Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
why are maps that way round?	Because the original explorers were Western Europeans, and we've just used modified revisions of their maps since everyone has been used to them. Defining North as the "top" of anything is a human attribution, and we could easily make the South the "top" of the world. [Here](_URL_1_) is a video from the tv show The We...	[ "A good example of this is the surface of the Earth. While maps frequently portray north, south, east and west as a simple square grid, that is not in fact the case. Instead, the longitude lines running north and south are curved and meet at the north pole. This is because the Earth is not flat, but instead round.\...
I know that a calorie is the energy needed to raise 1 gram of water through 1 degree Celsius, but what is the actual process used to determine what calorie value to put on a nutrition label?	Typically speaking, nutrition labels are calculated by using reference materials rather than direct analysis. As for the reference values, those are determined by bomb calorimetry, which is exactly what you've surmised. A dehydrated sample is placed in a sealed container, the container is flooded with oxygen (to ensur...	[ "The calorie equals the amount of thermal energy necessary to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 Celsius degree, from a temperature of 14.5 degrees Celsius, at a pressure of 1 atm. For thermochemistry a calorie of 4.184 J is used, but other calories have also been defined, such as the International Ste...
Why is it that the American colonies with the highest Puritan populations are now the least religious and most liberal states in the country?	I’ll add another wrinkle to your question: how is that the least religious colonies of the 18th century – those of the South, where church attendance was markedly lower than in New England or the Middle Colonies – have now become the Bible Belt of the US? One answer has been provided by Christine Leigh Heyrman in he...	[ "The Puritans created a deeply religious, socially tight-knit, and politically innovative culture that still influences the United States. They fled England and attempted to create a \"nation of saints\" or a \"City upon a Hill\" in America, a community designed to be an example for all of Europe.\n", "That the N...
Did Germans citizens who peacefully opposed Hitler get punished in any way? What would happen if a soldier didn't want to kill Jews?	German citizens who peaceably opposed Hitler could still be punished, and indeed executed. The [White Rose](_URL_4_) is the most famous example. People who did so more privately could still be punished if the state found out. Most Jews were killed by special units, not just by everyday soldiers. Early in the in F...	[ "While Allied servicemen were ordered to obey local laws while in Germany, soldiers could not be prosecuted by German courts for crimes committed against German citizens except as authorised by the occupation authorities. Invariably, when a soldier was accused of criminal behaviour the occupation authorities prefer...
What did America do after the dust bowl	Agricultural practices changed in part by necessity. I can only speak to my experiences growing up on a wheat farm in Kansas with the generation that survived still around to tell us about it. The weather in the 1920's had some impact on what happened later in the 1930's. In the 1920s there was a good amount of rain...	[ "The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes (wind erosion) caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three wa...
why is alcohol so detrimental to fat loss/muscle gaining goals? what’s the biological mechanisms happening?	As far as I am aware (I'm not an expert so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) alcohol changes the way your body burns fat. Excessive intake means that your body is focusing more on burning off the alcohol rather than fat. It's a myth that alcohol contains a lot of sugar, however, we generally mix alcohol wit...	[ "Heavy alcohol consumption over a period of years can lead to \"reverse tolerance\". A liver can be damaged by chronic alcohol use, leading to a buildup of fat and scar tissue. The reduced ability of such a liver to metabolize or break down alcohol means that small amounts can lead to a high blood alcohol concentra...
why is shampoo usually translucent but conditioner opaque?	Because conditioner is marketed as a "cream". (In fact it's sometimes the case and used to be the case back in the day that people would call conditioner "cream rinse".) We associate opacity with creaminess and moisturizing properties, while we associate clarity with cleaning properties. Kind of like why Crystal Pe...	[ "One reason is concern about the effect of ingredients typically found in commercial hair care products. Shampoo typically contains chemical additives such as sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, which can irritate sensitive skin or if not thoroughly rinsed. Such chemical additives are also believed by...
Does our mother tongue affect our face features in any way?	Are you asking if facial features have evolved based on the languages spoken in a particular area? For instance, do Spanish speaking areas generally have more defined tongue muscles after centuries of rolling the R sound?	[ "Mother tongue is defined by Statistics Canada as the \"first language learned at home during childhood and still understood by the individual at the time of the census.\" Because some children are born into marriages between parents who use different languages in the home, the census allows individuals to indicate...
will we run faster if we use 4 legs instead of 2	It entirely depends on the configuration of our body after the results of the change. If basically unchanged in form, the answer's a clear no. You can prove this by trying to do a crawling run on your arms and legs now, effectively treating your hands as your front feet. You can move along fairly well, but your pace ...	[ "Ultra runners can split up legs any way they choose, provided that the person assigned to run leg 1 also runs legs 13 and 25, the person assigned to run leg 2 also runs legs 14 and 26, and so on. Usually teams either switch runners after every leg, using one van, or switch runners after every other leg, using two ...
how did early humans, or those part of small tribes and villages, survive genetic disorders of inbreeding and did not become extinct?	Humans have been apex predators for most of their history. There was never a time when the population of homo-whatevers was so low that mating became a genetic challenge. By the time societies formed, there were more than enough humans to breed with. It doesn't take that large a population to guarantee genetic variat...	[ "At first the Earth-human population dwindled. Then they formed a close alliance with one of the native tribes and also found that they could interbreed, which had previously been thought impossible. On this basis, they recover and unify the world.\n", "An acute problem is potential inbreeding. The remaining popu...
Since neutrinos DO interact with particles if they get lucky, such as atomic nuclei, do neutrinos interact with the strong force, or weak force?	Neutrinos interact via the weak force and gravity.	[ "Because neutrinos are neither affected by the strong force nor the electromagnetic force, and because the gravitational force between subatomic particles is negligible, such an interaction can only happen via the weak force. Since such an electron is not created from a nucleon, and is unchanged except for the new ...
Would a box with a perfectly reflective interior have light inside?	There is no such thing as a perfectly reflective material. Any apparently reflective material will still absorb a small amount of the light reflecting off of it.	[ "The physical properties of the box are designed to show \"diffuse interreflection\". For example, some light should reflect off the red and green walls and bounce onto the white walls, so parts of the white walls should appear slightly red or green.\n", "The sides and back of the box are lined with a bright surf...
