Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
why do older generations seemingly look older than newer generations during the same age range?	Culturally, we've become less and less formal. There used to be adult modes of dressing, which are employed by fewer and fewer people as time goes by.	[ "Perhaps the most commonly cited difference between older and younger generations is technological proficiency. Studies have shown that their reliance on technology has made millennials less comfortable with face-to-face interaction and deciphering verbal cues. However, technological proficiency also has its benefi...
What would I see with the naked eye if I was half-way to Andromeda?	Well first - the colors in the photo depend on the frequencies taken and any post processing done. Lots of the photos are indeed in the visual range and generally minimally processed - so they do represent the real colors. Obviously IR, UV, Xray, etc... are false colored (as are specific filtered photos, such as hydr...	[ "At an apparent magnitude of 8.4, comparable to that of Saturn's moon Titan, it is not visible to the naked eye but can be made out using binoculars under favourable conditions. The nebula lies in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, at a distance of about from Earth. It has a diameter of , corresponding to an ...
How "big" was the average Viking warrior? How would they compare to average people today? What about Roman or Spartan warriors?	[Richard Steckel, a professor at Ohio State, did a study on the height of Northern Europeans from 900-1200](_URL_0_) and found the average height for men of 68.3 inches compared to 69+ today. This same group 'shrank' to 65.8 by the 1700s. He attributes: * A Little Ice Age hit about 1300 AD decreasing temperature 2-...	[ "The Vikings are known to have fielded close to 1000 mail clad warriors. There is no mention of berserkers but a contingent of \"champions\" were noted as fighting from horseback. The rebel Irish, held in reserve, were swept away with the Viking rout after having played little or no part in the battle. Their leader...
Is the fear about soy causing an increase in estrogen a socially created hoax or based on legitimate science?	Directly from the Wikipedia article: _URL_0_ "Soybeans contain isoflavones called genistein and daidzein, which are one source of phytoestrogens in the human diet. Because most naturally occurring estrogenic substances show weak activity, normal consumption of foods that contain these phytoestrogens should not provide...	[ "BULLET::::- Soy products decrease sperm quality due to the high content of a type of phytoestrogen called isoflavones. Theoretically, this exposure to high levels of phytoestrogen in men may alter the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. A few studies on animals have shown that such a hormonal effect may be signif...
Why can't we deduce the volume of a black hole in general relativity from it's mass ?	> ... In order to specify a spatial volume, one has to specify a specific moment in time. ... "Inside the black hole" is more of a "when" then a "where." So our normal ideas about how big things are don't really work. This can be a bit confusing because we're used to seeing drawings of black holes that make them ...	[ "General relativity predicts the smallest primordial black holes would have evaporated by now, but if there were a fourth spatial dimension – as predicted by string theory – it would affect how gravity acts on small scales and \"slow down the evaporation quite substantially\". This could mean there are several thou...
statistics you see on tv like "every 15 seconds a accident happens." for claims that large how do they get that data?	They know the statistics for the total number of accidents over a certain time period. Then they use that to determine the average for a different time period. For example, if they know there are 2.5 million accidents in a year, they would divide that by 365 days per year, then divide by 24 hours per day, then divide...	[ "BULLET::::- An event data recorder (EDR) is a device installed by the manufacturer in some automobiles which collects and stores various data during the time-frame immediately before and after a crash.\n", "In this context, the observed dataset may consist of the times of occurrence of predefined events, such as...
At the peak of slavery in the continental United States, what percentage of the population would have owned one or more slaves?	The answer to this question somewhat depends on what you mean by 'owned'. In the strict legal sense of the word, the 1860 census reported just shy of 395,000 slave owners living in the antebellum Southern United States, which represents approximately 3.2% of the population of the South in that period, or just 1.2% of t...	[ "According to the 1840 United States Census, one out of every four families in Virginia owned slaves. There were over 100 plantation owners who owned over 100 slaves. The number of slaves in the 15 States was just shy of 4 million in a total population 12.4 million and the percentage was 32% of the population. \n",...
How do you learn a language when they dont speak your language?	It'd be hard at first, but charades is easier when you can point to the object. The first generation non-native speakers wouldn't necessarily be fluent in the language, but they'd be able to pick up basic words, like for food or sleep, pretty easily. They'd be able to do basic interactions. It's also important to unde...	[ "Implicit learning starts in our early childhood, this means that people are not able to learn the proper grammar and rules to speaking a language until the age of seven. So if this is the case then how do we learn to talk by the age of four? One of the ways that this is possible is through implicit learning and as...
the ice age and it's inhabitants.	[I think you'll enjoy this— Walking with Beasts' episode on mammoths.](_URL_0_) It won't answer all your questions, but it's definitely got some of them. Might as well start watching 'til the experts show up. :) 2:30 gets into mammoths grazing on summer grasslands above permanently frozen ground. Basically, it makes i...	[ "As the ice age ended, major environmental changes happened, such as sea level rise (est. 120m), vegetation changes, and animals disappearing in the Holocene extinction event. At the same time Neolithic revolution began and humans started to make pottery, began to cultivate crops and domesticated some animal specie...
why haven't we domesticated racoons	Raccoons seem to be relatively intelligent. Some people do keep raccoons as pets. But they're problematic as pets. First of all, they're solitary animals. Social animals like dogs tend to be easier to domesticate because they're already used to living communally with members of their own species. Secondly, they te...	[ "Raccoons (\"Procyon lotor\") are omnivorous mammals that can subsist on a diet of seabird eggs and chicks where they are introduced. Raccoons decrease seabird breeding success; for example, in 2004 raccoons were introduced to gull breeding colonies in the Isles of Shoals, Maine. Islands without raccoons were 17 ti...
what's the physics behind moving the arms in a looping motion when we're out of balance?	Conservation of angular momentum. If you're standing on the edge of a platform, your angular momentum is zero. If you start wheeling your arms in a clockwise fashion, your trunk will have to start turning in a counterclockwise fashion so that the total angular momentum of your body is still zero. This is what you want,...	[ "An alternative explanation is that the moving arms have precession torque on them which set the body into twisting rotation. Moving the arms back produces opposite torque which stops the twisting rotation.\n", "When in motion, the arm swings until it makes a complete loop, though the riders never become inverted...
the difference between urban, agglomeration, and metropolitan populations	Metropolitan Area I think determines all villages and areas where at least 50% of the working population drive to the same city to work Whilst agglomeration only includes villages and towns directly connected to the city, like suburbs and satellites for example I could be wrong though so feel free to correct me. Thi...	[ "The difference between an agglomeration of an urban area and the daily urban system is that an agglomeration is a multivariate means of combining townships, counties, and other defined areas. It looks at shared economic relationships and other factors. Daily urban system, on the other hand, only attempts to show h...
