Split (2)

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Question about evolution and chromosomes.	There are lots of plant species that have different numbers of chromosomes within the same 'species'. For example, in sugarcane individuals within a species can have a wide variation in chromosome number (_URL_4_). Within some species of Aster it is possible to have different chromosome counts due to polyploidy (_URL_2...	[ "The content of a chromosome would be changed mainly by mutation after duplication of the chromosome and translocation with other chromosomes. However, in mammals, since the chromosomal sex-determination mechanism would have been established in their earlier stages of evolution, polyploidy would have not occurred d...
how are people with dementia able to have "good days" when they remember people or events that they wouldn't normally recall?	Your brain is always getting information from the environment around you: what you hear people say, the color of the walls, what you see people do, the feeling of your clothes against your skin, what cards you have in your hand when playing a card game, and so on. Not all of that information is important. When you'...	[ "Elderly patients with certain forms of dementia may not be able to remember what they had for lunch the previous day, but they will most likely remember their wedding day or they day their child was born. Reminiscence therapy uses this ability to recall events in the long term even when the patient's short term me...
with all the processes that cell phones carry out, how are they completely silent?	Noise in electronics is almost exclusively from moving parts. In a computer, this has historically been fans, disc drives and hard drives. Phones typically lack all three of these sources, using passive cooling for components and solid state storage solutions. There's still electronic elements that produce sound, but ...	[ "In 2002, the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo announced it had created a silent mobile phone using electromyography and imaging of lip movement. \"The spur to developing such a phone,\" the company said, \"was ridding public places of noise,\" adding that, \"the technology is also expected to help people who have perma...
why do some books have deckle (jaged) edges and others are smooth?	Today, it's a style choice. In ancient times, books were printed in folios by folding the big sheets that came out of the press. These folios were stitched into a binding and sold that way. The edges were folded, so you couldn't read the book, but this kept them clean in shipping. When you got you new, expensive...	[ "With the appearance of smooth edges in the 19th century, the deckle edge slowly emerged as a status symbol. Many 19th-century presses advertised two versions of the same book: one with edges trimmed smooth and a higher-priced deckle version, which suggested the book was made with higher-quality paper, or with more...
what would "plasma water" be like?	Plasma is a 4th state of matter with the property, that it is so hot and low pressure that electrons are no longer bound to the protons. These free high-energy protons could start many chemical reactions around them or turn more atoms into plasma. This destroys many properties of the water. It becomes water vapor if i...	[ "A plasma is a \"quasineutral\" (total electrical charge is close to zero) mix of ions (atoms which have been ionized, and therefore possess a net positive charge), electrons, and neutral particles (un-ionized atoms or molecules). Most plasmas are only partially ionized, in fact, the ionization degree of common pla...
Were "cavemen" "white"?	Neanderthals did evolve light skin. [Some of them even had the gene for red hair.]( _URL_1_) (Edit: [better link for that](_URL_0_) now I'm not on my phone.) The earliest Homo sapiens sapiens were dark-skinned, though, and [didn't evolve white skin till much later]( _URL_2_) . We didn't inherit from the Neanderthals. ...	[ "Cavemen are typically portrayed as wearing shaggy animal hides, and capable of cave painting like behaviorally modern humans of the last glacial period. Anachronistically, they are simultaneously shown armed with rocks or cattle bone clubs, unintelligent, and aggressive. Popular culture also frequently represents ...
devs/software engineers, etc. what are you exactly looking for when searching for bugs?	Generally, you only look for bugs in the code after you've witnessed something break in the program while it's running. From there, you try to isolate the place where the code does the stuff that could make the program break. Sometimes you can do this by following the code, sometimes you need to break out tools lik...	[ "The Bug Finder module identifies software bugs by performing static program analysis on source code. It finds defects such as numerical computation, programming, memory, and other errors. It also produces software metrics such as Comment density of a source file, Cyclomatic complexity, Number of lines, parameters,...
Japan's annexation of Korea and its aftereffects?	> what did Japan do to Korea during its annexation They took over all of Korea and made it a part of the Japanese empire. During their time in Korea, they: * built an information network consisting of police and local informants to keep tabs on everyone (where do you think North Korea got the idea from?) * during t...	[ "Ironically, a decade after the Treaty of Shimonoseki had forced China to recognize Korean independence, Japan, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, effectively forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Protective Treaty, which made Korea a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Korea was formally annexed to the Japanese empire, b...
Are there any historical figures that we know what they sounded like?	One story that comes to mind refers to the Rhode Island Calvinist minister Samuel Hopkins. William Ellery Channing, who later became a key figure in the Unitarian church, recalled this about Hopkins' preaching: > I understand, that the interest, expressed by me in the character of Dr. Hopkins, has surprised some of m...	[ "In 1889, Moltke made two audio recordings with Adelbert Theodor Wangemann, a German native who worked with Thomas Edison and had been sent to Europe with Edison's newly invented cylinder phonograph. Moltke recorded excerpts from Shakespeare and Goethe on two cylinders, recordings which were lost until 1957 and wer...
why do bulletproof vests have an expiration date?	Temperature, humidity, and use all affect the ability of the kevlar to do it's job, so manufacturers only warranty them out to a certain period of time. If you kept your kevlar in a cool, dry, and dark place for 100 years, it would still work just fine -- problem is, if it's not on your body, it's not much use.	[ "BULLET::::- A phase change material (PCM) cooling vest makes use of cooling packs that maintain much higher temperatures when refrigerated, frozen, or placed in water. These phase-change packs often contain liquids (typically nontoxic oils and fats) that solidify (like wax) typically between 55 and 65 degrees and ...
how did people back in the day not realize that cigarettes were very unhealthy?	There was a time when brands were endorsed by the medical profession. "More doctors smoke camels..." _URL_0_	[ "Before the twentieth century smoking was seen as a habit that was corrupt and inappropriate for women. Dutch painters used cigarettes as a symbol of human foolishness in the 17th century and in the 19th century, cigarettes were perceived as props of “fallen women” and prostitutes. Women’s smoking was seen as immor...
How likely was it that "heroes" of the past killed as many as books and TV make it seem in battle?	Ehh... sometimes? First of all the thing to realize is that the idea of the warrior as a hero is... controversial in history. Even the best and most effective of them are more like a political force. The warrior as a hero is much more common in myth and legend than in actual history. Next, the thing to look at is sp...	[ "\"Death of a Hero\" is the story of a young English artist named George Winterbourne who enlists in the army at the beginning of World War I. The book is narrated by an unnamed first-person narrator who claims to have known and served with the main character. It is divided into three parts.\n", "Another example ...
