Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
why is japanese media so violent?	Can't speak to the media. But their history is absolutely rife with war and being a rather aggressive neighbor.	[ "Censorship of Japanese media in South Korea refers to laws created by the government of South Korea to prevent the import and distribution of media from Japan. These laws were a reaction to the decades-long Japanese occupation of Korea. As a result, South Koreans had no legal access to Japanese media at all until ...
if you're standing at the south pole, can you only go north with your first step?	Yes. In any polar coordinate system a unit move from either pole can only go in 1 direction. After that, you can turn east or west, but the first is always North in your example.	[ "Surprisingly, if you run through the path twice, i.e., run from north pole down to south pole, jump back to the north pole (using the fact that north and south poles are identified), and then again run from north pole down to south pole, so that \"φ\" runs from 0 to 4, you get a closed loop which \"can\" be shrunk...
what function do the mesh over the speaker?	It stops foreign objects from passing through and damaging the speaker. Some are water resistant to an extent and some can help with sound quality by allowing soundwaves to pass freely through them.	[ "Speaker wire is used to make the electrical connection between loudspeakers and audio amplifiers. Modern speaker wire consists of two or more electrical conductors individually insulated by plastic (such as PVC, PE or Teflon) or, less commonly, rubber. The two wires are electrically identical, but are marked to id...
Are there any primary sources written by Jews who immigrated to the US during/after the Holocaust/Third Reich?	Try Ruth Kluger's autobiography Still Alive--also available in German as (I believe) Noch Leben. She details her childhood in Vienna, her survival of the Holocaust, and her emigration to the United States.	[ "BULLET::::- The National Library had been instrumental in of taking the books and other possessions of Jewish citizens, and also other victims of the Nazi regime. It was estimated that about 195,000 books and other objects had been stolen from politically and racially persecuted victims, and unlawfully added to th...
what was the incentive behind the terrorist attack in canada?	I have no idea why this thread is being down voted.	[ "The terror threat level in Canada was on October 21 raised to medium in light of the ramming attack and due to \"an increase in online 'general chatter' from radical groups including Islamic State and al-Qaeda.\" In his address to the nation following the shootings on October 22, Prime Minister Stephen Harper refe...
what advantage can a revolver give over a pistol?	I assume you mean a self-loading pistol (like a common semi-auto Glock.) One advantage is that semi-auto weapons can be prone to jamming, whereas revolvers don't necessarily have that issue in the same way. There are many more working parts in a semi-auto than a revolver, so fewer parts to break / wear out. And becaus...	[ "Pistols are not practical platforms for the launching of large projectiles because their small size, relative to rifles, decreases their capacity to absorb the force of recoil, increasing the proportion transmitted into the user's body. At calibers larger than .45 or .50, the negative impact on a shooter's control...
when a television receives no signal, why does it output that "salt and pepper" screen?	Interference it is picking up background radiation, cosmic rays and other signals which it is attempting to sort out into a picture and failing, because there is no signal.	[ "On the other hand, watermarks pollute the picture, distract viewers' attention, may cover an important piece of information presented in the television program. Extremely bright watermarks may cause screen burn-in on some types of TV sets.\n", "In broadcasting, a corrupted signal may glitch in the form of jagged...
If all people have the same genome, what makes us different? And does this relate to gene expression?	It might be helpful to start with a metaphor. Imagine a grocery store. This store is has all your major products such as ice cream, candy and pastries (I may have a slight sweet tooth). Different stores in the same chain are required to stock the same TYPES of products, and each store is required to have two and ONLY t...	[ "The human genome consists of two copies of each of 23 chromosomes (a total of 46). One set of 23 comes from the mother and one set comes from the father. Of these 23 pairs of chromosomes, 22 are autosomes, and one is a sex chromosome. There are two kinds of sex chromosomes–\"X\" and \"Y\". In humans and in almost ...
what’s the benefits of using 32-bit windows operation system over 64-bit windows operation system?	Marginally faster in older hardware. However the security benefits of 64bit are IMHO outweigh all.	[ "Although 32-bit applications can be run transparently, the mixing of the two types of code within the same process is not allowed. A 64-bit program cannot use a 32-bit dynamic-link library (DLL) and similarly a 32-bit program cannot use a 64-bit DLL. This may lead to the need for library developers to provide both...
why do screens shown on television (like the scoreboard of a football game) appear to constantly flash on the television but not with the naked eye?	These screens are made up of LEDs. The LEDs each require a driver circuit to make them light up. But to save costs, many LEDs share the same driver circuit. But since the driver can only drive one LED at a time, the driver quickly switches between LEDs. This happens way too fast for us to see at normal speed. However w...	[ "Before playing, a red sensor must be attached to the lower right corner of the television screen. This corner contains a circle that was usually black, but flashes rapidly whenever something on the screen is targetable. At the same time, targets are highlighted by rapidly flashing panels for the player to shoot at...
if our bodies can adapt to fight infections, why do we always contract colds?	As well as viruses mutating. Antibodies only have an effect for so long. If you're sick and then you recover but your family gets sick from being in contact with you, chances are you won't get that sickness back. You stop being sick because antibodies identify what's making you sick and helps remove it. When your famil...	[ "Antibiotics have no effect against viral infections or against the viruses that cause the common cold. Due to their side effects, antibiotics cause overall harm but are still frequently prescribed. Some of the reasons that antibiotics are so commonly prescribed include people's expectations for them, physicians' d...
My Highschool Teacher Has Been Giving Us Historically Incorrect Information. Is my information historically accurate?	TL;DR: Elizabeth I was Protestant. The English Empire, as much as an empire can be a religion, was Protestant also. The Pope excommunicated Elizabeth for being Protestant. Your teacher’s interpretation is wrong. First of all, it seems your teacher is confusing the British Empire with the English Empire. The Britis...	[ "In \"Lies My Teacher Told Me\", Loewen criticizes modern American high school history textbooks for containing incorrect information about people and events such as Christopher Columbus, the lies and inaccuracies in the history books regarding the dealings between the Europeans and the Native Americans, and their ...
does peeing directly into the water or on the side of the bowl keep your toilet cleaner?	Side of the bowl. The water hits it at an angle and bounces downward towards the water. When hitting the water it’s forced upwards. Additionally, forget the cleaning issue. Hitting the water is disgusting, loud and horrible for anyone else within a city block to have to listen to.	[ "Standing water in the bowl acts as a barrier to sewer gas coming out of the sewer through the drain, and also as a receptacle for waste. Sewer gas is vented through a separate vent pipe attached to the sewer line. The water in the toilet bowl is connected to the drain by a drain pipe shaped like an extended \"S\" ...