the current israeli election process, what the parties stand for and why nobody likes netanyahu.	In the upcoming election, Israeli citizens will vote for the parties which will become the Knesset, Israel's legislative branch. The Knesset has 120 seats. Each citizen casts a vote for one party, and then the parties get seats in the Knesset proportional to the percentage of votes they received - for example if a part...	[ "Prior to the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, Netanyahu helped broker a deal that united the Jewish Home party with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, in order to form the Union of the Right-Wing Parties. The motivation of the deal was to overcome the electoral threshold for smaller parties. The deal was c...
why can you find almost all music on the large streaming services (spotify, apple music, etc) and almost all books on similar online stores - but when it comes to movies and tv series streaming most series are exclusive to each individual streaming service?	Because unlike book and music producers, the studios are all planning and/or rolling out their own streaming platforms in the next 2-3 years. They want their platform to be the only one to get their content from. Books have been sold by a reseller forever, the publishers don't have their own stores. Music has been dist...	[ "An online music store is an online business which sells audio files over the Internet, usually sound recordings of music songs or classical pieces, in which the user pays on a per-song or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the online music store sells the purchaser t...
Why did the states of america join/form the union?	Well, in a most basic sense, the colonies needed to unify in order to effectively resist British rule and used their common cultural characteristics and political concerns to accomplish this, but this is more for a discussion of how the American Revolution came about in the first place. To get more at your question, D...	[ "The governments of the 13 states that formed the original Union under the Constitution trace their roots back to the British royal charters which established them. Most of the states admitted to the Union after the original 13 have been formed from organized territories established and governed by Congress in acco...
if it's possible to survive with only one half of the brain, why damaging it in other ways usually means instant death?	Think you may need to rephrase the question. There are specific areas of the brain responsible for specific functions. Also if you destroy half the brain at once there is no time to adapt. With slow or progressive damage, the brain has a limited ability to adapt by forging new pathways. There would be a difference ...	[ "The brain serves as the organic basis of cognition and exerts centralized control over the other organs of the body. The brain is protected by the skull; however, if the brain is damaged, significant impairments in cognition and physiological function or death may occur.\n", "Brain death may result in legal deat...
How did the conquistadors translate their decisive military victories into day-to-day control of such vast swathes of the earth?	Well for one, you are right about the native allies. Actual numbers are very few and far between, but one of Cortés' letters mentions having 100K indigenous troops allied with his handful of Spaniards. These troops included soldiers from Texcoco, which had been the second most powerful member of the Aztec Triple Allian...	[ "After the conquistadores brought the Filipinos under the rule of the Spanish crown, either by peaceful means of treaties and pacts or, alternatively, by war, Spain did not send large standing armies to maintain its empire in the East. The apostolic zeal of the missionaries followed the efforts of men such as Migue...
is a lot of what they say about area 51 true? what actually happens there?	It's a big airbase in the middle of a gigantic testing range. It is massively large, incredibly flat, in the middle of nowhere, and basically doesn't have weather. All those things make it the perfect place to test out new aircraft. No storms to get caught in, nothing to hit, nobody to spy on you, and when they crash i...	[ "The origin of the name \"Area 51\" is unclear. It is believed to be from an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid, although Area 51 is not part of this system; it is adjacent to Area 15. Another explanation is that 51 was used because it was unlikely that the AEC would use the number. According to the Cent...
Why are battery-powered devices such as phones fully operational all the way until 0% charge while flashlights lose functionality the lower the battery gets?	Phones and other electronic devices usually have a chip built in that tries to maintain the voltage at a set value. While converting amperage to keep it there. Simple things like flashlights usually have no sort of voltage regulator and as such. As the battery reduces in charge, it's delivered voltage drops over time ...	[ "Most modern cell phones, laptops, and most electric vehicles use Lithium-ion batteries. These batteries last longest if the battery is frequently charged; fully discharging the cells will degrade their capacity relatively quickly, but most such batteries are used in equipment which can sense the approach of fill d...
What are "Historical Memories"? How are they Used?	There is certainly truth to certain cultures having a longer historical memory, I don't think it's unique to Arab culture though. A great example of historical memory being an important justification in the modern world is the Kosovo War. the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where the Serbs fought the Ottoman muslims in a cat...	[ "Autobiographical memory is a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic (personal experiences and specific objects, people and events experienced at particular time and place) and semantic (general knowledge and facts about the world) memory. It i...
why do we have hd channels and non-hd channels?	Because your grandpa won't buy a new fucking tv.	[ "All of the standard definition channels on Freesat are broadcast using DVB-S; ITV HD, NHK World HD and RT HD also use DVB-S. BBC One HD and BBC HD used DVB-S until 6 June 2011 when the satellite transponder carrying them was upgraded to DVB-S2. Channel 4 HD had launched using DVB-S2 but the transponder was downgra...
Do I have an accurate understanding of how relativistic light-speed works?	> Our combined speed must ALWAYS equal light-speed. While that's one way to make the statement, it's important that "combined speed" here does not mean "add up your speed through space and 'speed through time'". The actual relationship is v^2 + s^2 c^2 = c^2 where v is speed through space in this reference frame,...	[ "Relativistic speed refers to speed at which relativistic effects become significant to the desired accuracy of measurement of the phenomenon being observed. Relativistic effects are those discrepancies between values calculated by models considering and not considering relativity. Related words are velocity, rapid...
From reading Russian literature, one gets the impression that "the revolution" was very much in the popular consciousness well before it happened. Is this true, and was it true in any other countries?	Broadly speaking, yes, there was a (vague) anticipation for a Revolution among the Russian intelligentsia well before 1917. This anticipation was in some ways unique to Russia, but, other states did have a sense of oncoming Revolution that did not materialize. Before I get going I'm to assume from here on out that we...	[ "The first major event of the Russian Revolution was the February Revolution, which was a chaotic affair, caused by the culmination of over a century of civil and military unrest between the common people and the Tsar and aristocratic landowners. The causes can be summarized as the ongoing cruel treatment of peasan...
could someone explain basic things about reddit to a relative newbie? (things like how karma works, upvoting/downvoting, how to post links etc?) also could someone please explain what the point of karma is?	Many of your questions are addressed at great length in the various Help and [FAQ](_URL_0_) links at the bottom of the page.	[ "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...
