question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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If I whip my head around to get my hair out of my face, am I causing my brain to hit my skull? Is this as bad as I imagine? | Someone asked pretty much this same question [yesterday](_URL_0_), and myself and others gave a complete answer. | [
"Only a few studies have been conducted on this condition. A theory behind the condition is that nerves innervating scalp hair follicles send pain messages back to the brain when the follicle no longer has a hair in it, in a similar way to phantom limb pain. Another theory is that people who have this condition (so... |
why are the president and vp always from the same party or "the twelve amendment" | Back in the day, the candidate with the most votes was the President, and the candidate with the second most votes was the VP. Since they were of differing political parties, I'm sure you can see how they wouldn't always see eye-to-eye, so the Constitution was amended after a couple of election cycles.
The 12 Amendme... | [
"The Twelfth Amendment explicitly states the also apply to being Vice President. It is unclear whether a two-term president could later serve as Vice President. Some argue that the Twenty-second Amendment (which bars the President from serving more than two terms) and Twelfth Amendment both bar any two-term preside... |
if the max amount of money an individual or corporation can donate to a politician is $2700, how can the koch brothers and other millionares donate millions of dollars to the candidate of their choosing? wasn't the $2700 rule put in place specifically so that politicians couldn't be bought? | Yes. They don't donate directly to the campaign in those amounts, though: they donate to the parties and to political action committees (so-called "Super PACs" in particular), which have higher limits or no such limit. | [
"BULLET::::- Per year, an individual may not contribute more than $50 to any single small donor committee, more than $500 to any other single political committee, more than $2,000 in aggregate to a political party, or more than $2,500 in aggregate contributions.\n",
"As of February 2014, it had over 100 Democrati... |
why am i not ticklish? | Upvoted, I'm not either and my GF calls me a robot, I'm curious as well. | [
"Charles Darwin theorized on the link between tickling and social relations, arguing that tickling provokes laughter through the anticipation of pleasure. If a stranger tickles a child without any preliminaries, catching the child by surprise, the likely result will be not laughter but withdrawal and displeasure. D... |
can someone speak to the amount of human ancestor fossils we have? | _URL_1_
_URL_0_
Ignore the successful black guy.
Anyway, there are lots of ancient hominid fossils, you can read about them [here](_URL_2_)
You can tell how long something has been sitting in the ground by comparing how radioactive it is to how radioactive things that haven't been buried are. The oldest fossil on t... | [
"In 1994, near the Awash River in Ethiopia, Tim D. White found the then-oldest known human ancestor: 4.4 million-year-old \"Ar. ramidus\". A fossilized almost complete skeleton of a female hominin which he named \"Ardi\", it took nearly 15 years to safely excavate, preserve, and describe the specimen and to prepare... |
wrinkle resistant/non-iron clothing | It depends on the material. Natural fibers like cotton and linen wrinkle easily, though wool does not. Basically, cotton fibers (for example) have little elasticity - check a shirt or jeans, if you can find some with 100% cotton and see how well they stretch compared to other fabrics. They do have a little, but not muc... | [
"Wrinkle-resistant fabrics are textiles that have been treated to resist external stress and hold their shape. Clothing made from this fabric does not need to be ironed and may be sold as non-iron clothing. While fabric cleaning and maintenance may be simplified, some wearers experience decreased comfort.\n",
"Wr... |
Is a vacuum cleaner's "sucking power" limited to the atmospheric pressure around it? | You are correct that the pressure differential is limited by the atmospheric pressure, but what you aren’t considering is the volume of air moved. A vacuum of higher power will be able to move more air than a lower powered unit. Air flow is as important as pressure differential and you need both to effectively move mat... | [
"A central vacuum typically produces greater suction than common portable vacuum cleaners because a larger fan and more powerful motor can be used when they are not required to be portable. A cyclonic separation system, if used, does not lose suction as the collection container fills up, until the container is near... |
How clean were clean houses 100 years ago? | Hobbyist literary historian here. I would say "no." When you read books from that era, you'll occasionally hear mention of such outlandish products as "soap," "bleach," "lye," and "ammonia," all of which have long been used to bring about household cleanliness. Vinegar is as also as old as dirt (not quite, but it has ... | [
"Clean House is a home makeover and interior design television show, originally broadcast from 2003 until 2011 which aired 10 seasons of programs on the Style Network. Originally hosted by Niecy Nash and later by Tempestt Bledsoe, the show brings a four-person cleanup-and-renovation crew to the homes of families to... |
Can medical science manufacture medical antibodies? | They definitely use antibody injections to treat certain diseases, however I don't think that its feasible to use them for an acute infection. The power of the adaptive immune response is not just in the ability to make antibodies, but to make ever increasingly effective antibodies and then to "remember" how to make th... | [
"Synthetic antibodies have shown their utility in a number of applications. Their use within the field of research lies predominantly in the life sciences as reagents for protein capture and as protein inhibitors. Within diagnostics they have been utilised in applications ranging from infection and cancer screening... |
why does the us military have troops out in other countries, when there is not a specific war being fought? | Numbers are from [this article](_URL_0_):
Generally speaking, the US deploys its forces for non-violent reasons for exactly the reason you would expect: to protect its own interests. Anyone looking for a deeper meaning (either nobility, or conspiracy) is mostly trying to find something that isn't there. I'll break ... | [
"Although the United States did join the war, due to Great Britain's control over the Atlantic Ocean, the only fighting for the U.S. Army was in Europe on the Western Front. The American army was transported by ship across the ocean so it could fight the Germans in France.\n",
"BULLET::::- The United States Army ... |
; why does saliva give grip? | If we went down to a micro-scale, we would see that the vast majority of surfaces we consider to be "smooth" (like paper) are not smooth at all, but rather have many bumps and ridges (it would be like looking at a gravel driveway). Due to this, our hands, which have ridges as well (especially finger prints), fail at cr... | [
"Saliva acts as a solvent in which solid particles can dissolve in and enter the taste buds through oral mucosa located on the tongue. These taste buds are found within foliate and circumvallate papillae, where minor salivary glands secrete saliva.\n",
"Saliva consists of proteins (for example; mucins) that lubri... |
how does the material on the other side of a sticker keep the glue sticky? | It doesn’t. The glue does in fact dry out (that’s why really old stickers have that crusty yellow stuff if you leave them out for a long time). However, if you’re referencing the waxy paper that the stickers originally come on, the wax paper allows the sticker to not be exposed to the surrounding air, therefor the wate... | [
"Pressure-sensitive tape, PSA tape, self-stick tape or sticky tape consists of a pressure-sensitive adhesive coated onto a backing material such as paper, plastic film, cloth, or metal foil. It is sticky (tacky) without any heat or solvent for activation and adheres with light pressure. These tapes usually require ... |
Why does a laser create a dark spot on phosphorescent material | Phosphorescence happens when an electron radiatively decays from a triplet excited state. This is different from fluorescence, which is the radiative decay from a singlet state. Doesn't matter what the real difference is, but triplet states are much longer-lived than singlet states (microseconds to seconds for triple... | [
"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... |
how do engines run at 5,000 or even 10,000 rpms? | Mainstream automobile engines usually redline at about 6-7k rpm. The reason they can spin so fast is because the crankshafts are perfectly balanced, and the pistons and rods are made to be as lightweight as possible. Also the journal jacking oiling system permits much higher spinning speeds than conventional bearings.