how are fire drills done in skyscrapers?	Our building just had a supervisor come up and demand a few people meet in the hallway at the elevators. He described how to use the emergency stairs and phones, what not to do, how the elevators wouldn't be working, and that was it. We are on the 15th floor of an 18 floor building. I don't know if thats universal, ...	[ "A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated as if the emergency had occurred. Generally, the evacuation is timed to ensure that it is fast en...
why do carbohydrates and proteins contain 3 kcal/gram and fats contain 9 kcal/gram if they have the exact same mass but different structures?	Calories are a measurement of how much energy our body can create from these substances. Carbohydrates are less energy efficient gram for gram than fat. Also it's 4 kcal/g not 3.	[ "The macronutrients (excluding fiber and water) provide structural material (amino acids from which proteins are built, and lipids from which cell membranes and some signaling molecules are built) and energy. Some of the structural material can be used to generate energy internally, and in either case it is measure...
modular synthesizers	You understand additive synthesis - you know that you have envelope generators, oscillators, LFOs, filters & whatnot. In a "normal" analogue synth, all of these are pre-wired so that there's a limited number of ways they can interact. A modular synth, OTOH, is like a bunch of legos that lets you string the bits tog...	[ "The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer, which exists in both physical and virtual forms, consisting of separate specialized modules. The modules are not hardwired together by the manufacturer but can be connected together with patch cords, a matrix patching system, or switches by the user to create a pat...
How do you calculate the average sum of dice rolls when a "drop the lowest roll" mechanic is used?	Suppose we roll a die N times and label the results as X_1_, X_2_, ..., X_N_ and let M denote the minimum roll. Then the sum of the best N-1 rolls is > S = X_1_ + X_2_ + .... + X_N_ - M Expectation is linear and all of the X_j_'s have expected value (d+1)/2 where d is the number of sides of the di...	[ "Unlike most dice games, the value of the roll is not the sum of the dice. Instead, the highest die is multiplied by ten and then added to the other die. So a 2 and a 1 is 21 and a 5 and 6 is 65. The highest roll is 21 which is called \"Mia\", followed by the doubles from 66 to 11, and then all other rolls from 65 ...
If being a Gladiator was so intense, life expectancy was so short - why did so many people become one ?	It wasn't all bad. They were celebrities. They had a place to live, a purpose in life, they received rewards (drink and women) for their performances, and they won fame and renown. If they were a slave they could win their freedom. If they were already free, they paid off their debts and might win an honourable retirem...	[ "A gladiator might expect to fight in two or three munera annually, and an unknown number would have died in their first match. Few gladiators survived more than 10 contests, though one survived an extraordinary 150 bouts; and another died at 90 years of age, presumably long after retirement. A natural death follow...
How much did the people of Europe during the Dark Ages know about Rome?	Most of Europe saw the byzantine empire as the roman empire. It wasn't until after the fourth crusade when the empire was reduced to a few holdings in greece that europe stopped seeing it as rome. In fact, the term byzantine empire is a recent creation, and the people of the early middle ages simply called it the roman...	[ "BULLET::::- Peter Llewellyn, \"Rome in the Dark Ages\" (London, 1970), narrates the history of Rome at the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth centuries. Llewellyn discusses both Formosus and the Cadaver Synod.\n", "Although often referred to as the Dark Ages, the period after the end of Roman rule i...
how do cleaning products actually work to kill germs?	Most cleaning works by simply washing the bacteria off the surface you are trying to clean. Things like bleach, disinfectant, alcohol wipes work by damaging the bacterial cell wall so it dies. For that you need the cleaning solution to contact the bacteria for a certain amount of time.	[ "Cleaning agents are substances (usually liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) used to remove dirt, including dust, stains, bad smells, and clutter on surfaces. Purposes of cleaning agents include health, beauty, removing offensive odor, and avoiding the spread of dirt and contaminants to oneself and others. Some ...
Are there examples of a democratic leader being given full powers during war or peace?	Actually, I'm gonna use an example that you probably won't expect - I just hope it counts as a 'democratic leader.' ;) The word dictator. That's a really ugly word nowadays, and it's shared with the likes of such people as the Kim dynasty, Stalin, Mao Zedong....and it's VERY commonly used in political arguments wh...	[ "Though fairly uncommon in democracies, dictatorial regimes often declare a state of emergency that is prolonged indefinitely for the life of the regime, or for extended periods of time so that derogations can be used to override human rights of their citizens usually protected by the International Covenant on Civi...
Why is it that most products that you find in the bathroom have only 1% of the main ingredient?	There are many different reasons. Sometimes it is a safety concern (such as hydrogen peroxide being sold as a 3% solution. This is to keep the user safe and to maintain product integrity.) In creams and whatnot, a delivery system is necessary, usually water based, which makes up a large portion of the product. This is ...	[ "Although reading the label of food products can identify obviously non-kosher ingredients, some countries allow manufacturers to omit identification of certain ingredients. Such \"hidden\" ingredients may include lubricants and flavorings, among other additives; in some cases, for instance, the use of \"natural\" ...
why are the biggest tech companies in america on the west coast?	Two reasons that I know of: One, the simple network effect. Many early tech companies were in the area, and especially in the early days, new tech companies usually formed when a few engineers with an idea left a previous company to pursue their new idea. And they'd stick in the area because that's where all the other...	[ "The Port of Oakland was an early innovator/pioneer in the technologies of Intermodal Containerized Shipping. The city is also home to several major corporations including Kaiser Permanente, Clorox, and Dreyer's ice cream, and retailer Cost Plus World Markets. Tech companies such as Ask.com and Pandora Radio are in...
why can a watch be made to remain accurate for years, but the second hand never be made to consistently lines up with the tick marks?	I know this is speculation, and I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure this is to do with the error of parallax - which basically has to do with the fact that your viewing angles may not always be perfect so that you misinterpret the true location of the second hand, even if it is perfectly on the tick mark.	[ "According to the Swiss Customs Service, counterfeit watches can be made in such a manner as to require special equipment to confirm near authenticity. Previously, replica watches could be distinguished by \"sloppy printing, soft metal and cheap quartz movements that made the second hand clunk its way round the dia...
How long does it take for tourniquets to start causing tissue damage?	I don't know of any good data on the issue, but for orthopedic surgery we will use a tourniquet for up to 2 hours at a time, which is generally considered low risk. We also try to keep tourniquet pressure to a minimum. After a recovery period, it is also considered safe to reapply the tourniquet, but there is not goo...	[ "Before the advent of arthroscopy and arthroscopic surgery, patients having surgery for a torn ACL required at least nine months of rehabilitation, having initially spent several weeks in a full-length plaster cast. With current techniques, such patients may be walking without crutches in two weeks, and playing som...
