Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
how do we know ancient civilisations/events existed?	Carbon dating is a chemistry-based method for determining how old organic matter (wood, preserved food) is. There's no disguising a 200 year old tomb as a 4000 year old tomb; the carbon dating is completely different. Also, we have records from long ago (like the Roman Empire) of people already knowing about things ...	[ "With philology, archaeology, and art history, scholars seek understanding of the history and culture of a civilisation, through critical study of the extant literary and physical artefacts, in order to compose and establish a continual historic narrative of the Ancient World and its peoples. The task is difficult ...
what are volts? amps? watts? which one(s) can kill you versus just shock/hurt you?	The water pipe analogy is a famous way to understand electricity. Volts are like water pressure (high voltage would be like a pressure washer, low voltage would be like a babbling brook) Amps are like the amount of water flow (high amperage would be like the Mississippi river, low amperage would be like a kitchen fau...	[ "Voltages over approximately 50 volts can usually cause dangerous amounts of current to flow through a human being who touches two points of a circuit—so safety standards, in general, are more restrictive around such circuits. The definition of \"extrahigh voltage\" (EHV) again depends on context. In electric power...
each of the 5 positions in basketball and their responsibilities.	Point guard, or the "1": Primary ball handler on offense. Brings the ball up the court, generally starts plays and creates opportunities for others. On defense, defends the perimeter. Shooting guard, or the "2" or the "2 guard": perimeter scorer that plays off the ball. Needs to be a good ball handler as well. They ca...	[ "Basketball position – general location on the court which each player is responsible for. A player is generally described by the position (or positions) he or she plays, though the rules do not specify any positions. Positions are part of the strategy that has evolved for playing the game, and terminology for desc...
TIL about the Phaistos Disk and Linear A and I'm curious, what other languages are still undeciphered? What are the chances that they will be deciphered?	Indus script, inscriptions left by the Indus Valley Civilization, has yet to be deciphered. The language appears to use short strings of symbols. For the past few years, researchers have attempted to decipher the language but the chances of Indus script being deciphered is very low. A big reason is that inscriptions of...	[ "The Phoenician text has long been known to be in a Semitic, more specifically Canaanite language (very closely related to Hebrew, and also relatively close to Aramaic and Ugaritic); hence there was no need for it to be \"deciphered.\" And while the inscription can certainly be read, certain passages are philologic...
why does japanese use 3 different alphabets/sillabaries?	In the beginning, what would later become "Japan" adopted Chinese characters for their writing. Note that they only adopted the script, the spoken language is still Japanese, they just hammered that into Chinese characters Later, during the middle Heian period (~1000 AD), a combination of a movement to detach from the...	[ "In modern Japanese, the hiragana and katakana syllabaries each contain 46 basic characters, or 71 including diacritics. With one or two minor exceptions, each different sound in the Japanese language (that is, each different syllable, strictly each mora) corresponds to one character in each syllabary. Unlike kanji...
When did the notion of American exceptionalism first take root?	An early advocacy of American exceptionalism came with the Puritan colonizers of Massachusetts. Here is some of the text of John Winthrop's sermon to the Puritan colonists while still on the ship "Arabella" as they were about to land in the New World. It is known as the "City on a Hill" sermon, referencing Jesus in M...	[ "The theory of the exceptionalism of the U.S. has developed over time and can be traced to many sources. French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville was the first writer to describe the country as \"exceptional\" in 1831 and 1840. The actual phrase \"American exceptionalism\" was originally coine...
How did the US Government get all of the Native Americans to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears? What happened to the people who refused to leave?	Basically the tribes were coerced by violence to relocate to Indian Territory. Some tribes were able to hide out and they later became their own tribes in their original homelands. Famous examples include the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, Seminole Tribe of Florida (who were never militarily defeated by the U...	[ "By the 1830s, the U.S. had drafted the Indian Removal Act, which was used to facilitate the Trail of Tears. Fearing retribution of other native peoples, Indian Agents all over the eastern U.S. began desperately trying to convince all their native peoples to uproot and move west. This included the Caddoans of Louis...
how film negatives work the difference between them and digital	Think of a film negative as a cardboard with a cutout of something on it. When you shine a flashlight through the cardboard, it will cast a shadow of whatever's in it. In an actual photo, you cast the "shadow" from the film negative on a paper that has light sensitive chemicals. The darkest part of the film negative ...	[ "Digital negatives offer many advantages, such as the ability to shoot with a digital camera and edit digitally while still working with alternative or traditional photographic processes. Small, analog negatives can be scanned and enlarged digitally to create new negatives instead of using the traditional enlarging...
Was 200,000 Jews really conscripted into the German Wehrmacht during WWII?	It did happen however the number is closer to 150,000. It should also be noted that they were not outright "Jews" but rather "Mischling" by German Law. Here it how it works. In Nazi Germany the Nuremberg Laws (1935) defined "Jew" as someone who, regardless of religious affiliation had 3 Jewish grandparents. You were a...	[ "OKW and OKH secret reports show that half-Jews could only serve in \"Ersatzreserve II\" or \"Landwehr II\", while quarter-Jews remained in the Wehrmacht and were eligible for promotion. Employment or promotion of quarter-Jews required Hitler's approval. Cambridge University researcher Bryan Rigg noted that there w...
is there any benefit to turning my phone off at night? does it need to "rest"?	No. Modern smartphones are designed to only need to be rebooted for major upgrades. Turning it off at other times makes absolutely no difference other than battery consumption when not plugged in.	[ "More recent research suggests that strobe lights are not effective at waking sleeping adults with hearing loss and suggest that a different alarm tone is much more effective. Individuals in the hearing loss community are seeking changes to improved awakening methods.\n", "The energy-saving sleep state powers off...
how do you make a car more "reliable"	In general reliable cars come from years of iterative design and improvement. For example, you might design a car that ends up having 10 common faults. You fix these faults in the next redesign of the car and release it to the market. Consumers then discover another 5 faults and you fix those for the next redesign and ...	[ "Reliability is a major contributor to brand or company image, and is considered a fundamental dimension of quality by most end-users. For example, recent market research shows that, especially for women, reliability has become an automobile's most desired attribute.\n", "The engine and the car levels determine h...
why does the body need to be trained for cardio? what does your body do when at first u can’t run 1 mile but after a while u can run 10?	None of the three answers yet actually address the question, IMHO. I’ll take a stab at it: Your body’s constantly trying balance a bunch of finite resources. If your heart doesn’t need to pump much blood all the time, the energy to maintain the heart muscle to do that would be better spent somewhere else. Cardio trai...	[ "Bradycardia is not necessarily problematic. People who regularly practice sports may have sinus bradycardia, because their trained hearts can pump enough blood in each contraction to allow a low resting heart rate. Sinus bradycardia can also be an adaptive advantage; for example, diving seals may have a heart rate...
