Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
i still dont understand how the four seasons happen ...	It is 100% due to the axial tilt of the earth. In the summer, your hemisphere, north or south, is leaning towards the sun, so you get more direct sunlight, and in the winter, you're leaning away from the sun and get less direct sunlight.	[ "The \"Seasons\" are a continuation of Poussin's mythological landscapes, depicting the power and grandeur of nature, \"benign in Spring, rich in Summer, sombre yet fruitful in Autumn, and cruel in Winter.\" The series also represents successive times of the day: early morning for Spring, midday for Summer, evening...
why is social security so expensive?	First, you need to understand the different types of Social Security benefits. Almost everyone in the U.S. pays into Social Security throughout their working life ("FICA taxes"). When Social Security was established 80 years ago, the original purpose was mainly to alleviate the crippling poverty under which the elder...	[ "Critics of Social Security claim that it gives a low rate of return, compared to what is obtained through private retirement accounts. For example, critics point out that under the Social Security laws as they existed at that time, several thousand employees of Galveston County, Texas were allowed to opt out of th...
if an apocolypse happened why would the electricity shut down if everything is automatic? wouldnt windmills keep generating power?	Most of pur power still comes from coal which requires humans to mine. Renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric would keep working for longer, but eventually would shut diwn due to lack of maintenance	[ "Diesendorf goes on to say that every conventional power station breaks down unexpectedly from time to time, causing an immediate loss of all its power. That is true intermittency, according to Diesendorf, and it is a particular type of variability that switches between full power and no power. Once a conventional ...
why is being burned alive one of the worst ways to die ?	Have you ever accidentally touched a hot pan? Or had the shower water too hot? Its kinda like that but it's your entire body and it doesn't stop till you're dead.	[ "Death by burning is an execution method involving killing through the effects of combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of capital punishment, and many societies have employed it for activities considered criminal such as treason, rebellious actions by slaves, heresy, witchcraft, a...
how does vantablack appear so dark compared to average black objects?	The concept of color and shade depends on how light interacts with the objects. If a paper is red, it means that all colors but red are absorbed by the paper, so the red light reaches your eye and you see red. The same with black except black takes in almost all light. The capacity of how much an object absorbs all vis...	[ "Vantablack is a material developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the United Kingdom and is one of the darkest substances known, absorbing up to 99.96% of visible light (at 663 nm if the light is perpendicular to the material).\n", "Vantablack was an improvement over similar substances developed at the time. Vantablac...
eli:5 does a "thought" or "idea" have an actual physical presence?	> So are my thoughts and ideas just electrical signals Pretty much. They're also influenced by the specific arrangement of neurons, and communication between neurons via neurotransmitter chemicals. > They can't just be nothing right? Electrical signals aren't "nothing". Electrons are actual things. Though in ac...	[ "Ideas exist only in a mind and have no power to cause any effects. Ideas of extension, figure, and motion cannot cause sensations. \"To say, therefore, that these [sensations] are the effects of powers resulting from the configuration, number, motion, and size of corpuscles must certainly be false.\" Some non–idea...
why in the case of julius baer, the swiss bank, is it illegal for american citizens to evade taxes using overseas bank accounts but it is considered smart business for corporations to do the same thing?	Corporations are not funneling money made into the U.S. to foreign banks to avoid taxes. They are keeping money earned outside the U.S. from entering the U.S., where it would be subject to taxes. For example, Apple has a foreign subsidiary based in Ireland and the revenue/profits for iPhone sales outside the U.S. get ...	[ "On February 19, 2009, the United States government filed a lawsuit against UBS AG, a major Swiss bank, demanding it release the names of almost 52,000 Americans who allegedly used its secret accounts to avoid paying taxes on their income. In the matter of \"U.S. v. UBS AG\" (2009), the Switzerland-based bank stand...
Is FTL communication possible if morse code and Quantum Entanglement are used?	No. It is a common misconception that QE can be used for FTL communication. To illustrate what's going on, roughly, with QE and why it won't work for FTL communication, let me use an analogy. As with most analogies, it's not perfectly accurate, but I believe it does a good job at highlighting the important properties o...	[ "BULLET::::- The no-communication theorem thus says shared entanglement alone cannot be used to transmit any information. Compare this with the no-teleportation theorem, which states a classical information channel cannot transmit quantum information. (By \"transmit\", we mean transmission with full fidelity.) Howe...
Is there any perceivable difference between a 320kbps .mp3 and a .flac (lossless) audio file?	When you say perceivable, I assume you mean perceivable by the ear when playing back the encoded files. The short answer is: probably not, but it depends what mp3 encoder you use, what audio you are encoding, and how well you can hear. However there are definitely differences between the two encoding methods which ma...	[ "AllOfMP3 (and now MP3Sparks) allows users to choose from a variety of audio codecs for audio files. Lossy formats are offered in constant bitrates up to 320kbit/s or variable bitrates up to maximum quality in the following formats:\n", "MP3's more fine-grained and selective quantization does prove notably superi...
why are radar detectors even legal	Once a radar detector detects anything it's already too late since it only alerts you to detection and does not stop you from being detected	[ "Using or possessing a radar detector or jammer is illegal in certain countries, and it may result in fines, seizure of the device, or both. These prohibitions generally are introduced under the premise that a driver who uses a radar detector will pose a greater risk of accident than a driver who does not.\n", "R...
during sex, why do some women buck, twitch and arch their backs?	To me it's mostly to position myself so that the right spots are being hit, but it's also very natural to arch my back and throw my head back when it's really good.	[ "Women's orgasms are preceded by erection of the clitoris and moistening of the opening of the vagina. Some women exhibit a sex flush, a reddening of the skin over much of the body due to increased blood flow to the skin. As a woman nears orgasm, the clitoral glans retracts under the clitoral hood, and the labia mi...
if unhealthy and fast food can make us so unhealthy it can kill, why does our brain allow it?	The brain is sill accustomed to survival mode, it wasn't until very recently in Human history that man Hadi more food to eat then they did (someplaces in the world they still don't). So the brain is programmed to find the fattiest food delicious so we eat as much of it as we can to save that fat to run the body in cas...	[ "The following applies irrespective of the nature of energy provision: the brain never gives up on being selfish. Peters therefore differentiates the healthy from the diseased brain through its ability to compete for its energy requirements even under adverse conditions where there are excessive demands from the bo...
how come if you think to yourself, touch you finger to your nose, you can do it accurately? how does your body know where the tip of your nose is without being able to see it? or like touch my pinky finger to my index finger, how does my body know where other parts are?	It's one of your senses, called [proprioception](_URL_0_). Your body is full of sensory neurons that help your brain locate and track your body parts in space.	[ "Proprioception, the kinesthetic sense, provides the parietal cortex of the brain with information on the movement and relative positions of the parts of the body. Neurologists test this sense by telling patients to close their eyes and touch their own nose with the tip of a finger. Assuming proper proprioceptive f...