What does the Universe's constant expansion mean for matter? Are distances at atomic level expanded, too?	Long story short, no. Don't think of metric expansion as stuff being stretched apart. It's a phenomenon of geometry, not of matter. Distances between fixed coordinate points grow larger over time, at a rate proportional to the distance between them. But bound systems are not fixed points. They're objects held toge...	[ "The first measurement of the expansion of space came with Hubble's realization of the velocity vs. redshift relation. Most recently, by comparing the apparent brightness of distant standard candles to the redshift of their host galaxies, the expansion rate of the universe has been measured to be H = . This means t...
why do we sometimes hear our own voice during a call?	From my experience - The speaker on the other point is that loud its audio goes back to the microphone, so you hear your own voice with a delay.	[ "A common type of call is \"voice carry over\", VCO. This allows a person who is hard of hearing or deaf but can speak to use their voice while receiving responses from a person who is hearing via the operator's typed text. There are many variations of VCO, including two-line VCO and VCO with privacy.\n", "Becaus...
how is it legal for companies to keep all of their money over seas to avoid paying taxes while their company is based in the united states?	Credit to /u/Bedurndurn for this good explanation: > Because they cheat like mad to make profits gained from their holdings in the US into profits made overseas. > Here's the basic scam: > 1. Locate the country with the most favorable tax laws you can and incorporate there. In this case, we're going to go with I...	[ "Separately there are offshore jurisdictions which simply do not impose any form of taxation on companies, and so their companies are de facto tax exempt. Historically the best example of these countries were the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, although other countries such as the British Virgin Islands have now moved ...
why people with attractive/nice sounding speaking voices don't always have good singing voices	Singer here. I can't come up with a short, pithy answer to the question so I'll supply what little I know from vocal pedagogy. It's worth noting that the reverse can also be true (horrendous speaking voice, gorgeous vocals...Kristen Chenoweth comes to mind). Speaking voice is to singing voice what driving a car is t...	[ "Some people seek out the help of speech pathologists as they feel vocal fry makes them appear unsure and less confident. Researchers have found that young adult women who use vocal fry are perceived as less competent and less hireable (listeners have less of a negative reaction to male voices). Others argue that t...
If lobsters have the ability to naturally live indefinitely, why don't we have large millennium old lobsters running around?	Predation from humans and other top predators may play a role, as may competition from smaller lobsters. Being big doesn't necessarily make you better at catching food, and you have fewer places to hide. Plus there is disease and accidental death to slowly weed out the old ones. There are records of lobsters longer ...	[ "BULLET::::- Lobsters are sometimes said to be biologically immortal because they don't seem to slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age. However, due to the energy needed for moulting, they cannot live indefinitely.\n", "Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age, ...
why is the fascist dictator franco still so loved in spain?	Fascism is the Authoritarian Right and is built primarily upon nationalism and populism. This means that when they are established (at least at first) there is a lot of national pride, and a lot of public support for what they do. Franco in particular also did not keep his regime fully fascist. As his reign went on h...	[ "Although Franco and Spain under his rule adopted some trappings of fascism, he, and Spain under his rule, are generally not considered to be fascist; among the distinctions, fascism entails a revolutionary aim to transform society, where Franco did not seek to do so, and, to the contrary, although authoritarian, h...
How far across a genus or species do allergies go?	As /u/ketralnis says, the allergy is to a specific substance (usually a protein) produced by the source of your allergy. If any other organism (including you!) produces a protein with similar structure to the one you are allergic to then you will also have an allergic response when exposed to it. Look up antibody cro...	[ "A 2012 preliminary study found unexpectedly high rates of alpha-gal allergy in the Western and North Central parts of the United States. This suggests that unknown tick species may spread the allergy. The study even found alpha-gal allergy cases in Hawaii, where no ticks identified with the allergies live. Human f...
How does Parthenogenesis work?	There are three major types of parthenogenesis to consider (at least in insects): * 1) Haploid parthenogenesis: Quite common for ants, bees, and wasps. In this particular case, we have a diploid (2n) female who produces haploid (n) gametes. If the eggs are fertilized by a spermatozoa (n), the resulting offspring will ...	[ "Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilisation. Technically, parthenogenesis is not a behaviour, however, sexual behaviours may be involved.\n", "Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek + ) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which grow...
who decided how much money each country is worth? like, how come a country couldn't have just decided themselves that they have trillions of pounds and be really rich? how is it controlled?	They do this exact thing sometimes, and it leads to hyper-inflation. In July 2008 it took 758,530,000,000 Zimbabwe dollars to equal ONE US Dollar. That's like me saying "I'm the King of France!". It's all well and good while I'm walking around the house in my royal underwear, but the minute I walk outside and inter...	[ "A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000. The \"three\" richest people in the world possess more financial assets than the lowest 48 nations combined. The combined wealth of...
does the colour of your skin affect your chances of getting skin cancer?	Yes, in a big way. Dark skin contains melanin, a dark pigment that absorbs the damaging Ultra-Violet light harmlessly before it can strike delicate DNA molecules.	[ "The risk of developing skin cancer can be reduced through a number of measures including decreasing indoor tanning and mid day sun exposure, increasing the use of sunscreen, and avoiding the use of tobacco products.\n", "Most colorectal cancers are due to old age and lifestyle factors, with only a small number o...
how to read and write binary code.	There isn't a "binary code." There are many ways of representing useful information as numbers and storing those numbers as sequences of binary digits. If you wanted, you could go look up one of those ways and do the arithmetic yourself, but there'd be absolutely no reason to do so. There is nothing in the world t...	[ "A binary code represents text, computer processor instructions, or any other data using a two-symbol system. The two-symbol system used is often \"0\" and \"1\" from the binary number system. The binary code assigns a pattern of binary digits, also known as bits, to each character, instruction, etc. For example, a...
why some foods like chilli con carne taste better reheated the next day	Some foods get better as the ingredients have more time for the flavors to meld... the meat absorbs more of the spices and other flavors instead of just being coated in them and same for other ingredients.	[ "Smen made during winter is believed to be more fragrant than those made during a warmer season. In constant warm weather, closer to the temperature where butter becomes liquid, smen matures very slowly. In lower temperatures, one month is considered an acceptable time to start using the smen in cooking, although i...
when you spray compressed/canned air, what is the liquid that comes out when excessively sprayed?	When you compress any gas, it turns into a liquid. Liquids are basically incompressible, so liquid state is the best storage you can get for that chemical. When you release the pressure, the liquid quickly evaporates back into a gas, but evaporation uses energy, and that energy usage cools the gas very quickly. Th...	[ "The products are most often a can that, when a trigger is pressed, blasts a stream of compressed gas through a nozzle. Despite the name \"canned air\", the cans actually contain gases that are compressable into liquids. True liquid air is not practical, as it cannot be stored in metal spray cans due to extreme pre...
what is the purpose of getting a credit card if you already have the money to spend?	Credit cards are a good way to build credit as long as you have the will power to not spend more than you can afford. Also, emergencies occur. And 3rd, it's easier/safer to carry a credit card than cash in a lot of instances.	[ "A simple solution to this problem is to call the credit card company, request a new card with a different account number, and cancel the previous account. They will transfer the debt amount from the old account to the new account. This makes companies that have the credit card information unable to continue chargi...
tension headaches	The muscles in the back of your neck/upper back are too tense, which feels like a headache. You can prevent this by doing daily neck stretching or moving around more (get off your computer). If they stay (I've had them for over a year, daily) see a doctor or fysiotherapist.	[ "Most people with tension headaches experience increasing intensity with time, and report pain originating in the back of the head (occipital) moving to the front of the head (supraorbital). Neurostimulation is sometimes used to treat tension headaches that originate from the occipital nerve.\n", "Tension headach...