If I blow my nose with a piece of toilet paper, would it be more environmentally friendly to put that paper in the toilet (to be flushed later) or in the garbage to be hauled away by a truck?	I have the same question regarding vegetable matter in the garbage disposal vs. garbage bin (ignoring composting).	[ "From an environmental standpoint, bidets can reduce the need for toilet paper. Considering that an average person uses only of water for cleansing once using a bidet, much less water is used than for making toilet paper. An article in \"Scientific American\" concluded that using a bidet is \"much less stressful on...
Slavery seems to have a very prominent role in the popular conception of the Roman Empire, then sort of seems to fade away and become relevant again during the 17th-19th centuries. To what extent and how was slavery practiced in Western Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman State?	Hello, [here](_URL_0_) is a post I wrote a little while ago about post-Roman slavery in the British Isles. I hope it's useful and I'm happy to answer further questions :)	[ "Slavery was common in Classical Greece and in the earlier Roman Empire. It was legal in the Byzantine Empire but became rare after the first half of 7th century. From 11th century, semi-feudal relations largely replaced slavery. Under the influence of Christianity, a shift in the view of slavery is noticed, which ...
what are the rules for fan made merchandise? if it is illegal like i think it is, how do companies like etsy and redbubble get away with it?	This would fall under copyright, and the gray area of copyright is confusing and hard to navigate. However, here is some basic information on this kind of scenario. Before going further: I'm not a lawyer, so please don't take my word as gospel. What this boils down to is that you're going to be at the mercy of the cop...	[ "Most fan labor products are derivative works, in that they are creative additions or modifications to an existing copyrighted work, or they are original creations which are inspired by a specific copyrighted work. Some or all of these works may fall into the legal category of transformative works (such as a parody...
I've read that nazis' hate for jews derived of the fact that they were a race without a nation, and as a result were considered "parasites"[sic] of other nations. Would nazis then have approved of the construction of a jewish state like Israel?	Not really, no. What is important to understand regarding the Nazi world view is that not only were Jews regarded as an existential thread due to their "international character" but also that Nazi policy did undergo an evolution during the Nazis' tenure in power. As for the first factor: Rather than thinking of the J...	[ "The mainstream Nazi anti-Semitism considered the Jewry being a group of people bound by close, so-called blood (genetic) ties, to form a unit, which one could not join or secede from. The influence of Jews was declared to have detrimental impact on Germany, to rectify their discriminations and persecutions. To be ...
why does chronic sleep deprivation cause erectile dysfunction?	Sleep deprivation is a huge stress for your body. Evolution has built us that way - if you are that much stressed, the last thing you need at that moment is having sex	[ "Sleep disturbance is not only associated with the onset of manic or hypomanic episodes but also displays a residual symptom of manic and depressive episodes. They are associated with residual depressive symptoms and perceived cognitive performance and can thereby negatively influence the functioning and recovery o...
why isn't worshipping jesus considered idol worship in the christian faith?	In catholicism jesus is part of the Holy trinity. Father, son and holy spirit...all 1 God, same person, just different forms. Weird, I admit, but that's my explanation.	[ "Christian deists consider themselves to be disciples, or students, of Jesus because Jesus taught the natural laws of God. But Christian deists believe that Jesus was only human. Jesus had to struggle with his own times of disappointment, sorrow, anger, prejudice, impatience, and despair, just as other human beings...
neurologically speaking, why do people learn in different ways (ie kinesthetic, visual, etc)?	Some scientists say the whole concept is bogus. NPR recently did a [story](_URL_0_) on this topic that you might like.	[ "All healthy, normally developing human beings learn to use language. Children acquire the language or languages used around them: whichever languages they receive sufficient exposure to during childhood. The development is essentially the same for children acquiring sign or oral languages. This learning process is...
What does it actually mean to “die peacefully” in your sleep? Is this even possible?	During REM sleep the body is paralyzed ti prevent movement during dream state. When you are having trouble breathing due ti oak if oxygen, the body can jerk you awake using a body reflex. If you combine poor breathing with rem state paralysis the body may not be able to rake you from your dream, thus passing whil...	[ "In this context, sleep may also be considered a metaphor for death, both as an eventual equalizer of all things, and for the allusion to a \"crossing over,\" as in a river, a prevalent theme in Western spiritual beliefs.\n", "\"Sleepless\" was written by Hannah Barker and Liam Jarvis, and was performed in Shored...
how are some cars so much more expensive than other cars. eg. 1,000,000$ car vs. 20,000$ car.	It's not just the style; it's the material they use, the speeds they can reach (for sports cars), the size of the vehicle, the rarity, etc. It's like saying why they can't just kill more snakes to make snake-skinned boots so they aren't $4,000 dollars. Snakes are rare and so is carbon fiber. Snake skinned boots are ha...	[ "The increasing popularity of these commercial vehicles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, pushed their average price to nearly double the average passenger car cost. In response, the 2002 Tax Act increased this \"Section 179 depreciation deduction\" to US$75,000, and it rose again to US$102,000 for the 20...
How do things like Bop It manage to generate pseudorandom numbers?	A very common way to generate random numbers in a small embedded device like that is to have a fairly fast free-running counter. When the device receives some input (like the player pressing the start button) the counter is read and that can provide a dozen or so bits of entropy, which is plenty to make a game like Bop...	[ "A pseudorandom number generator (PRNG), also known as a deterministic random bit generator (DRBG), is an algorithm for generating a sequence of numbers whose properties approximate the properties of sequences of random numbers. The PRNG-generated sequence is not truly random, because it is completely determined by...
how did the first land bound life forms know we needed water to survive?	How did you know to suck your mothers teat? How is it that all puppies, kittens and even little babies know to flee from pain? It's instinct. Evolution has brought us certain tendencies born right into us. If we never felt like drinking water when we needed it we'd die. If we couldn't distinguish salt water from fres...	[ "Major human settlements could initially develop only where fresh surface water was plentiful, such as near rivers or natural springs. Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting water into their communities and households and disposing (and later also treating) wastewater more conveniently.\n",...
is the ability to sing a natural or acquired talent?	Check out this interesting [story](_URL_0_) from Radiolab.	[ "Musical ability is inherent in almost all people, to a greater or lesser extent. However, those who develop it to a high level are generally encouraged to play an instrument or to sing at an early age. Late bloomers in music are generally composers or artists who became prominent later in life, but had displayed m...
Can anyone explain the Mouse Utopia experiments in a less tinfoil-hatty way?	To start out, [The Smithsonian](_URL_3_) has a simple but brief overview of the experiments. On the opposite extreme, [Population density, social pathology, and behavioral ecology](_URL_0_) by Jim Moore (unfortunately, behind a paywall) discusses Calhoun's and similar experiments in a fair amount of detail. In particul...	[ "Mouse Trap is a 1981 arcade maze game developed by Exidy. The game design is similar to \"Pac-Man\", replacing Pac-Man with a mouse, the dots with cheese, the ghosts with cats, and the power pills with bones. The unique element of \"Mouse Trap\" is that color-coded doors in the maze can be toggled by pressing a bu...
