question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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how do materials in an alloy create a substance that has different properties to the base materials, even though no chemical reaction takes place between the materials? | Steel is a good example. It's made of iron and carbon. Iron atoms are relatively large compared to carbon atoms. If all you have are iron atoms, they pack together, but there are small spaces between the atoms. If you add carbon to the mix, the smaller carbon atoms can fit into the spaces, making the alloy much sturdie... | [
"In the context of composite metals is an alloy. A blend of a metal with one or more metallic or nonmetallic materials is an alloy. The components of an alloy do not combine chemically but, rather, are very finely mixed. An alloy might be homogeneous or might contain small particles of components that can be viewed... |
why do cheap cars look cheap and expensive cars look expensive? | No, there's no agreement between the carmakers, and it's not a cost-based thing. If Honda wanted, they *could* make an accord look crazy and sell it for the same price, but here's the reason: it wouldn't sell.
You have to look at the market for each car company to see why the cars look like they do. Especially betwe... | [
"There are many examples of inferior goods. A number of economists have suggested that shopping at large discount chains such as Walmart and rent-to-own establishments vastly represent a large percentage of goods referred to as \"inferior\". Cheaper cars are examples of the inferior goods. Consumers will generally ... |
how come the north pole is considered the "top of the world" and the south pole, the bottom? | The first map makers and globe artists lived in the northern hemisphere. They opted to depict their land on top. | [
"The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This point is distinct from Earth's North Magnetic Pole. The South Pole is the other point where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surfa... |
What does it mean for worker bees to be "female"? | They are female, because even the workers can lay eggs, but just male eggs, because the sperm is missing.
Every female bee is the same (So every worker is a queen), the workers are just "castrated" throught the queens pheromones and the diet in the larva-stadium. | [
"A worker bee is any female (eusocial) bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee; under most circumstances, this is correlated to an increase in certain non-reproductive activities relative to a queen, as well. Worker bees occur in many bumble bee Bombus species other than honey bees, ... |
new yorks hate for encrypted smartphones | The state government wants to ban them to make it easier for the NSA (and similar agencies) to intercept texts. Any claims of terrorism prevention are excuses to distract from the real reason. | [
"After it was revealed that the US government was able to intercept encrypted communications from smartphones, Mißfelder declared that the situation was not one for politicians to engage in, but instead \"is a topic between the American government, the NSA and the producers (of the phones)\".\n",
"Tim Cook respon... |
the process by which co2 turns into tree | CO2 is made from carbon and oxygen.
Although there are many, many steps in between, the basic chemistry of what's happening is that the tree uses energy from sunlight to split CO2 into carbon and oxygen. Oxygen is released into the air. Carbon is combined with nutrients from the ground to make a tree.
Seriously over-... | [
"Trees sequester carbon through photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide and water into molecular dioxygen (O) and plant organic matter, such as carbohydrates (e.g., cellulose). Hence, forests that grow in area or density and thus increase in organic biomass will reduce atmospheric CO levels. (Carbon is released a... |
1 Besides the theory, What are the practicalities in the processes of shotgun sequencing? | > When it comes to sequencing all the segments, to find the crossovers, the primers used to initiate the sequencing, are they universal primers?
Yes. You can see the basic process in [this picture](_URL_1_). After you break up the DNA into smaller pieces, each piece has adapters ligated to each end. Primers are d... | [
"Shotgun sequencing is a sequencing method designed for analysis of DNA sequences longer than 1000 base pairs, up to and including entire chromosomes. It is named by analogy with the rapidly expanding, quasi-random firing pattern of a shotgun. Since gel electrophoresis sequencing can only be used for fairly short s... |
why do you always see things about break throughs in medical science (aids, cancer, etc.) but hear almost nothing about it being practically applied? | Because people like to talk about things too early. Then the thing that could potentially be a magic breakthrough gets tested further and it turns out that it's either unsafe, impractical, doesn't work, or some mix of those. Or maybe it does work, but it has to go through multiple years of refining and testing and by t... | [
"A concept that was once accepted by the mainstream scientific community may become fringe science because of a later evaluation of previous research. For example, focal infection theory, which held that focal infections of the tonsils or teeth are a primary cause of systemic disease, was once considered to be medi... |
why do we have to buy domain names from companies instead of just claiming it ourselves for free? | Back in the day, before everyone and his uncle wanted a domain name, before the world wide web, before google, you *could* just ask for a domain name and get it for free. Who did you ask? The National Science Foundation, of all things.
When domains started getting more popular, the National Science Foundation got tir... | [
"While the ACPA contemplated the purchase of domain names for resale to trademark owners, it did not contemplate the more modern practice of domaining. Domaining is the business of registering a domain name and parking it or placing pay-per-click ads on it. Domainers rely on type-in traffic, which is when Internet ... |
whatever happened to the baby boomers bust we were told was going to destroy our economy? | They've only just begun to reach retirement age (those born in 1945-1948). When the majority are retired and pulling social security, this will be a more noticeable issue. | [
"In 2010 \"What Did the Baby Boomers Ever Do For Us?\" was published by Biteback. The book claims that the baby boomer generation inherited the good years, and pulled the ladder up after them. \"Blair Inc: The Man Behind The Mask\", co-written with David Hencke and Nick Kochan, was published in March 2015.\n",
"G... |
Do eukaryotic genes without introns exist? | This is more tangential than eukaryotic genes that have evolved for millions of years without introns, but I don't have any scholarly resources for that situation.
However, a class of microscopic animals called bdelloid rotifers has been discovered to have some amazing properties. An interesting property of bdelloids ... | [
"These authors were able to predict that the distinctions between the prokaryote and the eukaryote were so profound that the prokaryote to eukaryote evolution was not tenable, and that both had different origins. However, other than the speculations that the precellular RNA genes must have had introns, they did not... |
Can a metal detector detect a higher amount of iron in our blood? | The answer to your question is yes, but not from food intake. There is a disorder called Hemochromatosis which results in a higher than normal iron content in the body. A normal person has ~4 grams of iron in their body, while someone suffering from Hemochromatosis might have up to 50 grams in their body. These extr... | [
"65% of the iron in the body is bound up in hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells. About 4% is bound up in myoglobin molecules. Around 30% of the iron in the body is stored as ferritin or hemosiderin in the spleen, the bone marrow and the liver. Small amounts of iron can be found in other molecules in cells throu... |
What is the history of gun ownership in America? How did things change over the 20th century? | This is a pretty controversial subject, and studies on it aren't helped [by a lack of hard data before the 1970s and 1980s.](_URL_0_?)
In general, however, **the number of guns has gone up, while the number of gun owners has gone down.** Fewer people are owning more guns.
We can look at [Gallup's long-term series of... | [
"American attitudes on gun ownership date back to the American Revolutionary War, and find an origin also in the hunting/sporting ethos, and the militia/frontier ethos that draw from the country's early history.\n",
"Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture is a discredited 2000 book by historian Mic... |
what is cloud mining? | Cryptocurrency 'mining' is using computer power to perform work that helps run the cryptocurrency. To reward people for doing this work, a small percentage of the time work will result in a worker being given some of that currency. Trying to make money this way is called "mining."