If you submerged a powerful magnet in water and then froze it, would the magnet have any impact on the way the ice forms?	Application of an electric or magnetic field can significantly affect the freezing characteristics of water. A DC electric field will tend to induce ice nucleation at a lower degree of supercooling, and there is evidence to show that an AC electric field delays the onset of ice nucleation. Industrial research has shown...	[ "When the water surface begins to lose heat rapidly, the water becomes supercooled. Turbulence, caused by strong winds or flow from a river, will mix the supercooled water throughout its entire depth. The supercooled water will already be encouraging the formation of small ice crystals (frazil ice) and the crystals...
1099 taxes how do they work?	1099's generally require you to pay 15.3% of your income. Presuming your single and your parents aren't claiming you on their taxes you will owe approximately $1050.00. The self employment tax is separate from typical deductions. You are able to deduct any expenses you incurred while preforming the work as an independ...	[ "Income taxes in the United States are self-assessed by taxpayers by filing required tax returns. Taxpayers, as well as certain non-tax-paying entities, like partnerships, must file annual tax returns at the federal and applicable state levels. These returns disclose a complete computation of taxable income under t...
if people need to exercise to be healthy and live long, how do people like stephen hawkings live for so long?	That is oversimplifying it. Having a healthy lifestyle won't directly make you live longer. It will simply reduce your chances of getting diseases that shorten your life e.g diabetes, heart disease. Hawking has been quite lucky to live this long with ALS.	[ "The more exercise you do, the better. Everyone should do a minimum of 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise but that really is the minimum for health benefits. If you can go beyond 150 minutes, you’ll gain even more health benefits.\n", "The National Cancer Institute has performed studies tha...
why does congress keep passing new legislation, even if its purpose is to negate parts or whole pieces of old legislation?	Legislation that just removes previous legislation IS a repeal, but rarely does congress later decide that every part of a previous law is bad. Normally they passed it for some reason, and later they just want to tweak it to better fit current situations/policies	[ "Others have argued that the issue is due to a drafting error during the legislative process. Yale Law School Professor Abbe Gluck said that the unusual maneuver of having the ACA become law through reconciliation required a preliminary version of the bill to become law without the \"usual legislative clean-up proc...
how much of a risk are birds to airplanes, and why haven't we solved that problem?!	I believe Mythbusters did an episode on what a bird could do to a mere car's windshield. Now, compare that to forcing a bird through a turbine (which is only meant to handle air). So yes, it's a risk for any aircraft, but most pilots know to avoid flocks, most planes generally fly far above where birds fly (except take...	[ "Bird strikes are a significant threat to flight safety, and have caused a number of accidents with human casualties. There are over 13,000 bird strikes annually in the US alone. However, the number of major accidents involving civil aircraft is quite low and it has been estimated that there is only about 1 acciden...
why videos don't load continuously, smooth way and load in small 'jumps'	Imagine you're at a buffet selling only m & ms (in this case, bandwidth) with only one guy handing the candy out to people. some people will go up to the man with an empty bucket and ask for m & ms, instead of filling everyone's bucket to the top he will put in only a big handful, topping them up as they need. thi...	[ "BULLET::::- Some codecs are incompatible with the current display driver, causing some videos to not play. In addition to this, framebuffer and cache issues mean that videos that do play are jumpy after the first few seconds when the cache is full.\n", "Conversely, extra motion blur can unavoidably occur on disp...
Has household gun ownership always been present in the United States?	To partially answer the first bit of your question: yes, people have always owned guns in the US; as a function of being a large country with a prolonged 'frontier'/colonisation period and a large rural and agricultural population. I couldn't find any particularly canonical long-term data on gun ownership, but [the Gen...	[ "Accurate figures for civilian gun ownership are difficult to determine. While the number of guns in civilian hands has been on the increase, the percentage of Americans and American households who claim to own guns has been in long-term decline, according to the General Social Survey. It found that gun ownership b...
What did ancient Egypt, Greece, and/or Rome know about really ancient societies like Sumeria and Babylon? Or where they completely unaware that they even existed?	One clue for you, though this is meant entirely seriously and is not a dig, is that the name 'Babylon' is actually the Greek name for the city. The actual Akkadian name of the city was Babili/Babilim. In addition, Babylon was still an enormous, important city when Alexander the Great conquered it, and it functioned as...	[ "Sumerians were the first people to develop complex systems as to be called \"Civilization\", starting as far back as the 5th millennium BC. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empire...
how mobile phones or other devices can lose gprs/3g/4g signal without being moved	The cellphone towers can only handle a given number of devices at a single time. A saturated cellphone tower may give priority to a different device, and stop broadcasting to yours.	[ "Since RACH is shared, there is a probability that two or more mobiles transmit at the same time and their transmissions collide in the medium (air) and they will not be granted access to the network. This happens because limit for number of mobiles transmitting in one RACH time slot is not defined in the GSM stand...
why do flags flap in the wind instead of lining up with the wind like a weather vane?	Turbulence. The movement of the wind sucks the tip or middle of the flag a little to one side, then it overreacts and goes the other way.	[ "When blown by the wind, flags are subject to wave-like motions that grow in amplitude along the length of the flag. This is sometimes ascribed to the flag pole giving vortex shedding; however, flags that are held by lanyards also can be seen to flap.\n", "Other flags can be used to indicate the direction of wind...
how does rockstar (and other video games) make cities that are only a few blocks/streets wide look like sprawling metropolises?	In two words: camera trickery. Have you ever seen the YouTube series Boundary Break from Shesez? He takes video game cameras to places they were never meant to be. When you watch it, you will understand how a game that contains very few 3D assets, looping animations, some far-away-looking 2D sprites and a skybox, can,...	[ "City Life is a city-building video game developed by Monte Cristo. It is the first modern building game to allow the player to work in full 3D environment. It is published in France by Focus, in the UK and Germany by Deep Silver and in North America by CDV. It was released in May 2006.\n", "City-building game is...
What is this? What's it purpose and name?	It's a low pass filter, to get rid of noise produced by the power supply, and perhaps to avoid that the cable acts as an antenna for some radio frequency signal. _URL_0_ Perhaps an electrical engineer can give some details?	[ "It is the elements and resources revealed by God as necessary for the sake of our salvation through God's revelation and communication of himself to mankind. It refers to God's creation of all things, and of his governance of the world, especially with regards to Jesus' part in salvation, which includes his missio...
