energy in the (electromagnetic) calorimeter. By con... |
how can an original gameboy that has been sitting in storage for 6 years still have a full battery charge, while my old cell phone's battery is dead after a couple months? | Phones use lithium batteries. Lithium batteries are terrible. AA batteries last 30+ years without being touched | [
"Nintendo claims the battery lasts a maximum of 10 hours under ideal conditions on a full four-hour charge. Battery life is affected by multiple factors including speaker volume, use of one or both screens, use of wireless connectivity, and use of backlight, which can be turned on or off in selected games such as \... |
Why did low-intensity conflict become the norm? | Part of this is a sort of history bias: it's a lot easier to talk about the battle of Cumae than it is to talk about That Time Those Guys Killed Some People And Took Off. And probably a historian bias, too. There's often a literal class war aspect when, say, your solidly upper middle class hoplites are being supported ... | [
"A low-intensity conflict (LIC) is a military conflict, usually localised, between two or more state or non-state groups which is below the intensity of conventional war. It involves the state's use of military forces applied selectively and with restraint to enforce compliance with its policies or objectives. The ... |
How does pH affect enzymes? | It will vary. For example, changes in pH can trigger denaturation of the protein; in other cases, though, there might be a deleterious effect on its function. Hydrolysis of peptide bonds without the aid of an enzyme is rather slow at neutral pH, although can be tremendously accelerated in very acidic or very basic con... | [
"BULLET::::- Effects of pH: Most enzymes are sensitive to pH and have specific ranges of activity. All have an optimum pH. The pH can stop enzyme activity by denaturating (altering) the three-dimensional shape of the enzyme by breaking ionic, and hydrogen bonds. Most enzymes function between a pH of 6 and 8; howeve... |
How do neurons know not to send the signal in the wrong direction? | So the way neurons propagate signals is through a chain of opening and closing of ion channels. The reason it doesn't typically go backwards is because the previously opened ion channels temporarily inactivate and prevent opening again for a brief period of time. | [
"In some areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus, neurons are arranged in such a way that they all receive synaptic inputs in the same area. Because these neurons are in the same orientation, the extracellular signals from the generation of action potentials don't cancel out, but rather add up to give a signal ... |
how is bill cosby just going around the country performing stand up? if 34 people accused someone of rape in any other profession, they would not be performing their normal job. | Because they are nothing more than accusations. If there is a point where there is law enforcement involvement, then his movements might be restricted. | [
"On October 16, 2014, at the Philadelphia club The Trocadero, Buress was recorded doing an extended routine about existing rape allegations against comedian Bill Cosby. Buress addressed Cosby's legacy of \"talk[ing] down\" to young black men about their style of dress and lifestyle. Buress criticized the actor's pu... |
How long did it take for knowledge of the "discovery" of America to make it to the Muslim world? Did any Muslim leaders send subsequent expeditions to the New World? | Though there weren't expeditions, the Muslim world still heavily influenced the New World. One of the chief ways that the Muslim world interacted with the American colonies was via piracy from the north coast of Africa (Morocco and the Ottoman regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers). Documented attacks on New World ... | [
"The many voyages of discovery did not pay for themselves, and there was no funding for pure science in the Renaissance. Columbus had planned for Queen Isabella to set up trading posts with the cities of the Far East made famous by Marco Polo, but whose Silk Road and eastern maritime routes had been blockaded to he... |
It seems everybody has a gluten intolerance... Is this a legitimate issue? Or overblown? | I should start off by saying this is not my area of research. However, as a scientist and someone with known gluten problems (likely celiac disease, but thats a different story for a different subreddit), I spend a fair bit of time reading the primary literature about this topic. I'll try to keep my answer to what I ... | [
"In some cases, people can significantly improve with a low FODMAPs diet in addition to gluten withdrawal and/or a GFD with a low content of preservatives and additives. Furthermore, associated to gluten sensitivity, NCGS people may often present IgE-mediated allergies to one or more foods and it is estimated that ... |
if someone 'objects' during a wedding ceremony, what happens next? | Everyone gasps at the shocking breach of decorum, and the objector is not invited to future weddings.
There is no legal consequence, and the priest/judge/rabbi has no requirement to listen to the disruptor. A wedding can proceed after any objection or other outburst, provided that the bride and groom and officiator s... | [
"On the marriage day, the tradition is the \"marriage-by-capture\" ceremony in which the bride is forcibly removed from her hut and presented to her groom. During the ceremony, the bride has her head covered and is carried and then laid down in the hut while the groom is led to the hut and sits beside the door. The... |
How long after Hitler's suicide did the Allies know the cause of death? | The Russians found out pretty quickly what happened because they reached Berlin first. However, they ended up capturing most of the witnesses who were present in Hitler's bunker and kept the whole thing a secret (or ambiguous at the least).