Has the " speed of gravity" actually been measured?	Sort of, in an indirect way. We haven't yet directly measured the propagation time of changes in gravity, although we likely will very soon as Advanced LIGO is expected to detect the first gravitational waves in the next few years. There are two Advanced LIGO detectors, one in Washington and one in Louisiana, and from ...	[ "In 2002, Fomalont and Sergei Kopeikin claimed to have measured the speed of gravity in the dedicated experiment by observing the tangential component in the gravitational bending of light of a quasar caused by the orbital motion of Jupiter with respect to the barycenter of the solar system. This claim was disputed...
How did the planes that dropped nukes on Japan penetrate that air space without conflicr?	Hi there -- while there's always more discussion to be had here, you may be interested in this [older thread on the topic](_URL_0_) which explains multiple reasons why the atomic bombing missions were successful.	[ "In the days which followed, Japan launched mass kamikaze attacks to deter this formidable invasion force. On 6 January 1945, combat air patrol (CAP) planes shot down a Japanese plane just 1,000 meters from the \"Titania\"s port bow. Air activity picked up two days later as the convoy's CAP downed four planes. A \"...
why do so little people like history?	Good history teachers are hard to find. Rather than presenting history as a series of interconnected events, most history classes present a list of names and dates, which they then expect you to regurgitate on a test. Most people know that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, but I would wager that very few could expla...	[ "It is man's ability to remember that sets us apart. We are the only species concerned with the past. Our memories give us voice. They bear the witness to history, so that others might learn, so they might celebrate our triumphs and be warned of our failures.\n", "Mandel often reiterated that most people do not l...
How to identify intron sequences in mRNA?	Introns are removed by a ribonuclear complex called a splicesome that recognises motifs called a splice donor site (at the 5' end) and a slice acceptor site (at the 3' end). About 50 nucleotides upstream (before) the acceptor site will be a branch site that is important in excising the intron. What you need to look fo...	[ "This sequence on an mRNA molecule is recognized by the ribosome as the translational start site, from which a protein is coded by that mRNA molecule. The ribosome requires this sequence, or a possible variation (see below) to initiate translation. The Kozak sequence is not to be confused with the ribosomal binding...
why is female genital mutilation a thing? why did the swedish school force the procedure upon the girls?	The school didn't force the students to do anything. It just happens to be attended mostly by immigrants, and many of the girls were discovered to have undergone the procedure. This mostly happens during the holidays when the parents take the girls on trips to countries where the procedure is legal to perform.	[ "Custom and tradition are the most frequently cited reasons for the practice of female genital mutilation. Some cultures believe that female genital mutilation is part of a girl's initiation into adulthood and that not performing it can disrupt social and political cohesion. In these societies, a girl is often not ...
Could intelligent life have appeared very early in the Universe?	There were no unionized atoms at all until about 400,000 years after the big bang, and no atoms heavier than lithium until about 500 million years later. So, any life would have been of a form inconceivable to us.	[ "Scientists have not uncovered any evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Although absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence, Mundane science fiction writers believe it's unlikely that alien intelligence will overcome the physical constraints on interstellar travel any better than ...
if we can't control where fat is lost/gained from, how are we so symmetrical? why isn't one hand or one arm fatter than the other?	For the same reason. When your body stores fat it tries to spread it around as much as possible.	[ "Although professionals know spot reduction is a myth, many people still believe that it is possible to choose where fat can be lost on one's body because of the continual misleading information fitness settings and the internet are providing. The scientific consensus among fitness experts and researchers is that s...
Why did Asians develop a better food cuisine than Europeans?	This submission has been removed because it violates the [rule on poll-type questions](_URL_0_). These questions do not lend themselves to answers with a firm foundation in sources and research, and the resulting threads usually turn into monsters with enormous speculation and little focussed discussion. Questions abou...	[ "Europeans brought their culinary traditions, but quickly adapted several of the fruits and vegetables native to the Americas into their own cuisines. Europe itself has been influenced by other cultures, such as with the Moors in Spain, and thus their food was already a mix of their world. The European influence fo...
convergence vs divergence	Convergence is converging; coming together or meeting. Divergence is diverging; separating or moving apart.	[ "In statistics and information geometry, divergence or a contrast function is a function which establishes the \"distance\" of one probability distribution to the other on a statistical manifold. The divergence is a weaker notion than that of the distance, in particular the divergence need not be symmetric (that is...
How is energy prioritized between organs in humans?	We redirect blood flow. The blood carries oxygen and carries nutrients: the two things we need to create our body's main energy carrier - ATP. Now, our body has a nice big store of macronutrients, so we can last without them for a much longer time than oxygen. The thing that tends to cause the biggest threat, in terms...	[ "On the scale of a tissue of an organ, the entire mechanical signal transmission network, including integrins, cadherins, focal adhesions (all intercellular junctions and ETM / cells), membrane, CSK, etc. also support the production of energy. Indeed, mitochondria are an integral part of this network and semi-solid...
why do so many disney child stars lose their minds?	Power, fame and money can corrupt a person or make them more powerful. When you are teenager, with a lot of money and bad company , it's easy to become overconfident and think like a very immature person, even worse than what they initially were. And it gets so out of control that they are filled with a lot of ego and ...	[ "Jackson felt that children distorting themselves for a part in a short or feature was \"sick\". She told her mother: \"This is not for me. I don't want the responsibility or the rejection. I'm not an actress, I'm not talented, leave me alone, let me get on with my life!\"\n", "A 2011 study conducted at the Unive...
If the eye is opened during sleep will the brain still process the visual information?	No, and maybe! OK. During sleep, particularly REM sleep, the ascending sensory pathways are shut down by strong inhibition. On the other hand, visual input provides a very strong drive to inhibit sleep. Enough light in the eyes, and you stand a good chance of waking up. However, lower amplitude visual inputs should ...	[ "Photoreceptors located in the retina of the eye send information about environmental light through the retinohypothalamic tract to the SCN. The SCN regulates the pineal gland, which secretes the hormone melatonin. Typically, the secretion of melatonin begins two hours before bedtime and ends two hours prior to wak...
[Math] What is the size of a differential?	"dx" is not a number. In fact, you can do all basic calculus without needing to even mention that it exists. The thing that's wrong with them is that they actually don't make sense, so it's totally reasonable to be confused about them if you think about them too much. The key thing in Calculus is limits. Everything ...	[ "Differential forms are mathematical objects constructed via tangent spaces and multilinear forms that behave, in many ways, like differentials in the classical sense. Though conceptually and computationally useful, differentials are founded on ill-defined notions of infinitesimal quantities developed early in the ...
