question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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why doesn't the brain adjust to a shaky video like it adjusts when our heads are tilted/rotated/shaken? | We call this stabilization the "vestibulo-ocular reflex." It's controlled by a very specific circuit in the brain.
There's something we call "multi-modal input," which just means you're receiving information through multiple senses at once. The two big senses for this ability are *visual* input (what you see) and *ves... | [
"Humans can sense head tilting and linear acceleration even in dark environments because of the orientation of two groups of hair cell bundles on either side of the striola. Hair cells on opposite sides move with mirror symmetry, so when one side is moved, the other is inhibited. The opposing effects caused by a ti... |
how do ponzi schemes make money if they constantly owe investors? | You give me $1000. Next week, I give you $100 back and call it "profit". You tell all your friends how great I am and *they* give me $1000. I give everyone $100 next week and they tell more people who give me *another* $1000.
...and then I take all the money and run.
The scam here is that the system *isn't* sustai... | [
"If the use of Ponzi finance is general enough in the financial system, then the inevitable disillusionment of the Ponzi borrower can cause the system to seize up: when the bubble pops, i.e., when the asset prices stop increasing, the speculative borrower can no longer refinance (roll over) the principal even if ab... |
How do you get cold in space without a transference medium? | Solid objects get cold in space (assuming ideal vacuum) only by radiation loss. Every object at a given temperature will radiate energy/heat in the form of electromagnetic waves (photons) due to [spontaneous emission](_URL_1_). The power of the emitted heat radiation follows the [Stefan-Boltzmann law](_URL_0_) and is p... | [
"The spacecraft is covered in gold-plated aluminium-tin alloy thermal blankets to maintain a temperature of 10–20 °C inside the spacecraft. The instruments that operate at low temperatures to be kept cold are thermally insulated from this relatively high internal temperature, and emit excess heat into space using a... |
how was audio/music in pre modern computers edited and had post sfx added? | Video editing was done with an editing machine/desk. Which is a large workstation for using scissors on the reels. where there is a physical film you can cut frames and replace them and glue the film back together.
post SFX for film was just regular filmed with all the tricks you can imagine. Overlaying images, cuttin... | [
"Early attempts at digital audio workstations in the 1970s and 1980s faced limitations such as the high price of storage, and the vastly slower processing and disk speeds of the time. In 1978, Soundstream (who had made one of the first commercially available digital audio tape recorders in 1977) built what could be... |
How do marine biologists get reliable population estimates for marine animals that move around all the time? | First field sampling is done to collect data about the populations. One of my lab neighbors geotags right whales and tracks them by flying over the habitats in a tiny plane, for example. I've also seen a talk recently by a marine ecologist who simply sets up a GoPro camera in a cage on the bottom of a reef to track pop... | [
"The History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) is an international, interdisciplinary research initiative. It comprises the historical component of the Census of Marine Life and is designed to measure and explain patterns of long-term change in the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans.\n",
... |
how did aleppo become a central point for war in the middle-east? | Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and has been a battleground since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. Because it is so densely urbanized it is excellent defensive ground, and none of the sides in the war have been able to completely take the city. This has resulted in constant fighting in the city, including indi... | [
"Northern Aleppo Governorate is a region of major strategic importance in the Syrian Civil War, previously mostly held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). For ISIL it was their only gate to the Turkish border. For the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Shahba region between the Euphrates River to t... |
about 17%-35% of the population experience photic sneeze reflex (sneezing when exposed to bright light). what causes this? | Cross-talk between nerves from the nose and eyes. When a sudden and sufficient increase in light hits the eyes, the signals get interpreted as an irritation in the nose and a sneeze is triggered.
I have it and it's fucking annoying. | [
"The photic sneeze effect is a genetic tendency to begin sneezing, sometimes many times consecutively (due to naso-ocular reflex), when suddenly exposed to bright light. This condition tends to occur more severely after one has emerged into the light after spending time in a dark environment. Although the syndrome ... |
what causes someone to think something and a second later when they are about to share it, the thought is gone? | The things that you're currently thinking of are stored in working memory and aren't immediately turned into long term memories.
When you forget what you were just thinking of a minute ago, it's because your brain didn't store that information as a memory. | [
"Then it says, \"Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void – it is shining. That you may see the meaning of within – it is being.\" From birth to death all we ever do is think: we have one thought, we have another thought, another thought, another thought. Even when you are asleep you are having dreams, so there... |
What Was the Relationship Between German Conservatives and Nazis Like? What About the Relationship Between Italian Conservatives and Fascists? | There are significant parallels between Fascism and National Socialism in this regard; I'll focus mostly on the Italian case but I'll also try to highlight those parallel elements where present.
& nbsp;
Strictly speaking, as a political force, the conservatives were incorporated into the fascists and ceased to exi... | [
"Other Nazis—especially those at the time associated with the party's more radical wing such as Gregor Strasser, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler—rejected Italian Fascism, accusing it of being too conservative or capitalist. Alfred Rosenberg condemned Italian Fascism for being racially confused and having influ... |
why is the state department releasing hillary clinton's e-mails in batches? i don't understand why it's happening or why it's okay? | As a public official her emails are part of public record the same as every President, Secretary of State, Attorney General, etc before her. Any emails that relate to her official work belong to the government.
| [
"In response to the attention, Clinton said she had in December 2014 turned over 55,000 pages of e-mails to the State Department following their request and that she now wanted them made public. These 55,000 printed pages accounted for 30,490, or slightly less than half, of the 62,320 emails that Clinton had sent o... |
woodstock | Woodstock was a bigass music festival where a SHITLOAD of counterculturalists :hippies: got together and smoked dope and dropped acid and listened to music for 2-3 days. The Who was there, Hendrix was there, shit went DOWN man | [
"Woodstock is a city in and the county seat of McHenry County, Illinois, United States, located northwest of Chicago. The population was 25,528 at the start of 2017. The city's downtown includes a historic, turn-of-the-century town square, which is anchored by the landmark Woodstock Opera House and the Old McHenry ... |
If a plant that has seasonal traits (such as winter dormancy) is taken from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, will the plant exhibit traits based upon its place of origin, or will it adjust to the weather of the new location? | Generally, seasonal traits are dependent on environmental triggers, namely temperature and the light cycle. The plants really don't have an internal calendar, so to speak, they react to their environmental conditions. So, if you move a certain plant to the other hemisphere, it will adapt to the local conditions. Think ... | [
"The lack of growth rings and of dormant buds indicate no seasonal growth patterns and modern plants with similar characteristics tend to grow in tropical conditions, but \"Lepidodendron\" species were distributed throughout subtropical conditions. The trees inhabited an extensive area compared to tropical flora of... |
What is the difference between the Ottoman Caliph and Sultan? | I do not know what list you were looking at that has them as separate people. The Ottoman Sultans had claimed the caliphal title since 1362 and the conquest of Edrine and every Sultan also claimed the title of Caliph.
