Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
Rational floating point computations	More accurate? Not necessarily. A floating point number is usually stored in memory using 32 bits. Integers are often stored using 16 bits. So if you take two integers, you still have only 32 bits available. You can only store so much information within 32 bits, no matter how you write it down. Of course, you don't ha...	[ "A floating-point data type is a compromise between the flexibility of a general rational number data type and the speed of fixed-point arithmetic. It uses some of the bits in the data type to specify a power of two for the denominator. See IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic.\n", "In computing, floating-...
How is the CMB be the most distant thing we can see when there is a cosmic horizon?	The CMB we saw a billion years ago (well... would have seen) was emitted by matter closer to us. In a billion years we'll see the radiation from matter so far away that we can't see its radiation yet. At the same time we can follow what happened to the matter later that emitted the CMB we see today. The matter that em...	[ "The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation signature presents a direct large-scale view of the universe that can be used to identify whether our position or movement has any particular significance. There has been much publicity about analysis of results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) an...
do i have to charge my new phone battery to 100%?	short answer: no, you don't have to charge a new phone battery to 100% before use. that's a guideline meant for nickel-based batteries, which do need a full charge before use. the lithium batteries used in today's phones don't need to be fully charged, and in fact, a partial charge is preferable.	[ "Apple Inc. clarifies that a charge cycle means using all the battery's capacity, but not necessarily by discharging it from 100% to 0%: \"You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you mi...
Is it possible to have a Pi amount of some object, or would it be infinite?	Start your car. Accelerate from 0 kph to 20 kph. Somewhere along the way you'll be going pi kph.	[ "Pi certainly seems to behave this way. In the first six billion decimal places of pi, each of the digits from 0 through 9 shows up about six hundred million times. Yet such results, conceivably accidental, do not prove normality even in base 10, much less normality in other number bases.\n", "Also, the non-repre...
with gravity being tied to mass, if you were in the exact center of an earth sized object in a protected sphere, would you be weightless or experience intense pressure?	Both. If you're in the center of a uniform hollow shell - which ultimately this is, although the walls of it are very thick, you will be weightless, because the gravity in any given direction will be cancelled out by all the other directions. However, the weight of the rest of the planet is still bearing down on your...	[ "The fact that many large celestial objects are approximately spheres makes it easier to calculate their surface gravity. The gravitational force outside a spherically symmetric body is the same as if its entire mass were concentrated in the center, as was established by Sir Isaac Newton. Therefore, the surface gra...
how do rivers flow continuously?	The water in a river comes from many different sources. Let's try to think of a few. There are springs, where the water bubbles out of the ground. There is rain, where the water precipitates, or falls from the sky. There is the melting of glaciers or snow cover. The water also seeps out of wet ground, and the wate...	[ "A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. A few rivers simply flow into the ground and dry up completely before reaching another body of water. \n", "The water in a river is usually in a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger...
could we build nuclear power plants underground?	Must look at the tectonics of the potential site. Unstable tectonics could lead to a disaster	[ "Another project was the world's first light water reactor. With its principles of neutron moderation and fuel cooling by ordinary water, it is the direct ancestor of most modern nuclear power stations. The US Military funded much of its development, for nuclear-powered submarines and ships of the US Navy.\n", "O...
Are our pinky and ring fingers mechanically linked?	The tendons that go to these fingers are attached to the same muscle (FDS, FDP). With the tendons being adjacent to one another, it makes it difficult to flex one tendon/finger via muscle contraction while keeping the other tendon/finger completely extended. You are literally contracting one part of the muscle while re...	[ "闘 (Tō): Hands together, index fingers cross each other to touch opposite ring fingers, middle fingers crossed over them. Ring and pinky fingers are straight. Tips of ring fingers pressed together, tips of pinkies pressed together, but both sets of ring and pinky fingers are separated to form a V shape or bird beak...
the role of queen's guard	It's right there in the name. They are active soldiers who have a duty to guard the royal residences in the UK. They are not for tourists, although a very big tourist attraction, they a trained soldiers who have the authority to kill if needed. Plenty of YouTube videos of them shouting at tourists.	[ "The Queen's Guard is the name given to the contingent of infantry responsible for guarding Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace (including Clarence House) in London. The guard is made up of a company of soldiers from a single regiment, which is split in two, providing a detachment for Buckingham Palace and a de...
why are the borders of car windshields dotted?	_URL_0_ > It is called "frit" > > From an "auto glass specialist": > Seeing dots on windshields > > > Q: Several years ago, black dots started appearing on new vehicle windshields. The dots are usually only around the periphery of the windshield. What purpose do these dots serve? --Brad, Midland, Tex...	[ "The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike or tram is the front window, which provides visibility whilst protecting occupants from the elements. Modern windshields are generally made of laminated safety glass, a type of treated glass, which cons...
If water erodes coasts, why is there still land? How does land grow back into sea?	Well, even fast erosion processes are relatively slow from a human perspective, with some exceptions such as parts of coastal England. You have to remember that even in extreme cases, the coastline represents a small surface area for the water to act on, compared to the volume of the land mass. The rate depends a lot...	[ "In this process, land is slowly eroded on the western coasts, while sediments are deposited on the eastern coasts. As a result, western coasts are increasingly protected by human action. The canals between the islands serve as passages for the tides, so that in these places the scouring action of current prevents ...
George Church, Prof. of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Personal Genome Project, will answer your questions	Please forgive my ignorance if the answers to my questions is common knowledge, but I only did a short few weeks of undergrad genetics. I have often wondered how much an entire genetic code of an individual changes over a life time and if it is significant clinically. Are there any experiments underway /have there bee...	[ "Mary-Claire King (born February 27, 1946) is the American Cancer Society Professor of Genome Sciences and of Medical Genetics in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington. She studies human genetics and is particularly interested in genetic heterogeneity and complex traits. She studies the interac...
What was life like for WW2 German prisoners of war in Britain, after release?	One ex POW you may have heard of was Bert Trautmann who became the goalkeeper for Manchester City and famously played on in a Cup Final despite breaking his neck. Trautmann's Journey -from Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend by Catrine Clay (Yellow Jersey Press, London , 2010) deals with his experience in POW camps and as...	[ "Large numbers of German prisoners of war were held in Britain between the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and late 1948. Their numbers reached a peak of around 400,000 in 1946, and then began to fall when repatriation began. The experiences of these prisoners differed in certain important respec...