At the time, the rest of the Allies had several theories about Hitler's where... | [
"Hitler's death: On 30 April, as the Battle of Nuremberg and the Battle of Hamburg ended with American and British occupation, in addition to the Battle of Berlin raging above him with the Soviets surrounding the city, along with his escape route cut off by the Americans, realizing that all was lost and not wishing... |
why we should shut down things like computers and gaming consoles instead of just unplugging them. | Like you're five? The same reason you brake a bike to a stop before you hop off. | [
"To shut down or power off a computer is to remove power from a computer's main components in a controlled way. After a computer is shut down, main components such as CPUs, RAM modules and hard disk drives are powered down, although some internal components, such as an internal clock, may retain power.\n",
"In Mi... |
if we can use the rectum for effectively absorbing suppositories, how come we don't get blood poisoning from all the bacteria and waste minerals in our faeces? | Our digestive tract has a pretty strong barrier (lots of IgA antibodies that act like a web to trap) that prevents bacteria from crossing into the blood. Bacteria (or viruses) have to pass either between or through epithelial cells in order to enter the blood. There are numerous immune cells present to prevent this fro... | [
"The use of suppositories is a way to bypass partially the portal vein: the upper 1/3 of the rectum is drained into the portal vein while the lower 2/3 are drained into the internal iliac vein that goes directly in the inferior vena cava (thus bypassing the liver).\n",
"Whole bowel irrigation is also used in cert... |
Are there any theories of a correlation between massive volcanic eruptions and a reversal of earth's magnetic field? | No. The mantle is an insulating region and so the magnetic field does not interact with it. Further to this any changes in the fluid flow in the outer core will not propagate through the mantle for millions of years (as this is the timescale for mantle convection, 50 million years if I remember right). So IF there was ... | [
"Studies of lava flows on Steens Mountain, Oregon, indicate that the magnetic field could have shifted at a rate of up to 6 degrees per day at some time in Earth's history, which significantly challenges the popular understanding of how the Earth's magnetic field works. This finding was later attributed to unusual ... |
on to catch a predator, what crime are those guys committing? | Lawyer here. The ~~current~~ former top comment regarding res ipsa loquitur in this thread is wrong. Going to copy/paste my response to it here as well, in hopes people see this and are not misled.
Res ipsa loquitur is a principle of tort law. This is not a concept used in criminal law; it is only used in determin... | [
"\"To Catch a Predator\" was a special series of reports, hosted by Chris Hansen, featuring hidden camera sting operations that bust potential sex offenders who meet children over the internet with the intent of luring them to meet in person and engaging in illegal sexual activity. The stings are conducted in partn... |
Why were there no Nuremburg-type trials for Confederate leaders after the American Civil War? | In was Lincoln's expressed wish that such tribunals not be held. During the River Queen conference that Lincoln held in March 1865 (this was on the steamer 'River Queen'), he told Gen. Grant, Gen. Sherman, and Admr. Porter his intentions for handling the peace negotiations. Lincoln wanted to start the work of reconcili... | [
"The prisoner exchange protocol broke down over the Confederacy's position on black prisoners-of-war. The Confederacy had passed a law stating that blacks captured in uniform would be tried as rebellious slave insurrectionists in civil courts—a capital offense with automatic sentence of death. In practice, USCT sol... |
If there were more/less than 24 hours in a day, would humans have adapted to need more/less sleep? | We can't say for sure because we still have such a rough idea of what sleep is actually for. We know there are harmful effects from sleep deprivation (there is a reason it is considered a form of torture) and all mammals have evolved to need sleep as far as we can tell. But the amount of sleep different animals require... | [
"Human sleep needs vary by age and amongst individuals; sleep is considered to be adequate when there is no daytime sleepiness or dysfunction. Moreover, self-reported sleep duration is only moderately correlated with actual sleep time as measured by actigraphy, and those affected with sleep state misperception may ... |
Prior to their presidency, have any Presidents of the United States ever been cited, arrested, or gone to jail? | Washington, Jefferson and Adams were tried and convicted of treason in absentia by the British.
Andrew Jackson was imprisoned by the British during the revolutionary war. He also publicly killed a man in an illegal duel, though he was never charged.
While president, Grant was cited 3 times and then arrested in a 4th... | [
"William Henry West (September 1842 – September 6, 1915) was an American soldier and police officer in Washington, DC said to have arrested United States President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. This is the only known record of a sitting US President being arrested.\n",
"The last time Congress arrested and detained a ... |
Do the the planets in the solar system have any effect on the planets near them (gravitational pull for example)? If any of the planets were destroyed somehow, would that have consequences for the rest of the solar system? | A little bit. Measurable but not with consequence for e.g. someone just looking into the sky. The [perihelion precession of Mercury](_URL_0_) is a famous test of general relativity, but 90% of it actually comes from the gravitational influence of other planets - the question was just where the remaining 10% come from.
... | [
"The incremental effect of gravitational perturbations between the planets causes the inner Solar System as a whole to behave chaotically over long time periods. This does not significantly affect the stability of the Solar System over intervals of a few million years or less, but over billions of years the orbits ... |
What is the distance to the horizon from the ISS? | Using the minimum altitude of the ISS, 330 km AMSL, and the radius of the Earth, 6,371 km, it can be worked out with simple geometry. The distance using these variables is about **2230 km**. The upper limit on the distance is about **2570 km**, corresponding to an altitude of 435 km.