If someone is heterozygous for sickle cell anemia, are 50% of the Hb molecules in red blood cells "sickle" Hb?	The Sickle Cell gene is incompletely dominant with the wild type gene. That means that both will be expressed and will create an intermediate phenotype. One who is heterozygous for the Sickle Cell gene is considered to express the Sickle Cell trait, but is not suffering from Sickle Cell Anemia. A heterozygous person wi...	[ "In people heterozygous for HbS (carriers of sickling haemoglobin), the polymerisation problems are minor because the normal allele is able to produce half of the haemoglobin. In people homozygous for HbS, the presence of long-chain polymers of HbS distort the shape of the red blood cell from a smooth doughnut-like...
what's actually happening after lifting weights that makes the muscles feel like they're trying to push their way out of the skin?	You achieved the pump! They're swollen with so much blood that they are stretching the skin that's covering them taught. So it feels like exactly what it is.	[ "The nerve may become painful over a period of time as weight gain makes underwear, belting or the waistband of pants gradually exert higher levels of pressure. Pain may be acute and radiate into the rib cage, and into the groin, thigh, and knee. Alternately, weight loss or aging may remove protective fat layers un...
How does electricity know what the circuit ahead of itself looks like?	The current "sees" the potential gradient (derived from the voltage) at any given point and flows from regions of higher potential to regions of lower potential. It responds to resistance only indirectly, since resistance tells you how much voltage you "exhaust" to "push" a unit of current through.	[ "Inside each of these parts are thousands to trillions of small electrical circuits which can be turned off or on by means of an electronic switch. Each circuit represents a bit (binary digit) of information so that when the circuit is on it represents a \"1\", and when off it represents a \"0\" (in positive logic ...
Why has France always been a great power in Europe?	There's quite a few things as to why France was a great power. Location The location of France is vital to it's survival. It was protected by the Pyrenees which divides France from Spain as both a physical and political border. This is also important because to the South, Spain was focused in a state of near cons...	[ "France has maintained its status as key power in Western Europe because of its size, location, strong economy, membership in European organizations, strong military posture and energetic diplomacy. France generally has worked to strengthen the global economic and political influence of the EU and its role in commo...
How come we haven't seen CPUs with three or more threads per core?	Oh there are, just usually in server software. Sun has 8+ threads per core. These are a lot more beneficial in things like file servers. I had a client a few years ago running on the T2 (or T3?)?. It was running some advanced mathematical computations and they couldn't figure out why it ran incredibly slow. So much so ...	[ "There are two CPU cores used in the 683xx family: the 68EC000 and the CPU32. The instruction set of the CPU32 core is similar to the 68020 without bitfield instructions, and with a few instructions unique to the CPU32 core, such as table lookup and interpolate instructions, and a low-power stop mode.\n", "Some 6...
Why olives?	In the ancient mediterrannean, olives were the sole oil crop. If you wanted a cheap oil for cooking or illumination, you use olive oil. Olives are not especially labor intensive to process, compared to other food and non-food crops -- they are pressed using a series of heavy stones, then a mesh or latticework filter ...	[ "Olive oil has long been considered sacred. The olive branch was often a symbol of abundance, glory, and peace. The leafy branches of the olive tree were ritually offered to deities and powerful figures as emblems of benediction and purification, and they were used to crown the victors of friendly games and bloody ...
why (for the most part) things that seemed cool as a child don't seem cool as an adult? why don't we just keep accumulating interests as we age?	Part of it will be this: Generally things that are interesting to us are non-trivial. Once you know enough about something it can become trivial to you and thus invoke no interest in you. For example as a kid playing tic-tac-toe might seem interesting to you but once you understand that if both people are good enough y...	[ "Children and teenagers tend to desire to be accepted among friends as part of that group, and act upon that desire through peer pressure. Peer pressure sometimes determines how people style their hair and clothing to \"look cool\". A desire to be accepted by those whose friendship one values can determine their op...
how does light travel both in waves and in particles simultaneously, from every point in the universe in every possible direction?	Light waves "overlap" with each other all the time. We call this interference. When two or more waves converge on the same location, the waves add together. Sometimes this causes the waves to 'cancel out' at that location, causing dark spots, and sometimes this causes an apparent wave that's as bright as the two waves ...	[ "Light may pass through anisotropic inhomogeneous media at different rates depending on the direction and starting position of a light ray. The boundary of the set of points to which light can travel from a given point q after a time \"t\" is known as the wave front after time \"t\", denoted here by Φ(\"t\"). It co...
Will we ever be able to view what happens in other planets at a surface level with a powerful enough telescope?Especially planets that are earth-like/inhabitable.	In theory, yes it's possible. But what do you mean by 'at a surface level'? A group of astronomers recently published a [30 year roadmap for NASA missions](_URL_1_). In it, they talk about all the amazing science we think we can get in the next 30 years as long as Congress keeps funding us. (If you have time, you shou...	[ "For planet detection, the telescopes would operate in an imaging mode. The detection of an Earth-like planet would require about 10 hours of observation in total, spread out over several months. A 2002 design which would have used 1.5 metre mirrors was expected to take about 100 hours to get a spectrum of a possib...
In Medieval times, soldiers wore padded jackets (gambesons) under their armor for added protection and comfort. Did Roman legionaries and Hoplites wear something similar?	Goldsworthy in "The Complete Roman Army" says there's no depictions much less surviving examples. But he thinks there must have been some kind of padded garment worn to absorb the impact of blows. He notes that there are references to a thoramachus from a very late source and a subarmalis in another history. The...	[ "The Muslim forces wore gilded helmets similar to the silver helmets of the Sassanid soldiers. Mail was commonly used to protect the face, neck, and cheeks, either as an aventail from the helmet or as a mail coif. Heavy leather sandals as well as Roman type sandal boots were also typical of the early Muslim soldier...
why a random people allowed to make and sell products on websites such as etsy, ebay that are already real brands, e.g. minecraft, starwars?	They aren't. The issue isn't with them being "allowed" to infringe on trademarks and IP, but rather in companies asserting their rights and policing their IP. Think of etsy/ebay like youtube. I can upload Rihanna's next hit and reap the rewards and it will go unnoticed by youtube until people representing Rihanna submi...	[ "Smart shops in various countries have been known in the past to sell designer drugs: that is, synthetic substances that were not (yet) illegal. The sale of synthetic drugs not explicitly approved as food, supplements or medicines is illegal in some of them. For example, in the Netherlands it is dealt with by the r...
how do radio station hosts always know the exact moment the words of the song that is playing will start so they can stop talking?	They've already listened to the first few seconds of the song to get their timing. Then they rewind to the beginning of the song, and the timer starts counting down and they time their words to stop before it hits zero. I think it's called "zeroing up the next song".	[ "The radio station read a question and announced its point value. Teams were given three songs (approximately 10 minutes worth of time) to call the station's request lines with the correct answer. Teams were allowed unlimited guesses, and the phone operators would only ask for the team name after a correct guess. T...
if it's so hard to find bone marrow for a transplant, why do most people signed up as donors never get called to donate?	You have to be a near perfect DNA match, so the chances are slim. A friend of mine had a transplant 20 years ago from his twin brother, his older brothers marrow wasn't a match.	[ "Bone marrow transplants are usually shunned in this highly treatable disease because of the inherent risks in the procedure. They may be considered for refractory cases in younger, otherwise healthy individuals. \"Mini-transplants\" are possible.\n", "Bone marrow transplants have proven effective in children. Bo...
