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Good place to find scholarly sources	Not to be snarky, but if you had read the sidebar, you'd have seen the handy [list of sources](_URL_0_) there that was recently put together for precisely questions like this.	[ "These resources are available at many leading research universities throughout the world (usually universities with reputable Japanese studies programs). One will need to check each individual library's collection for information about the availability of these sources. WorldCat is a good starting point.\n", "St...
why aren't we more concentrated on space exploration and colonization?	The cost-benefit ratio is too high. Anything you want to do in space, you've got to spend an assload of energy--which isn't cheap these days, to get it out of our gravity well. Also, what we've found so far is that human beings have evolved for Earth and are really not suited to space.	[ "Space programs have generated a wide range of hardware, software and processes that have made their way into a myriad of applications. The benefits of these applications are directly attributable to the original investments made by the space agencies and the private sector. Space exploration alone has provided a s...
If the Moon had the same terrain as the earth, would it still light up the night?	It would in fact be much brighter if its surface was similar to Earth! With its current surface, the moon has an albedo of approximately [0.11](_URL_2_) compared to Earth's ~0.3-0.35. This means the moon reflects only about 11% of incoming radiation while the Earth reflects over 30%. In fact almost all natural terrains...	[ "Since the Moon's axial tilt relative to its orbit around the Sun is nearly zero, the Sun traces out almost exactly the same path through the Moon's sky over the course of a year. As a result, there are craters and valleys near the Moon's poles that never receive direct sunlight, and there may exist mountains and h...
How does Platelet-Rich Fibrin cause increased healing if its just our own blood?	The short explanation is that these things circulate in an inactivated form. When an injury happens, tissue plasminogen activator and other substances start activating a bunch of reactions that causes the fibrin to cross link. And recruit fibroblasts to the area.	[ "In inflammatory conditions in which fibrin is deposited in tissues, PAI-1 appears to play a significant role in the progression to fibrosis (pathological formation of connective tissue). Presumably, lower PAI levels would lead to less suppression of fibrinolysis and conversely a more rapid degradation of the fibri...
What is an aspect of everyday life in early or late medieval life that is either very interesting and unknown or often overlooked?	Here is one.. The 'typical' Medieval European serf ate: Lard Butter Beer -- The reason for this is not simply they wanted to be drunk all day, but that the alcohol killed the bacteria in the water. And probably a few other things, but those were the staples.	[ "On the other hand, many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the medieval period—poverty, warfare, religious and political persecution, for example—seem to have worsened in this era, which saw the rise of Machiavellian politics, the Wars of Religion, the corru...
Did any Native American cultures practice map making or route recording?	While I love talking about this topic, I unfortunately don't have the time for it now. [Hopefully my past self and company from a little over a year ago can handle it for me](_URL_0_). Also, you'd probably be interested in [this section](_URL_1_) of the FAQs.	[ "He found the Handbook of North American Indians to be very helpful in constructing his maps. He cross-referenced the book with other sources such as missionary records and army records to determine where a European trader reported that he met a particular tribe. This allowed him to narrow down the locations of tri...
if the universe were like google earth, and we zoomed out to the maximum, what would we see?	We don't know 100%. The observable universe is huge with billions of planets, but we are only just now really starting to look at the nearest ones outside of our solar system.	[ "Cosmic Eye is a short film and iOS app, developed by astrophysicist Danail Obreschkow. It shows the largest and smallest known scales of the universe by gradually zooming out from and then back into the face of a young lady called \"Louise\". According to the developer, the film and app were inspired by the essay ...
Were there ever any snake-worshipping cults such as the one in Conan the Barbarian?	This one is not very Conan-ish, but Alan Moore has talked a bit about the [cult of Glycon, the snake puppet](_URL_5_). There's a better profile about how it worked - why a charismatic puppeteer could attract followers to worship a wig-wearing snake puppet for more than a century - [in a Fortean Times profile of Ale...	[ "Ancient Egyptians worshipped snakes, especially the cobra. The cobra was not only associated with the sun god Ra, but also many other deities such as Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau, and Meretseger. Serpents could also be evil and harmful such as the case of Apep and Set. They were also referenced in the Book of the D...
What was courtship/dating like in 1920s America?	There is more that can be said, but I have a few answers on the development of dating culture in the early 20th century: [What did guys do to express interest in women before telephones became widespread in the 1900s?](_URL_1_) [Did Flappers use birth control?](_URL_0_)	[ "The primary change in courtship rituals during this time was a shift from marriage to social status as the desired result. Before the 1920s, the primary reason for courting someone was to begin the path to marriage. It functioned as a way for each party's family to gauge the social status of the other. This was do...
someone asked in askreddit and i thought eli5 would have good answers. if puerto rico became a state, could someone born there before they achieved statehood become president?	Puerto Ricans are US citizens by birth. Puerto Rico is not a state, but its US soil the same as Alabama or New York City.	[ "Former chief of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court José Trías Monge insists that statehood was never intended for the island and that, unlike Alaska and Hawaii, which Congress deemed incorporated territories and slated for annexation to the Union from the start, Puerto Rico was kept \"unincorporated\" specifically to a...
What is the earliest philosophical text or oral history that we know of?	There is a reasonable amount of surviving Sumerian literature older than 2300 BCE. In particular the Enheduanna hymns are generally considered to be older than 2700 BCE. These are religious and theological texts so I'm not sure if they meet your criteria. The Sumerian "Instructions of Shuruppak" is dated to around 26...	[ "In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered and may date back to around late 2nd millennium B.C.. The \"Zuo zhuan\", attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the , is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from . The Book of Documents is one of t...
how does oil lubricate an engine without combusting or contaminating the fuel?	The fuel is sprayed into the cylinders, where it mixes with air, is compressed, combusted and then evacuated out. Engine oil is not put directly into the cylinders. It gets pumped and directed to just about all of the other internal components though. What separates the inside of the cylinder from the rest of th...	[ "Fuel oil in the crankcase lube oil can cause the oil to chemically degrade. This means that the oil loses viscosity and is less effective when lubricating. The loss of viscosity of the lube oil causes the oil to not fully connect and lubricate the moving parts of the engine. This lack of lubrication can cause the ...
Were many scientific discoveries we think were made by men actually made by women they worked with?	Pickering's Harem comes to mind. I'm not an expert by any means, so I would love to see someone with more knowledge jump into this. The basic outline: Pickering was the head astronomer at the Harvard Observatory from 1877-1919. His male assistants were subpar for the work he needed (computations, filing, organizing)...	[ "The men of the Academy expressed deep skepticism against the invention of a woman, and it took twelve years of testing, during which she had to fight among others the attempts of Reinhold von Anrep, General of the Artillery, to take credit for her invention, before the ministry of war approved it, recognized her a...