WW2 massive cannons	So, the one that is in COD WWII, I'm almost certain represents the 'Schwerer Gustav', the largest calibre weapon ever used in combat. The Gustav is part of a type of artillery called railway guns, because they were always moved via railways rather than roads. In general railway guns are designed to tackle heavily forti...	[ "The Cannon 76/40 Model 1916 was a widely used naval gun on ships of the Royal Italian Navy during World War I and World War II. A very versatile weapon it was used as primary, secondary and tertiary armament on a number of ship classes. After being replaced aboard ships of the Royal Italian Navy it saw widespread ...
if i mistakenly step on my dog or stumble on him, then rightaway cuddle him as an "apology", will he interpret it this way?	No. I think the Oatmeal did it best: _URL_0_ About a quarter of the way down. Its' a joke, but that sums it up pretty well.	[ "The pair run away onto a bus, where the dog tells the man that he is his lawyer and is defending everything the man has ever done wrong. The man recalls a time where he was spoken to similarly by a gerbil as a child, telling him his father was cheating on his mother. The man and dog are kicked off the bus after th...
how does nasa and other space agency’s manage to land a rover/probe on an moving asteroid?	We're really really good at intelligent computer and propulsion systems. There's four steps to doing it. The first is launching. Got that down quite well with multi-stage rockets. The second is getting to the asteroid and matching its orbit. Got that down quite well with the ability to figure out where the asteroid'...	[ "NASA proposed the Asteroid Redirect Mission (or \"Asteroid Initiative\"), an unmanned robotic mission, to \"retrieve\" a near-Earth asteroid with a size of about and a mass of around 500 tons (comparable in mass to the ISS). The asteroid would be moved into a high lunar orbit or orbit around EML2 (halo orbit, Liss...
When the Vikings showed up in (what is now) Eastern Canada would the natives there have already had bows? If "no" why didn't they adopt it from the Norse?	Some of the Native Americans did have bows upon the Norse arrival, depending on what culture they belonged to. The natives that inhabited Vinland (Newfoundland) at the time of Norse contact were known as the Beothuk. The Beothuk had bow and arrow technology, which they used to hunt prey such as sea birds or caribou. In...	[ "Organised warfare with bows ended in the mid 17th century in Europe, but it persisted into the early 19th century in Eastern cultures and in hunting and tribal warfare in the New World. In the Canadian Arctic bows were made until the end of the 20th century for hunting caribou, for instance at Igloolik. \n", "Th...
bright momentary reflection seen on a phone screen reflecting from a desktop lcd while scrolling.	Go to r/askscience	[ "An unilluminated LCD must be lit from the front. To use ambient light, the liquid crystal itself is sandwiched between a polarization filter and a reflective surface. The mirror makes the display opaque so it cannot be illuminated from the back. Most often a light source is placed around the perimeter of the LCD.\...
can a commercial aircraft, like a boeing 747, do a looping?	They can't loop in the nice circular sense. They don't have enough thrust to make it over the loop even if they start at max speed. However, if you're careful, you can get far enough over than, when you stall out, you're past vertical and can "flop" over to complete the loop in a rather ungrateful manner. You are extre...	[ "Over the past six years, Wing developed its current aircraft to meet compliance standards and effectively deliver parcels through the air. The drones are specifically designed for small parcel delivery. Each aircraft features propellers, like a classic drone, along with a wing to help it cover long distances quick...
If nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, how come there are limits to our observable universe?	First, the universe "beginning" in a singularity does not necessarily imply that it is finite. One can have a universe that "starts" in a singularity while being infinite in extent at all times after the singularity. See my standard analogy [here](_URL_0_), for example. Second, the statement that "nothing can travel f...	[ "He goes on to explain that in Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, the rule that nothing can go faster than the speed of light, does not apply to galaxies in an expanding universe. He further explains that while that rule may apply in a preexisting static space, it does \"not\" apply in an expanding uni...
How bad is the space junk problem?	For a scintillating read a few times a year, I recommend [Orbital Debris Quarterly](_URL_0_). In brief summary -- yes, it is a significant problem, and the US government spends significant resources tracking as much debris as possible, partly in order to be able to move spacecraft out of the way when the situation loo...	[ "\"Lost in Space\"'s Bill Mumy said of Allen that, while he was very good at writing television pilots that sold, his unwillingness to spend money hurt his shows' quality once on the air. A monster costume that appeared on one of his shows, for example, would appear on another a few weeks later with new paint. Writ...
Theoretically, how many bits of information make up our universe?	A huge fraction of the information of the observable Universe is in black holes, ironically since we don't know how that information is encoded. It's around 10^(100) bits. Without black holes it's around 10^(90) bits, and almost all due to the CMB. There is an upper bound suggested by holography (Bekenstein) that, ass...	[ "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 scientists landed a probe on a moving asteroid?	Lots of math. Things in space move in predictable paths. If you have a good understanding of the solar system (which we do) you can very accurately predict where things will be and how fast they will be going very far into the future. Then you just need to have your probe be at the right place, and moving at the right...	[ "The spacecraft would not land on the comet, but would momentarily contact the surface with its TAG (Touch-And-Go) robotic arm, as will be done by \"OSIRIS-REx\" on an asteroid, including raising the solar arrays into a Y-shaped configuration to minimize the chance of dust accumulation during contact and provide mo...
Why was Israel not prevented from obtaining the bomb in the same way Iran was?	Isreal aquired large amounts of nuclear technology and materials from [France in the mid-1950s](_URL_0_), in exchange for military support for France's campaigns in North Africa (Algeria and Suez Canal). The participants were quite successful in keeping the arrangement a secret until well after Isreal had accumulated ...	[ "Iran has said that the double standard applied to Israel is unjust and disturbing given its possession of nuclear weapons, its non-adherence to the NPT, and its treatment of the Palestinians over many years. Israel has unofficially stated it needs to have nuclear weapons to assure its survival in a predominantly h...
Would scientifically advanced ET's be able to detect nuclear explosions from distant planets? ie send strong signal of some wave/form.	Not likely. The EM radiation given off by nuclear explosions is largely absorbed by our atmosphere in much the same way that our atmosphere protects us from harmful EM radiation coming from the sun. What little radiation that did escape the Earth would probably just be overlooked as background noise if it were detected...	[ "The Advanced Vela satellites were additionally equipped with two non-imaging silicon photodiode sensors called \"bhangmeters\" which monitored light levels over sub-millisecond intervals. They could determine the location of a nuclear explosion to within about 3,000 miles. Atmospheric nuclear explosions produce a ...