what kind of tangible effects does a 50% drop in stock value have on a multi-billion dollar company?	1. Their fundraising ability diminishes 2. The shareholders may demand a change in leadership 3. Consumers, suppliers and the general public may lose faith in the business. Creditors might be calling for immediate payment, sales may sag, bad pr.	[ "The most extreme incident was the second quarter of 2000, when the company reported $557 million in revenues beyond the $1.047 billion it could properly claim. The company thus reported 60 cents in earnings per share, beating the consensus Wall Street forecast of 59 cents. Without the padded revenue, earnings woul...
why is the debt of a parent passed into their offspring when they pass?	It isn't, at least not in the US. Debt cannot be inherited. All debts are paid by the estate, and if there's any debt leftover when the estate is out of money, too bad for the lender.	[ "Finally, if a man died with no children, the property was distributed between his nearest kin—first the descendants of his father, and if there were no such descendants, then between the descendants of his grandfather, and so on. Any extra land that daughters could not inherit because of female inheritance limits ...
what can a nurse practitioner and a physicians assistant do? and what are the differences between them?	If you’re in the UK this is different. ANP and PA roles will vary a lot depending on what specialty you’re attached to, what ward you’re on and what trust you’re in.	[ "BULLET::::- Nurse practitioners – Most of these nurses obtain a minimum of a master's degree and a desired post grad certificate. They often perform roles similar to those of physicians and physician assistants. They can prescribe medications as independent or supplementary prescribers, although they are still leg...
what is the difference between chromosomes and dna floating in the nucleus? isn't dna one long string?	Chromosomes are the DNA floating in the nucleus. Each chromosome is made up of a [single strand of DNA tightly coiled](_URL_0_) into an X-shaped bundle. Other than this, there isn't normally any DNA free-floating in the nucleus.	[ "Chromatin allows the very long DNA molecules to fit into the cell nucleus. During cell division chromatin condenses further to form microscopically visible chromosomes. The structure of chromosomes varies through the cell cycle. During cellular division chromosomes are replicated, divided, and passed successfully ...
Following the death in 1282 of Llywelyn the Last, how smooth was the transfer of administrative powers for those areas previously under conflict or under direct Welsh rule?	So there's actually a perfect study which analyses this topic in a comparative context, with the French crowns imposition of power after the Albigensian Crusade, it's by James B. Given State and Society: Gwynedd and Languedoc Under Foreign Rule (1984?) there are some methodological issues but the basic analysis is co...	[ "As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277. Peace was short lived and, with the completion in 1282 of the Edwardian conquest, the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his brother prince Dafydd's execution, the few remaining...
What is the history behind kissing booths? When did they first appear, where, etc?	Not sure about kissing booths exactly but a variety of novelty type attractions like that came from the circus and early theme park era. Coney Island, Dreamland and the like took many circus type attractions and simply made them more permanent. I could see the kissing booth evolving in several places (saloons/bars, ci...	[ "The first interracial kiss on television seems to have occurred almost 10 years earlier on British television on February 1, 1959, in the UK on the ITV \"Armchair Theatre\" adaptation of Ted Willis's play \"Hot Summer Night\". A later broadcast, \"You in Your Small Corner\", featured a kiss between black actor Llo...
how did early humans survive without weapons and how did they go from no weapons to weapons?	Simply put, humans picked them up off the ground. Using tools is not a skill only afforded to humans. Many primates exhibit this skill, either using rocks to break open nuts, long sticks to get at bugs inside trees, or my personal favorite, [using a branch to knock annoying drones out of the sky.](_URL_0_) The abi...	[ "It is sometime hard to imagine today, an age where people use their surrounding environment as the only source for survival. At the very rise of African civilization the essential tools to survival were found through the use of wood and stone tools. These tools proved to work well enough for hunting and farming, b...
suppose you visited japan in 1628 (towards the start of the Edo) and in 1828 (towards the end of the Edo). How could you tell which was which (without asking someone the date)?	There are two ways that come to mind off the top of my head. You can use 'Great Man' or Big History to deduce the answer by simply asking who the Shogun was at the time. By using reference points such as this or by asking how long ago the Battle of Sekigahara was (1600) it would be relatively easy to deduce. This wo...	[ "In 1691, Engelbert Kaempfer visited Edo as part of the annual Dutch embassy from Dejima in Nagasaki. He journeyed from Nagasaki to Osaka, to Kyoto, and there to Edo. Kaempfer gives us information on Japan during the early reign of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. As the Dutch embassy entered Edo in 1692, they asked to have an...
Is there a relationship or similarity between learning conventional languages (English, Chinese, etc.) and learning programming languages or mathematical notation?	This is sort of answering the inverse of the question, but I see at least 4 major differences, which are major enough, I think, to cancel out any similarities. The first is ambiguity. While natural languages can be parsed by mildly context-sensitive grammars, the number of valid parse trees that can be produced for al...	[ "It is possible that the kinds of language experience and knowledge gained through the statistical learning of the first language influences one's acquisition of a second language. Some research points to the possibility that the difficulty of learning a second language may be derived from the structural patterns a...
why does sleep deprevation result in random spikes of energy?	You may feel it as 'random spikes of energy' if your talking about the sudden jitters, body heat rising and increased heartbeat. If you are sleep deprived, the hours it takes the body to start re-building your body are no longer given at night. Sleep is your body asking you to stop so it can allocate its energy to re...	[ "Another effect of wakefulness is the reduction of glycogen held in the astrocytes, which supply energy to the neurons. Studies have shown that one of sleep's underlying functions is to replenish this glycogen energy source.\n", "Synaptic downscaling is tied to the beneficial effects of sleep: This is what ties i...
What are some of the more pertinent differences and comparisons between a pacemaker and a defibrillator?	A [pacemaker](_URL_3_) is a device surgically implanted into the chest, with wires in direct contact with the muscle of the heart. The purpose of a pacemaker is to keep the heart beating at an appropriate rate. Normally, the heart stimulates itself to beat, roughly 60 times a minute in a healthy adult. The stimulatio...	[ "Also known as automatic internal cardiac defibrillator (AICD). These devices are implants, similar to pacemakers (and many can also perform the pacemaking function). They constantly monitor the patient's heart rhythm, and automatically administer shocks for various life-threatening arrhythmias, according to the de...
if i watched a 4k/uhd video on a non 4k/uhd supported tv would i be able to see a difference as opposed to watching it in 1080/720p and why would/wouldn't this be the case?	You would not be able to an increase in quality if you are watching on a 1080p TV. Anything over 1080p source on a 1080p TV is not necessary. The television has a set number of pixels and even if the source is able to output more, your TV can't.	[ "4K resolution, also called 4K, refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominant 4K standard, whereas the movie projection industry...
if there is flowing briny water on mars, why doesnt it sublimate?	I'm not a chemist or any such thing. I'm guessing that it's because it is very briny. It'll have a high surface tension to protect it from sublimating. In fact, it is briny because the rest of the water-- which made it "pure"-- has already sublimated.	[ "Measurements made by \"Curiosity\" allowed researchers to determine that Mars has liquid water at times. Because the humidity goes to 100% at night, salts, like calcium perchlorate, will absorb water from the air and form a brine in the soil. This process in which a salt absorbs water from the air is called deliqu...