Dark Matter, Black Holes and The Big bang!	There is a strong theory that says for the first 7 billion or so years the rate of expansion was actually slowing (even though everything was still expanding), due to the gravity of all the particles that were held in space at that time. Over time though, even though the rate was slowing, the particles became too spre...	[ "According to the Lambda-CDM model, by this stage, the matter in the universe is around 84.5% cold dark matter and 15.5% \"ordinary\" matter. (However the total matter in the universe is only 31.7%, much smaller than the 68.3% of dark energy). There is overwhelming evidence that dark matter exists and dominates our...
do things suspended in a magnetic field affect the weight of whatever the magnets are on? if i had a backpack that could do that an out something that was 5kg in it would i feel that much heavier?	Yes, when magnet A pushes on magnet B, magnet B also pushes on magnet A by the same amount. All field forces - gravity, electric, magnetic - work the same way.	[ "In other systems the weight is allowed to move, and its motion produces an electrical charge in a coil attached to the mass which voltage moves through the magnetic field of a magnet attached to the frame. This design is often used in a geophone, which is used in exploration for oil and gas.\n", "In the presence...
how does the mlb regulate the dimension of a park when its being built?	The rules "Any Playing Field constructed by a professional club after June 1, 1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right and left field foul lines, and a minimum distance of 400 feet to the center field fence." (Rule 2.01) Teams ca...	[ "Unlike those of most sports, baseball playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the infield are specifically regulated, the only constraint on outfield size and shape for professional teams following the rules of MLB and Minor League Baseball is that fields built or remodeled...
why do we feel cold when we have tummyaches?	One of the cranial nerves, those connected directly to the brain rather than the spinal column, runs through the abdominal cavity is called the [Vagus nerve.](_URL_0_) the Latin name means "wanderer" and indeed it does it is connected to and exerts a strong influence in many parts of the body. Abdominal pain can stimu...	[ "Cold sores are the result of the virus reactivating in the body. Once HSV-1 has entered the body, it never leaves. The virus moves from the mouth to remain latent in the central nervous system. In approximately one-third of people, the virus can \"wake up\" or reactivate to cause disease. When reactivation occurs,...
how exactly does a 1080p screen display a 720p video, or any other resolutions without an even scale?	It just scales the video as closely as possible. It will warp the image slightly, stretching it out to fit the display. Luckily, 1080p and 720p share the same aspect ratio (16:9), so the image doesn't have to be warped. You device just scales up each pixel to 150%, and you've gone from 720p to 1080p.	[ "The number \"720\" stands for the 720 horizontal scan lines of image display resolution (also known as 720 pixels of vertical resolution). The \"p\" stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. When broadcast at 60.00 frames/s frames per second, 720p features the highest temporal resolution possible under the...
how would the internet sustain itself if everyone used adblock? are there any other options for income than ads or a fee?	Plenty of websites make money without intrusive ads. _URL_1_ has been ad free since the beginning, and covers the costs of operations by referrals to websites that have merch for bands. _URL_0_, while using ads, make more money from their YouTube channel and merchandise than from their ads. IMHO, pop ups and intrusi...	[ "Some content providers have argued that widespread ad blocking results in decreased revenue to a website sustained by advertisements and e-commerce-based businesses, where this blocking can be detected. Some have argued that since advertisers are ultimately paying for ads to increase their own revenues, eliminatin...
How did Romans view the myth of Romulus and Rhemus? Were they at all interested in "fact" or was that not a principle of historical writing?	Specifically with regard to Romulus and Remus, it's interesting to note that Livy (not the most skeptical of writers) explicitly doubted, if not the story of Rome's foundation under the twins, at least the bit about the being raised by a wolf. [He says $1.4$](_URL_0_) that the idea that they were raised by a she-wolf...	[ "Although a debate continues, current scholarship offers little evidence supporting the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus. Starting with Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree, as were not free to make things up. The archaeo...
the recreational drug hierarchy. which drugs are worse for your body short-term, long-term, etc?	I wouldn't look at it as a heirarchy. Drugs all have different effects given they are used a certain way. Granted the long term use of drugs lead to different outcomes. You cannot objectively say some are worse than others when their effects are so different but still very severe. I would rank it as this from best to ...	[ "BULLET::::- using recreational drugs in moderation, setting reasonable limits on the consumption and not allowing drug use to overshadow other aspects of their life (i.e. financial and social responsibilities)\n", "Gabapentinoids produce euphoria at high doses, with effects similar to GABAergic central nervous s...
how does the cell tower know what phone to send a call/text message to? how secure is this system?	Each phone has a unique ID, and it registers that ID with the tower as it connects. The tower isn't physically able to target one phone: it broadcasts the data tagged with the target phone ID, and all devices except that phone will normally ignore it. The data itself is normally encrypted. However, we know that cell...	[ "Mobile phones receive and send radio signals with any number of cell site base stations fitted with microwave antennas. These sites are usually mounted on a tower, pole or building, located throughout populated areas, then connected to a cabled communication network and switching system. The phones have a low-powe...
Looking for book recommendations on Theodore Roosevelt.	I think the big one is Edmund Morris' award winning trilogy consisting of [The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt](_URL_1_), [Theodore Rex](_URL_0_) and [Colonel Roosevelt](_URL_2_).	[ "The Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia is a comprehensive project to publish, in one collection, the significant sayings, important conversations and writings (less his letters) of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. Originally conceived by Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, a history professor at Harva...
Is the atlantic ocean rougher and more dangerous than the pacific ocean?	Generally the roughest water in the world surrounds Antarctica due the ability of the wind and waves to travel across the world in relatively unbroken loop. As far as which has rougher waters... It really depends on local conditions more than anything. Large storms and frequency of hurricanes vs. typhoons could make ...	[ "Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of or 23.5% of the global ocean and has a volume of or 23.3% of the total volume of the earth's oceans. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers and has a volume of . The North Atlantic covers (11.5%) and the South Atlantic (11.1%). The average depth...
what do musicians hear through the headphones when "acoustic" with a band?	This is called a "monitor mix" and it can be whatever the performer wants. If they are singing it will almost always include their own vocals. If they are playing an instrument it will almost always include that instrument. Many performers will want to hear some of all the other instruments. When there is a drummer the...	[ "Listening to a binaural recording through headphones simulates the binaural hearing by which people listen to live sounds. For the listener, this experience is characterized by two perceptions. Firstly, the listener perceives being in close proximity to the performers and location of the sound source. Secondly, th...
how does a hot and deserty country like egypt have such a high humidity?	Are you sure the humidity is that high or are you just use to a very low humidity? A quick google says the humidity there is only 33%, which is quite low when many places are at 80%+ right now. That said, it does border nothing but water on roughly half the country, so that is a pretty big factor to humidity. Look a...	[ "Egypt has an unusually hot, sunny and dry climate. Average high temperatures are high in the north but very to extremely high in the rest of the country during summer. The cooler Mediterranean winds consistently blow over the northern sea coast, which helps to get more moderated temperatures, especially at the hei...
how do actors improvise lines in movies?	Scenes aren't just shot in one take and then printed. To shoot a single scene, you do many takes -- one from a wide angle, one from medium, one focused on actor A, one focused on actor B, etc. Then an editor produces a final cut by mixing and cutting between a dozen takes, choosing the best angles and best times to swi...	[ "Altman regularly let his actors develop a character through improvisation during rehearsal or sometimes during the actual filming. Such improvisation was uncommon in film due to the high cost of movie production which requires careful planning, precise scripts, and rehearsal, before costly film was exposed. Nevert...