Edit: and as /u/DeskFlyer points... | [
"The range starts at the launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and John F. Kennedy Space Center and extends eastward over the Atlantic Ocean to 90 degrees East longitude in the Indian Ocean, where it meets the Western Range.\n",
"BULLET::::- Major Robert M. White (USAF) piloted a North American X-15 to ... |
Is there any plant in the world that can induce a miscarriage? | There certainly are plants that have been used as abortifacients. The real issue is balancing abortive intent with full-on toxicity and potential for harm to the pregnant woman. These are extremely difficult to study in a controlled fashion as well, seeing as most "wisdom" comes from cultural knowledge in the pre-pharm... | [
"Miscarriage occurs in all animals that experience pregnancy, though in such contexts it is more commonly referred to as a \"spontaneous abortion\" (the two terms are synonymous). There are a variety of known risk factors in non-human animals. For example, in sheep, miscarriage may be caused by crowding through doo... |
Is how the bible is written now how books / text was written in that time? | Something that you should take into account is that the Bible contains many different forms of literature. Some of the Books contain prose narrative (Exodus or the Gospels for example) where others are poetry or songs (the Psalms) and therefore follow the style of those genres. Other books like Chronicles, Numbers, o... | [
"The books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the eleventh or tenth centuries BCE, whilst most of the other texts are somewhat later. They are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together.\n",
"The... |
A hypothetical question | Throwing a toaster into the ocean would short circuit the toaster, allowing current to flow from the hot wire to neutral or ground. Since electricity will travel along the path of least resistance, its unlikely that a person would be harmed by this. | [
"Hypotheticals are possible situations, statements or questions about something imaginary rather than something real. Hypotheticals deal with the concept of \"what if?\"'. Grammatically, the term is a noun formed from an adjective, and the word might be pluralized because it refers to the \"members\" of a \"class\"... |
What causes molecules/ atoms to be in constant motion? | Being above zero degrees kelvin. You can think of temperature as being an average of the kinetic energy of the molecules in a substance. As you probably already know, the more energy/heat you add to something the higher the temperature. If a molecule were lowered to zero degrees kelvin, theoretically, it would stop mov... | [
"Since the motions of the atoms in a molecule are determined by quantum mechanics, one must define \"motion\" in a quantum mechanical way. The overall (external) quantum mechanical motions translation and rotation hardly change the geometry of the molecule. (To some extent rotation influences the geometry via Corio... |
i understand "heat" but what creates "coldness"? what makes up the cold waves that i feel when i put my hand near an ice block? | The temperature of the ice block affects the air around it.
It cools the air immediately around it, which makes it more dense, and thus heavier, and it falls to ground. When it does this, it displaces other air.
Meanwhile, more hot air has taken the place of the cold air, which becomes cold and falls.
This creates a... | [
"According to the laws of thermodynamics, all particles of matter are in constant random motion as long as the temperature is above absolute zero. Thus the molecules and atoms which make up the human body are vibrating, colliding, and moving. This motion can be detected as temperature; higher temperatures, which re... |
why/how is a 24 mp full frame camera sensor better than a 26 mp aps-c camera sensor | A "full frame" sensor is the "full" size of a 35mm film frame while APS-C sensors are smaller, originally shrunk to make compact (film) cameras smaller.
Given that the pixel count of the sensors are almost the same, the individual sensor elements (think of them as pixels) themselves have to be bigger in the full frame... | [
"For example, Sony Alpha SLT-A58 has 20.1 megapixels on an APS-C sensor having 6.2 MP/cm since a compact camera like Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V has 20.4 megapixels on an 1/2.3\" sensor having 70 MP/cm. The professional camera has a lower PPI than a compact camera, because it has larger photodiodes due to having far ... |
What would be different about our solar system and Earth if we were located in the Eagle nebula or somewhere similar? | > I know that a nebula is a cloud of dust and gas and some are star-forming regions. I was wondering if we could survive as a species in a star-forming nebula
With active star formation comes active star death. In these areas, supernovae and pulsars could be close by, and dust clouds could exist, blocking light rays ... | [
"South of the Eagle Nebula on the border with Sagittarius is the eclipsing binary W Serpentis, whose primary is a white giant that is interacting with the secondary. The system has been found to contain an accretion disk, and was one of the first discovered Serpentids, which are eclipsing binaries containing except... |
What happens when opposite magnetic poles meet? | If you look at the magnetic force between the magnet and one of the iron filings, it will in general have a component in the radial direction, but it scales like 1/(distance)^(4). So it's very weak unless the dipoles are very close to each other. | [
"If a magnetic dipole is formed by taking a \"north pole\" and a \"south pole\", bringing them closer and closer together but keeping the product of magnetic pole-charge and distance constant, the limiting field is\n",
"If a magnetic dipole is formed by taking a \"north pole\" and a \"south pole\", bringing them ... |
Are there any easily-understood evidences for macroevolution that even the strongest detractors could understand? | One of the common and often purposefully repeated misconceptions you'll get is a differentiation between macro and micro evolution, there isn't a difference here except the length of time involved. The processes are exactly the same between a bacteria becoming drug resistant and the split between Humans and other prima... | [
"There are many problems of overdetermination. First, overdetermination is problematic in particular from the viewpoint of a standard counterfactual understanding of causation, according to which an event is the cause of another event if and only if the latter would not have occurred, had the former not occurred. I... |
why is there no warning light for when your headlights or breaklights are no longer functioning? | In some newer car models, if your indicator is clicking faster than usual, you have a bulb out. Not really an answer to your question but a small tip. | [
"In some instances the stoplight traffic detector will not change the light for small vehicles such as motorcycles, scooters and particularly bicycles, because the induction loop sensor fails to detect the small vehicle. A vehicle with sufficient mass of metal such as steel interacts with the sensor's magnetic fiel... |
what exactly is happening in your muscles as you get older and sudden vigorous activity makes you much more sore the following day, and the soreness lasts longer. | Muscles are tissues. They rip and get repaired. Your cells could only replicate so many times before the process becomes less effective. (Aging)
As for being sore, the lactic acid your muscles are not being cleared out fast enough as it used to. As you grow older, these processes to regenerate and to repair get slower... | [
"Delayed onset muscle soreness is pain or discomfort that may be felt one to three days after exercising and generally subsides two to three days later. Once thought to be caused by lactic acid build-up, a more recent theory is that it is caused by tiny tears in the muscle fibers caused by eccentric contraction, or... |
the point of high fashion | Short answer ? It's art.