What makes an atomic bomb/explosion stop expanding? Why don't atoms continue to split more atoms etc?	The short answer is they blow up. Which is to say the stuff needed for the reaction is violently pushed apart. As a result there is only a very narrow time window for the reaction to occur. There are two types of nuclear weapons: - Fission (Uranium/Plutonium bombs) - Fusion (Hydrogen bombs) It is worth noting that...	[ "Ordinarily, atoms are mostly electron clouds by volume, with very compact nuclei at the center (proportionally, if atoms were the size of a football stadium, their nuclei would be the size of dust mites). When a stellar core collapses, the pressure causes electrons and protons to fuse by electron capture. Without ...
why was cloning such a big deal in the 90's but now is rarely spoken about?	There were a lot of breakthroughs in the '90s, and that made it new and exciting and a big deal. And naturally also very blown out of proportion. There are still advances being made, but nothing huge. Cloning would not make a species viable, either. You need genetic diversity, which is the exact opposite of cloni...	[ "President George W. Bush said that human cloning was \"deeply troubling\" to most Americans. Kansas Republican Sam Brownback said that Congress should ban all human cloning, while some Democrats were worried that Clonaid announcement would lead to the banning of therapeutic cloning. FDA biotechnology chief Dr. Phi...
Does the confirmation of the Higgs Boson have any implications for String Theory? Does it strengthen it, weaken it, or have no effect?	Little effect, there are some theories with large extra dimensions that would require no Higgs (they have their own mechanism producing the same end effect without adding a boson), so those theories are probably feeling it a bit, but otherwise it sheds little light on the landscape.	[ "An initial focus of research was to investigate the possible existence of the Higgs boson, a key part of the Standard Model of physics which is predicted by theory but had not yet been observed before due to its high mass and elusive nature. CERN scientists estimated that, if the Standard Model were correct, the L...
Why was Pilot Wave Theory / de Broglie-Bohm theory considered controversial and ultimately discarded by most physicists? What does it mean for a theory to be nonlocal? What paradoxes would be created by combining relativity and de Broglie-Bohm?	As a general rue any "interpretation" of quantum mechanics better be especially compelling in order to gain significant traction with physicists, because interpretations of quantum mechanics are a branch of philosophy, not science. One of the main reasons de Broglie-Bohm theory isn't especially compelling is its no...	[ "Pilot-wave theory is explicitly nonlocal, which is in ostensible conflict with special relativity. Various extensions of \"Bohm-like\" mechanics exist that attempt to resolve this problem. Bohm himself in 1953 presented an extension of the theory satisfying the Dirac equation for a single particle. However, this w...
How did the Bismarck compare technologically to the allied fleet?	It was essentially a 1915 design copy pasted to the 1930s. With a newer model of gun, and some new engines. What that meant was she was still hindered by the expectation of a short range brawl in the North Sea. Where stopping shells coming horizontally was the key. But even during WW1 increasing ranges meant that fire...	[ "Despite the fact that Raeder and other senior naval officers envisioned using \"Bismarck\" and \"Tirpitz\" as commerce raiders against first French and later British shipping in the Atlantic, and in fact used them in that role during World War II, the ships were not designed for that mission. Their steam turbines ...
What would happen if you swallowed gasoline? Say maybe 8 oz and no vomiting.	First off, it would be best to call poison control immediately and follow their instructions, but since that's not what you're asking, I'll give it a go: 8oz is not enough to kill (depending on the size of the person). If you ingest the gasoline, you will vomit as it is recognized as a poison by the body and will likel...	[ "Contrary to common misconception, swallowing gasoline does not generally require special emergency treatment, and inducing vomiting does not help, and can make it worse. According to poison specialist Brad Dahl, \"even two mouthfuls wouldn't be that dangerous as long as it goes down to your stomach and stays there...
why do i physically feel horrible immediately when seeing gory photos?	This is an evolutionary "trait" of sorts. Similar to how some people faint after seeing blood. My guess would be that humans subconsciously see blood and gore as 'something that's gone terribly wrong' and should be heeded as a warning. After all, if you saw someone suddenly shot and bleeding, wouldn't you be somewhat ...	[ "\"When I saw these pictures, it really freaked me out,\" said Jalil Hasan. His mother said: \"Right now I feel very violated ... When I'm looking at these pictures, and I'm looking at these snapshots, I'm feeling, 'Where did I send my child?'\"\n", "it's ... the spectacle of the thing, right? You really want to ...
Question about concave mirrors, projectors, and real images.	[This is in fact almost exactly how flight simulators work.](_URL_0_) The key to it is a collimating lens that means the user doesn't have to sit in a precise spot and the image truly feels 3 dimensional. Check out the linked wikipedia article for a good diagram (that, good for you, looks almost exactly like your diagr...	[ "Parabolic reflectors are popular for use in creating optical illusions. These consist of two opposing parabolic mirrors, with an opening in the center of the top mirror. When an object is placed on the bottom mirror, the mirrors create a real image, which is a virtually identical copy of the original that appears ...
I'm a king in an average sized European castle in the Middle Ages. How do I get candles? Surely my candle use would be enormous. Do I have a guy whose sole job is candle maker, or do I have to import them from somewhere else?	I completely love this question. The courts of the late Middle Ages used an absolutely mind-blowing amount of lighting--individual tapers, full candelabras and chandeliers, larger torches when brighter light was culturally significant. (For example, on either side of the altar at Mass, or using twice as many to ligh...	[ "During the Middle Ages, tallow candles were most commonly used. By the 13th century, candle making had become a guild craft in England and France. The candle makers (chandlers) went from house to house making candles from the kitchen fats saved for that purpose, or made and sold their own candles from small candle...
How do scientist know (what evidence is there) to show the decay rates of isotopes, such as carbon 14?	Radioactive decay is probabilisitc. What that means is that, in a given time period there is a 50% chance a particular nucleus will undergo spontaneous decay. So if you take a large number of them, half of them will have decayed in that time frame. That is why it's called a half life. If you wait a further half life, h...	[ "By measuring the amount of radioactive decay of a radioactive isotope with a known half-life, geologists can establish the absolute age of the parent material. A number of radioactive isotopes are used for this purpose, and depending on the rate of decay, are used for dating different geological periods. More slow...
what is frequency modulation and how are it's uses different from amplitude modulation?	FM would be like sending a signal by changing the color of the light or pitch of the sound, while AM is like changing the brightness of the light or the loudness of the sound.	[ "Frequency modulation and phase modulation are the two complementary principal methods of angle modulation; phase modulation is often used as an intermediate step to achieve frequency modulation. These methods contrast with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier wave varies, while the frequency...