Theoretically how fast could a dial-up modem transfer files?	Let's clarify what the limits are. There is no law saying you can't go faster than a certain rate over dialup. There is however an FCC regulation (it's in part 68) that limits the power of your signal to prevent crosstalk between phone lines. The theoretical error-free capacity of a channel is defined by three factors...	[ "Since the XMODEM protocol required the sender to stop and wait for an ACK or NAK message from the receiver, it tended to be quite slow. In the era of 300 bit/s modems, the entire 132-byte packet required just over 3.5 seconds to send (132 bytes * 8 bits per byte / 300 bits per second). If it then took 0.2 seconds ...
why is b. obama always referred to as black? is mulatto an offensive term? why is a half-black person 'black' by default?	Because race is a socially-determined category in the US. The names used have less to do with hue than history. If you have any African heritage at all, in this country you're Black. "Mulatto" is offensive because it's an artifact of an even more racist era. EDIT (an hour after original post): Just for balance, [her...	[ "President Barack Obama is of European-American and East African ancestry; he identifies as African-American. A 2007 poll, when Obama was a presidential candidate, found that Americans differed in their responses as to how they classified him: a majority of White and Hispanics classified him as biracial, but a majo...
why do wild bulls gore everything in sight at a rodeo?	Bulls are extremely aggressive and territorial. Prior to being released they are not docile, just stuck in a small space unable to move much.	[ "The rodeo is accused of using various interventions to increase the aggressiveness of the horse before its entrance to the run. Electric shocks are commonly used, leading to the death of an animal in 2012. The growing controversy around events like the Calgary Stampede and the Houston Rodeo led to a total ban on r...
What makes (uncontacted) tribes so different from us?	There hasn't been enough evolutionary time for there to be any significant genetic differences. There's more inter-individual genetic variation than inter-racial genetic variation. They don't "lack curiosity", they are just isolated from the outside world. Maybe some refuse to integrate because of fear or cultural reas...	[ "Historically the Indian peoples of the North American continent rarely joined forces across tribal lines, which were divisions related to distinct language and cultural groups. One reason was that most tribes were highly decentralized, with their people seldom united around issues.\n", "Examples include Irish, S...
how did the nazi party fund their paramillitary groups before they took power?	From [an earlier answer of mine](_URL_3_) The sundry issue of funding is one that does not demand popular attention when dealing with the rise of the NSDAP. It used to be taken as a given by Marxists both within and without the Communist bloc postwar that the NSDAP received ts funding from big business. While there we...	[ "AEG donated 60,000 Reichsmarks to the Nazi party after the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 at which the twin goals of complete power and national rearmament were explained by Hitler. They joined with other large companies such as IG Farben, Thyssen and Krupp in their support of the Nazis, especially in promotin...
why stagnant water makes humans sick and can potentially kill them but animals and bugs have no problems with it.	It all depends what the organism is equipped to deal with. One kind of example of this is when a person from the U.S. goes to a place like India. An Indian has been drinking Indian tap water for their whole lives and is used to the bacteria, etc. that may be in it which is why they don't get sick. But for the America...	[ "Fish and other aquatic biota may be harmed by pesticide-contaminated water. Pesticide surface runoff into rivers and streams can be highly lethal to aquatic life, sometimes killing all the fish in a particular stream.\n", "Humans also pose a threat to troglofauna. Mismanagement of contaminants (e.g. pesticides a...
What makes up the atmosphere, and could we create one?	I don't think the plants will thicken the atmosphere, because plants convert CO2 into O2. There is no new gas that is being formed. it would thicken a bit if we would introduce plants that have already grown on earth and die and decompose on mars. But there are a few other problems, Mars is lighter than than the earth...	[ "BULLET::::- Earth's atmosphere — The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, commonly known as air, that surrounds the planet Earth and is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for liquid water to exist on the Earth's surface, absorbing ultravi...
Different type of /r/askscience question: What was the title of your dissertation/thesis?	"Relativistic dynamics and Dirac electrons in graphene" defense in 2 days... sigh...	[ "\"The first thesis: The Transcendental Critique of Theoretical Thought: Prolegomena to Herman Dooyeweerd's Philosophy of the Law-Idea, was completed in 1956. For this he was awarded the Licencié en Théologie at the Faculté Libre de Theologie Protestante in Montpellier. He is the author of The Biblical Doctrine of ...
what causes autism in the brain what are neurological differences in the brain?	Autism is not a 'disease' that comes from some kind of brain abnormality (pathology). It's a part of how any 'normal' human brain functions. It's the part of you that can focus on a task or sensation or idea so intently that you lose track of the outside world. Almost anyone can experience this, because everyone is *...	[ "Unlike many other brain disorders, such as Parkinson's, autism does not have a clear unifying mechanism at either the molecular, cellular, or systems level; it is not known whether autism is a few disorders caused by mutations converging on a few common molecular pathways, or is (like intellectual disability) a la...
is breaking the seal a thing? ... if so, why?	Not really. You can wait as long as you want to go to the bathroom for the first time, it won't change anything. You will still need to go frequently. Think of a water filter jug. You know those things that you pour water in the top then it filters it and fills up the bottom? Now imagine you put water in to one o...	[ "Record sealing is the practice of sealing or, in some cases, destroying court records that would otherwise be publicly accessible as public records. The term is derived from the tradition of placing a seal on specified files or documents that prevents anyone from reviewing the files without receiving a court order...
why does putting tape on windows help during a tornado?	Just in case your windows break, the tape will prevent it from shattering and all the little glass pieces flying everywhere. Easier to clean up and more safe	[ "Current advice is that opening windows in advance of a tornado wastes time that could be spent seeking shelter. Also, being near windows is very dangerous during a severe weather event, possibly exposing people to flying glass.\n", "Hurricane coverings, commonly known as shutters, are used in hurricane mitigatio...
how do glasses help a kid's eyes develop?	They do nothing to help a kids eyes develop. They correct vision problems helping them be able to see properly which helps motor development, and intellectual development.	[ "Glasses are beneficial to those who have severe nearsightedness, whereas individuals with retinal degeneration need training for the visually impaired, which is usually more beneficial when this is addressed at a young age. Younger patients start out having unimpaired vision, but it starts to deteriorate at a youn...