How did ancient soldiers keep from dying of exhaustion in long battles?	Appian wrote the quote below about the 43 BC Battle of Forum Gallorum during the civil war between Octavian and Mark Antony. Basically, two lines of men would smash into each other. They would shove and stab opportunistically, but the initial shoving match was more about testing the stamina and willpower of the opposi...	[ "According to this description, the resting place for the night was a poor choice, because it could easily turn into a death trap for sleeping soldiers, who had no space to form themselves for the battle, and no safe way of retreat. In fact, the valley was vast enough to fight a battle of large forces, but for a si...
how is it possible that our entire universe exists in a black hole in another universe?	We don't know. It's a musing by a few scientists.	[ "Nikodem Janusz Popławski (born March 1, 1975) is a Polish theoretical physicist, most widely noted for the hypothesis that every black hole could be a doorway to another universe and that the universe was formed within a black hole which itself exists in a larger universe. This hypothesis was listed by \"National ...
how do autistic people see the world?	with thier eyes	[ "Gresha said: “Autistic is the adjective of a development disorder of the brain, NOT a definition of who a person is! Educate yourselves and others on this disorder more common that Down Syndrome or cystic fibrosis. It is four times more common in boys than in girls and is said to be as common as one in every 250 c...
Other then the green house effect, what effects does an excess of CO2 have on the environment?	[Ocean acidification](_URL_0_) is a major additional adverse effect of excess CO2.	[ "The COfertiliser effect has been greatly overestimated during Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiments where results show increased CO levels in the atmosphere enhances photosynthesis, reduce transpiration, and increase water use efficiency (WUE). Increased biomass is one of the effects with simulatio...
How far back in history do you have to go before the world's major languages are no longer intelligible to modern speakers?	Looking at English, Shakespeare wrote about 500 years ago, and the language in his books, while not particularly easy, is intelligible to the modern ear with a bit of effort. Chaucer wrote about a hundred and fifty years before that, and his works, while slightly more difficult, can still be understood. *As help me ...	[ "As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the currently spoken languages will have become extinct by 2050.\n", "As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,00...
why don't psychologists and psychiatrists work in tandem?	Psychologists and psychiatrists normally work together, more or less. A counseling psychologist will refer a patient to a psychiatrist if they feel the patient needs help beyond what the counselor can provide. For instance, if a psychologist has a patient that's schizophrenic they would refer them to a psychiatrist a...	[ "In practice, clinical and counseling psychologists might work with individuals, couples, families, or groups in a variety of settings, including private practices, hospitals, mental health organizations, schools, businesses, and non-profit agencies.\n", "Clinical psychologists engage in a wide range of activitie...
how come a hot tub still puts off steam in the winter, even when it isn't hot enough out to evaporate the water?	Believe it or not, it's because it's not hot out that you can see so much steam. The physics behind this phenomenon is identical to cloud formation, where hot, moist air meets cold, dry air. The steam you see is actually water coming out of evaporation (condensing) as it meets the cold air above the hot tub.	[ "Hot tub covers have been shown to reduce most of the evaporative losses from the pool when not in use. With this component of heat loss being 70% a cover with even a small R-value is able to achieve as much as a 75% reduction in heating costs when used as opposed to leaving the water surface exposed.\n", "Since ...
How far would the earth need to be from the sun during it's red giant phase to be at the same temperature it is now?	There are a couple of ways to deal with our star becoming hotter and larger as it ages. One would be, as you suggest, shielding the Earth from some of the sun's light. The shield wouldn't have to be reflective, although that would help allieviate the buildup of heat on it. You could just build a massive solid wall...	[ "By 2.8 billion years from now, the surface temperature of the Earth will have reached , even at the poles. At this point, any remaining life will be extinguished due to the extreme conditions. If all of the water on Earth has evaporated by this point, the planet will stay in the same conditions with a steady incre...
Why can't we create life in a laboratory?	The [Miller-Urey Experiment](_URL_0_) did this, with surprisingly good results. Unfortunately for us, it would take a really (really really) long time for anything more than complex molecules to start forming - think about the timeframe of natural evolution. For the record, I am a cell/developmental biologist.	[ "Scientists have speculated about the possibility of creating life non-reproductively in the laboratory. Several scientists have succeeded in producing simple viruses from entirely non-living materials. However, viruses are often regarded as not alive. Being nothing more than a bit of RNA or DNA in a protein capsul...
I want to learn Mediaeval History of Italy	The difficulty with the historiography of medieval Italy is it is fragmented in case studies of specific cities. This variety makes for an incredibly rich historiography, but an intensely varied one. As far as general, introductory texts, I'm more familiar with English language historiography, but have read fairly wide...	[ "\"Modern Italy\" is the official journal of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy. Founded in 1995, the journal’s focus is the history, politics and social, economic and cultural studies of Italy, Italian affairs and the Italian peoples from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. The journal publishes...
Since photons have no charge, what force or mechanism causes them to deflect/scatter when coming into contact with matter?	Photons don’t have charge, but that just means that they don’t couple to each other. They still couple to particles which do have charge. And that’s usually what’s happening: a photon is scattering off of a charged particle. Scattering of light by light is possible due to higher-order effects, but it’s very rare.	[ "Photons mediate electromagnetic interactions between particles in quantum electrodynamics. An isolated electron at a constant velocity cannot emit or absorb a real photon; doing so would violate conservation of energy and momentum. Instead, virtual photons can transfer momentum between two charged particles. This ...
why do movie theaters charge seperate fares for different age groups?	To encourage (or discourage!) those groups. Kids are cheaper because if you get a kid to come you're also getting their parents. It's a 2 for 1 deal as far as the theater is concerned. Families also buy more concessions, which is where most theaters make their real money so encouraging them to come in the door is a ...	[ "Many movie theaters, amusement parks, tourist attractions, and other places have different admission prices per market segment: typical groupings are Youth/Child, Student, Adult, Senior Citizen, Local and Foreigner. Each of these groups typically have a much different demand curve. Children, people living on stude...
[Physics] If strong force is strong enough to keep protons together, why do atoms need neutrons to keep the protons from tearing apart?	You might be tempted to say that the Coulomb force is what prevents all-proton nuclei from existing (except hydrogen-1 obviously). But that's not the full story. In fact, if you replace all the protons with neutrons, the system is still not bound. So the nuclear force itself simply cannot bind a system of multipl...	[ "Unlike gravity or electrical forces, the nuclear force is effective only at very short distances. At greater distances, the electrostatic force dominates: the protons repel each other because they are positively charged, and like charges repel. For that reason, the protons forming the nuclei of ordinary hydrogen—f...
If Europeans never settled in the Americas and never took the land from the Natives. How long would the native tribes take to technologically advance and keep up with the rest of the world?	I've just finished reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. According to the thesis he explains, the Native Americans would probably never have become industrialised - unless they borrowed or stole technology and animals & plants from the Europeans. The reason that the North American natives were less advanc...	[ "From the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas, Europeans often removed native peoples from lands they wished to occupy. The means varied, including treaties made under considerable duress, forceful ejection, and violence, and in a few cases voluntary moves based on mutual agreement. The removal c...
how do companies like trivago and webjet actually make money?	In reality, these places aren't getting any real special rates... they're typically getting the same discount off "rack rate" all travel sites, and even the hotel websites show. These websites act as online travel agencies -- they are referred to as OTA's in the industry. Just as in the past, airlines or hotels would p...	[ "On 24 June 2013, Easy Taxi received Series B investment from Latin America Internet Holding (LIH) a joint venture between Rocket Internet and Millicom, securing another $15 million. At that time the company stated it had more than 1 million downloads and 30000 drivers in the network. The new funds were intended fo...