There is one exception, a Ottoman Caliph that was not Sultan, Abdülmecid II. He took on the title in... | [
"The Ottoman Empire was an absolute monarchy during much of its existence. By the second half of the fifteenth century, the sultan sat at the apex of a hierarchical system and acted in political, military, judicial, social, and religious capacities under a variety of titles. He was theoretically responsible only to... |
quantum memory | In simple terms, things get very funny on the very small scale. The best model to predict behavior on those scales is probabilistic. This has lead many (a vast majority?) of partial physicists to believe that the very nature of matter is probabilistic.
They would say that electrons don't orbit the nucleus, but rathe... | [
"Quantum memory is essential for the development of many devices in quantum information processing, including a synchronization tool that can match the various processes in a quantum computer, a quantum gate that maintains the identity of any state, and a mechanism for converting predetermined photons into on-deman... |
More people seem to be diagnosed with ADHD than ever before (anecdotal). Is the disorder more prevalent or is it being misdiagnosed? | You forgot option 3:
Is there a lot more focus on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness/anomalies now than there was in the past, therefore causing any such anomalies such as anorexia, depression, ADHD, aspbergers etc etc etc. to be diagnosed correctly these days in a much greater amount than in the past? | [
"The prognosis of SCT is unknown. In contrast, much is known about the adolescent and adult outcomes of children having ADHD. Those with SCT symptoms typically show a later onset of their symptoms than do those with ADHD, perhaps by as much as a year or two later on average. They have as much or more difficulty wit... |
- how the eyes of a portrait can follow you around, always staring at you regardless of where you're standing | I used to be a guard at an art museum, and we had a piece that did this. The way it was explained to me, and the way I explained it to our guests, was that the eyes looked straight forward, and were very close to perfectly round. Whenever you moved to an angle from the painting, your brain was, for lack of a proper psy... | [
"Each portrait head had its own patina according to Gordine's vision of her sitter. When interviewed by the BBC in 1972 Gordine commented that, \"\"when you do portrait busts of somebody you do their noses and mouth – but it is nothing. You have to imagine what they are like inside and bring out their inner feeling... |
When I watch TV it seems like I can perfectly conceptualize 3 dimensions in a 2D space. So why can't I perfectly conceptualize 4 dimensions in this 3D space? | Well first of all, you are seeing a 2 dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional object on a screen. This, you can do, because we live our lives in 3 dimensions.
Consider the story of "Flatland" where you are a 2 dimensional object. You are, for the intent of this thought exercize, a 2 dimensional living being. No... | [
"Another way of viewing three-dimensional space is found in linear algebra, where the idea of independence is crucial. Space has three dimensions because the length of a box is independent of its width or breadth. In the technical language of linear algebra, space is three-dimensional because every point in space c... |
Travelling Christian Monks in the Early Medieval Period | Benedictines, historically, did not normally travel from place to place. The Rule of Benedict, the governing rule for that order of monks, included a rule of stability, which mean a dedication to remain at a single monastery. It appears that this was included in the Rule because of the problems in early monasticism wit... | [
"By around 800 they were producing illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. The missions of Gaelic monasteries led by monks like St Columba spread Christianity back into Western Europe during the Middle Ages, establishing monasteries initially in northern Britain, then through Anglo-Saxon England and the ... |
How can frogs survive being frozen during winter ? | As long as cells are alive, organ can restart.
The cells of these frog synthesize special proteins and trap glucose in high concentrations to act in similar to anti freeze.
These prevent crystallization and cells survive.
Cooling reduces metabolic activity of cells by inactivating enzymes and thus protecting them fro... | [
"Like other amphibians, frogs show minimal capacities for freezing tolerance and survive winter by using terrestrial hibernacula where they avoid freezing. However, frogs may exhibit greater freeze-tolerance capacity at high latitude range limits, where winter climate is more severe. For example, data suggests that... |
why do diving masks fog up underwater? | because of the temperature difference between your hot face, and the cold water.
Not to mention theres the moisture from the small amount of air that does go out your nose.
all that moist air inside the mask is going to condense on the cold plastic that touches the water. | [
"BULLET::::- This lack of bubbles allows wreck divers to enter enclosed areas on sunken ships without slowly filling them with air, which can accelerate rusting, and is also an advantage in cave diving if there is loose material on the ceiling which can be dislodged by bubbles, reducing visibility.\n",
"It may be... |
what are those small coloured circles near the barcode on packaging for candy bars etc.? something to do with what dyes or colours are used during printing? why are they only on certain packaging and not all? | I think you’re thinking of printers registration marks. They’re used to line up the different colors of ink as they’re printed onto the wrapper to make sure everything looks right. | [
"Candy Buttons, Candy Dots, or Pox are small rounded pegs of candy that are attached to a strip of paper. This classic sugar candy was originally introduced by the Cumberland Valley company and J Sudak and Son of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 1977, Sudak, which changed its name to Uncle Nibbles Candy Factory, sold to ... |
Was there any significance the swastika had in Germany before Hitler? (symbols in fascism usually stem from the countries culture, like the rising sun) | So, to start let's talk about how the swastika was discovered. In 1868 German archaelogoist Heinrich Schliemann embarked on a journey to discover the city of Troy using Homeric texts as clues. In 1871 he discovered Troy in Turkey, but also discovered that Troy was built upon several previous cities. As they tore down t... | [
"Although the swastika was a popular symbol in art prior to the regimental use by Nazi Germany and has a long heritage in many other cultures throughout history - and although many of the symbols used by the Nazis were ancient or commonly used prior to the advent of Nazi Germany - because of association with Nazi u... |
why do cell phone signals deteriorate in mountainous areas? | Cell phones are basically a radio. They need a clear line of sight to get the proper data transfer. If a building or mountains are in the way.. No service! Also the phone companies need to put more towers in and they have to pay for every one they put in. If the customer base is not available they don't want to spend t... | [
"Cell phone reception can be sporadic and, when available, signal strength and clarity is poor. Although the surrounding mountainous terrain is the primary reason for this, the limited presence of, and/or proximity to, cellular communication antennas to receive and transmit signals along the route contributes to th... |
if continents drift a couple of inches each year, how are some ancient structures still aligned with certain stars/planets? | I'm not qualified at all to answer this question but we're talking inches in comparison to so many millions of miles to other planets and so unimaginably further to other stars on a giant rock that has an elliptical orbit anyway. Something tells me that those inches don't matter in the grand scheme of things. | [
"Although the fold mountains, chain mountains and nappe belts around the world were formed at different times in the earth's history, all during their initial mountain building phases, they are nevertheless morphologically similar. Harder rock forms continuous arêtes or ridges that follow the strike of the beds and... |
Is there any evidence to suggest your name affects your long-term success? | [Robert Lane named his sons Winner and Loser](_URL_0_). Loser grew up to be a police officer and Winner became a criminal. Not entirely what you were looking for, but kind of interesting.
| [
"Early career success may breed disappointment later, especially when a person's self-worth is tied up in their career or achievements. Professional success tends to come early in some fields, such as scientific research, and later in other fields, such as teaching.\n",
"\"Best I Ever Had\" is a song by American ... |
Why don't babies and puppies learn how to walk similarly? | This is a good question and it sheds light on the developmental stratagy of an animal and the evironment they exist in, ans how theyve adapted to it!