self posts/non-karma on self posts	A self post is what you just did, a text based post with no image or link. You accumulate 2 kinds of karma on Reddit, Link karma and comment karma. A self post does not have a link and it is not a comment, so no karma for it. This can allow things like moderator posts or other important messages to be upvoted heavily ...	[ "Since 2006, each user has the opportunity to express their opinions on the site, by pressing the '+' or '–' button for comments and posts. In the same way, they can express their attitude to each individual user on their profile page. Depending on the number of the '+/-' entries the user receives, it is shown as a...
why didn't coffee evolve the same way as tea, with everyone using little one-use bags of grinds just like tea?	Yes, it is a taste issue, but coffee bags do exist. They're just not as good as other methods of coffee making, although they are better than instant.	[ "In ancient China, compressed teas were usually made with thoroughly dried and ground tea leaves that were pressed into various bricks or other shapes, although partially dried and whole leaves were also used. Some tea bricks were also mixed with binding agents such as flour, blood, or manure to better preserve the...
What degree of stimulus is required to roust a hibernating animal? What process does the animal go through upon a sudden awakening?	Digging for answers I found [this answer](_URL_0_) from a couple of years back that might be helpful. It mostly treads around your question, but hopefully it’s a helpful starting place.	[ "Distraction displays frequently take the form of injury-feigning. However, animals may also imitate the behavior of a small rodent or alternative prey item for the predator; imitate young or nesting behaviors such as brooding (to cause confusion as to the true location of the nest), mimic foraging behaviors away f...
how capacitors work	First you have to think about the fact that "current" basically means that negative charges are moving one way through a wire, and positive charges are moving the other way. A capacitor is basically two conducting plates with an "insulator" between them called a dielectric. The reason it is called a dielectric and not ...	[ "Capacitors are connected in parallel with the power circuits of most electronic devices and larger systems (such as factories) to shunt away and conceal current fluctuations from the primary power source to provide a \"clean\" power supply for signal or control circuits. Audio equipment, for example, uses several ...
why do some internet services make it impossible to actually delete an account? what do they gain by holding on to an empty profile?	Just piggybacking on /u/ameoba 's answer, deletion is what's called an 'expensive' database action, especially depending on your underlying database software. Think of what has to happen to delete an account. Firstly, remember that especially with user accounts, you almost always want the data to be clustered. That ...	[ "The site allows users to hide their account profiles for free. Users looking to delete their accounts, even those made without the individual's consent, are charged a $19 fee. The \"full delete\" option claims to remove user profiles, all messages sent and received, site usage history, personally identifiable info...
why is the windshield on my car more frosty than everything else in the morning?	The night sky is very cold (you can feel this by looking up at the sky and then holding something like a piece of paper between you and the night sky). Your car's windshield is at an angle, so it gets more exposure to the night sky's cold. That heat loss is between your window and the sky can be enough to cause wat...	[ "The interior of a closed car parked in a non-shaded spot exposed to extensive sunlight can sustain sun and heat damage. Sunlight passing through the car's windshield produces the greenhouse effect, heating the interior to a temperature much higher than the outside air. Excessive heat and prolonged exposure to dire...
"Prussian discipline" is a term that comes up quite a bit. In what ways was Prussian society more disciplinarian than other European cultures of the age?	Prussian discipline referred to both the state of Prussia and its inhabitants as well as the army. But it was used first for the army and then transferred to state - which is not really surprising given how highly militarized Prussia was. The French Marquis de Mirabeau (edit: I falsely attributed the quote to Voltaire,...	[ "The term \"Prussian\" has often been used, especially outside Germany, to emphasise professionalism, aggressiveness, militarism and conservatism of the class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire.\n", "The Prussian legacy of a mainly tripartite system of educati...
Is it possible to use the Oberth maneuver around a black hole? If so what would be the result?	Sure. Depending on the mass of the black hole and the spacecraft capabilities you could gain quite a lot of speed from it. Or it rips apart your spacecraft. You need a big black hole to keep tidal gravity acceptable, so you have to establish interstellar travel first.	[ "As a black hole rotates, it twists spacetime in the direction of the rotation at a speed that decreases with distance from the event horizon. This process is known as the Lense–Thirring effect or frame-dragging. Because of this dragging effect, an object within the ergosphere cannot appear stationary with respect ...
exactly how is smoking weed different from eating edibles. not in your mind but chemically.	When you eat it it gets processed by your liver into 11-hydroxy-THC. Which is said to be 5 times more psychoactive than when you smoke or vaporize cannabis.	[ "Comparing effects of eating cannabis products and smoking them is difficult because there are large margins of error due to variability in how different people smoke, with the number, duration, and spacing of puffs, the hold time and the volume of the person's lungs all affecting the dosing. With regard to eating,...
how would universal healthcare in the us effect the economy?	If my basic internet sleuthing is correct: all the Republicans would move to Canada rather than pay for somebody else’s problems. This would drain the tax base and cause the system to collapse. Apparently it’s the worst thing we could ever do to the country. How dare you even suggest the idea of such a thing.	[ "Through all entities in its public–private system, the US spends more per capita than any other nation in the world, but is the only wealthy industrialized country in the world that lacks some form of universal healthcare. In March 2010, the US Congress passed regulatory reform of the American \"health insurance\"...
how does glass become sea-glass?	It becomes smooth after 20-50 years of being tumbled by waves and tides, in contact with abrasive saltwater and rough sand. It's possible because sand is of similar hardness to glass (being made from similar materials), the sand is able to wear away the glass. "Fake" sea glass is fairly easy to make in much less tim...	[ "Naturally produced sea glass (\"genuine sea glass\") originates as pieces of glass from broken bottles, broken tableware, or even shipwrecks, which are rolled and tumbled in the ocean for years until all of their edges are rounded off, and the slickness of the glass has been worn to a frosted appearance.\n", "Se...
how do humans "learn to like" things? shouldn't we have the same response every time?	Not the same response every time, because learning takes place! When you were small, money had no value to you-- it was not conditioned as a reinforcer. Your caregivers gave you food, a place to sleep, etc. As you grew up, you started to learn that money was a method of accessing all of these great things, so money bec...	[ "Shared reference during an activity facilitates learning. Adults either teach by doing the task with children, or by directing attention toward experts. Children that had to ask questions in regard to how to perform a task were scolded for not learning by another's example, as though they were ignoring the availab...