What's the point in making sculptures, or painting ? It's pretty, and it's a way to express yourself. Some express with clothes. | [
"Fashion may be used to promote a cause, such as to promote healthy behavior, to raise money for a cancer cure, or to raise money for local charities such as the Juvenile Protective Association or a children's hospice.\n",
"In the eyes of Simmel, fashion is a form of social relationship that allows those who wish... |
How historically accurate is the film 300? | In its essence, *300* is a retelling of Herodotos' account of the battle of Thermopylai (480 BC), meaning that its basic narrative is as historically accurate as we could hope for. However, there are at least 3 layers of historical inaccuracy piled on top of that, which makes the result ever so slightly less reliable.
... | [
"The director of \"300\", Zack Snyder, stated in an MTV interview that \"the events are 90 percent accurate. It's just in the visualization that it's crazy… I've shown this movie to world-class historians who have said it's amazing. They can't believe it's as accurate as it is.\" Nevertheless, he also said the film... |
how do radar and sonar work? | Think of spitting down a hole. The longer it takes to hear the splat the deeper the hole is. Sonar is an advanced use of this method, it sends out sound wave and waits to hear them "hit" something. Then it calculates how far the object is by how long it took to hear the sound. | [
"Radar is a radiolocation method used to locate and track aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, ships, vehicles, and also to map weather patterns and terrain. A radar set consists of a transmitter and receiver. The transmitter emits a narrow beam of radio waves which is swept around the surrounding space. When the beam s... |
how do snipers make kill shots over 2 miles away? hiw do they correct for all the variables that come into play with a shot that long? | An incredible amount of training, a shitload of experience, and not a small amount of luck, in some cases.
At that distance, there are so many variables to take into account that they make computer programs to help get the math right. If you look really closely at the movie *Shooter*, in the scene in the beginning whe... | [
"The modern method of long-distance sniping (shots over ) requires intense training and practice. A sniper must have the ability to accurately estimate the various factors that influence a bullet's trajectory and point of impact, such as the shooter's distance from the target, wind direction, wind speed, air densit... |
networking: what it is, how to do it, and how to use it. | Keep in mind that many, many people get their jobs or find out about job opportunities from friends, acquaintances and co-workers (rather than things like job postings). One of the goals of networking is to ensure that when someone hears about a job opportunity that might be good for you, they think of you and act upon... | [
"Networking is a socioeconomic business activity by which businesspeople and entrepreneurs meet to form business relationships and to recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities, share information and seek potential partners for ventures.\n",
"BULLET::::- Networking is a term that defines the transforma... |
What is the slowest recorded speed of sound? | The more loose the gas is, the slower the speed at which sound travels in it. What this means is that as the gas loosens, the speed will gradually decrease until the vibrations in the gas will cease to match our definition of sound (i.e. oscillations of pressure in matter sufficiently strong to be heard).
While this d... | [
"The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. At , the speed of sound in air is about , or a kilometre in or a mile in . It depends strongly on temperature, but also varies by several metres per second, depending on which gases exist in the m... |
why do preachers talk the way they do? | It likely comes from the days before microphones. Short sentences, projected voice, and this instilled a style of speaking which has continued due to the organic nature of it. | [
"Open-air preachers throughout history have often noted that preaching to large crowds often causes preachers to be abused in certain ways, typically by having objects thrown at them such as rotting vegetables or unsanitary liquids of many varieties.\n",
"A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on... |
why can't scientists send an empty, satellite controlled submarine with cameras into the bermuda triangle and discover it's mystery? also, how far are we from discovering it's secrets? | There is no mystery to the Bermuda Triangle. It has virtually average rates of ship disappearances and plane crashes as any other populated region. The idea that things magically vanish there is a myth. | [
"The vessel has been described as a \"spy submarine\" that could possibly be used to tap into or sever underwater telecommunications cables. Russia has released little information about it officially and there are few photographs of it; the clearest is believed to have been taken inadvertently during a \"Top Gear R... |
how do sheep herding dogs, know how to herd? | Instincts. A pack of wolves will know that a tight group is better to catch than a loose group. | [
"A sheepdog trial (also herding event, stock dog trial or simply dog trial) is a competitive dog sport in which herding dogs move sheep around a field, fences, gates, or enclosures as directed by their handlers. Such events are particularly associated with hill farming areas, where sheep range widely on largely unf... |
How do we know there's a Baryon asymmetry? | The only observed ways that matter is created is when an antimatter-matter pair of particles is created from energetic bosons. This process will never make more of one of the types of matter. Statistics has nothing to do with it in this process.
Since we know that there is more matter than antimatter, there must be s... | [
"Charmed baryons are formed in high-energy particle collisions, such as those produced by particle accelerators. The general method to find them is to detect their decay products, identify what particles they are, and measure their momenta. If all the decay products are found and measured correctly, then the mass o... |
How were the modern provinces of South Africa chosen? | The [Commission on the Demarcation/Delimitation of States, Provinces and Regions collected a lot of information in 1993](_URL_0_) in its purview of trying to create viable, internally consistent, and functional governments. They collected a huge amount of information on who lived where, which cities were primate in ce... | [
"This article lists the administrators of former South African provinces. It encompasses the period from 1910 to 1994, when South Africa was divided into four provinces: Cape Province, Natal Province, Orange Free State Province and Transvaal Province. Before the provinces were created, the area was divided into fou... |
in the us, how is flag burning legal when it's clearly stated against the law? | Flag burning is protected first amendment speech. The supreme court case Texas v Johnson stated that any laws prohibiting flag burning are unconstitutional. | [
"This proposed amendment was intended to give Congress the right to enact statutes criminalizing the burning or other desecration of the United States flag in a public protest. Proponents of legislation to proscribe flag burning argue that burning the flag is a very offensive gesture that deserves to be outlawed. O... |
how is it possible for someone to survive riding in the wheel well of a jet at 36,000 feet for several hours? | Like most of the stories going, he entered a staye of hibernation. This is possible. Ive heard stories of people being trapped underwater in subfreezing temps but what happens is the body keeps only the vitals alive. Ive heard of this with infants who fall into pools occasionally they survive with no damage. I woul... | [
"Such an accomplishment can be grueling and physically exhausting. It calls for a driver to race for over seven hours in two entirely different disciplines of racing cars. Along with a 430-mile airplane flight and severe time constraints, the driver has time for only a brief rest aboard the aircraft where they norm... |
How does a stomach bug function and what effect does the virus itself have on the human body? | Viruses need a host, but viruses also need to spread. Most digestive viruses only have a few days before they either kill you, or your immune system wipes out the virus. So they need to spend those few days engineering a way to get copies of themselves back outside of you.