When the Universe reaches heat death, at absolute zero, do atoms remain intact, or do they degrade into elementary particles?	Though there is no experimental evidence, there are a lot of theories which suggest that protons can eventually decay. As neutrons decay after about 15 minutes outside of an atomic nucleus, this would mean that all atomic matter would eventually decay. At the same time, the Standard Model (which is the dominant theory ...	[ "The heat death of the universe, also known as the Big Chill or Big Freeze, is a conjecture on the ultimate fate of the universe, which suggests the universe would evolve to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and would therefore be unable to sustain processes that increase entropy. Heat death does not imply an...
What, exactly, makes an orbit stable or unstable?	In reality, there are always external forces that act on orbiting bodies. * Atmospheric resistance for close orbits * Solar wind / Solar light presure * Effects of other bodies in the solar system (very slight, but still present) For the second question, in the ideal mathematical case, the moon's orbit should be stab...	[ "An orbit can also be chaotic. These orbits come arbitrarily close to the initial point, but fail to ever converge to a periodic orbit. They exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions, meaning that small differences in the initial value will cause large differences in future points of the orbit.\n", "For ...
how do some insects fly so sporadically and change direction so quickly? how many g's are they under during maneuvers like that?	What a cool question. To start, most people could probably withstand around 9 Gs for a very short time. Then they would pass out and possibly suffer brain damage. The highest G-force ever put into a roller-coaster was around 6 Gs, but most very high G coasters are somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 Gs. ...	[ "Most insects use a method that creates a spiralling leading edge vortex. These flapping wings move through two basic half-strokes. The downstroke starts up and back and is plunged downward and forward. Then the wing is quickly flipped over (supination) so that the leading edge is pointed backward. The upstroke the...
Is there an important battle that was basically settled in favor of the disadvantaged party (fewer men, resources, tech etc.) by the occurrence of a natural disaster?	I would not call it a natural disaster but the Winter of 1941/1942 was particularly cold (Also the Winters of 1939/1940 and 1940/1941 were considered to be extreme.). Probably even one of the coldest, if not so the coldest, Winter of the 20th century. Some historians argue it influenced the outcome of Operation Barbaro...	[ "These conflict-based syntheses have several potential outcomes. One is that the most powerful economic and political forces will preserve the status quo and bolster their dominance. Historically, this is the most common occurrence. Another potential outcome is for contending powerful parties to fall into a stalema...
the passage of time while sleeping.	The passage of time is nothing more than our ability to remember events during that time. You don't remember anything while sleeping save for a few moments dreaming. Set up your web cam and record a video. Put a clock in the background to show the passage of time. Pause recording for a bit then resume recording. Watch...	[ "Therefore, upon waking up the following morning it feels as if no time has passed, but the human mind reasons that many hours have elapsed simply because it is now light outside. The passing of time is a relative event brought about by observation of objects (the sun's location, the moon, a clock's time). Without ...
why do strong weather systems break up around nuclear power plants?	We don't have a Nuclear power plant near us, but we do have a decent sized steam plant, and it seems like the strong stuff is always going around then reforms	[ "Climate change, along with extreme weather and natural disasters can affect nuclear power plants in a similar way to those using oil, coal, and natural gas. However, the impact of water shortages on nuclear power plants cooled by rivers will be greater than on other thermal power plants. This is because old reacto...
What makes the "physics is cool" photo possible?	Basically, it works like this: the water should be moving upward - if the plane and everything around it suddenly vanished, the water would have an upward velocity. But the plane (and the pilot, and the cup) is accelerating downward faster than gravity, so the water gets driven upward into the cup. The acceleration ...	[ "Heatage is an automatic technique developed and used by David Hare in which an exposed but unfixed photographic negative is heated from below, causing the emulsion (and the resulting image, when developed) to distort in a random fashion.\n", "Wexler also directed fictional movies. \"Medium Cool\" (1969), a film ...
Why is Planck time a measure of the Planck length divided by a factor of c^5 and not c?	The Planck time is the Planck length over c. Planck length is sqrt( hbar * G / c^3 ), and as you saw Planck time is sqrt( hbar * G / c^5 ).	[ "In physics, the Planck length, denoted , is a unit of length, equal to . It is a base unit in the system of Planck units, developed by physicist Max Planck. The Planck length can be defined from three fundamental physical constants: the speed of light in a vacuum, the Planck constant, and the gravitational constan...
What's the difference between an electron and a black hole of the same mass, spin, charge etc.?	A hypothetical black hole with the effective mass of a single electron is a paradoxical object. It would have an entropic temperature of 10^53 degrees absolute, or 10^43 times its own intrinsic energy. Meaning it would radiate more energy than exists in the gravitational field around it.	[ "In physics, there is a speculative hypothesis that if there were a black hole with the same mass, charge and angular momentum as an electron, it would share other properties of the electron. Most notably, Brandon Carter showed in 1968 that the magnetic moment of such an object would match that of an electron. This...
What was the reaction to Washington freeing his slaves when he died?	George Washington owned several slaves outright, but most belonged to the Custiss estate. He legally wasn't allowed to free them. We can speculate that Washington could've gotten away with freeing the slaves owned by his first wife's husband as he was very well respected and admired. But he was very concerned with pre...	[ "Upon George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, the dower share and slaves reverted to Martha. Through a provision in his will, Washington directed that his 124 slaves be freed following his wife's death. As Washington stated in his will, he \"earnestly wished\" to free his own slaves at the time of his death...
Why are laws of physics absolute?	We just call it a law because so far, all the evidence we have support them. So, we are not certain that they apply to the whole universe but you can't just make a random claim that is not supported by any evidence or is impossible to test. As for evolution, a lot of the naming is political, but it does indeed have p...	[ "Pure physics is a branch of fundamental science (also called \"basic\" science) . Physics is also called \"the fundamental science\" because all branches of natural science like chemistry, astronomy, geology, and biology are constrained by laws of physics. Similarly, chemistry is often called the central science b...
Does arousal and bodily changes cause emotion or is it the other way around?	First of all, both of these theories are huge oversimplifications of emotion generation (e.g., they depict emotion generation as a linear sequence, when it's likely much more complicated). > How would we be able to have emotion without first consciously thinking about the situation causing emotion. How does our body...	[ "In psychology, the body receives a stimulus from the environment or internally that causes the release of hormones. Release of hormones then may cause more of those hormones to be released, causing a positive feedback loop. This cycle is also found in certain behaviour. For example, \"shame loops\" occur in people...
why underwater lighting illuminates objects underwater much better than objects above water	It’s called total internal reflection, basically the light is reflecting off the internal side of the surface of the water. Basically the same way fibre optics work	[ "Underwater vision is affected by the clarity and the refractive index of the medium. Visibility underwater is reduced because light passing through water attenuates rapidly with distance, leading to lower levels of natural illumination. Underwater objects are also blurred by scattering of light between the object ...
why does there need to be a separate wash process for cleaning a dishwasher? why doesn’t it clean itself during a normal cycle?	Because people are stupid and toss the most disgustingly unrinsed crap in their dishwashers. As such, they need a special function to get properly clean. In most units they -super- heat the water to near boiling, and this can deal with the disgusting that builds up in them. But I've had my dishwasher for 4 years and ...	[ "Washing machines perform several rinses after the main wash to remove most of the detergent. Modern washing machines use less water due to environmental concerns; however, this has led to the problem of poor rinsing on many washing machines on the market, which can be a problem to people who are sensitive to deter...