Why do people faint because of low blood sugar when they haven't had a meal for a long time if the body can turn stored glycogen into glucose?	This shouldn't happen. If it does, it's a sign that something's wrong with glucose control. One way in which a person can go hypoglycemic is too-high an insulin level or 'ringing' insulin (high then low then high again) levels. This shouldn't happen in healthy individuals, though. Eating too many 'fast' carbs at onc...	[ "Hypoglycaemia occurs when blood sugar levels drop too low; it can cause a variety of symptoms including hunger, sweating, rapid heart rate, and shaking. If left untreated, hypoglycaemia can lead to a loss of consciousness. Onset of hypoglycaemia can be sudden, requiring glucose levels to be normalised by consuming...
penis envy	Basically it was Sigmund Freud's theory that women secretly wish to be men. Along with a lot of Freud's other theories on child sexual development, its been largely discredited.	[ "Penis envy () is a stage theorized by Sigmund Freud regarding female psychosexual development, in which young girls experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a penis. Freud considered this realization a defining moment in a series of transitions toward a mature female sexuality and gender identity....
Why is Sun Yat-sen still so revered in China, if he's the founder of the Republic of China, which still opposes the current PRC?	The Mandate of Heaven. Let me explain. The Mandate of Heaven stipulates that dynasties start with the right to rule and then become increasingly incapable, until disasters begin to occur, signalling the need for a renewal of the dynastic cycle. As a result, the actions of later emperors of a dynasty can be safely disen...	[ "Sun Yat-sen remains unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for having a high reputation both in mainland China and in Taiwan. In Taiwan, he is seen as the Father of the Republic of China, and is known by the posthumous name \"Father of the Nation, Mr. Sun Zhongshan\" (, where the one-character space is a tradit...
During the height of the Cold War, how would full-scale nuclear war have been carried out?	What you are asking for is the "order of battle" — obviously such things are speculative but one can, with some effort, line up the various forces and doctrines and come up with things that are at least plausible. Robert Norris has been doing this sort of thing for a long time in a professional context, working for the...	[ "The conflict continued to escalate, with the major superpowers developing long-range missiles (such as the ICBM) and a nuclear strategy which guaranteed that any use of the nuclear weapons would be suicide for the attacking nation (Mutually Assured Destruction). The creation of early warning systems put the contro...
There is no/less Russian spy novel of cold war period?	There are actually some Warsaw Pact versions of Bond. The most famous is by Bulgarian author Andrei Gulyashki. His character Avakum Zahkov is a counter-espionage agent with above-average intelligence and devotion to the system. Many of his missions involve the protection of scientists and various technological advan...	[ "After the Russian Revolution (1917), the quality of spy fiction declined, perhaps because the Bolshevik enemy won the Russian Civil War (1917–23). Thus, the inter-war spy story usually concerns combating the Red Menace, which was perceived as another \"clash of civilizations\".\n", "\"The Spy Who Came in from th...
Why did we have the dark ages? After so much forward thinking by the ancient Greeks and technological advances by the Roman Empire- did everyone just forget it? Shun it for some reason? Could we be any more advanced of the dark ages never happened?	At a basic level, we kind of didn't have them. Despite what a lot of common knowledge (including this infamous [chart](_URL_1_)) would have you believe, the world didn't just slip into barbarism when Rome fell. The idea is very eurocentric, ignoring the advances and civilisations that existed throughout the world. Meso...	[ "The historians had defined the Greek Dark Ages, a period of general decline, in this case the disappearance of the palace economy and with it law and order, loss of writing, diminishment of trade, decrease in population and abandonment of settlements (destroyed or undestroyed), metals starvation and loss of the fi...
Where does the classic image of the Roman Infantry shield come from, how much variation in pattern was there?	The classic image of the Roman shield, or scutum, is one of the most iconic images of the Roman Empire. It was one of the biggest contributors to the success of Roman legions on the battlefield due to its invaluability in defense and offense. Along with the short sword gladius, the two could take down the most form...	[ "The classic legionary \"scutum\", a convex rectangular shield, also disappeared during the 3rd century. All troops except archers adopted large, wide, usually dished, ovoid (or sometimes round) shields. These shields were still called \"Scuta\" or \"Clipei\", despite the difference in shape. Shields, from examples...
why does ground coffee not coagulate like other powders?	So coagulation only applies to fluids, solid powders cannot coagulate by definition. I believe what you're referring to is clumping, which is almost always due to moisture. The powder will stick to wet surfaces/itself trying to absorb water. This is only present in soluble powders, or essentially dehydrated mixes which...	[ "The caffeine in coffee \"beans\" serves as a toxic substance protecting the seeds of the plant, a form of natural plant defense against herbivory. Fruits and leaves also contain caffeine, and can be used to make a tea. (See: Coffee cherry tea) The fruit is also used in many brands of soft drink as well as pre-pack...
As we get older, we “lose” telomeres - does this mean a child born to a dad that was 80 as opposed to the same dad at 40 would have shorter telomeres?	As organisms age, their telomeres get shorter. However, there's an enzyme called "telomerase" that can repair telomeres and fill them out to full length again. Telomerase is normally only active in a few regions of the (adult) body. One place that telomerase is very active in the testes, where it causes sperm telomere...	[ "Telomeres are repetitive genetic sequences at both ends of each chromosome that protect the structure of the chromosome. As men age, most telomeres shorten, but sperm telomeres increase in length. The offspring of older fathers have longer telomeres in both their sperm and white blood cells. A large study showed a...
why do some people cross the number 7 like a lowercase t? where did this come from?	Because some people's 7s look like 1s - Most do it so others won't mistake their 7 for a 1.	[ "William Barclay notes that, because the letter T is shaped exactly like the \"crux commissa\" and because the Greek letter T represented the number 300, \"wherever the fathers came across the number 300 in the Old Testament they took it to be a mystical prefiguring of the cross of Christ\".\n", "There is a need ...
in the islam religion do women pray in mosque's or only men?	Women usually pray in different part of the Mosque, most likely behind the men or in the different floor than men.	[ "According to a saying attributed to Muhammad in the hadith Sahih Bukhari, women are allowed to go to mosques. However, as Islam spread, Muslim authorities stressed the fears of unchastity from interaction between sexes outside their home, including the mosque. By pre-modern period it was unusual for women to pray ...