Cloud mining is like cloud computing.... | [
"Cloud Mining is the process of bitcoin mining utilizing a remote datacenter with shared processing power. This type of cloud mining enables users to mine bitcoins or alternative cryptocurrencies without managing the hardware. The mining rigs are housed and maintained in a facility owned by mining company and the c... |
why do they tell us to save water when we actually use the same water over and over, just purified? | Actually, in very few locations you use the same water over and over again.
In most places, water is gathered from rivers, or underground, and after being used is purified sufficiently to be dumped back in those rivers.
Besides, even if the water is recycled, the recycling infrastructure is limited and costs money. | [
"Purified water has many uses, largely in the production of medications, in science and engineering laboratories and industries, and is produced in a range of purities. It can be produced on site for immediate use or purchased in containers. Purified water in colloquial English can also refer to water which has bee... |
why reddit auto-downvotes? | It is to stop people from using bots to up vote their own posts. What it does specifically is stops them from knowing if their vote has been ignored or not.
If they had a bot, and up-voted a post, and the post number stayed the same. Then it would be obvious that the bot was ignored and then they could work towards ci... | [
"Autocomplete can have an adverse effect on individuals and businesses when negative search terms are suggested when a search takes place. Autocomplete has now become a part of reputation management as companies linked to negative search terms such as scam, complaints and fraud seek to alter the results. Google in ... |
How did ideas of masculinity evolve in Victorian Britain? | I don't believe I can answer this question fully, but I can certainly address one aspect of it.
There was a growing fear of degeneration during the Victorian Era, and this fear went hand in hand with the idea that men were becoming weaker, or more effeminate.
That idea then also contributed to the fear of the 'New Wo... | [
"The study of Victorian masculinity is based on the assumption that \"the construction of male consciousness must be seen as historically specific.\" As a result, men increasingly formed secret societies, such as the Masons and the Oddfellows. The Victorians saw manliness as good, a form of control over maleness, w... |
Did the Vikings refer to themselves as Vikings or did that name come later? | That depends on who your reffering to as vikings. the people who lived in scandinavia called people who was out raiding and pirating for vikings or that they where out doing viking. Meaning that viking was more of a verb than something you would call others. | [
"Various theories have been offered that the word \"viking\" may be derived from this place name, meaning \"a person from Viken\". According to this theory, originally the word \"viking\" simply described persons from this area, and that it is only in the last few centuries that it has taken on the broader sense of... |
Which time period did drinking tavern/inns become a thing in Europe as depicted in fantasy stories such as LOTR? | * [Medieval Pubs: Ireland](_URL_2_) by /u/gothwalk
* [I'm a peasant visiting a 14th century alehouse. How would I be charged for my drinks and how easily could I skip the bill?](_URL_0_) by /u/sunagainstgold
* [What wrong ideas about medieval Europe might one get from popular works of "medieval fantasy"?](_URL_1_) by... | [
"BULLET::::- \"The Eighteenth-century English Inn: a transient \"Golden Age\" \" in B. Kümin & B.A. Tlusty (Eds.) (2002) \"The World of the Tavern: Public Houses in Early Modern Europe\", Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 205-226.\n",
"A Night of Serious Drinking (1938) is an allegorical novel by the French surrealist writ... |
Since when do pies exist? | you may want to xpost this over at /r/askfoodhistorians | [
"Piggot (1983) states that PIE contains words for technologies that make their first appearance in the archaeological record in the Late Neolithic, in some cases bordering on the early Bronze Age, some belonging to the oldest layers of PIE. The lexicon includes words relating to agriculture (dated to 7500 BC), stoc... |
why did languages that developed independantly like japanese, romance languages, and hindi all base the names of the days of the week off the planets, and in the exact same order? | This is a pretty complicated question, because it spans language and geography during a time where historical records are difficult to trace. However, to get the feel for it, you can see the [Japanese explanation here](_URL_0_). In short: they didn't **independently** come up with the same scheme; they adopted it from ... | [
"Albanian adopted the Latin terms for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, adopted translations of the Latin terms for Sunday and Monday, and kept native terms for Thursday and Friday. Other languages adopted the week together with the Latin (Romance) names for the days of the week in the colonial period. Some construc... |
Can fish live (or at least breathe) in liquids that are not water? For example milk | No. Fish can’t even live in water that has the wrong amount of salt or dissolved oxygen in it. Putting a fish in a liquid other than the correct water would be like putting a human in the Venus atmosphere. Sure it’s “air” but the concentration of oxygen, nitrogen, CO2, etc are all wrong. Every animal, especially fish, ... | [
"Freshwater fish differ physiologically from salt water fish in several respects. Their gills must be able to diffuse dissolved gasses while keeping the salts in the body fluids inside. Their scales reduce water diffusion through the skin: freshwater fish that have lost too many scales will die. They also have well... |
As Germany's military situation deteriotated, why was there never a popular uprising against Hitler? | Well, the answer to that question is rather multifaceted and also still debated in scholarship. To simplify it a bit, here are some factors scholarship of the topic agrees on that they played a role:
* The potential political leaders for such an uprising were dead, exiled or imprisoned
Germany did experience Nazi ru... | [
"Improvised protests also occurred if rarely in Nazi Germany, and represent a form of resistance not wholly researched, Sybil Milton wrote already in 1984. Hitler and National Socialism’s perceived dependence on the mass mobilization of his people, the “racial” Germans, along with the belief that Germany had lost W... |
why do airlines charge less for flights out of small cities (stopping over in a major hub) and more just from that major city? | It has to do with competition. A flight from city A to city B to city C is not competing with flights from city B to city C. It’s competing with A-D-C with different stopovers and A-C nonstop. If one airline dominates airport B (which is the case for many large US airports; just not the few largest like NY’s and LA... | [
"Some destination cities lie relatively far from the airports that low-cost airlines use to save costs. Examples of this are Hahn, Weeze and Girona airports—which low-cost airlines advertise as the destinations for Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and Barcelona, respectively—even though these airports are 50 to 90 kilometres... |
what is the differencies between motherboards? | Okay. So practicality aside, since of course you could just use the motherboard that fits your needs instead of being the most decked out board ever. That is a given and should always be considered when building a PC.
However, there are good reasons to buy the pricier boards. The biggest are Warranty, Value, and Qual... | [
"Motherboards are produced in a variety of sizes and shape called computer form factor, some of which are specific to individual computer manufacturers. However, the motherboards used in IBM-compatible systems are designed to fit various case sizes. , most desktop computer motherboards use the ATX standard form fac... |
How were the ends of trench lines terminated during WW1? | Here are some photos and info that might be what you're looking for.