Mercury is an ingredient in some skin whiteners. How toxic is exposure to 30 000 ppm of Mercury?	[Here](_URL_0_) is an MSDS I found. This will give you government regulations on skin and vapor exposure. I would assume that 30,000 ppm mercury is extremely dangerous based on the IDLH number. IDLH stands for "Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health" and represents the maximum suggested exposure for a "one-time" e...	[ "Mercury, known to be highly toxic, has been found in various forms in Idria: elemental mercury (Hg(0)), inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) and monomethyl mercury(CHHg, also called MMHg). MMHg, a potent neurotoxin, poses the greatest threat to organisms. Measurements were taken by collecting water samples, which were later...
Mozart was a man during the time of the American Revolution. Beethoven was a boy. Did they or any of the other European Classical or early Romantic composers comment on the birth of the USA?	I can answer for America being "commented on" in music but not in people's personal lives: According to Pierpaolo Polzonetti, there are 13 known Italian operas with references to Revolutionary America, either being set in America or featuring American characters, however they are all pretty /r/elitistclassical compos...	[ "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was already an accomplished and renowned composer in Vienna when the then 16-year-old Beethoven first visited the city in 1787. The two may have met during Beethoven's six-month stay there, although there are no contemporary documents that provide any evidence for this. Accordin...
When have nation-state appeared?	These are very good questions. Many experts correlate the birth of the nation state as we know it with the Treaties of Westphalia, signed in 1648, which ended a variety of wars in Europe, most importantly the Thirty Years War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands (which l...	[ "The first known states were created in the Fertile Crescent, India, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and others, but it is only in relatively modern times that states have almost completely displaced alternative \"stateless\" forms of political organization of societies all over the planet. Roving bands of hunter-ga...
if they have single stream recycling. why can they not do that with all garbage?	In a sense, they can. There are plenty of areas which don't collect recyclables separately, but try to recover them from the garbage before it goes to the landfill. The yield from this is much lower than single stream, though--just like single stream is not as efficient as separated collection. On the other hand, the o...	[ "One service provided by Waste Management, single-stream recycling, allows recyclable materials to be comingled, rather than separated by the customer and handled separately by the collection provider. The company currently operates 30 single-stream recycling facilities throughout North America. Because the single-...
what happens if the market crashes on 2020?	Boy, if anyone had a way to accurately tell you that, then that person would probably not be on Reddit.	[ "The market went up 62% in 2009, and 83% in 2010, but then went down 10% in January 2011, and a further 30% in February 2011. The crash is deemed to be a scam and exacerbated due to government failure.\n", "In October 2013, a flash crash occurred on the Singapore Exchange which wiped out $6.9 billion in capitaliz...
If all the cars on the road were self driving would there be less accidents?	Almost certainly yes. Of course there are a lot of details that need to be considered, but in all likely scenarios the answer is yes. The biggest thing that would cause this is if the cars communicated with each other and with the infrastructure, if they did this then the computers running the networks would know where...	[ "The normal inference is that the cause is operator error (although operator error is also the cause of most crashes). Common factors contributing to single-vehicle collisions include excessive speed, driver fatigue and driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Environmental and roadway factors can als...
if muscles are built by repairing damaged muscle tissue, could we surgically, or in some way other than a workout damage them and let them recover , leaving us with more muscle mass?	Well, when you involve nanobots and hypothetical technology, all bets are off. Currently, the most cost-effective way to build muscle mass is to hit the gym. Muscles get micro-tears by fully engaging, and they won't fully engage unless there's resistance to work against, like lifting something heavy off the floor. ...	[ "The process of muscle regeneration involves considerable remodeling of extracellular matrix and, where extensive damage occurs, is incomplete. Fibroblasts within the muscle deposit scar tissue, which can impair muscle function, and is a significant part of the pathology of muscular dystrophies.\n", "Skeletal mus...
Holocaust reveal?	u/commiespaceinvader answered a similar question [here](_URL_0_).	[ "Holocaust is a 1978 American four part television miniseries which recounts the trajectory of the Holocaust from the perspectives of the fictional Weiss family of German Jews and that of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless war criminal. \"Holocaust\" highlighted numerous events which occur...
why does aluminum foil spark in the microwave, but doesn't when its used as the container for, say a chicken pot pie?	Basically, microwaves work by generating low-frequency radio waves that excite the molecules in food. This excitation generates heat, and the conductive properties of the food or liquid carries that heat to the center of the item. Metal will reflect these radio/microwaves. This is why a microwave is basically a big, ...	[ "Aluminium foil is widely sold into the consumer market, often in rolls of width and several metres in length. It is used for wrapping food in order to preserve it, for example, when storing leftover food in a refrigerator (where it serves the additional purpose of preventing odour exchange), when taking sandwiches...
In the 1974 World Cup hosted by West Germany were East Germans and Soviets isolated from the event?	Lets have a look at this German source: _URL_1_ - WC '74 lead to one of Stasi's biggest operations. Hundreds of agents were send to West Germany to prevent East German tourists from fleeing. - 5188 GDR citizens visited the WC '74. - prior to the world cup the Stasi investigated each one of them. It didn't matter whe...	[ "On national team level, West Germany played its first post-war international on 22 November 1950 against Switzerland in Stuttgart, while East Germany played their first game against Poland on 21 September 1952 in Warsaw and its 293rd and last on 12 September 1990 against Belgium in Brussels. The two sides met just...
Is there any other material that gets its color from Rayleigh scattering, like the sky does?	Yes. Phase separated glass does this same thing. A glass of composition 0.2 Li2O - 0.8 SiO2 will undergo phase separation if cooled slowly. It forms a droplet phase dispersed in a matrix phase. If you hold the glass in your hand, it looks blue/white, but if you hold it up to the light, it has a yellow/orange look. I ...	[ "Rayleigh scattering is the simplest and describes elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by objects much smaller than the incident wavelength. This type of scattering is responsible for the blue color of the sky during the day and is inversely proportional to the fourth power of wavelength....
when frying chicken why is it important to dip it in flour before the batter and breading?	Batter and breading don’t stick very well to raw chicken. Flour sticks to both so you use it as a in-between layer.	[ "To prepare the chicken pieces for frying, they are typically coated in a flour-based batter that may contain eggs or milk. Alternatively, they may be dredged in flour or breadcrumbs, to coat the meat and to develop a crust. Seasonings such as salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, or r...
How did the romans morally justify their wars of conquest?	Broadly speaking, they didn't need to. Your question is assumes that war is morally objectionable. But the "scourge of war" as it exists today is a very modern concept, and can traces its origins to the aftermath of the WWI. (And to a lesser degree the Thirty Years War) The Roman people considered themselves the "sons...	[ "Sexual conquest is a metaphor widely used by the Romans for imperialism, but not always straightforwardly for Roman domination. Horace famously described the Romans as taken captive by captive Greece: the image of Roman culture colonized from within by a civilization they had defeated but perceived as intellectual...