In the case of the most common digestive viru... | [
"Many stomach diseases are associated with infection. Historically, it was widely believed that the highly acidic environment of the stomach would keep the stomach immune from infection. However, a large number of studies have indicated that most cases of stomach ulcers, gastritis, and stomach cancer are caused by ... |
why are modern depictions of the future often dystopic, compared to the bright and positive predictions in the past? | Science Fiction is less of a prediction mechanism and more of a window into what people are currently thinking. In early sci-fi, the goal was to exploit a possible future where people became better as individuals and as a species. Currently, sci-fi represents a general pessimism about the human condition.
Not everyt... | [
"In the Presentism Section, Gilbert addresses the second major shortcoming of imagination which is that it is biased toward the present. People project their current circumstance and values onto the future, but the future is often different enough from the present as to make such projections misleading. One phenome... |
What are good books on the history of the exploration of the Antarctic? | So, while this not strictly a specific answer to your question, a good place to look for stuff like this (imo) is the [*Isis Bibliography of the History of Science*](_URL_0_), which has been made into a database for public use! Luckily for you, last year a anthology of scientific writing on the Antarctic was put togeth... | [
"BULLET::::- Howgego, Raymond John. \"Encyclopedia of exploration, 1850 to 1940: The oceans, islands and polar regions; A comprehensive reference guide to the history and literature of exploration, travel and colonization in the oceans, the islands, New Zealand and the polar regions from 1850 to the early decades o... |
why does my device's light stay on for a second after i turn off the power? | Capacitors, they're an electrical component that effectively act like tiny batteries.
They're usually used to help "smooth" the electric current, so that if it dips for a bit the capacitor can discharge and help bridge the gap. | [
"To indicate that a power outage has occurred, some models of emergency lights can only be shut off manually after they have been activated, even if the main building power has come back on. The system will stay lit until the reset button on the side of the unit is pressed.\n",
"BULLET::::- Sometimes, the display... |
in this age of sophisticated online tracking and surveillance, how are criminals able to transfer money through multiple offshore accounts, and be able to withdraw it, without the trail being followed and their identity discovered? | Most often, by using an account of a business whose owners are secret, and/or in a country where banking privacy laws prohibit revealing who owns an account without a ton of paperwork.
Sometimes, by withdrawing the money in cash, on using it to buy something untraceable, like gold bars. | [
"When assets do go through the financial system, tracing from one account to the next will usually leave an audit trail that can be exploited by financial investigators. As stolen assets are often layered through several different accounts and corporate vehicles, investigators will often benefit from outside inform... |
Please recommend a book about the life in Nazi concentration camps, especially from psychological and sociological perspective | [Survivng Auschwitz](_URL_0_) should be close to what you are looking for. It is written as a memoir by a survivor and details much of his experience, day to day life, his thoughts, the culture of the camp, and the different mentalities of the prisoners.
[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich](_URL_1_) is set in the... | [
"According to Ruth Klueger this book offers a new direction in German literature, that of fiction by a second hand participant in the camps, whether Gulag or Internment or Concentration or Extermination.\n",
"In 1945 he wrote the book \"Men noen kom fra det\" to document his experiences in Nazi concentration camp... |
soap vs rest vs json and why one is better than the other. | OK, first of all they are three slightly different things.
REST describes a method for creating APIs or informational services. A RESTful API or service allows clients to make requests to it in the form "verb object" where "object" is a unique identifier for the thing the client wants action on. Each request is separa... | [
"Unlike SOAP-based Web services, there is no \"official\" standard for RESTful Web APIs. This is because REST is an architectural style, while SOAP is a protocol. REST is not a standard in itself, but RESTful implementations make use of standards, such as HTTP, URI, JSON, and XML. Many developers also describe thei... |
how are nielsen homes selected for nielsen ratings? if i watch a show and don't have a nielsen box, am i helping that show's ratings at all? | I was a Nielsen family for two years awhile back. There was a doohickey they hooked to my tv and TiVo. I had to press a button very 30ish minutes to prove I was really watching. Plus they paid me money every few months!
As I recall, my house was randomly selected. | [
"Unless otherwise, the main source of Nielsen ratings is the newspaper \"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\". According to that main source, ratings of 1988-89 were based on 90.4 million households that have at least one television.\n",
"Unless otherwise, the main source of Nielsen ratings is the newspaper \"Pittsburgh Pos... |
I have read that the conflicts of the Hundred Years War put both England and France into very considerable debt, who paid for this? | So your question has several moving parts. Let me answer each one separately.
> How were these wars financed and how was this money used?
Where did the initial funds/resources come from?