How did viking raiders/settlers communicate with the inhabitants of places like Ireland and Scotland?	Well as far as I see in the written record, Old English and Old Norse were far from mutually intelligible, we have a fairly robust grammar of Old Norse and Old English to support this. There might well be a degree of crossover in the lexicon with elements of the vocabulary but from what I've seen of both the languages ...	[ "In the year 795 Vikings (probably of Norwegian origin) raided islands off the coast of Ireland for the first time. This was the beginning of a new phase of Irish history, which saw many native communities – particularly ecclesiastical ones – relocate themselves on the continent, or further afield in places like Ic...
Why was citizenship such a big deal in Ancient Greece and Rome, but not so in Ancient China?	It has to do with the idea of democracy (or in Rome's case, republic), and the rights given to those who could claim citizenship. Roman and Greek citizen enjoyed numerous rights that non-citizens did not. Meanwhile, China never had that kind of philosophical underpinning. For virtually the totality of its 5000 year ...	[ "To the ancients, citizenship was a bond between a person and the city-state. Before Greek times, a person was generally connected to a tribe or kin-group such as an extended family, but citizenship added a layer to these ties—a non-kinship bond between the person and the state. Historian Geoffrey Hosking in his 20...
before people understood what a viral or bacterial infection was, what did they think was happening to them when they became sick?	A very common theory for a very long time was the concept of humors. The four humors were blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. The theory was that we have a certain balance of each humor in relation to the others, and that illness came from our humors being out of whack. For example, cancer was thought to be cau...	[ "In Pasteur's day, and for many years after his death, the word \"virus\" was used to describe any cause of infectious disease. Many bacteriologists soon discovered the cause of numerous infections. However, some infections remained, many of them horrendous, for which no bacterial cause could be found. These agents...
why do sometimes, after i orgasm, feel a weakness in my legs and it's hard to stand up?	I actually already knew you're a guy. In men, post-orgasm, there is a huge release of serotonin and other relaxing neurotransmitters. That's why we tend to fall asleep after sex and why you feel weakness. Your brain is really, really content. (Edit: On a side note, I heard a hypothesis years ago that the ser...	[ "Erectile dysfunction (ED), also known as impotence, is a type of sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual activity. ED can have psychological consequences as it can be tied to relationship difficulties and self-image.\n", "Normally, a human b...
What is the largest known thing in the universe, and what is the largest singular object in the universe?	Rather than asking you what constitutes a "thing" or an "object", I refer you to this site, see what you think. _URL_0_	[ "On January 11, 2013, the discovery of the Huge-LQG was announced by the University of Central Lancashire, as the largest known structure in the universe by that time. It comprises 74 quasars and has a minimum diameter of 1.4 billion light-years, but over 4 billion light-years at its widest point. According to rese...
How can photons become entangled if they don't experience the passage of time?	Think of it less as photons being modified to accommodate entanglement and more of the original photons being destroyed and generating a new pair which exist in an entangled state. When we say photons can't experience time, we're ultimately referring to the fact that their wave equation does not have a mass term, > ...	[ "While delayed-choice experiments have confirmed the seeming ability of measurements made on photons in the present to alter events occurring in the past, this requires a non-standard view of quantum mechanics. If a photon in flight is interpreted as being in a so-called \"superposition of states\", i.e. if it is i...
why is waterboarding so tortuous that the navy seals removed it from training because even none of them could handle it?	The wet rag getting soaked repeatedly simulates drowning. Basically, every time they "drown" you, your instincts and adrenaline explode and drive you more and more with the urge to escape. As it continues, you turn into a caged animal who is extraordinarily stressed and slowly, your mental resolve breaks.	[ "In 2006, the Bush administration banned torture including waterboarding on detainees, but only for the US Military, not the CIA. When an amendment by Senator Dianne Feinstein passed that restricted its use on the CIA, President Bush vetoed the bill. In January 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a similar ban...
What is it about milk that makes its water and fat contents miscible.	Homogenization - from wikipedia > Milk often is homogenized, a treatment that prevents a cream layer from separating out of the milk. The milk is pumped at high pressures through very narrow tubes, breaking up the fat globules through turbulence and cavitation. A greater number of smaller particles possess more total...	[ "Although milk is an important food product, its presence in wastewaters is highly polluting because of its organic strength, which can lead to very rapid de-oxygenation of receiving waters. Milking parlour wastes also contain large volumes of wash-down water, some animal waste together with cleaning and disinfecti...
why fleas don’t infest hairy parts of humans.	They do. Humans can get and carry fleas just like any other fuzzy mammal. That's how the Bubonic Plague spread, fleas and rats.	[ "Flea infestations can be not only annoying for both dogs and cats and humans, but also very dangerous. Problems caused by fleas may range from mild to severe itching and discomfort to skin problems and infections. Anemia may also result from flea bites in extreme circumstances. Furthermore, fleas can transmit tape...
Why was the post-Cold War period so violent?	Dismemberment of the Soviet Union left a power vacuum not only in the former territories of the Soviet Union but also throughout the world. Post-colonial territories are harder to contextualize, the after-effects of colonial policies are still being played out throughout the world.	[ "Also in 2005, the Human Security Report documented a decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses since the end of the Cold War, and presented evidence, albeit circumstantial, that international activism – mostly spearheaded by the UN – has been the main cause of the decline in armed conflict s...
when banks print/make new currency, say they decide to make £1million, how is that broken down into the various denominations?	My understanding...(no expert) The denomination of printed / manufactured currency is decided based on what is needed to be in circulation for example when ATMs only issued denominations of £10 this led to a reduction in the number of £5 notes circulating. They were being banked but not recirculated. The banks were to...	[ "As of 2020, the Bank of England issues four banknote denominations from two distinct series. The two larger denominations are from Series F (£20 first issued in 2007, £50 first issued in 2011). The £5 and £10 notes are from Series G (first issued in 2016 & 2017).\n", "In 1987, notes were introduced in the new cu...
why can sweat come out of our skin but rain & shower water doesn't go through?	Sweat comes out of glands in your pores. These pores do not go all the way through the skin. Thin of them as little pockets in the skin and one of their jobs is to produce sweat. Water can get into your pores, but it will not go through the skin because the pores do not penetrate the skin. Some water does get absorbed ...	[ "Another important factor is humidity. Water is a better conductor of heat than air, thus if clothes are damp — because of sweat, rain, or immersion — water replaces some or all of the air between the fibres of the clothing, causing thermal loss through conduction and/or evaporation.\n", "Some people can develop ...
what state of matter is gel/jelly?	Think of it as a sponge made out of protein, with water suspended in it. The sponge itself is solid, but the water inside it is liquid.	[ "In chemistry and chemical physics, a mesophase is a state of matter intermediate between liquid and solid. Gelatin is a common example of a partially ordered structure in a mesophase. Further, biological structures such as the lipid bilayers of cell membranes are examples of mesophases.\n", "In condensed matter ...