When did China start having conceptions of race? What is the history of race in China?	This doesn't answer your historical question, but it might be worth clearing up what people mean today by saying that race is a social construct. There are different ethnicities in the world, but our decision to group different ethnicities together into large umbrellas of "race" is the social construct that most peopl...	[ "Historian Frank Dikötter (1990:420) says the Chinese \"idea of 'race' (\"zhong\" [種], \"seed\", \"species\", \"race\") started to dominate the intellectual scene\" in the late 19th-century Qing dynasty and completed the \"transition from cultural exclusiveness to racial exclusiveness in modern China\" in the 1920s...
What period in human history have literacy rates been the highest as a percentage of the worlds population?	It may safely be assumed that today's literacy rates are unprecedented: Unesco reports that "Since 1950, the adult literacy rate at the world level has increased by 5 percentage points every decade on average, from 55.7% in 1950 to 86.2% in 2015" (Reading the past, writing the future, Paris 2016) - and most of the 19...	[ "Literacy data published by UNESCO displays that since 1950, the adult literacy rate at the world level has increased by 5 percentage points every decade on average, from 55.7 per cent in 1950 to 86.2 per cent in 2015. However, for four decades, the population growth was so rapid that the number of illiterate adult...
what are mac adresses for computers and how are they different from ip adresses?	MAC adresses are hard-coded into physical hardware devices (and cannot be changed) - sort of like the street address for your house. IP address are set in software and can be moved/changed - sort of like your phone number. When you call 911, the operator can tell what your address is because your physical address has ...	[ "Apple Developer, formerly Apple Developer Connection or ADC, is Apple Inc.'s developer network. It is designed to make available resources to help software developers write software for the macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iOS platforms. Those applications are created in Xcode or other programs that are not created by Ap...
A simple F=MA problem that frustrates my brain.	If your car is coasting along (ie engine not actively powering wheels) and you include friction, then your car will be slowing down gradually. Friction between the wheels and the ground (rolling friction) would manifest as a force in the direction opposite of the car's movement, resulting in a small acceleration in th...	[ "Practitioners and researchers have suggested many ways of solving the A*P = F equation. It transpires that the most natural method – that of minimizing formula_9 by least squares regression – leads to unsatisfactory results. The large number of zeroes in the matrix \"A\" mean that function \"P\" turns out to be \"...
What is the probable true extent of Koko the gorilla's intelligence? (Additional question for anyone fluent in ASL)	Intelligence and the ability to communicate are not really the same thing. If by intelligence you mean the ability to communicate higher order cognitive functions such as emotions, deception etc I think you're not going to find an answer. People associate intelligence with language, but who says they must both exist in...	[ "Although many people who encounter Ahn-Kha dismiss his intelligence due to his resemblance to the Gray Ones, his own species of Grog is generally as intelligent (if not more so) than humans. Ahn-Kha is a great source of wisdom, something Valentine relies on almost as much as he relies on Ahn-Kha's strength.\n", ...
why do professional singers, such as elvis presley and andrea bocelli, have a vibrato on every note? is it learned/does it make singing easier in some way?	Vibrato might make the sound a little more pleasant, and it also covers up tiny imperfections or discrepancies in pitch.	[ "Prior to the advent of the charismatic Rubini, every well-schooled opera singer had avoided using a conspicuous and continuous vibrato because, according to Scott, it varied the pitch of the note being sung to an unacceptable degree and it was considered to be an artificial contrivance arising from inadequate brea...
Is there more evidence of observable black holes now?	Yes, one of the most striking examples is that the stars right at the centre of the galaxy are all [orbiting something massive and invisible](_URL_0_) over like a 20 year period. And just this year, LIGO detected gravitational radiation from two colliding black holes.	[ "Such research has attracted much media attention, as black holes have long captured the imagination of both scientists and the public for both their innate simplicity and mysteriousness. The recent theoretical results have therefore undergone much scrutiny and most of them are now ruled out by theoretical studies....
How much of a concrete operations plan was "the Schlieffen Plan"?	I'm not an expert, I only know what I had to do on a bit of work over a year ago, but I remember getting a good mark on it: Well the Schlieffen Plan relied on 5 huge assumptions in order to be successful: Invading Belgium would cause no issue with the UK, or France. Belgium would not resist, or be unable to delay,...	[ "The Morgenthau Plan ( ) by the Allied occupation of Germany following World War II was a proposal to eliminate Germany's ability to wage war by eliminating its arms industry, and the removal or destruction of other key industries basic to military strength. This included the removal or destruction of all industria...
complete quantum teleportation of photonic quantum bits	A bit is the basic unit of information. It's a logical question with either a yes or a no answer. Quantum teleportation of information has to do with a phenomenon known as "Quantum Entanglement" which means that particles are connected sort of like twins are connected in horror films. What one particle knows, the othe...	[ "Quantum teleportation provides a mechanism of moving a qubit from one location to another, without having to physically transport the underlying particle to which that qubit is normally attached. Much like the invention of the telegraph allowed classical bits to be transported at high speed across continents, quan...
What about deep breathing makes us lightheaded?	Hyperventilation removes more CO2 from the blood than is being released into the blood via cell respiration. This increases the pH of the blood, a condition called alkalosis, which in turn causes blood vessels to constrict, reducing blood flow. Alkalosis also reduces the amount of freely ionized calcium in the blood, w...	[ "Overly shallow breathing, also known medically as hypopnea, may result in hypoventilation, which could cause a build up of carbon dioxide in an individual's body, a symptom known as hypercapnia. It's a condition related to neuro-muscular disorders (NMDs) that include Lou Gehrig's Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Polio...
would the mass of a helium balloon be positive or negative and is there such a negative mass	The mass of a helium balloon is positive. The weight is negative. There might be such a thing as negative mass, but we haven't encountered such a thing yet.	[ "Negative mass is any region of space in which for some observers the mass density is measured to be negative. This could occur due to a region of space in which the stress component of the Einstein stress–energy tensor is larger in magnitude than the mass density. All of these are violations of one or another vari...
why does the grocery store carry fully cooked frozen chicken and turkey, but not beef?	Not certain but perhaps its because there's a lot of different degrees at which different people like their meet cooked.	[ "Intensive farming of turkeys from the late 1940s dramatically cut the price, making it more affordable for the working classes. With the availability of refrigeration, whole turkeys could be shipped frozen to distant markets. Later advances in disease control increased production even more. Advances in shipping, c...
why can't we just transfer antibodies from immune people to sick people to cure them easily?	Give a man antibodies and he's immune for however long they last. Teach a man's B-cells to make antibodies and they are immune for life (unless they stop making them in immune-compromised situations). Antibodies are single use. They bind to something determined bad to mark it disposal and are removed with the bad thin...	[ "Different antigens are able to escape through a variety of mechanisms. For example, the African trypanosome parasites are able to clear the host's antibodies, as well as resist lysis and inhibit parts of the innate immune response. Another bacteria, \"Bordetella pertussis\", is able to escape the immune response b...