These two questions are actually very interlinked, and you're actually asking an incredibly interesting question right now, so ... | [
"Spain had nearly doubled her military spending during the war, from 454 million reales in 1778 to over 700 million in 1779. Spain more easily disposed of her debts unlike her French ally, partially due to the massive increase in silver mining in her American colonies; production increased approximately 600% in Mex... |
how do animals like ants and birds instinctually know how to build their dwellings/homes? | They have inherited the knowledge in their genes, but they learn through trial and error, at least that is what we assume. There's quite a lot we don't know about ourselves and nature, but that's why we keep studying.
They're really fascinating animals. We had a bird in our garden that made a square nest, for no reas... | [
"Complex nests are built by many ant species, but other species are nomadic and do not build permanent structures. Ants may form subterranean nests or build them on trees. These nests may be found in the ground, under stones or logs, inside logs, hollow stems, or even acorns. The materials used for construction inc... |
how inheritances work and why people covet them so much? | How they work: Relatives leave you money in their will and when they die you inherit that money
Why they're coveted: Free money | [
"Hard inheritance states that characteristics of an organism's offspring (passed on through DNA) will not be affected by the actions that the parental organism performs during its lifetime. For example: a medieval blacksmith who uses only his right arm to forge steel will not sire a son with a stronger right arm th... |
Are there different "kinds" of mathematics/physics in the universe? | Values of constants are chosen arbitrarily. For example, one second has the length it has, because we consider it being a typical length in ordinary human-scale processes (for example the interval between heartbeats is about one second) or one meter is a "typical" length (you step at about one meter at a time or your t... | [
"Various fields of physics are crucial to studying the universe. Interdisciplinary studies involve the fields of quantum mechanics, particle physics, plasma physics, condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, optics, and nuclear physics.\n",
"Physics covers a wide range of phenomena, from elementary particl... |
Are Hydrogen Bonds and Van der Waal's Forces related in anyway? If so, how? | I think the short answer would be: not really. Hydrogen bonds are a particular strong form of dipole-dipole intermolecular interactions. The only real relationship in that both VDWF and HB are intermolecular forces. | [
"Most generally, the hydrogen bond can be viewed as a metric-dependent electrostatic scalar field between two or more intermolecular bonds. This is slightly different from the intramolecular bound states of, for example, covalent or ionic bonds; however, hydrogen bonding is generally still a bound state phenomenon,... |
Do New York City's skyscrapers have any noticeable effects on the city's weather? | Cities affect the local climate. Generally, they are warmer due to materials (concrete, asphalt, etc.) and the lack of evapotranspiration due to lack of vegetation. They are generally less windy (because of tall buildings) and develop street canyons. Due to particulate matter, cities might receive less sunlight; howeve... | [
"Skyscrapers, particularly those in New York, attracted considerable comment, much of it negative. On his return to New York, writer Henry James condemned the buildings in \"The American Scene\" as simply \"giants of the mere market\", \"mercenary monsters\" doomed to be torn down in turn as other, even larger, bui... |
how many vitamins do you really need to stay healthy? | Biochemically, a vitamin is a co-factor for an enzyme in a reaction somewhere in your body. That means they are not consumed by whatever chemical reaction they are helping with. That means you don't technically need a steady supply in your diet so long as you have stores somewhere in your body. The wrinkle in that is t... | [
"As with the minerals discussed above, some vitamins are recognized as essential nutrients, necessary in the diet for good health. (Vitamin D is the exception: it can alternatively be synthesized in the skin, in the presence of UVB radiation.) Certain vitamin-like compounds that are recommended in the diet, such as... |
vacuums, not the machine, the actual process of a vacuum and is the vacuum of space a true vacuum? | A vacuum is simply an area where no 'stuff' (matter) is present. Certain parts of space are vacuums because there is nothing there. No stuff. No matter.
Things do not simply fly out into vacuums like a vacuum cleaner pulls things in. What is happening if you have seen things fly out into space (on a movie perhaps... | [
"Vacuum is space devoid of matter. The word stems from the Latin adjective \"vacuus\" for \"vacant\" or \"void\". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often discuss ideal test results that would occur in a \"perfect\" vacuum, which they ... |
Are Coptic Christians in Egypt descended from Ancient Egyptians or Greco-Romans? Where do they come from? | I can't speak for their genetics, but the Coptic language is a direct descendant of Ancient Egyptian, albeit written in a Greek script. Since the Copts did not originate as an ethnoreligious group but rather morphed into one over time, it's most likely that the Coptic community is descended from early Christians of bot... | [
"Today, members of the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Orthodox Church constitute the majority of the Egyptian Christian population. Mainly through emigration and partly through European, American, and other missionary work and conversions, the Egyptian Christian community now also includes other Christian denominations su... |
when suicidal, how can we be determined to kill ourselves, but our body does everything it can to stop us? | We can perform many actions voluntarily. Suicide can lead to one overriding any mental barriers which would caused a fear of death in the person, that is, the reason behind the suicide may be so strong that it would not cause a person to feel danger while orchestrating or perpetuating the act itself.
The brain chemist... | [
"While the group was against suicide, they defined \"suicide\" in their own context to mean \"to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered\" and believed their \"human\" bodies were only vessels meant to help them on their journey. Suicide, therefore, would be \"not\" allowing their consciousness to leav... |
Hi, my name is jack, I'm 14 years old, and I love Baseball. I would like to know when a pitcher throws a baseball, how does it curve? | Hi Jack, a baseball can curve for a number of reasons.