What widely held historical ideas are in the process of being overturned?	In the last decade or so there has been a serious revision of the importance of the atomic bombs in ending World War II, due primarily to the work of Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. His book [_Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan_](_URL_0_) argues pretty effectively that in the minds of the Japanese Imperial...	[ "Some academics have also reexamined prior thought under the rubric of \"reconsideration\", as with \"Culture Industry Reconsidered\", a 1963 book by German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, and \"The American Revolution Reconsidered\", a 1996 book by American historian Richard B. Morris.\n", "The starting point of ...
Can a positron interact with a proton?	Yes, positrons and protons can interact just like any two other particles can interact. They are both positively charged, so they will repel each other via the electromagnetic interaction. Strong force, weak force and gravity behave the exact same way they do when an electron and a proton interact. They cannot, howeve...	[ "The positron quickly finds an electron, and they annihilate each other. The two resulting gamma rays (γ) are detectable. The neutron can be detected by its capture on an appropriate nucleus, releasing a gamma ray. The coincidence of both events – positron annihilation and neutron capture – gives a unique signature...
How did the Siegfried Line compare to to the Maginot Line, in terms of defensive strength?	While not having a definitive answer to the exact strength of the Siegfried line, I'll point out that German commanders did describe it as rather unimpressive prior to the start of the offensive against France in 1940, and a real effort to strengthen the defenses wasn't made until after the D-Day landings in 1944. I d...	[ "The defensive system of the Siegfried Line was built between 1936 and 1940 on the western border of the German Empire and had a length of around 630 kilometres. It consisted of a huge number of bunkers and tank obstacles of many different types. A total of 22,000 bunkers and structures was planned, and around 14,8...
why is glass (stereotypically or not) used for beakers and vials in chemistry?	Glass (note that there are a lot of different types, but generally:) can withstand a wide range of temperatures, is largely inert (doesn't react with many compounds), and is relatively cheap.	[ "Nowadays, the two types of glass that are used mainly in the laboratory and in the Pasteur pipette are borosilicate glass and soda lime glass. Borosilicate glass is a widely used glass for laboratory apparatus, as it can withstand chemicals and temperatures used in most laboratories. Borosilicate glass is also mor...
Were Nobel Prizes given out during World War II?	No Nobel peace prize was awarded from 1939-~~1942~~ 1943. [Source](_URL_0_)	[ "There have been nine years in which the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was not awarded (1915–1918, 1921, 1925, 1940–1942). Most of these occurred during either World War I (1914–1918) or World War II (1939–1945). In 1939, Adolf Hitler's Third Reich forbade Gerhard Domagk to accept his prize. He was later ab...
How do MRIs manage to focus in on one part of the body?	You do so by [slice selection](_URL_0_). A magnetic field gradient is applied to the body so hydrogen atoms in each part of your body experiences a slightly different magnetic field. You then select a narrow enough excitation pulse such that only protons experiencing the right field strength will be excited.	[ "MRI uses strong magnetic fields to align atomic nuclei (usually hydrogen protons) within body tissues, then uses a radio signal to disturb the axis of rotation of these nuclei and observes the radio frequency signal generated as the nuclei return to their baseline states. The radio signals are collected by small a...
why do humans grow a set of milk teeth only to have them fall out and be replaced by a stronger, permanent set for the larger percentage of their life? do any other animals share this trait? why?	Many mammals share this trait. If you've ever had a puppy or kitten, you'll have noticed this happen when they're around 4-6 months old. Some animals, even mammals, handle this slightly differently. For example, a cat's canines start growing before the milk ones fall out, so for a while they have both adult and ba...	[ "It was discovered 30 years ago that milk was less damaging to knocked out teeth than water or saliva. It was recommended because it has a compatible osmolality (fluid pressure) to tooth root cells and it is thought to be readily available. However, like physiologic saline, milk lacks the necessary metabolites and ...
Historians of Muslim Spain: what caused the 1066 A.D. anti-Semitic riots in Granada?	I'd agree with the overall thrust of your portrayal of the riots, and will add some context to it. Before coming to the riots, a few points on Shmuel HaNagid, or Samuel ibn Nagrillah as he's known in Muslim sources. Ibn Nagrillah was a famous Jewish scholar and poet, fluent in Hebrew and Arabic. On top of that he has a...	[ "This revolt enabled the Catholics to claim that the Muslims had violated the terms of the Treaty of Granada, which were therefore withdrawn. Throughout the region, Muslims were now forced to choose between conversion to Christianity or exile. The vast majority chose conversion and became known as \"Moriscos\" or \...
why is fire hot?	This is a good question because it actually shows an example where we look at things "the wrong way": It is not hot because there is fire. There is "fire" because it is hot. What do we call "fire": If you make things hot, anything really, it starts to glow from a deep red over a brighter red to a bright orange to a ...	[ "Fire is hot because the conversion of the weak double bond in molecular oxygen, O, to the stronger bonds in the combustion products carbon dioxide and water releases energy (418 kJ per 32 g of O); the bond energies of the fuel play only a minor role here. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the i...
Will my speed of reading be increased by simply reading more, or should I learn techniques?	Reading more is really the ideal way to speed up your reading. This goes for both your native language as well as for learning to improve your reading in a second language. Techniques are good to correct bad reading habits, but the way to see real long term improvement is just to read more, and get more comfortable wi...	[ "BULLET::::- \"Speed reading\" is a collection of methods for increasing reading speed without an unacceptable reduction in comprehension or retention. Methods include skimming or the chunking of words in a body of text to increase the rate of reading. It is closely connected to speed learning.\n", "Advocates of ...