- The Western Front trench system ended at "[Kilometer Zero](_URL_0_)" on the the Swiss border, with the trenches literally running up to a barbed wire border and a Swiss bunker overlooking them to ensure that Swiss neutrality was not violated.
- ... | [
"At the end of the Second World War, many bridges were blown up by the Wehrmacht. The reconstruction went on for several years until 1948, when the whole line had been fully restored to traffic. The Lissendorf–Jünkerath section was shut down and dismantled after 1945, with traffic directed over the parallel Eifel l... |
why do radios have such bad audio but phones often have perfect audio | radio uses analog transmissions which doesn't allow error correction or detection. Transmission errors will affect the signal.
Mobiles use digital transmission with high data rates. And even if a transmission error occurs you can figure out which bit is faulty and correct it.
You can correct digital signals becaus... | [
"Wireless speakers receive considerable criticism from high-end audiophiles because of the potential for RF interference with other signal sources, like cordless phones, as well as for the relatively low sound quality some models deliver. Despite the criticism, wireless speakers have gained popularity with consumer... |
given the sc ruling on roe v. wade, how is it ok for ok to make abortion illegal? | There is a purpose behind it that isn't just red meat for conservatives. The purpose behind a lot of these laws is to take them to the Supreme Court. They want to be sued so they can have a chance for the Supreme Court to rehear arguments on abortion.
It is also important to note that there are 2 abortion clinics lef... | [
"\"Roe v. Wade\" struck down state laws banning abortion in 1973. Over 20 have addressed abortion law in the United States, all of which upheld \"Roe v. Wade\". Since \"Roe\", abortion has been legal throughout the country, but states have placed varying regulations on it, from requiring parental involvement in a m... |
Is the TATA box transcribed? | No, the TATA box is typically a few dozen bp upstream of the gene. Only about 25% of human genes have a TATA sequence in their promoter regions.
Source: Molecular Biologist; wikipedia for that 25% statistic. Seriously though, the answer to this question is the third sentence of the wikipedia article. | [
"T-box refers to a group of transcription factors involved in embryonic limb and heart development. Every T-box protein has a relatively large DNA-binding domain, generally comprising about a third of the entire protein that is both necessary and sufficient for sequence-specific DNA binding. All members of the T-bo... |
multiple hairs out of the same follicle. | It's a weird, but not harmful, genetic disorder. Google "Pili multigemini" if you want more detail. | [
"Within the hair follicle, \"D. folliculorum\" is found above the sebaceous gland, positioned head downwards, with the end of abdomen often protruding from the hair follicle. Infested follicles usually contain 2–6 mites, but greater numbers can occur. \n",
"A follicle is a small spherical or vase-like group of ce... |
how is it possible that we still have a full head of hair everyday even though a handful (esp. females) can fall out while showering? | Your hair grows fast enough to replace it. Your hair is practically always growing. The strands you can see are growing longer, and the follicles you can't see are growing new strands. | [
"People have between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs on their head. The number of strands normally lost in a day varies but on average is 100. In order to maintain a normal volume, hair must be replaced at the same rate at which it is lost. The first signs of hair thinning that people will often notice are more hairs tha... |
why do videos freeze up when entering and exiting full-screen mode? | Some video players will attempt to raise or lower the resolution of the video if you enter or exit full screen mode, which can cause the video to freeze while the different resolution footage is requested from the server.
On a really slow machine the process of switching in and out of split screen can also be taxing b... | [
"Video can be seen in windowed mode or full screen mode; it is possible to switch the mode during the viewing of any video without reloading it because of the full-screen function of Adobe Systems Flash Player 9.\n",
"In many applications, a notable exception being YouTube, playing videos can be shrunk down into ... |
If I leave a mouthful of water in my mouth for a long period of time, will my mouth soak it up? | Yes, it will.
The pure water will cause the ions in your cells and extracellular fluid to diffuse into your oral cavity (where the pure water is) until the two concentrations equilibrate. Simultaneously, the water will move into your cells/extracellular space via osmosis. Eventually, the water will be absorbed by your... | [
"Before pouring the water, torturers often inserted an iron prong (known as the \"bostezo\") into a victim's mouth to keep it open, as well as a strip of linen (known as the \"toca\") on which the victim would choke and suffocate while swallowing the water.\n",
"Mouth infections spread from the root of the infect... |
Why does marijuana exist? | I don't know why this is getting down-voted. Perfectly legit question. | [
"Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a euphoriant and hallucinogenic drug prepared from the dried leaves of the strong-smelling plant \"Cannabis sativa\". Marijuana is a commonly used drug, legal in many states.\n",
"Marijuana is a preparation of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a recreational drug and as... |
When I put two tea bags in my cup of hot water, does this lead to a significant increase in concentration of tea or does one bag already saturate the water? | Essentially you will produce tea that is twice as strong, but there are some more complicated things happening.
Firstly, if we look at caffeine we can see that the solubility of caffeine in water at 20 degrees C is about 20 g/L, which is a lot considering a normal cup of tea has at most about 400 mg/L of caffeine (sol... | [
"BULLET::::- \"Humidity\" : The higher the humidity, the faster the tea will age. Liquid water accumulating on tea may accelerate the aging process but can also cause the growth of mold or make the flavor of the tea less desirable. 60–85% humidity is recommended. It is argued whether tea quality is adversely affect... |
what are the black dots that a human sees swimming in vision when suddenly standing up after lying down for a while (not sleeping) ? | Your retinas need an abundance of oxygen to function properly. When you are sitting for long periods of time and/or get up quickly your blood pressure lowers and it is harder for blood to reach your brain after standing up abruptly. Your brain then priorities itself over, in this case your retinas, the oxygen that coul... | [
"The young have a white background with round black spots and are continuously swimming head down. The adults have a body colouration with variances of grey and beige with darker blotches variable in size on the body. Small black spots cover the whole body.\n",
"These spots are often followed within a few days or... |
Is the United Nations more effective than the League of Nations in preventing wars? If so, what made it so? | Well, what's a "war?" I don't know that it is, depending on your definition. If we're purely talking large-scale, land-based conflicts, like WW1 and WW2, then yes, we've had fewer wars in the UN era than the brief League of Nations era.
However...
Perhaps more important than the structure or existence of the League... | [
"Wars have often been provoked by international incidents, and diplomatic efforts to prevent international incidents from growing into full-scale armed conflicts often have been unsuccessful. In the aftermath of the First World War, the League of Nations was established to help nations who were parties to an intern... |
Fascinated by stargazing/astronomy, worth investing in a telescope? | I answer questions like this all the time over at /r/astronomy
While you will almost always get better views outside of a major city/town, there are a lot of people who do amateur astronomy from their backyard. You'd be surprised just how much astronomy you can do, even in a light polluted area.
For starters, I'd w... | [
"The objective of the exhibition was to spread the knowledge regarding the astronomical observatories with large telescopes. In 1609, Galileo Galilei used telescope for astronomical purpose for the first time and since then the telescope observatories are becoming bigger and more advance. The exhibition provided in... |
how exactly is data electronically stored on tiny devices like micro sd cards? | Flash memory is stored in little devices called floating gate transistors.
