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if humans, as 3-dimensional creatures, can only view cross sections of the 4th dimension (a point in time), does that mean a 4-dimensional creature can view the entire 4th dimension at once?	So far as we know, such a time-independent perspective is impossible in our universe.	[ "As a three-dimensional object passes through a two-dimensional plane, two-dimensional beings in this plane would only observe a cross-section of the three-dimensional object within this plane. For example, if a spherical balloon passed through a sheet of paper, beings in the paper would see first a single point, t...
Can we detect exoplanets that do not transit their star?	Some exoplanets will introduce a wobble into the apparent position of their star as they orbit. If the planet is big enough and our knowledge of the position of the star is accurate enough, we can detect the wobble and deduce a mass and orbital radius for the exoplanet.	[ "The moderate number of exoplanets discovered by Corot (32 during the 6 years of operation), is explained by the fact that a confirmation should absolutely be provided by ground-based telescopes, before any announcement is made. Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, the detection of several transits does not mean ...
why some people get the "heebie jeebies" when they touch certain items? (ie sponge foam, peaches, cotton balls, etc)	It's called a Sensory Processing Disorder. Pretty much certain textures or sounds activate certain parts of the brain which makes it respond negatively. It often happens to people with autism but they don't have to necessarily be comorbid. Not everyone with SPD deals with the same type of SPD or are affected in the sam...	[ "BULLET::::- 7. Dum-Zazap - \"The Sensitive Sign\". They are curious and in touch with their feelings. They are interested in everything, they read a lot and they'll open every drawer they see - to such an extent that they're sometimes considered nosy.\n", "Research by Martin in a retailing context found that mal...
How do animals that camouflage really well find mates?	They can use any or all of the following: Sounds, chemical signals, and displays (like mating dances). Insects are great examples of this, not just because of camouflage, but just because they can be very small targets in a large area. They're master of spreading powerful pheromones, and sensing them, as well making in...	[ "Experimental evidence that camouflage helps prey avoid being detected by predators was first provided in 2016, when ground-nesting birds (plovers and coursers) were shown to survive according to how well their egg contrast matched the local environment.\n", "Prey animals make use of a variety of mechanisms inclu...
why do ambulances use so many different patterns and colors of flashing lights?	To maximise visibility, different light patterns and colours make it more obvious, especially if you just catch in your peripheral vision. Several different coloured lights are useful for the significant portion of the population who has non- normative colour vision. Most colour blindness types leave people unable to d...	[ "The active visual warnings are usually in the form of flashing lights. These flash in order to attract the attention of other road users as the ambulance approaches, or to provide warning to motorists approaching a stopped ambulance in a dangerous position on the road. Common colours for ambulance warning beacons ...
Why do we measure decay in half-lives rather than just lives?	To explain in simpler terms. I've run into a misconception occasionally that OP might be falling prey to. If a certain material has a half life of 100 years that doesn't mean it'll be fully decayed in 200 years, it means about half will decay in 100 years, then half of that half in another 100, then half of that half i...	[ "Some quantities decay by two exponential-decay processes simultaneously. In this case, the actual half-life can be related to the half-lives \"t\" and \"t\" that the quantity would have if each of the decay processes acted in isolation:\n", "Half-life is constant over the lifetime of an exponentially decaying qu...
To what scale was complicit Poland with killing Jews during WW2?	First, let me apologize for the brevity of this answer and for the likely spelling and autocorrect errors. I am on my mobile rather than at a computer. I would first point to Jan Gross’ work Neighbors and, to a lesser extent, Fear as works worthy of reading. Do not avoid them because they are often criticized by...	[ "During World War II, three million Polish Jews (90% of the prewar Polish-Jewish population) were killed as a result of Nazi German genocidal action. At least 2.5 million non-Jewish Polish civilians and soldiers also perished. One million non-Polish Jews were also forcibly transported by the Nazis and killed in Ger...
Statue of liberty and the ottomans?	Interesting question, I have not heard of this until today but upon some research in Turkish media I can confirm some of the highlights in this claim. An news article from CNN Türk (2015) claims that in the 1860's the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz commissioned a monument, that were supposed to be like the statue of liberty ...	[ "The Liberty Statue or Freedom Statue ( ) is a monument on the Gellért Hill in Budapest, Hungary. It commemorates those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.\n", "The Monument of Liberty or Monument of Eternal Liberty (; ), located in the Şişli district of Istanbul, ...
What is the difference between a "Panic" and recessions? Is applying "Panics" to economic downturns purely a historiographical thing?	A panic is a financial crisis, in which people lose confidence in the banks and withdraw their money to hold in cash, rendering banks unstable. A recession is a period of reduced (below-trend) economic activity—that is, businesses can't run a profit that satisfies them, they lower prices and still can't profit, they la...	[ "Some economists argue that many recessions have been caused in large part by financial crises. One important example is the Great Depression, which was preceded in many countries by bank runs and stock market crashes. The subprime mortgage crisis and the bursting of other real estate bubbles around the world also ...
About cold blooded animals...	Well > large, bulky ectothermic ["cold-blooded", relying on the outside environment for warmth] animals are more easily able to maintain a constant, relatively high body temperature than smaller animals by virtue of their smaller surface area to volume ratio. A bigger animal has proportionately less of its body close...	[ "Further studies on animals that were traditionally assumed to be cold-blooded have shown that most creatures incorporate different variations of the three terms defined above, along with their counterparts (ectothermy, poikilothermy, and bradymetabolism), thus creating a broad spectrum of body temperature types. S...
In your opinion, what was the most significant event leading up to the American Revolutionary War?	I don't think there is one single event that can be attributed to starting the American Revolution. I would say that the rising British involvement in Colonial affairs in contrast to the previous 150 years of benign neglect led to a series of events that quickly escalated into revolution. This change in conduct came as...	[ "One of the causes of the American Revolutionary War was the dispute between the British government and the British colonials who wanted to settle in the region. During the course of the war, American forces captured outposts in the lower areas of the territory, but British forces maintained control of Fort Detroit...
i've been seeing a lot of concerned talk about ai lately. can someone explain to me what the big deal is?	So imagine you programmed an AI robot to protect your house from intruders. The robot could perceive this as... - I will destroy the house so no intruders can enter it. - I will kill everybody in the world so there are no intruders. Combine this with robots for military use. Robots that can replicate themselves and ...	[ "Artificial intelligence applications have been used in a wide range of fields including medical diagnosis, stock trading, robot control, law, scientific discovery and toys. However, many AI applications are not perceived as AI: \"A lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being ...