Is it true that the T-34 was built in the United States during WWII as a help to the Soviets, so they could beat the Germans?	The answer to this is "No". The T-34 was produced at the following Soviet factories in the following numbers, although as with any Soviet statistics, these are more estimates that absolutes, and there are higher numbers given which likely also include full-overhauls rather than just new production. Factory \| Product...	[ "An enormous number of T-34s and T-34-85s were produced; the Soviets used them aggressively in campaigns in Europe and Asia, and they were distributed to the Soviets' allies all over the world. Due to all three factors, there are hundreds of surviving T-34s. Examples of this tank are in the collections of most sign...
How many species out populate humans?	Not strictly scientific, but a pretty basic answer to your question from NPR: [link](_URL_0_)	[ "Human mediated introductions have occurred with one species in the Galapagos Islands and another in Florida. In addition, some species have been transplanted by human activity to various regions within the general range of the genus where the particular species did not previously exist.\n", "The diversity of spe...
what would happen if a person drank 100 cups of coffee in one day, ala futurama?	You die. And are apparently miserable and in pain until you do. _URL_0_	[ "There is a widely reported story, possibly apocryphal, that some Catholics urged Pope Clement VII (1478 – 1534) to ban coffee, calling it \"devil's beverage\". After tasting the beverage, the Pope is said to have remarked that the drink was \"... so delicious that it would be a sin to let only misbelievers drink i...
why are audio jacks round while charging and other ports are rectangular?	Audio jacks and some charging ports use so few wires that they were able to use a "coaxial" round design. This enables them to be connected in any orientation, and to rotate freely in the socket, both of which are advantages. These connectors don't work well for digital data (the rotation can screw up the connection...	[ "A jack is a connector that is designed to be fixed on the surface of a bulkhead or enclosure, and mates with its reciprocal, the plug. According to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the stationary (more fixed) connector of a pair is classified as a \"jack\" (denoted J), usually attached to a piece of e...
how come when i smoke a cigarette it calms me down even though my heart rate is higher?	the process of inhalation and exhalation of smoking is at a much deeper rate than normal breathing, taking slower, deeper breaths relaxes the body, as it "slows your body down"	[ "Inhalation of tobacco smoke causes several immediate responses within the heart and blood vessels. Within one minute the heart rate begins to rise, increasing by as much as 30 percent during the first 10 minutes of smoking. Carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke exerts negative effects by reducing the blood's ability to...
Can your bladder and stomach shrink/grow in size depending on the amount of food and liquid you consume?	Your bladder will stretch. However, it's the stretch that stimulates the urge to urinate, so you can only hold on so long. There is a limit to the stretch. Your stomach is actually folded on the inside, as you fill it up it unfolds, allowing it to expand. Your stomach will also grow if you are eating huge amounts all ...	[ "The mammalian bladder is an organ that regularly stores a hyperosmotic concentration of urine. It therefore is relatively impermeable and has multiple epithelial layers. The urinary bladder of the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) is proportionally smaller than that of land-dwelling mammals.\n", "BULLET::::- The b...
What happened to German leaders once Germany was formed?	The long and the short of it was that German rulers and principalities kept their titles and positions after the declaration of the German Empire in 1871. The Kaiserreich was a federal system, as seen in [this map](_URL_1_) with the various German polities as states within this federal system. Prussia did annex some ...	[ "The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) came to power in Germany as a minority party when its leader, Adolf Hitler, was named chancellor following the elections of 1933. Hitler moved swiftly to consolidate power, first through passage of the Enabling Act of 1933. After the death of President Paul von H...
how can scientists use galaxies and other systems as lenses to see further in the universe?	It's a process called gravitational lensing. When an object has mass it warps spacetime. How does it do that? Well pretend the universe is like a 2D bedsheet. If you suspend that bedsheet over a hole in the ground and put a small weight in the middle the sheet would sag down, creating an indent in the fabric. This is...	[ "VISTA can also stare far beyond our galaxy. In the example on the left (below the image of the Orion Nebula) the telescope took a family photograph of a cluster of galaxies in the constellation of Fornax (the Chemical Furnace). The wide field allows many galaxies to be captured in a single image including the stri...
how do power wires stay the same voltage when so many different homes and companies are drawing power from them?	they don't stay same voltage. if you measure it, you'll see the voltage go up and down at a fixed position. if you move you'll also see it varies with wire distance to the distribution node. power companies are always monitoring the voltage levels and adjusting the power generators to match the expected demand.	[ "At the substations, transformers reduce the voltage to a lower level for distribution to commercial and residential users. This distribution is accomplished with a combination of sub-transmission (33 to 132 kV) and distribution (3.3 to 25 kV). Finally, at the point of use, the energy is transformed to low voltage ...
+r vs -r, when it comes to cds and dvds.	DVD-R was created by the DVD Forum, the official group behind the DVD standard, in 1997. The hyphen is just a hyphen, not a minus sign, similarly to CD-R. In 2002, a group of companies led by Sony decided they could do a better job, and so made DVD+R. The main difference is that DVD+R is better at avoiding and correct...	[ "DVD-R DL (DL stands for Dual Layer), also called DVD-R9, is a derivative of the DVD-R format standard. DVD-R DL discs hold 8.5 GB by utilizing two recordable dye layers, each capable of storing a little less than the 4.7 gigabyte (GB) of a single layer disc, almost doubling the total disc capacity. Discs can be re...
Why does lightning have little electric branches that come off of the main bolt?	The little branches are not actually coming off of the "main bolt". Lightning starts in a two step process. Excess electrons accumulate at the bottom of a cloud. As charge builds in the cloud and a large electric field (~3,000,00 V/m) forms between the earth and cloud, the electrons will eventually gain enough energy t...	[ "Trees can explode when struck by lightning. The strong electric current is carried mostly by the water-conducting sapwood below the bark, heating it up and boiling the water. The pressure of the steam can make the trunk burst. This happens especially with trees whose trunks are already dying or rotting. The more u...
what are the concepts of intrinsic value and instrumental value in philosophy?	Intrinsic value is when I value something for itself. Instrumental value is the "I can use this!" sort of value. This is a tool that lets me better get what I want, so it's valuable to me. I value the well-being of those I care about, for instance. Is this so I can get something else? No, I just want them healthy. I m...	[ "Instrumental and intrinsic value are terms scholars use to identify two properties that make something good. Instrumental value is used to identify when something achieves its desired goal. It is deemed successful by its consequences. It is merely an instrument for achieving an end, and may be discarded or modifie...