Transistors are the little electrical switches that computers use to process things and amplifiers use to amplify signals. They have three terminals, a source, drain, and gate. The voltage applied to the gate controls whether current can flow... | [
"Recently, electronic devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players, cellular phones, etc., are required with larger capacity of storage to store data. A memory card, such as a Micro SD card, a MMC card, etc., which has larger capacity of storage and a small size, is extensively used to expend the capacity of storag... |
why, even though i used to be tiny and have a fast metabolism, did quitting prozac (antidepressants) cause me to gain nearly 50 pounds in two months? | It most likely affected your appetite causing you to eat more than you used to. Have you had any changes in how active you are? | [
"Preclinical and clinical research indicates that drugs inhibiting the reuptake of all three of these neurotransmitters can produce a more rapid onset of action and greater efficacy than traditional antidepressants.\n",
"The therapeutic effects of antidepressants typically do not continue once the course of medic... |
What do the small temperature fluctuations in the CMB map tell us about the conditions in the early universe? | I would start [here.](_URL_0_)
Also, if you are interested in how different cosmological parameters are affected by the power spectrum, [these movies](_URL_1_) are useful. | [
"The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported by observations of very low temperature absorption lines in gas clouds at high redshift. This prediction also implies that the amplitude of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies does not depend directly... |
On what points did Adlai Steveson criticize such a respected and popular public figure as Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election? | In 1952, Stevenson campaigned on the record of the Democratic Party since 1932. The argument was basically that it would be better to trust the legacy of the New Deal to the party that created it than to the GOP, which they called the "Party of Hoover." The problem with that strategy is that it was the same one from 19... | [
"Eisenhower retained his enormous personal popularity from his leading role in World War II, and huge crowds turned out to see him around the nation. His campaign slogan, \"I Like Ike,\" was one of the most popular in American history. Stevenson attracted the support of the young, emergent postwar intellectual clas... |
how bose noise cancellation work | It doesn't deflect the noise, it literally cancels the noise out by playing the opposite noise through the headphones.
Sound travels as a wave. If you play a sound 180 degrees out of phase (aka, the opposite sound), it effectively cancels out and creates silence. [This is a really simple graph showing the concept.](_U... | [
"Noise gating works well when the static is steady and either narrowly confined in frequency (e.g. hum from AC power) or well below the main signal level (15 dB minimum is desirable). In cases where the signal merges with the background static (for example, the brushed drum sounds in the Sun King track on the Beatl... |
Does the 9.81 meters per second per second acceleration rate decrease the father from the earth's surface you drop an object? | The gravitational acceleration is GM/R^(2), where M = mass of earth and R = distance from center of Earth. So the acceleration is smaller the farther you are from Earth. If you are close to the surface of Earth, you can just use *g* = 9.8 m/s^(2). To put this into perspective, the acceleration doesn't drop by 1% until ... | [
"In SI units this acceleration is measured in metres per second squared (in symbols, m/s or m·s) or equivalently in newtons per kilogram (N/kg or N·kg). Near Earth's surface, gravitational acceleration is approximately 9.8 m/s, which means that, ignoring the effects of air resistance, the speed of an object falling... |
if grocery stores are said to have a markup of 10-15%, how do they afford to run sales of up to 50% off? | Former Buyer here. There are a couple of things that make these sales worth while. First, the average profit may be 10-15%, but it varies widely by item. Items like Seasonal, Produce, Private label and HBA can make far More than 10-15%. Commodity items like milk and eggs make far less, and may be below cost when o... | [
"There are a few other \"cost-plus\" stores, however, that add about ten percent at checkout, using the lower shelf price to trick consumers into erroneous comparison shopping. At Food Depot and other smaller low-end chain stores like this, the shelf price may be $1.95, when the shopper will actually be charged $2.... |
how are musical prodigies able to play instruments with little or no instructions? | I wouldn't quite say they sit down and play perfectly without ever being exposed before... It's more like they have an extremely high aptitude for it and learn the patterns very very quickly. | [
"Embouchure is controlled by way of the instrument's mouths, not the player's mouth such that the player can sing along with the hydraulophone (i.e. a player can sing and play the instrument at the same time). Moreover, the instrument provides the unique capability of polyphonic embouchure, where a player can dynam... |
what's the difference between a low end motherboard and a high end motherboard? | Better solder
Better parts in general
Better/stronger material
Better heat/conductivity
| [
"The original AT motherboard, later known as \"Full AT\", is , which means it will not fit in \"mini desktop\" or \"minitower cases\". The board's size also means that it takes up space behind the drive bays, making installation of new drives more difficult. (In IBM's original heavy-gauge steel case, the two 5-1/4\... |
if all produce is grown in an open climate, why does some produce like broccoli need to be stored in a fridge, while some produce like avocados can be stored at room temperature? how come some can be stored either way also, like strawberries or grapes? | When fruits/vegetables are growing, they're part of a living plant. When you harvest them, they're no longer being supported by a living plant & you want to keep them in an environment that prolongs their freshness.
Look at a slab of meat. That used to be an animal. Animals are fine *until you kill them and cut t... | [
"City dwellers can also produce fresh home grown fruit and vegetables in pot gardens or miniature indoor greenhouses. Tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, peas, strawberries, and several types of herbs can all thrive in pots. Jim Merkel says that a person \"could sprout seeds. They are tasty, incredibly nutriti... |
Why do clothes unwrinkle when heat is applied? | PhD Chemist here, and: huh, I don't actually know. It's a good question though. In fairness, I'm not a polymer chemist.