Big Bang theory challenged by big chill. What does Ask Science think of this new theory?	I'm curious as to how this is a challenge to the Big Bang Theory? This seems more like its a challenge to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Although didn't Einstein observe light bending around sources of high density/gravity (like light from a distant star located from the human perspective as behind the sun being bent...	[ "The theory was one alternative to the Big Bang which, like the Big Bang, agreed with key observations of the day, namely Hubble's red shift observations, and Hoyle was a strong critic of the Big Bang. He coined the term \"Big Bang\" on BBC radio's \"Third Programme\" broadcast on 28 March 1949. It was popularly re...
Historically speaking was Siberia "empty" of peoples or at least people that kept records prior to Russian expansion?	No, all of Siberia was inhabited by [Ugric, Finnic, Samoyedic, Yukaghir, Mongolian, Turkic, Tungusic and Paleosiberian people](_URL_0_). The Russian expansion was always a military one, although the reactions off different people to Russian settlement differed and population density was in most cases low. Even now, 10...	[ "According to archaeologists, the first people reached Siberia circa 40,000 BCE. The grave-mounds and monuments of the Scythian culture in Krasnoyarsk Krai belong to the 7th century BCE and are ones of the oldest in Eurasia. A prince's grave, the Kurgan Arshan, discovered in 2001, is also located in the krai.\n", ...
Is there any way to prevent mass extinction after a meteor impact?	The dust would go to a stratosphere, up to 50 km high, so it is highly unrealistic to get rid of it with the current technology and capabilities.	[ "The impact may also have produced acid rain, depending on what type of rock the asteroid struck. However, recent research suggests this effect was relatively minor. Chemical buffers would have limited the changes, and the survival of animals vulnerable to acid rain effects (such as frogs) indicates that this was n...
what's the difference between an electric guitar and the ordinary kind?	A normal guitar has strings that vibrate at a rate determined by their length and tension. This vibrates air directly but more importantly transfers vibration to the body of the guitar, causing the hollow interior to resonate and vibrate air. Vibrating air is sound. An electric guitar has "pickups" which are electroma...	[ "There are several types of electric guitar, including: the solid-body guitar; various types of hollow-body guitars; the six-string guitar (the most common type), which is usually tuned E, B, G, D, A, E, from highest to lowest strings; the seven-string guitar, which typically adds a low B string below the low E; an...
How difficult would it be to crossbreed different species of animals?	You are asking about [hybridization](_URL_1_). Under certain circumstances, yes you can interbreed similar species. The most distantly related they are the less likely of producing a successful offspring. First we need to ask, what defines one species from another? The line that defines one species from another is s...	[ "A taxonomist decides whether to recognize a subspecies or not. A common criterion for recognizing two distinct populations as subspecies rather than full species is the ability of them to interbreed without a fitness penalty. In the wild, subspecies do not interbreed due to geographic isolation or sexual selection...
What was the first army to field a million men?	A single field army or a state's total number of soldiers? The Ming dynasty in China (1388-1644) mobilized on occasion a million men, out of a total population 160-200 million, but would not have concentrated them into a single army.	[ "Neither side had difficulty in recruiting the numbers initially required to fill the expanding ranks. In April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 men from the states’ militias for a three‑month period.\n", "The army is said to have increased from 3,000 to 4,000 men in the 5th century BC, and then ...
if the moon were to disappear would the earths gravity become stronger?	No. An object's gravity is a function of its mass, not of the mass of object's around it. Net gravitational force between two objects is a function of those two objects' mass, but the objects' individual gravity does not change.	[ "Nordtvedt then observed that if gravity did in fact violate the strong equivalence principle, then the more-massive Earth should fall towards the Sun at a slightly different rate than the Moon, resulting in a polarization of the lunar orbit. To test for the existence (or absence) of the Nordtvedt effect, scientist...
we construct our thoughts using language. for someone who doesn't understand any language, what is going through this person's mind when he perceives or thinks about something?	As a father of a mostly nonverbal child, I wondered this too. After doing a ton of reading on the subject, here's the simplest way I understand it: Humans are conceptual thinkers. Those concepts need to be expressed somehow, whether externally (language) or internally (thoughts). To express those concepts, we use symb...	[ "A person is highly interconnected with other regions of the brain, especially those in the left frontal language network. Though its function seems to be distinct from its neighbors, this high degree of connectivity supports the idea that language can be integrated into many of the seemingly unrelated thought proc...
Car engine: why does shifting up earlier/lower rpm consume less fuel?	My best guess is that by shifting earlier you don't let the engine rpm get super high, therefore reducing amount of fuel per second consumed. But by doing this you also lose out on the high rpm power range. If the engine is built correctly (cams etc), you can effectively shift the rpm where the engine has maximum power...	[ "At even slightly lower speeds than maximum, the total drag on the vehicle is considerably less, and the engine needs to deliver this greatly reduced amount of power. In this case the RPM of the engine has changed significantly while the RPM of the wheels has changed very little. Clearly this condition calls for a ...
why can does bark what seems like forever but people can only scream for a hour or two?	Because don'ts cant bark like never, so people seems like screaming less for some time.	[ "The howler, as its name suggests, spends the time when it isn't hunting howling. The eerie, resonating noise causes anyone who hears it for an extensive amount of time to go mad. When hunting, the howler travels in packs. It is a cruel and cowardly creature, so it is rarely found alone. They attack prey by chargin...
Exactly how powerful is compressed air?	This would be extremely dangerous. When the container failed and the gas rapidly expanded back to equilibrium, the metal shrapnel of the container would reach high velocity. Assuming the gas was compressed slowly in an isothermal fashion, the pressure in such a sphere would be 1.3 million psi or around 9GPa, which woul...	[ "Compressed air has relatively low energy density. Air at 30 MPa (about 4,350 psi) contains about 50 Wh of energy per liter (and normally weighs 372 g per liter). For comparison, a lead–acid battery contains 60-75 Wh/L. A lithium-ion battery contains about 250-620 Wh/L. The EPA estimates the energy density of gasol...