Statistically speaking, if I were to generate a number from 1 to infinity, what could that number be?	There is no way to randomly pick a number between 1 and infinity. There has to be some kind of bias to make something like that work.	[ "Therefore, if 1 were not the smallest number greater than 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, etc., then there would be a point on the number line that lies between 1 and all these points. This point would be at a distance from 1 that is less than for every integer . In the standard number systems (the rational numbers and the real...
How close was Heisenberg to successfully developing the Atomic bomb for the Nazis? Also, had it been completed prior to the Allies, was there an already developed plan for it's use?	The way I like to talk about this is in this way: _what are the phases necessary for developing a nuclear weapon?_ In some ways, it's easiest to first talk about this in the context of the American Manhattan Project. In 1939, Einstein and Szilard wrote the famous letter to Roosevelt about bomb issues. FDR said, "sound...	[ "The Farm Hall transcripts reveal that Heisenberg, along with other physicists interned at Farm Hall including Otto Hahn and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, were glad the Allies had won World War II. Heisenberg told scientists that he had never contemplated a bomb, only an atomic pile to produce energy. The morality...
Does having an autoimmune disease make you less prone to other infections or diseases such as cancer?	Not really, sadly. Autoimmune disorders exist because your immune system suddenly (due to a variety of reasons, e.g. genetics, prior infections, environmental factors, et cetera) recognizes self-antigens as foreign entities and initiates the immune response against the cells expressing those self-antigens. It would req...	[ "Autoimmune hepatitis is not a benign disease. Despite a good initial response to immunosuppression, recent studies suggest that the life expectancy of patients with autoimmune hepatitis is lower than that of the general population. Additionally, presentation and response to therapy appears to differ according to r...
what would it take for a major company like bp, bayer, or mcdonald's to disappear?	A company doing "bad" things doesn't matter in terms of the health of the company as long as that company is still profitable. Oil companies, for the moment, are scandal-proof because we don't have any other viable options in terms of energy production. The only way BP would ever disappear is if consumers trended towar...	[ "On March 25, 2012, BPI announced it would suspend operations at three of its four plants, being in \"crisis planning\". The three plants produced a total of about 900,000 pounds of the product per day. BPI said it lost contracts with 72 customers, many over the course of one weekend, and production decreased from ...
why are guys and girls bike seats different?	Mr. Rogers said it best: Boys are fancy on the outside, Girls are fancy on the inside.	[ "Road bicycles for racing tend to have a steeper seat tube angle, measured from the horizontal plane. This positions the rider aerodynamically and arguably in a stronger stroking position. The trade-off is comfort. Touring and comfort bicycles tend to have more slack (less vertical) seat tube angle traditionally. T...
Why and how does a coin "ring" if I flip it?	So, what you want to know is, when you flip a coin in the air, what is happening that causes it to make sound? And how does a fingernail, which is much softer than metal, manage to create this? That's a great question, and the answer is surprisingly simple. I think the natural place to start is an analogy. The coin, i...	[ "In Japan, the one-handed ring gesture is used to symbolize money, and in this context the fingers' circular shape represents a coin. Sometimes the sign is used to avoid the verbal awkwardness in talking about or asking for money. In other contexts, it can be used to imply a bribe or other illicit financial transac...
When you try to think of a good word to describe something, how is your brain sifting through or finding that particular word?	I can't talk much about what strategy your brain uses for its search, but it does seem that trying to remember or identify something is much like looking through file folders in a filing cabinet. Your brain has some system for organizing its memories, and so it does have an expected place to find an appropriate memo...	[ "When a person produces a word, they are essentially turning their thoughts into sounds, a process known as lexicalisation. In many psycholinguistic models this is considered to be at least a two-stage process. The first stage deals with semantics and syntax; the result of the first stage is an abstract notion of a...
why do certain images/photos get octagon shaped lens flare?	That is the shape of the [lens diaphragm](_URL_2_). [Also seen in out of focus lights](_URL_0_) You can also use [fancy shaped apertures](_URL_1_) to produce [interesting effects](_URL_3_).	[ "In photography, lens flare is a defect where various circles can appear around highlights, and with ghosts throughout a photo, due to undesired light, such as reflection and scattering off elements in the lens.\n", "The spatial distribution of the lens flare typically manifests as several starbursts, rings, or c...
why do subjects in pictures look clearer than they do in person?	Probably because 1. You are seeing very close up shots of the subjects in specific conditions to highlight a lot of detail, which is blown up to a high resolution on a big screen. 2. The human eye can't make out that kind of detail from standing distance, you would have to get right up close to do that with the naked...	[ "The images have a meaning when you see them from afar but not necessarily the same meaning seen close up and personal. It also allows you to think of images in terms of not being part of a “movie”. For instance, like every day life in Paris, with similarities to Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera, the murdim Projec...
Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast has completed its chapters on the English Civil War and the American Revolution. How well does his reporting align with historical fact? Is it safe for a non-historian to consider themselves 'historically informed' on the basis of these podcasts alone?	"It just seems like he's trying to paint a picture about how revolutions work to achieve some contemporary political goal. Is this absurd of me?" IANAH. But...having listened to the entire run so far, what political goal or point do you imagine Duncan's driving at? Or what broader point is it that you think he's try...	[ "Benjamin Wittes, after hearing the first two episodes of \"Revolutions\", called the podcast \"informative, engaging, told in Duncan's usual easygoing, somewhat comic style that packs a lot of history into relatively brief discussions\".\n", "\"Revolutions\" has aired since September 2013. The podcast covers mod...
why is mental health so misunderstood and is not funded as much as other diseases?	Mental health is not something you can see. Humans, historically, have a huge problem with stuff they can't see and understand, so they make up explanations. So "mental health" for the longest time was basically explained as stuff like demonic possession, and treated as such. Many stigmas remain attached to mental ...	[ "Untreated and under-treated mental illness is strongly correlated with myriad other social problems, including homelessness, high medical-care costs, drug abuse and addiction, and poverty. But research demonstrates that – if met with the best and most appropriate treatments – even severe mental illness can become ...
What percentage of matter was converted to energy during the big bang?	The primordial asymmetry is much smaller than 5%. Approximately one in every ten billion original quarks survived annihilation with an antiquark (for electron, we have other bounds from the universe electrical neutrality). See for instance : [Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Primordial Abundances](_URL_0_)	[ "As the universe cooled, the rest mass energy density of matter came to gravitationally dominate that of the photon radiation. After about 379,000 years, the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms (mostly hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter and continued through space largely unimpeded. This reli...
what is that hiccup like thing i feel after eating a big meal?	Irritation of your diaphragm, which is a muscle under your lungs that allows a good ventilation (by allowing your lungs to expand when inhaling and decrease when exhaling), is a known cause of hiccups. After a big meal, your stomach is full and may irritate your diaphragm. Ingestion of air may also be a factor.	[ "The hypothesis suggests that the air bubble in the stomach stimulates the sensory limb of the reflex at receptors in the stomach, esophagus and along the diaphragm. This triggers the hiccup, which creates suction in the chest, pulling air from the stomach up and out through the mouth, effectively burping the anima...