... | [
"Given that the majority of engines for which a speed is defined rotate, engine speed is measured in revolutions per minute (RPM). Engines may be classified as low-speed, medium-speed or high-speed, but these terms are always relative and depend on the type of engine being described. Generally, diesel engines opera... |
why is it that in a country where you are not supposed to drink the water (india or china for example) it’s still ok to shower, brush your teeth, and even bath with it? | It's mostly a matter of amounts. You might drink a few litres of water a day but you won't swallow anywhere near that amount while brushing your teeth. And of course, toothpaste is there to help kill bacteria anyway. Bathing is less dangerous as it is far harder for bacteria to get into your system through your skin un... | [
"India and China are two countries with high levels of water pollution: An estimated 580 people in India die of water pollution related illness (including waterborne diseases) every day. About 90 percent of the water in the cities of China is polluted. As of 2007, half a billion Chinese had no access to safe drinki... |
Synergy of Aqua Regia? | It's all based on chemical equilibrium.
What happens is nitric acid does oxidize a tiniest bit of the gold to produce Au+3 ions and they're in a state of equilibrium; although this amount of dissolution would be negligible just by nitric acid itself, the hydrochloric acid serves as a source of chloride ions and allow... | [
"The exact underlying cause of aquagenic urticaria is poorly understood. , the main scientific ideas about the cause are that the person is reacting to tiny amounts of an unknown substance dissolved in the water, or that the water interacts with or combines with an unknown substance present in or on the skin, and t... |
Have we ever observed an object (such as an asteroid or comet) from another solar system come into our solar system? | We did for the first time last year
_URL_0_ | [
"Following claims by David Dunham in 1978 to have detected satellites for some asteroids (notably 532 Herculina) by examining the light patterns during stellar occultations, Van Flandern and others began to report similar observations. His non-mainstream 1978 prediction that some asteroids have natural satellites, ... |
What was ancient egyptian armor like? | The common protective item was the shield. These were often hide, and could be quite large:
* _URL_0_
* _URL_8_
The Egyptian word for "shield" also means "hide" or "skin" (Howard, 2011), so rawhide appears to have been the standard material. Wooden shield covered in hide were also used (2 of Tutankhamun's shields we... | [
"Ancient Egyptian weaponry includes bows and arrow, maces, clubs, scimitars, swords, shields, and knives. Body armor was made of bands of leathers and sometimes laid with scales of copper. Horse-drawn chariots were used to deliver archers into the battle field. Weapons were initially made with stone, wood, and copp... |
why do the cfl lights remain dim & flash every few seconds even after being turned off? | I'm not sure about the flash, I've never seen it, but my guess would be the capacitors discharging. The after glow is the florescent coating exhibiting small phosphorescent qualities making it continue glowing in the same way a glow in the dark item still glows after exposure. Even old Tube TV s did this. | [
"Some CFLs will flash every few seconds even when the room light switch is off. This caused by a small amount of current bypassing the switch either through a switch pilot light or through the capacitance of the two conductor cable connected between the switch and the CFL or the capacitance between this cable and o... |
How do hydroelectric power plants produce electricity with a frequency of 50Hz/60Hz consistently? | Im an engineer but I will give you the answer. The hydroelectic plant is connected to the electrical grid, which has thousands of generators and loads on it. When you connect a generator to the grid your frequency is "locked" to the same frequency as everyone else connected. to increase or decrease your frequency you h... | [
"BULLET::::- Electricity has a frequency of 50Hz; this is the typical frequency in Europe. In North America the frequency is 60Hz. This is assuming that there is a 1:1 correlation between rotational velocity of turbine and the frequency of mains power.\n",
"At the power station, an electrical generator converts m... |
why do americans generally not learn any second languages? | The same reason 90% of American citizens do not carry, have never carried and will never carry passports.
In other words, 90% of American citizens will never leave America... except maybe to go to Canada. Or the Bahamas on vacation.
Why? Put simply, because America is so goddamn big and has more than enough of *every... | [
"In some countries, such as Australia, it is so common nowadays for a foreign language to be taught in schools that the subject of language education is referred to LOTE or Language Other Than English. In the majority of English-speaking education centers, French, Spanish and German are the most popular languages t... |
The AskHistorians Podcast - Episode 12 Discussion Thread - The Spanish Civil War | First of all, sorry about not being very good at being interviewed, this was my first time ever and I've never been amazing at speeches and saying things impromptu. Either way, if there are any questions I am happy to clear them up here (as will /u/Domini_canes, most likely), and I'll probably give a better answer in w... | [
"The four stories are about the Spanish Civil War: \"The Denunciation\", \"The Butterfly and the Tank\", \"Night Before Battle\", and \"Under The Ridge\". Chicote's bar and the Hotel Florida in Madrid are recurrent settings in these stories.\n",
"Chapter II, \"The Spanish–American War\", is about the events of th... |
If our modern calendar begins with the birth of Christ, why isn't Christmas the start of a new year? | This is a long long story, going back to the founding of Rome in the 700s BC.
The very first Roman calendar (itself borrowed from the Greeks) had [ten months, starting with Martius and ending with December](_URL_5_):
1) Martius
2) Aprilis
3) Maius
4) Junius
5) Quinctilis
6) Sextilis
7) September
8) October
9)... | [
"Although the month and date of Jesus' birth are unknown, the church in the early fourth century fixed the date as December 25. This corresponds to the date of the solstice on the Roman calendar. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civ... |
why does rinsing my car with just the hose not remove dirt but leaving my car out in the rain does? | Probably because you don't wash your car with a hose for hours, if not a full day at a time | [
"Since 2012, nozzles are replaced on many cars by a system called AquaBlade, developed by the company Valeo. This system supplies the washing liquid directly from the rubber element of the wiper blade. This system suppresses visual disturbances during driving and so reduces the reaction time of the driver in case o... |
Do we need the van Allen Belts as a protection from radiation? | Van Allen belts are more like low points in the magnetic field where radiation settles, its not the belts themselves that keep us safe, but they are a product of the magnetic field which does indeed protect us from harmful radiation | [
"BULLET::::2. Missions beyond low Earth orbit transit the Van Allen radiation belts. Thus they may need to be shielded against exposure to cosmic rays, Van Allen radiation, or solar flares. The region between two and four Earth radii lies between the two radiation belts and is sometimes referred to as the \"safe zo... |
Circular polarized light, I don't get it | [Visualization](_URL_0_). Basically, the polarization vector of the light has to be 'rotating.' You can do this pretty easily [by putting a linear polarizer and a quarter-wave plate at an angle to each other.](_URL_1_)
That help?