Sheets of Metal, Why do they make thunder sounds?	I hate to be the source of 'speculation' but I would be really surprised if it's anything but coincidence. A large sheet of metal is going to have certain vibrational modes set by its size and the way it flexes. It's not obvious to me that any of those patterns are repeated in thunder which is produced by something aki...	[ "A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet. It is also known as a thunder machine, though this can also refer to a large drum used for a similar sound effect.\n", "Thunder is the s...
why aren't things that are inherently good for us addicting? while things that are naturally bad for us are?	The premise of your question is fundamentally flawed. The real question shouldn't be "why are bad things addicting", but rather "why can we even get addicted to something that isn't food or sex in the first place". Because the chemical pathways that addicting substances hijack are the same ones your body uses to signal...	[ "Some claim the existence of “addictive beliefs” in people more likely to develop addictions, such as “I cannot make an impact on my world” or “I am not good enough”, which may lead to developing traits associated with addiction, such as depression and emotional insecurity. People who strongly believe that they con...
Why do birds move their heads like stop motion animation? Why don't they have more fluid head movements?	Some birds, not all, bob their heads when they walk. The classic example is pigeons. Bobbing their heads allows the bird to fixate their gaze on an object while moving. It's a way to stabilize images and all animals have adaptations to do this, which differ by group and physiology. Pigeons actually don't bob their he...	[ "Halteres and vision both play a role in stabilizing the head. Flies are also able to perform compensatory head movements to stabilize their vision without the use of their halteres. When the visual field is artificially rotated around a fly at slower angular velocities, head stabilization still occurs. Head stabil...
The cultural reputations of Edison and Tesla portray Tesla as an unappreciated genius, and Edison as a cynical opportunist. Are these reputations fair? Was Tesla's alternating current superior and workable, and, if so, why didn't it become standard?	These reputations are based on a little fact, and are substantially unfair. Edison was an astute businessman who took advantage of opportunities (but hardly cynical). Edison was famous for a wide range of inventions - while many others contributed to the more-than-1000 patents of Edison, he was a prolific and successfu...	[ "Tesla was a good friend of Francis Marion Crawford, Robert Underwood Johnson, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. In middle age, Tesla became a close friend of Mark Twain; they spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere. Twain notably described Tesla's induction motor i...
why is it sometimes so satisfying to press buttons and flip switches?	problem solving (which these actions mimic in a simple form) is a catalyst of evolution	[ "Switches come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the action used to activate them (such as sip-puff, pushing, pulling, pressing, blinking or squeezing). Switches also vary in their colour and aesthetics. For push or press switches, the amount of force required to operate them varies or in some cases can...
What is the system of proving something? Is there only one or are there multiple, more specific systems? What makes something proven?	Almost all math takes place in [ZFC](_URL_0_), which is strong enough to do almost anything you can think of. In more specific fields people will study objects with certain assumed properties, because that's basically the only way to get interesting theorems. (E.g. algebraists will limit their study to groups, which sa...	[ "Different propositional proof systems for propositional logic, such as the sequent calculus, the cutting-plane method, resolution, etc., may provide different proofs for the same formula. Proof complexity measures the efficiency of the proof system usually in terms of the minimal size of proofs possible in the sys...
Do different types of Arachnids eat each other?	Yes, spiders eat other species of spider and their own species quite often. Different species have different propensities for cannibalism however.	[ "BULLET::::- Arachnids: A race of hostile spider-like aliens. They have four walking limbs, two manipulator limbs (near the mouth), and two spinning limbs that shoot strands or globs of spidersilk. They are rumored to use captive lifeforms for food or to incubate their eggs.\n", "Arachnids produce digestive juice...
what are some of the causes of the huge variability in average salary (finance vs nursing for example)	Supply and demand, both for the field and people working in it. It’s good to have more skilled doctors, lots of people need doctors, but it’s hard to become a doctor. You need years of training and practice. So people are willing to pay more for a doctor. Finances, while still important, don’t have the same kind of b...	[ "Other studies have shown that the Hay system, which evaluates jobs, undervalues the occupations that tend to be filled by women, which continues to bias wages against women’s work. Once a certain job becomes associated with women, its social value decreases. Almost all studies show that the percentage of women is ...
what would happen if all the cockroaches in the world disappeared?	We'd be left with only crickets and spiders to complain about.	[ "A mass depopulation of cockroaches has been observed since the beginning of the 21st century in Russia and other countries of the former USSR. Observers have noted a quick disappearance of various types of cockroaches from cities and towns in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.\n", "A ...
What caused the Philippine American War? And what was the reaction of the journalists at home and the war correspondents abroad to American atrocities?	There was a thread not too long ago that asked similar questions that may be useful for you. [Thread here.](_URL_0_). The reasons for the decision by the United States to engage in a colonial experiment are vast and I will provide you with three books to check out. The first is Ernest May's Imperial Democracy", in w...	[ "In the late 19th century, Joseph Pulitzer and other yellow journalism publishers goaded the United States into the Spanish–American War, which was precipitated when the U.S.S. Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba.\n", "Although yellow journalism, a type of sensational reporting that had little concern wi...
why have processor speeds been stuck at 2-4 ghz for a long time?	Intel was famous for trying to push clock speeds to the maximum in the early/mid 2000s with their Pentium 4 lineup. However, they found that increasing clock speeds, and consequently a need for higher core voltages, DRAMATICALLY increased power draw. Increased power draw means a lot more heat that has to be disposed...	[ "The two ARM processors in the GP2X can be overclocked beyond their rated speed in software. The maximum speed one can reach through overclocking varies from system to system, with about 1 in 50 reaching over 300 MHz and others barely reaching 240 MHz (many systems can be overclocked beyond 240 MHz with no problems...
Why did the US Government make it so Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates have to be of the same party?	Before the 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, the candidate with the most votes received the Presidency and the second most received the Vice-Presidency. All electors had one vote, only for the Presidency. From the viewpoint of men like George Washington, who pled with America to avoid factions, this seemed logical, as ...	[ "The United States has had a two-party system for much of its history, and the two major parties have nominated vice presidential candidates in most presidential elections. Since the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789, there have been 58 unsuccessful major party candidates for Vice President of ...
why do so many parking lots, particularly in "shopping centers," seem so poorly designed?	I don't think it is terribly "difficult". It simply isn't the #1 priority. When designing a parking lot for a shopping center, one of the highest priorities is simply density. They don't want a scenario where potential customers leave because they can't find a space, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is...	[ "Parking space is becoming increasingly difficult to find as car parks are built over and car ownership increases. The covered parking included as a feature of many new buildings has not eased the situation.\n", "In newer cities that have been planned mostly around the use of automobiles, public squares are rare ...