Why does the wind travelling outwards from a nuclear blast appear to be sucked back in to the center a few seconds later?	To replace the bubble of hot air that is rising as a mushroom cloud.	[ "If a bomb is exploded above the atmosphere, those betas traveling downward will continue to do so until the atmosphere reaches a critical density, typically between 50 and 60 km. This causes a large disk of ionized air to form below the explosion point, causing nuclear blackout. A similar number, traveling upwards...
what are "multiverses" and why do we treat them differently than groups of different galaxies? what is the difference in classification?	A universe is a collection of galaxies, stars, everything else. The multiverse is a collection of universes. It's just a hypothesis whether it exists - it all trails from the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which while it fits the observed evidence, is not the only interpretation which does, nor is it...	[ "The structure of the multiverse, the nature of each universe within it and the relationship between the various constituent universes, depend on the specific multiverse hypothesis considered. Multiverses have been hypothesized in cosmology, physics, astronomy, religion, philosophy, transpersonal psychology and fic...
How did George Washington motivate his troops against near impossible odds during the Revolutionary War?	I would add onto /u/The_Alaskan 's impressive post with another contender for the Continental Army's nadir: the winter of 1780-1781. I think the events of this winter show a side to Washington's command style that my esteemed colleague missed. 1780 was a horrible year for the American cause. General Gates, previously ...	[ "American revolutionary general, and later President, George Washington successfully used secrecy and deception to equalize the odds in his otherwise unequal battle against the larger, better-equipped and better-trained British regular army and its mercenary allies. Following the American defeat at the Battle of Lo...
Why are some elements more plentiful than others?	[This graph](_URL_2_) gives the relative abundances of the elements quite nicely. As you said, there's an overall decline as you go up in proton number, but it certainly isn't even! As others have said, iron (Fe) is special as it is the point after which adding to an atom (fusion) starts to require energy, rather than...	[ "Because they are so concentrated in the dense core, siderophile elements are known for their rarity in the Earth's crust. Most of them have always been known as precious metals because of this. Iridium is the rarest transition metal occurring within the Earth's crust, with an abundance by mass of less than one par...
[WWII] After the war, the dumping of so much ammo into the sea/ocean, wouldn't it make more sense to recycle all that metal?	The ammo would need to be disassembled to have the powder taken out (a dangerous and tedious process). Unfortunately, you can't just send cartridges into a smelter	[ "Since the end of World War II, various nations, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns of environmental contamination. Even now fishermen accidentally retrieve some of these materials: the most recent available rep...
In terms of population numbers, is it known what the contribution of the Norse, Celt, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norman settlement/colonisation was to the composition/demographics of the British Isles?	[This](_URL_0_) is an extact of an article that tackles your question well. It notes some interesting counter-intuitive points, which include: * It isn't actually that easy to call a particular genetic strain "Celtic", "Norse", or anything else. there was clearly far more migration and constant movement of these group...	[ "The traditional methodology used by archaeology to estimate the number of migrants starts with a figure for the population in Britain in the 3rd and 4th centuries. This is usually estimated at between 2 and 4 million. From this figure it is estimated that the population of Southern and Eastern England is 1 million...
what does a virus or bacteria gain from making its host sick?	Bacteria and viruses don't necessarily want their host sick, or even dead. Complications happen when the virus is in an organism it's not supposed to be in, and that organism isn't equipped to handle the virus. Rats carried the plague and were doing just fine, but when they jumped shipped and infected humans, they wipe...	[ "Once pathogens attach to host cells, they can cause direct damage as the pathogens use the host cell for nutrients and produce waste products. For example, \"Streptococcus mutans\", a component of dental plaque, metabolizes dietary sugar and produces acid as a waste product. The acid decalcifies the tooth surface ...
How effective were chemical warfare defense preparations during World War 2?	Sarin and Tabun would be straight out, the Germans didn't even finish building the production facilities until well into the war, and would not have had a sufficient weaponized stock at the time they had the bombers to deliver it. But, hypothetically, i believe Tabun would have been a major problem, as it could be ab...	[ "Since the development of modern chemical warfare in World War I, nations have pursued research and development on chemical weapons that falls into four major categories: new and more deadly agents; more efficient methods of delivering agents to the target (dissemination); more reliable means of defense against che...
what happens if someone needs an ambulance during a snow storm and the roads aren't plowed?	ambulances are extremely heavy and so are great on driving on bad roads compared to regular cars, but at some point with a bad enough storm the answer is 'you wait and maybe die"	[ "Many people were caught in the storm while driving, and many others were trapped in their homes and workplaces, with snow drifts of up to , in some places blocking the exits. In many cases, those who had become ill or had been injured during the storm had to be taken to hospitals by snowmobile. Other people left t...
Were Jewish people in world war 2 richer than non-Jews (in germany)	Hi, you may be interested in a few previous posts * [Were German Jews Over-Represented In Terms of Wealth and Power Between 1900s-1930s?](_URL_0_) - featuring /u/lbo87 * [Did economics motivate the Holocaust?](_URL_1_) - featuring /u/commiespaceinvader * [[Serious] Found a comment commenting on a 'wealthy jewish e...	[ "Many Jews continued to live as lower class citizens. They were peddlers, clothes dealers, cattle merchants and small-scale commercial agents. The decree made business in the French Jewry more difficult. They could not have gone into farming or artistry because other bans took away their ability to own any land or ...
What are some examples of revisionist History that strongly differs from the Orthodox views of that subject.	Historical revisionism has been a matter of huge debate in Irish history throughout the 20th century, and the history of this historiographical debate is rather interestingly tied up in the "history" that began to unfold in Northern Ireland with the outbreak of violence in 1969. Starting in the 1930s, historians like...	[ "Revisionism is a term which emerged in the late 1990s and is applied to a group of historiographic theories related to the recent history of Spain. They are supposedly held together by posing a challenge to what is presented as a generally accepted, orthodox view on the history of the Second Republic and the Civil...
why is the word "bitch" sometimes censored on television programs/radio and sometimes not?	If the TV/Radio station has advertisers that don't want to be associated with shows that use that word, then they'll censor themselves. If that's not an issue (late night TV for example) they won't. There are some words which must be censored from radio and some tv stations, but most of the time it's self-censorship.	[ "\"Shit\" was one of the original \"Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV\", a comedy routine by the American comedian George Carlin. In the United States, although the use of the word is censored on broadcast network television (while its synonym \"crap\" is not usually subject to censorship), the FCC permitted some...
why can't mute people speak, mechanically speaking?	Multiple reasons. Damage to the vocal chords from illness, infection, or injury. Loss of tongue will also render a person effectively mute. The chords produce sound by vibrating. So anything that could hinder the tissue or muscle affects it. Similar to other muscles. There can also be psychological reasons, or da...	[ "Some mute patients have adapted to their disability by using machines that vibrate their vocal cords, allowing them to speak. Esophageal speech can give some speaking ability. Others learn sign language to communicate.\n", "Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf ...