How does lead get in water from pipes? Can lead be filtered out of water?	Yes, filtering lead out of water is as simple as reverse osmosis. However, lead in the water, specifically in Flint, is caused after the water is already cleaned at the water treatment plant. These impurities are a result of water travelling through old pipes and improperly treated pipes that corrode due to erosion, co...	[ "The use of lead for water pipes is a problem in areas with soft or acidic water. Hard water forms insoluble layers in the pipes whereas soft and acidic water dissolves the lead pipes. Dissolved carbon dioxide in the carried water may result in the formation of soluble lead bicarbonate; oxygenated water may similar...
if a person was standing in the north pole during the summer solstice, would the sun just appear to make a circle around the sky?	Yes, thats exactly what it would look like. [Here's a video from not quite so north, but in the arctic.](_URL_0_) Far enough north (or far enough south during winter solstice) the sun never sets. Having been to northern parts of Scotland in the summer, having the sun up at 11:00pm or later can be a little unnerving.	[ "For an observer on the North Pole, the Sun reaches the highest position in the sky once a year in June. The day this occurs is called the June solstice day. Similarly, for an observer on the South Pole, the Sun reaches the highest position on the December solstice day. When it is the summer solstice at one Pole, i...
AskScience AMA Series- IAMA neuroscientist working on the genetic and cellular basis of eating disorders-related behavior	Simple question. If this is a disorder that can be traced down to genetics, why does it seem to be almost exclusive to white westerners?	[ "Gupta and Abedin write that, \"Dr. Walter Kaye, a board member of the National Eating Disorders Association…cautions that eating disorders are much more complicated than researchers first thought...the disorders can't be blamed solely on environmental factors. Brain-scan studies show that the neural circuitry that...
why is generation x seen by some people as the generation that dropped the ball.	Because the baby boomers won't accept responsibility.	[ "The X Games gained media exposure due to their big name sponsors, top-tier athletes, and consistent fan attendance. As the \"Journal of Sport Management\" (2006) explains, Generation X and Generation Y are the two demographics most highly valued by marketers. This creates a broad approach on marketing towards that...
why do countries like switzerland and new zealand have freer economies than the us?	This presumes that "free" is better in some regard. It also presumes a strict definition of the word "free". If you mean free in the sense of less government intervention in their economy, its because countries are very very different and have very different needs. New Zealand has 4 million people, and a very small an...	[ "Australia and New Zealand are the only developed nations in the region, although the economy of Australia is by far the largest and most dominant economy in the region and one of the largest in the world. Australia's per-capita GDP is higher than that of the UK, Canada, Germany, and France in terms of purchasing p...
why are fruit snacks flavoring/coloring distributed unequally?	The assembly line has to stop for half a second every time they start to pour something into the package to prevent spillage. Pouring in two reds and two blues etc. could take about three to five seconds, whereas just pouring them in from one container would take maybe one second. Also, it makes it easier to ensure tha...	[ "A fruit snack is a sugary processed food marketed to the parents as a snack for children in the United States. Fruit snacks are very similar to gummy candies. The main content is sugar, especially refined sugar derived from concentrated white grape juice and apple juice. Some fruit snacks have more sugar than gumm...
Orthostatic hypotension and vision--or, why can't I see when I stand up?	The same thing happens to me. From what I have gathered, it's because in these situations there's only so much oxygen to go around up there. Because your brain is far more important than your eyes, blood/oxygen is diverted away from them in order to supply the brain, lest it become damaged. There could be more to it ...	[ "Orthostatic hypotension is characterized by symptoms that occur after standing (from lying or sitting), particularly when this is done rapidly. Many report lightheadedness (a feeling that one might be about to faint), sometimes severe. With chronic orthostatic hypotension, the condition and its effects may worsen ...
Which can stop faster: a motorcycle or a car?	A car has, relatively, a much lower center of gravity compared to its wheelbase, so will be able to apply proportionally more braking force without flipping over.	[ "With such short wheelbase, motorcycles can generate enough torque at the rear wheel, and enough stopping force at the front wheel, to lift the opposite wheel off the road. These actions, if performed on purpose, are known as wheelies and stoppies (or endos) respectively.\n", "to \"the fastest that you can stop a...
Did they British Military stopped with "local" regiments after WW1?	I'm assuming you are referring to what were called "Pals battalions"; units that were collected from the same local recruitment posts to allow volunteers to be with people they knew already at the front. _URL_0_ I'm afraid I can't find another source at the moment, but after conscription began early on in 1916 new Pal...	[ "This is a list of British fencible regiments. The \"fencibles\" (from the word \"\") were British Army regiments raised in the United Kingdom and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars in the late 18th c...
What role does Insulin have in memory?	I can think of a few reasons that type 2 diabetes and Alzheimers may be linked, and none have to do with insulin directly... 1. Diabetes can cause damage to your blood vessels. Types of dementia may occur due to brain damage that is often caused by reduced or blocked blood flow to your brain. Many people with diabetes...	[ "1971 - Insulin (PDB file 1INS) is a hormone central to the metabolism of sugar and fat storage, and important in human diseases such as obesity and diabetes. It is biophysically notable for its Zn binding, its equilibrium between monomer, dimer, and hexamer states, its ability to form crystals in vivo, and its syn...
if cooked, would human meat be red, white, or an "other" similar to pork.	Cannibal serial killers like Arthur Shawcross and Jeffrey Dahmer claim that humans taste like roast pork. That freaks me out because I love roast pork.	[ "In culinary terms, white meat is meat which is pale in color before and after cooking. The most common kind of white meat is the lighter-colored meat of poultry (light meat), coming from the breast, as contrasted with dark meat from the legs. Poultry white (\"light\") meat is made up of fast-twitch muscle fibres, ...
do all subatomic particles already exist? and/or how are they created?	I'm just going to base my answer on the Standard Model. It's the theory in particle physics that explains three of the four fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions; it doesn't explain gravity), and also classifies all known elementary particles. Since it's theory, we need validation - this c...	[ "Subatomic particles are usually considered to be much smaller than atoms. Their real or actual existence may be very difficult to demonstrate empirically. A distinction is sometimes drawn between actual and virtual subatomic particles. Reasonably, one may ask, in what sense, if any, do virtual particles exist as p...