Is an inertial dampener entirely science fiction? Or is there a theoretical way to actually make one?	Remember Newton's second (and first) law, F=ma. Changing the inertia (the resistance to acceleration due to a force) of an object is the same as changing its mass, so "inertia" and "mass" are basically two different words for the same thing. So, inertial dampeners are just a piece of [applied phlebotinum](_URL_0_) to ...	[ "At \"SF Signal\", John Nardo considered \"Inertia\" to be \"everything short fiction could and should be: thought-provoking, based on a cool sf-nal idea and wholly entertaining,\" declaring it to be \"simultaneously grim and deep and wonderful\", and awarding it five stars out of five.\n", "An inertia damper is ...
why did africa's/australia animals evolve to be so deadly compared to other animals around the world?	In Africa animals had a lot more time to adjust to humans than in other places. They learned eventually to avoid humans. Australia used to be full of weird giant animals, but by the time humans made it to Australia they were already master hunters. Humans wiped out most of Australia's big animals in a very short amoun...	[ "Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals, such as the \"big five\": the elephant, buffalo, lion, black rhinoceros, and leopard, though populations have been declining under increased stress in recent times, particularly those of the rhino and elephant.\n", "Australia'...
How would doctors handle a prolapsed anus before modern medical intervention?	It is not a modern phenomenon; rectal prolapses can occur in infants who have problems with constipation or diarrhea. Medical history is not my specialty so I don't know the full history of the condition. But because of the aforementioned reason, it was included in Nils Rosén von Rosenstein's 1764 textbook _Underrättel...	[ "The concept of creating irritation or injury to stimulate healing has been recorded as early as Roman times when hot needles were poked into the shoulders of injured gladiators. Prolotherapy use began in the 1930s and was originally used in the treatment of ligamentous laxity. In the 1950s, George S. Hackett, a ge...
If the Vikings visited North America before 1492, was there any evidence that any population was wiped out (partially or otherwise) by small pox?	[Smallpox didn't arrive in Iceland until 1241](_URL_5_), some two centuries after the Norse abandoned their North American colonies. In general northerly settlements, like those of the Norse and of the Native Americans and Inuits they encountered in North America, had two lines of defense against epidemic diseases. F...	[ "In 1960 archaeological evidence of the only known Norse settlement in North America (outside of Greenland) was found at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, in what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Although this proved conclusively the Vikings' pre-Columbi...
How dangerous are portable electronic devices to planes?	Radios and portable televisions are receivers, not emitters, so they can't have any effect. Ipods don't have any antenna, they don't have any influence. Cellphones on the other hand emit signals. However, nowadays, interference between these signals and the plane's systems is non-existant. This has been proven, but t...	[ "One report asserts correlations between the use of mobile phones and other portable electronic devices in flight, and various problems with avionics. Another study concluded that some \"portable electronic devices\", including laptops, electronic toys and laser pointers, used in the cabin can exceed the aircraft m...
Did Prussia win the Franco Prussian war, or did France lose it?	Tl:Dr; Prussia won, disclaimer: on mobile To think that France was some dithering dolt of a Nation is wrong. France was one of, if not the, premier Nations for land wars. They had fought a series of successful campaigns over the last 3 decades. To most of Europe this was Frances fight to lose. Prussia, had fought to...	[ "The Franco-Prussian War was a conflict between France and Prussia, while Prussia was backed up by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The complete Prussian and German victory brought about the final unification of Germany under Ki...
Why did Islam turn inwards after the Mongol invasion?	I think the characterization of Islam as "turning inwards" is an interesting one that has to be understood in context. In one sense, the empires of Islamdom after the Mongols were, if anything even more vigorous in their outward conquests. The Ottomans, the Safavids and the Mughals, the three main "gunpowder" empires ...	[ "One of the reasons behind the demise of Mongolic was the religion of Islam. The Persian language became so much part of the religion of Islam that it almost went wherever Islam took roots. Persian entered, in this way, into the very faith and thought of the people embracing Islam throughout South Asia.\n", "Some...
why are people upset over red starbucks cup?	It's part of a larger "War on Christmas" argument that get's brought up every year. Over the last several years, companies have done different things to make the holiday season more inclusive for everyone. The big one was getting workers to say "Happy Holidays" to customers instead of "Merry Christmas" since not ever...	[ "In November 2015 Feuerstein posted a video on Facebook criticizing Starbucks for removing Christmas-related symbols from its holiday cups in favor of a solid red design. The video made national headlines and Feuerstein appeared on CNN that same month. In his appearance he stated that his post was not just about th...
why do software companies have a day one patch for downloadable software?	Because the discs were pressed weeks before the software release date, so it would have time to go out to retailers. That means that any disc-based version of the software is necessarily several weeks out of date by the time it gets to you. And they don't typically update the installer because it's easier to test thing...	[ "Some companies provide the latest version available only to paying customers. A vendor forks a non-copyleft software project then adds closed-source additions to it and sells the resulting software. After a fixed time period the patches are released back upstream under the same license as the rest of the codebase....
With the Banach-Tarski paradox, isn't right up left the same as just up?	Just setting aside Banach-Tarski, which is heavy stuff... let's just answer your title. Rotations in 3D are non-abelian, in other words noncommutative. Just do it yourself physically: take an object (e.g. a book) in front of you. Place it in a given "reference" starting orientation of your choice. Rotate it clockwi...	[ "Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. \"Right-in\" and \"left-in\" refer to turns from a main road \"into\" an intersection (or a dr...
Is it possible to create visible light by the interference of infrared and ultraviolet light? If yes what would we see?	Using nonlinear optical crystals and high powered laser systems it is possible to mix frequencies (e.g. sum frequency generation, wave mixing, etc.). This is how lasers can achieve specific frequencies depending on applications.	[ "In 1956, M. Cantwell predicted theoretically that the spectrum of vibrations of that ion should be observable in the infrared; and the spectra of the deuterium and common hydrogen isotopologues ( and ) should lie closer to visible light and hence easier to observe. The first detection of the spectrum of was made b...
Why can I see reflections on mirages?	Mirages occur because the air just above the ground is hotter than the surrounding air, and therefore it also has a lower index of refraction than the surrounding air. Light rays coming in at a glancing angle are then [totally internally reflected](_URL_0_). [This image](_URL_0_#/media/File:Mirror_like_effect.jpg) cl...	[ "In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon which can be captured on camera, since light rays actually are refracted to form the false image at the observer's location. What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind. For example...
why exactly is benghazi such a big deal?	The Republicans had a huge incentive to blow it out of proportion because, if it were true that facts were manipulated, it would not only make Obama look bad, but it would also hurt the likely Democratic presidential nominee for 2016, Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately for the Republicans, [many investigations](_URL_0...	[ "Benghazi is one of the cultural centres of Libya and is a base for tourists, visitors and academics in the region. Throughout its history, Benghazi has developed with a certain level of independence from the more Maghreb oriented capital Tripoli. This has influenced the city, and as such, the cultural atmosphere i...