why does islam seem to have more violent fanatics than other religions?	Turkish here. Growing up in a country where over 90% of the population is Muslim, I have asked this question to myself many times and came up with the following explanations: Excluding a small part of education institutions in big cities, the culture of education of the public in Islam is not all-embracing and mostly ...	[ "Many scholars believe that incidents of anti-Muslim violence are politically motivated and a part of the electoral strategy of mainstream political parties who are associated with Hindu nationalism like the Bharatiya Janata Party. Other scholars believe that the violence is not widespread but that it is restricted...
why do ukranians celebrate christmas at a different date than the remainder of the world?	So, originally, christmas was set to be on the 25th of December. This was at the time when we had the Julian Calendar, named after Julius Caesar who popularized it. It was famous for standardizing the leap year, adding a day every 4 years at the end of February. Well, problem was that it wasn't completely accurate. It...	[ "Christmas traditions in Australia and New Zealand have many similarities to British, Irish, American and Canadian traditions, including traditional Christmas symbols featuring winter iconography. This means a red fur-coated Santa Claus riding a sleigh, songs such as \"Jingle Bells\", and various Christmas scenes o...
why arn't men freezing their sperm and getting vasectomies in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies?	The cost for starters. You'd be paying for the vasectomy (and any time off to get the operation done), paying to have your sperm frozen, paying to keep it frozen and stored for however long (it apparently stays good for about twelve years), and then paying for the artificial insemination.	[ "In order to allow the possibility of reproduction via artificial insemination after vasectomy, some men opt for cryopreservation of sperm before sterilization. It is advised that all men having a vasectomy consider freezing some sperm before the procedure. Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield ...
In an otherwise 'empty' universe, would two protons randomly placed in that universe eventually collide due to gravity?	No - the electrostatic repulsion due to the protons having the same charge would prevent them from coming into contact. Even if you threw them at each other really hard, they would either deflect off each other, or you would end up with some resulting particles that are no longer two protons, as in the LHC.	[ "Even if every proton in the observable universe were a monkey with a typewriter, typing from the Big Bang until the end of the universe (when protons might no longer exist), they would still need a far greater amount of time – more than three hundred and sixty thousand \"orders of magnitude\" longer – to have even...
Was Morocco the first country to recognize the United States?	Although this is popularly claimed, it isn't quite true. As the US Office of the Historian (part of the Department of State) claims, [France](_URL_3_) was the first to recognize America on February 6, 1778. The same source shows us that the United States and Morocco did not sign a formal treaty of friendship until [1...	[ "This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to Morocco. Morocco was the first Arab country to recognize the United States of America in 1786. Regular diplomatic relations were established in 1905. In 1912 Morocco came under the control of France and Spain as protectorates. The United States did not initiall...
where does the name "colombia" come from and why are so many things given that name?	Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer (working for Spain) that "discovered" the Americas (or more accurately, the Bahamas) while trying to reach India. Subsequent discoveries and settlements were often named for him.	[ "The name \"Colombia\" is derived from the last name of the navigator Christopher Columbus (, ). It was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish law (by then from the Mississippi river to Patagonia). The name w...
is it possible, in far future, use both fusion and fission to make energy with the same fuel?	No, that's not how it works. Some materials release energy when they combine (fusion), notably the tiny atom hydrogen. Some other materials release energy when they break apart (fission), notably the huge atoms like uranium and plutonium. Basically, energy is released when you go from a less-stable combination to ...	[ "Fusion rockets, powered by nuclear fusion reactions, would \"burn\" such light element fuels as deuterium, tritium, or He. Because fusion yields about 1% of the mass of the nuclear fuel as released energy, it is energetically more favorable than fission, which releases only about 0.1% of the fuel's mass-energy. Ho...
Why didn't Byzantine iconoclasm spread to other realms?	When Leo III started making movements to ban the worship of icons in the 720s, the Pope in Rome, Gregory II, criticised it from the outset. Theophanes, a Byzantine iconophile writing in the early 9th century, says this about Gregory's feelings against the Roman church accepting iconoclasm: > Gregory the holy bishop of...	[ "The Iconoclasm (730–787 and 813–843) was a movement within the Byzantine church to establish that the Christian culture of portraits (see icon) of the family of Christ and subsequent Christians and biblical scenes were not of a Christian origin and therefore heretical. The group destroyed much of the Christian chu...
why would a country go into recession if they had no debt?	A recession in the simplest terms means the economy is not producing goods and services as well as it had previously. (For the US) In order to pay off the debt the US would have to either: 1. Drastically cut spending 2. Drastically increase taxes 3. Significantly Grow the economy. Likely some combination of these ...	[ "High levels of indebtedness or the bursting of a real estate or financial asset price bubble can cause a balance sheet recession. This is when large numbers of consumers or corporations pay down debt (i.e., save) rather than spend or invest, which slows the economy. Economist Richard C. Koo wrote in 2009 that unde...
Can the color of something be identified only by the atomic structure?	First you need to keep in mind that what you see as the color of a compound, is really the colors that are not absorbed by the compound. So what you are really asking is what colors are absorbed by a compound, and what does that leave? And yes, we can do that. Light in the UV-Visible range is absorbed by electro...	[ "The fact that only certain colors appear in an element's atomic emission spectrum means that only certain frequencies of light are emitted. Each of these frequencies are related to energy by the formula:\n", "BULLET::::- Color specifies an element's properties using the broad categories commonly presented in per...
why are pencils shaped in a hexagon?	Round is the most comfortable shape, but at the same time round pencils fall off the table. Making it a hexagon is a compromise between the two desires.	[ "Another class of applications of the Reuleaux triangle involves cylindrical objects with a Reuleaux triangle cross section. Several pencils are manufactured in this shape, rather than the more traditional round or hexagonal barrels. They are usually promoted as being more comfortable or encouraging proper grip, as...
Do superconductors conduct heat with no resistance?	No, superconductors actually have lower (electronic) thermal conductivity than a normal metal. This is sort of expected because superconductivity arises at low temperatures from a large amount of coherence between electrons, while heat is (very loosely) a measure of disorder, and superconductivity is killed at high tem...	[ "Many materials also exhibit superconductivity at low temperatures; they include metallic elements such as tin and aluminium, various metallic alloys, some heavily doped semiconductors, and certain ceramics. The electrical resistivity of most electrical (metallic) conductors generally decreases gradually as the tem...
why did some old programming languages like pl/i and "real" basic completely die out, while some like fortran and cobol never get replaced?	The rise of Unix brought C and C++ to the fore, and these replaced many languages. Fortran and COBOL have been on the decline for a long time. They stay alive because of large code bases that would be expensive to port to a new language.	[ "Although BASIC was widely regarded as a success, many computing professionals thought it was a poor choice for larger and more complicated programs. Larger programs became confusing and messy when they used the “GO TO” statement to jump from one line of a program to another. A further criticism of the original lan...