> by say 45 degrees why isn't the output just light tilted 45 degrees rather than a co... | [
"There are several ways to create circularly polarized light, the cheapest and most common involves placing a quarter-wave plate after a linear polarizer and directing unpolarized light through the linear polarizer. The linearly polarized light leaving the linear polarizer is transformed into circularly polarized l... |
If the Mongols asked my town to surrender, and we did, how would we be treated? | This was asked just last week
_URL_0_ | [
"As the Mongols of the Ilkhanate continued to move towards the Holy Land, city after city fell to the Mongols. The typical Mongol pattern was to give a region one chance to surrender. If the target acquiesced, the Mongols absorbed the populace and warriors into their own Mongol army, which they would then use to fu... |
was it that knowledge of the Vikings' discovery of America didn’t spread or just that people didn’t realize the land they'd discovered was actually the edge of a giant continent so nobody viewed it as significant? if the former why didn’t it spread? | hi! It seems that knowledge *did* spread, at least in Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, England, & Germany. It would be fantastic if an expert could comment on what Europeans thought of Vinland/Markland/Helluland in terms of significance; meanwhile, here's a round-up of related questions so you can catch up with the discu... | [
"The 1874 book \"America Not Discovered by Columbus\" by Norwegian-American Rasmus B. Anderson helped popularize the idea that Vikings were the first Europeans in the New World, an idea that was all but verified in 1960. During his appearance at the Norse-American Centennial at the Minnesota State Fair in 1925, Pre... |
Has there ever been a rich country that has become a poor one and stayed poor? | Sorry, we don't allow ["trivia seeking" questions](_URL_0_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or person, please feel free... | [
"His best known book, \"How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor\" (2007), has been widely reviewed and discussed. While some reviews, like those in Prospect Magazine, The Economist, and others were dismissive many – including those from the developing countries – were positive and even thos... |
how does it work for two headed creatures? do they sense things independently? how is the nervous system controlled? do they have diminished intelligence? | I think it depends on where the sever is... if they share a brain, they will not sense, think, or feel things independently. However, if their brains are completely separate they will process thoughts separately; if their heads are the only thing they have two of they will share other neurological and biological system... | [
"The nervous system is generally similar to that of gastropods. One pair each of cerebral and pleural ganglia lie close to the oesophagus, and effectively form the animal's brain. A separate set of pedal ganglia lie in the foot, and a pair of visceral ganglia are set further back in the body, and connect to pavilio... |
If you took a pill that contained an entire meal's worth of nutrition, would you still feel hungry after it was digested? | How big would a pill be that contained that many calories and nutrients? Even if made entirely of dehydrated stuffs, wouldn't it also expand in your stomach. | [
"It should be taken on an empty stomach, one half to one hour before food, as absorption is reduced when taken with food, though some studies suggest that this doesn't compromise flucloxacillin plasma concentrations in most circumstances. \n",
"BULLET::::- Not eating causes one form of unhealthy snacking. Evelyn ... |
how does workman's compensation work? | I answered how rates are set in another reply. I'll now address the what happens if you are working from home part.
This is an incredibly murky area of work comp right now, and tends to be extremely variable case by case. For example, I recently saw a claim where an employees house caught on fire while they were worki... | [
"Workers' compensation (also known by variations of that name, e.g., workman's comp, workmen's comp, worker's comp, compo) offers payments to employees who are (usually temporarily, rarely permanently) unable to work because of a job-related injury. However, workers' compensation is in fact more than just income in... |
How did the female vote alter the political landscape? What new policies were shifted or enacted to accommodate the new base? | hi! Could you specify which region/country/culture you're asking about? Also, if you don't get answers here, it might be worth x-posting this question to /r/AskSocialScience | [
"With some exceptions, many countries expanded women's voting rights in representative and direct democracies across the world such as the United States, Canada, Great Britain and most major European countries in 1917–1921, as well as India. This influenced many governments and elections by increasing the number of... |
why does drinking alcohol make you tired? | Alcohol interferes with the actions of glutamate and NMDA, two key excitatory compounds that stimulate/regulate activity in the nervous system. They’re sort of like natural stimulants that keep things moving. Alcohol can inhibit the activity of their systems, but it also supports the activity of GABA, the main inhibito... | [
"Alcohol is often used as a form of self-treatment of insomnia to induce sleep. However, alcohol use to induce sleep can be a cause of insomnia. Long-term use of alcohol is associated with a decrease in NREM stage 3 and 4 sleep as well as suppression of REM sleep and REM sleep fragmentation. Frequent moving between... |
If we can't put anymore transistors on a microchip because the transistors are physically too small, why don't we just make bigger microchips? | they can make them larger...but that wont make them faster. Think of it like this....you work downtown....you live within the city center...you commute to work. The city becomes increasingly crowded and people move further from the city center....and their commute to work is longer and longer the bigger the city gets. ... | [
"As it becomes more difficult to manufacture ever smaller transistors, companies are using Multi-chip modules, Three-dimensional integrated circuits, 3D NAND, Package on package, and Through-silicon vias to increase performance and reducing size, without having to reduce the size of the transistors. \n",
"As more... |
do people have "brain prints"? people have unique finger prints, eyerises, and DNA, do we have unique brain structures aswell? | The short answer would be yes. The longer answer would be that the neurons in your brain form in a way unique to you, however the human adult has around 100 billion neurons, so making a "print" of this would be extraordinarily difficult. | [
"Most scientists working on the relation between the human brain and neurologic or psychiatric diseases (or animal models of these diseases) use Paxinos's maps and concepts of brain organisation. His human brain atlases are the most accurate available for identification of deep structures and are used in surgical t... |
why is michael jackson considered the "king of pop?" | Because he redefined pop culture.
He was the first black musician who broke through the color barrier on MTV. He made MTV a definitive TV channel. Before Thriller was released the music industry was in a crisis, Thriller legitimately helped save it. At one point Thriller was selling 1.4 million albums every 4 days and... | [
"Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the \"King of Pop\", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers. Jackson's contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along w... |
What was the actual incident of Karbala in the history of Islam? | I can give you a more detailed answer this weekend, but very briefly, there aren't two opposite versions. Contrary to popular belief, Sunni's are not (nor ever were) anti-Ali. Both Sunnis and Shi'ites consider the events of Karbala to be a massacre of the family of Muhammad.