Dogs come from wolves, who generally need their young to be as mobile as possible as quickly as possible to aid in their survival.
Human babies need to come out quicker... | [
"Between ages 2 and 3 years, young children stop using the awkward, wide-legged robot-like stance that is the hallmark of new walkers. As they develop a smoother gait, they also develop the ability to run, jump, and hop. Children of this age can participate in throwing and catching games with larger balls. They can... |
Why can we speedtype our password when we login, but if we stop and ask ourselves what the password is, we doubt ourselves? | When you're speed typing you're working from procedural memory (muscle memory essentially), similar to what happens when you're riding a bike-- you don't necessarily think about what you're doing, you just ride and it happens. When you stop to think about what the password if you're asking your brain to recall the info... | [
"Password synchronization makes it easier for IT users to recall passwords and so manage their access to multiple systems, for example on an enterprise network. Since they only have to remember one or at most a few passwords, users are less likely to forget them or write them down, resulting in fewer calls to the I... |
zipper merging | Generally its faster because both lanes of traffic can continue moving, albeit at a reduced rate. However, if three or four cars in lane A refuse to let a car out approaching from lane B, then lane B has to stop. Stop-starting takes far longer than slowing/merging; so both lanes are effected. | [
"The \"zipper merge\" is a late merge with more than two lanes in right-hand side traffic. The merging of three to two lanes makes a pattern which is more complicated than the one that is made by the merging of two to one lane. In an ideal situation, there actually arise two \"zippers\" now:\n",
"In traffic engin... |
why is leather considered more ethical than fur? | It's because leather serves an important purpose, and would be difficult to replace as a material. Leather is used as a strong, very flexible protective material in gloves, boots, jackets, pants, anything you wear really. It resists tears very well but it's still possible to cut into manageable pieces. It's thin, bu... | [
"Leather is the \"skin of an animal, with the hair removed, prepared for use by tanning or a similar process designed to preserve it against decay and make it pliable or supple when dry\". While technically not fur, leather is a byproduct and the skin on the reverse side of pelts suffer the same kind of damage as l... |
Why does my memory seem *bad* for things like names but really good at song lyrics and learning things I care about? | This was on reddit the other day:_URL_0_
It might not directly answer but might be related. | [
"Allmusic described \"Songs to Remember\" as \"a rather scatterbrained record. Sometimes it sounds like T. Rex in miniature form (\"Jacques Derrida\"); sometimes it sounds like wannabe \"Dirty Mind\"-era Prince (\"Sex\"); sometimes it sounds like wannabe \"Young Americans\"-era David Bowie (\"A Slow Soul\")\" but a... |
Taxes in terms of the 3/5 compromise? | Here was the crux of the issue: Taxes were to be apportioned among the states according to their populations. According to Article I, Section 2, direct taxes were to be apportioned by population. So the Northern argument was essentially that, as Samuel Nasson pointed out from his home in Maine, "[Northern States] wi... | [
"The ninth section of Article One of the Constitution places several limits on Congress's powers. Among them: \"No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken\". Capitation here means a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per taxpay... |
When playing a lottery where the gains are shared between winning tickets, does playing the same number twice has the same expected value as playing two different numbers? | P = probability of winning
N = number of winners excluding you
M = prize money
expected value for different numbers (assuming free ticket) : 2PM(1/(N+1))
expected value for twice the same number : PM(2/(N+2))
ratio between the two : 2PM(1/(N+1)) / PM(2/(N+2)) = (N+2) / (N+1) > 1
So it is better to play different ... | [
"Because at least two of the winning numbers must be either high (8-14) or low (1-7), and every high and low pair is represented by exactly one ticket, you would be guaranteed at least two correct numbers on one ticket with these 14 purchases. 21/26 of the time you will have one ticket with two numbers matched. If ... |
why do people 'reach for the sky' when they get knocked out? | It is called the "fencing response" and from what I can tell just has to do with the arrangement of the lateral vestibular nucleus and that injury to the head will stretch the cerebellar peduncles and activate the LVN. Basically, hitting your head whacks motor nerves that make you take a fencing stance. | [
"One witness on the ground, who was out walking, stated that \"the plane had lost balance, and then we saw it going down\". Others described the plane as being lower than it should have been. \"I wondered why the plane wasn't flying higher as it was flying towards the hill\", one stated. \"Then within three or four... |
lab grown meat, does it take as long to grow as the animal? | This is a little bit like asking the Wright brothers whether security checks at airports are going to be inconvenient.
We are still trying to figure out how to create lab grown meat. While I think it is almost certain that in 50 years most meat will be lab grown the technologies and processes they are going to be usi... | [
"On November 2015, a Chinese biotech company Boyalife Group announced that it will partner with Hwang’s laboratory, Sooam Biotech, to open the world's largest animal cloning factory in Tianjin as early as 2016. The factory will aim to produce up to one million cattle embryos per year to meet the increasing demand f... |
Robots are being used to investigate and clean-up the Fukushima reactor, but these breakdown due to the high radiation levels. How does nuclear radiation cause malfunctions in robots, and what components will be most affected? | Well the radiation ionises atoms in the robot. Alpha radiation isn't a problem, and they are usually shielded from beta, but gamma waves are highly ionising and penetrative. They knock electrons off of atoms, causing atoms to become positively charged. This then can cause the structure to break down
From this point I ... | [
"Since the radiation levels are still very high at the inside of the reactor core, it is not likely anyone can go inside to assess the damage. The Fukushima Daiichi Tracker (FDT) is proposed to see the extent of the damage from a safe distance. A few months of measurements with muon tomography, will show the distri... |
When new colours are created by combining red, blue and green, do the different waves stay separate or do they sum, like sound waves? | Sound waves don't exactly "sum" to yield some average frequency either. Like you said, you can Fourier transform the resultant waveform to isolate the frequencies. Waves don't add up like that to change frequencies.
That aside, take a look at the [Wikipedia article on colour vision](_URL_0_). You have three types of c... | [
"By convention, the three primary colors in additive mixing are red, green, and blue. In the absence of light of any color, the result is black. If all three primary colors of light are mixed in equal proportions, the result is neutral (gray or white). When the red and green lights mix, the result is yellow. When g... |
Questions about the history of Jewish theology | > I believe I read recently something to the effect of: there are some academics who do not view Christianity as having been borne from Judaism, but that Judaism and Christianity both arose concurrently.