Who was the first person to be known "Around the World"?	If we define "around the globe" as every continent except Antarctica and just say that someone living there permanently being able to regocnize it is good enough, Jesus is a good guess. With the first colony in Australia in 1788 there would be people living on every continent recognizing the likeness of Jesus.	[ "Harry Clifford Pidgeon (August 31, 1869 – November 4, 1954) was an American sailor, a noted photographer, and was the second person to sail single-handedly around the world (1921-1925), 23 years after Joshua Slocum, a professional sea captain. Pidgeon was the first person to sail a yacht around the world via the P...
Did the Bubonic Plague have any influence on the art of medieval Europe? Did it leave any legacy?	Short answer: Yes. Discussion: first we have to get the dates straight. The "middle ages" is a name we give a period, sometimes it's useful, very generally it's from the fall of Rome to the fall of Constantinople; that's the thousand years from 476 CE to 1453 CE; other people may prefer different dates, bu...	[ "Later works, such as Albert Camus's novel \"The Plague\" or Ingmar Bergman's film \"The Seventh Seal\" have used bubonic plague in settings, such quarantined cities in either medieval or modern times, as a backdrop to explore a variety of concepts. Common themes include the breakdown of society, institutions, and ...
why are there so few female geniuses?	I think there are two big factors that contribute to this apparent imbalance: 1. It takes a relatively long time for a scholar to be recognized as a genius - usually in regard to his/hers extraordinary work achievements, so the work has to be done first and so on. 2. For a long time, women were not encouraged (or eve...	[ "On the subject of female students, Mishin said in 2009, \"better one man of average talent than two super-talented ladies\" because \"compared with women, men are more sporty and talented and able to learn artistic elements faster\" but women are \"delicate material\":\n", "Many male protagonists of science fict...
why does it take forever to become 20 and only a short time to be 40?	time perception. At five years old, 1 year is a huge chunk of time (1/5th).Compared to life at 40 one year is 1/40th. A 5th of your life to date is now 8years. As you age, time seems to move faster because you have a larger pool of time to compare it to....	[ "The age changed from U-20 to U-19, U-16 to U-15 after 1999. The ages for the Veteran category started at 35 and was increased steadily to 40 years of age, and is now once again in process to go up to 45 years of age. The progress is from 2013 to 2018. The European Championship played in 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999 w...
why did we agree on rounding up if a value is 5 instead of rounding down?	Because it splits the gap exactly in half: & #x200B; 0,1,2,3,4 = Round Down (5 digits) 5,6,7,8,9 = Round Up (5 digits)	[ "Where many calculations are done in sequence, the choice of rounding method can have a very significant effect on the result. A famous instance involved a new index set up by the Vancouver Stock Exchange in 1982. It was initially set at 1000.000 (three decimal places of accuracy), and after 22 months had fallen to...
why are foreign words in japanese written in odd letters?	it's to make it more obvious that it's a word of foreign origin, so people dont get confused as easily. in some english books where there's occasional usage of other languages, those words are in italics instead.	[ "Japanese is written without spaces between words, and, to aid understanding, foreign phrases and names are sometimes transliterated with an interpunct separating the words, called a ; for example, (Bill Gates). When it is assumed that the reader knows the separate \"gairaigo\" words in the phrase, the middle dot i...
Were prisons in the US segregated? And if so, what was the transition period like?	I have an earlier answer that addresses legal versus de facto segregation in California prisons...specifically, [one very famous California prison](_URL_1_). I've highlighted some of the most relevant portions here: * [Has the percent of incarcerated people of color increased since Johnny Cash played at Folsom Prison ...	[ "Prior to the 1980s, private prisons did not exist in the U.S. During the 1980s, as a result of the War on Drugs by the Reagan Administration, the number of people incarcerated rose. This created a demand for more prison space. The result was the development of privatization and the for-profit prison industry.\n", ...
If bloodletting was rubbish, why was it considered as a medical procedure for such a long time?	I am not a historian, but rather a doctor who runs a podcast about medical history. Hopefully someone with a lot more experience in history of medicine will go into depth on Galen, the four humors, and the birth of scientific medicine. I actually want to address the second part of your question, and talk about the firs...	[ "Bloodletting is one of the oldest medical practices, having been practiced among diverse ancient peoples, including the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Mayans, and the Aztecs. In Greece, bloodletting was in use around the time of Hippocrates, who mentions bloodletting but in general relied on dietary...
Trying to help a friend study science and for all my searching, I can't answer this: Why do atoms become isotopes?	What do you mean become isotopes? Any given combinations of protons and neutrons in a nucleus is an isotope.	[ "Isotope analysis is based on the principle that most elements exist in two or more forms, known as isotopes. Isotopes have the same number of protons but differ in their number of neutrons, resulting in different masses. This variation in the relative abundance of stable isotopes results from tiny mass differences...
universal healthcare?	In the UK we have Universal Healthcare. This means that if you get sick, or are in an accident, you are taken to hospital, given all the care you need for as long as you need it, and are let go when you are fit to leave. You do not pay for this service. The only thing I have ever paid for on the NHS are prescriptions ...	[ "Universal healthcare (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system that provides health care and financial protection to all residents of a particular country or region. It is organized around providing a specified package of benefits to all members of a soc...
Why is voltage and current specified in electrical equipments?	The charger is rated for a certain voltage and amperage, but when you're charging your phone the charger just supplies the voltage and the phone regulates the current, up to the maximum the charger can output. The voltage does matter though because the phone is expecting a certain voltage to come in. 5V is standard, bu...	[ "In electronics, the relationship between the direct current (DC) through an electronic device and the DC voltage across its terminals is called a current–voltage characteristic of the device. Electronic engineers use these charts to determine basic parameters of a device and to model its behavior in an electrical ...
why do download speeds waver so much in the beginning, and then stabilize after a while?	It's called "Windowing" and load balancing it works like this. When data is transmitted over a network as massive as the Internet it could be passing through a dozen or so different routers with different capabilities about them. There are many different paths these routers may choose to route your data and it's quit...	[ "BULLET::::- Files are downloaded in multiple streams, which under certain conditions can accelerate download speeds by up to eight times, depending on the bandwidth of the Internet connections and the speed at which the server sends files. At present, an option to increase or decrease the downloading speed is not ...
why do i sometimes get that it feels like its itching inside my hand, foot etc..	Don't worry. There are probably just some insects inside you.	[ "Referred itch is the phenomenon in which a stimulus applied in one region of the body is felt as an itch or irritation in a different part of the body. The syndrome is relatively harmless, though it can be irritating, and healthy individuals can express symptoms. Stimuli range from a firm pressure applied to the s...