How is the FDA able to approve certain drugs without knowing the exact mechanism of action?	If there is a pill that is shown to cure cancer and cause minimal side effects does it matter if we know how it works or not? Let's say we find out through extensive testing it causes nausea in 1/1,000 patients but cures cancer in 99/100. It is not safe in that it causes nausea but I'd still be on board if it is almo...	[ "The FDA has a \"priority review process\" for drugs which compete with another drug whose price exceeds its value-based price. Congress could also grant the FDA the ability to change the exclusivity period for new drugs. The FDA could also temporarily allow the import of drugs approved for sale outside the United ...
Why do we record 4k in 4:4:0 instead of 1080p at 4:4:4?	Are you thinking 4:2:0 instead of 4:4:0? I haven't seen 4:4:0 used before. It is true that 2160p/4k video at 4:2:0 has the same chroma resolution as 1080p at 4:4:4, which is the point of the question I think. However, our eyes are not that picky about chroma. Luminance is by far the most important factor in our eyes'...	[ "More over, the AVC-Intra Class 50/100 is now extended to Class 200 and Class 4:4:4. The Class 200 mode extends the bitrate to 226 Mbit / sec for 1080/23,97p, while the Class 4:4:4 extends the possible resolution from 720p to 4K with pixel depths at 10 and 12 bits.\n", "In practice, 1080p typically refers to a 19...
when kim jong un is having talks with president xi of china, do they speak a common language, or do they have interpreters? if interpreters are used, who's vetting the translation?	They most likely use translators. Kim Jong Un’s foreign language skills are in English, which he learned going to an English-language international school. Xi Xinping probably speaks some English from time he spent in the USA in the 1990s, but isn’t fluent.	[ "In the case of translation, the languages tested were the four which the Joseon court maintained translators in: contemporary Chinese, Mongolian, Jurchen/Manchu, and Japanese. This examination was overseen by the Office of Translators, which maintained translators in the capital and in the major border-ports and c...
why is a decreasing population considered a bad thing for a country?	People are an input into the economy, just like oil or farm land or machines. As a general rule, the more people you have, the more you can produce. So, on a surface level, a shrinking population is bad for an economy in the same way that a dwindling oil supply or lack of capital is bad. Unlike most of those things, ...	[ "His conclusion is that poverty is the main cause of the population crisis. If the reason behind overpopulation in poor nations is the exploitation by rich nations made rich by that very exploitation, then the only way to end it is to \"redistribute [the wealth], among nations and within them\".\n", "Population g...
Why can something you normally like taste bad because you expected it to be something else?	NOTE: NOT A SCIENTIST, JUST SOMEONE WHO ENJOYS SCIENCE I believe it's probably more psychological than anything. The expectation of one result, with a different actual result, creates surprise, which, in combination with it being a food product, can often result in revulsion, because if something tastes unexpected, i...	[ "Taste can be objective in terms of the five tastes (sweet, salt, sour, bitter, and savory) but it can also be subjective in terms of what we deem \"good\" and \"bad.\" Taste is \"subjective, objective, and qualitative\". In terms of it being a philosophical concept, taste is hard to define because it is essentiall...
What happened to Peers from the colonies after the American Revolution.	They left, yes. Most were not permanent residents in the first place, so they were simply returning home. As far as giving up titles goes, that didn't/couldn't happen. The title itself belongs to the person regardless of their country of residence. Even if they choose not to use the title, it's still theirs. The law o...	[ "In the 1780s with the end of the American Revolutionary War, hundreds of black loyalists, especially soldiers, from America were resettled in London. Later some emigrated to Sierra Leone with help from Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor after suffering destitution. However, they were never awarded pensions...
On the recycling of electronics.	My post may not have enough details, but I once worked for a company that recycled old computers. The good ones went to schools while the broken or very old ones were recycled. I was told that motherboards and circuitry was to be submerged in a vat of (some sort of ) acid so that the precious metals can be reused. Per...	[ "Electronics recycling, or ecycling, is another focus for Waste Management. This refers to the proper disposal of electronic items like televisions, computers, microwave ovens, cellular phones, VCRs and DVDs and other such products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encourages consumers to reuse and re...
how can the us senate change their own rules as they go along?	If there is not a quorum (for the Senate this is a supermajority of 60%) but all those that are present unanimously vote to disregard that requirement they are able to continue voting on issues. This is not "changing the rules" really as it is an existing option for them. This was originally implemented so that they co...	[ "The Standing Rules of the Senate are the parliamentary procedures adopted by the United States Senate that govern its procedure. The Senate's power to establish rules derives from of the United States Constitution: \"Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings...\"\n", "The Senate is meant to regulate ...
If the universe is quantum fluctuation, why is it so big?	I'm not sure specifically what kind of quantum fluctuation models you're talking about, but there are two things I can say that might help answer the question. The first, and maybe the less helpful, is that if we are a giant quantum fluctuation there is no reason that we must exist in the smallest quantum fluctuation...	[ "Due to the quantum geometry, the Big Bang is replaced by a big bounce without any assumptions on the matter content or any fine tuning. An important feature of loop quantum cosmology is the effective space-time description of the underlying quantum evolution. The effective dynamics approach has been extensively us...
different funds. hedge funds, mutual funds, etc.	To understand these you have to have basic information of the stock market. today Apple (AAPL) is valued at $462.81 per share; Google (GOOG) is $884.80 Yahoo is $27.86. You can't just buy one share of any of these they would be sold in bundles of 100, 500, or 1000 shares. If you bought 1000 shares of AAPL and AAPL ta...	[ "A hedge fund is an investment fund that pools capital from accredited investors or institutional investors and invests in a variety of assets, often with complicated portfolio-construction and risk management techniques. It is administered by a professional investment management firm, and often structured as a lim...
have any technologies peaked?	Firearms. We can keep making them to tighter tolerances by shaving off thousandths of inches here and there, but the fact is the designs are pretty much perfected. You can't do much to alter the basic physics involved in feeding bullets into a gun. Even experts agree that unless a radically new kind of technology ...	[ "A key factor in production of new technologies is whether it is cost effective and useful. Devices that make use of cryoelectronics and the applications of superconductivity such as computers, information transmission lines, and magnetocardiography have potential for commercial value outside of a few specific devi...
It seems like up until the middle of the 20th century most cities in the U.S. were laid out in a grid pattern, then that idea was abandoned. Why?	In Denver, and most other cities of the American West, the difference is primarily on the residential "side streets." The grid of section-line roads at one-mile intervals (92nd Ave., 104th Ave., 120th Ave., 136th Ave.; Chambers, Buckley, Tower, etc.) generally either was there prior to development or was strengthened ...	[ "In the westward development of the United States, the use of the grid plan was nearly universal in the construction of new settlements, such as in Salt Lake City (1870), Dodge City (1872) and Oklahoma City (1890). In these western cities the streets were numbered even more carefully than in the east to suggest fut...