So I think the sort of thing you're thinking of are arguments like that of Boyarin's *Border Lines*, which essent... | [
"Wellhausen's explanation of the formation of the Torah was also an explanation of the religious history of Israel. The Yahwist and Elohist described a primitive, spontaneous and personal world, in keeping with the earliest stage of Israel's history; in Deuteronomy he saw the influence of the prophets and the devel... |
why is it that humans have favorites? such as favorite colors, numbers and many other things favorited. | I'm not sure I understand your sentence "why is your favorite number your favorite instead of what is your favorite number"...
But as to why humans *have* favorites, this seems to be how animals work in general - we evaluate things and facts as good or bad, or better or worse, important or unimportant. These are evalu... | [
"Furthermore, plenty of variables, such as gender and age, have notable effects on individuals' colors' preferences; gender of humans influences conformance and force of colors tendency, and young people are more enjoyable in warm colors including orange and red rather than intense colors such as green which are pr... |
How reliable is Antony Beevor's "Berlin: The Downfall 1945"? | I know that Antony Beevor received criticism from Russia in his accounts of the widespread rape and abuse perpetrated by the Red Army on their march to Berlin and iirc the Russian government actually called for his books to be banned due to what they percieved to be "Nazi sympathies" recently.
I can't say I've ever ex... | [
"Berlin: The Downfall 1945 (also known as The Fall of Berlin 1945 in the US) is a narrative history by Antony Beevor of the Battle of Berlin during World War II. It was published by Viking Press in 2002, then later by Penguin Books in 2003. The book achieved both critical and commercial success. It has been a numbe... |
Can a black hole break the strong nuclear bonds of atoms? | There is no "other side".
Also no. If you are at the point of being able to reconstruct atoms on another side, then the concept of "Traveling" is pointless, it would be much more efficient to just transmit the information and have a human or ship rebuilt from stocks of carbon / nitrogen / etc at the destination.
As... | [
"If some versions of string theory are correct, then high-energy cosmic rays could create black holes when they collide with molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. These black holes would be tiny, with a mass of around 10 micrograms. They would also be unstable enough to explode in a burst of particles within around ... |
How did Japanese Buddhist institutions react to the Empire of Japan's imperial ambitions and racial ideologies around WWII? | Actually, there is a quite interesting, mind-blowing relation between Japanese Imperialism of the 30s and a certain sect of Japanese Buddhism, that starts with the Mongol invasions of Japan and ends with a hare-brained Colonel, his "Final World War" agenda and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo.
Let's start... | [
"During World War II almost all Japanese Buddhists temples (except the Soka Gakkai) strongly supported Japanese imperialism and militarization. The Japanese Pan-Buddhist Society (Myowa Kai) rejected criticism from Chinese Buddhists, stating that \"We now have no choice but to exercise the benevolent forcefulness of... |
how come an usb-c 85w apple charger can charge a phone or a tablet without blowing it up? how does the power supply know how much power to feed? | The same reason your 1800W wall outlet doesn't blow the crap out of your laptop charger
**The charger doesn't provide power**
The charger provides a fixed voltage, the load draws as much current as needs at that voltage. The wattage rating on the power supply is how much power it *can* supply without lowering the vo... | [
"Some devices, when plugged into charging ports, draw even more power (10 watts at 2.1 amperes) than the Battery Charging Specification allows — The iPad is one such device; it negotiates the current pull with data pin voltages. Barnes & Noble Nook Color devices also require a special charger that runs at 1.9 amper... |
what would happen if the minimum wage was $22/hr and it had to increase at the same rate as inflation? | It's nigh impossible to say what the long term net effect would be, because the economy has a LOT of moving parts. You can say what some of the effects would probably be, but if anyone tells you they KNOW what ALL of the effects would be, they either have a nobel prize in economics or they're an a-hole know-it-all and... | [
"The CBO reported in February 2014 that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour between 2014 and 2016 and indexing it to inflation would reduce employment by an estimated 500,000 jobs, while about 16.5 million workers would have higher pay. A smaller increase to $9.00 per hour (without indexing) would reduce... |
[Astronomy] When astronomers are looking for exoplanets that could foster life, what criteria do they use? | _URL_0_
The habitable zone (HZ, categorized by the Planetary Habitability Index) is a theoretical shell surrounding a star in which any planet present would have liquid water on its surface. After an energy source, liquid water is considered the most important ingredient for life, considering how integral it is to all... | [
"The discovery of exoplanets has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. There is special interest in planets that orbit in a star's habitable zone, where it is possible for liquid water, a prerequisite for life on Earth, to exist on the surface. The study of planetary habitability also consid... |
why does coke push diet coke so hard? | Coke sells really well. Diet Coke sells less, so they're trying to increase sales and drive brand awareness. Also it's a company image thing. Diet Coke is falsely sold and percieved as being "healthy" so they want to make you think they care about your health. | [
"Coke Zero was originally specifically marketed to men, who are shown to associate \"diet\" drinks with women. It was primarily marketed towards young adult males and it has been nicknamed \"Bloke Coke\" in the UK. In the U.S., advertising has been tailored to its targeted market by describing the drink as \"calori... |
how much of a financial strain the u.s. prison system is on the economy (if any at all) and what could fix it? | Not a huge strain. The total cost to the country is about $182 Billion per year, a bit under 1% of our annual productivity. | [
"In a 2011 report by the ACLU, it is claimed that the rise of the for-profit prison industry is a \"major contributor\" to \"mass incarceration,\" along with bloated state budgets. Louisiana, for example, has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with the majority of its prisoners being housed in privatize... |
Why wasn't there a stronger attempt to connect Alaska to the continental US? | There *was* a push, but it didn't happen because of **Canadian Confederation**, the **settlement of the Alabama claims** and **divided American politics**.