Cleaning out things from my late grandfather's garage my mother found what seems to be an old Japanese flashlight he brought home from WWII. Was wondering if anyone knew a little more about it	That's a neat photo. This appears to be one of the flashlights Panasonic was marketing during the war under the brand name National. It's likely made of wood because metal was needed for the war effort. [Here's](_URL_0_) a photo of a similar wooden flashlight from the Panasonic Museum in Tokyo. Perhaps others will have...	[ "Mitsui was a guest at the ceremony to relight the lamp on the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Vancouver's Stanley Park on 2 August 1985; the lamp had been extinguished in 1942. The 98-year-old Mitsui stated in an interview: \"I've done my last duty to my comrades. They are gone but not forgotten.\" He was the la...
what is the determining factor between assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder?	No, the difference is intent. If you intended to kill them then its attempted murder. If you didnt want to kill them but just hurt or scare them, but you used a weapon that is deadly to do that, then its assault with a deadly weapon.	[ "By contrast, gun crime is comparatively limited. In 2016, there were 187 attempted and 45 completed homicides, for a homicide rate of 0.50 per 100,000 population. Of the recorded homicides (attempted or completed), 20.3% were committed with a gun (47 cases, compared to an average of 41 cases in the period of 2009–...
what is a meshnet?	Meshnet is a peer to peer internet system. It makes each internet device that is able to transmit and receive data a mini internet server. and by mini internet server I specifically mean setting aside part of its available usage to transmit and pass along data. This works because each router in the network is connected...	[ "A mesh network (or simply meshnet) is a local network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate with one another to efficiently route data from/to client...
If you charge your phone, or laptop, or anything, does it weight more than if it is dead?	Surprisingly yes it does, there’s no extra matter present but there is more energy in a charged battery. Gravity acts on both mass and energy so the laptop or phone will have a greater force exerted upon it resulting in it weighing more if you put it on a scale (although I doubt a conventional kitchen scale could detec...	[ "However, Luke Hopewell from Gizmodo Australia wrote in reply: \"Yes it's heavy, but it's something you get used to. Sam said that the phone is too heavy to even contemplate living with, and that's almost true. If you can get past the weight of the device, you're in for a treat. The weight is almost beneficial when...
Is the ability to recall something from memory effected by how awake you were when you learned it?	Two social psychological concepts come to mind here. State dependent memory encoding and Erickson Arousal theory of learning. State dependent learning states that what ever state of mind you are in during encoding is the state of mind where recall would be optimal. Erickson arousal theory states that learning is most ...	[ "In addition, the recollection of learned information is essential to retaining such material in the long-term. Recall refers to the re-accessing of previously learned information held in long-term memory stores. During this process, the brain relays a specific pattern of neural activity that echoes the original pe...
why isn't washington d.c. a state?	DC is not constitutionally permitted to be a state. The whole point of cutting off an area 10 miles square for the capital was so it would not reside within the boundaries of any state.	[ "Washington is a state located in the Western United States. As of the 2010 U.S. census, Washington is the 13th most populous state, with inhabitants, and the 20th largest by land area, spanning of land. Washington is divided into 39 counties and contains 281 incorporated municipalities that are divided into cities...
what powers pump-jack oil wells?	1) Electricity (sometimes derived from solar panels) 2) Natural gas (Methane is the big one) 3) Propane 4) Diesel (not very common) 5) The tears of environmentalists	[ "Oil's Well is a computer game published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. The game was written for the Atari 8-bit family by Thomas J. Mitchell. \"Oil's Well\" is similar to the 1982 arcade game \"Anteater\", re-themed to be about drilling for oil instead of a hungry insectivore. Ports were released in 1983 for the Apple...
How did we end up with James VI and I as King of both Scotland and England?	James's mother was Queen Mary of the Scots, who had Tudor lineage from Henry VIII's sister, Margaret. When Elizabeth died, James was seen as next in line due to his Tudor heritage. Robert Cecil, the Principal Minister, had made sure that the succession would go over smoothly and had been corresponding with him for mont...	[ "In 1603 King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, uniting the monarchies of Scotland and England in a regal union known as the Union of the Crowns. In all other respects Scotland remained a separate kingdom retaining the Parliament of Scotland in Edinburgh. King James VI moved to London where he h...
why tesla's new power wall a big deal.	For people with solar panels, it lets them store the excess energy and use it themselves rather than selling it back to the grid for pennies. For everyone with variable usage costs, it lets you take power from the grid when it is cheapest (nightime) and then store it to use at any time you want basically meaning you a...	[ "Tesla started development in 2012, installing prototypes at selected industrial customers. In some cases, PowerPacks have reduced the electrical bill by 20%. Tesla originally announced the Powerwall at the April 30, 2015 product launch with power output of 2 kW steady and 3.3 kW peak, but Elon Musk said at the Jun...
how did old ships pull up their sails without bunching or tangling?	Pirate here. One part is stowing the sails properly. When you lower a large sail, you fold it back and forth (accordion fold) so that when you haul up the top, it naturally just unfolds in steps without tangling.	[ "When a ship was becalmed, mastless, run aground or otherwise unable to move, a ship's boat provided a source of motive power. The ship's anchor and cable would be rowed a distance from the ship before being laid, the crew would then man the ship's capstans to haul the ship forward, known as kedging or warping, thi...
If Irish people were discriminated against in Early american history, why didn't they try to pass as English?	Two major reasons. One, the obvious difference between the two- Irish immigrants tended to form tightly knit social communities, partially due to being forced out of/kept away from other communities and partially for their own protection/homesickness/desire for social cohesion. This made it so that they largely retaine...	[ "There were also Darwinian-inspired excuses for the discrimination of the Irish in America. Many Americans believed that since the Irish were Celts and not Anglo-Saxons, they were racially inferior and deserved second-hand citizenship. The Irish being of inferior intelligence was a belief held by many Americans. Th...
I've often heard that the Battle of Britain was won by the Hurricane since it was so cheap to produce Britain could outnumber the more advanced German planes. Whilst the Spitfire was mostly used for propaganda as it was the "sexier" aircraft. Is this true?	The Battle of Britain is indeed a major reason for the Spitfire becoming an icon, a battle in which the Spitfire "plays the mythological role of a magical weapon, the equivalent of [...] Excalibur" (Stephen Bungay, Most Dangerous Enemy). As James Holland puts it "No other veterans of the Second World War are as hall...	[ "In spite of its vulnerabilities during the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane shot down the majority of the planes claimed by the RAF (1,593 out of 2,739 in total). Hurricane fighters were sometimes directed against slower bombers whilst the Spitfires attacked German fighters. By the close of the Battle of Britain i...