Did Roman provincial governors rule with autonomy in the Late Republic?	In practice, they had near total control over their provinces. Like mini-emperors in a province. Most governors, even the "good" ones, saw provincial command as a chance to make some money after the expensive bid for office (getting elected in Rome was fairly expensive and some positions, like Aedile, required out of p...	[ "As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the central government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire. News of invasion, revolt, natural disasters, or epidemic outbreak was carried ...
When I type on my computer, where does the actual electricity from my keystroke travel to and what physical changes does it cause?	The keyboard has a [key matrix](_URL_0_) so that each button corresponds to a unique x,y value. Different models of keyboard may have different key matrix layouts. When a key is pressed, the key matrix identifies to the keyboard's internal circuitry which key has been pressed. The circuitry then translates the keypres...	[ "When the user pressed a key on the typewriter keyboard, a small amount of current from a battery flowed through the key into one of the contacts on the input side of the disk, through the wiring, and back out a different contact. The power then operated the mechanicals of an electric typewriter to type the encrypt...
Is there any evidence that the United States purchased Alaska as part of a plan to connect it with the rest of the country (i.e. through Canada)?	Secretary of State William H. Seward who orchestrated the purchase of Alaska actually wanted to annex the entire pacific coast. The annexation bill of 1866 which never really went anywhere proposed voluntary annexation of British Columbia. A second proposal in 1867 also provided for voluntary annexation of British Co...	[ "The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia in the Alaska Purchase, but the boundary terms were ambiguous. In 1871, British Columbia united with the new Canadian Confederation. The Canadian government requested a survey of the boundary, but the United States rejected it as too costly; the border area was v...
how does slamming particles into each other in the lhc help us to make new discoveries?	Some of the most fundamental particles that make up atoms are really difficult to isolate and study. One of the ways scientists have been able to see them is to accelerate particles to extreme speeds then collide them with each other, seeing what comes out. This is what the LHC is designed to do.	[ "The experience from the operation of LEP and LHC and the opportunity to test novel technologies in the High Luminosity LHC provide a basis for assessing the feasibility of a post-LHC particle accelerator. The study delivered a Conceptual Design Report (CDR) by the end of 2018, in time for the next European Strateg...
how do voice assistants like siri or google assistant say so many things?	I think it has a bank of "noises" or syllables so all of the noises are put together when talking, so your name will be made from those noises, like it is with most other names	[ "Voice assistants are interfaces that allow a user to complete an action simply by speaking a command. Introduced in October 2011, Apple’s Siri was one of the first voice assistants widely adopted. Siri allowed users of iPhone to get information and complete actions on their device simply by asking Siri.\n", "Use...
The "Moon Anomaly"	Keep in mind, the variations he's talking about is on the order of several trillionths. That's several millimeters.	[ "The existence of moonquakes was an unexpected discovery from seismometers placed on the Moon by Apollo astronauts from 1969 through 1972. The instruments placed by the Apollo 12, 14, 15, and 16 missions were functional until they were switched off in 1977. Moonquakes are not believed to be caused by tectonic plate...
how do printers work so fast and efficiently? how does the ink not smudge all over the page?	Please point me to this magical printer you have that prints fast and "efficiently" all the time.	[ "To combat this drying, nearly all inkjet printers include a mechanism to reapply moisture to the printhead. Typically there is no separate supply of pure ink-free solvent available to do this job, and so instead the ink itself is used to remoisten the printhead. The printer attempts to fire all nozzles at once, an...
why do the nsa and fbi actually need to gather our data?	They need to be able to have a file on everybody containing all of their transgressions (legal or otherwise). This way when they want to get rid of someone they can just pull up the file and have them arrested/blackmailed for whatever is in there. This is the only thing that really makes sense. By their own admissio...	[ "NSA was reported in 2008 to use its computing capability to analyze \"transactional\" data that it regularly acquires from other government agencies, which gather it under their own jurisdictional authorities. As part of this effort, NSA now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic email data, web addresses fr...
How did people react to hearing their own voice when the phonograph was invented?	As it seems there is little source material to directly answer this question, I have attempted to give as informed an answer as possible, based on material regarding comparable situations. First of all; your own voice travels not only through air, but also through bone and muscle (bone conduction) resulting in the alt...	[ "The first public records describing voice recording were reported in a New York newspaper and the Scientific American in November 1877. Thomas A. Edison had announced the invention of his \"phonograph\" saying \"the object was to record telephone messages and transmit them again by telephone.\" Edison applied for ...
If only the skull of a human is found during an archaeological dig, is it possible to determine the gender of the individual?	Yes, it is. The skulls of men and women are shaped differently. You can see just in the facial bone structure of living human beings that there is a difference. A studied anthropologist looking at the skulls wouldn't have much trouble.	[ "However, the pelvis is not always present, so forensic anthropologists must be aware of other areas on the skeleton that have distinct characteristics between sexes. The skull also contains multiple markers that can be used to determine sex. Specific markers on the skull include the temporal line, the eye sockets,...
why does faster flow in a hose cause more pressure, given bernoulli's principle?	The pressure increases downstream of your thumb, and the velocity decreases. Less water flows out of the hose. But as the water passes the restriction, your thumb, the pressure drops and the velocity increases. You can only feel the pressure increase, because you don't feel the water after it leaves.	[ "One result of Bernoulli's Principle is that slower moving current has higher pressure. This principle is used, for example, by some benthic suspension feeders. These smart guys dig holes like U tubes with one end higher than the other end. Because of bottom drag, as water flows over the bottom the lower tube openi...
How much validity is there to the "Right and Left Brain" dynamic as a reference to math and artistic capability?	It's generally considered a myth, mainly because while there exists functional differences between the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere, they are also both very interconnected and often participate in the same task (whether it's language or spatial ability). The whole left-logical; right-creative is pretty muc...	[ "In \"The Divided Brain\", McGilchrist digests study after study, replacing the popular and superficial notion of the hemispheres as respectively logical and creative in nature with the idea that they pay attention in fundamentally different ways, the left being detail-oriented, the right being whole-oriented. Thes...
Why was England the only Germanic nation to keep common law?	It was not a question of simply keeping the old Germanic tribal law or moving to something else. The common law in England emerged from the intersection of local expressions of Anglo-Saxon law (with its germanic roots), on the one hand, with the Norman French law, on the other, in the 11th and 12th centuries and follow...	[ "While English common law originated in thirteenth century England and has then been transplanted through colonization and occupation to England’s ex-colonies (United States, Canada, Australia, and several countries in Central America, Africa and Asia), the Scandinavian common law was developed in Denmark and Swede...