Portugese Colonial War	Often lost in the discussion of Portuguese counterinsurgency is that it was not one but three conflicts centered around the major colonial holdings: modern-day Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Angola. While Angola was certainly a success militarily and Mozambique was going decently, the conflict in Guinea ...	[ "In 1478 (during the War of the Castilian Succession), near the coast at Elmina was fought a large battle between a Castilian armada of 35 caravels and a Portuguese fleet for hegemony of the Guinea trade (gold, slaves, ivory and melegueta pepper). The war ended with a Portuguese naval victory followed by the offici...
WW2: I've heard contradicting reports on how depleted the manpower of the major powers on each side was by the end of the war - How did the manpower situation for each country evolve throughout the war, and what was the situation at the end?	The US Army's manpower shortage was largely, but not completely, a result of their own doing and not the result of an actual shortage of bodies. In the Victory Program of fall 1941, the Army had outlined a force of 213 divisions that it would need to take on Germany. This program had hypothesized that Germany would def...	[ "The nation went from a surplus manpower pool with high unemployment and relief in 1940 to a severe manpower shortage by 1943. Industry realized that the Army urgently desired production of essential war materials and foodstuffs more than soldiers. (Large numbers of soldiers were not used until the invasion of Euro...
how did cuba's economy survive the last 50 years?	The country received huge economic subsidies from the Soviet Union, and later from Venezuela. For example, they were able to buy petroleum for far less than normal global prices.	[ "The country achieved a more even distribution of income after the Cuban Revolution of 1953-1959, which was followed by an economic embargo by the United States (1960- ). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's GDP declined by 33% between 1990 and 1993, partially due to loss of Soviet subsidies and to a ...
Who were the first settlers of Appalachia and how did they live?	Just for clarification, you do mean European Americans, right?	[ "The archaeological record reveals that native peoples have been in this area of the coastal plain of Virginia since the Early Archaic period, around 9000 BC. It was thought that due to the steep topography at Crow's Nest the Patawomecks may not have lived in permanent villages adjacent to the surrounding water, th...
how does stopping the affordable care act /obamacare advance the tea party agenda?	They've convinced a portion of the electorate that the ACA will do everything from allow the government to decide you can't get heart surgery to deciding to effectively killing your parents. Their predictions have been so dire that it has become for them a defining moral issue that can't be ignored without potentially...	[ "Opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has been consistent within the Tea Party movement. The scheme has often been referred to as 'Obamacare' by critics, but was soon adopted as well by many of its advocates, including President Obama. This has been an aspect of an overall anti-gover...
i was under the impression that war is generally good for the economic health of a nation. what makes the wars in iraq/afghanistan different?	Let's start by explaining why wars can be good for economies. A nation must consume everything it produces. If a nation produces 100 TVs, it must consume 100 TVs. That doesn't seem obvious, does it? Yet it's true. Suppose we produce 100 TVs, and nobody consumes them. Then they'll go into a warehouse. The stora...	[ "War usually leads to a shortage in the supply of commodities, which results in higher prices and higher revenues. When it comes to supply and demand in terms of economics, profit is the most important end. During war time, \"war-stuff\" is in high demand, and demands must be met. Prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2...
hair	It is dead tissue constructed by special cells for the purpose of insulation. Evolution (probably sexually selective) has caused it to not grow on parts of our bodies at least until we have exceeded the normal breeding age. The pore that hair comes out of is self lubricating, you also have lots of sweat glands. As ...	[ "Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles in the dermis, or skin. With the exception of areas of glabrous skin, the human body is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fine vellus hair. It is an important biomaterial primarily composed of protein, notably keratin.\n", "\"Hair\" is a so...
how can we so sure that a certain species like megalodon in deep sea is extinct when we knew very little about ocean floor?	We dont really, but given what we can infer from their fossils and we can find things like their diet and typical depth and such. Which means if they did still exist they would be either insanely rare or very specific to one part of the ocean. Most of the creatures we discover down there arent large creatures as the d...	[ "The most dramatic deterioration has been caused by biological factors. It used to be thought that the depths of the ocean were a lifeless desert, but research carried out since the mid-1980s has found that the ocean floor is teeming with life and may rival the tropical rainforests for biodiversity. During the 1991...
Was there ever any significant fighting between Muslim factions within the Ottoman empire?	This isn't really my area of specialty, but one example might be the Ottoman-Saudi war (1811-1818). Long story short Egyptian troops were sent, at the Ottoman's request, to fight Wahhabi rebels in an area that now forms part of Saudi Arabia. This isn't quite an example of Ottoman empire infighting because: - Egypt's ...	[ "The history of Ottoman–Safavid relations started with the establishment of Safavid dynasty in Persia (Iran) in the early 16th century. The initial Ottoman–Safavid conflict culminated in the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and was followed by a century of border confrontation. In 1639, Safavid Persia and Ottoman Empir...
How Eurocentric is the word "medieval"?	Short answer: The most literal definition of "medieval" is "between two ages". Taken that way, the term might be considered "Roman centric" ,"Mediterranean-centric", and perhaps even "Asia \[Minor\] centric" -- it refers to the time between the fall of Western European Empire and the fall of the Eastern Roman Empi...	[ "Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture. Since the 18th century, a variety of movements ha...
How many non-Spartans participated in the Spartan agoge?	I can't speak for instances of other Greeks participating in the agoge, but I can at least give you a partial answer. Your post made me think of the mothakes (Doric Greek for "stepbrothers"). Essentially they were male members of Spartan society who participated in the agoge and existed outside the privileged homoioi c...	[ "The Spartan hoplite followed a strict laconic code of honor. No soldier was considered superior to another. Suicidal recklesness, berserkery, and rage were prohibited in a Spartan army, as these behaviors endangered the phalanx. Recklessness could lead to dishonor, as in the case of Aristodemus. Spartans regarded ...
Why is the average atomic mass compared to the carbon-12 isotope?	So there's kind of an amusing story there. The definition of a mole using carbon-12 only started in 1961. Prior to that, the standard was based on oxygen-16. But physicists and chemists could not quite agree on how to regard oxygen-16, because the physicists defined it (using spectrographic data) based on pure oxygen-1...	[ "In the example above the standard atomic weight of carbon is 12.011 g/mol, not 12.00 g/mol. This is because naturally occurring carbon is a mixture of the isotopes C, C and C which have masses of 12 u, 13.003355 u and 14.003242 u respectively. Moreover, the proportion of the isotopes varies between samples, so 12....
what parts of the spectrum does a mirror reflect? can a mirror be melted by any part of the spectrum?	It depend on the mirror. Each material have different reflectivity for each wavelenght. _URL_1_ Visible light go from 0.4 um to 0.7 um. So you see in the image that Silver is pretty good to reflect most of visible light. That's why most mirror we use are made of silver. It can also reflect infrared as you can see in ...	[ "A chirped mirror is made to reflect a wider range of frequencies. This is done by creating layers with different depths. There may be 10 layers with a depth designed to reflect a certain wavelength of light, another 10 layers with slightly greater depth to reflect a slightly longer wavelength of light, and so on f...