What was with the obsession with Western Europe and lions in the Middle Ages? Why not rhinos, elephants, or other exotic animals?	/u/masiakasaurus answered a similar/related question 3 years ago, where it is explained why medieval Europeans would have been well familiar with the lion. _URL_0_	[ "In the Middle Ages, when lions became a major element in heraldry, few Europeans had any chance to see actual lions. The lions were for them nearly as much legendary animals as were dragons or gryffins, which also commonly appeared on coats of arms.\n", "The first European \"zoos\" spread among noble and royal f...
the legal, non-religious argument against gay and lesbian marriage	Marriage is a collection of legal benefits and tax breaks. Generally speaking, the government uses these benefits to encourage people to do a certain thing. For example, we have laws which allow you to get a tax break if you buy a house, and things like that. Marriage, generally speaking, is a package of legal benefit...	[ "George, Girgis and Anderson argue against gay marriage. They suggest that marriage should lead to procreation, which is not possible for two people of the same sex. They call this the 'conjugal view'. Moreover, they argue that gay marriage would open the door to short-term unions and polygamy. They go on to sugges...
Quarks, Higgs Boson, protons, neutrons and electrons. What are the particles made up of and how do they work together to create an atom and ultimately molecules?	As someone who has spent a decade+ working in this field (I worked on the SSC in TX, LHC & ATLAS detector at CERN and RHIC at BNL in NY) I think the best way for your to learn about this stuff is to spend an evening reading wikipedia articles. Start here: _URL_0_ and then work your way into reading about the "Stand...	[ "Inside protons and neutrons, there are fundamental particles called quarks. The two most common types of quarks are \"up quarks\", which have a charge of +/, and \"down quarks\", with a −/ charge. Quarks arrange themselves in sets of three such that they make protons and neutrons. In a proton, whose charge is +1, ...
Why was God referred to as a "King" and Heaven as a "Kingdom" at the same time that temporal Christian rulers held titles of "Emperor" and ruled over "Empires", which were considered above Kingdoms?	The bog-standard title for God in the Latin Middle Ages isn’t rex, it’s dominus. That is, not what we would translate “king,” but “lord.” It’s an important enough title that even vernacular writers use “dominus” sometimes instead of their own word. Because to medieval people, addressing God as “Lord” was a deeply s...	[ "The term \"Kingdom of God\" does not appear in the Old Testament, although \"his Kingdom\" and \"your Kingdom\" are used in some cases when referring to God. However, the Kingdom of God (the Matthean equivalent being \"Kingdom of Heaven\") is a prominent phrase in the Synoptic Gospels (appearing 75 times), and the...
What ecological effect will planting 20 million trees actually have?	Not until those trees grow significantly, but over 40 years each tree captures around 1ton CO2 or 20 millions ton combined under best conditions. Unfortunately we release that much CO2 in around 15 seconds. At the end, collectively humans spent much more than that for big corporations products in a short time, at le...	[ "The type of tree planted may have great influence on the environmental outcomes. It is often much more profitable to outside interests to plant fast-growing species, such as eucalyptus, casuarina or pine (e.g., \"Pinus radiata\" or \"Pinus caribaea\"), even though the environmental and biodiversity benefits of suc...
bail. why is it acceptable that people can pay to leave jail before sentencing. isn't that an opportunity to run for it?	> Isn't that an opportunity to run for it? That's why they make you pay bail instead of just letting you go. You can run, but that's just another crime they will charge you with when they catch you, and they keep your money. Also, conditions can be put on your release, monitoring devices, surrendering passports, t...	[ "In some countries, especially the United States, bail usually implies a bail bond. This is money or some form of property that is deposited to the court by the suspect, in return for the release from pre-trial detention. If the suspect does not return to court, the bail is forfeited, and the suspect may possibly b...
Do superstitions and phobias cause unfortunate events on Friday the 13th?	The only abnormal unfortunate events come from people worrying about the bad luck. The reason that Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day is because [in a dawn raid on Friday, 13 October 1307, Jacques de Molay and sixty of his [Knights] Templar brothers were arrested under orders from king Phillip "The Fair" of ...	[ "The superstition surrounding this day may have arisen in the Middle Ages, \"originating from the story of Jesus' last supper and crucifixion\" in which there were 13 individuals present in the Upper Room on the 13th of Nisan Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday. While there is evidence of bot...
why do females gain to ability to get pregnant at such a young age? isn’t it unhealthy for the undeveloped to give birth?	It's not ideal by modern standards, but we didn't evolve according to modern standards. In prehistoric times, life expectancy was much lower and it was more advantageous to have children early and often.	[ "Adolescent girls become fertile following the menarche (first menstrual period), which normally occurs between age 11 to 12. After menarche, sexual intercourse (especially without contraception) can lead to pregnancy. The pregnant teenager may then miscarry, have an abortion, or carry the child to full term.\n", ...
What would you see if you stood in a spherical room with a mirror-like surface?	I have read about this before, unfortunately I can only really explain it in laymen's terms but here we go: Short answer is: a blur of color similar to what you're wearing. Imagine you are standing in an octagonal room in which all 8 walls are mirrors, you will see yourself in each one. Now imagine you halved the le...	[ "The inverted real image of an object reflected by a concave mirror can appear at the focal point in front of the mirror. In a construction with an object at the bottom of two opposing concave mirrors (parabolic reflectors) on top of each other, the top one with an opening in its center, the reflected image can app...
why at some places my cell phone has full phone signal available, but no or very low network connectivity?	Telephone signals require much less transmission quality than say 4G internet. When your connection is too bad for 4G it might still be plenty for just good old calling. If what you mean is that you have all the bars but still bad internet, that could be because your network is overloaded. Maybe too many poeple are at...	[ "Cellular telephones make optimal use of limited radio spectrum and their short transmission range, due to low power, by always connecting to a radio antenna at a nearby facility, known as a \"cell site.\" These facilities are typically on a tower or tall building and the cellular service provider places many such ...
why does sweat make my legs stick together, but at the same time makes my hands lose grip on things?	The skin on your legs is smoother and the surface in contact is larger. Sweat fills the gaps and help move air out of the way so it create a bit of suction counterbalancing the oily sweat. When you're gripping with you hands there's lot of places for the air to go to and no suction so everything just slides.	[ "Excessive sweating or focal hyperhidrosis of the hands interferes with many routine activities, such as securely grasping objects. Some focal hyperhidrosis sufferers avoid situations where they will come into physical contact with others, such as greeting a person with a handshake. Hiding embarrassing sweat spots ...
how come the news i see in "this week in science," i never see on popular news outlets?	Science and technology reporting stinks on ice. Ignorant reporters just parrot back any wild-ass thing they hear, and an ignorant public laps it up, while they typically ignore REAL science reporting, because it's boring and hard. So either This Week in Science is reporting bullshit and other news outlets aren't, or t...	[ "Science Week (sometimes National Science Week) refers to series of science-related events for the general public which are held in a specific countries during a designated week of the year. The aim of such science weeks is to engage and inspire people of all ages with science, engineering and technology.\n", "Sc...