Critiques of historical dictionaries	A simple research on « “historical dictionary” review » can offer you several interesting examples, especially if you happen to have access to JSTOR (you may also try to search for specific dictionaries followed by the same word). More specifically, the TLS published a very interesting review of the *Virgil Encyclope...	[ "The dictionaries tend to follow a uniform format of a chronology, introduction, the historical dictionary, and a bibliography with supplementary material such as maps, abbreviations, place name changes, or notes on language according to the subject. The main section is the historical dictionary which covers events...
What was the state of cryptography during WWII? What codes had the Allies and the Axis broken? How was that information used?	In brief, what I am aware of includes: The British had a whole cryptology department at Betchley Park whose sole job was to decrypt German communications. One of the rumours from the Battle of Britain was that the Luftwaffe Enigma code had been broken and Hugh Dowding was reading the targets for the next day... This...	[ "German code breaking in World War II also had some success, most importantly by breaking the Naval Cipher No. 3. This enabled them to track and sink Atlantic convoys. It was only Ultra intelligence that finally persuaded the admiralty to change their codes in June 1943. This is surprising given the success of the ...
how come we sometimes all of a sudden start nosebleeding?	I'll try and share what little knowledge I have. I used to be a long sufferer of constant nose bleeds that were quite rapid. According to doctors that I saw regularly, the bleeding was caused and is commonly caused by a vein very close to the surface of the skin inside of your nose. And in some cases, it may enlarge an...	[ "Prestopped nasals and prenasalized stops occur when the oral cavity is closed and the nasal cavity is opened by lowering the velum, but the timing of both events does not coincide. A prenasalized stop starts out with a lowered velum that raises during the occlusion, much like the [nd] in \"candy\". A postnasalized...
In the Ancient world tin was an extremely rare (and important) resource and England was famous for being a source of the metal. What was life like for those miners before the advent of modern mining techniques? How did they mine and transport tin?	First to pick a couple of nits: ancient tin mining in Britain was during a period before the term "England" had a meaning; and - to save you from an angry Cornish mob - tin mining occurred in Cornwall, which most Cornish regard as distinct from England. Tin mining was important in Britain because of the Cornish reserve...	[ "Tin mining in Britain took place from prehistoric times, during Bronze Age Britain, and until the 20th century. Mention of tin mining in Britain was made by many Classical writers. Tin is necessary to smelt bronze so without tin there could not have been the Bronze Age. As South-West Britain was one of the few par...
why can't they restore the area around the nazca lines?	There is so little wind erosion, and there is virtually no water erosion. Every footprint, tire print, and the like will last for centuries if not millennia. No matter how meticulous we are in landscaping we cannot undo all of that because the landscaping itself destroys the area.	[ "Gazit's Red Line Project has been installed in the sinkholes of the Dead Sea in Israel, melting Knik Glaciar in Alaska, the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the Salton Sea in California. He has planned future installations along the Amazon river, the forests of the Sumatra and Borneo, and the floating islands of garba...
How accurate is Marco Polo's account of the Mongolian empire?	First of all, I should mention that one of the biggest critiques of Marco Polo comes from Frances Woods, Did Marco Polo Go to China? Among other glaring issues, Polo never mentions the Great Wall of China and a number of other items that one would expect a visitor to mention in an extensive account. The other issue ...	[ "During his extensive research, show creator John Fusco traveled the Silk Road by horseback and also crossed the Ming Sha Dunes of Western China on camel. In Venice, Italy he sought out and studied the \"Last Will and Testament of Marco Polo\". While some Mongolian viewers and experts view it as \"riddled with hist...
What is the mechanism that controls seasonal fur growth in mammals?	There have been studies to suggest that melatonin levels are responsible for seasonal cycles in animal systems. Melatonin levels increase during periods of higher levels of darkness. Basically, longer nights = more melatonin. When threshold levels of melatonin are reached, it can trigger a biological phenomenon like...	[ "Similarly, bird plumage and mammal fur change with the approach of winter, and is triggered by the shortening photoperiod of autumn. The circannual cycle can also be useful for animals that Migrate or Hibernate. Many animals' reproductive organs change in response to changes in photoperiod. Male gonads will grow d...
why was the change from cellular 3g to 4g such a complicated thing, when 2g to 3g happened with no fuss?	Because when 3G first rolled out the term smart phone didn't exist and most people hadn't heard of data plans. 4G on the other hand is rolling out as mobile data usage is exploding.	[ "By 2009, it had become clear that, at some point, 3G networks would be overwhelmed by the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as streaming media. Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized fourth-generation technologies, with the promise of speed improvements up to ten-fold over existi...
- how do touch screens work? how can i use a stylus on my 3ds, but not on my iphone?	There are two types the one for the 3ds works through touch from anything either a finger, stylus, stick ect. The other works via electricity such as your finger to an iphone screen. Certain stylus' work on iphones by having a metal body which transfers the electricity.	[ "Touch screens like those found on some tablet computers, iPads, and the Nintendo DS are operated in similar ways, but they usually use either optical grids or a pressure-sensitive film instead, and therefore they do not need a special pointing device.\n", "BULLET::::- Display: 3.2 inch (8.1 cm) thin-film transis...
how do birds find new bird feeders so quickly when there was never a bird feeder remotely close to that before?	Birds are hunters and foragers and are pretty observant. Crows can remember people and will give warning calls if they see a person who they feel threatened by. The local birds in your neighborhood probably watch the goings ons quite a bit and of course will take note when they see someone put up a feeder.	[ "A birdfeeder, bird feeder, bird table, or tray feeder are devices placed outdoors to supply bird food to birds (bird feeding). The success of a bird feeder in attracting birds depends upon its placement and the kinds of foods offered, as different species have different preferences.\n", "Flocks of birds often ex...
Why was New England so different from the Chesapeake region?	Complicated answer, but the short of it is the type of people that immigrated to New England vs the rest of the United States ( and the rest of 13 colonies were similar to Virginia not to NE). The communities that tended to be settled in New England tended to come from England as a unit, and when they arrived in New En...	[ "The New England Colonies were located along the Atlantic coast where there was an abundance of marketable sea life. Excellent harbors and some inland waterways offered protection for ships and were also valuable for fresh water fishing. By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had created an Atlantic ...
why does the body store fat (or so much of it) if we can not realistically live off what the fat cells provide, why not have a cut off point?	Too much body fat was never a health concern for 99.999% of human existence. It is only a concern now because of how much food we have access to and the sedentary life the modern world has made. Evolution only kicks in to traits that affect reproduction or survivability until reproduction. Evolution does not made t...	[ "However, other subcutaneous fat tissues also might contribute to metabolic disease, if the fat cells become too enlarged and \"sick.\" Admittedly, subcutaneous fat cells typically are larger, and capable of storing more fat when needed. However, subcutaneous fat tissue represents the largest proportion of fat tiss...