Does a pickup truck get better gas milage with the tail gate up or down?	It's minimally better gas mileage if the tailgate is up. [Check it.](_URL_0_)	[ "Additionally, many pickup trucks come equipped with one to three mounting holes placed in the center area of the rear bumper to accommodate the mounting of trailer tow balls. The ones on the extreme left or right are often used by drivers in rural areas who tow wide farm equipment on two-lane roads. The far side m...
meaning of no country for old men	I personally saw that it was referencing how Tommy Lee Jones' character felt as if crime and increasingly immoral behavior was taking over the society he grew up in, and that the morality of his generation wasn't able to hold a candle to what is to come. Sorry if that's hard to read.	[ "No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, who had originally written the story as a screenplay. The story occurs in the vicinity of the United States–Mexico border in 1980 and concerns an illegal drug deal gone awry in the Texas desert back country. Owing to the novel's origins as ...
why it's still so warm at 2am after a hot day. where's the heat still coming from and why hasn't it just risen into the air?	The sun warms the surface of the earth, which reradiates heat into the air mass above it. It takes time for both to cool down, even after the sun goes down.	[ "The slow night-time cooling of a home after its external brick wall has been heated by the sun is one example of thermal lag. Thermal lag is the reason the high temperatures in summer continue to increase after the summer solstice (in this case, it is termed seasonal lag), and it is the reason a day's high tempera...
with all this -30º weather and such, how long can an average human or animal withstand these temperatures?	Freezing to death does not mean you die from solidified flesh. Your normal body temperature is about 37ºC. The freezing point of water is 0ºC. There's a lot of room in between the optimal operating temperature of the body and the point at which the flesh would actually start to freeze solid. The most likely thing t...	[ "Another experiment showed that \"Cynolebias elongatus\", \"Cynolebias wolterstoffi\", and this species can have a longer life span if their body temperature is lowered 3 to 5 degrees. The scientists came to this result by putting different specimens in different temperatures to show a survival rate.\n", "Larger ...
Why have certain ethnic terms taken on pejorative connotations over time when their initial use seems not to have had any?	Is there any evidence that the term "Indian" as a description for the people who inhabited North America before European colonization was meant to be a pejorative? My understanding is that it was just a mistake that came into common usage. The modern term, "Native American" that some have adopted to replace the ther...	[ "Lexical differences between dialects are often considerable. This is due to the earlier cultural practice of imposing taboo on words which had served as names for a deceased person. Since people were often named after everyday objects, many of these have changed their name several times because of taboo rules, cau...
Because we have our noses to smell, ears to hear, etc., is it possible that there is other major senses that humans don't know about because we lack the proper anatomy or tools?	It would be more accurate to say say that objects have different characteristics that we can't sense but do know about. The [19](_URL_1_) senses that humans have don't include the [multiple examples on Wikipedia](_URL_0_) of non-human senses or yet more exotic senses that may be imagined, such as, say, "sense of pres...	[ "While debate exists among neurologists as to the specific number of senses due to differing definitions of what constitutes a sense, Gautama Buddha and Aristotle classified five ‘traditional’ human senses which have become universally accepted: touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Other senses that have been w...
how does your brain decide you like/dislike a certain song? what influences that? and why do we all like different songs?	Basically, it comes down to sensing versus perceiving. Generally everyone senses the same things the same way, from vision to taste, excluding those with sensory deprivations (colorblindness, deafness, etc.). Perceiving is a different story. It's all in your head. We attach meaning to different sensations. Like when ...	[ "Brain Fair has stated that, \"This song is about how people, TV, and other influences can convince you to be something you are not, and you stay that way because you think it makes you better or more popular, but inside you do not really feel that way and it disguises your true identity.\"\n", "The psychology of...
what is putin's and russia's ultimate goal in undermining foreign democracies?	It is basic geo-politics. Most powerful regimes don't really care about the nature of other regimes. For example, the United States supports an Islamic monarchy in Saudi Arabia, a strange semi-theocratic/ethno-centric liberal democracy in Israel, and a highly confessionalist republic in Lebanon. The US supports thes...	[ "Putin proposed certain initiatives such as establishing international centres for the enrichment of uranium and prevention of deploying weapons in outer space. In a January 2007 interview Putin said Russia is in favour of a democratic multipolar world and of strengthening the system of international law.\n", "Th...
if i have a 1360x768 monitor, is there any point in watching videos in higher quality than 720p?	You won't be seeing 1080p on your monitor, but the 1080p video may be better depending on the compression the video has been through. It's possible that taking the compressed 1080p video and letting your computer scale it down to 720p gets you a better result than the compressed 720p file, because the 1080p file was pr...	[ "As of 2010, some computer monitors with 2048x1152 resolution were available (e.g. Samsung 2343BWX 23, Dell SP2309W). This unlikely to be in reference to Eu95, especially as the refresh rate will generally default to \"60 Hz\" (or 59.94 Hz), but simply a convenient \"HD+\" resolution made for bragging rights over u...
why is it that even though u2's free album on apple is doing so bad, apple is still advertising it.	Statistics: Even if 30 % obnoxious loud redditors are kicking and screaming still leaves you with 70 % mildly happy U2-fans/don't give a shitters.	[ "Bono rejected the notion that U2 had given the album away at no cost, saying: \"We were paid. I don't believe in free music. Music is a sacrament.\" Apple reportedly paid a lump sum to the band and Universal Music Group (UMG) for a five-week exclusivity window in which to distribute \"Songs of Innocence\". Accordi...
How Did We Map The Milky Way Galaxy?	The Hardest Problem in astronomy is figuring out the distance to things. We've been recording what the sky looks like in 2 dimensions for centuries, but if you want to make a map of our galaxy, you essentially just need to take all the objects your telescope sees and assign them distances. A whole lot of astronomy woul...	[ "The first project to describe the shape of the Milky Way and the position of the Sun was undertaken by William Herschel in 1785 by counting the number of stars in different regions of the sky. He produced a diagram of the shape of the galaxy with the Solar System close to the center. Using a refined approach, Kapt...