Why don't all non-vector images have the same file size in a given resolution if every pixel has to be defined by RGB parameters?	The answer is compression. If you take straight uncompressed bitmaps, they will all be the same size. However, there are many compression schemes. To give the most basic example, if there are 100 pure black pixels on the top edge of an image, the file can say 100X (0,0,0) pixels, rather than taking up a ton of space sa...	[ "In contrast to the grid format of bitmap images, Vector graphics file formats use geometric modeling to describe an image as a series of points, lines, curves, and polygons. Because the image is described using geometric data instead of fixed pixels, the image can be scaled to any size while retaining \"resolution...
how do neurotransmitters express our emotions?	Neurotransmitters don’t express anything. They only inhibit or stimulate certain part of the brain that are responsible for a specific emotion. For example, the amygdala is a part of your brain that controls fear. When put in a scary situation, some of your neurotransmitters will stimulate the neurons in your amygdala,...	[ "Neurotransmitter systems are systems of neurons in the brain expressing certain types of neurotransmitters, and thus form distinct systems. Activation of the system causes effects in large volumes of the brain, called \"volume transmission\". Volume transmission is the diffusion of neurotransmitters through the br...
intel turbo boost, why not just keep it at the frequency that it is turbo boost at instead of a lower frequency? i.e 2.4ghz normal 3.2ghz turbo?	There are multiple reasons for a turbo speed vs what is the nominal max speed. In fact, most processors don't run at max unless stressed. I will use my own 4790k as a example. This has a max speed of 4GHz and a turbo speed of 4.4GHz. Let's imagine it like a car engine. On normal running, the car engine runs at low s...	[ "Intel Turbo Boost is Intel's trade name for a feature that automatically raises certain of its processors' operating frequency, and thus performance, when demanding tasks are running. Turbo-Boost-enabled processors are the Core i5, Core i7, Core i9 and Xeon series manufactured since 2008, more particularly, those ...
how does the audience react to what's happening in multi-camera sitcoms when the cast is definitely not in a studio? are they using a laugh track, because it sounds like genuine laughter?	They will show the previously shot footage on the monitors during the studio taping, and record the audience.	[ "Unusually for sitcoms shot in front of a live studio audience, the episode was shot out of sequence, it was just a couple of scenes, rather than the usual full episode, in order to shield surprises. Chuck Lorre told the audience members that, \"You probably won't know what we're doing.\" Even Lorre got emotional w...
How did invaders communicate (setting terms and conditions, treaties and so on) in lands with new languages? For e.g. the English setting agreements with Indian kings in the 18th century.	Two threads with similiar questions on r/AskHistorians: * [How did translation work in situations of contact between far-flung cultures?](_URL_0_) * [Contact between linguistically different peoples?](_URL_1_) (But I don't want to discourage anyone from answering!)	[ "In some rare cases, such as with Ethiopia and Qing Dynasty China, the local governments were able to use the treaties to at least mitigate the impact of European colonization. This involved learning the intricacies of European diplomatic customs and then using the treaties to prevent a power from overstepping thei...
What was the difference between the Julii, Brutii and Scipii families in Ancient Rome? Were each family allowed act as their own entity?	Rome: Total War is a game, and it deviates from actual Roman history in some major ways for the sake of gameplay. The 'families' you're talking about are properly called gens. A gens is a group of people who all claim descendancy from the same person. Obviously that makes them family, but not necessarily very clo...	[ "There is no evidence that the Scaevii were ever divided into distinct families. Their cognomina all appear to have been personal surnames, many of which were the original names of freedmen who had assumed Roman names upon their manumission. Among the other surnames of this family, \"Laevinus\", left-handed, allude...
Why were Roman Emperors so susceptible to assassination?	All emperors had "proper" bodyguards. The problem was always the loyalty of the bodyguard, which could change upon the switch to the next emperor and so there was nothing to "catch on." i.e. the bodyguard you put together to get rid of the disloyal praetorian guards becomes disloyal to the next emperor, who then disb...	[ "Another Roman assassination was that of Caligula, the great-grandson of Augustus Caesar. He was overthrown by the military, had his head cut off, and was soon replaced by Claudius. There were many other, less important assassinations, and many more attempted assassinations, but none that had much meaning in the fo...
What would smoke look like in space? (x-post from r/answers)	Not significantly different from what it looks like anywhere else. Gravity has little visible effect on aerosols.	[ "The black smoke, or black powder, is a fictitious poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' 1898 science fiction novel \"The War of the Worlds\", used by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans, especially artillery crews, and conveyed by shells fired from a gun-like \"\"black tube\"\" carried by the Tripods' whip-like ten...
what's wrong with url shorteners on reddit linkposts?	My Guess is tat it can't tell the difference between, say, imgur and goatse.	[ "There are several reasons to use URL shortening. Often regular unshortened links may be aesthetically unpleasing. Many web developers pass descriptive attributes in the URL to represent data hierarchies, command structures, transaction paths or session information. This can result in URLs that are hundreds of char...
What causes my hands to sweat when I carry coins?	An interesting aside, that I, at least didn't know till recently. The characteristic 'coin' smell that we've all experienced after carrying coins/handling them, appears to not come from the coins themselves, but rather from a reaction between sweat and the metal in the coins, which creates ferrous ions that then react ...	[ "In the process of sweating, coins were placed in a bag and shaken. The bits of metal that had worn off the coins were recovered from the bottom of the bag. Sweating tended to wear the coin in a more natural way than clipping, and so was harder to detect.\n", "Coins were also vulnerable to \"sweating\", which is ...
how does medicaid and medicare work? is it a national or state program? can you lose coverage if you move?	Generally medicare is for those over 65 or disabled. Medicaid is for those with low income. Sometimes people on medicare can also have medicaid	[ "Unlike Medicaid, Medicare is a social insurance program funded at the federal level and focuses primarily on the older population. As stated in the CMS website, Medicare is a health insurance program for people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with certain disabilities, and (through the End Stage Renal Disease...
why are there lone railroad cars on the railway?	They're not "lost" by any means... A single car is likely "about to be" transferred to a nearby company that ordered it with a felxible delivery date. The RR got it there when it could, which happens to be two months in advance of when they really need it -- but that's better than being two months late. Shipping vol...	[ "It is called a train because the cars follow one another around the track, the same reason as for a railroad train. Individual cars vary in design and can carry from one to eight or more passengers each.\n", "In North America the term \"railcar\" has a much broader sense and can be used (as an abbreviated form o...