To hazard a guess, when you iron or press clothes, you need the fibers in the weave to rearrange back to a layout that naturally keeps the material flat: all the heat is doing is softening the fibe... | [
"Novice users of modern laundry machines sometimes experience accidental shrinkage of garments, especially when applying heat. For wool garments, this is due to scales on the fibers, which heat and agitation cause to stick together. In cold countries they dry it with their fireplaces, others just have many or buy m... |
Which metal is stronger pure rather than alloyed? | OK. Basically you have to think about why alloying makes metals harden. In order for a metal to harden you need to make it harder for dislocations to move and for slip to occur (lets neglect twinning or other plasticity mechanisms for this discussion). For a metal to harden by alloying, yhere are two basic processes
... | [
"Most pure metals are either too soft, brittle or chemically reactive for practical use. Combining different ratios of metals as alloys modifies the properties of pure metals to produce desirable characteristics. The aim of making alloys is generally to make them less brittle, harder, resistant to corrosion, or hav... |
In WWII, what was the Allie's reaction to the Tiger II? Did they fear it more than the Tiger I? Was the knowledge of the tank as widespread as the Tiger I? | The first battle of King Tiger tanks was against British forces in France, on July 18th, 1944. Three King Tiger tanks were lost in this fight, including one that was stuck in a bomb crater, but it doesn't seem like the British took particular note of the new tank. A little while later, the Soviets encountered this tank... | [
"The battalion took the Tiger I into combat for the first time on 16 September 1942 south of Lake Ladoga near Leningrad. On 22 September, after crossing a causeway, a Tiger became bogged down in the mud, due to enemy fire the tank could not be recovered despite a number of attempts; the tank was destroyed on 25 Nov... |
What happened to Roman soldiers who were non-fatally injured, but who couldn't keep up with the pace of the legion when marching? | Not to discourage any further answers but you'll probably enjoy
[You are a Roman solider marching a long distance. Your leg breaks for whatever reason; what happens?](_URL_0_)
[How likely would a Roman soldier be to survive injury on the battlefield?](_URL_1_)
By /u/Celebreth | [
"This time the Romans did not stay behind their fortifications. They marched out of their camp, formed battle lines, and cast their pila (the Roman throwing spears) to good effect at the charging Ambrones, killing several warriors or rendering their shields useless. The legionaries then drew their swords and advanc... |
what would happen if every countries interest rate were to go to 0% | If every country's interest rates went to 0% *because all the countries were unable to get out of local recessions at higher interest rates*, then the entire world would be in a "liquidity trap": that is, a nasty kind of depression that can't be cured with monetary policy because people are so freaked out by the bad bu... | [
"Let us assume that the real interest rate is equal across two countries (the US and Germany for example) due to capital mobility, such that formula_8. Then substituting the approximate relationship above into the relative purchasing power parity formula results in the formal equation for the International Fisher e... |
Do animals have meal times? | I study monkeys, and yes there are diurnal patterns to foraging. Depending on the species there can be 2-3 feeding peaks per day - typically midmorning, before or after the midday rest, and then right before sleeping. It has to do with energy needed (fruit is eaten for quick sugar boosts, leaves for more protein) at ... | [
"Meals are often eaten whole, thus the size of their meals may depend on the size of the animals. Many of the small species feed mostly on insects, with some being small lizard experts. Many of the medium to large species will feed on whatever prey items they can catch. This includes eggs, fish (\"V. mertensi\"), b... |
Why weren't the Maori of New Zealand effected by Old World diseases unlike the native Americans and Australians? | They were.
"Introduced diseases were the major reason for the Māori population decrease. In the 1890s the Māori population had fallen to about 40% of its pre-contact size. Decline accelerated after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 and settlers began to arrive in greater numbers. This influx of people exposed ... | [
"At the same time, the Māori suffered high mortality rates from Eurasian infectious diseases, such as influenza, smallpox and measles, which killed an unknown number of Māori: estimates vary between ten and fifty per cent. The spread of epidemics resulted largely from the Māori lacking acquired immunity to the new ... |
Why did Baptist denominations become the most prevalent form of Christianity in the American South? | Churches acted as more than spiritual centers in early American cities up until the mid-19th Century. Simply put, different classes went to different churches to rub elbows together. Baptist and Methodist churches were where the lower and working classes went, and where you have a lot of lower and working class people,... | [
"Baptists seem to have first appeared in North America in the early 18th century. Through the influence of the Philadelphia Baptist Association (org. 1707), the influx of members to the churches from the Great Awakenings, and the union of the disparate Regular and Separate Baptists, by the early 19th century Baptis... |
How far can the light from a traditional keychain laser pointer reach? | The light keeps going forever unless absorbed or scattered by something. However, the intensity of the beam will decrease as it widens over distance. All lasers have beam divergence, so a simple keychain laser will become as wide as house a few miles away and very dim to your small eyes. | [
"To unlock the counter-rotating light beams, laser gyros either have independent light paths for the two directions (usually in fiber optic gyros), or the laser gyro is mounted on a piezo-electric dither motor that rapidly vibrates the laser ring back and forth about its input axis through the lock-in region to dec... |
throughout history, what led people to use different writing systems and alphabets? what influenced their choice of script and language? | they were invented independently. there is no real answer to "why it looks like this". | [
"It is thought that the first consonantal alphabetic writing appeared before 2000 BC, as a representation of language developed by Semitic tribes in the Sinai-peninsula (see History of the alphabet). Most other alphabets in the world today either descended from this one innovation, many via the Phoenician alphabet,... |
Does the dark side of the Moon overall receive more light than the light side? | By a very very small amount (about 0.5%), because when there is a new moon and the far side is illuminated, it is closer to the sun than when there is a full moon and the near side is illuminated. | [
"The phrase \"dark side of the Moon\" does not refer to \"dark\" as in the absence of light, but rather \"dark\" as in unknown: until humans were able to send spacecraft around the Moon, this area had never been seen. While many misconstrue this to think that the \"dark side\" receives little to no sunlight, in rea... |
Is it possible to burn ice? | Well, ice and ice cream aren't flammable, even at room temperature... So no. But if you froze a flammable substance, like alcohol (albeit, it only freezes at extremely low temperatures), could you burn the frozen alcohol? Yes you could. Temperature or physical properties have nothing to do with how flammable a substanc... | [
"Control of ice plants can be attempted by pulling out individual plants by hand, or with the use of earth-moving machinery such as a skid-steer or tractor, though it is necessary to remove buried stems, and mulch the soil to prevent re-establishment. For chemical control, glyphosate herbicides are used. Because of... |
On Earth we have salt water and fresh water - are there planets with other sorts of water? Are they possible? | Water is capable of dissolving a huge variety of compounds and elements, not to mention its ability to form mixtures with many liquids. I'd say yes, as the different waters you referred to just refer to how much and what kind of "stuff" is dissolved in it. Salt water has lots of salt, fresh water has less, acid rain ha... | [
"With oceanic water covering 71% of its surface, Earth is the only planet known to have stable bodies of liquid water on its surface, and liquid water is essential to all known life forms on Earth. The presence of water on the surface of Earth is a product of its atmospheric pressure and a stable orbit in the Sun's... |
is there light in a closed box? | The light would bounce around in on the walls in the box. Every time a bounce occurs, most of the light's energy is transferred to heat in the walls. And since the light moves at the speed of light, it will very quickly bounce many times, and all of its energy will be absorbed by the box in the form of heat. It will se... | [
"A soft box is a type of photographic lighting device, one of a number of photographic soft light devices. All the various soft light types create even and diffused light by transmitting light through some scattering material, or by reflecting light off a second surface to diffuse the light. The best known form of ... |
can we yawn while sleeping ? | While we are asleep our brain still has control over our muscles. Yawning is an involuntary reflex meaning, it just happens. Scientifically speaking yawning is one of the more challenging mammal traits we have. It provides no discernible benefits to the functioning of the body nor does it give any physiological benefit... | [
"Yawning is commonly associated with imminent sleep, but it seems to be a measure to maintain arousal when sleepy and so prevents sleep rather than inducing it. Yawning may be a cue that the body is tired and ready for sleep, but deliberate attempts to yawn may have the opposite effect of sleep induction.\n",
"Ya... |
Is it possible to create Prince Rupert's drops from other materials, and if so, what properties would they have? | From my elementary understanding of glass, I don't think so. Glass is dense, but still very fragile. Steel is dense, but is not as fragile as glass. The same shape might could be achieved with steel, but I don't think it would be under as much tension as glass, with tension being what makes the drops tail so unstable. | [
"Prince Rupert's drops are produced by dropping molten glass drops into cold water. The water rapidly cools and solidifies the glass from the outside inward. This thermal quenching may be described using a simplified model of a rapidly cooled sphere. Prince Rupert's drops have remained a scientific curiosity for ne... |
What makes a pulsar spin? | Conservation of angular momentum. The star that the pulsar formed from was already rotating, and when the core collapsed to such a tiny size (most neutron stars have radii of around 10 km) the rotation rate increased dramatically in order to conserve angular momentum.