One of the most frequently cited papers on this topic is David Shi's 1978 work, "Seward's Attempt to Annex British Columbia, 1865-1869" which was published in *Pac... | [
"With the outbreak of war, American lines of communication with Alaska by sea were seriously threatened and alternative routes had to be opened. The string of airports through the lonely tundra and forests of northwest Canada provided an air route to Alaska which was practically invulnerable to attack, and it seeme... |
"http," "https," "www," and what purpose they serve if i can still reach my intended online destination without typing them in. | There are a bunch of different *protocols* your computer uses to figure out how to interact with the internet. HTTP is what you use to transfer webpages; there's also SMTP (used for sending emails), POP (used for recieving emails), FTP (used for transfering files), and a bunch of others. But all that browsers *do* is t... | [
"The World Wide Web and HTTP are based on a number of request methods or 'verbs', including POST and GET as well as PUT, DELETE, and several others. Web browsers normally use only GET and POST, but RESTful online apps make use of many of the others. POST's place in the range of HTTP methods is to send a representat... |
[Meta] Let's discuss some policy changes. | I agree with agentdcf and eternalkerri both generally, in the small matters you say they differ in I agree with agentdcf more. As per my comment on the other meta thread today I believe these changes are essential to this subreddit's future, which without them will look bleak indeed as it devolves into a morass of bad... | [
"The punctuated equilibrium model of policy change was first presented by Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones in 1993, and has increasingly received attention in historical institutionalism. The model states that policy generally changes only incrementally due to several restraints, namely the \"stickiness\" of insti... |
When did we acquired the habit of sleeping once a day? | [Monophasic sleep may be a relatively recent development that came about with the advent of electric lighting.](_URL_0_)
| [
"A 16th-century physician wrote that many laborers dozed off exhausted at the start of each night; sexual intercourse with their wives typically occurring in the \"watching period\", after a recuperative first sleep. Anthropologists find that isolated societies without electric light sleep in a variety of patterns;... |
How does silly putty work? | The key to Silly Putty's properties is its polymer nature. A polymer is by nature a long chain of atoms. These chains interact weakly with each other. There is a detailed [source](_URL_0_) that explains the science a bit more. Bonus - scroll back a few pages to read about it's interesting history. | [
"Silly Putty is a toy based on silicone polymers that have unusual physical properties. It bounces, but it breaks when given a sharp blow, and it can also flow like a liquid. It contains a viscoelastic liquid silicone, a type of non-Newtonian fluid, which makes it act as a viscous liquid over a long time period but... |
Small, but passionate groups form. Some turn into large movements, others eventually fall apart. During your time period of expertise, was there a now extinct subgroup that you find particular interesting? Why did it die off? | For a good while during the turn of the 20th century, particularly before the Great Depression, there was a fairly popular idea of pan-asianism.
This was before Japan fell under seizes of fanatical militarism which led to World War 2 in the Pacific.
It was a fairly minor ideal, as it competed with more traditional f... | [
"They are more likely to evolve in the time and place which is friendly to the social movements: hence their evident symbiosis with the 19th century proliferation of ideas like individual rights, freedom of speech and civil disobedience. Social movements occur in liberal and authoritarian societies but in different... |
how do physical evolutionary changes occur? | This is a horribly horrible metaphor:
Say aliens have come, and they cant see the color yellow. They start eating people. They see white guys fine. Eat em. Black guys, no problem. Eat em right up. Hispanics. Italians. Eat em all no problem.
But they have problems with Asians. They cant see em as well. They can hide ... | [
"Evolution influences every aspect of the form and behaviour of organisms. Most prominent are the specific behavioural and physical adaptations that are the outcome of natural selection. These adaptations increase fitness by aiding activities such as finding food, avoiding predators or attracting mates. Organisms c... |
What's the historical context behind the phrase "possession is nine tenths of the law"? | The phrase may have originated in Scotland.
It is first found as "Possession is eleven points of the law" in 1629 in *Remaines concerning Britaine*.
_URL_0_
It became "nine points of the law" by the 1670s. "Nine parts of the law", first appeared in 1785. "Nine tenths of the law", in 1814.
The modern use of the sa... | [
"Possession is nine-tenths of the law is an expression meaning that ownership is easier to maintain if one has possession of something, or difficult to enforce if one does not. The expression is also stated as \"possession is nine points of the law\", which is credited as derived from the Scottish expression \"poss... |
How were the elderly/retired (if there was such a thing) generally treated in Communist states? | Under Lenin's "Land Decree" he wrote retiring workers would
1. Lose the land they worked on, and
2. Gain a pension.
> > "Peasants who, owing to old age or ill-health, are permanently disabled and unable to cultivate the land personally, shall lose their right to the use of it but, in return, shall receive a pen... | [
"The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused great economic and social problems, including widespread unemployment and poverty. Several far right paramilitary organizations were able to tap into popular discontent, particularly among marginalized, lesser educated and unemployed youths. Of the three major age... |
what are the pros and cons of tar sand oil? | As a western Canadian, I suppose it falls on me to answer.
The pros: It's a viable oil option from a stable country (Canada is doesn't have some of the instability issues that some Middle East countries do), it produces jobs in Canada (production side) and the US (refinement side).
The cons: It's horribly 'dirty' for... | [
"Oil sands, also known as crude bitumen, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of ... |
why can't humans look in separate directions (like chameleons) | We have all the neuron connections do to it, and there are no physical barriers. Our brain just doesn't really know how. Some people have trained themselves to be able to move their eyes independently.
| [
"Other animals that are not necessarily predators, such as fruit bats and a number of primates also have forward-facing eyes. These are usually animals that need fine depth discrimination/perception; for instance, binocular vision improves the ability to pick a chosen fruit or to find and grasp a particular branch.... |
What outer space object has the greatest gravitational pull on the earth? | The force from the moon [is the second strongest, about 2.2*10^20 N](_URL_0_) and the force from the sun comes first, at [3.4*10^22 N](_URL_1_)
| [
"Since gravity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, a space station 400 km above the Earth feels almost the same gravitational force as we do on the Earth's surface. The reason a space station does not plummet to the ground is not that it is not subject to gravity, but that it is in a free-fall ... |
how do 'sports tricks' videos work? | Videos are really just pictures shown really really fast.
Remember that [flipbook](_URL_0_) Bobby showed you one time?
Imagine if Bobby took a pen and drew on every single page of the flip book. It'd be a lot of work, but if he did it, he could make the book look like something totally different!
Maybe he can add a ... | [
"Trickjumps are video game techniques that are used to enhance the mobility of the player when jumping. These methods are sometimes unforeseen by the creator of the game. However, they can also be placed in the game on purpose, often to reward players who practice more.\n",
"Trick mode, sometimes called trick pla... |
Is it possible that, whatever causes homosexuality can be transmitted to offspring? (Through surrogate partner or accidental) | This is an interesting question. I am a bio major but I took some psych courses, so some of this is coming off of memory. Have you heard of identical twin studies? Basically these twins have similar genes so it takes out the "nature" from the "nature vs nurture" debate. Homosexuality is considered BOTH nature and nurtu... | [
"In 2009, the European Committee of Social Rights found several statements in a Croatian mandatory Biology course textbook, including: \"Many individuals are prone to sexual relations with persons of the same sex... It is believed that parents are to blame because they impede their children's correct sexual develop... |
How symmetrical is the brain with respect to its various functions? | Depends on how closely you look.
Hemispheres: When comparing the two hemispheres, they're basically identical.
Lobes: We already start seeing sliiiight differences. Your dominant side will have a teeny bit more development in the opposite side (usually) of the brain in a couple of places.