how does dental uv lights work on fillings? what makes it cures so fast?	Actually it is intense blue visible light, not UV light that they use for curing. As for how it works: The material that is used for fillings is a resin based composite that is specially designed for that exact purpose. Resin is a polymer that looks similar in color to teeth and has physical properties that are desir...	[ "Some task lights also come with built in magnifying glasses for detailed tasks. It is hard to overstate the benefits of having focused light alongside magnification for small, precise operations such as model building, sewing, or other high-detail activities. Dentists often use a task light with magnification to p...
how redbull can afford to sponsor so many different (and expensive) sports, yet their product is only a drink?	Food technology business guy here. Keep in mind that the operating and manufacturing costs for soft drinks are ridiculously low. Food technology is pretty much just a basic set of chemicals that are essentially commodities (i.e., all products are nearly identical, so they all have an insanely low price). Because of...	[ "Consisting of a variety of different flavors such as fruit punch, green apple, and lemonade, the company also offers other flavors made for sponsorships with YouTubers, Twitch.tv streamers, and Esports gamers.\n", "The sponsorship of sporting events and sportspeople is banned in many countries. For example, the ...
Global Warming: Truth	This question has been discussed on /r/askscience several times before. The most recent article I remember is: [How solid is the scientific backing for anthropogenic global warming?](_URL_1_) The top comment from that thread [can be found here](_URL_1_c1tfsky). Other recent discussions: * [I'm skeptical of Human C...	[ "After reading a 2007 speech by US Senator James Inhofe, who maintains that global warming is a hoax, John Cook created Skeptical Science as an internet resource to counter common arguments by climate change deniers. The site hosts various articles addressing the merit of common criticisms of the scientific consens...
What did people in your focus culture make of dreams?	This is a topic of particular interest to me! I do Viking-age Scandinavia, and dreams were a big deal to this particular culture, if the sagas are anything to go by. I wrote a paper on this subject, the general conclusion of which was that dreams represent a kind of liminal meeting-place between the human and supernatu...	[ "Many different researchers have tried to understand the purpose behind dreaming and state their most apprehensive work behind understanding early childhood dreams. Sigmund Freud (1900/1965) claimed that dreams from childhood were illustrations of wish-fulfillment dreams that begin in naivety during childhood and e...
what constitutes a roman numeral in a chemical formula?	You have to look at the oxidation state of the metal in the compound (a number like +1, +2, etc.). If it's always a certain value, like sodium for example, then you don't need a Roman numeral. Otherwise, the numeral just corresponds to the oxidation number, so in your example manganese would have an oxidation number of...	[ "Roman numerals are essentially a decimal or \"base 10\" number system. Powers of ten – thousands, hundreds, tens and units – are written separately, from left to right, in that order. Different symbols are used for each power of ten, but a common pattern is used for each of them.\n", "Though the Romans used a de...
how does medicine like asprin work?	Aspirin reduces pain and inflammation because it blocks the activity of a protein (called cyclooxegenase, or COX) which helps produce molecules that promote inflammation (called prostaglandins). It helps thin blood in the prevention of strokes and heart attacks because blocking COX also prevents the production of a m...	[ "Atropine is a medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically given intravenously or by injection into a muscle. Eye drops are also available which are used to treat uveitis and...
Is it true that the Soviet Union gave food aid to Americans during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl?	I'm searching around, and I can't find any sources that make the claim that the Soviet Union provided food aid to Americans either in the Dust Bowl, or the Great Depression more generally. I would actually be curious where and who is making this claim. I can provide a little context for where Soviet - US relations ...	[ "After the war, the American Relief Administration, directed by Herbert Hoover who had also been prominent in the CRB, continued food distribution to war-devastated European countries. It also distributed food and combated typhus in Russia during 1921-23. The U.S. Congress appropriated $20 million for the ARA under...
how is food waste bad for the economy?	Consider that you also created an artificial scarcity of $40 worth of food that could have gone to something else. This is similar to what happened in the short run with cash for clunkers. Yes, there were some new cars made and purchased but the dip in supply of used ones rekt the prices in the used car market. "Mr. ...	[ "One way of dealing with food waste is to reduce its creation. Consumers can reduce spoilage by planning their food shopping, avoiding potentially wasteful spontaneous purchases, and storing foods properly (and also preventing a too large buildup of perishable stock). Widespread educational campaigns have been show...
What would happen if the Earth were to pass through the particle beam of a black hole or quasar?	If the Earth went through an AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus) jet, all life would be obliterated. The atmosphere would be stripped away in very short order by the bombardment of highly relativistic particles; the Earth's magnetic field (which is far, far weaker than the magnetic fields present in AGN jets) would not be ab...	[ "BULLET::::- It has been suggested that a small black hole passing through the Earth would produce a detectable acoustic signal. Because of its tiny diameter, large mass compared to a nucleon, and relatively high speed, such primordial black holes would simply transit Earth virtually unimpeded with only a few impac...
how do companies like kfc, mcdonalds or even coca cola protect their recipes? wont modern science be able to breakdown whats exactly in the food they serve?	Yes you can break down the exact components of something like Coke and see what is in there. It won't help. I could tell you a house is made of several hundred boards, a few thousand nails, hundreds of pounds of gypsum, various types of metals (copper, iron), some plastic, and some other stuff. Does that help you *b...	[ "The CFS has also been an advocate for GE food labeling at both the state and federal level, pushing for new legislation and generating public support across the country for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action.\n", "Opponents claimed Prop 37 backers real intent was to ban GMOs via ...
Is Gavrilo Princip a "Yugoslav nationalist" or a "Serbian nationalist"?	I think it really depends on how you conceptualize the Serbian nationalist movement in the early 20th century. "Yugoslav" means "south Slav" and a Yugoslav nationalist would be someone who supported the unification of southern Slavs - Serbians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Bosnians, etc - into one state. This is the geopolit...	[ "In socialist Yugoslavia, Gavrilo Princip was venerated as a national hero and a freedom fighter who fought to liberate all the peoples of Yugoslavia from Austrian rule; however in the modern day, many Croats and Bosniaks have now expressed viewpoints characterizing Princip as a murderer. Asim Sarajlic, a senior MP...
what is the difference between credit cards systems in u.s.a and europe?	People use mostly same cards (Visa, Mastercard) some are unheard of (Diners) Differences: In EU, People favor using Debit cards instead of Credit cards. There is no "credit score" in EU, so people have little motivation to use credit card just to improve credit score. In USA when you pay in restaurant, they take yo...	[ "Within the United States, credit card transactions are controlled by four main financial institutions: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, making it an oligopoly. Credit cards work as a two-sided market, with the institutions providing benefits to consumers (by allowing them to access lines of credit...
what happens short-term and long-term when a person defaults on their student loans?	The usual suspects. Credit score tanks. Collections calls start flowing in. Stuff gets repo'd or your wages get garnished until the debt is repaid. Of course it might vary by state and by whatever agency granted the loan (federal vs state vs whatever), but the basic pattern of "this person owes us money" doesn't chang...	[ "There are other negative consequences resulting from a defaulted loan. A student who wishes to return to school cannot qualify for federal aid in the United States until satisfactory payment arrangements are made on the defaulted loan or the loan is rehabilitated, a process that can take as long as a full year of ...