How does the speed of the movement of the milky way, in which the planet earth is immersed, affect our perception of time?	Two points! One thing is that these are all quite slow speeds. You really need to be going close to the speed of light for time dilation to matter significantly. There aren't many things in space that move faster than thousands of km/s relative to each other, and that's just not fast enough to time dilation to be very...	[ "This planetary order, in which the Sun stands at the center of the continuum, with the planets between the Sun and the Earth on one side and the outer planets on the other side, reflected the perception of the speed of each planet's motion as seen from the Earth.\n", "This planetary order, in which the Sun stand...
Does the probability in deal or no deal work similarly to The Monty Hall Problem? [Please see inside for details]	> The big question is: does switching the case at the end increase the probability of me winning the $1M from 1/26 to 25/26 (in other words it works like the Monty Hall Problem) or is it 50/50 chance at the end. 50/50. (Anyone saying otherwise do not understand the MontyHall problem ...) You can sum up the Deal or ...	[ "\"Odds\" (as in gambling) are expressed as a ratio. For example, odds of \"7 to 3 against\" (7:3) mean that there are seven chances that the event will not happen to every three chances that it will happen. The probability of success is 30%. In every ten trials, there are expected to be three wins and seven losses...
Why are there no fireflies on the West Coast?	There are fireflies on the West Coast, such as [Ellychnia californica.](_URL_0_) The problem is that many are either diurnal (out during the day) or have relatively weak bioluminescent capabilities as adults.	[ "The sea-firefly is a small crustacean living in sediment. At rest it emits a dull glow but when disturbed it darts away leaving a cloud of shimmering blue light to confuse the predator. During World War II it was gathered and dried for use by the Japanese military as a source of light during clandestine operations...
why weren't army uniforms using camo earlier?	In the 1700's, getting shot by other people on your "team" was a big problem, and color coding uniforms helps with that. You had to be quite close to shoot someone, because the firearms of the period were not excellent. By WWI and WWII, firearms were excellent. Also, at that time, armies had radios. This allowed mo...	[ "The development of modern camouflage patterns and the rising desire of the various U.S. military branches to differentiate themselves from each other has resulted in new patterns for uniforms. The U.S. Marine Corps was the first branch to replace their BDUs. The Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU) uses the...
why do we measure liquids by volume when we could just as easily measure them by mass?	Generally speaking scales are more accurate than household volume measuring devices. however, until digital scales were invented, scales were a nuisance for some people to use. Especially for small, high precision measurements. Therefore recipes and such typically used volume, which can be measured with the cheapest of...	[ "Litres are most commonly used for items (such as fluids and solids that can be poured), which are measured by the capacity or size of their container, whereas cubic metres (and derived units) are most commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is often also used i...
why didn't they use shields made of metal in ww1?	Do the math: A .303 armor piercing round was able to penetrate 8mm of steel at 100 yards. (8mm/25.4mm/inch = 0.315 inches). So, for shorter distances, if we wanted to build in a safety factor of 50%, we'd need a shield of at least 12mm in thickness to ensure the standard British round couldn't penetrate the shield. ...	[ "BULLET::::- Gun shields - Not all modern guns have shields. Before World War I, shields were intended to provide gun crews with protection at shorter ranges from the recently-invented repeating rifle and shrapnel shells when they were engaged in direct fire. During the First World War on the Western Front, machine...
how are news agencies allowed to outright spread lies or misinformation to the public? why is there no system of moderation to license news reporters similar to how engineers/doctors are licensed to design buildings or treat patients?	Who would do the moderation? The government? This is what happens in some countries, such as Russia and the UAE, and the governments in those countries influence the news to suit their own agenda. The UK had an independent Press Complaints Commission which does try to keep the news sane, even if that means censuring ...	[ "Journalists are often expected to aim for objectivity; reporters claim to try to cover all sides of an issue without bias, as compared to commentators or analysts, who provide opinion or personal points of view. The resulting articles lay out facts in a sterile, noncommittal manner, standing back to \"let the read...
how exactly does astrology predict one's personality traits?	It doesn't. Those stars are trillions of miles away and have no bearing on your life.	[ "Astrologers believe that the position of the stars and planets determine an individual's personality and future. Astronomers study the actual stars and planets, but have found no evidence supporting astrological theories. Psychologists study personality, and while there are many theories of personality, no mainstr...
did the holocaust really happen?	Sorry Ahmadinejad, I thought Reddit was blocked in Iran? The evidence is the sudden disappearance of six million Jews and six million more "undesirables" between 1938 and 1945. And the thousands of survivors. And the thousands of Nazi soldiers who admitted it. And the millions of corpses.	[ "The Holocaust (which roughly means \"great fire\") was the deliberate, systematic murder of millions of Jews and other minorities during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. Several differing views exist regarding whether it was intended to occur from the war's beginning, or if the plans for it came about l...
Why do scientists hypothesize dark matter and not some non-matter phenomenon that generates gravity? I.e. why consider it "matter" at all? Or is "dark matter" just short for "gravity-producing phenomenon"?	They're marginalized for two main reasons: 1) They don't explain the data better than (cold) dark matter does, and lately have often had a harder time explaining several observations, and 2) They're ugly as sin. The equations governing a theory like TeVeS are just plain gross, and the only reason anyone even dreamed ...	[ "Dark matter is postulated in order to account for gravitational effects observed in very large-scale structures (the \"flat\" rotation curves of galaxies; the gravitational lensing of light by galaxy clusters; and enhanced clustering of galaxies) that cannot be accounted for by the quantity of observed matter.\n",...
why are men so disinterested in sex once they've ejaculated?	The rise in dopamine and serotonin post orgasm gives a man feelings of security and contentment. It also increases the sleep hormone. Due to all this, they lose interest.	[ "The most common sexual issues in diabetic males are problems with erections and ejaculation: \"With diabetes, blood vessels supplying the penis’s erectile tissue can get hard and narrow, preventing the adequate blood supply needed for a firm erection. The nerve damage caused by poor blood glucose control can also ...
why are some trials completed with a jury while others are not?	In the US you generally don't get a criminal jury trial if the maximum punishment for your crime is less than 6 months. If its more than 6 months, you have a choice to get a jury trial - you can opt out if you want and people typically do when there is a strong emotional component to the trial. When there is a stro...	[ "Some jurisdictions with jury trials allow the defendant to waive their right to a jury trial, thus leading to a bench trial. Jury trials tend to occur only when a crime is considered serious. In some jurisdictions, such as France and Brazil, jury trials are reserved, and compulsory, for the most severe crimes and ...