In some cases, neutron stars may have a companion ... | [
"Pulsars are rotating neutron stars that have a magnetic field. A narrow beam of electromagnetic radiation is emitted from the poles of rotating pulsars. If the beam sweeps past the direction of the Solar System then the pulsar will produce a periodic pulse that can be detected from the Earth. The energy radiated b... |
why financial year starts at july instead of january? | The fiscal year is *not* always July to June. The US government's fiscal year, to pick an example, is October to September. Apple Inc. uses the same fiscal year, while Walmart uses February-January, and Exxon Mobile's is January-December.
Ignoring the matter of taxation, a company's fiscal year is *purely* arbitrary. ... | [
"The first month of the year was considered the modern August and was called Navasard by Armenians. Likewise start-of-year positions affected economic and cultural capitals adding difficulties to certain trading deals, especially ones done in wintertime. Therefore, after the end of the century XVI (approximately ar... |
During the cold war, how did the U.S. manage to place its own missiles in Turkey aimed at USSR? | Turkey joined NATO, since the Turkish government was worried about Soviet-backed communist instigators in their own nation (Greece joined NATO for the same reason).
The placement of [Jupiter](_URL_0_) mid-range nuclear missiles in Turkey, as well as Italy, was one of the main reasons why the USSR sought to place their... | [
"During the Cold War, the primary target of saturation attacks from the Soviet Naval Aviation, were the United States Navy aircraft carriers. In response the United States adopted the doctrine of attempting to destroy the Soviet missile aircraft before they could launch their missiles, this led to the Douglas F6D M... |
If you could get to the centre of a black hole, would you just freeze in time? | [Here](_URL_1_) is RobotRollCall's comment on that topic which you might enjoy reading.
Also, BH questions come up fairly regularly here, so there is a wealth of knowledge on the topic in the /r/AskScience [search archive](_URL_0_). | [
"The time reversal of a black hole would be a hypothetical object known as a white hole. From the outside they appear similar. While a black hole has a beginning and is inescapable, a white hole has an ending and cannot be entered. The forward light-cones of a white hole are directed outward; and its backward light... |
if anyone can access the "deep web" by downloading tor, how are illegal sites not getting shut down immediately? | Just because you can access a site on TOR does not mean you can find out where the server(s) hosting the site is. That's actually sort of the whole point of TOR: no one knows where anyone else is but everyone can still communicate.
If you can't find the server the site is hosted on, it's very hard to shut it down.
... | [
"There are risks to using circumvention software or other methods to bypass Internet censorship. In some countries, individuals that gain access to otherwise restricted content may be violating the law and if caught can be expelled, fired, jailed, or subject to other punishments and loss of access.\n",
"Operators... |
Light and atoms | Mostly. It can absorb and scatter some light, but if it's only a single atom thick, there's a pretty large probability the light will simply pass through it. Already gold leaf, the thinnest metal you'll easily produce, is fairly transparent, and it's on the order of thousands of atoms thick. (0.1 micrometers)
A layer ... | [
"Atoms emit and absorb light at characteristic energies. This produces \"emission lines\" in the spectrum of each atom. Emission can be spontaneous, as in light-emitting diodes, gas discharge lamps (such as neon lamps and neon signs, mercury-vapor lamps, etc.), and flames (light from the hot gas itself—so, for exam... |
Are there any estimates or statistics for how many Americans continued to drink alcohol during Prohibition? | Alcohol consumption fell, at first, to approximately 30 percent of its pre-Prohibition level; but, over the next several years, increased to about 60-70 percent of its proir-prohibition level. At least 10,000 people died from alcohol poisoning | [
"In 1930 the Prohibition Commissioner estimated that in 1919, the year before the Volstead Act became law, the average drinking American spent $17 per year on alcoholic beverages. By 1930, because enforcement diminished the supply, spending had increased to $35 per year (there was no inflation in this period). The ... |
Do animals seek a variety in their diet? | This largely depends on the animal! Some animals, like the leatherback turtle, whose diet consists solely of jellyfish, are specialists that lack variety in diet. Animals that DO eat several food sources generally do so because of two main reasons.
First off, many food sources are only seasonally available. Many anim... | [
"All of these animals are omnivores, yet still fall into special niches in terms of feeding behavior and preferred foods. Being omnivores gives these animals more food security in stressful times or makes possible living in less consistent environments.\n",
"While their dietary preferences have not been studied i... |
What happens to fish that die near the poles? | It is not actually freezing at the ocean floor, so they would not be preserved like you're thinking. The temperature down there is 0-3 °C (_URL_0_). Metabolism slows down at that temperature, but there are various micro- and macro-creatures there to break down the carcass. | [
"Heavy infestations in fish stocks can lead to large-scale losses. Major outbreaks in rainbow trout fisheries in the United Kingdom have resulted in total losses. Carp aquaculture in Russia has experienced infestations in which fish were coated in \"several hundred\" parasites before dying. Parasites infested 100% ... |
Trade in Bronze Age Mesopotamia | The best documented site for Bronze Age trade is Kanesh in Central Anatolia. This site has yielded approximately 12,000 tablets and 4,000 of them have been published, giving a great deal of detail on the Middle Bronze Age textile trade from the Mesopotamian city of Ashur an... | [
"Levantine sites previously showed evidence of trade links with Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia), Anatolia (Hattia, Hurria, Luwia and later the Hittites), Egypt and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age. Evidence at Ugarit shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merneptah (ruled 12... |
I understand 'shooting stars' are actually meteorites, but how fast would a star at say 4 lightyears have to travel to appear to be shooting? | Using trigonometry... much much much much much faster than the speed of light.
Let's say this "shooting star" covered half the night sky over the course of one minute, ok?
Let's also assume the star was 4 ly from Earth at the start and and the end of its trajectory, and that the trajectory is a straight line.
This a... | [
"RX J0822−4300, often referred to as a \"Cosmic Cannonball\", is a radio-quiet neutron star currently moving away from the center of the Puppis A supernova remnant at over 3 million miles per hour (5 400 000 km/h; 1500 km/s; ~0.5% the speed of light), making it one of the fastest moving stars ever found. Astronomer... |
what makes up the price of a gallon of gas? | The Department of Energy has a web site that lists the breakdown.