For a knuckleball, the ball moves around as it approaches the catcher because it isn't spinning. Spinning helps stabilize the ball, and prevents small turbulent effects from affecting its flightpath. A non-spinning ball isn't perfectly spherical, so as the air com... | [
"In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigne... |
How did religion factor in to Genghis Khan's expansionism? | You might find [this](_URL_0_) thread an interesting read. It's a discussion on the religious tolerance of the Mongols. | [
"BULLET::::- Religion: Mongols were highly tolerant of most religions during the early Mongol Empire, and typically sponsored several at the same time. At the time of Genghis Khan in the 13th century, virtually every religion had found converts, from Buddhism to Christianity and Manicheanism to Islam. To avoid stri... |
why do cpus and gpus perform better when cool | There is no such thing as a zero resistance conductor outside of superconductors. Resistance means the electrons are slowed down as they move through the wire or component, almost like friction, and that generates heat. The more electricity you try to pass through a thing, the more heat is generated. At some point, the... | [
"However, more recent studies by Google have shown that it's not the heat as much as it's the system utilization (which causes more heat because of inefficient design of CPU's and other IC's) that causes more errors. The cnet.com article cites a paper written by Bianca Schroeder (University of Toronto), Eduardo Pin... |
With today's anniversary of the fall of Saigon, I cant help but ask, what did the U.S. do wrong in Vietnam? | > Was the original premise of U.S. involvement wrong? Primarily that policy makers interpreted a civil war as theater of a wider anti-communist struggle.
Whether or not the original premise of U.S. involvement was wrong is a question which will give you a myriad of answers from historians. In fact, whether or not th... | [
"While the operation itself was a success, the images of the evacuation symbolized the wastefulness and ultimate futility of American involvement in Vietnam. President Ford later called it \"a sad and tragic period in America's history\" but argued that \"you couldn't help but be very proud of those pilots and othe... |
Why doesn't it rain in Mediterranean climates in the summer months around the world? | If you look at a map of [the Mediterranean climates around the world](_URL_0_), you'll see that they share a set of common features:
* They're all located around 30° latitude,
* They're all located on the east side of large oceans.
This is not a coincidence.
Uneven heating of the Earth's surface results in a [globa... | [
"A Mediterranean climate or dry summer climate is characterized by dry summers and mild, wet winters. The climate receives its name from the Mediterranean Basin, where this climate type is most common. Mediterranean climate zones are typically located along the western sides of continents, between roughly 30 and 45... |
In the new Kingdoms that emerged after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, when did the distinction between Barbarian and Roman disappear? | You might be interested by [this](_URL_0_) old post, which, though it is centered on Aquitaine, tries to address the same question for Gaul. I can (try to) answer follow-up questions if you have any. | [
"After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic kingdoms, often referred to as \"barbarian kingdoms\" founded during its collapse continued to grow and prosper. Their beginnings, together with the end of the Western Roman Empire, mark the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The practices of... |
"it's the amps which kill you not volts." but, wouldn't amps be always constant for given volt, as r=v/i. (where r of human body is same) | It depends on the power source. Some power sources limit the amount of current that can be drawn independently of the supplied voltage.
For example, many AC-DC adapters will limit the current output to a certain amperage like 1.0 A independent of what the voltage output is. Similarly, some circuit breakers are designe... | [
"In electric power transmission and distribution, volt-ampere reactive (var) is a unit of measurement of reactive power. Reactive power exists in an AC circuit when the current and voltage are not in phase. The term \"var\" was proposed by the Romanian electrical engineer Constantin Budeanu and introduced in 1930 b... |
hockey lines and a coach's strategy on when to change. | The first line is generally the best and has the superstar players on it. In most cases there are four lines played in a game with the fourth line only being played sometimes.
Usually on the second line there is one good player and the rest are average. The third line has average players; they are basically out th... | [
"The hockey stop allows the skater to change directions quickly, keeping up with play. It takes practice to effectively stop facing both ways, most skaters are stronger stopping one direction over another (i.e. stop right as opposed to left).\n",
"One of the most important strategies for a team is their \"foreche... |
what means if a song gets certified platinum by riaa? | It is an official recognition of the number of units sold.
It means the work has sold a million copies.
There is also gold which marks half a million sales and multi platinum which marks 2 million sales. | [
"From 2004 through July 2006, the certification level was 100,000 downloads for Gold and 200,000 for Platinum. When the RIAA changed the certification standards to match retail distribution in August 2006, all Platinum and Multi-Platinum awards for a digital release were withdrawn. Gold certifications, however, wer... |
Why does the warp of a CD not match its spin? | I'm guessing it's a frame rate effect.
The warp could well be of a high frequency vibration which is at a higher frequency than the frame rate of the camera.
They have in effect under-sampled the event. You need to have a frame rate of at least twice as high as the frequency you are trying to film. | [
"Irregularly shaped, non-rotationally-symmetric discs with an offset center of mass may also cause damaging vibration if played in computer CD drives, which can operate at a much higher rotational velocity than stand-alone audio CD players. Some irregularly shaped discs work with tray loading CD drives if they incl... |
why are all negative temperatures hotter than the planck temperature? | So here's the thing:
Temperature is caused by how much energy atoms have. Atoms like to move, but since they're so small you generally don't see it. The more they move the hotter they are.