What caused the Easter Rising of 1914?	Just to clarify, it was 1916. Last year, the Republic of Ireland celebrated the centennial of the event.	[ "The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week, April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic while the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in the First World War....
We can only notice the progression through time relative to our own immediate environment. If there were a spaceship far away, how would they calculate time in relation to Earth's relative time?	You mean like if you wanted to keep an accurate Earth calendar, for historical reasons or whatever? The difference would be on the order of microseconds per day, at the absolute most. I don't feel like doing the maths to figure out the time dilation between the surface of the Earth and flat space right now, but it's 38...	[ "A time machine that utilizes this principle might be, for instance, a spherical shell with a diameter of 5 meters and the mass of Jupiter. A person at its center will travel forward in time at a rate four times that of distant observers. Squeezing the mass of a large planet into such a small structure is not expec...
why is it illegal to bring a beverage onto a plane yet the stewards/stewardesses are allowed to give/sell them once airborne?	They know where the drinks they sell you came from. Helps prevent someone from bringing a bottle full of acid, poison or explosives on to the plane.	[ "The United States Federal Aviation Administration prohibits crew members from performing their duties within eight hours of consuming an alcoholic beverage, while under the influence of alcohol, or with a BAC greater than 0.04%.\n", "Federal Aviation Regulation 91.17 () prohibits pilots from flying aircraft with...
why, in the us, is corn used to produce ethanol and sweetening products as opposed to sugar beets?	Due to corn subsidies (i.e. the government pays farmers to produce excess corn) and cane sugar tariffs, dent corn is by far the cheapest material available to convert to food additives and ethanol. The Energy Neutral argument for corn-based ethanol is flawed as corn production requires inputs like petroleum-based ferti...	[ "and the price of corn is kept low through government subsidies paid to growers. High-fructose corn syrup became an attractive substitute, and is preferred over cane sugar among the vast majority of American food and beverage manufacturers. Soft drink makers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi use sugar in other nations, b...
why "crazy people" have that distinctive look to their eyes	In many psychotic individuals, the wide eyed look is because of their intense anxiety levels. It's more than just the eyes though. In someone psychotically agitated, you'll see facial grimacing and body postures indicating stress or aggression as well. The scariest patients are the ones that have a flat affect, mean...	[ "Black-eyed children (or black-eyed kids) are a contemporary legend of supposed paranormal creatures that resemble children between the ages of 6 and 16, with pale skin and black eyes, who are reportedly seen hitchhiking or , or are encountered on doorsteps of residential homes.\n", "A 52-year-old woman suffered ...
Do extended-release pills release medicine at a constant rate, and how can they stay "inside you?"	I'm having difficulties finding a specific reference for you, but the complete digestion process normally takes longer than 12 hours, I'm finding references up to 75 hours but 24-48 hours for an adult is expected. Time release pills are designed to take a while to decay, this is usually a rate dependent on the surface...	[ "Modified-release dosage and its variants are mechanisms used in tablets (pills) and capsules to dissolve a drug over time in order to be released slower and steadier into the bloodstream while having the advantage of being taken at less frequent intervals than immediate-release (IR) formulations of the same drug. ...
Can artificial light power solar panels?	Yes, but you get (significantly) less power than you need to power the artificial light, that makes it pointless unless there are other advantages (like mobility, for light-powered calculators). Conservation of energy tells you that you cannot win, and with the efficiencies of the light source, light transmission, and...	[ "BULLET::::- Hybrid solar lighting (HSL) – or hybrid lighting systems combine the use of solar with artificial light for interior illumination by channelling sunlight through fiber optic cable bundles to provide solar light into rooms without windows or skylights, and by supplementing this natural light with artifi...
Why is the King of Saudi Arabia referred to as "King", when historically, Islamic Monarchs used the title of "Sultan"?	Historically, sultan is just a noble title (or more often a name). The later version of sultan meant the governer of a province under a caliphate (caliphate being a religious grouping, with the caliph as a very high religious leader, similar to a pope). The ottoman sultans fit this definition, since in the 1300's they ...	[ "The term is distinct from king ( \"), despite both referring to a sovereign ruler. The use of \"sultan\" is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular \"king\", which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.\n", "In Saudi Arabia, all membe...
where does kinetic energy go after being absorbs by an object?	The ELI5 answer: It gets transfered into a different kind of energy, namely heat. "But the pillow doesn't get warm", you might say. Well, it's because it takes _a lot_ of energy to heat something up. Let's do some math, but since a pillow is a difficult object to work with, so I'm going to go all physics-teacher on yo...	[ "During the collision of small objects, kinetic energy is first converted to potential energy associated with a repulsive force between the particles (when the particles move against this force, i.e. the angle between the force and the relative velocity is obtuse), then this potential energy is converted back to ki...
why is it that some people, including myself, tend to have these life changing and existential thoughts at night?	I'd say that when you're alone, you typically just get more time to think. Lot's of time spent playing the what if game in your own head. It's hard for me to imagine a real science behind it.	[ "Since daydreaming is disruptive in external tasks and its potential benefits are quite private and subtle, it's worth discussing the reason why daydreaming exists and occupies a large amount of people's waking time.\n", "BULLET::::- Psychology: Peter K. Jonason, Amy Jones, and Minna Lyons, for amassing evidence ...
When something is x light years from earth, are those years measured from the point of view of us or the light?	In a very non-rigorous sense, time doesn't really pass for a photon. Those 4 years are from the Earth's frame. It'd be basically the same from the frame of almost any astronomical object, because at typical interstellar/intergalactic speeds (hundreds of km/s), relativistic effects are still pretty small.	[ "Astronomical distances are sometimes expressed in light-years, especially in popular science publications and media. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, around 9461 billion kilometres, 5879 billion miles, or 0.3066 parsecs. In round figures, a light year is nearly 10 trillion kilometres or near...
why would filing nails make them stronger?	Do you mean human nails or metal nails?	[ "The best way to care for nails is to trim them regularly. Filing is also recommended, as to keep nails from becoming too rough and to remove any small bumps or ridges that may cause the nail to get tangled up in materials such as cloth.\n", "A nail file is a tool used to gently grind down and shape the edges of ...
why do people no longer smoke opium as much as they did 100 years ago?	In short: because opium has been distilled into more potent forms. The long answer is the history of opiates, from which opium is a relative. This lead us to the drugs we have today that are related to opium such as: Heroin, Morphine, Codine, and Oxycontin. All of which are highly addictive and are regularly abused. M...	[ "In the 19th century, smoking opium became common. Previously it had only been eaten, and then primarily for its medical properties. A massive increase in opium smoking in China was more or less directly instigated by the British trade deficit with Qing dynasty China. As a way to amend this problem, the British beg...