Functional regions: Now... | [
"The two hemispheres of the human cortex are not perfectly symmetrical, both in structure and in function. For example, the planum temporale, roughly corresponding to the Wernicke’s area, was found to be 10 times larger in the left than the right hemisphere. In contrast, the caudate nucleus, within the basal gangli... |
Does the shape of a Galaxy change over time? Do spiral galaxies eventually become barred? | Yes, absolutely galaxies' shapes change over time. Generally, when two disk galaxies collide, their gas content undergoes gravitational torques that funnel gas towards the centers of the merging galaxy, setting off a period of supermassive black hole feeding (active galactic nucleus) and a burst of star formation. Th... | [
"The rotating disc of a spiral galaxy, consisting of stars and solar systems, may become unstable in a way that the stars in the outer parts of the \"arms\" are released from the galaxy system, resulting in the collapse of the remaining stars into a bar-shaped galaxy. This occurs in approximately 1/3 of the known s... |
why do some phone cases or watches say water proof up to a certain amount of feet (like 6ft)? is it the water pressure difference? is the water pressure difference that significant? | yes on both counts.
the pressure in a body of water is directly proportional to depth. since water's density is (generally) 1000kg/m^3, it exerts a pressure of 9810pa for every meter down you go or about .5 psi per foot.
atmospheric pressure is about 15 psi
going down 6 feet into water, the pressure increases by ne... | [
"Water Resistant is a common mark stamped on the back of wrist watches to indicate how well a watch is sealed against the ingress of water. It is usually accompanied by an indication of the static test pressure that a sample of newly manufactured watches were exposed to in a leakage test. The test pressure can be i... |
What is the thin mucous for at the beginning of a cold? | That thin watery stuff actually is loaded with antibodies (specifically IgA) which will bind to those nasty cold-causing pathogens entering your body through your respiratory tract. The IgA will eventually signal other members of your immune system to attack that pathogen. IgA is always a component of your nasal mucus,... | [
"During cold, dry seasons, the mucus lining nasal passages tends to dry out, meaning that mucous membranes must work harder, producing more mucus to keep the cavity lined. As a result, the nasal cavity can fill up with mucus. At the same time, when air is exhaled, water vapor in breath condenses as the warm air mee... |
How many flu strains does a typical flu vaccine affect? | Most vaccinate for either three or four specific strains. But there is also some protection for strains similar to or closely related to those, even if they are not the specific ones included.
If you want the four-virus version, ask for the "quadrivalent" or "tetravalent" vaccine. They seem reasonably common now i... | [
"Based on the results of animal studies, a universal flu vaccine may use a two-step vaccination strategy: priming with a DNA-based HA vaccine, followed by a second dose with an inactivated, attenuated, or adenovirus-vecto-based vaccine.\n",
"Influenza vaccines, also known as flu shots or flu jabs, are vaccines th... |
why many pms symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms are similar or the same | Because your body is preparing for a pregnancy. Every single month, your body is like "maybe this time we're *really* pregnant"
So until your body realises "aw hell, no baby again" the hormones are the same. | [
"Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to physical and emotional symptoms that occur in the one to two weeks before a woman's period. Symptoms often vary between women and resolve around the start of bleeding. Common symptoms include acne, tender breasts, bloating, feeling tired, irritability, and mood changes. Often ... |
why doesn't reddit have their own app instead of reddit is fun or baconreader? wouldn't they make more money from having a self-made universal app for ios and android? | Reddit is partnered with 'Alien Blue - The most popular reddit browsing app by downloads and use' and may have even bought them. | [
"In 2010, Reddit released its first mobile web interface for easier reading and navigating the website on touch screen devices. For several years, redditors relied on third-party apps to access Reddit on mobile devices. In October 2014, Reddit acquired one of them, Alien Blue, which became the official iOS Reddit a... |
how does st jude hospital continue to operate while remaining free to patients and families? | Heavy donations of not only money, but time from the workers. Alk of the research they do they share freely with anyone who it could help, so people gladly donate. | [
"All medically eligible patients who are accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard to the family's ability to pay. St. Jude is one of a few pediatric research organizations in the United States where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance, and families without insura... |
Was there any marriage between Japanese and European nobility from 1850-1939? | By nobility do you actually mean royalty?
Because landed nobility still, for all intents and purposes, existed during the pre-war period though they were officialy stripped of their titles.
The new system they adopted during the Meiji period had various levels of status with the highest tier were members of the new ... | [
"Inter-ethnic marriage in Japan dates back to the 7th century, when Chinese and Korean immigrants began intermarrying with the local population. By the early 9th century, over one-third of all noble families in Japan had ancestors of foreign origin. In the 1590s, over 50,000 Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan, ... |
Was wielding a rapier and a pistol together ever common? | Rapiers were not introduced to penetrate plate armour, but as civilian weapons for duels and street fighting. Generally speaking they were not carried on the battlefield, but about town. A rapier, or any sword for that matter, is not able to penetrate plate armour - the way to defeat armour with a sword is to slide the... | [
"BULLET::::- Despite the rapier's common usage in the 16th–17th centuries, many films set in these periods (many starring Errol Flynn) have the swordsmen using épées or foils. Actual rapier combat was hardly the lightning thrust and parry depicted. Director Richard Lester and fight choreographer William Hobbs attem... |
what's the point of non-alcoholic beer? | some people have dietary restrictions/are recovering alcoholics/don't want to drink alcohol for whatever reason but still like the taste. | [
"Some common complaints about non-alcoholic brews include a loss of flavor, addition of one step in the brewing process, sugary taste, and a shorter shelf life. There are also legal implications. Some state governments, e.g. Pennsylvania, prohibit the sale of non-alcoholic brews to persons under the age of 21. A st... |
If I took a spoonful of a neutron star and pulled it away from said star, would the spoonful expand to a larger size? What would the matter look like (metal, glass, gas, liquid)? | Neutron stars have a density of around 10^18 kg/m^3, which means that the total mass in a teaspoon is somewhere on the order of 10 billion tons. You'd want to take the scoop from the center of the star as the outside layers are more likely to be heavy elements and stuff.
So lets assume we can teleport a spoonful of ne... | [
"In the case of a neutron star, the conversion scenario seems much more plausible. A neutron star is in a sense a giant nucleus (20 km across), held together by gravity, but it is electrically neutral and so does not electrostatically repel strangelets. If a strangelet hit a neutron star, it could convert a small r... |
how do pop-up blockers work? how do sites get around them? | The original pop-ups would open a new page in a new window, and give that window a size and position to open to, so it would show up in front of the web page.
Pop-up blockers would see that call "hey, this page wants to open a new window, should I let it?" and decide that it's probably not a useful page to open.
Late... | [
"Finally, the browser includes a pop-up advertisement blocker which can be configured to allow pop-ups for individual sites, block only unrequested pop-ups, and open any pop-ups in new tabs in one window, thus preventing pop-unders.\n",
"In order to circumvent these pop-up blockers, some online advertisers tried ... |
How does DNA/RNA store information? | This might be best answered in a discussion format. What do you mean by information? How does a book store information?