I just realized that one of my eyes is slightly higher than the other. How normal is this?	It is likely that this asymmetry & many other small differences appeared during your development in the womb & were caused by an instability in the growth patterns. It is very unlikely that sleeping on one side could create such a structural change. Generally it's thought that bilateral symmetry in our features i...	[ "Human eyes are horizontally separated by about 50–75 mm (interpupillary distance) depending on each individual. Thus, each eye has a slightly different view of the world around. This can be easily seen when alternately closing one eye while looking at a vertical edge. The binocular disparity can be observed from a...
What, in your view, is science?	_URL_0_ says > a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world. Testable explanations and predictions are the key things there. You don't find that in philosophy or art. Economics is a science.	[ "Science is a form of culture in which life denies itself and refuses itself any value. It is a practical negation of life, which develops into a theoretical negation in the form of ideologies that reduces all possible knowledge to that of science, such as the human sciences whose very objectivity deprives them of ...
why aren't bananas juicy like other fruits?	Bell peppers aren't juicy fruits. Bananas are extremely juicy. My grandmother's recipe for old bananas with spots was the best way to get the juice out. 1. Put old bananas into a pot. 2. Pour ONLY 1 tablespoon of water for every banana. 3. Seal the pot with a lid. 4. Alow to cook on 1/4 heat. 5. After 10-15 minute...	[ "Although fruit of the wild bananas (\"Musa\" spp.) have large, hard seeds, most edible bananas are seedless. Banana plants are therefore propagated asexually from offshoots. Because these rhizomes are usually free of symptoms even when the plant is infected by \"F. oxysporum \"f. sp.\" cubense\", they are a common...
money in politics	There's a very slim slice of people who haven't already been influenced by what they've heard and could still be influenced by more messaging. However, in a very close race a very thin slice of voters make a very big difference in outcomes.	[ "Political finance covers all funds that are raised and spent for political purposes. Such purposes include all political contests for voting by citizens, especially the election campaigns for various public offices that are run by parties and candidates. Moreover, all modern democracies operate a variety of perman...
Was the Westphalian Order inevitable?	Inevitable is a strong word, but attempts to establish exclusive territorial dominance do seem to be a strong constant in human existence, and numerous such dominators rubbing up against each other are always seem to produce something vaguely westphalian, though the precise norms differ from place to place.	[ "\"The institution of a Westphalian order should please the Germans ... Your Majesty knows their character, many of them have been forced to leave their decorations and nothing will be more pleasant to them than to see a new order of theirs founded. kingdom. \"\n", "Peace of Westphalia is considered as example of...
maslow (1943) hierarchy of needs, specifically aesthetic needs?	What about them? People get pleasure from apprehending beautiful things. (We know now it's because the brain releases endorphins.) But under Maslow's theory this isn't something you can spend the energy to appreciate when you're starving or anxious about whether you'll have a place to sleep.	[ "Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper \"A Theory of Human Motivation\" in \"Psychological Review\". Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developm...
Could it be possible for 'dark matter' to really just be incredibly strong magnetic fields?	No. Gravitational and magnetic interactions are fundamentally different. Magnetic fields are created by and exert forces on moving charged particles only. Gravitational fields are created by anything with mass and exert forces on every type of particle. Although we don't know exactly what dark matter is, it's prett...	[ "If dark matter is composed only of Higgsinos, then the Higgsino mass is 1.1 TeV. On the other hand, if dark matter has multiple components, then the Higgsino mass depends on the relevant multiverse distribution functions, making the mass of the Higgsino lighter.\n", "Direct dark matter search experiments look fo...
why does china value a land barrier between itself and south korea so highly?	The two (edit: 3) key points I've seen in answer to this question, which I assume is related to why does China not want North Korea to fall: - China does not want millions of NK immigrants pushing over its borders. It would be a bureaucratic and humanitarian nightmare. - China does not enjoy having US bases...	[ "The 1909 Gando Convention addressed a territory dispute between China and Joseon Korea in China's favour. Both Korean states now accept the convention border as an administrative boundary. However, because the convention was made by the occupying Empire of Japan, South Korea has disputed its legality and some Kore...
why do people cringe from scraping sounds?	One theory is that it’s a survival instinct. Big predator with big claws scraping on stone? Cringe.....	[ "One explanation for the adverse reaction is that the awful sound is similar to the warning call of a primate, back in prehistoric times. However, a study using Cotton-top tamarins, New World monkeys, found that they react similarly to both high-pitched sounds similar to fingernails on chalkboard, and to amplitude-...
Bow Poundage	While you are waiting for a detailed answer, you might find [this answer](_URL_0_) helpful, particularly the concluding comments from u/Hergrim	[ "The buffalo pound was a hunting device constructed by native peoples of the North American plains for the purpose of entrapping and slaughtering American bison, also known as buffalo. It consisted of a circular corral at the terminus of a flared chute through which buffalo were herded and thereby trapped. David Ma...
if judges are just supposed to interpret and uphold the law, how can there be some judges that are 'friendlier' to left or right politically?	So the thing is, when it comes to interpreting the law, there are different ways that reasonable people would interpret the same laws. These aren't as simple as "left-wing or right-wing" interpretations but often come down to some degree of legal positivism vs. natural law. Let's take the classic case of Roe v. Wade ...	[ "McKay holds that the judiciary provides the cement that keeps a diversified society together. This means that though the judiciary is by nature conservative, occasionally it must strike out boldly. The prime responsibility of a judge is to maintain his integrity, and such integrity is essential in a system where t...
why did people take photos of wwi and such and how did they do it without killing themselves? were they even real?	People took photos of WW1 for the same reason people take photos of the War in Afghanistan today, to chronicle it for news distribution and historical purposes. They were in great danger, and many were likely killed doing it. Yes they were real.	[ "World War I was one of the first conflicts during which cameras were small enough to be carried on one's person. Canadian soldier Jack Turner secretly and illegally brought a camera to the battlefront and made photographs.\n", "The first official attempts at war photography were made by the British government at...