_URL_0_
In short, for Sept 2011, 63% of the price was crude oil, 14% refining, 12% distribution/marketing, and 11% taxes. | [
"The price of natural gas varies greatly depending on location and type of consumer. In 2007, a price of $7 per 1000 cubic feet () was typical in the United States. The typical caloric value of natural gas is roughly 1,000 BTU per cubic foot, depending on gas composition. This corresponds to around $7 per million B... |
why do cops weave back and forth across lanes on the freeway? | You said it. To slow down all of the traffic. I have seen them do it in San Diego, to slow traffic prior to an accident further down the road. Considering California traffic, it makes a lot of sense. Might be that there's a chase or something down the road and they want to keep people away. Or all the traffic is going ... | [
"Traffic exiting the freeway to the arterial road is provided with a long, relatively straight exit ramp, preventing most speed-related rollovers. These exit ramps are also frequently multi-laned to accommodate traffic turning left, right, or going straight ahead in some cases. Traffic signals are commonly installe... |
If you dissolve a compressed spring in an acid where does the energy go? | The energy is converted to heat.
Many people are stymied by this question because they assume that it's possible to hold a spring in one position while it is entirely dissolved away. This won't happen.
As the spring is slowly dissolved away, it won't be as well contained by whatever mechanism was once holding it... | [
"When the spring is stretched or compressed, kinetic energy of the mass gets converted into potential energy of the spring. By conservation of energy, assuming the datum is defined at the equilibrium position, when the spring reaches its maximal potential energy, the kinetic energy of the mass is zero. When the spr... |
What did Medieval soldiers do during sieges waiting for the fort/castle/city to starve? | I can give you an idea of what a crusader army was doing and you may be surprised by how much activity was necessary to keep a besieging army in the field, even when it was static.
**Food and water**: Although we might think of those trapped within a city as being desperate for food, it was often the other way round i... | [
"The most common practice of siege warfare was to lay siege and just wait for the surrender of the enemies inside or, quite commonly, to coerce someone inside to betray the fortification. During the medieval period, negotiations would frequently take place during the early part of the siege. An attacker – aware of ... |
Do scientists understand the internal anatomy of Dinosaurs or only the skeletal system? | The skeletal system gives strong hints about the internal anatomy, and in rare instances internal organs have been preserved to some extent.
Examples of fossilized organs include a [brain](_URL_3_), [liver and intestines](_URL_7_), and ["guts"](_URL_6_). [Here](_URL_0_) is an article briefly talking about how these... | [
"A variety of other skeletal features are shared by dinosaurs. However, because they are either common to other groups of archosaurs or were not present in all early dinosaurs, these features are not considered to be synapomorphies. For example, as diapsids, dinosaurs ancestrally had two pairs of temporal fenestrae... |
if you can see the sun and the moon at the same time, what happens on the other side of the world? | So, despite the artistic clichés, the Moon is up during the day just as much as it's up during the night. You can have the moon up all day, or you could have the moon underground all night.
In this situation, someone on the opposite side of the world would just have a moonless night, which is common and normal.
So: w... | [
"The earth is not in the centre of the Sun’s orbit nor at the centre of the universe, but in the centre of its companion elements, and united with them. And any one standing on the moon, when it and the sun are both beneath us, would see this our earth and the element of water upon it just as we see the moon, and t... |
Will drinking alcohol while sick make worsen my symptoms or slow my recovery? | You may have some temporary relief of symptoms from the direct effects of alcohol ingestion. Also, there is conflicting information on alcohol's effect on the immune system. While there is evidence of dysregulation of cytokine pathways being a factor in hangovers, this [study](_URL_0_) shows no effect from moderate dri... | [
"To best manage symptoms, refraining from consuming alcohol is essential. Abstinence from alcohol encourages proper diet and helps prevent progression or recurrence of the neuropathy. Once an individual stops consuming alcohol it is important to make sure they understand that substantial recovery usually isn't seen... |
why is this mars landing so much more hyped than the last few? | Hyped is a bad word for the excitement of people, bbbuuuttt, in the past we have landed rovers by inflating a series of balloon around them, the rover will bounce and eventually land. This time how ever the rover was too heavy to do this, so instead the MSL had to go from 13000 mph to 1000 mph by Apollo style heat shie... | [
"Mars proves to be inhospitable, and they struggle to survive with their decreased water supply. Earth's correct orbital position for a return trip is one year away. While glumly celebrating their first Christmas on Mars, a sudden snowstorm blows in, allowing them to replenish their water supply. As their launch wi... |
Is Jordan a Palestinian State? | The argument related to this is multi-faceted. I will explain each component, and then explain the counterargument.
**Jordan is Palestinian-Populated**
Jordan, as a result of Palestinian refugees from 1948 staying in the country, has had a large Palestinian population. In fact, some estimates have placed the Palestin... | [
"Jordan is an Arab kingdom in the Middle East, on the East Bank of the River Jordan, and extending into the historic region of Palestine. Jordan borders Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. It consists... |
Water as a faraday cage | The conductivity of good conductive metals is more than [10000000 = 10^7 times that of sea water](_URL_0_).
[The depth to which E/M waves penetrate a conductor](_URL_1_) is inversely proportional to the the square root of the conductivity (as well as the frequency of the E/M wave). So water will have a sizeable skin ... | [
"A Faraday cage operates because an external electrical field causes the electric charges within the cage's conducting material to be distributed so that they cancel the field's effect in the cage's interior. This phenomenon is used to protect sensitive electronic equipment (for example RF receivers) from external ... |
why is the philippines are prone to be hit by major typhoons? | Geography. The same way that the nations/states/territories in the Gulf of Mexico get slammed by hurricanes every year, the Philippines has to deal with typhoons.
Warm ocean currents mix with wind along the water's surface to produce these weather patterns in particular parts of the world, and move along a generall... | [
"The Philippines' evident risk to natural disasters is due to its location. Being a country that lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is prone to earthquake and volcanic eruptions. In addition, the country is surrounded by large bodies of water and facing the Pacific Ocean where 60% of the world's typhoons are made... |
How does brain translate nerve activity into conscious experience? | This, my friend, is the holy grail of neuroscience. For a start, try reading Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran | [
"The brain and the spinal cord are the essential components of the central nervous system and it is responsible for the integration of the signals received from the afferent nerves and initiates action. The nerve cells, known as neurons, carry impulses throughout the body and the nerve impulses are carried along th... |
[Astronomy] Is the water on Europa all fresh water? | It would almost definitely be salt water. Over-time when water makes contact with the crust of a planetary body it becomes gradually more and more salty. The only reason all the water on earth isn't salt water is because we have a water cycle that allows salt water to evaporate leaving the salt behind and falling as ra... | [
"Europa is thought to have a liquid water ocean underneath its icy exterior. Access to this liquid water ocean is a major difficulty, but the abundance of water on Europa is a benefit to any considerations for colonization. Not only can water provide for colonists' drinking needs, it also can be broken down to prov... |
why hasn't youtube/google made it possible to play sound from videos with the app closed? | YouTube is not a charity, they exist to show you ads, that's their only reason. They cannot show ads if you just play sound.