When the Roman Empire began to collapse, the Saxons invaded England. Were they united in doing so, or was it one tribe that invaded, or many? What happened to those that stayed behind in Germany?	Invasion is a loaded word that really does a poor job of describing the Saxon's role in England. Many, many individual tribes traveled across to England and began settling the eastern coast. While there was some conflict between the native Britains and the Saxons it was largely a peaceful transition. There was really...	[ "As the Roman Empire declined, its hold on Britain loosened. By AD 410, Roman forces had been withdrawn, and small, isolated bands of migrating Germans began to invade Britain. There seems to have been no large \"invasion\" with a combined army or fleet, but the tribes, notably the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, quickl...
why we can secure banking/investment accts online but we can't secure voting	The requirements are different. Most importantly, banking information needs to be tied to the person making the transaction. If any inconsistencies come up they need to be able to make sure they have enough identification information to trace the transactions back to the person who made them. This is exactly the opp...	[ "A problem of privacy arises with moves to improve efficiency of voting by the introduction of postal voting and electronic voting. Some countries permit proxy voting, which some argue is inconsistent with voting privacy.\n", "Unlike large scale data centers and company brand image, people may be less likely to t...
religion. honestly i don't understand it.	People want answers. But what are the questions? Things like these: What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Who made us? Who made the universe? Do I go somewhere when I die? What is good? What is evil? Religion answers all (or at least one) of these questions and more while giving peoples' lives a purpo...	[ "A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God or gods, or ultimate truth.\n", "Religion is a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and...
what is the purpose of those robocalls where no one is on the other end	> But what value could a call be that gets no information other than you picked up so it’s a live number? That information is useful to reduce the calling list to numbers that at least work. Robo-calling outfits operate by having a call center full of workers ready to pick up and start the scam. The system automati...	[ "Robux is the virtual currency in \"Roblox\" that allows players to buy various items. Players can obtain Robux through real life purchases, another player buying their items, or from earning daily Robux with a membership.\n", "Unlike other \"Custom Robo\" titles, once shot out of the Robocannon, players have a r...
cold hot water?¿	I remember one of my middle school science teachers explaining something like this. If I remember correctly, the body's nerves have a hard time telling the difference between extreme hot and extreme cold temperatures. So, the receptors can mix them up. When putting your hand in freezing water, it can feel like it burns...	[ "Hot water can cause painful, dangerous scalding injuries, especially in children and the elderly. Water at the outlet should not exceed 49 degrees Celsius. Some jurisdictions set a limit of 49 degrees on tank setpoint temperature. On the other hand, water stored below 60 degrees Celsius can permit the growth of ba...
how do babies/toddlers run on their knees like it's no problem but adults can't?	I think it has to do with the fact that the bones of a baby don't really solidify into hard bones until they are older. So going on their knees isn't too bad. Also as a baby the have at what 15lbs of weight on their knees and are usually somewhat chubby (thinks more padding) Adults are a lot heavier with more wear and ...	[ "In infants, some babies may be hypotonia, a loose and floppy baby, or hypertonia, a stiff and rigid baby. Toddlers may have trouble feeding themselves or may stand, sit or walk later than what is developmentally normal. Other signs of motor skills disorders may be children that are clumsy or have excessive acciden...
The Cold War was a time of incredible technological achievement. How did that directly impact ideas of national defense for both NATO and the Warsaw Pact?	I've forwarded your question to a colleague who is a specialist in this area. I too am very interested to know more.	[ "During the 1970s there was growing concern that the combined conventional forces of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact could overwhelm the forces of NATO. It seemed unthinkable to respond to a Soviet/Warsaw Pact incursion into Western Europe with strategic nuclear weapons, inviting a catastrophic exchange. Thus,...
Sailing Speeds	This is an area of interest to me, but finding actual speeds is like digging a ditch with a teaspoon. You find a bit here, a bit there, and once in a great while, how many days it took to press on from one port to another. Due to the recreated ships, you can find out more hard data about Classical galleys in the Medite...	[ "The outright sailing speed record has since been claimed by the French trimaran Hydroptère which, on 4 September 2009, reached a speed of 51.36 knots over 500 meters and 50.17 over a nautical mile in open ocean and only 25 to 30 knots of wind.\n", "Speed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible ...
I have read that Crete produced some of the best quality archers in the ancient Mediterranean, what was it that set them apart from other archers of the time?	Mostly the fact that they were Cretan. I've written about Cretan archers at length recently - see [here](_URL_0_). While Cretans were known to specialise in ranged combat due to the rugged nature of their homeland, their reputation as mercenary archers was largely self-sustaining. Cretans offered their services as merc...	[ "Philip II was also able to field archers, including mercenary Cretan archers and perhaps some native Macedonians. In most Greek states, archery was not greatly esteemed, nor practised by native soldiery, and foreign archers were often employed, such as the Scythians prominent in Athenian employ. However, Crete was...
(xpost /r/askhistory) When the first recordings of someones voice were made, did people think it was flawed without knowing you sound different in your head then to other people?	Guys, we get it. They could have asked someone else. If you have something to say based on historical records about people's reactions to hearing their voices recorded, please feel free to give OP an answer. If you don't, please refrain from commenting because your comment will probably end up deleted anyway.	[ "Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist who had taught at the Uppsala University, Sweden and who had worked in conjunction with Jürgenson, made over 100,000 recordings which he described as being communications with people. Some of these recordings were conducted in an RF-screened laboratory and contained words...
what exactly causes the putrid smell that is released when a dead animal is in the process of decaying?	Various complex molecules in our body break down into computers with apt names like putricine and cadaverine. Since decaying bodies are often unsafe to be around, we have evolved to be particularly sensitive to those odors.	[ "Decomposition begins at the moment of death, caused by two factors: 1.) autolysis, the breaking down of tissues by the body's own internal chemicals and enzymes, and 2.) putrefaction, the breakdown of tissues by bacteria. These processes release compounds such as cadaverine and putrescine, that are the chief sourc...