EDIT: The other answers to this question so far talk about the central dogma of molecular biology to various extents. Based on the information provided in the question I assume he knows this already... | [
"DNA and RNA are both capable of encoding genetic information, because there are biochemical mechanisms which read the information coded within a DNA or RNA sequence and use it to generate a specified protein. On the other hand, the sequence information of a protein molecule is not used by cells to functionally enc... |
why is security clearance not required for potus and many other "powerful" politicians? | If there were such a requirement, it would effectively mean that the military or the government can restrict who can be elected president. That doesn't sound like a good idea. | [
"Individuals who require access to more sensitive information (or access to sensitive federal government sites and/or assets) because of their job will be required to sign the \"Security Clearance Form\" (TBS/SCT 330-60e). There are two levels of clearance:\n",
"Security clearances are among the most carefully gu... |
What was known by the enemy about D Day? Were they aware the invasion was about to take place? If so, how? | They knew an invasion was coming, they just didn't know when and they didn't know where. It would have been impossible for Nazi Germany to miss the buildup of material in Great Britain. Ships, tanks, trucks, planes, everything needed to be supplied in great numbers and it would have been impossible to hide it all. The ... | [
"Numerous scenes document the early hours of June 6 when Allied airborne troops were sent in to take key locations inland from the beaches. The French resistance is also shown reacting to the news that an invasion has started. \"The Longest Day\" chronicles most of the important events surrounding D-Day, including ... |
How much did French support for the American Revolution doom the Ancien Regime? | French involvement in the American revolutionary war had a direct impact on the downfall of the Old Regime. It did so in two key ways: Bankruptcy and ideology.
**Bankruptcy**
Firstly, as you noted, participation helped to bankrupt the nation. A significant cost was incurred due to the construction of a fleet which wo... | [
"The economy in the Ancien Régime during the years preceding the Revolution suffered from instability. The sequence of events leading to the Revolution included the national government's fiscal troubles caused by an unjust, inefficient and deeply hated tax system – the \"ferme générale\" – and by expenditure on num... |
how is it that large buildings don't sink overtime? | The type of foundation depends on the type of soils and rock the building is sitting on.
Spread footings are adequate on heavy compressed soils and rock. Their size will vary with soil and rock type.
Shoring systems like caissons also contribute to stability. | [
"Strategies for mitigating the risk due to sinkholes and subsidence include filling the voids, which can be costly due to the amount of material needed, and construction techniques so that structures are not prone to sinking. Strategies for managing the risk include insurance for subsidence and sinkholes.\n",
"A ... |
how do single propeller planes counter the torque from the propeller. | The only way to stop the plane veering up and to the left is actively steering against it. Modern single-prop aircraft have automatic systems to counteract this issue in a manner relative to the speed the propeller/plane is moving, so the pilot doesn’t have to correct it. It most often can be felt during changes in spe... | [
"On a powerful propeller-driven aircraft, the engine torque driving the propeller creates an equal and opposite torque on the engine itself. Because the engine is fixed to the airframe, this reactive torque is transmitted to the aircraft, causing a tendency to roll in the opposite direction to the propeller.\n",
... |
Until What Time Was Manichaeism A Major Religion? | Manichaeism didn't collapse with the rise of Islam and in the 8th century became the state religion of the Uygurs in Central Asia. In many ways, the story of Manichaeism parallels that of the Christian Church of the East or Nestorianism. Both originally gained protection from the Sassanids. However, the Sassanids beca... | [
"Manichaeism, founded by Mani, was influential from North Africa in the West, to China in the East. Its influence subtly continues in Western Christian thought via Saint Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism, which he passionately denounced in his writings, and whose writings continue t... |
do women's bodies retract dramatically after giving birth? | Skin is an amazing organ, and in a healthy person, surprisingly stretchy.
Straight after the birth and for many months, it will be saggy, but not as much as you might think. It does spring back into shape a bit. It's a bit like the difference between a balloon that's never been blown up versus one that's been blown up... | [
"During a woman's menstrual cycle, the endometrium thickens in preparation for potential pregnancy. After ovulation, if the ovum is not fertilized and there is no pregnancy, the built-up uterine tissue is not needed and thus shed.\n",
"Return of menstruation following childbirth varies widely among individuals. T... |
why do so many people who emigrate from the middle east open convenience stores? | Each culture has an 'in' to a particular business in each area. So, one Korean family will come and open a dry cleaning business. When their cousins come, they will tell them the tricks of the trade and the regulations and have the business model set, so their cousins open up another cleaning business one town over -... | [
"Palestinian Americans have owned Middle Eastern groceries, shops and restaurants ever since their immigration to the United States. Most of these businesses are in large cities such as New York City and Chicago.\n",
"Most of the consignment stores are located in shopping malls in crowded districts. For example, ... |
why do basketball games look slower on tv then they do in person? | I don't think they look any slower, but rather the camera view that most games are shot from is the ideal angle where you can see the entire half court and every player moving. You can therefore anticipate where players are going to be and cannot see their subtle quick movements as well. If you were to sit at a live ga... | [
"Similar to \"Run and Gun\", the in-game camera is at one end of the basketball court. Gameplay is fast-paced, much like \"NBA Jam\" and Konami's own \"Run and Gun\". Elements lifted from arcade basketball games included limited fouls (that automatically lead to free throw shots), faster than real time clock, and b... |
why is it that when you take a nap you almost always wake up super sweaty and disoriented but when you wake up from sleeping over night you feel rested and aren't sweaty? | I believe it's because when you bed down for a night's sleep, you're typically going to bed around the same time and indulging your circadian rythym. Your body releases hormones that help you sleep, and you go through several REM cycles allowing your body and brain to "recharge." (This is all assuming you don't have ch... | [
"An adult who is compelled to nap repeatedly during the day may have excessive daytime sleepiness; however, it is important to distinguish between occasional daytime sleepiness and excessive daytime sleepiness, which is chronic.\n",
"Diagnosing sleep apnea usually requires a professional sleep study performed in ... |
why can i not just walk up to a drive-thru window & order food? | It would be a liability to have pedestrians in a lane built for cars to travel through. If they allowed people to do it they would be responsible when someone got run over. | [
"Pedestrians sometimes attempt to walk through the drive-through to order food after the seated section of a fast-food restaurant has closed. Many establishments refuse drive-through service to pedestrians for safety, insurance, and liability reasons. Cyclists are usually refused service with the same justification... |
what is that little hangy thing in the back of our mouths? what does it do? | That's called the uvula! It contains a muscle that helps you swallow. When you're eating or drinking, the uvula tightens up, which forces your palate (the upper, back part of your mouth by your throat) to move back and keep food from going up into your nose. Some languages use that muscle to pronounce certain words,... | [
"The mouth is inside the base of the crown of tentacles but to one side. The gut runs from the mouth to one side of the stomach, in the bottom of the ampulla. The intestine runs from the stomach, up the other side the body, and exits at the anus, outside and a little below the crown of tentacles. The gut and intest... |
why is local control of schools seen as superior to national government control? | People care about their children. When national criteria differ from their own criteria of what's important for their children to know, people start demanding local control.