What is cardiac pre-load and after-load?	I wanted to expand on some of the explanations that have been given here, especially because I think the concept of afterload is commonly oversimplified. As one user mentioned, preload is defined as the end-diastolic volume. In other words, the volume of blood in the ventricle at the end of diastole, right before it b...	[ "In cardiac physiology, preload is the end diastolic volume that stretches the right or left ventricle of the heart to its greatest dimensions under variable physiologic demand. In other words, it is the initial stretching of the cardiomyocytes prior to contraction; therefore, it is related to the sarcomere length ...
How accurate is this Gif?	Might be easier if you let the gif run and just screen shot the last segment so the users here can take the time to look at it in more detail	[ "As a noun, the word \"GIF\" is found in the newer editions of many dictionaries. In 2012, the American wing of the Oxford University Press recognized \"GIF\" as a verb as well, meaning \"to create a GIF file\", as in \"GIFing was perfect medium for sharing scenes from the Summer Olympics\". The press's lexicograph...
why do you have to put certain expensive electronics in your shopping cart in order to see their price?	It actually isn't a gimmick, it is done for legal purposes. It comes from a supreme court ruling in 2007, without going into too much detail, it limits the ability of a retailer to openly advertise certain products below a certain price that the manufacturer will set as a minimum advertised sale price. While a phys...	[ "Many shoppers also perceive shopping costs as a barrier to place the order and leave the shopping cart before purchasing. 31.6% of respondents mentioned the latter as a main barrier during the online shopping experience based on Internet Retailer / Bizrate Insight consumer survey conducted in May 2018. \n", "Whe...
why are some cancer patients too sick for cancer trial drugs.	A lot of cancer drugs cause harm to the patient. Its unethical to cause harm when the person has no realistic prospect of benefiting from the drug in the long-term. Its like how in some cases they won't actually operate on very old men with prostate cancer, because its just causing unnecessary harm without a clear be...	[ "Drugs and radiotherapy given for cancer can cause unpleasant side effects such as nausea and vomiting, mouth sores, dermatitis, and menopausal symptoms. Around a third of patients with cancer use complementary therapies, including homeopathic medicines, to try to reduce these side effects.\n", "A common conseque...
how neutrinos can travel through (it's said) a light-year of lead and not hit anything. how is that even possible?	Neutrinos have no charge, so they don't interact through the electromagnetic field. They are the lightest of the non-massless subatomic particles, so that they have very little interaction through gravity. They do not interact through the strong nuclear force because they are not quarks, gluons or hadrons. That leav...	[ "In a analysis of their data, scientists of the OPERA collaboration reported evidence that neutrinos they produced at CERN in Geneva and recorded at the OPERA detector at Gran Sasso, Italy, had traveled faster than light. The neutrinos were calculated to have arrived approximately 60.7 nanoseconds (60.7 billionths ...
el5 : why the slr cameras are more expensive then compact ones with same mega pixels ? what make them expensive ?	The number of pixels is not the only thing that defines the "goodness" of a camera. The sensor on a DSLR camera is substantially better than the one on a point-and-shoot camera. Also, the lenses on SLR cameras are of much better quality. The mechanism (the "reflex" part in SLR) that exposes the sensor is also incred...	[ "The price of SLRs in general also tends to be somewhat higher than that of other types of cameras, owing to their internal complexity. This is compounded by the expense of additional components, such as flashes or lenses. The initial investment in equipment can be prohibitive enough to keep some casual photographe...
Monday Methods: A special episode of our podcast and a discussion post regarding: Post-modernism and history. How do we engage with it? Where do we go from here? What is the history of the future?	The category of postmodernism I spend the most time engaging with (as a historian of science/STS person) is not so much the construction of identity, which I take as sort of a given (it's pretty obvious that national identities are constructed ideas or imagined communities, and it doesn't take much more to go from ther...	[ "Postmodern Culture is an electronic academic journal established in 1990. It is the result of an early experiment in electronic content delivery via the Internet. The journal publishes commentary and criticism on a wide range of concerns including literary theory, politics, and contemporary society. Occasionally, ...
Is sex pleasurable for all species?	as kwoklius said dolphins, human (pigs, chimps and others). It's not clear as to why many animals have sex. For some it's most likely a biological response, as in it is not a choice. In others some speculate that it is indeed involuntary and it could be considered rape. So why do animals have sex? Because they don't h...	[ "It is often assumed that animals do not have sex for pleasure, or alternatively that humans, pigs, bonobos (and perhaps dolphins and one or two more species of primates) are the only species that do. This is sometimes stated as \"animals mate only for reproduction\". This view is considered a misconception by some...
1 tb micro sd cards	There's an observation in technology called "Moore's Law", which states that transistor densities on chips will double approximately every 18 months. Computer chips are just large collections of transistors, and SD cards are just another form of computer chip. So, we can expect flash memory storage densities to nearly ...	[ "As of August 2017, microSD cards with a capacity up to 400 GB (400 billion bytes) are available. The same year, Samsung combined 3D IC chip stacking with its 3D V-NAND and TLC technologies to manufacture its 512GB KLUFG8R1EM flash memory chip with eight stacked 64-layer V-NAND chips. In 2019, Samsung produced a 1T...
What (if any) physiological changes do men experience when their partner is pregnant?	HEY EVERYONE! Make sure you distinguish between research on father's-to-be vs. fathers. The findings are better understood for fathers, whereas there is far more dispute regarding changes in expecting fathers.	[ "Studies have shown that the male partner cohabitating with a pregnant female will experience hormonal shifts in his prolactin, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone levels, typically starting at the end of the first trimester and continuing through several weeks post-partum.\n", "Changes in hormones during a fem...
why are video games moving from standalone titles to to microtransaction heavy models or free-to-play models?	Money. It turns out that if you make a free to play game with microtransactions, most players will pay nothing or only a small amount, but some people will get addicted and spend hundreds or even thousands on it. Because there's no upfront cost to start playing the game, there's the potential to have far more players...	[ "Modular or upgradeable video games were not commonly offered by the major video game companies in the 1970s and 1980s, because it was more profitable to sell an entirely new machine. System 1 and the Japanese JAMMA wiring standard were attempts to move to a modular solution, though there were many smaller companie...
why are there so many website url extensions (eg; .com, .org, .net) and no universal one ?	TLDs (Top Level Domains, what you called extensions) are usually ruled on a nation-wide level. And as we know the world can never agree on something and everybody wants to do their own thing. So there's that.	[ "The essential reason to create new gTLDs is due to the fact that there are not enough domain names available for businesses or individuals to create sensible and logical URLs. A vast amount of .com’s are in use already, and individuals and businesses are having difficulties in creating a fitting and simple domain....