If they reach a certain temperature they break atomic bonda and change phase. There are many phases of matter but the four ones y... | [
"Temperature is loosely interpreted as the average kinetic energy of the system's particles. The existence of negative temperature, let alone negative temperature representing \"hotter\" systems than positive temperature, would seem paradoxical in this interpretation. The paradox is resolved by considering the more... |
why do hotter things cool down quicker? | The molecules of the cooling surface transfer heat to the surrounding air molecules by colliding with them. When they collide, energy is transferred - the fast moving molecule (the hot one) slows down (e.g, it gets cooler); and the slow moving molecule (the cool one) speeds up (e.g, it gets hotter)
The greater the dif... | [
"Significant physical exertion in hot conditions can generate heat beyond the ability to cool, because, in addition to the heat, humidity of the environment may reduce the efficiency of the body's normal cooling mechanisms. Human heat-loss mechanisms are limited primarily to sweating (which dissipates heat by evapo... |
why do we need e-mails to register an account on another website | In case you forget your password, then they can send an activation code for you in case you request a password reset. Or to sell your information to a third party. | [
"The ability to associate Outlook.com accounts with mobile phones or other email addresses was initially advertised as an optional feature. However, an update in 2013 required many users to associate their accounts before the website would allow them to log in - a refusal which could be sidestepped by using an app,... |
why does tensing your legs help you reach orgasm? | Best ELI5 Answer from the previous thread -
An orgasm is, partly, an uncontrolled muscular spasm. By tensing up your legs, you're tensing up other things, and by other things, I mean your ass, since it's hard not to when you're tensing your thighs.
When you tense up your ass, you also tense up everything in the ... | [
"Orgasm, or sexual climax, is the sudden discharge of accumulated sexual tension during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic muscular contractions in the pelvic region characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure. Women commonly find it difficult to experience orgasms during vaginal intercourse. Ma... |
why do house lizards stay stationary for long periods of time? what's going through their head? | Reptiles are cold blooded which means they can't produce their own body heat. In turn, they rely on external heat sources like the sun or a rock heated by the sun, to keep up their body temp. If they start to get cold, they'll become more sluggish and begin looking for a place to warm up.
Like most wild animals, any... | [
"Slender glass lizards are diurnal, so they are quite often seen, but they can move fast (with a serpentine movement like that of a snake). If captured, a specimen may thrash vigorously, causing part of the tail to fall off in one or more pieces. While a potential predator is distracted by the wiggling tail, the li... |
What was the etiquette for riding horses in cities? | You may want to specify a bit more of what size of "city", and what era. Also what culture (japanese will differ quite a bit from nordic, probably). | [
"Prior to the appearance of the automobile, horses, walking and streetcars were the major modes of transportation within cities. Horses require a large amount of care, and were therefore kept in public facilities that were usually far from residences. The wealthy could afford to keep horses for private use, hence t... |
Does the salt put down on roads affect the salinity of surrounding water courses? | Yes it does. Here is a good explanation.
_URL_0_ | [
"Road salt ends up in fresh-water bodies and could harm aquatic plants and animals by disrupting their osmoregulation ability. The omnipresence of salt poses a problem in any coastal coating application, as trapped salts cause great problems in adhesion. Naval authorities and ship builders monitor the salt concentr... |
Carbon-dioxide is important for tree growth, but how much more important is it than the nutrients in the soil? | So, carbon dioxide is used to create glucose, which the plant uses as an energy source and to create starch, but just like you can't survive on glucose alone, neither can a plant. Plants need those nutrients to build structures that are made up of more than just carbon and oxygen, for example it needs Magnesium to make... | [
"Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affects plants in a variety of ways. Elevated CO increases crop yields and growth through an increase in photosynthetic rate, and it also decreases water loss as a result of stomatal closing The growth response is greatest in C plants, C plants ,are also enhanced but to a lesser... |
pharmaceutical terminology, purposes/functions, brand names etc. | Brand name drugs are drugs that are produced under a brand name given to the drug by the inventor. Lipitor, Valium, Xanax, etc. are examples of brand names.
When a drug first hits the market, it is protected by patents, so only the inventor can make it. After the patents run out, other manufacturers like Mylan, Aspen ... | [
"BULLET::::- Specialty Pharmaceuticals products include branded drugs as well as specialty generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Products include biologics, medicinal opioids, synthetic controlled substances, and acetominophen.\n",
"Drug nomenclature is the systematic naming of drugs, especially ... |
why do people's eyes get small/ squinty when they smoke weed? | Decreased blood pressure. In the eyes, a dilation of the ocular capillaries occurs, encouraging the blood flow through the eyes and effectively causing red eyes. | [
"Smoker's melanosis is seen with the naked eye as a brown to black pigmentation of the oral tissue i.e. the gums, cheeks or palate as well as in larynx. It is most often seen in the lower labial gingiva of tobacco users. Most easily it is found in Caucasians, due to their lack of a genetically caused melanin pigmen... |
If light is made of alternating electric and magnetic fields, why can neither and electric nor a magnetic field interact with light? | Electric and magnetic fields can only apply a force to charged particles, and as photons have no net charge, they will not be deflected by EM fields.
Electric fields and magnetic fields [obey the superposition principle](_URL_1_) and thus the fields DO add vectorally.
You can create light easier than this. Radio wav... | [
"Since light is an oscillation it is not affected by traveling through static electric or magnetic fields in a linear medium such as a vacuum. However, in nonlinear media, such as some crystals, interactions can occur between light and static electric and magnetic fields — these interactions include the Faraday eff... |
Misconceptions on Historical Warfare | I'm thinking your question will get more attention if you place it in a particular period. "Historical" is a big time period. ;-)
I'm curious about this as well, in particular how communication took place over large distances. I assume using flags and horns.
| [
"These beliefs did not become widely shared because they offered the only accurate interpretation of wartime events. In every respect, the war was much more complicated than they suggest. In recent years, historians have argued persuasively against almost every popular cliché of World War I. It has been pointed out... |
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