I see it as part of a widening gap between urban and rural areas, but that's probably going a bit further than what you asked. | [
"Such schools have more autonomy than voluntary controlled schools, which are entirely funded by the state. In some circumstances local authorities can help the governing body in buying a site, or can provide a site or building free of charge.\n",
"According to scholar Deborah Land of Johns Hopkins University, th... |
why do gaming companies forbid pirating their outdated products (90s and 00s consoles emulators and roms, for example), if it doesn't hurt them, and they can't realistically make money off of it? | I can think of 2 reasons: protecting company ip but more so anticipating the future revenue generated from rereleasing said old games (ie Nintendo). | [
"BULLET::::- Emulators are often used as a copyright infringement tool, since they allow users to play video games without having to buy the console, and rarely make any attempt to prevent the use of illegal copies. This leads to a number of legal uncertainties regarding emulation, and leads to software being progr... |
why you need to drive in a high gear on ice? | The idea is to prevent the wheels from spinning out.
If you apply too much torque to your wheels (on or off ice), they will end up spinning out. However, on ice this can be achieved with far less torque than it would take to make them spin out on asphalt.
Lower gears will create more torque - that's why you use them ... | [
"In adverse road conditions, notably snow or ice, it is recommended to pull away in as low a gear as possible to minimize torque on the wheels and thereby maintain traction with the road. Pulling away requires progressively slower engagement of the clutch as the gear increases, and in a high gear it is necessary to... |
what's the difference between energy and power? | Power is the rate of energy transmission/consumption; it describes how fast energy is flowing or being used. The unit of energy is called a Joule, the unit of power is called a Watt, and one Watt equals one Joule-per-second. | [
"In physics, power is the rate of doing work or of transferring heat, i.e. the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit time. Having no direction, it is a scalar quantity. In the International System of Units, the unit of power is the joule per second (J/s), known as the watt in honour of James Watt, the ... |
how does something like an hdmi port become near universal? | The short answer is: Companies don't want to bother with spending money on competing formats by introducing 17 different different ports, 15 of which will inevitable fail. There is some history here, such as the Apple 'Firewire' prior to the eventual USB conversion.
It still exists in some capacity, but ultimately ... | [
"The initial prototype shown in May 2005 featured two HDMI ports, three Ethernet ports and six USB ports; however, when the system was shown again a year later at E3 2006, these were reduced to one HDMI port, one Ethernet port and four USB ports, presumably to cut costs. Two hardware configurations were also announ... |
A post about native australians made some ridiculous sounding claims, are they true ? | Deconstructing your questions, I can see:
\- anarchism
\- borders
\- conflict
\- sustainability
\- and the origins of the claims you've heard.
Aboriginal Australia was and is incredibly diverse, so I will answer with the Nyungar people in mind - they are local to my area (the SW of Australia) and are fairly typic... | [
"\"The Secret Country: The First Australians Fight Back\" shows that when British colonists first arrived in Australia, they saw Aboriginal Australians as having no proprietorial rights to their land because they didn't cultivate it. As a result of this, no treaty was ever signed. Aboriginal Australians had no righ... |
explain like i'm 5 what is beyond the 3rd dimension. | The easiest way (for me) to conceptualize the fourth dimension is to consider time as the fourth dimension. Unlike the other three dimensions where we are free to move about, we are being forced forward through the forth dimension at a fixed speed (one second per second). | [
"The second concept is so called functional dimensions. It was introduced by Aleksandr Bukalov. He defined the first dimension as the personal experience (Ex), the second dimension as social norms (Nr), the third dimension as the current situation (St), and the fourth dimension as the globality, or time perspective... |
why doesn't the redbull skydiver who is jumping from the stratosphere burn up? | Because he won't reach enough speed to do it. Imagine a space shuttle coming down from space, they do it at such high speed (17.000 mp/h) that the friction from the air itself burns the underside. Theres no chance he will reach those numbers :) | [
"The most dangerous pilot-induced oscillations can occur during landing. Too much up elevator during the flare can result in the plane getting dangerously slow and threatening to stall. A natural reaction to this is to push the nose down harder than one pulled it up, but then the pilot ends up staring at the ground... |
Why does alcohol interact with so many other drugs? | Oh wow, lots of misinformation in this thread. Yes, alcohol has CNS effects. Yes, it affects other organ systems. But **this is not the main reason that it interacts with other drugs**. The source of its interaction is its metabolic pathway.
Alcohol is oxidized in the liver, primarily by the enzyme Alcohol Dehydrogena... | [
"Alcohol can intensify the sedation caused by other central nervous system depressants such as barbiturates, benzodiazepines, opioids, nonbenzodiazepines/Z-drugs (such as zolpidem and zopiclone), antipsychotics, sedative antihistamines, and certain antidepressants. It interacts with cocaine \"in vivo\" to produce c... |
tuna. how can one tuna fish be worth over a £million? what stops you from simply catching a tuna and becoming very rich? | Source on that value please. | [
"Besides for edible purposes, many tuna species are caught frequently as game, often for recreation or for contests in which money is awarded based on weight. Larger specimens are notorious for putting up a fight while hooked, and have been known to injure people who try to catch them, as well as damage their equip... |
Did John Lackland actually offer to convert England to an Islamic Kingdom? | You may be interested in this post by /u/intangible-tangerine
* _URL_0_ | [
"The preamble emphasized that the Teutonic Knights had broken their promises to previous popes to respect the newly converted locals and guarantee their freedom. The treaty did not address the political situation, but only guaranteed personal rights of the converts and demanded they embrace Christianity. They could... |
Question about the contradiction of black holes. | > I believe that gravity applies to 'large things'(clumps of matter, moons, planets, stars)
Gravity is proportional to mass, not size.
> If a singularity is infinitely small how can it have such immense gravity?
Because it's *incredibly* massive. | [
"Hawking had earlier speculated that the singularity at the centre of a black hole could form a bridge to a \"baby universe\", into which the lost information could pass; such theories have been very popular in science fiction. But according to Hawking's new idea, presented at the 17th International Conference on G... |
phone batteries and charges vs laptop batteries and chargers | Milliamp-hours are not a unit of energy storage. They are a unit of charge storage, but they don't say how much energy that charge has. Voltage tells you how much energy the charge has. You can only compare mAh to mAh *if* both batteries are the same voltage.
In the case of the phone versus the laptop, the phone is ... | [
"Solar cell phone chargers use solar panels to charge cell phone batteries. They can be used when no electricity supply is available—either mains or, for example, a vehicle battery—and are sometimes suggested as a way to charge phones without consuming mains electricity, unlike electrical cell phone chargers. Some ... |
Why does too much electricity cause a battery or transformer to explode? Why doesn't the excess just discharge the into the air? | Transformer is either overheating damaging the insulation or arcing across the winding due to to much voltage. Once it arc over the resistance that the applied voltage sees is reduced, the current goes up further and you have thermal run away. On bigger systems they just explode and throw molten metal everywhere. | [
"Loss of electrical power can occur suddenly and can damage or undermine equipment. To prevent damage, motor-generators can be tied to flywheels that can provide uninterrupted electrical power to equipment for a brief period. Often they are used to provide electrical power until the plant electrical supply can be s... |
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