Now, they could play audio ads then, but you would not like that, would you?
However, sites that let you download YouTube videos usually have the option of getting just the soundtrack. I woul... | [
"The YouTube app, which had been a default app on iOS developed by Apple, was removed. Apple told \"The Verge\" that the reason for the removal was due to an expired license, but that YouTube users could still view videos through the Safari web browser. The company also confirmed that Google, which owns YouTube, wa... |
why do athletes make significantly more money than people like the president who have greater responsibilities in society? | It's mainly the economics surrounding sports. Sports bring in billions of dollars through ticket sales, broadcasting deals, jersey sales, endorsements, etc. If getting a better player helps the team and leads to more money coming in, teams will pay more to improve the team. Needless to say, if a player can make the ... | [
"BULLET::::- Quirk, James P., and Rodney Fort, “Why Do Pro Athletes Make So Much Money?” in Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, vol. 51, The Political Economy of Inequality” (William Moomaw and Neva Goodwin, editors) 2000.\n",
"The personal finances of professional American athletes is a subject of widespread di... |
What would happen if you were hit by a beam from a particle accelerator? | It depends on the accelerator. It could be deadly, or it could just give you a large, non-fatal dose of radiation. But for an example, see what happened to [Anatoli Bugorski](_URL_0_). | [
"BULLET::::- Particle accelerators produce high energy protons and electrons, and the secondary particles produced by their interactions produce significant radiation damage on sensitive control and particle detector components, of the order of magnitude of 10 MRad[Si]/year for systems such as the Large Hadron Coll... |
How sure are we that the Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mayan Symbols are actually what we think they are? | I can't speak for Mayan texts, but Egyptian being completely wrong is basically impossible. We have such an understanding of Egyptian text and language that we can tell when an Egyptian scribe makes a mistake. There may be elements that are incorrect regarding a particular glyph, but completely wrong is highly improbab... | [
"The Egyptian hieroglyphs had been well known to scholars of the ancient world for centuries, but few had made any attempts to understand them. Many based their speculations about the script in the writings of Horapollon who considered the symbols to be ideographic, not representing any specific spoken language. At... |
why can't the government take back alcatraz from the park service and rehab it into a modern prison for gitmo detainees? | Gitmo is located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. so that it exists outside the juristiction of the American Constitution.
This allows long term incarceration without trial and conviction and interrogation techniques that would be considered "Cruel and unusual" in the USA.
Alcatraz is very much within the USA. | [
"The Central Arizona Detention Center is a privately owned and operated managed prison for men located in Florence, Pinal County, Arizona, run by the Corrections Corporation of America housing prisoners for the United States Marshals Service, TransCor America LLC, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Pas... |
What would be required for an AI to be considered mentally "alive" or sentient? | People who actually work with AI do not come up with such requirements, because the field of study called artificial intelligence does not have the tools, ability, or desire to decide what does or doesn't count as sentience. You have to ask the philosophers. | [
"Computer scientist Pedro Domingos writes: \"AIs are like autistic savants and will remain so for the foreseeable future... AIs lack common sense and can easily make errors that a human never would... They are also liable to take our instructions too literally, giving us precisely what we asked for instead of what ... |
Is every black hole surrounded by a spinning disk of matter and heat? | Nope, their are black holes with no disk but they are nearly impossible to find them since the disk is the reason we can see them, their are also theoretical atom sized dark holes all over the universe. As for your other question, it depends on the size of the dark hole and the amount of mater around it. If the plasma ... | [
"By Mach's principle, spacetime is dragged along with mass-energy, with the distant stars on cosmological scales or with a black hole in close proximity. Thus, matter tends to spin-up around rotating black holes, for the same reason that pulsars spin down by shedding angular momentum in radiation to infinity. A maj... |
AskHistorians Podcast 123 - Historical Linguistics in the Balkans | Very interesting. Fun fact about /u/rusoved, he may be the only person who is both a panelist on /r/askscience and /r/askhistorians.
I have some poorly phrased questions about the intersections of linguistics and nationalism.
It seems over the 20th century there was a trend of smaller Slavic nations throwing in their... | [
"In Spring 2017, Maiah Ocando and Gabriel Torrelles, created one of the first hourlong podcasts in Spanish language in the US. The podcast \"No sé, dime tú\" (I don't know, you tell me) comments on pop culture, current events and their lives as a couple of immigrants fighting for the American dream in Los Angeles. ... |
whats worst that can happen if i don't get enough sleep? | The worst? Death. Chronic sleep deprivation can kill you.
Most likely you aren't anywhere close to that point but it can also lead to a host of negative health effects to the point of taking years off your life. Quantifying exactly what the consequences of an individual getting too little sleep will result in is impos... | [
"It has been estimated that over 20% of adults suffer from some form of sleep deprivation. Insomnia and sleep deprivation are common symptoms of depression and can be an indication of other mental disorders. The consequences of not getting enough sleep could have dire results; not only to the health of the individu... |
How do cells that are touching not fuse together like soap bubbles? | They do and they don't. There isn't enough force to fuse them normally, but cell membranes do fuse during cell division. Normally, though, the hydrophilic phospholipid heads repel each other. This is why tight junctions need separate proteins to bind two adjacent cells to each other. | [
"A soap bubble is an extremely thin film of soapy water enclosing air that forms a hollow sphere with an iridescent surface. Soap bubbles usually last for only a few seconds before bursting, either on their own or on contact with another object. They are often used for children's enjoyment, but they are also used i... |
Which Roman emperor do we know the least about, which emperor is spoken about the least in primary sources? | There are many Emperors whom nearly nothing is known about. But the majority of these cases are Emperors whom only ruled for a few months, or were co-emperors who held little actual power Sometimes both, such as in the case of Gordian II, who's only noteworthy achievement is being the brother of Gordian I. Of noteworth... | [
"The book still provides valuable information on the heritage, personal habits, physical appearance, lives, and political careers of the first Roman emperors. It mentions details which other sources do not. For example, Suetonius is the main source on the lives of Caligula, his uncle Claudius, and the heritage of V... |
How does the new air purifier in China work? It’s apparently working incredibly well and is probably a bio-engineering marvel. | The base of the tower is constructed like a greenhouse, which traps heat and warms air. The warm air then flows up through a series of filters in the tower. This induces convection, which draws more cool air into the base, which is then heated.
Similar towers are used all over the world as cooling towers, where the h... | [
"An air purifier or air cleaner is a device which removes contaminants from the air in a room to improve indoor air quality. These devices are commonly marketed as being beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating second-hand tobacco smoke. The commercially graded air purifiers ar... |
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