That said, due to the central importance o... | [
"The arrival of envoys from Muhammad in 632 heralded the conversion of the region to Islam. After Muhammad's death, one of the major battles of the Ridda Wars was fought at Dibba, in present-day Fujairah. The defeat of the non-Muslims, including Laqit bin Malik Al-Azdi, in this battle resulted in the triumph of Isl... |
what is going on over at /r/punchablefaces? | /r/punchablefaces is a ~60k community that posts... punchable faces.
However, in order to comply with reddits strict no harassment policies, they have had to implement a few rules:
* No black, brown, tan, Asian, Latino, Native North or South American, or Pacific Islander subjects
* No LGBTQ subjects
* ... | [
"\"FaceBreaker\" has a \"cartoony\" artistic style (similar to \"Punch-Out!!\" and \"Ready 2 Rumble Boxing\") and allows players to break their opponents faces as the game features \"real-time facial deformation\". The game also uses the same face-capture technology as \"Tiger Woods PGA Tour\" to allow players to c... |
where does all the dirt from power washing go? | It's floating in the water kicked off by the power washer.
It then usually flows with the water down into the drain. | [
"Laundry was first done in watercourses, letting the water carry away the materials which could cause stains and smells. Laundry is still done this way in the rural regions of poor countries. Agitation helps remove the dirt, so the laundry was rubbed, twisted, or slapped against flat rocks. One name for this surfac... |
after an android device installs an update it will spend some time optimizing apps. what, exactly, is happening during this process? | _URL_0_
> When you install an application on Android, it performs some modifications and optimizations on that application's dex file (the file that contains all the dalvik bytecode for the application). It then caches the resulting odex (optimized dex) file in the /data/dalvik-cache directory, so that it doesn't ha... | [
"In May 2019, with the announcement of Android 10, Google introduced Project Mainline to simplify and expedite delivery of updates to the Android ecosystem. Project Mainline enables updates to core OS components through the Google Play Store. As a result, important security and performance improvements that previou... |
When Eratosthenes was calculating the circumference of the Earth in the third century BC, what did he calculate or scrawl on? Papyrus, wax, sand? | Papyrus or parchment. We now know, thanks to Wadi al-Jarf, that papyrus was being used in Egypt as early as the reign of Khufu (c.2550). By the time of Eratosthenes in the 3rd century BCE, it was common (but not cheap) and reasonably easy to acquire anywhere in the Mediterranean. Parchment was another alternative, and ... | [
"Eratosthenes, a Greek astronomer from Hellenistic Cyrenaica (276–194 BC), estimated Earth's circumference around 240 BC. He had heard that in Syene the Sun was directly overhead at the summer solstice whereas in Alexandria it still cast a shadow. Using the differing angles the shadows made as the basis of his trig... |
why the usa are (or have been) at war in the middle east. | "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way."
~ The Untouchables
Also related:
"I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
~ George W. Bush | [
"The Middle East is, of course, the most obvious place that comes to mind when we think of valuable resources that major nations may compete over when supplies begin to fall around the world. The first Gulf War was an example of the United States’ willingness to go to war to protect its access to the rich oilfields... |
why does drinking alcohol with an empty stomach cause one to get drunk quicker? | It means the alcohol gets into the bloodstream quicker as it's processed quicker. Don't know the ins and outs and technicalities but that's the gist.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Reddit. | [
"Mixing alcohol with normal soft drinks, rather than diet drinks delays the dizzying effects of alcohol because the sugary mixture slows the emptying of the stomach, so that drunkenness occurs less rapidly.\n",
"Ouzo can colloquially be referred to as a particularly strong drink, the cause of this being its sugar... |
if you could know the state of subatomic/quantum particles, could you calculate the future? | There seems to be a degree of randomness inherent in quantum physics. To the best of our understanding the answer to your question is no. | [
"In classical mechanics, accurate measurements and predictions of the state of objects can be calculated, such as location and velocity. In the quantum mechanics, due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the complete state of a subatomic particle, such as its location and velocity, cannot be simultaneously dete... |
Is it possible to consume too much Vitamin C in one day? | Vitamin C has laxative effects at high dosages | [
"Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, with dietary excesses not absorbed, and excesses in the blood rapidly excreted in the urine, so it exhibits remarkably low acute toxicity. More than two to three grams may cause indigestion, particularly when taken on an empty stomach. However, taking vitamin C in the form of ... |
How does a pane of glass "become" a mirror when there is a strong contrast in lighting on either side? most prominent at night time with the lights on inside | Glass reflects around 4% of the light incident on it, with the lights on inside this 4% is much brighter than the darkness outside. | [
"The glass is coated with, or has encased within, a thin and almost-transparent layer of metal (usually aluminium). The result is a mirrored surface that reflects some light and is penetrated by the rest. Light always passes equally in both directions. However, when one side is brightly lit and the other kept dark,... |
Broad prehistory/anthropology question: Which do you view as more relevant in motivating a move from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural society... (see text) | I think that your perspective is a bit off, but then the anthropological perspective is very different from most peoples' and takes a lot of reading and lectures to really start to grasp, so your perspective is pretty much par for the course.
For one, the idea that agriculturalists are somehow better than hunter-gathe... | [
"Lepenski Vir gives us a rare opportunity to observe the gradual transition from the hunter gatherer way of life of early humans to the agricultural economy of the Neolithic. More and more complex social structure influenced the development of planning and self-discipline necessary for agricultural production.\n",
... |
neoconservatism vs. neoliberalism | When they combine they make neo-fascism. | [
"\"Neoliberalism\" is contemporarily used to refer to market-oriented reform policies such as \"eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers\" and reducing state influence in the economy, especially through privatization and austerity. It is also commonly associated with the eco... |
How did German soldiers view Canadians during WW2 | This isn't an answer to the question but a related piece of information, because I figure you'd be interested in how Canada was seen more generally in this era. At Auschwitz, the warehouses that held the luggage and possession stolen/confiscated from newly arrived inmates were known as "Kanada". I've always assumed thi... | [
"The Canadian Forces and civilian participation in the First World War helped to foster a sense of British-Canadian nationhood. The highpoints of Canadian military achievement during the First World War came during the Somme, Vimy, Passchendaele battles and what later became known as \"Canada's Hundred Days\". The ... |
why can't clicking the x to close a program in windows act in the same way as clicking end task from a ctrl+alt+del? | Clicking "X" *asks* the program to shut down. Using the task manager *forces* the program to shut down by just ignoring it and unloading all of its data from memory.
When you shut down a program, you want to ask it nicely, because it may have some stuff to do--saving files, closing connections--that could potentially... | [
"BULLET::::- xkill - if called without any parameters, the mouse cursor changes from an arrow to an \"x\" icon, and the user can click on a window to force the X server to close the connection with the client owning the window. This often causes the process to terminate when it detects that its connection to the X ... |
what is diminishing returns? | Imagine I gave you a chocolate bar. You'd be pretty happy, right? It's tasty.