Why are ears/nose/mouth/eyes located on the head of most of the planet's animals and not spread out all around the body?	Two big reasons. The first, lesser, reason, is that evolutionary inertia constrains body plans. So, to a small degree for the same reason that bats and horses have the same bone plans, just modified. The bigger reason, is that sensory organs are located near the brain (which is in the head) in order to reduce the di...	[ "The nasal cavities in mammals are both fused into one. Among most species they are exceptionally large, typically occupying up to half the length of the skull. In some groups, however, including primates, bats, and cetaceans, the nose has been secondarily reduced, and these animals consequently have a relatively p...
logarithm.	Not like you're 5, but like you're in 5th grade. Also this isn't a 100% accurate information, it's to give you an idea. If you want more explicit details, just ask :) A logarithm is kind of like how "big" a number is. 10 has 1 '0' 100 has 2 '0's 1000 has 3, etc.. so Log(1000) would be 3, Log(100) would be 2, Log(...	[ "The history of logarithms is the story of a correspondence (in modern terms, a group isomorphism) between multiplication on the positive real numbers and addition on the real number line that was formalized in seventeenth century Europe and was widely used to simplify calculation until the advent of the digital co...
am i wasting energy if the phone charger is connected to the socket but the phone is not connected?	Yes, a lot of people like to say you should unplug it because it's wasting power, but on a side note, my dad and I were skeptical of how much power it was using, so we set up a meter to it and let it just sit there for like a week, we calculated it would be like 1-2 cents for the month	[ "BULLET::::- As the charging socket shares a feeder from the switchboard with other sockets (no dedicated circuit) if the sum of consumptions exceeds the protection limit (in general 16 A), the circuit-breaker will trip, stopping the charging.\n", "In the latter case, a mobile electricity meter is integrated eith...
Did the US Founding Fathers purposefully leave secession out of the Constitution? Was it even discussed at the Constitutional Convention?	There were certainly at least some differences. In an exchange of letters, Alexander Hamilton was inclined to let states demand it, while James Madison was completely against it. [Hamilton's letter](_URL_1_) (emphasis added): > I thank you My Dear Sir for yours by the post.2 Yesterday I communicated to Duer our sit...	[ "Historian Forrest McDonald argued that after adopting the Constitution \"there were no guidelines, either in theory or in history, as to whether the compact could be dissolved and, if so, on what conditions\". However, during \"the founding era, many a public figure . . . declared that the states could interpose t...
Is there anything on Earth that is exactly the same as another?	Fundamental particles are intrinsically indistinguishable. In fact, a lot of quantum mechanics is built up on the basis of their indistinguishability. Every electron is the same as every other electron.	[ "For science and humankind alike, one of the most important questions we can ask is: “Are there any life forms in space?” Therefore, great attention is paid to physical, chemical, and atmospheric similarities between the earth and other planets. Scientists recently discovered the “Gliese 581” extra solar planet; th...
why are stones, that are grey when dry, become so colorful when they are wet?	This has been answered: _URL_0_	[ "In many parts of the deposit, there are grey, black and coloured mineral grains in the calcite crystals of the stone at a microscopic scale, making the crystals appear cloudy. Minor organic impurities are the cause of the slightly bitumen-like smell emitted while the marble is worked; it disappears after working.\...
Do magnetic fields have an effect on corrosion rates in steel?	No, not really. Magnetic fields in general have a pretty much negligible impact on chemistry and chemical reactions. That's why NMR (which uses gigantic fields, upwards of 15 T) is a useful analytical tool for chemistry - nothing happens. (And as witnessed in thousands of hospitals daily, sticking a whole living person...	[ "Similarly, in magnetic materials of finite conductivity eddy currents cause the confinement of the majority of the magnetic fields to only a couple skin depths of the surface of the material. This effect limits the flux linkage in inductors and transformers having magnetic cores.\n", "Copper, silicon, nickel, ch...
Why does the male prostate grows as the man ages?	This is actually a surprisingly complex topic and there is no one definitive answer. In general, we know that the prostate grows exponentially at about a rate of 1.9% per year between the ages of 40 and 80. We know that this growth is due to [hyperplasia](_URL_0_) (or an increase in the number of cells in an organ, as ...	[ "A 2014 review indicated that increasing male age is associated with declines in many semen traits, including semen volume and percentage motility. However, this review also found that sperm concentration did not decline as male age increased.\n", "Growth of the penis both before birth and during childhood and pu...
the double switch in baseball	I going to assume you know the basic rules of baseball for this, if not let me know and I can elaborate further. The double switch only comes into play during NL games, as it almost always involves the pitcher. A double switch comes into play when the starting pitcher is ready to come out of the game and a relief p...	[ "In baseball, the double switch is a type of player substitution, usually performed by a team while playing defense. The double switch is typically used to make a pitching substitution, while simultaneously placing the incoming pitcher in a more favorable spot in the batting order than was occupied by the outgoing ...
How far could we send information in the universe?	The limitation is the speed of light, but, assuming you had time enough to wait, you could communicate anywhere within the galaxy and anywhere else (e.g., nearby galaxies) which aren't expanding away from us. However, more distant galaxies are expanding from us, and the fact that the expansion of the Universe is accele...	[ "The total amount of data that could be stored in the observable universe using each of the 10 to 10 atoms as single bits of information (using their spin for example) is between 1.25×10 to 1.25×10 yottabytes. It would take up to 1.47×10 years (over one million trillion trillion trillion trillion times the current ...
how will we tell time in space when we eventually leave earth?	We can certainly keep Earth time; there are many ways to count seconds accurately enough to lose one only every few centuries.	[ "Based on the rotation of the Earth, time can be measured by observing celestial bodies crossing the meridian every day. Astronomers found that it was more accurate to establish time by observing stars as they crossed a meridian rather than by observing the position of the Sun in the sky. Nowadays, UT in relation t...