How come people in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries have Islam/Arab influenced names like Ibrahim and Omar?	I think you're underestimating the significance of Islamic rule. They were there for around 800 years - from the first invasion in 711 to the fall of Granada in 1492. I think you're also underestimating the size of the Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsular. They didn't just rule "parts of Spain". They ruled almos...	[ "The use of Arabic names is prominent among the Filipino Muslims. The country has Islamic influence from what are now Arabs, Persians, Malays, Indonesians, and Indians, who have traded with ancestors of Filipinos, and introduced Islam to the southern parts of the archipelago beginning in the 13th century. Some name...
does bank account with all money which my country hold exist ?	I once heard a guy on the radio who told that he performed transactions on the Dutch government national bank account, account number "1" at The Netherlands Bank. For instance, when the Netherlands needs to pay fees to the European Union, it is done from this bank account. I'm not sure if this account "holds all the co...	[ "Even where a bank has branches or affiliates in multiple jurisdictions, balances in a foreign currency account in one jurisdiction are held with a correspondent account at either that bank's branch or affiliate in the foreign country, or at another institution. For example, HSBC receives US dollars at its affiliat...
how does the science behind the inheritance of skin colour work?	Skin color is controlled in significant part by genetics, which you inherit from your parents. However, there's a number of these genes, not simply (for instance) a white gene or a black gene. These genes can vary in dominance, with some favoring darker skin, lighter skin, or not heavily favoring either. When parents...	[ "Genes affecting coat color generally do so by changing the process of producing melanin. Melanin is the pigment that colors the hairs and skin of mammals. There are two chemically distinct types of melanin: pheomelanin, which is a red to yellow color, and eumelanin, which is brown to black. Melanin is not a protei...
Why are most, if not all antiviral drugs designed to attack the virus indirectly such as during replication and never directly such as binding to the virus, making it useless?	Viruses get inside a cell, replicate within it then burst out and travel to the next cell to do the same. This makes it very difficult and/or inefficient to target the viruses directly as most of the time they’re protected within a cell. Interrupting the process is able to be done despite the protection of the cell th...	[ "Antiviral drugs are often nucleoside analogues (fake DNA building-blocks), which viruses mistakenly incorporate into their genomes during replication. The life-cycle of the virus is then halted because the newly synthesised DNA is inactive. This is because these analogues lack the hydroxyl groups, which, along wit...
What's stopping planes from being built increasingly larger just by scaling up?	If you multiply all dimensions by a factor 2, then the mass of the aircraft will more than simply double. In the simple approximation, where the aircraft is a solid with a constant density throughout its structure, doubling all dimensions would increase the mass by a factor 8 (2 * 2 * 2, since length, width and height ...	[ "Large aircraft allow the transportation of large and/or heavy payloads over long distances. Making an aircraft design larger can also improve the overall fuel efficiency and man-hours for transporting a given load, while a greater space is available for transporting lightweight cargoes or giving passengers room to...
why do human beings, as a species, get such enjoyment from picking on each other and hurting each others' feelings, even among supposed friends?	Humans are a social species, and we highly value (and fight for) our rank within our peer group. Showing your peers that you are tougher than them, and deserve a higher position than them, is part of how you gain rank and thus better access to resources, mates, and decision-making power.	[ "These behaviors facilitate interaction between members of the same species and are central to a species' connection to the surrounding world. Think about this from your perspective. Humans are able to feel the same sorts of complex emotions that most other humans feel, and these emotions often elicit certain behav...
How important was Cortes in the conquest of Mexico?	He kind of orchestrated and led the native coalition and Spanish troops that defeated the Aztecs, who were the most powerful state in Mexico at the time. I'm not sure what you are going for here.	[ "Before Cortes's 1519-21 conquest of Mexico, he had been a colonist, administrator, and conquistador in Hispaniola (from 1504) and Cuba (from 1511). He never traveled to Darien, but could have seen the Pacific sometime after his conquest of Mexico or during his 1524-26 visit to Honduras. Later during his governorsh...
what happens to the water elevation of a lake when a drop of water falls in?	it evenly distributes. Any time you have a raised area in the water it will "spill" over since there is nothing holding it back. It will continue to "spill" until it is even with everything else.	[ "20 - 15 ka: \"Dropping lake level.\" There was a sudden fall in lake level at the beginning of this period. Sand delta terraces from this time period indicated a lake-surface altitude of 2035 m. Recorded δO increased over this time period, reflecting falling lake level.\n", "In both cases, the final depth of the...
Why are ancient oracles or seers in TV often portrayed as ugly, old, blind and horny men. And how did they rise to power?	> The Oracle of Delphi in "300" Uhhhh...so...300 made that up...The oracular individual at Delphi was not a man, but the Pythia, the priestess to Apollo. There is only [one possible depiction of her](_URL_0_[1].JPG), on a bowl of the so-called Codrus Painter, and that identification is disputed. The selection proce...	[ "Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination. Oracles were the conduits for the gods on earth; their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Because of the high demand for oracle consultations and the oracles’ limited work schedule, they were not the main source of divinati...
Hypothetically, is it possible to have a nuclear powered aircraft (what about a passenger jet)? Has such a thing been attempted?	Ah! I'm useful. There were plans by both the US and the USSR to build nuclear-powered planes but the biggest hurdle was weight. The planes would be too heavy if effective measures were taken to protect the crew from radiation. I'm pretty sure that not a single prototype has actually flown under power from nuclear prop...	[ "In February 2003, the non-peer reviewed \"New Scientist\" wrote about the possibility of an IGE-powered airplane, a variant on nuclear propulsion. The idea was to utilize Hf (presumably due to its high energy to weight ratio) which would be triggered to release gamma rays that would heat air in a chamber for jet p...
Why are duck billed platypuses considered to be such a strange species?	because it's rad as hell. But: 1) males are venomous (there are ~7 venomous mammals) 2) No stomach 3) It's an monotreme. Which means it lays eggs and doesn't have nipples for milk production. It "sweats" the milk. 4) They have 10 sex chromosomes. "We" have no idea how it works. 5) they have electrolocation Hon...	[ "In its native range, the fanned tail is distinctive, allowing to distinguish this species from the freckled duck (\"Stictonetta naevosa\") which has similar size, colouration, and habits. The blue-billed duck (\"Oxyura australis\") has a similarly shaped tail, but the main colour of its males in breeding plumage i...