Now, imagine you had a hundred chocolate bars, and I gave you one more. You wouldn't gain as much happiness from that additional chocolate bar, because it doesn't let you do as much in the way of new things. That's diminishing returns. | [
"The law of diminishing returns states that in all productive processes, adding more of one factor of production, while holding all others constant (\"\"ceteris paribus\"\"), will at some point yield lower incremental per-unit returns. The law of diminishing returns does not imply that adding more of a factor will ... |
Why were there so many Kolechian attacks on Arstotzka (particularly the East Grestin) border in December 1983? | Although, as you say, East Grestin is POLITICALLY recognised as Arstitzkan territory, there was a lot of nationalist sentiment lingering in Kolechia, especially amongst the ethnic Grestians in the population, who believed that, as East Grestin was originally Kolechian, it should remain Kolechian. They did not recognis... | [
"Starting in late 1991, when the Azerbaijani side started its counter-offensive, the Armenian side began targeting Azerbaijani villages. According to Memorial, the villages Malibeyli and Gushchular, from which Azerbaijani forces regularly bombarded Stepanakert, were attacked by Armenians where the houses were burne... |
why do probiotics sometimes cause diarrhea, gas, or other symptoms of ibs? | Probiotics and antibiotics can both affect the amount of 'flora' (helpful bacteria) that live naturally inside your gut. Part of what those bacteria do is help digest things and create important chemicals that the body uses. Bacteria can act almost act like an organ in our body. Cows, for example need gut bacteria to b... | [
"Probiotics may exert their beneficial effects on IBS symptoms via preserving the gut microbiota, normalisation of cytokine blood levels, improving the intestinal transit time, decreasing small intestine permeability, and by treating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth of fermenting bacteria.\n",
"Certain probi... |
what would happen to astronauts in orbit if earth instantly disappeared? | They would continue in a "straight" line from their current trajectory. Away from the former position of the planet. | [
"Upon returning to Earth, the empty spacecraft burns up due to a faulty (separated) heat shield during atmospheric reentry. The astronauts are said to have died due to the malfunction. The captive astronauts board a plane to be placed in the spacecraft, but the plane unexpectedly turns around and returns to the air... |
How far are we away from economical synthetic/In vitro meat? | HI!
I'm going to have a rant here about *in vitro* meat.
First off, this shit comes up every few months on reddit, and the massive response is always really positive, and everyone looks forward to 2020, or 2050 or whatever magical date that is proposed to be the date when this shit is cost-effective.
Let me burst t... | [
"The production of cultured meat is currently very expensive – in 2008 it was about US$1 million for a piece of beef weighing – and it would take considerable investment to switch to large-scale production. However, the In Vitro Meat Consortium has estimated that with improvements to current technology there could ... |
what's so bad about (us) debt collectors? | You're correct. Only issue is that occasionally debt collectors try to collect on debts that aren't legally your responsibility. | [
"According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's May 2017 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, Americans owe $12.73 trillion in consumer debt to creditors—credit card companies, student loans, mortgages, and car dealers, among others. These debts are usually paid off to creditors, but by 2017, unpaid ... |
why was it better for swords to only have one edged blade (like the katana or falchion)? | Swords were designed for various purposes. Double edged blades were used to impale or stab the opponent. Whereas katanas are curved and one sided to provide a better slicing motion.
The shape of the blade provides structural strength. To simplify, the cross section of a katana would resemble a triangle. Impacting a tr... | [
"The sharpened edge is the inward curved, longer side of the blade – the opposite of a standard katana – making it extremely difficult to kill an opponent; it generally knocks the wielder's enemies \"senseless\" rather than killing them. The only way for the sakabatō to cut is to rotate the hilt by 180 degrees with... |
Why does some salt taste saltier that other salt? | Salt's saltiness can be affected by many different factors. The composition and purity of the salt in question, the concentration of the salt, and persistence of the salt on the tongue all make up each different salt's taste.
This article sums up the complexities of salt and taste in relatively simple terms. _URL_0_
... | [
"Because the salt has a purer flavor due to the lack of metallic or bitter-tasting additives such as iodine, fluoride or dextrose, it is often used in the kitchen instead of additive-containing table salt, so such flavors are not introduced to prepared food. Estimating the amount of salt when salting by hand can al... |
What were cocoliztli and matlazahuatl, and how did these epidemics affect indigenous and colonial communities? | I have not researched matlazahuatl, but cocoliztli is now considered to be a viral hemorrhagic disease akin to our modern [Hantavirus](_URL_1_). Several [recent studies](_URL_0_) have linked the 1545 and 1576 Mexican epidemics, which burned through Mexico and killed anywhere from 7 to 17 million people, to multi-year d... | [
"There exists some ambiguity regarding if \"cocoliztli\" preferentially targeted native people, as opposed to European colonists. The majority of firsthand accounts regarding the outbreak come from Aztec informants, who were primarily concerned with the diseases’ novelty and pronounced symptoms. Spanish colonizers ... |
why is it so difficult to find video highlights of football/soccer games? | Because of very strict control of (very expensive) TV rights. Rights owners know filter images and videos by the droplet. | [
"Video servers, with their advanced technology, have allowed for more complex replays, such as freeze frame, frame-by-frame review, replay at variable speeds, overlaying of virtual graphics, instant analysis tools such as ball speed or immediate distance calculation. Sports commentators analyze the replay footage w... |
where the fuck were these lonely mountain dwarves in lotr when every one of their allies was battling sauron? | Remember in the movies when frodo gets caught in that mini landslide and two evil men check out the area? Notice that those guys are heavily armored: they are not the same people that ride the elephants during the siege of minas tirith.
Heavy Armor = Men of Rhun (north of mordor)
Elephant Dudes = Men of Harad (south o... | [
"The Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain (also known as Erebor) and the Men of Dale refused to acknowledge the overlordship and alliance of Sauron. While his larger southern armies invaded Gondor, a host of Easterlings advanced in the north to extend his dominion and to prevent the armies of his enemies joining together... |
how do they make weed killer that they can spray on grass and plants that only kill weeds without hurting the grass or plants? | There are two major families of flowering plants, called dicots and monocots. There are a lot of subtle differences between them, but one of the easiest ways to tell is the [shape of the leaves](_URL_0_) EDIT: and the way the veins are arranged
Grasses and almost all grain crops, like corn, wheat, and rice, are monoco... | [
"Herbicides are used to kill weeds, especially on pavements and railways. They are similar to auxins and most are biodegradable by soil bacteria. However, one group derived from trinitrotoluene (2:4 D and 2:4:5 T) have the impurity dioxin, which is very toxic and causes fatality even in low concentrations. Another ... |
How big does an object have to be to have color? | First of all, the color of an object is not an intrinsic property. The color of the light that comes from an object to your eye could result from many different mechanisms. For this reason, an object can have many different colors depending on how it generates or scatters light. For instance, nitrogen gas that is creat... | [
"Colour indices are simple measures of the differences in the apparent magnitude of an object seen through blue (B), visible (V), i.e. green-yellow, and red (R) filters. The diagram illustrates known colour indices for all but the biggest objects (in slightly enhanced colour).\n",
"These ten objects are fabricate... |
In WW2, how exactly did technological transfer from Germany to Japan take place and how did Japan pay for it? | For the most part, technology and trade in raw materials between Germany and Japan occurred through individual blockade-runners. In exchange for examples of German military technology and plans, the Japanese provided raw materials and other items the Allied blockade prevented from being imported to Germany. From the ou... | [
"In the years leading up to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, there was some significant collaborative development in heavy industry between German companies and their Japanese counterparts as part of the two nation's evolving relations. This was one major factor in Japan's ability to quickly exploit ... |
what's the difference between ssris and saris? | SSRIs bind to transporters that clear serotonin out of the synaptic cleft. Depending on how selective the specific SSRI in question is, it may or may not have some effect on dopamine and norepinephrine transporters.