What is the maximum speed of particles from a nuclear explosion? Are they the fastest things created by man? If not, what is?	Most pedantic answer: We made fire. Fire releases light. Light is the fastest thing possible. Slightly less pedantic answer: neutrinos have a very small mass and thus often travel at very nearly the speed of light. A tiny bit of energy sends them flying off into next tuesday. But it's hard to say that they're the fa...	[ "Frisch and Peierls then considered the speed of a uranium fission chain reaction, exponential in nature, where \"τ is the time required for the neutron density to multiply by a factor \"e\".\" The available data was very approximate, but their central point – that a bomb was possible using fast (~2MeV) neutrons – ...
how does a bios update 'brick' hardware?	The bios contains the basic functions of the motherboard. If it’s not properly loaded then the motherboard won’t be able to boot. If the mobo has dual bios then you can boot the other bios and flash the bad one. Otherwise you need to replace the memory chip on the motherboard that contains the bios with another one ...	[ "BioBrick parts are DNA sequences which conform to a restriction-enzyme assembly standard. These building blocks are used to design and assemble larger synthetic biological circuits from individual parts and combinations of parts with defined functions, which would then be incorporated into living cells such as \"E...
what is "comedic timing"? how can subtle differences in punchline delivery cause a joke to become more humorous?	Most jokes are funny because they make your mind jump in a direction you didnt expect. So you have to wait long enough that the persons mind starts going down the wrong path but not so long that they figure out the right answer or so long that they stop caring. That's the big problem with using the sarcasm /s tag. It ...	[ "Comic timing is the use of rhythm, tempo, and pausing to enhance comedy and humour. The pacing of the delivery of a joke can have a strong impact on its comedic effect, even altering its meaning; the same can also be true of more physical comedy such as slapstick.\n", "Comic timing is the use of pacing and deliv...
While Superman is often hailed as the first modern superhero, did anything similar exist prior to 1938?	Superman didn’t leap fully formed out of a void; he was part of a long tradition of heroes with amazing abilities and incredible costumes. It’s possible to try tracing him back to mythological figures like Hercules or Zeus, but he’s got at least three closer ancestors who sum up the stew of pop-culture influences aroun...	[ "Superman is often thought of as the first superhero. This point is debated by historians: Ogon Bat, the Phantom, Zorro, and Mandrake the Magician arguably fit the definition of the superhero yet predate Superman. Nevertheless, Superman popularized the genre and established its conventions: a costume, a codename, e...
How many soviets soldiers died to order 227 and was this order effective or a waste of manpower	First of all, your view of the order 227 seems a bit twisted. I will firstly post a snippet from the order. "1. Military councils of the fronts and first of all front commanders should: a) Unconditionally eliminate retreat moods in the troops and with a firm hand bar propaganda that we can and should retreat further e...	[ "During the Winter War and Continuation War approximately 550 death sentences were carried out. 455 (some ninety percent) of those executed were Soviet infiltrators, spies and saboteurs. The officer's authority to execute soldiers refusing to obey commands or fleeing from combat was exercised only in 13 cases. The ...
If you were to construct a motor that could spin at near light speed . . .	I know this has been talked about here before, but I can't seem to find the thread. At any rate, I don't know as much about relativity as others here, but here is a wikipedia article you can read until someone who does responds. _URL_0_	[ "The principle is applied to spinning robots, where the driving wheels are normally on for the whole revolution, resulting in an increased rotational energy, which is stored for destructive effect, but, given perfect symmetry, no net translational acceleration. The drive works by modulating the power to the wheel o...
the purpose and role of each position in an american football team.	On offense you've got your Quarterback who is like the leader of the offense. He gets the ball at the start of each play. There's the running back who gets the ball from the QB and does running plays. There's a fleet of wide receivers who run and the QB can throw it to them if they are open. There's a tight en...	[ "In American football since the 1950s, most upper level teams use a three-platoon system, each with its own starting lineup. The starting lineups for offense and defense, each with eleven players, typically get the most attention. The starting lineups are defined as the eleven players who take the first offensive o...
Is the big bang the most widely accepted theory for the creation of the Universe or are there any other theories; What would it take to disprove the Big Bang Theory?	* Yes, the big bang is the accepted theory amongst scientists. It competed with a theory called 'steady state' back in the first half of the 20th century (Fred Hoyle was a proponent of the steady state theory). However, the evidence for the big bang became overwhelming in the 60's. * Honestly, I'm struggling to come u...	[ "The Big Bang itself is a scientific theory and as such stands or falls by its agreement with observations. However, as a theory which addresses the nature of the universe since its earliest discernible existence, the Big Bang carries possible theological implications regarding the concept of creation out of nothin...
if the earth travels, why do sounds on the earth not naturally experience the doppler effect?	Because the atmosphere is also moving at the same rate. Sound is vibrations in a medium relative to the medium. It's the same reason you don't fly off at 8000 kilometers per hour whenever you jump.	[ "An interesting effect was predicted by Lord Rayleigh in his classic book on sound: if the source is moving toward the observer at twice the speed of sound, a musical piece emitted by that source would be heard in correct time and tune, but \"backwards\". The Doppler effect with sound is only clearly heard with obj...
if silent movies had screens of dialogue inserted between scenes why couldn't silent movie makes insert this text dialogue underneath scenes in a fashion not entirely distinct from modern subtitles?	Because no one thought to do that. Then one day, someone did think to do it. And we've been doing it ever since.	[ "As motion pictures gradually increased in running time, a replacement was needed for the in-house interpreter who would explain parts of the film to the audience. Because silent films had no synchronized sound for dialogue, onscreen intertitles were used to narrate story points, present key dialogue and sometimes ...
Why do so many men in paintings and pictures from the 19th century have their hands inside of their shirts?	Not to discourage other answers, but you may be interested in /u/LadyVagrant's response in this thread: [Why was the 'hand tucked in the shirt' pose (think Napoleon) so popular in early photographs?](_URL_0_)	[ "Many of these \"Flutina\" accordions were imported into the United States and were common photographers' studio props. This imparted a touch of \"culture\" to the sitter, hence the many tintype, ambrotype, etc. images of men and women, with their hands poised over \"Flutinas\", which they may (or may not) have act...
in nutrition, what is the difference between sodium and salt?	Sodium chloride is a salt. It is not the only salt. If you check your container of table salt, there's a good chance it's labeled as "iodized salt", which means it contains a small amount of other salts like sodium iodide in it as well. As for what happens to the chlorine, it's still in there. But the nutrition fac...	[ "Table salt is made up of just under 40% sodium by weight, so a 6g serving (1teaspoon) contains about 2,300mg of sodium. Sodium serves a vital purpose in the human body: via its role as an electrolyte, it helps nerves and muscles to function correctly, and it is one factor involved in the osmotic regulation of wate...
disadvantages of steroid usage	The side effects of steroid use can be terrible. Mood swings, back acne, testicles shrinking, and hair loss among others. Shouldn't be a much simpler explanation of the disadvantage of steroid usage than ball shrinking!	[ "Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are an issue in both high-school and professional-level football. Steroid use has been linked to an increased risk for musculoskeletal injuries among players. Human growth hormone (HGH) is used by some players to improve performance, recover from injuries, decrease aging, and to ...