What made Frederick II so unique compared to other rulers? Why was he given titles such as "the wonder of the world", or considered by some as the "first modern ruler"?	I don't think I can do the full question justice, but I can give you a minor, albeit somewhat odd, angle on it: Falconry. Frederick loved falconry. He loved collecting the birds themselves, he loved exotic and rare raptor species, he loved flying them at game, he loved arguing with his staff of falconers over the ...	[ "Frederick II \"the Great\" is best known for his military genius and unique utilisation of the highly organized army to make Prussia one of the great powers in Europe as well as escaping from almost certain national disaster at the last minute. However he was also an artist, author and philosopher, who conceived a...
Is it possible to recover data from RAM?	Yes! Modern SDRAM is based on tiny capacitors. They lose their charge fairly rapidly and thus lose the contents of the memory they were storing, this is why the computer needs to constantly refresh the charge in the capacitors (which is why it's called "dynamic ram"). Normally the data will decay in an amount of time ...	[ "A potential technical hurdle with in-memory data storage is the volatility of RAM. Specifically in the event of a power loss, intentional or otherwise, data stored in volatile RAM is lost. With the introduction of non-volatile random access memory technology, in-memory databases will be able to run at full speed a...
A question about Pavlov's Dog.	My psych teacher sat in front of me and said a bunch of random words, and every time he said "candy" he sprayed me in the face with a water bottle. I knew exactly what he was doing but when he said "candy," i flinched every time, even when he stopped spraying me.	[ "Ivan Pavlov () is a 1949 Soviet biopic directed by Grigori Roshal and starring Aleksandr Borisov, Nina Alisova and Nikolai Plotnikov. The film portrays the life of the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), known for his Pavlov's dog experiments. The film was made during the Stalinist era, despite the fact tha...
does gothic (as in clothing, rock, architecture, fonts etc.) come from the gothic tribes? why/why not?	Very indirectly. The Goth subculture ultimately derives its name from the Gothic literary movement of the 18th and 19th century, which was a darker offshoot of the Romantic movement (think Frankenstein, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the works of Edgar Allen Poe). The literary genre takes its name from Gothic a...	[ "Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the \"Codex Argenteus\", a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable text corpus. All others, including Burgundian and Vandalic, are known, if at all...
How reliable are battle numbers in Chinese antiquity?	It's not an accurate statement to say that one should simply "lop off a zero" of Sima Qian's statements to make them approach accuracy... it's a fun statement, it gets the point across, and I've done it myself in the past... but it's not really accurate... probably.* See, there's a couple things anyone looking at ...	[ "Not much is known about this battle since it, along with other events of the era, are clouded by mythology. Thus, the historical accuracy of accounts of this battle is disputed. Chinese historiographical tradition places it in the 26th century BC.\n", "Although most western historians claimed that there were ove...
Why is my theory on antimatter wrong?	This is a small complaint, but you don't have a theory about antimatter. You have a conjecture. I don't know enough about the topic to say if it has any possible credence or not, but a theory requires a lot more work than "hmmm, maybe it's this!" This is not supposed to discourage you wondering or asking, just helping...	[ "When antimatter was first discovered in 1932, physicists wondered about how it would react to gravity. Initial analysis focused on whether antimatter should react the same as matter or react oppositely. Several theoretical arguments arose which convinced physicists that antimatter would react exactly the same as n...
how does my touchscreen know between a finger and a non-finger? also, how does it know to respond to a stylus?	TL;DR _URL_0_ Most touchscreens are capacitive. If you know how a capacitor works, it stores charges over time and a voltage drop is noted by the smartphone. Fingers carry charges, and can take some away from the capacitor. This causes a change in the capacitors voltage drop and is registered as a touch. An object tha...	[ "Touchpads operate in one of several ways, including capacitive sensing and resistive touchscreen. The most common technology used in the 2010s senses the change of capacitance where a finger touches the pad. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar ungrounded or non-conductin...
Were Werner Heisenberg's nuclear capabilities overestimated?	Heisenberg was one of the most brilliant quantum theorists of his generation. Nobody doubts that. But making an atomic bomb requires more than one brilliant scientist. The person at the "top" of an organization (and Heisenberg, as an aside, _was not that_ — he was the head of one of two research groups that was workin...	[ "Heisenberg's comment that he knew about the potential for weaponizing uranium fission, appears to counter the arguments of critics such as Rose and Bernstein that calculation errors in 1940 about feasibility, rather than moral scruples, led Heisenberg not to pursue building nuclear weapons.\n", "Historians have ...
Robert E. Lee is lauded as a military genius of his time, but what were his real victories? Most of his 'decisive victories' seemed to have been more of utter failures and poor coordination by Union leadership rather than ingenious use of strategy by confederate leadership.	First, it should be pointed out that historians don't call Lee's victories decisive, even when he won them convincingly, as they didn't decide the war in the Confederacy's favor. Given the debate about whether Confederate victory was even possible, this isn't a terribly strong strike against his generalship; certainly...	[ "BULLET::::- Confederate generals such as Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Thomas \"Stonewall\" Jackson represented the virtues of Southern nobility and fought bravely and fairly. On the other hand, most Northern generals were characterized as possessing low moral standards, because they subjected the Sou...
why does n. korea have concentration camps and treat its own people in them so poorly?	North Korea is pretty much the last Stalin level regime that still exists. In these regimes, this kind of stuff is necessary to maintaining order. When hard work isn't rewarded, like in any Socialist (Stalin socialist, not Hollande Socialist), you need to motivate them. Stuff like this is a good way to do that. Similar...	[ "North Korea is known to operate six concentration camps, currently accommodating around 200,000 prisoners. These camps, officially called Kwan-li-so (Korean for \"control and management center\"), are large political penal-labor colonies in secluded mountain valleys of central and northeastern North Korea. Once co...
how were cartoon sound effects produced such as those from hannah-barbera and 80's-90's anime?	They had people called "foley artists" who would record unique sounds. Some of these sounds would be kept in a library of sounds that could be reused, other sounds would be recorded specifically for individual purposes. They'd use anything and everything imaginable. People still do it today, and it's not just cartoons...	[ "American animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions was noted for their large library of sound effects. Besides cartoon-style sound effects (such as ricochets, slide whistles, etc.), they also had familiar sounds used for transportation, household items and more. When Hanna and Barbera started their studio in 1957...
how do shooting games like duck hunt (if you're old like me) or buck hunter know if you hit the target or not?	Duck hunt works as follows. The trigger tells the screen to go all black, with the exception of the duck, which shows up as white block. The gun is looking for the white block. If you are pointing at it, the gun sees the light, and registers it as a hit. If you are not aiming correctly, the gun doesn't see any ligh...	[ "The player is required to successfully shoot a minimum number of targets in order to advance to the next round; failure will result in a game over. The difficulty increases as the player advances to higher rounds; targets will move faster and the minimum number of targets to shoot will increase. The player receive...