What STDs would have been a death sentence for most people pre-syphilis outbreak? (NSFW)	I know your question specifies venereal diseases from prior to the appearance of syphilis in Europe, but the time period you've identified in your comment, 1400-1600, would have been the peak time for "the pox." It was supposedly introduced in 1494 and spread northward through Europe from Naples, although its origins a...	[ "Independent data shows that measles causes the most vaccine-preventable deaths of any disease, resulting in about 96,000 deaths in 2013, and the vaccine is 97% effective after two shots. Measles is highly contagious – before immunization in the United States there were between three and four million cases annually...
What are the differences in screens that allow me to see my Gameboy Color in direct sunlight but when my laptop is I can't see anything?	LCD screens like these don't produce light, they need light from another source. There are two major ways to provide light. One is to have a reflective layer behind the screen that reflects ambient light. The original Game Boy and Game Boy Color had one of these, as do many calculators and digital watches. These ...	[ "The original Game Boy uses a monochrome 4-shades palette. Due to the fact that the non-backlit LCD display background is greenish, this results in a greenscale graphic display, as it is shown in the simulated image (at Game Boy display resolution), below. The Game Boy Pocket uses a monochrome 4-shades palette usin...
Were British Columbia's First Nations aware of Europeans on the continent before explorers like Simon Fraser arrived?	Simon Fraser reached the Pacific from eastern Canada in 1793. First Nations on the coast of British Columbia may have been aware of Europeans before that. The Russians had made some 40 voyages to the Aleutian Islands and the Alaskan Mainland since 1740. Their first permanent settlement on Kodiak Island was in 1784. ...	[ "Subsequently, European explorer-merchants from the east started to discover British Columbia. Three figures dominate in the early history of mainland British Columbia: Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Simon Fraser, and David Thompson. As employees of the North West Company, the three were primarily concerned with discover...
Was the sky completely white before the CMBR stretched to microwaves?	Basically, yes! More specifically, it would have been yellow-white, not quite white-hot. Before the CMB was emitted, the Universe was was not transparent - light couldn't fly free. This is because everything was ionised; the Universe was mostly protons and electrons, and although light was being emitted all the time, ...	[ "BULLET::::- 1990 – FIRAS on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite measures the black body form of the CMB spectrum with exquisite precision, and shows that the microwave background has a nearly perfect black-body spectrum and thereby strongly constrains the density of the intergalactic medium.\n", "In ...
If the time dilation (w.r.t. a "far off" observer) approaches infinity as one approaches the event horizon of a black hole, how can anything ever fall into a black hole from an external observer's point of view?	> If the time dilation (w.r.t. a "far off" observer) approaches infinity as one approaches the event horizon of a black hole, how can anything ever fall into a black hole from an external observer's point of view? You're exactly right. Things crossing the event horizon seem to take forever from an outside point of ...	[ "In the case of the horizon around a black hole, observers stationary with respect to a distant object will all agree on where the horizon is. While this seems to allow an observer lowered towards the hole on a rope (or rod) to contact the horizon, in practice this cannot be done. The proper distance to the horizon...
what did the nazi party do in the 1920's to increase their membership?	They took advantage of hyperinflation, falling trade union memberships and anti-communist sentiment which began in the early 20's. Germany after WWI suffered a series of revolts and strikes which led to the formation of the [Weimar Republic](_URL_0_). This was started with good intentions; but its leadership was inef...	[ "The Nazi Party grew significantly during 1921 and 1922, partly through Hitler's oratorical skills, partly through the SA's appeal to unemployed young men, and partly because there was a backlash against socialist and liberal politics in Bavaria as Germany's economic problems deepened and the weakness of the Weimar...
how did society’s typical standard for attractiveness come to mean “fit” body attributes, such as toned abs, strong jawline, larger chest, etc.?	It's not just society, there are some instincts at work. People are attracted to potential mates who signs of excellent health, because they tend to produce healthy offspring.	[ "Judgment of attractiveness of physical traits is partly universal to all human cultures, partly dependent on culture or society or time period, partly biological, and partly subjective and individual.\n", "The general body shapes of female and male bodies both have significant social and cultural symbolism. Phys...
Can anyone tell me about primitive tribes that still exist or have existed up until relatively recently? What is it like there?	Let me partially reprise a comment I made some time ago in response to this question. But first I want to begin by saying that there are no "primitive" tribes. Indigenous people are not primitive people -- as the term presupposes a hierarchy of civilizations that always (coincidentally!) puts the researcher's culture a...	[ "Though many of them said to be primitive tribes, all of them have a story of migration to the hills. It is likely to believe that these tribes were living there for several centuries! \"The story of tribes on the Western Ghat mountainous ranges have is less than 300 years\", says Philipose Vaidyar who had visited ...
If we confirmed an Earth 2.0 in space, how close would it have to be to detect satellites in its orbit?	At 42 light years? It'd be nearly impossible just about any way you do it. Even if we had optics that could resolve objects over that distance, the technology that would have gone into it would be better used to visually inspect closer worlds. Say we have some sort of laser that we can bounce off their debris--- we...	[ "The satellite was also equipped with instruments to accurately pinpoint its location. Precise orbit determination is crucial because errors in locating the spacecraft would distort the sea level measurement calculated from the altimeter readings.\n", "On 31 March 2004, at 15:35 UTC, it passed within approximatel...
Why are synthetic chemicals less biologically active than their natural counterparts?	Can I ask what you are basing this question on? The default assumption would be that pure, identical chemicals act identically, irrespective of source.	[ "Most synthetic polymers are resistant to microbial attack because of their physical and chemical properties. However, they can become biodegradable when introducing natural polymers such as starch. Natural polymers introduce ester groups that attach to the backbone of non-biodegradable polymers, making them more s...