How do we know if someone really has synesthesia?	According to my textbook, Psychological Science Fourth Edition by Gazzinga, an experiment by Ramachandran and Hubbard (2003) used [this](_URL_0_) to test for synesthesia. People with a certain type of synesthesia can pick out the 2's in the picture significantly faster than those without, which is evidence that they...	[ "Synesthesia can occur between nearly any two senses or perceptual modes, and at least one synesthete, Solomon Shereshevsky, experienced synesthesia that linked all five senses. Types of synesthesia are indicated by using the notation x → y, where x is the \"inducer\" or trigger experience, and y is the \"concurren...
do hydrogen bombs cause fallout?	So, the way that thermonuclear bombs (h-bombs) work in general is something like this. You have a typical nuclear device composed of your favorite fission bomb (uranium or plutonium), and then you've got your fusion material. Encasing the fusion material is often a uranium shell, too, to help the fusion occur. You've ...	[ "BULLET::::- During the Castle Bravo test of the first deployable hydrogen bomb, a miscalculation resulted in the explosion being over twice as large as predicted, with a total explosive force of . Of the total yield, were from fission of the natural uranium tamper, but those fission reactions were quite dirty, pro...
in an accident, what is the paperwork, and steps that i should take if i get rear-ended, or if i hit someone else?	DO NOT ADMIT GUILT! Do not say anything that could be implied as an admission of guilt. Your insurance company should have instructions somewhere in the paperwork on what to do, and what not to do.	[ "Anyone who has caused a traffic crash, or contributed to it, has the duty to identify themselves to the victims or to other contributors. If the victim is not present (such as in the case of damage of a parked car) the one who caused the crash has to wait a certain time. If the victim does not appear, he has to re...
why do scam emails ask people to use western union for transferring funds?	Western Union's wire transfers are often non-reversible. That means that if you send money via Western Union, and it goes to the person you sent it to, you can't get your money back, even if you learn that the recipient was cheating you. Western Union is also often involved in scams from the other side, because it can...	[ "One of the largest companies that offer wire transfer is Western Union, which allows individuals to transfer or receive money without an account with Western Union or any financial institution. Concern and controversy about Western Union transfers have increased in recent years, because of the increased monitoring...
If I was to travel back to 12th century England, would we be able to easily understand each other's use of the English Language?	No, you would not be able to understand the language nor would you be understood. You would be hearing Middle English, and early Middle English at that (as the transition between Old English and Middle English happens around the 11th century). You might hear a word here or there, but the majority of the language would ...	[ "First spoken in early medieval England, the English language is the \"de facto\" official language of the UK, and is spoken monolingually by an estimated 95% of the British population. Seven other languages are recognised by the UK Government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages – Welsh, S...
The negative portraying of Persian empires are usually from Greek sources. But then how about the portraying of the Greek states and their people in Persian sources? Why we never heard about those?	You never hear about Persian sources because they no longer exist. Virtually nothing survives from the Achaemenid written corpus, due in part to the destruction of major collection sites like Susa and Persepolis. We have the royal inscriptions, especially of Darius I and Xerxes (which are mostly in the Louvre, now), bu...	[ "In the 5th century, the Achaemenid Empire of Persia began a series of invasions against Ancient Greece. Because of this, some scholars believe that on most 5th-century Greek art, the Persians were shown allegorically, through the figure of centaurs and Amazons.\n", "Western art, no less than history and theology...
why a coffee creamer that contains milk products is allowed to be called "non-dairy."	When foods characterized on the label as 'nondairy' contain a caseinate ingredient, the caseinate ingredient shall be followed by a parenthetical statement identifying its source. For example, if the manufacturer uses the term 'nondairy' on a creamer that contains sodium caseinate, it shall include a parenthetical term...	[ "A milkette, (also referred to as dairy milker, creamette or creamers) is a single serving of milk (2%) or cream (10% and 18%) in or containers used for coffee and tea. They are a common condiment at coffee shops, cafeterias and on airlines in Canada and the United States.\n", "Non-dairy creamers, commonly called...
congratulations explain like i'm five on 250,000 subscribers!	Congratulations! I've lurked this subreddit for months, even though I've never posted here, and I've always been impressed by the quality of responses here. I personally think this should be one of the default subreddits, but still an amazing community nontheless.	[ "Telemiracle 31 (2007), the first telethon to exceed the $5,000,000 pledge total, broke all previous records, with an official final total of $5,604,682. This record was broken in 2012 (Telemiracle 36) with a final total of $5,906,229. This record was once again broken on March 4, 2018 (Telemiracle 42) with a final...
what do coders, programmers, and software developers do at big name companies like twitter, facebook, apple, etc all day. why are they in need and do they work round the clock. would apps survive if work discontinued?	> ELI5: What do coders, programmers, and software developers do at big name companies like Twitter, Facebook, Apple, etc all day. They work at maintenance (bug-fixing, data-"fixing etc.) and new features for the companies software. > Why are they in need Because programs have bugs. Which, for example, might als...	[ "Most software engineers work as employees or contractors. Software engineers work with businesses, government agencies (civilian or military), and non-profit organizations. Some software engineers work on their own as consulting software engineers. Some organizations have specialists to perform all of the tasks in...
planned obsolescence, what is it?	you come up with a complete product: take 5 features from it. every year you can release a new version with a new feature and sell 5x the products, while making your old product look old and dated (even though its only a year old) there is also another side to this: you can develop a product that can only be expected ...	[ "Planned obsolescence, or built-in obsolescence, in industrial design and economics is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so that it becomes obsolete (i.e., unfashionable, or no longer functional) after a certain period of time. The rationale behind this strategy i...
marijuana solves social anxiety for me. how exactly does that work?	Everyone who's smoked marijuana knows how it ruins your memory. It is thought that this is the reason for all the good stuff. You don't remember exactly how things taste or feel, which leads to the novelty of eating ice cream and having sex. Likewise, you forget how you're supposed to act, and how you think other peopl...	[ "Numerous studies have been conducted regarding anxiety and cannabis for therapeutic purposes, and these cross-sectional studies have been mostly consistent regarding the anxiolytic effects. The studies showed relief of anxiety as a result of cannabis consumption.\n", "People sometimes use cannabis to cope with t...
why is fifa so against using technology in football?	Football is one of the fastest games out there. The clock doesn't stop, there is only one break, and if the ball goes out of play it comes straight back in again. Technology is seen as interrupting the flow of the game and causing stoppages. Many believe that it is the speed and intensity that the game is played at t...	[ "Other critics believe it would be prohibitively expensive to implement the technology at all levels of the game and particularly for smaller/poorer football associations. FIFA officials have expressed a preference for 'better refereeing' as well as more match officials over implementing the technology.\n", "Whil...