How do Maxwell's equations prove that electromagnetic waves are light?	Initially, Maxwell conjectured that, since Maxwell's Equations predict waves that move at the speed of light, light waves might be electromagnetic waves. However, once you make that connection, then you can test it, and see if light interacts with charges as it should if it is an electromagnetic wave. In this way, yo...	[ "With the addition of the displacement current, Maxwell was able to hypothesize (correctly) that light was a form of electromagnetic wave. See electromagnetic wave equation for a discussion of this important discovery.\n", "James Clerk Maxwell derived a wave form of the electric and magnetic equations, thus uncov...
Is there a point where water is under enough pressure that it's boiling point is above it's point of incandescence but remains a liquid?	Beyond a certain temperature and pressure known as the critical point, [the hard boundaries between the gaseous and liquid phases break down and the transition between the two becomes continuous](_URL_0_). For water, this critical point is at temperatures above 374 centigrade, whereas incandescence starts at approx 520...	[ "Boiling-point elevation describes the phenomenon that the boiling point of a liquid (a solvent) will be higher when another compound is added, meaning that a solution has a higher boiling point than a pure solvent. This happens whenever a non-volatile solute, such as a salt, is added to a pure solvent, such as wat...
why does my nose run when it's windy?	There are these little cells that make mucus. This does a number of things for the body, but they're not everywhere so there are other cells with wee little "fingers" that push the mucus around. When you breath in cold air (winter, ac, wind) they slow down, like many other things and they can't keep up with the mucus b...	[ "Wind has a range of effects, the first being the effect of making the projectile deviate to the side (horizontal deflection). From a scientific perspective, the \"wind pushing on the side of the projectile\" is not what causes horizontal wind drift. What causes wind drift is drag. Drag makes the projectile turn in...
What exactly is going on when we adjust to something (a smell, temperature, etc)?	When you "feel" something like temperature a series of action potentials are propagating from the receptor to the brain to be interpreted so you feel the hot or the cold. These action potentials are sent when the receptor is stimulated enough to cause an action potential. These receptors are made of proteins which have...	[ "\"Adaptation\" occurs when one makes a change within oneself in order to better adjust to one's surroundings. For example, when the weather changes and temperatures drop, people adapt by wearing extra layers of clothing to remain warm.\n", "The plateau effect is also experienced in acclimation, which is the proc...
what would happen if google became a tier1 isp?	This question really calls for speculation; it would probably be better off in /r/AskReddit. No one can "explain" the answer to this, as any answer is just guesswork.	[ "Other ISP plans apply \"per gigabyte\" excess charges to downloads beyond the monthly download quota. However, since the duopoly on internet access into Australia was broken in 2009 with the coming into service of the PPC-1 cable to Guam, there are many ISPs providing inexpensive unlimited internet plans on par wi...
Guys, Girls and Sex: A Gender History Panel AMA	There's a blog post floating around recently talking about how mass shootings are higher than they've ever been, are higher in America than anywhere else, are almost entirely perpetrated by men, and speculates that this might be related to something particular in American masculinity. I apologize in advance for the ic...	[ "\"Women... Oh, Women!\" is a sex-documentary focusing on the women of Japan, with particular emphasis on participants in the country's night-life. The film is a series of scenes visiting a variety of women such as female wrestlers, strippers, and \"geisha\". Nuns and sea divers are also shown, along with scenes of...
I've obviously heard of people being born without hearing and sight, and less commonly smell/touch, but can we be born without other senses like proprioception or our sense of time without brain damage being a factor?	All of these can occur. Anosmia is a lack of smell, which can potentially lead to life threatening situations (can't detect when food is bad, gas is leaking, smell of smoke, etc). While I haven't researched in people missing a sense of taste, they would encounter many of the same problems. Problems with priopreception...	[ "Children are often taught five basic senses: seeing (i.e., vision), hearing (i.e., audition), tasting (i.e., gustation), smelling (i.e., olfaction), and touching. However, there are actually many more senses including vestibular sense, kinesthetic sense, sense of thirst, sense of hunger, and cutaneous sense.\n", ...
why does light reflect off of glass and shine through it at the same time?	Every material has 3 factors .. transmission factor, reflection factor and absorption factor .. these three factors depends on the material itself .. and on the frequency of the light which is falling on it. In the case of glass .. at the visible region (from 390nm to 700nm) .. the glass reflect around 8% of the light ...	[ "The glass is coated with, or has encased within, a thin and almost-transparent layer of metal (usually aluminium). The result is a mirrored surface that reflects some light and is penetrated by the rest. Light always passes equally in both directions. However, when one side is brightly lit and the other kept dark,...
Stars made from elements other than Hydrogen?	At conditions hot enough for fusion molecules don't exist, you get individual atoms instead. So water and carbon monoxide would fall apart to hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Stars which don't contain enough hydrogen to start fusion would probably never ignite (remaining a brown dwarf) or collapse directly to a neutron st...	[ "Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. With a standard atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest element in the periodic table. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the Universe, constituting roughly 75% of all baryonic mass. Non-remnant stars are mainly composed o...
why are concerts a safe haven for open drug use?	They're not, it's just easier to hide in a crowd. someone smells pot smoke and there's only one person in the area as opposed to someone smells pot smoke and there are hundreds of people all moving and close together	[ "The report titled Keeping People Safe at Music Festivals (PRS) summarises the expert panel's recommendations to how the legislation should be changed to reduce the overall harm of drug-use at festivals. The recommendations are as follows:\n", "A key initiative for Safe Amp has been establishing a \"permanent, le...
During the Early Middle Ages, how did one find a husband or wife given how sparsely populated it was, along with their close ties to the land?	When the Church finally got to issuing particular injunctions about marriage, the prohibited it if the parties were within seven degrees of consanguinity. Even in the highly populated thirteenth century, this was probably not possible to avoid in most villages; the nobility certainly couldn't manage it. So, the answer ...	[ "The Anglo-Saxon settlement, the \"combe\" or valley of a certain Wifele, was mentioned in the Domesday survey (1086), when it was quite large, consisting of twenty-seven households, with an annual value to the lord, the Bishop of Wells St Andrew, of £25. During the Middle Ages the bishops maintained a residence he...
why did the arab countries only developed normally until the 70's?	If I remember my history correctly (and in this incredibly brief synopsis): Up until the 1970s, the world pretty much left the Middle East alone. Then the US and the USSR got in the ultimate pissing contest: the Cold War. From there, both superpowers wanted governments in the region to have heads of state that would...	[ "Over the period, the history of the Arab states varies widely. In 1956, the year of the Suez Crisis, only Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Sudan, among the Arab states were republics; all, to some degree, subscribed to the Arab nationalist ideology, or at least paid lip-service to it. Jordan and Iraq were both ...
why is it in the morning/afternoon/evening, but at night?	The difference is when you say "at night", you are speaking of a point or interval in time, similar to how you say "at 3:00" not "*in 3:00". When you say "in the morning/afternoon/evening/night", you are thinking about the quality relating to that time period. And yeah, you do see "in the night" too. Examples: "thin...	[ "The opposite of night is day (or \"daytime\", to distinguish it from \"day\" referring to a 24-hour period). The start and end points of time for a night vary, based on factors such as season and latitude. Twilight is the period of night after sunset or before sunrise when the Sun still illuminates the sky when it...