How do scientists calculate the location of a comet and its trajectory (projected orbital path) and then articulate it for others to confirm the data?	You would want to report: 1. the comet's position on the sky (usually in J2000 RA,dec; J2000 is the epoch, which sets where the axes of the coordinate system are) 2. at each time you saw the comet 3. precisely where you were located at those times 4. optionally, the brightness ([magnitude](_URL_2_)) of the comet You ...	[ "The orbiter will send a signal which will be picked up by the lander. As the orbiter moves along its orbit, the path between it and the lander will vary and so pass through differing parts of the comet. In addition, the rotation of the comet nucleus will also change the relative position of the lander and the orbi...
why is it supposedly rude to point?	Pointing makes people uncomfortable or even feel threatened. If a stranger points at you on the street (assuming you're not a celebrity), it never means something good. They could be signaling an attack, mocking you, etc. Whatever the reason, it's bad. Thus, it's rude to point.	[ "In much of the world, pointing with the index finger is considered rude or disrespectful, especially pointing to a person. Pointing with the left hand is taboo in some cultures. Pointing with an open hand is considered more polite or respectful in some contexts. In Nicaragua, pointing is frequently done with the l...
My mom says to gargle salt water when I have a cold. Is she right?	The [Mayo Clinic](_URL_1_) recommends salt water to relieve a sore or itchy throat. [This New York Times article](_URL_2_) cites [this study](_URL_0_) that showed a decrease in upper respiratory tract infections among people who gargled with salt water several times a day during cold and flu season. My personal experi...	[ "Salt poisoning is an intoxication resulting from the excessive intake of sodium (usually as sodium chloride) in either solid form or in solution (saline water, including brine, brackish water, or seawater). \n", "An Anacin advertisement in 1962 featured a mother trying to assist her grown daughter with various c...
Are there any rich or powerful families who can trace the origins of their wealth/power back to Roman times?	Although the declining Roman empire left lots of room for non-patricians to make a name for themselves (especially in the army, more on that [here, aren't self-plugs fun!](_URL_0_)) many old Roman families were alive and well (albeit often refreshed with new blood. As stated in the link above, the last emperor, Romulus...	[ "Wealthy families of the Roman nobility followed Constantine's example. Their memory frequently survived, after the families themselves became extinct, in the names of the properties they once presented to the Roman See. During his reign, Pope Sylvester became the owner of properties in Italy, Sicily, Antiochia, As...
why does finding a smaller hubble constant imply that the universe is older than we thought?	Imagine the universe as a balloon. And we hook up the balloon to a helium tank that is slowly filling up the balloon. If you measure the size of the balloon, as well as the rate in which the balloon is being filled up at (the Hubble constant), you can make a good estimate as to how long the balloon has been expanding...	[ "Hubble's skepticism about the universe being too small, dense, and young turned out to be based on an observational error. Later investigations appeared to show that Hubble had confused distant H II regions for Cepheid variables and the Cepheid variables themselves had been inappropriately lumped together with low...
If there were two moons, would nights be noticeably brighter?	It depends on the position of them. If both are positioned in a close proximity they will reflect more sunlight combined hence making the night brighter. But, if they are opposite to each other you could see only one moon at a time. But tides will be crazy.	[ "As with Uranus, the low light levels cause the major moons to appear very dim. The brightness of Triton at full phase is only −7.11, despite the fact that Triton is more than four times as intrinsically bright as Earth's moon and orbits much closer to Neptune.\n", "However, the low light levels at such a great d...
Can modern Turks trace their origins to ancient Anatolian peoples like the Hittites and the Trojans?	Probably not. Turks, as an ethnic identifier, are connected to central Asia (e.g., Turkmenstan) and were part of the [expansion of peoples prior to the Mongol invasions](_URL_0_). Those in Ionia might have some extra-Turkic connections that can be traced, but further inland, it becomes murkier owing to displacement, ...	[ "Although the Hittites are first attested in the 2nd millennium BCE, the Anatolian branch seems to have separated at a very early stage from Proto-Indo-European, or may have developed from an older Pre-Proto-Indo-European ancestor. If it separated from Proto-Indo-European, it likely did so between 4500–3500 BCE.\n"...
How is a historiography written?	> what exactly is a historiography Historiography is the history of history. So what you're doing, in essence, is talking about how historians talk about history. (Sometimes I've found that undergraduates decide that "historiography" is just a more fancy-sounding work for history. It isn't, and misusing it doesn't m...	[ "Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and theoretic...
why is there a threat of gun violence / mass shootings at joker screenings??	The Colorado shootings during the first screenings of the dark knight rises. The guy who did it "idolized" the joker.	[ "The Joker makes another television appearance with a similar threat. This time, he plans to kill Judge Thomas Lake and Bruce Wayne. Police officers are at both men's houses; however, Gordon is at Lake's. Bruce starts laughing and turns white, but his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, administers a shot to slow his heart ...
Could gravity in space bend the light coming from stars so much that where a star appears to be isn't actually where it is?	This is exactly the effect that was measured by Eddington and Davidson back in 1919 that make Einstein world famous. During a solar eclipse, when the Sun is dimmed, you can see the starlight near it. If you record the positions of those stars and compare them to their locations when the Sun isn't in the way, there is a...	[ "When the stars reach the point of their closest encounter, the mutual gravitational pull between the two stars will cause them to become slightly ellipsoidal in shape, which is the reason for their light being so variable.\n", "The gravitational weakening of light from high-gravity stars was predicted by John Mi...
how do computer viruses work? why can't whatever bug they exploit simply be fixed?	The bug they exploits can be fixed. But software has become so complex that there will be more. It is a race between those finding bugs to exploit, and those finding bugs to fix. There is also a major fault that we can't fix. That is the actions and understanding of the user. We can make our software really good, bu...	[ "As software is often designed with security features to prevent unauthorized use of system resources, many viruses must exploit and manipulate security bugs, which are security defects in a system or application software, to spread themselves and infect other computers. Software development strategies that produce...
Why has no country ever tried to emulate the succes of the roman republic, and why did it take european countries so long to get rid of their kings when all it took the romans was one bad king?	Though not an exact emulation, both the French and American revolutions were directly influenced by the Roman Republic and the ideals of Libertas achieved by the early Romans, as Sellers writes (reference at the bottom): “A new "Senate" would meet on the "Capitol" hill, overlooking the "Tiber" river (formerly "Goose ...	[ "The constitutional consequences of this event were, formally at least, to reverberate for more than two thousand years. Rome would never again have a hereditary \"king,\" even if later emperors were absolute rulers in all but name. This constitutional tradition prevented both Julius Caesar and Octavian Augustus fr...
Do tall people have more nerves, and therefore feel more pain?	No, we all have roughly the same layout. I say roughly because that really only applies to the major nerves and branching elements, with the rest a bit more (not random, but) on-the-fly. Broadly speaking though, being taller isn't going to mean that you have more nerves, although you will have more total "mileage" of n...	[ "Conduction velocities in both the Median sensory and Ulnar sensory nerves are negatively related to an individual's height, which likely accounts for the fact that, among most of the adult population, conduction velocities between the wrist and digits of an individual's hand decrease by 0.5 m/s for each inch incre...
what is the procedure for when a demolition fails?	Controlled implosions aren't just about bringing a building down...its about bringing it down so the debris goes where you want it to. The actual amount of explosive force needed to bring a structure down is actually low (because of gravity) So if there is a screw up in the implosion process, the building is still com...	[ "Demolition, or razing, is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other man-made structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes.\n", "The demolition of a house...
will the city of detroit ever get better? when will it be on par with other cities of similar size? (ex.- charlotte, boston, denver, seattle)	There's no definite answer to that question. It really all depends on whether the city's economy improves, and that depends on the city being able to attract businesses.	[ "Detroit has a variety of neighborhood types. The revitalized Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas feature many historic buildings and are high density, while further out, particularly in the northeast and on the fringes, high vacancy levels are problematic, for which a number of solutions have been proposed. In...