Were there many Japanese nationals in Nazi Germany? If so, how were they treated by the Nazi government and the German people, despite not being "Aryan" but still being citizens of an allied nation?	Part 1/2 I've written on the treatment of Asian nationals in Nazi Germany more generally in [this old answer](_URL_1_) where I cite the most known case of the Chinese community in Germany. In 1935 there were about 1.500 to 1.800 Chinese people in Germany, most of them living in Hamburg and Berlin having been sail...	[ "The Japanese were subject to Germany's racial laws, but in a more lenient manner compared to \"non-Aryans\" who had not been granted \"Honorary Aryan\" status. Hitler's government began enacting the laws after taking power in 1933, and the Japanese government initially protested several racial incidents involving ...
explanation the human immune system, li5.	[](/awyeah "I'm a medical student") The immune system is comprised of two parts: the innate and the adaptive system. The innate attacks anything they feel as dangerous, whereas the adaptive will counter specific antigens. It's the difference between shutting the door of the city hall, and installing a system that keep...	[ "The immune system is a host defense system comprising many biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease. To function properly, an immune system must detect a wide variety of agents, known as pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, and distinguish them from the organism's...
Do electronic devices 'absorb' wifi around them weakening the signal in their immediate vicinity?	In short (but I'll elaborate a little), realistically no. The only way that they would make a difference would be if they were all receiving the energy at the exact same point, which is physically impossible. Power from an antenna (like one found in a Wifi router) is emitted as a function of intensity (W/m^2). Imagine...	[ "So, when it is possible to modulate the signal by changing the material properties dynamically, the modulation of the side lobes is much less than that of the main lobe and so they disappear on demodulation, leaving a cleaner and more private signal.\n", "The continuing trend towards reduced feature size and vol...
Could a black hole ever be destroyed by some event?	What about a supernova happening just outside the event horizon of a black hole? Would it just explode into the black hole and vanish or would it push the black hole somehow?	[ "A primordial black hole with an initial mass of around would be completing its evaporation today; a less massive primordial black hole would have already evaporated. In optimistic circumstances, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite, launched in June 2008, might detect experimental evidence for evaporation...
Is the facebook video (link in comments) that is going around about the causes of the Civil War accurate? If not, what points are most refutable?	Yes, it is accurate. Much has been written about this topic, and the consensus is that slavery was the principal cause of the Civil War. As the video states, there were other contributing causes, but slavery was far and away the leading cause for the outbreak of war. It should be noted that we don't have the origi...	[ "The Logic of Violence in Civil War is a book which challenges the conventional view of violence in civil wars as irrational. The main argument is that violence only emerges in those disputed territories, and it is generally driven not by the conflict itself, but by previous rancors and enmities among the populatio...
what do the people in the bobsleds do when going down the track?	The push at the beginning is extremely important, and being able to sprint very fast while pushing a machine that weighs a few hundred pounds takes some muscle and athleticism. I'm not saying it's the hardest thing in the world, and I’m not saying that these positions are as competitive as some of the bigger sports, b...	[ "In the race's only Fast Forward, both team members had to completely shave each other's heads. They then had to travel to Cát Cò Beach 3, where they had to stand outside of a box in the sand and headbutt a volleyball to each other five times without letting it touch the ground. In this leg's Roadblock, one team me...
why is classical music titled by a musical note?	It's simply a way to differentiate a given piece without going through the individual catalog numbers. It tells you what key the piece is in. It should also be said that not all classical music is differentiated that way.	[ "In music, a note is the pitch and duration of a sound, and also its representation in musical notation (♪, ♩). A note can also represent a pitch class. Notes are the building blocks of much written music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis.\n", "A grace ...
what actually causes chromosomes to cross over in meiosis?	It's a very complex process, but the ELI5 version: special molecules attach to the chromosomes and break them apart, and the individual pieces of the two chromosomes are close enough together that they can stick to eachother instead of re-sticking to themselves. Here's a little animation with clay (!) showing what it ...	[ "During meiosis in a translocation homozygote, chromosomes segregate normally according to Mendelian principles. Even though the genes have been rearranged during crossover, both haploid sets of chromosomes in the individual have the same rearrangement. As a result, all chromosomes will find a single partner with w...
when a flashlight is about to die, it becomes very dim. why don’t phones do that same thing?	My dearest five year old, Great observation! That dimming is a voltage drop. And, as it turns out, yes the batteries in phones (and laptops) do have a similar voltage drop. Now, those batteries are usually more advanced than a headlamp's. But what really does the trick is the power supply! Internal mechanisms make the...	[ "BULLET::::- Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current. This pulse-width modulation is why LED lights, particularly headlights on cars, when viewed on camera or by some people, seem to flash or flicker. This is a type of stroboscopic effect.\n", "BULL...
other than efficiency, what does pumping premium gas instead of regular do?	It doesn't improve any of that. You are probably imagining it. Basically, it's possible to do more aggressive engine design if you only use premium. If your car doesn't say it uses premium (usually sports cars) there is no benefit.	[ "About 9 percent of all gasoline sold in the U.S. in May 2009 was premium grade, according to the Energy Information Administration. \"Consumer Reports\" magazine says, \"If [your owner’s manual] says to use regular fuel, do so—there's no advantage to a higher grade.\" The \"Associated Press\" said premium gas—whic...
Why can a drag coefficient only be found experimentally?	If you're talking about fluid drag, simple empirical models tend to be used to approximate total drag. An extensive physical treatment of the forces involved in fluid flow around an object is almost always extremely complex. When I say "empirical model" I mean, collecting a bunch of experimental data. Then finding a si...	[ "In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: formula_1, formula_2 or formula_3) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equation in which a lower drag coefficient indicates the obj...
Did ancient Roman women shave their legs, armpits, and/or pubic hair? What was considered the fashion vis-a-vis body hair for women of the ancient world?	Huh. I could have sworn that there was something about this very topic in the FAQ. Seeing as there isn't (or that it's just early in the morning and I'm as blind as a bat), I'll go ahead and write something up on Roman women and their body hair! Luckily for us, there are a few sources that discuss this, my favourite o...	[ "Flavian and Antonine hairstyles differed greatly between men and women in real life and in the physical appearance of hair for male and female sculptures. In ancient Rome hair was a major determinant of a woman's physical attractiveness, women preferred to be presented as young, and beautiful. Therefore, female sc...
why do microscopic images of things seem to have no texture? they look like crappy, grey animations.	There are two major forms of microscopes light microscopes and electron microscopes. Light microscopes generally have to slice things thinly enough to shine a light through the object in order to make out what it is made of and may be stained different colours for contrast. - _URL_0_ Scanning electron microscopes us...	[ "An image does not have any structure: it is just a collection of marks on paper, grains in film, or pixels in a bitmap. While such an image is useful, it has some limits. If the image is magnified enough, its artifacts appear. The halftone dots, film grains and pixels become apparent. Images of sharp edges become ...

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