& nbsp;
SARIs have similar action on transporters as SSRIs, with the additional effect of "hitting" s... | [
"Serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitors (SARIs) are a class of drugs used mainly as antidepressants, but also as anxiolytics and hypnotics. They act by antagonizing serotonin receptors such as 5-HT and inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine. Additionally, most also antagonize α-... |
why do mini m & m's taste so much better than regular m & m's? | I'm going to go with the crunchy outside to chocolate ratio. | [
"\"USA Today\"s Ted Berg said \"they’re not good\" but also \"not totally awful\" either. \"Kotaku\"s Mike Fahey said \"pleased to report that Mac n’ Cheetos taste much better than they look\" but also that they do not taste like the cheese puff but rather like the Kellogg's cracker Cheez-It. \"Chicago Tribune\"s J... |
semiconductors | The key principle is the "band gap". According to classical physics, if you have an electron in an atom, you can give it just a bit more energy. And that "little bit" can be any value. But that's not how things actually work. Since electrons have to obey the laws of quantum mechanics, the electrons in an atom can only ... | [
"The study of semiconductors is a significant part of materials science. A semiconductor is a material that has a resistivity between a metal and insulator. Its electronic properties can be greatly altered through intentionally introducing impurities or doping. From these semiconductor materials, things such as dio... |
Why are anti-rejection drugs needed permanently for transplants? | The answer to your question is inherent in your understanding of transplants and immunology. The one flaw in your reasoning is:
> organs regularly require constant regeneration by the host body
Transplanted organs do have cellular turnover, and they are supplied **nutrition** by the host body. The organ itself reple... | [
"One principal reason for transplant rejection is non-adherence to prescribed immunosuppressant regimens. This is particularly the case with adolescent recipients, with non-adherence rates near 50% in some instances.\n",
"In the United States it is frequently given at the time of the transplant to prevent graft-v... |
Why are trucks, and not trains, the main method of freight transportation in the U.S.? | Without getting at all into the history of how it developed, it isn't clear to me that your premise is correct that trucks are the main method of freight transport in the US.
According to the [US Department of Transportation](_URL_0_), 39.5% of freight ton-miles in the US are rail vs. 28.6% via truck (12% water, 19.6... | [
"Although railroads have lost much of the general-freight-carrying business to semi-trailer trucks, they remain the best means of transporting large volumes of such bulk commodities as coal, grain, chemicals, and ore over long distances. The development of containerization has made the railroads more effective in h... |
why is sitting close to a monitor for long periods bad for your eyes as apposed to looking at brickwall for a long period | You're focusing at the same distance for hours on end day after day. The muscles in your eye will hold at that focus and tire. RSI.
| [
"When the eyes dry out or become fatigued due to reading on a computer screen, it can be an indication of Computer Vision Syndrome. Computer Vision Syndrome can be prevented by taking regular breaks, focusing on objects far from the screen, having a well-lit workplace, or using a blink reminder application such as ... |
what the differences between micro and molecular biology | Microbio is like...cell to cell interactions. It's on the level of cell organelles in humans, cells interacting with each other in small colonies, that kinda thing. It's usually interested in viruses, bacteria, etc.
Molecular bio is like protein/molecular interaction level. It's closer to biochemistry in that you're l... | [
"A biomolecule or biological molecule is a loosely used term for molecules and ions present in organisms that are essential to one or more typically biological processes, such as cell division, morphogenesis, or development. Biomolecules include large macromolecules (or polyanions) such as proteins, carbohydrates, ... |
Not sure if this is more "Ask Historians" or "Ask Science" but, essentially, how did pre-industrial civilizations move water uphill? | There was the [Archimedes Screw](_URL_0_), which has been around since at least the 3rd Century BCE. Also, you should read the first couple sections on fountains, [here], (_URL_1_) where it explains how Romans used gravity to create pressure down the line. Finally, I know the Mayans created water pressure by channeling... | [
"A pragmatic, if not scientific, knowledge of fluid flow was exhibited by ancient civilizations, such as in the design of arrows, spears, boats, and particularly hydraulic engineering projects for flood protection, irrigation, drainage, and water supply. The earliest human civilizations began near the shores of riv... |
a mongooses immunity to cobra venom | Your nerves are covered in protein receptors that function like little locks. They also produce proteins, called neurotransmitters, that function like little keys which perfectly match the keyhole that the receptors have. When the correct neurotransmitter goes into a receptor, it "twists" and briefly causes a small h... | [
"The Samar cobra's venom is a potentially deadly neurotoxin, with cytotoxic properties as well. Envenomations can result in respiratory distress and paralysis, as well as considerable tissue necrosis around the bite site. They are noted for their nervous behavior, and are quick to strike as well as to spray venom, ... |
Is it possible to acquire AIDS from something other than HIV? | The key to answering this question lies in the final S of AIDS, which stands for [syndrome](_URL_0_). A syndrome is what doctors call a set of symptoms that seem to go together, even if they don't know what's causing it. Often these syndromes turn out to have an underlying disease or other cause.
So for example in th... | [
"We Are Not A Cure For AIDS: False information would have you believe that having sex with a person with albinism will cure AIDS. In truth, no one has ever been cured of AIDS by having sex with a person with albinism. All this does is spread the AIDS virus.\n",
"The origin of AIDS has been linked to a virus known... |
WTC 7: How did this fall down (at free fall acceleration) from fires? | This is an exact duplicate of a question that was [submitted yesterday](_URL_0_). Please use the search feature or skim the new queue to avoid submitting duplicate questions. | [
"Soon after 10pm, as night was falling, Amon's Ferrari suffered a puncture while running 5th. Because of a faulty mallet he could not change the tyre out on the track and while crawling back to the pits, sparks from the wheel hub started a fire in the engine. Amon was forced to bale out quickly (unharmed) at a dist... |
Is modern-day veterinary medicine better than the medical science of the 1860s? | Yes!