Who were the first people to figure out how to eat dangerous foods (like cashews) that animals don't eat, and how and why did they do it?	There's a new sub, /r/AskAnthropology. Might be better for asking this! :) Edit: Spelling	[ "Since the beginning of mankind, food was important simply for the purpose of nourishment. As primates walked the Earth, they solely consumed food for a source of energy as they had to hunt and forage because food was not easily on hand. By early humans fending for themselves, they had figured out that they needed ...
why have no deer species been successfully domesticated?	They have been. They just aren’t as useful as other animals so it’s usually done for niche things. Farming or raising cattle /animals of any sort is usually not a high margin business and therefore raising such an inefficient animal (no wool/hair, no milk, low weight/feed, etc etc) means you need some other economic...	[ "Deforestation has greatly contributed in the decline of the deer. Hunting, both by locals and sport hunters has also made an impact; subsistence hunting, sales of venison to local markets and speciality restaurants, and live trapping for the pet trade have all contributed to the species' dwindling numbers. Isolati...
why does inhaling more smoke over time allow you to inhale smoke without coughing?	The smoke eventually burns away the cilia, small hairs in the throat and bronchial tubes, that help your body know when something isn't supposed to be there. Like smoke.	[ "Asthma, COPD, and smokers have reduced airflow ability. People who suffer from asthma and COPD show decreases in exhaled air due to inflammation of the airways. This inflammation causes narrowing of the airways which allows less air to be exhaled. Numerous things cause inflammation some examples are cigarette smok...
Is Visuo-spatial intelligence part of Fluid intelligence?	Notionally, they're separate. But it's impossible to test "fluid intelligence" without also testing other abilities as well. Fluid intelligence is supposed to be about the ability to identify new patterns, learn new rules, etc., but ones ability to perceive the pattern in the first place will affect performance. So,...	[ "Fluid intelligence refers to quantitative reasoning, processing ability, adaptability to new environments and novel problem solving. Crystallised intelligence (\"Gc\") refers to the accumulation of knowledge (general, procedural and declarative). \"Gc\" tasks include problem solving with familiar materials and cul...
what determines if something is soluble in fat or water?	There is an intuitive example. Think about water as magnetic marbles, while fats are regular glass marbles. Mix only regular marbles, and they mix fine. Same for magnetic marbles, although stirring might be a bit harder, depending on the strength of the magnets. But mix them together, and the magnets will form clumbs s...	[ "Because fats are insoluble in water, fats cannot be transported in extracellular water, including blood plasma, on their own. Instead, they are surrounded by hydrophilic proteins that function as transport vehicles. The role of lipoprotein particles is to transport all hydrophobic fat molecules, such as triacylgly...
Is there a limit to the wavelength produced during electron excitation?	If the transition is from a bound state to a lower bound state, then the emitted photon energy is bounded above. If it’s a transition from a continuum state to a bound state, there is no upper limit, but an extremely high-energy electron will be unlikely to capture into a bound state.	[ "The technique is readily extendible to electron waves as well, as demonstrated by the practice of electron holography. Spacings of a few nanometers or even less than a nanometer have been reported using electron holograms. This is because the wavelength of an electron is always shorter than for a photon of the sam...
does my cat get frustrated when he is unable to catch the red laser light?	Yes, he is frustrated. Laser pointers really aren't good toys for cats. Cats are hunters, and it's very unsatisfying and frustrating for them to "hunt" something they can never catch.	[ "A frustrated George then returns to the car, only to find the red dot of the laser pointer appearing all over parts of his body. A panicked George can't see the man holding the laser and worries he will go blind if it touches his eye.\n", "BULLET::::- Wavelength of the beam: an infrared or ultraviolet laser beam...
how do anesthetics knock you out within 10 seconds of being injected?	Nobody is actually answering the question: which is how do they knock you out in 10 seconds not just “how do they knock you out” which is much less clear. The answer as to why does it work so fast is that anesthetics are extremely fat soluble, which means they enter the brain extremely quickly. Anything which can ...	[ "BULLET::::- Withdraw needle for minimally 10–15 seconds to permit complete deposition of solution. This can be slower than other injections as there is pressure build-up from the anesthetic administration.\n", "BULLET::::- \"Infiltrative anesthesia\": a small amount of local anesthetic is injected in a small are...
I know the Holocaust was an extremely terrible thing, but did anything good come out of the experimentations on the Jew's by the Nazi's?	I answered this question a while ago, I'll try and dig it up. The conclusion was that it's mixed. Most of the experimentation didn't really use good experimental methodology, and was just a way of torturing people in new ways. The experiments that seemed to attempt to break new scientific ground fell into this categ...	[ "Two scholars, John Glad and Seymour W. Itzkoff of Smith College, have questioned the relation between eugenics and the Holocaust. They argue that, contrary to popular belief, Hitler did not regard the Jews as intellectually inferior and did not send them to the concentration camps on these grounds. They argue that...
how do city buses get their route numbers?	Since I don't know for which country you're asking, I'll answer it for the systems I've seen in Germany. If a city has busses and a tram, the trams usually get single digit numbers, the busses that only drive inside the city's perimeters get two digit numbers and the busses that drive to other city's get three digit nu...	[ "Route numbers specify area divisions. For trunk and branch buses, the first digit indicates the area where the route begins, and the second digit indicates where the route ends. For rapid buses, the first digit is always 9, and the second digit indicates the area in which the route begins. The first digit of circu...
What do we know about late Roman or early medieval birth control/abortion/infanticide?	Interesting hypothesis. The most common way to kill an unwanted infant in the Classical world was exposure (see Moses, Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, etc). As for birth control, there were several theories around, for example I believe the Egyptians used crocodile poop as a contraceptive (not sure about the source on ...	[ "Medieval Muslim physicians documented detailed and extensive lists of birth control practices, including the use of abortifacients, commenting on their effectiveness and prevalence. The use of abortifacients was acceptable to some Islamic jurists provided that the abortion occurs within 120 days of conception, the...
how accurate are calories per serving on packaged food? how would you test it?	You test it by burning the food/ingredients, which tells you how much "energy" (aka calories) is in it. As for accuracy, that really depends. For labeling purposes, they round down to the nearest 5 or 10 calories.	[ "The FDA considers two products bioequivalent if the 90% CI of the relative mean C, AUC and AUC of the test (e.g. generic formulation) to reference (e.g. innovator brand formulation) should be within 80% to 125% in the fasting state. Although there are a few exceptions, generally a bioequivalent comparison of Test ...
If you eat the same thing everyday, does your body become more efficient at digesting the food?	There is a very substantial variation among the microbes present in your GI tract, and some are more efficient at digesting certain things than others. When you maintain a homogenous food intake then whatever gut microbes specialize in that food will grow in abundance compared to microbes less efficient at digesting th...	[ "Some Bodybuilders often split their food intake into 5 to 7 meals of equal nutritional content and eat at regular intervals (e.g. every 2 to 3 hours). This approach serves two purposes: to limit overindulging in the cutting phase, and to allow for the consumption of large volumes of food during the bulking phase. ...

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