How good of a military commander was Alexander actually?	Also, follow up, what effect did commanders within Alex's army have on his military success? Ptolemy, Parmenion, etc..	[ "His military career was distinguished. A member of Alexander the Great's personal bodyguard, he went on to command the Companion cavalry and was entrusted with many other tasks throughout Alexander's ten-year campaign in Asia, including diplomatic missions, the bridging of major rivers, sieges and the foundation o...
why are the bottoms of movie posters always the same font/format?	You'd'd be surprised at how much research there is in determining how to catch the eye of the consumer & grab their attention. They know exactly what fonts & what format will get you to stop and look at it.	[ "A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1980s, illustrations...
what is the "liberal media"	Journalists, actors, directors, and other media contributors tend to skew liberal (just as bankers skew conservative), giving most media sources have a slight, organic liberal bias. Conservatives pundits treat this as a full blown conspiracy against them, and repeat "liberal media" like a mantra to discredit news re...	[ "What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News is a book by columnist Eric Alterman that challenges the widespread conservative belief in a liberal media bias. Alterman argues that the media, as a whole, is not biased liberally, but conservatively.\n", "A 2008 joint study by the Shorenstein Center on Med...
add, adhd and aspergers	ADD/ADHD usually gets diagnosed when you have difficulty concentrating, paying attention, impulsive and too energetic. Asperger's is a form of autism. Autism can be on a spectrum, Asperger's being a type of mild autism. Usually narrow interests, knowing a lot about those interests, and relating to others most easily w...	[ "ADHD in adults, as with children, is recognized as an impairment that may constitute a disability under U.S. federal disability nondiscrimination laws, including such laws as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA, 2008 revision), if the disorder substantially limits one or mor...
Was empress dowager Cixi's feet bound?	The apparent Sinicisation of the Manchus is something that really did not occur until after the Qing Dynasty fell. As a member of the Yehe Nara clan, one of the most prestigious Manchu clans (Nurhaci's chief consort and mother of his successor, Hong Taiji, was a member of the Yehe Nara clan), Cixi would have been parti...	[ "Empress Dowager Zheng (鄭太后, personal name unknown) (died December 26, 865), formally Empress Xiaoming (孝明皇后, \"the filial and understanding empress\"), was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. She was a concubine to Emperor Xianzong and, after her son Emperor Xuānzong became emperor, she became ...
how does body clock work?	Our bodies have a natural internal clock (known as the circadian rhythym) that roughly corresponds to the length of a day. Per this clock, a certain amount of time is for being awake, and a certain amount of time is for being asleep. In other words, the circadian clock does NOT simply measure 8 hours from the time you ...	[ "Biological rhythms, including cycles related to sleep and wakefulness, mood, and cognitive performance, are synchronized with the body's internal circadian clock. The best way to observe the workings of this clock is to experimentally deprive individuals of external cues like light and social interaction and allow...
what is the difference in antidepressants of the same type?	The short definition is their chemical make up is different and they affect different parts of the synapse to result serotonin reuptake (in the case of SSRIs). Everyone reacts differently so that’s why it might take a minute to figure out which works best for each individual person. It can also take a bit until you get...	[ "A 2011 review concluded that second-generation antidepressants appear equally effective, although they may differ in onset and side effects. Treatment guidelines issued by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence and by the American Psychiatric Association generally reflect this viewpoint.\n", "T...
If adding a proton to an element turns it into another element, Why can't there be unlimited amounts of elements?	The nucleus in an atom is held together by a force called the strong force. The strong force only works withing the distance of roughly the width of an iron nucleus. Protons repel other protons (opposite charges attract) with a force that is weaker than the strong force, but works over a longer distance. These two forc...	[ "Because this is the number of protons, the atomic number must be a whole number – there cannot be any fractional values. Moseley realised it was the atomic number, not the atomic weight that determines the order of the elements. What's more, because the atomic number increases in whole numbers from one element to ...
I’m breathing fire after adding a few drops of scotch bonnet sauce to my lunch, and it got me wondering: When did adding capsaicin-rich spices become prevalent in certain cuisines? Why was ‘spicy’ food so quickly and decisively adopted in some cultures, and mostly ignored in others?	There are many reasons for the domestication and cultivation of spicy chili peppers in certain historical cultures that still have relevance today. These chilis were discovered in archeological sites dating back over 6000 years before European contact in areas ranging from the Bahamas to Peru. There is strong evidence...	[ "The acid gas emitted by the Leblanc Process was a considerable nuisance. The first successful user of the process, James Muspratt in Liverpool, was forced from Everton due to complaints by neighbours. This was one reason why the early alkali makers set up in then remote spots such as Widnes, which they thought wou...
how could nafta be terminated by a single country?	Either the US, Canada or Mexico could pull out of NAFTA by giving 6 months notice. By nature of scale of economies, if the US pulls out, NAFTA is basically dead. What happens after that would be anyones guess as prior to NAFTA, there were tariffs in place between the three countries. In all likelihood, NAFTA w...	[ "The member nations agreed that any free-trade zones that in August 1994 were already in operation could operate normally under Mercosur, along with any that are set up in light of legal guidelines prevailing or in course in congress during this same time period. This means that a member nation can no longer create...
vegetables don't have a lot of fat content, where does vegetable oil come from?	Primarily from seeds which contain much more fat than say, a carrot. Soybean oil, corn oil, cotton seed oil, peanut oil, canola oil, olive oil, etc. If you crush peanuts you will eventually get peanut butter, which will eventually separate and make a layer of peanut oil. Do it to 100 tons of peanuts and you get a...	[ "Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are fats extracted from seeds, or less often, from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are \"mixtures\" of triglycerides. Soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of fats from seeds. Olive oil, palm oil, and rice bran oil are example of fats fr...
The Voyager Missions took advantage of gravitational slingshotting from the alignment of the planets. If kinetic energy was added to the probes, where was energy lost to balance out?	tl;dr: It was taken from the kinetic energy of the planet's orbital motion around the sun. You can think of a gravity assist as being kind of like bouncing a tennis ball off the front of a moving truck. The forces have to balance (Newton's third law) so the acceleration of the tennis ball implies a corresponding decel...	[ "Gravitational assists are valuable techniques for Solar System exploration. Because the success of such flyby maneuvers depends on the exact geometry of the trajectory, the position and velocity of a spacecraft during its encounter with a planet is continually tracked with great precision by the Deep Space Network...
when can i refuse to comply with an officer, and what can an officer do about peaceful noncompliance?	Technically, you are required to obey all lawful commands from a law enforcement officer. The officer is empowered to arrest you, using physical contact if necessary to do so, if you refuse. all the idiot cop who tasted that guy had to do was call for backup, and with some help, sack the dude and cuff him. He got imp...	[ "Persons are required to comply with certain instructions given by a peace officer, and certain acts (e.g., battery) committed against a peace officer carry more severe penalties than the same acts against a private person. It is unlawful to resist, delay, or obstruct a peace officer in the course of the officer's ...
why doesn’t coke stain?	I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can tell you for a fact that coke stains. There are still stains on the carpet in my parents house that can prove that.	[ "Since the result is usually black, it is generally smuggled as toner, fingerprint powder, fertilizer, pigment or metal moldings. The pure cocaine base can be recovered from the mixture by extraction (freebase) or acid-base extraction (hydrochloride) using common organic solvents such as acetone.\n", "In industri...

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