No question about it.
You can find a lot of old vet books at [Internet Archive](_URL_0_) to see what they practiced then. You can find equally old medical (human practice) books.
At any period, vet practice does not lag much behind human medicine, if at all. We're talking about saving valuable property here, es... | [
"As science and technology developed, medicine became more reliant upon medications. Throughout history and in Europe right until the late 18th century, not only animal and plant products were used as medicine, but also human body parts and fluids. Pharmacology developed in part from herbalism and some drugs are st... |
How has the discipline of History evolved over time? In other words, what is the history of History (from Herodotus to monotheism to the enlightenment to postmodernism, etc)? | This is a *massive,* massive question, one far bigger than I suspect the sub is prepared to answer.
What you're asking about is called the discipline of **historiography** -- in other words, the history of how history is studied and told. As a quick little guide to it, I'm fond of [John Arnold's *History: A Very Shor... | [
"Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need, and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilizations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question (see philosophy of history). The earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no hist... |
why do our energy levels go down when we're depressed? | Depression in many ways puts your body through the same processes that a lot of physical illnesses do. One part of that is that both are associated with the release of what are called pro-inflammatory cytokines in your body. Like the name implies, these are chemicals that cause inflammation in your body. Evolutionarily... | [
"Another way depression increases an individual's ability to concentrate on a problem is by reducing distraction from the problem. For example, anhedonia, which is often associated with depression, decreases an individual's desire to participate in activities that provide short-term rewards, and instead, allows the... |
Is it possible to magnetically levitate an object with total freedom of rotation? | Perhaps like [this](_URL_0_)?
What's going on here is diamagnetism. When certain materials are exposed to magnetic fields, they generate their own field that opposes the direction of the applied field. This opposing field then repels the applied field, creating levitation.
The trick is that you need very, *very* powe... | [
"Spin-stabilized magnetic levitation is a phenomenon of magnetic levitation whereby a spinning magnet or array of magnets is levitated via magnetic forces above another magnet or array of magnets, and stabilised by gyroscopic effect due to a spin that is neither too fast, nor too slow to allow for a necessary prece... |
Was Charles V's title Emperor or King of Spain? Why was he not king of Hungary-Croatia and Bohemia? | Regarding 1.
Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia were never parts of the HRE, and Charles V was **never** their king nor emperor.
After disastrous battle of Mohacs in 1526, where king of Hungary and Croatia died, their respective noblemen held congress to elect their kings.
Without complicating the fact the nobility w... | [
"Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, or Charles I of Spain, was the heir of four of Europe's leading royal houses. Charles was the first sole monarch of Spain, inheriting the kingdoms first united by his maternal grandparents, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (the Catholic Monarchs). From his father, Phi... |
Is my newish car more fuel efficient in a warm summer or cold winter? | The air is definitely denser but either your car injects more fuel to keep the mixture constant or it doesn't and the mixture will be off, but there will be more air to totally burn the fuel, which should happen in a well tuned engine anyway. I don't know which of these happens, but I think best case there is you have ... | [
"Newer designs are focused on using super-insulated cabins which can heat the vehicle using the body heat of the passengers. This is not enough, however, in colder climates as a driver delivers only about 100 W of heating power. A heat pump system, capable of cooling the cabin during summer and heating it during wi... |
On Youtube's home page, there is a seemingly robust algorithm that shows suggested videos (aka What to watch) based on your watching habits and subscriptions. Why does it include mostly videos I have already seen? Doesn't that totally defeat its purpose? | I don't have any inside information for how youtube works internally, but having just spent all night trying to solve similar technical challenges (on a much smaller volume), I can take a guess: scaling is hard. Even for youtube engineers with google money to burn.
First, you can often serve content to seve... | [
"When watching videos outside of Wikipedia, many people go to Wikipedia to get more information about what they watched and proceed into the wiki rabbit hole to topics progressively further removed from where they started.\n",
"Unlike other online platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, which use trained algorith... |
Why does a neutron destabilise a uranium atom? | There is a big difference in relative stability between U-235 and U-236. It is similar to standing on a cliff - at the top, you have a lot more potential energy than someone standing at the bottom.
Fission occurs when the nucleus breaks up into 2 parts. These pieces, on their own, are much more stable than the origi... | [
"In a mass of pure natural uranium, the number and energy of the neutrons being released through natural decay are too low to cause appreciable fission events in the few U atoms present. In order to increase the rate of neutron capture to the point where a chain reaction can occur, known as criticality, the system ... |
why is it not a good idea to give people who are starving as much food as they want? | It's called refeeding syndrome.
Essentially, their entire body has gone into starvation mode that is optimized for survival under conditions of extreme food shortage. Minerals such as phosphate, magnesium and potassium are already extremely low throughout the body, but to keep the body alive the concentrations in the... | [
"Throughout history, the need to aid those suffering from hunger has been commonly, though not universally, recognized. The philosopher Simone Weil wrote that feeding the hungry when you have resources to do so is the most obvious of all human obligations. She says that as far back as Ancient Egypt, many believed t... |
how a waiter can lose money if someone doesn't tip | This as commented on yesterday. But basically there appears to be several factors.
1) Waitstaff are paid at below minimum wage, as government assumes tips and thus they factor in tips to their minimum wage levels. Ex. In Ontario minimum. Wage is 10.25 I believe, wait staff are paid 7-8 from the business, res... | [
"BULLET::::- Tipping is not expected and some employees may not understand the gesture and return the money. Some employees are forbidden from accepting gratuities (this is mainly in positions of authority e.g. in a casino one cannot tip the dealer or a security guard however, this would not apply in a formal resta... |
Is life decreasing or increasing the total entropy in the universe? | We are always increasing entropy. It's not so much a physical law as it is a statistical law.
A dorky example my secondary school chem teacher once gave us. If our room is a giant mess, we can say in some loose way that the entropy of the room is large.