How might religion have evolved?	I'm certainly not on the board of elder scientists here, but I do fancy myself a social scientific researcher, by which I mean I've done a butt ton of research as a graduate student, some of which was on the topic of religion, albeit in a small area of focus. So, I'm probably more of an expert than anyone that's commen...	[ "Scientists generally agree with the idea that a propensity to engage in religious behavior evolved early in human history. However, there is disagreement on the exact mechanisms that drove the evolution of the religious mind. There are two schools of thought. One is that religion itself evolved due to natural sele...
the venus transit on jun. 5th-6th	The orbit of Venus lines up just perfectly between the sun and the earth. So you will be able to see a little dark dot moving across the sun (do NOT look at the sun directly) it takes about 7 hours to complete.	[ "The \"Transit of Venus March\" is a march scored for military brass band written by John Philip Sousa in 1883 to celebrate the 1882 Transit of Venus and published by the J.W. Pepper Company. The work was erroneously thought to be lost for over 100 years when a piano transcription published in 1896 was found by a L...
what was the great arab revolution, and what is its significance?	For centuries, the area that we know today as the Middle East was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which was based in Turkey. During WWI, the Ottoman Empire fought on the side of the Germans. To hurt the Ottomans, the Allies, especially Britain, encouraged the Arabs to revolt and gain their independence. When WWI ende...	[ "The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across North Africa and the Middle East in the early 2010s. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in Tunisia (Noueihed, 2011; Malek...
why is the night sky more clear after it rains?	The air is full of dust, pollen, dander, debris and dirt kicked up from the ground, haze from automobile exhaust, smoke, and factories, and the rain wipes it all clean as it falls the same way it washes your dishes. Dirt and debris cling to the drops and it delivers them to the ground clearing the air as it falls.	[ "The dry season is characterized by a strong wind which blows from the east; the sky is absolutely blue and rarely crossed by small white clouds. At night the sky is so transparent that it seems to hold twice the number of stars as in European or American skies.\n", "This saying actually has some scientific valid...
by the time Oliver Cromwell died how high was his public support? and how does it compare to his popularity immediately after the civil war?	His popularity at the beginning of his reign is also questionable. He had messed around with parliament (the nominated assembly was a joke) and by 1655, the rule of the major generals meant that he was enforcing a minority religious view based on a very austere Puritanism. So by 1658, he was definitely not loved, hence...	[ "Cromwell estimated the Royalist losses at 2,000 killed and 9,000 captured. Those among the prisoners who had served voluntarily were bound for servile labour in the New World, and when there was no more demand there, for service in the Republic of Venice When the English Parliament decreed a day of thanksgiving fo...
what's the big deal with people being against genetically modified porn / soy beans ?	Genetically modified porn? You’re going to have to explain to me about that.	[ "\"The Guardian\" reported that a Monsanto representative had said, \"any problems with GM soya were to do with use of the crop as a monoculture, not because it was GM. If you grow any crop to the exclusion of any other you are bound to get problems.\"\n", "In \"1997\", about 8% of all soybeans cultivated for the...
how exactly do faucets work? they look like saxophones so how does water go up the pipes?	Water pressure: either from a pump or water tower creates pressure and makes water come out the faucet	[ "Some flue pipes are designed to produce the sounds of reed pipes or to imitate the sounds of orchestral instruments which are approximated by reed pipes. The sound is generally more mellow and sweet than that of a true reed pipe. Examples include the Saxophone, the Muted horn, the Clarinet flute, and the Echo oboe...
laws on unclaimed islands	If you did manage to find a new island that was completely unclaimed for whatever reason, and someone managed to find out about it - I think you would probably be tried under [Universal Jurisdiction](_URL_0_). > Universal jurisdiction allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over...	[ "In the case all islands of an island nation become uninhabitable or completely submerged by the sea, the states themselves would also become dissolved. Once this happens, all rights on the surrounding area (sea) are removed. This area can be significant as rights extend to a radius of around the entire island stat...
If theoretical pools of water were located on the moon, would a person be able to swim?	I believe that you would have issues with the water vaporizing or sublimating from lack of pressure. Ignoring that, the denser substance will still be on the bottom and water is relatively incompressible, so the gravity shouldn't matter.	[ "BULLET::::- Physics: Alberto Minetti, Yuri Ivanenko, Germana Cappellini, Nadia Dominici, and Francesco Lacquaniti, for discovering that some people would be physically capable of running across the surface of a pond — if those people and that pond were on the moon.\n", "Moon pools can be used in chambers below s...
how redundant is "the cloud"/google drive and how do they make sure i never lose my data?	Quite redundant, however they use enterprise methods that are quite fancy. The main thing that they use is what is known as a RAID array. Long story short, when you have many hard drives, you can use fancy algorithms to have different levels of redundancy vs storage. For example, if you have 6 identical drives, you ca...	[ "Data is stored in Google's data centers, which are \"built with custom-designed servers, that run our own operating system for security and performance\", with \"more than 550 full-time security and privacy professionals\". In a blog post, Google stated that benefits of using G Suite included \"disaster recovery\"...
Ataturk and turkey's social and economic reforms	There is absolutely a lot of literature out there on Ataturk and the creation of modern Turkey. It's a topic that has a lot of biases built in, though, since it functions as a myth of national creation in Turkey. (I don't use the word "myth" pejoratively - I'm from the United States, and we do similar things with the P...	[ "Atatürk instigated economic policies to develop small and large scale businesses, but also to create social strata (industrial bourgeoisie along with the peasantry of Anatolia) that were virtually non-existent during the Ottoman Empire. The primary problem faced by the politics of his period was the lag in the dev...
in prehistoric times, why didn't insects evolve to become much larger?	they did _URL_0_	[ "The differences between modern and prehistoric varieties can be essential, and, like many other creatures of prehistory, the latter tended to be much larger than their contemporary equivalents. This size difference is thought to be due to higher atmospheric oxygen levels (allowing diffusion through spiracles over ...
why are gifs categorized as images and not videos?	GIF is fundamentally an image format. It does the capability of having animations, but it was only intended for small animations a few frames long. But people started using this animation feature for videos. The problem is GIF is massively inefficient for video as each frame is stored as a separate image. Where as pro...	[ "GIFs are another example of remix culture. They are illustrations and small clips from films used for personal expressions in online conversations. GIFs are commonly taken from an online video form such as film, T.V. or YouTube videos. Each clip usually lasts for about 3 seconds and is \"looped, extended and repea...
Many people claim that Prophet Muhammad was an illiterate back when he was a merchant. How cultured was the average Meccan merchant from a rich and influential tribe like the Quraysh?	Follow up question if he could not read how did he transcribe the Koran?	[ "The Islamic prophet Muhammad's views on Jews were informed through the contact he had with Jewish tribes living in and around Medina. His views on Jews include his theological teaching of them as People of the Book (\"Ahl al-Kitab\"), his description of them as earlier receivers of Abrahamic revelation; and the fa...
the palme affair/ cia leak scandal	Valerie Plame and her husband both worked for the government, he as an ambassador, she as a secret agent. When her husband wrote a series of op-eds for the NYT about how the claim that Iraq was buying nuke material from Niger (a major part of the reason they went in looking for weapons of mass destruction in 2003) was...	[ "The X-file scandal is a 2005 South Korean political scandal. The scandal revolves around the unveiling of wiretap conversations to the media. Most of the conversations were conducted by Conservative politicians of the Grand National Party organizing bribes during the 1997 South Korean presidential election. Howeve...

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