How does a strong magnet fall in a copper tube?	> At first I assumed the magnet would no longer move but if that where the case there would no longer a velocity, resulting in the retarding force becoming zero. It seems the magnet would neither fall or not fall. Roughly speaking, ∞ × 0 != 0. It can equal any number including 0 or infinity itself, it depends on th...	[ "Currents bound inside the atoms of strong magnets can create counter-rotating currents in a copper or aluminum pipe. This is shown by dropping the magnet through the pipe. The descent of the magnet inside the pipe is observably slower than when dropped outside the pipe.\n", "Most often, magnet wire is composed o...
how do languages with a different number of characters share the same computer keyboards?	They don't. A lot of languages use their own keyboards. German keyboards for example are layed out qwertz instead of qwerty and include the letter ö, ü, and ä. France uses an azerty layout with their special characters (various accents). However, because most languages use the Latin alphabet, it's possible to write o...	[ "The U.S. IBM PC keyboard has 104 keys, while the PC keyboards for most other countries have 105 keys. In an operating system configured for a non-English language, the keys are placed differently. For example, keyboards designed for typing in Spanish have some characters shifted, to release space for Ñ/ñ; similarl...
if i had a room covered completely in mirrors, and turned on a flashlight, what would happen?	Michael Stevens does a great video about spherical mirrors in this video _URL_0_ He talks about turning a light on and then turning it off, hoping to keep the beam reflecting, but light gets absorbed by the mirror so nothing would really happen.	[ "BULLET::::- An intruder detection or access control system could be used in conjunction with light level sensors to turn lights on and off. So when you walk into a dark room the lights turn on (if you are allowed to be there) and when you leave they turn off behind you, thus making energy savings by preventing lig...
how on earth does a snake move at all?	[This Gaboon Viper movement is really cool](_URL_1_) This movement is called Rectilinear movement and the snake just moves their belly scales forward a small amount alternating sides. [There are 4 other types of snake movement](_URL_0_). Each one allows the species of snake to play to the strengths of its body characte...	[ "Most snakes move using lateral undulation where a lateral wave travels down the snake's body in the opposite direction to the snake's motion and pushes the snake off irregularities in the ground. This mode of locomotion requires these irregularities to function. Another form of locomotion, rectilinear locomotion, ...
What is the earliest date I, an English speaking American, could effectively communicate with other earlier English speakers?	hi! fyi, you'll find a few previous posts in this FAQ section * [How far back could I go and still communicate?](_URL_0_) As you'll see in those threads, the differences between Old English and modern American (and every other variety of) English is extreme. But on the off-chance that your last question is asking abo...	[ "Since Native Americans and First Nations peoples speaking a language of the Algonquian group were generally the first to meet English explorers and settlers along the Eastern Seaboard, many words from these languages made their way into English.\n", "Native Americans in the United States have developed several o...
Can/will Psychology ever be considered a physical science?	Psychology is never going to be a physical science. Wikipedia's definition of physical science being; > Physical Science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences. So, no. Let me go into a bit more detail. Psychology is ac...	[ "Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a \"physical science\", together called the \"physical sciences\".\n", "History of physical science – history of the branch of natural science that studi...
what does "the u.s. has officially quit the un human rights council." mean?	We didn't do much on it, and Trump isn't the biggest supporter of the U.N., so it was only a matter of time. The human rights council, last I heard, is actually headed by Saudi Arabia, a country that stones unfaithful women and throws gays off tips of towers, so I don't think they're the best example of human rights an...	[ "On June 19, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced that the United States, under President Donald Trump, was pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing the council being \"hypocritical and self-serving\" and, in the past, Hale...
why does the circle on the isis flag look poorly drawn?	idk about the circle, could be stylistic choices or that it's easy to reproduce but the writing is the [shahada](_URL_0_), with the top line saying "there is no god but god" and the words inside the circle being, from top to bottom, "god messenger muhammad" but if you read it from bottom to top it w/ some arabic gramma...	[ "According to Ludvík Mucha, author of \"Webster's Concise Encyclopedia of Flags & Coats of Arms\", the white disk located in the center of the flag represents the sun. The red crescent and the five-pointed star, two ancient symbols of Islam, were most notably used on Ottoman flag and have since appeared on many fla...
Would two people pointing guns at each other have enough time to react to the first gunshot?	Let's take [600 feet per second](_URL_0_) as the speed of the bullet (this would be a pretty slow bullet). At 10 feet, the bullet would take ~0.02 seconds to get to the target. Average human reaction time is in the order of [0.2 seconds](_URL_1_). So to have any chance of reacting in time, you need a bullet traveling a...	[ "Neddie is doubtful. He says \"How can someone shoot themselves by pointing their finger at their head like this and going...\" At that point there is the sound of a gunshot, followed by Neddie's body falling to the ground.\n", "For a pistol duel, the two would typically start at a pre-agreed length of ground, wh...
Is radiation given out from everyday objects harmful towards us?	Radio frequency (RF) radiation isn't harmful in the levels produced by household electronics. "Radiation" is a broad category; there's a lot of confusion about what it means. There are various types of radiation, primarily including: * Beta radiation-- this is electrons that are emitted by the nuclear decay of certa...	[ "This article deals with radiation damage due to the effects of ionizing radiation on physical objects. Radiobiology is the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living things, including health effects of radiation in humans. \n", "Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by ...
why is folk music called “folk”?	What's so hard to understand? It's the music of ordinary folk, originating in the days before the term "pop(ular) music" was made up, before electrification, and was passed down by word of mouth (song) from one genreation to another - oftan a way of preserving stories - folk tales.	[ "According to its encyclopedic definition, the term folk music (that derives from the German word \"folk\" or people in English) serves to designate the music spontaneously created and preserved by the people of a country, in contrast with the terms commercial and classical music, which are related to works generat...
how do earthquakes effect the rotation of the earth? wouldn't that be an object acting upon itself, like using a fan to power the sails on a sailboat	Rotation can be affected by the rearrangement of mass. Much like if you're spinning, pulling in your arms so more mass is towards the axis of rotation will make you spin faster and throwing your arms out will make you spin slower.	[ "Some movements are aperiodic, others regular, as the Earth tides caused by the lunar and solar gravitational field. The pendulums measure a distance of 95 m between the upper and lower mountings, which contributes to the fact that the instruments detect tectonic movements with high precision and are relatively imm...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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