commonlaw "marriage": are you automatically married or do you have to apply? (in canada)	While common law marriage varies by state, and there have been many recent changes, you have to live together for YEARS not 6 months lol. Check your state laws on the matter for accurate information. A quick Google search will do it	[ "The law in England authorizes marriages to be legal if properly carried out and registered in the Church of England and some other religious bodies (e.g. Jewish, Quakers): other men and women who wish to marry can be married by a local official authorized to do so (civil ceremony). Circumstances may result in the ...
why, historically, do socialist countries often experience economic collapse?	An open market allows consumer needs, wants, and demands to match up with producer supply spontaneously and organically. A top down planning approach fails because leaders and decision makers in overly socialized economies are not capable of actually anticipating and providing for consumer needs and wants. To bring th...	[ "Socialism suffered a setback in some countries in recent years. As a consequence of this, the imperialists and reactionaries are claiming that socialism has ‘come to an end’. This is nothing but a sophistry to beautify and embellish capitalism and patronise the old order.\n", "Economic collapse is any of a broad...
what is the martingale system of betting and how does it work?	In principle, it is like doubling your bet after you lose. So bet $1, if you lose bet $2 etc. The idea is that "There is no such thing as an infinitely long losing streak - so eventually you'll win and break even". Problem is: "It doesn't work" Most casinos have table limits and minimums. This means you'll rapidly h...	[ "Originally, \"martingale\" referred to a class of betting strategies that was popular in 18th-century France. The simplest of these strategies was designed for a game in which the gambler wins their stake if a coin comes up heads and loses it if the coin comes up tails. The strategy had the gambler double their be...
what is a "currency" and what is not?	What you created is something less than a currency. I was going to say it was like scrip (where companies would give their employees coupons that could be used at company-owned stores, instead of cash) but it's not even like scrip. There are two functions of currency: - Store of value. Currency has to be able to be...	[ "This is a list of alternative names for currency. A currency refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a \"system of money\" (monetary units) in common use, especially in a natio...
how is internet speed divided if multiple people are on the network?	first come first serve on a packet by packet basis. unless there's something on the router to prioritize one device over the other.	[ "According to Akamai Technologies, Indonesia, with 9 connections to undersea cables, had in Q1 2014 an average Internet connection speed of 2.4 Mbit/s, which was an increase of 55 percent from the prior year. Just 6.6 percent of homes had access to 4 Mbit/s or higher speed connections. But in Q4 2014, the average i...
why do british people address their female superiors as "mum" (mom)?	It's not mom or mum that they're saying. It's actually "Ma'am", which is a contraction of madam.	[ "She can be regarded as a foil for \"Mother,\" a wheelchair-using male British government official who gives orders to the main characters in the last season of the series and in the film. The humorous use of \"Mother\" for a male character is the source of the use of \"Father\" for a female character. In the origi...
How much extra energy does an amputee have considering they don't have a limb they have to provide energy to?	Ever cell generates energy so they require less energy but are also missing those cells to begin with. So it's pretty much irrelevant. However internal organs, specifically the brain require a greater amount of energy so they likely have a lower overall amount because the internal organs can't siphon off the energy pro...	[ "Not only does the patient need to pay for their multiple prosthetic limbs, but they also need to pay for physical and occupational therapy that come along with adapting to living with an artificial limb. Unlike the reoccurring cost of the prosthetic limbs, the patient will typically only pay the $2000 to $5000 for...
When televisions began selling in the 1930s until 1950, what programs were available?	In 1984, McGraw-Hill published "The TV Schedule Book: Four Decades of Network Programming from Sign-On to Sign-Off," which has charts of the daily schedules of the major U.S. networks (including DuMont) for every season beginning with 1944. The book also contains explanatory text about the history of TV programming. I...	[ "The first television shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within a very short range from the broadcast tower starting in the 1930s. Televised events such as the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany, the 1937 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff's famous introduction at the 193...
pensions	So I want you to come work at my candy store this summer, and not the candy store down the street. Maybe they offered you $500 a week and I can only offer you $400 a week and some free candy. Either I just can't afford to pay you more, or the Candy Store Guild said I'm not allowed to. So, if you're smart you'll probab...	[ "There are three \"pillars\" of the UK pension system, which aim to ensure dignity and a fair income in retirement. The first pillar is the [[state pension]], administered by the government, and funded by [[National Insurance]] contributions. The third pillar is private, or \"personal pensions\", which individuals ...
what stops our body from defecating when we pass gas? how does flatuce exit below a solid?	If you can imagine how air could leak out of a balloon filled with rocks without the rocks falling out, that's pretty much how it works with your butt. And if the solid isn't "solid" enough... well, sometimes your body can't stop both happening at the same time.	[ "If a peptic ulcer perforates, air will leak from the inside of the gastrointestinal tract (which always contains some air) to the peritoneal cavity (which normally never contains air). This leads to \"free gas\" within the peritoneal cavity. If the person stands erect, as when having a chest X-ray, the gas will fl...
What is the History of the Handshake?	Oldest known instance of a handshake that i could find is in this babylonian tablet. _URL_0_ Its of two different kings (assyrian and babylonian) king hands in public and was to reflect a time of peace. Similar images can be found in other ancient works of art. In this piece _URL_1_ theseus is being welcomed by pos...	[ "Various sources have attributed the origin of the handshake, as an ancient sign of bravery and respect, to Lord Baden-Powell's encounter after battle with Prempeh I, or to earlier published works by Ernest Thompson Seton. There exist various versions of the Prempeh story, all centering on African warriors using th...
whats the difference between 44khz and 48khz when the human ear can only hear up to 20khz ?	You're getting confused by two totally separate things. First of all you have the frequency of a specific sound, which as you rightly say is limited to about 20kHz for young, healthy people, and generally the upper range decreases as you get older. However this is nothing to do with the frequency you see for encoded ...	[ "The human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from about 20 Hz to a maximum of around 20,000 Hz, although the upper hearing limit decreases with age. Within this range, the human ear is most sensitive between 2 and 5 kHz, largely due to the resonance of the ear canal and the transfer function of the ossicl...
why are there "terms of service" of websites? what do they do and don't do? what happens if you go to a website with no tos?	TOS are quasi-legal contracts between you and the website. Most of them are filled with legalese that lets the website do anything and takes away any legal rights you might have had (but not always), and these sorts of TOSs are not always legally enforceable in their entirety. Sometimes TOS spell out how you are to ...	[ "Businesses that have an online presence should provide accessibility to disabled users. Not only are there ethical and commercial justifications for implementing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, in some countries and jurisdictions, there are also legal reasons. Under UK law, if a business's website is not...
why do the whites of the eyes become red easily when bloodshot, but the iris never changes color?	The whites (sclera) are full of visible blood vessels called capillaries which can easily burst from overexertion such as eye strain. Since these vessels are much more visible than those within the iris due to contrast, the whites are more susceptible to appear bloodshot whereas the iris won't	[ "A red eye is an eye that appears red due to illness or injury. It is usually injection and prominence of the superficial blood vessels of the conjunctiva, which may be caused by disorders of these or adjacent structures. Conjunctivitis and subconjunctival hemorrhage are two of the less serious but more common caus...