Why is Delaware its own state? Why did they not at least get the rest of the Delmarva peninsula?	In a few words: land disputes between some very powerful people. To describe it further I'm a Delawarian and a recent graduate of the University of Delaware with a degree in history, so I will see what I can do. The geography of the state is somewhat unique, and as such the history of it is a little complex. For ...	[ "Delaware is long and ranges from to across, totaling , making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and south by Maryland. Small port...
Charles V was during his reign, ruler of the largest empire in Europe, why did he ultimately abdicate all his titles and what do we know of his final years?	/u/Aclockworkwalrus I answered a similar question [here](_URL_2_), where I broke it down to several questions and answers and also [here](_URL_1_). & #x200B; Question 1: Why all the inheritances? It is insightful to go back 2 generations, to the days of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. They inherit...	[ "When Henry V ascended the throne in 1413 Somer was accused of misuse of public funds but after mounting a stout defence the charges against him were dropped. In 1422 he survived another change of monarch and finally retired in 1439, probably over 70 years of age.\n", "As formalised by the Treaty of Troyes, Henry...
Can flies smell?	Yes, flies do have a sense of smell. We even know a fair bit about it. When hungry, fruit flies' sense of smell gets better, and scientists have even identified the chemical processes responsible for this, as reported [here](_URL_2_) and [here](_URL_2_). Scientists have also found that fruit flies head towards [food...	[ "Like other insects, flies have chemoreceptors that detect smell and taste, and mechanoreceptors that respond to touch. The third segments of the antennae and the maxillary palps bear the main olfactory receptors, while the gustatory receptors are in the labium, pharynx, feet, wing margins and female genitalia, ena...
How wide was the scope of USSR's involvement in Latin and South America.	Since no one else has jumped in I'll take a crack at it. That's a pretty broad question, given the general disparity between nations, but pretty much everything south of El Paso was part of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War (the so-called "third world.") Even within Cuba there was a split as some of the mo...	[ "BULLET::::- In the 1950s, Latin America was the center of covert and overt conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Their varying collusion with national, populist, and elitist interests destabilized the region. The United States Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated the overthrow of the Guatema...
what happens to a fart in space?	It would typically stay inside a space suit and stink up their world. But if they were not in a suit and not dead, the gas would just expand outward and each particle would zip on its own way unimpeded for a long time until it hits something.	[ "While Caparezza is shoveling excrements (as sentenced by a judge) at the circus, trips for the spaceport are opening, with a plethora of jet setters who are on the show: he seems to want to warn any extraterrestrial by the arrival of these individuals, identified him as the true excrements of the Earth.\n", "Acc...
why does it take so long after your flight has pulled into the gate to open the doors?	The pilot needs to shut down engine and ground crew need to chock the plane. The cabin crew then need to unbuckle once they're told the plane is in position and make their way to the exit door. The doors are armed against unintentional opening and disarming them takes some time. The largest part of the delay, howeve...	[ "Thomas G. Doty arrived at the gate after the doors had been closed. Although airline policy is that once the doors are closed they are not to be reopened, the doors were reopened and Doty was allowed to board.\n", "A problem with the outward-opening cargo door first became publicly known on June 12, 1972, when A...
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia said in an interview today "We are returning to what we were before - a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world". What eras might he be referencing or looking to as a model for this move?	He might be referring to the time before Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahab's teachings (Wahabisim) were implemented and became rooted in Najed and Hejaz. The cultures of Najed and Hejaz were more tolerant and liberal before the Saudi conquests. A new Saudi culture was developing which changed major and minor things in the cultur...	[ "Themes discussed included artificial intelligence, big data, cryptocurrencies, and climate change. In an address to the conference, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said Saudi Arabia was returning to a more moderate form of Islam “open to all religions and to the world”.\n", "In 2008, Saud was the subject of a B...
- the lonely singular trees in massive farmers fields. are they for shade for animals or to soak up extra moisture to stop the ground from getting swampy? or have i missed the mark completely?	The ones in ours are because they're in a bed of rocks, not worth cutting down. These rock spots also became the center point dumping ground for old parts or machinery way back when, if you got close you'd probably notice pieces of metal sticking up here and there. Not worth the work involved to make that small area fa...	[ "Leptosols are unattractive soils for rainfed agriculture because of their inability to hold water, but may sometimes have potential for tree crops or extensive grazing. Leptosols are best kept under forest.\n", "Traditionally, because of frequent typhoons and drought, they plant root crops able to cope with the ...
Where exotic sex practices normal during the 1600s?	> was sex used for pleasure or just procreation during this time period I think that if you reflect on this a moment you will realize that the intrinsic mechanics of sex make this dichotomy impossible. Even in our contraceptive age penetrative sex has a inevitable chance of pregnancy and even in extremely repressive...	[ "The 18th century saw the enlightenment with the Christian authorities losing control of sex. In London's Covent Garden there were all types of prostitutes by 1711 and meeting places for gays called \"Molly houses\" where same-sex marriage was performed. \n", "Towards the end of the 19th century, a more \"culture...
how can scientist find a cure/vaccine to ebola in a so small time when instead we still haven't found a cure/vaccine to hiv?	The problem with HIV is that it mutates extremely quickly, even for a virus. It's the same reason we can't make a vaccine for the flu; there are many different strains and new ones appear all the time.	[ "The UK government is co-funding clinical trials to find a safe vaccine for Ebola. Ten thousand doses of the drug are already being manufactured alongside the clinical trial in the hope that it will be approved for use in the coming months. A £6.5 million research initiative has been announced jointly by the Depart...
In the second World War, is their any evidence of adversaries using captured weapons? Eg Germans wielding M1 Garands?	The Finns and the Russians both used Mosin Nagant bolt-action rifles. Many Finnish Mosin were built using parts of captured and gutted Russian rifles. I myself own an M30 model from Tikkakoski of which the underside of the receiver bears the Russian Tula star. As for most nations, remember a massive logistical diffic...	[ "Apart from an unconfirmed report from an agent in France on 19/7/42 to the effect that the GAF were using two British machines captured at DUNKIRK for passing their own traffic between BERLIN and GOLDAP, our evidence during the war was based on reports that OKH was exploiting Typex material left behind in TOBRUK i...
Does light have dimensions?	Light has orthogonal electic and magnetic fields. both at right angles to each other and the direction of propogation. So in a two dimensional universe it is hard to image how one of the fields could exist. In [Richard Feynman's QED](_URL_0_), he describes how a photon can be pictured as travelling every possible path...	[ "The dimensions (e.g., length) of an object as measured by one observer may be smaller than the results of measurements of the same object made by another observer (e.g., the ladder paradox involves a long ladder traveling near the speed of light and being contained within a smaller garage).\n", "A \"dimension\" ...
how did the newscaster cadence come to be?	Lifelong newscaster here and I'm just making up the answer. Early radio broadcasting wasn't especially clear. It helped to enunciate and speak clearly. Most of the early radio people came from stage work. They ported their diction. And no one wants to hear someone mumble when giving the news. It's serious. As f...	[ "During its first three decades on the air, each newscast started with a five-note musical signature, repeated either three times or one time. This signature was written by Monica Dominique and was used in various arrangements until 2001. As its logo, the programme used a wordmark with the name \"rapport\" written ...