AskScience AMA Series- IAMA graduate student working with human papillomavirus (HPV)	How exactly does a virus cause cancer? Does it insert some kind of anti-apoptosis gene in the host cell? Can it infect and/or cancerize any other organs?	[ "HPV (Human papillomavirus) is the most common STI among teens (as well as adults). In a CDC study, 18% of teen girls were infected with HPV. Another study found that HPV infections account for about half of STIs detected among 15- to 24-year-olds each year. While HPV infections may not cause any disease and is oft...
What knowledge of electricity did Japan gain from the Dutch? If it was substantial, and the technology was sound, why was it not put to any practical use?	Japanese scholars actually did make practical use and study of the electrical machinery brought to Japan by the Dutch. However, this early form of technology was very limited in its applications, and the progress they made in their studies was superseded within a few decades by more modern technology and science from t...	[ "The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to weaken Portuguese and Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and ultimately became the only westerners to be allowed access to Japan from the small enclave of Dejima after 1638 and for the next two centuries.\n", "The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to...
Tetris was made in the USSR in 1984. How can a video game from the Soviet Union become so popular amidst a government known for censorship? Did this mean that the Soviet Union had a video game industry?	I'm not sure I completely understand you. Are you implying that the Soviet leadership would have been opposed to video games? Personally, I'm not certain about that at all.	[ "History of mass videogaming in Russia (back then USSR) takes its roots in the early 1980s when personal computers of different models (Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum 48/128) were brought to the country from United States, Europe, Japan and China. At the same time, a local company, Electronica, released a...
Is there a method to remembering dates/locations?	Honestly, dates aren't that important. Yeah, they're good to have in a paper, but you could easily look them up. I think the most important things is to be able to place it in context. Is it the end of the world if you don't remember that Vicksburg fell on July 4, 1863? No. But you should know that it did happen th...	[ "The stratigraphy of an archaeological site can be used to date, or refine the date, of particular activities (\"contexts\") on that site. For example, if a context is sealed between two other contexts of known date, it can be inferred that the middle context must date to between those dates.\n", "If we know the ...
why there was a 'leap second' added to the end of 2016?	the rotation of the earth is not a constant. in fact the rotation of the earth is slowing down, which means that a full day is getting slightly longer. without leap seconds our clocks would slowly drift ever so slightly out of sync with the actual day. we could deal with this by redefining how how long 1 second is, mak...	[ "A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to civil time to keep Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) close to the mean solar time at 0 Meridian, Greenwich, to accommodate irregularities and long-term slowdown in the Earth's rotation. UTC was introduced on January 1, 1972, initially with a 1...
Is sunlight antibacterial?	Yes, and antiviral. It's nowhere near as effective as UV lamps, which may take only 15 minutes or so to sanitize an area, but UV purification of bottled water for example is possible after 2 days of exposure to sunlight ( assuming non turbid water). Lots of factors come into play such as latitude,season and so on so it...	[ "Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water. It also causes sunburn, and has other biological effects such as the production of vitamin D and sun tanning. Ultraviolet light is strongly attenuated by Earth's ozone layer, so that the amount of UV varies greatl...
how does pseudorandom works?	True randomness isn't possible for a processor, since it's always just running input - > some function - > output. But there are functions that behave 'almost randomly'. A (bad, but easy to understand) example is the following method for generating a random 5-digit number: * Start with any 5-digit number. Let's say ...	[ "A pseudorandom variable is a variable which is created by a deterministic algorithm, often a computer program or subroutine, which in most cases takes random bits as input. The pseudorandom string will typically be longer than the original random string, but less random (less entropic in the information theory sen...
is the Geiger counter not an observer in the Schrödinger's cat experiment?	Yes. That is exactly the point of the thought experiment. Schrodinger was trying to point out how silly it was to talk about 'Observers collapsing the wavefunction' in quantum mechanics, when it is much more useful to talk about 'measurements collapsing the wave function'. If a human observer were required in order to ...	[ "A more precise confirmation of the relativistic Doppler effect was achieved by the Mössbauer rotor experiments. From a source in the middle of a rotating disk, gamma rays are sent to an absorber at the rim (in some variations this scheme was reversed), and a stationary counter was placed beyond the absorber. Accor...
Why are single-poled magnets physically impossible?	As others have said, magnetic monopoles are not physically impossible, just unobserved. What is worth knowing is not only are they physically possible, they are a natural consequence of most grand unified theories that combine the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces into a single over-arching force. Thus, there ...	[ "Permanent magnets make their own magnetic field. An example of a material from which a permanent magnet can be made is iron. It has a north and south pole, and cannot be split into a monopole — in other words, a north pole does not exist without a south pole.\n", "Magnetos have advantages of simplicity and relia...
how do some animals get enough nutrients to survive by only eat bugs or grass?	Most animals that eat grass or other low calorie/nutrient foods spend a huge portion of their day simply eating. Cows graze all day, the amount of food they intake is massive. It usually comes down to quantity over quality.	[ "They eat primarily leaves, but also shoots, fruits, nuts, berries, bark, some native flowers, and even some small vertebrates. In addition, when they cannot find food, they have been known to eat the algae that grow on their fur for nutrients. They have large stomachs, with multiple chambers, which help to ferment...
what are the long term effects of lsd use?	Calmness and an overall deeper understanding of life and the beauty of existence.	[ "Some controversial case reports suggest that ingesting tryptamines such as LSD, psilocybin (as found in hallucinogenic mushrooms), or DMT can reduce pain and interrupt cluster headache cycles. A 2006 survey of 53 individuals found people said that psilocybin extended remission periods in 18 of 19. The survey was n...
how to some dogs instantly hate each other at first sight and some love each other, even though they've never met before?	Just as there are manners with humans, there are manners dogs. Just like humans, some dogs don't understand these manners. They're little things people often don't notice. They aren't supposed to look other dogs straight in the eye at first meeting. It's rude, just like staring a stranger down would be. When dogs a...	[ "Human–canine bonding is the relationship between dogs and humans. This bond can be traced back at least 15,000 to 30,000 years ago to the Bonn-Oberkassel dog that was found buried with two humans. In the United States, over 48% of households have a pet dog. For centuries, dogs have been labeled as \"man's best fri...
How come metals doesn't sublimes in very low pressures?	One of my professors once told me "to an engineer, there's no such thing as zero, only 'small enough'". This is actually the exact thing he used as an example for his little rule. Metals will exhibit a vapor pressure and sublimate, but that pressure is extremely small, which means it happens so slowly as to be nearly...	[ "Frequencies in the range of 10–100 MHz are necessary to cause dielectric heating, although higher frequencies work equally well or better, and in some materials (especially liquids) lower frequencies also have significant heating effects, often due to more unusual mechanisms. For example, in conductive liquids suc...
what do the dilation drops actually do to your eyes and why does it make your eyes sensitive to light?	Dilation drops open up your pupils, much like they would naturally do in the dark, to allow more light in. Helps the doctor see better when he's examining your eyes. Going outside while your pupils are dilated hurts because your pupils are already open and they can't retract like they would normally, so the light is PO...	[ "BULLET::::- Pupil dilation - Pupil dilation may be harder to detect by most people. Sexual desire may be a cause of such dilation. It may also be an indication of attraction. Physiologically, eyes dilate when it is darker to let in more light.\n", "The uncus can squeeze the oculomotor nerve (a.k.a. CN III), whic...