Does light effect Stalactite formation?	Though I'd only be guessing, I can't immediately think of any significant effect that camera flashes would have on stalactites. The only minor effect I can think of is the energy from the flash could cause a very tiny heat increase in the droplets which deposit minerals on to the stalactites. This would make mineral...	[ "Chatoyant minerals display luminous bands, which appear to move as the specimen is rotated. Such minerals are composed of parallel fibers (or contain fibrous voids or inclusions), which reflect light into a direction perpendicular to their orientation, thus forming narrow bands of light. The most famous examples a...
If Someone was in space without a space helmet/oxygen supply and tried to inhale what would happen?	When you inhale you are essentially just increasing the volume of your lungs while leaving a pathway open to the outside air. You feel the air flow through your nose or mouth and down your trachea as it seeks to maintain an equal pressure from the outside air to inside your lungs. In a vacuum that mechanism doesn't r...	[ "BULLET::::- The environment within the astronauts' pressure suits was not changed. Because of the rapid drop in cabin (and suit) pressures during ascent, decompression sickness was likely unless the nitrogen had been purged from the astronauts' tissues before launch. They would still breathe pure oxygen, starting ...
What geological evidence do we have to prove that ice ages are cyclical??	Tree ring data; sediment cores from lakes and oceans; and ice cores. [More info.](_URL_1_) Paleoclimate from [ice cores](_URL_0_) allows us to determine temperature based on oxygen isotope ratios. Most oxygen is 16O, but some of it is 18O, meaning the atomic mass is slightly greater. To quote [Wikipedia:](_URL_2_) ...	[ "Geological evidence for ice ages comes in various forms, including rock scouring and scratching, glacial moraines, drumlins, valley cutting, and the deposition of till or tillites and glacial erratics. Successive glaciations tend to distort and erase the geological evidence, making it difficult to interpret. Furth...
how do tesla coil suits work?	Electricity takes the path of least resistance. Metal is low resistance. Humans are medium resistance. Air is high resistance, even with rain in it. If an arc has a choice between human and air, it goes through the human. However, if there is a low resistance path to ground, then the electricity will not run through t...	[ "A T-coil consists of a metal core (or rod) around which ultra-fine wire is coiled. T-coils are also called induction coils because when the coil is placed in a magnetic field, an alternating electric current is induced in the wire (Ross, 2002b; Ross, 2004). The T-coil detects magnetic energy and transduces (conver...
What happens when a noise gets louder?	Sound travels as slight increases and decreases in air pressure (compressions and rarefactions). The further these increases and decreases are from ambient pressure, the louder the sound. Greater pressure differentials will cause the eardrum to move further.	[ "Another cause of noise is due to the exocytosis of neurotransmitters from the synaptic terminals that provide input to a given neuron. This occurrence happens in the background while a cell is at resting membrane potential. Since it is happening in the background, the release is not due to a signal, but is random....
Would a fusion reactor that utilizes only hydrogen, with no need for deuterium or helium3, be feasible?	No, the reaction you're referring to just has too small of a cross section. It would never be favorable for an artificial reactor.	[ "Fusion reactors generally use hydrogen isotopes such as deuterium and tritium, which react more easily than hydrogen. The designs aim to heat their fuel to tens of millions of degrees using a wide variety of methods. The major challenge in realising fusion power is to engineer a system that can confine the plasma ...
how does my dog understand when i'm pointing at something? is this inherent, or did i teach him this?	It's inherent, and the fact that dogs instinctively understand pointing is actually pretty interesting. Very few animals are able to understand a point, and it's believed that evolution actually selected for pointing identification in early domesticated dogs; a dog that couldn't follow instructions was of no use to ear...	[ "Dogs have shown an ability to understand human communication. In object choice tasks, dogs utilize human communicative gestures such as pointing and direction of gaze in order to locate hidden food and toys. It has also been shown that dogs exhibit a left gaze bias when looking at human faces, indicating that they...
Shouldn't all multicellular organisms develop some sort of cancer given enough time?	Probably yes for animals. For plants, it depends a little on how we define cancer. For fungi I don't know. All animals seem to develop cancer. Naively you would expect larger animals to be at a higher risk of developing cancer early on, since they have more cells that could accumulate cancerous mutations by chance. Th...	[ "Multicellular organisms, especially long-living animals, face the challenge of cancer, which occurs when cells fail to regulate their growth within the normal program of development. Changes in tissue morphology can be observed during this process. Cancer in animals (metazoans) has often been described as a loss o...
What exactly is the "stuffy" when someone says "it's getting a bit stuffy in here?" How does it happen?	My interpretation is that a room full of mouth breathers has overwhelmed the A/C's ability to evacuate the heat and humidity produced. This causes the room to become uncomfortable. Another interpretation is that again, the room is poorly ventilated and holds a musty smell.	[ "BULLET::::- Miffle ( – also as a common noun, \"det lilla knyttet/skruttet\", \"the little creep\"; \"skrutt\", a noun with \"various meanings, although with one common feature, that is something small or something weak, rubbish (\"skräp\", \"garbage\"), trash or core, which in turn also suggests something quite i...
Before "fire" was associated with launching ordinance, what were the common English verbs for shooting arrows?	Hi! I've removed this question because it is attracting a lot of short answers that aren't up to the standards of the sub. Indeed, your question would be perfectly suited for our [Short Answers to Simple Questions](_URL_0_) feature - the link is to the current session at the top of the front page. Please post it there ...	[ "Fire arrows were one of the earliest forms of weaponized gunpowder, being used from the 9th century onward. Not to be confused with earlier incendiary arrow projectiles, the fire arrow was a gunpowder weapon which receives its name from the translated Chinese term \"huǒjiàn\" (火箭), which literally means fire arrow...
why do cats have to smell everything? why can't they just look at the things?	The cat's response: Why do humans have to look at everything? Why can't they just smell things? Each of your senses gives you a wealth of information. Humans are very visually-based creatures, for a variety of reasons (leading evolutionary theories that I've heard have to do with brachiation - swinging through trees...	[ "Cats are highly territorial, and secretion of odors plays a major role in cat communication. The nose helps cats to identify territories, other cats and mates, to locate food, and has various other uses. A cat's sense of smell is believed to be about fourteen times stronger than that of humans. The rhinarium (the ...

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