What are some notable non-Egyptian African civilizations? Where can I find information about them?	You don't give a time scale or any particular sub-region / exclusion, so I assume you mean the whole continent. (I'm considering Kush/Kerma/Napata/Meroë to be "Egyptian" enough to avoid special mention, though I love those upper Nile societies myself.) There are an enormous number of distinct states and societies we m...	[ "\"Certainly there was some foreign admixture [in Egypt], but basically a homogeneous African population had lived in the Nile Valley from ancient to modern times... [the] Badarian people, who developed the earliest Predynastic Egyptian culture, already exhibited the mix of North African and Sub-Saharan physical tr...
How did the Mongols manage to win sieges so quickly?	Let’s do this chronologically. I’ll cover the invasion of Russia first and then we can talk about the Middle East. First, we need to talk about how the Mongols continuously improved their sieging capabilities, something they quickly realized when they invaded the Xi Xia Kingdom in 1209, and something they will not stop...	[ "The invasion plan was devised by Nogai, with two columns led by him and Talabuga. Talabuga's troops devastated Transylvania and raided as far as Pest, but the Hungarians' newly-constructed fortification network gave them much trouble. The Mongol forces were unable to take any major stone castles or fortified citie...
i speak modern english. would i be able to effectively communicate with speakers of earlier versions of english?	I'm going to answer your question this way: Middle English was from the Norman Conquest (1066) to the mid-15th Century. We have little in the way of surviving Middle English texts, but one we do have is The Canterbury Tales from 1388. [Here is a sample in the original language](_URL_1_). If you're a native English s...	[ "Also, anyone can become an English speaker simply by having this base translated into their native tongue (a more tractable problem than translating the whole of English). Once they know this subset then they know enough English to understand other statements like the giraffe one, and thus grow their knowledge to ...
why are anti-depressants advertised on television, but other psychiatric medications aren't?	When paying for ads using mass media, you try and pick a venue that'll reach your target audience but not waste money on reaching those parts of the audience that are not your target. So if you're advertising a drug for a rare disease, you won't put it on TV. Instead, you'll publish it in a medical journal or a magazin...	[ "In an essay on the effect of advertisements for marketed anti-depressants there is some evidence that both patients and physicians can be influenced by media advertisements and this has the possibility of increasing the frequency of certain medicines being prescribed over others.\n", "Antidepressant medication h...
Shaky hands in the lab?	Skip morning coffee if you know you have delicate pipette work to do that morning and steady you hand by resting dominant hand on the non dominant hand!	[ "It has been shown in two double-blind controlled studies that injection of botulinum toxin into muscles used to produce oscillatory movements of essential tremors, such as forearm, wrist and finger flexors, may decrease the amplitude of hand tremor for approximately three months and that injections of the toxin ma...
How did humans cope with poor eyesight in the Middle Ages? Did all hunters and knights thus have 20/20 vision?	There's no question that the prevalence of myopia (nearsightedness) was much lower in the Middle Ages than today. No, we have absolutely nothing even remotely resembling statistics, and just because in the past century or several there's been a noticeable increase in myopia doesn't itself say anything about medieval we...	[ "Much of the information we get about activities such as archery and hunting is from classics such as the \"Agni Purana\" (post 7th century) and others. The \"Agni Purana\" says \"one who has made the vision of both of his mental and physical eyes steady can conquer even the god of death\". An archers proficiency, ...
why do we hallucinate our own name? why not other names?	Our brains actually put a priority on our name when it comes to listening. Even in a room full of white noise, our brains tend to be pretty good at picking out when our name is being said. So, yes, you could say there's something "special" about our individual names. As for why we sometimes hallucinate hearing it, it ...	[ "Complex hallucinations are those of voices, music, or other sounds that may or may not be clear, may be familiar or completely unfamiliar, and friendly or aggressive, among other possibilities. A hallucination of a single individual person of one or more talking voices is particularly associated with psychotic dis...
what are the differences between linux distros and how do you choose which one is for you?	Lots of people have written a lot so I'm going to write something short. Most people start with something popular then try other distros. They then either stick with what they started with or find something they prefer. [Ubuntu](_URL_0_) is the distro known for user friendly-ness and is usually where people start. ...	[ "A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection, which is based upon the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the Linux distributions, which are available for a wide va...
why is it that when i start to rub my eyes, they just continue to get itchier?	Because when you rub your eyes, presumably with your hands or fingers, you're putting dirt, oil, and germs into your eyes making them more irritated. Next time use something clean like a napkin or tissue.	[ "The exact mechanism of the condition is unknown. Some studies have suggested the itching occurs in response to increased fibrinolytic activity in the skin, inappropriate activation of the sympathetic nervous system, or increased activity of Acetylcholinesterase.\n", "Any condition that causes the eyes to itch ca...
how can school administrators bypass the fourth amendment to legally search students and their vehicle without their consent?	The 4th amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure. Courts have ruled that, in the interest of public safety, it is reasonable to subject vehicles, bags and persons to search on school grounds. You can disagree with the interpretation, but that is the legal justification for it.	[ "In \"New Jersey v. T. L. O.\" (1985), the Supreme Court ruled that searches in public schools do not require warrants, as long as the searching officers have reasonable grounds for believing that the search will result in the finding of evidence of illegal activity. However, in \"Safford Unified School District v....
how come nicotine is allowed in cigarettes, but there doesn't seem to be any foods with it in?	Tobacco plants naturally create nicotine as a type of herbal pesticide. People discovered long ago that smoking it has an effect on humans. Nicotine is highly toxic. It's a very dangerous substance, 50-60mg will kill an adult. That's about 8 drops. So, the moral is, it's a very dangerous poison and no one is dumb eno...	[ "Nicotine may not be harmless, but it is safer than inhaled tobacco smoke. As medicine, nicotine is used to help with quitting smoking and has good safety in this form. Nicotine itself poses health risks to certain vulnerable groups such as youth, but the ideal course of action for smokers is to quit all nicotine u...
How prevalent was atheism during ancient Roman times?	Not to discourage further discussions there is an old answer with similar topic by u/XenophonTheAthenian _URL_0_	[ "Some of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining \"atheism\" arises from difficulty in reaching a consensus for the definitions of words like \"deity\" and \"god\". The plurality of wildly different conceptions of God and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheism's applicability. The ancient Rom...

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