Is there anything in nature which can be considered as being infinite?	We consider the universe to be infinite in size (thus infinite stars, infinite galaxies, planets, etc.{No, this does not imply that there must be copies of Earth out there}). We cannot show that it is such, but the data is reasonably suggestive of this case.	[ "If we [...] define Being in the universal sense as the principle of manifestation, and at the same time as comprising in itself the totality of possibilities of all manifestation, we must say that Being is not infinite because it does not coincide with total Possibility; and all the more so because Being, as the p...
Do anti-particles produce anti-gravity? If not, what about with virtual particles?	I guess I will take a first crack at this question. Though it hasn't been experimentally verified, current thinking would have that anti-particles have attractive gravity, just like regular particles. All matter with positive energy sources gravity in the same manner, and anti-particles have positive energy. The ques...	[ "It is difficult to directly observe gravitational forces at the particle level. For charged particles, the electromagnetic force overwhelms the much weaker gravitational interaction. Even antiparticles in neutral antimatter, such as antihydrogen, must be kept separate from their counterparts in the matter that for...
Can dogs or cats catch a cold virus or the flu from humans?	No. It's very unlikely. Viruses tend to be species-specific, with a couple of exceptions. I'm not entirely sure about the specifics of feline respiratory viruses like influenza, however I can answer this question using FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) - the cat version of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). In HIV...	[ "The virus has also adapted to grow in cells of cold-blooded vertebrates. Most animals can be infected by the virus and can transmit the disease to humans. Infected bats, monkeys, raccoons, foxes, skunks, cattle, wolves, coyotes, dogs, cats, and mongooses (normally either the small Asian mongoose or the yellow mong...
How far can the Earth actually move towards or away from the Sun and still be okay?	This is referred to informally as the [Goldilocks](_URL_0_) zone after the fable. It extends inward for our solar system to about Venus and extends past Mars. While such drastic orbital changes would undoubtedly wreck our climate, these represents the regions where it's plausible to find a temperate planet. It's specu...	[ "Planetary scientists have considered moving the Earth farther away from the sun as the solar luminosity increases over the next billion years. Various mechanisms have been proposed to increase the size of the Earth's orbit.\n", "Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of about every 365.2564 mean solar days,...
how can car manufacturers seemingly copy features and ideas from each other without getting sued?	You can only sue for stuff like this if you have a patent. Either the originator of the feature put it directly into public domain, the patent was denied, or they are giving the other companies permission to use the feature. It's also good to know that many many makes of vehicles are all owned by a single company, so t...	[ "The judge also accepted in whole the defendant’s argument that cars of the same segment cannot avoid a certain level of resemblance due to technical restrictions, similar purposes and goals, especially when it comes to such small cars that present a challenge to design. The ruling concludes that “there is no compe...
explain radiation, radioactive material, and isotopes to me. literally like i'm 5.	Basically, atomic nuclei are made up of protons and neutrons. The number of protons determines the chemistry of the resulting atom (1 proton is hydrogen, 2 is helium, 3 is lithium, etc.). Nuclei can also have neutrons which, for the most part, don't effect their chemistry but can make atoms more/less stable. 2 nuclei w...	[ "A radioactive source is a known quantity of a radionuclide which emits ionizing radiation; typically one or more of the radiation types gamma rays, alpha particles, beta particles, and neutron radiation.\n", "Radiation is used to determine the composition of materials in a process called neutron activation analy...
How much did WW1, and particualry the Galipoli campaign, influence Australian views on the Britsh Empire?	Okay. This is just a little bit after my period. But, I'm an Aussie, and I know something about this. Basically, Gallipoli didn't do much to change Australians' general views on being in the Empire. We were gung-ho Brits before, and gung-ho Brits after. There was some grumbling about using Aussie troops as cannon fo...	[ "After the war, the bad conditions and high casualties amongst the Anzac troops resulted in a reasonably prevalent view in Australia that these had been due to the incompetence of British officers commanding the Australian troops and their disregard for the casualties that resulted from poorly planned or ill-concei...
why does the colour black go with any other colour?	Black is zero. When you mix something with black, you are essentially mixing it with the darkest possible shade of itself, and shades of the same color tend to work together.	[ "The colours have different meanings, the black is for the African ancestry of the people, the blue for hope, the red for energy or life of the people. The successive colouring of yellow, blue, and white (from the sun down) also stands for the sun, sea, and sand. The blue also represents the Caribbean Sea, and the ...
When did the kings stop being warriors and stop fighting on the front like Richard lion heart and Henry V?	Monarchy has gone out of fashion but there are still plenty of heads of state who come from the military and lead it directly. As recently as World War I you have Tsar Nicholas II symbolically leading the army at the front. In theory the President of the United States could do the same thing, though I believe the only ...	[ "Henry's successor, Richard I \"the Lion Heart\" (also known as \"The absent king\"), was preoccupied with foreign wars, taking part in the Third Crusade, being captured while returning and pledging fealty to the Holy Roman Empire as part of his ransom, and defending his French territories against Philip II of Fran...
Between 1945-1989 when colonial powers began to lose their grip on their overseas territories was there an communist style government in Africa.	There were quite a lot of communist governments in Africa actually. Angola and Mozambique both had civil wars in which a Western- (and SA-backed) rebel army attempted to overthrow their respective Communist Soviet-backed governments. Other communist countries included Benin (overthrown by a popular uprising), Congo-Bra...	[ "The possible emergence of an African communist state remained a source of disquiet in the West. In February, the British Defence and Overseas Policy Committee said that, while British commercial interests in Zanzibar were \"minute\" and the revolution by itself was \"not important\", the possibility of interventio...
how is it that many american republicans are strongly against the iran nuclear deal, when it is a shining example of good democracy in european countries?	They are opposed to it for two main reasons--they do not think that Iran will honor the deal in the long run, and secondly, they want to maintain sanctions because Iran is a dictatorial state and seen as a sponsor of international terror. A lot of the rhetoric suggests a lax policy toward Iran is being irresponsible to...	[ "Although the US overcame Russian attempts to block a UN security council discussion of the Iranian protests, it lost European support to act against Iran. While the UK, France and Germany agreed with the US on protection of protesters' rights, they used the debate to reject American efforts to undermine the nuclea...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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