So, we decide to clean up our room and make it neat and tidy... | [
"The role of entropy in cosmology remains a controversial subject since the time of Ludwig Boltzmann. Recent work has cast some doubt on the heat death hypothesis and the applicability of any simple thermodynamic model to the universe in general. Although entropy does increase in the model of an expanding universe,... |
why is it that sitting for extended periods can cause blood clots but laying down sleeping for 6-8 hours a night doesn’t? | When you sleep your blood does not have to flow upwards, your body is mostly straight and you are still moving alot in sleep. So If your leg is broken and you can't move a little your chance developing cloths is higher. That's why they give you shots in hospital every day. While sitting the legs aren't moved much, they... | [
"This disease is caused by problems in the circulatory system, so when it is presented, in the beginning it is important to follow several recommendations. The person needs to keep the legs elevated as much as possible to help the return of the blood. Whenever sitting down, the person needs to keep the legs on a fo... |
Does distilled water still contain ions? | Yes. Even in the absence of influences that might induce self-ionization in water a certain proportion of the molecules will have enough energy to break an oxygen-hydrogen bond to produce a hydroxyl anion and whatever protonated water is thought to be these days. The amount of molecules able to ionize is related to the... | [
"Few ion-exchange resins remove chlorine or organic contaminants from water – this is usually done by using an activated charcoal filter mixed in with the resin. There are some ion-exchange resins that do remove organic ions, such as MIEX (magnetic ion-exchange) resins. Domestic water purification resin is not usua... |
Is there a minimum and maximum 'speed' of time? | We also use the speed of light as a reference point for the maximum speed of time. Think of all objects as moving at the same speed. Objects that you and I observe as being stationary are moving at the same speed as an object moving at 0.999c. The difference is that non-moving objects are moving entirely in the tempora... | [
"Both for human and artificial intelligence, hardware improvements increase the rate of future hardware improvements. Oversimplified, Moore's Law suggests that if the first doubling of speed took 18 months, the second would take 18 subjective months; or 9 external months, whereafter, four months, two months, and so... |
how do i get fruit flies when i wash my produce when i bring it home and don't leave the window open? | I'm assuming you mean Drosophila melanogaster (_URL_0_) or one of its relatives as opposed to other fruit fries (if you are referring to the agricultural pest, they may come from eggs laid in fruit). These flies likely get into your house via small holes in the exterior, cracked or opened doors (even just while someone... | [
"Fruit flies are attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables, usually in the kitchen area, but will breed in garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, wet or damp mops or cleaning rags, and trash containers. The only requirement for these flies to breed is a moist film of fermenting material. Infestations can origi... |
When was the last time 2 ships fired broadsides at eachother? | The last time a battleship fired on another battleship was at the Battle of the Surigao Strait, Oct. 25, 1944. The American forces had six battleships: *California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee*, and *West Virginia.* They fired at night on a Japanese force that had already been badly damaged by torped... | [
"The term is commonly used to describe the firing of broadsides by warships, especially battleships. During fleet engagements in the days of sail, from 17th century until the 19th century, ships of the line were maneuvered with the objective of bringing the greatest possible number of cannon to bear on the enemy an... |
What is the difference in environmental impact between a new car and a used car? | Short news piece with numbers [here](_URL_0_) (unfortunately, original article unavailable).
Summary (trusting their numbers): making a new Prius costs 1,000 gallons of gas. A Prius (45mpg) would have to drive ~16,000 miles to catch up to a 12mpg used car whose manufacturing costs are already paid off. A higher-mp... | [
"The car allowed a shift in residential locations, as civil engineering grew to handle the infrastructure requirements, allowing the growth of the suburbs. As shown by Ford, the car changed the economic landscape. The efforts to resolve costs that have ensued from the influence of the car, such as pollution and fue... |
how does my body know which muscle i'm telling it to flex, or limb i want to move? | This is the most simplistic way I can think of to explain this; your brain has connections between neurons called synapses. Synapses carry electrical signals across neurons and parts of the body move based on the intensity and frequency of these signals. When you "want" to move something, the synapses fire in the part ... | [
"BULLET::::- Skeletal muscle: Contraction of these muscles leads to the muscle pulling a tendon, which in turn pulls a bone. Moving a bone results in either flexing or extending a joint. Skeletal muscles are usually arranged in pairs so that they oppose each other (they are \"antagonists\"), with one flexing the jo... |
why bacon is seen as a manly food and seen as the best food ever? is it it's high calorie and fat content that makes it extremely palatable to humans? | Because its tastes delicious. | [
"\"Bacon Today\" states that bacon has a very valuable amount of protein that is \"valuable to maintaining our energy levels and a fully functioning, healthy body\". \"Everything Tastes Better with Bacon\", a book by Sara Perry, is a cookbook that compliments bacon's many uses in cooking.\n",
"On the subject of b... |
Can we determine, solely by examining the ear of an animal, the range of frequencies that the animal can hear? Or, how much more information do we need? | Good question. I don't think there is anything about the outer ear morphology that you can look at and then guess what frequencies an animal can hear, but I may be wrong. However, it's fairly easy to determine the range of frequencies an animal can hear and there are many methods to do it. For example, you can put some... | [
"Several primates, especially small ones, can hear frequencies far into the ultrasonic range. Measured with a signal, the hearing range for the Senegal bushbaby is 92 Hz–65 kHz, and 67 Hz–58 kHz for the ring-tailed lemur. Of 19 primates tested, the Japanese macaque had the widest range, 28 Hz–34.5 kHz, compared wit... |
When did silent reading become common? | The passage you mention from Augustine (c. 398) is the most famous. A century later in Benedict of Nursia’s day reading aloud must have still been around. In his *Rule* (c. 520s) in ch. 48 he advises: “After the sixth hour, however, when [the monks] have risen from table, let them rest in their beds in complete sile... | [
"The first Penguin edition of \"The Read-Aloud Handbook\" led to six additional U.S. editions, as well as British, Australian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese versions. Nearly two million copies of the \"Handbook\" have been sold worldwide, and it was the inspiration for PBS's \"Storytime\" series. It is als... |
why does the act of burning fuel at the buttom of a rocket make it move? what causes propulsion? | It’s like blowing up a balloon and letting it go, the air escaping the balloon makes it fly. Now imagine the balloon can keep creating air by burning fuel.
The liquid fuels combine to becomes gas, and more gas molecules are created, as well as being. Heated up by the reaction. The new hot gas must go somewhere, and th... | [
"The effect of the combustion of propellant in the rocket engine is to increase the velocity of the resulting gases to very high speeds, hence producing a thrust. Initially, the gases of combustion are sent in every direction, but only those that produce a net thrust have any effect. The ideal direction of motion o... |
on old fashioned ships from the 1600s pirate times etc i’m guessing they had fires to keep warm how did they keep these safe and protect the wooden ship from burning? | In the age of sail, ship's cabins were poorly ventilated, and dozens (or even hundreds) of men would keep the cabin more than warm enough with their body heat alone when they were sleeping. When walking about the deck of the ship, warm clothing was about all that could be relied on.
Ships were extremely flammable, wit... | [
"Warships of the age of sail were highly vulnerable to fire. Made of wood, with seams caulked with tar, ropes greased with fat, and stores of gunpowder, there was little that would not burn. Accidental fires destroyed many ships, so fire ships presented a terrifying threat. With the wind in exactly the right direct... |
What was the most powerful European country during the Middle Ages? Military, technology and economy. | Could you be a little more specific please?The "Middle Ages" covers a very long period of History, the answer will be very different comparing on when it is. | [
"In the course of the European Middle Ages, the European kingdoms underwent a general trend of centralisation of power, so that by the Late Middle Ages there were a number of large and powerful kingdoms in Europe, which would develop into the great powers of Europe in the Early Modern period.\n",
"Early modern Eu... |
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