Since 1944, Arabs have been deemed white by law in the US. Why?	This question is complex, and that's magnified by the complexity of Arab identity. In 1909, one Syrian was allowed to become a naturalized citizen because the judge in his case declared "I consider the Syrian as belonging to \[the white race\]... He is not particularly dark, and has none of the characteristics or app...	[ "From 1909 to 1944, members of Arab American communities in the United States sought naturalized citizenship through an official recognition as white. During this period, the courts were inconsistent in defining Arabs as white granting some eligibility for citizenship, while denying others. Therefore, in the first ...
waterboarding, please.	Waterboarding is a technique that creates the sensation of drowning even though you actually aren't, by exploiting the prisoners gag reflex which is meant to stop choking. It is used in combination with questioning to forcefully extract information from an individual (who would not have given it up otherwise) by infli...	[ "I'd go through a process and get it declassified [as a war crime], certainly waterboarding at a minimum. They're chopping off heads of Christians and many other people in the Middle East. ... They laugh at us when they hear that we're not going to approve waterboarding ... I have no doubt that it does work in te...
why do we need a "leap second" added to our clocks at the end of june?	The Earth is very slowly slowing down. It takes a little bit longer to turn all the way around every time. In other words, over the course of a few years, a day becomes noticeably longer -- at least, noticeable to the super-advanced computers we use to coordinate our satellites and financial / telecommunication systems...	[ "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...
Do people who are born blind still experience REM when they sleep?	I was curious so I searched a bit. [Wikipedia says yes](_URL_2_) and cites > J. Alan Hobson, Edward F. Pace-Scott, & Robert Stickgold (2000), “Dreaming and the brain: Toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23. Google finds the first 10 pages [here](_URL_0_). I don't fi...	[ "It has been estimated that over half of completely blind people have non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder, a condition in which a person's circadian rhythm, normally slightly longer than 24 hours, is not entrained (synchronized) to the light/dark cycle.\n", "The disorder can be considered very likely in a totally bli...
how the anti-shoplifting vertical bars at stores' exits work (if you have no clue what i'm talking about let me know)	These panels are RFID detectors. Some valuable/high incidence of theft items have a little plastic tag attached to them, within which is an antenna and a programmable chip. If one of them gets too close to the panel's, they sound an alarm. They can be disabled by a strong magnet wiping them, which is why sometimes you'...	[ "Some shoppers fill a shopping cart with unconcealed merchandise, and walk out of the store without paying. Security workers call this method \"walkout\" or \"pushout\". With clothing, some shoplifters may simply put on a coat or jacket from the store and walk out wearing the item. This tactic is used because busy ...
mathematically, why can't a chair balance with 2 legs?	To see if something will balance, lay a string on the ground around its feet and tighten it. (That's called the "convex hull" of the feet.) The center of mass must be above the area outlined by the string for it to balance. Of course when you tighten a string around two feet, it becomes a line with no area, which le...	[ "In chair balancing, one or more acrobats balance on one or more chairs. The chair(s) may be balanced on other objects and/or on just one or two legs while the acrobat(s) themselves may also perform balancing acts on the chair.\n", "Three-legged chairs are common, particularly for older examples. The evolution of...
How did the Roman Legions view eachother?	As a followup question: during times of Civil War like Caesar's Civil War, did the opposing legions view each other like tragic brother vs brother (ex. USA Civil War) or did they view each other like good vs. evil (ex. Humans vs. Orcs)?	[ "The Roman legions, which had reached an unprecedented 50 in number because of the civil wars, were reduced to 28. Several legions, particularly those with members of doubtful loyalties, were simply demobilised. Other legions were united, a fact hinted by the title \"Gemina\" (Twin). Augustus also created nine spec...
why do some people's feet point straight while others have a "v" or "duck" shape?	There's [a whole wiki page](_URL_0_) about pigeon-toes, but I have no idea if there's a name for the-other-direction-toes. It says some of the causes are basically when your foot bones and/or muscles grow crooked; but that it usually corrects itself as you get older.	[ "Left-right asymmetry (LR asymmetry) refers to differences in structure (symmetry breaking) across the mediolateral (left and right) plane in animals. This plane is defined with respect to the anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes and is perpendicular to both. Because the left-right plane is not strictly an axis (a...
why do we sometimes yawn and feel really sleepy, go to the bed but don't fall asleep as soon as we expected we would?	Perhaps you are not distinguishing between "sleepy" and "tired." Feeling sleepy is part of a physiological cycle. Your body clock is saying that "now would be a good time to get the required amount of sleep." You do not necessarily have to have run out of energy at that point any more than you have to be starving ...	[ "Yawning is commonly associated with imminent sleep, but it seems to be a measure to maintain arousal when sleepy and so prevents sleep rather than inducing it. Yawning may be a cue that the body is tired and ready for sleep, but deliberate attempts to yawn may have the opposite effect of sleep induction.\n", "Ya...
What causes tRNA to go from the cell nucleus to a ribosome?	While a good idea, your hypothesis about Brownian motion is incorrect. t-RNA is exported from the nucleus via interactions with a cargo protein called Exportin-t (and some other related proteins). Indeed the vast amount of RNAs (mRNAs, tRNAs, pre-miRNAs) require interactions with similar cargo proteins (there are man...	[ "In the cell, circRNAs are predominantly found in the cytoplasm, where the number of circular RNA transcripts derived from a gene can be up to ten times greater than the number of associated linear RNAs generated from that locus. It is unclear how circular RNAs exit the nucleus through a relatively small nuclear po...
How did people deal with allergic reactions before epi pens? Did they just die? And how common was it?	If it was common to die from them, would that be an explanation for someone being "struck down by God"?	[ "Procaine can also cause allergic reactions causing individuals to have problems with breathing, rashes, and swelling. Allergic reactions to procaine are usually not in response to procaine itself, but to its metabolite PABA. Allergic reactions are in fact quite rare, estimated to have an incidence of 1 per 500,000...
Was there some kind of "newspaper" in ancient rome? Do we know how information and news usually spread throughout the empire?	There were no newspapers, public or private, in the Roman world. The spread of information in the Roman world, to the extent that it was done through writing, was largely accomplished through posted notices. The most important of these, at least at Rome, were the alba, boards on which official notices were posted pub...	[ "Its contents were partly official (court news, decrees of the Roman emperor, Roman Senate and Roman magistrates), partly private (notices of births, marriages and deaths). Thus to some extent it filled the place of the modern newspaper.\n", "It predated the \"Mercurius Gallobelgicus\" which is widely accepted in...
Did Robert E. Lee call for Genocide?	I'm afraid I can't address your main question vis a vis Lee's attitude toward Mexico and Mexican or Hispanic people, but I do have an [old write-up](_URL_0_) that touches on Lee's attitude towards slavery and people of African descent. It might help you to get a better grasp on Lee's mindset in general, and aid in unde...	[ "In August 2017, a white supremacist protest named the Unite the Right rally was held in Charlottesville, Virginia, largely driven by the ideology of the \"white genocide\" narrative. The protest was ostenisbly centered around the impending removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, who was the commander of the Confeder...

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