Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
how is the dollar "backed by oil"? what exactly does this even mean.	The USD isn't "backed by oil" any more than its "backed by gold." That's a statement by someone who doesn't understand how world politics and international economics.	[ "The United States dollar remains \"de facto\" world currency. Accordingly, almost all oil sales throughout the world are denominated in United States dollars (USD). Because most countries rely on oil imports, they are forced to maintain large stockpiles of dollars in order to continue imports. This creates a consi...
How does Xenon bond?	To the first (basic valance theory) approximation, it doesn't. You have to start taking into account that it is so large that its affinity for its outer electrons is relatively weak enough that a sufficiently electronegative atom such Fluorine can bond to it anyway. It's in no way a preferred bond, but it is a bond.	[ "Recently, xenon has been shown to produce a wide variety of compounds of the type XeOX where \"n\" is 1,2 or 3 and X is any electronegative group, such as CF, C(SOCF), N(SOF), N(SOCF), OTeF, O(IOF), etc.; the range of compounds is impressive, similar to that seen with the neighbouring element iodine, running into ...
Why can insects survive so long after receiving wounds that would instantly kill a human or other animal?	You're talking about cases when an insect loses its head and such, aren't you? Their nervous system isn't like ours, to begin with. The human nervous system consists of two main parts, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS contains the brain and spinal cord. The PNS consi...	[ "Insects are also used in medicine, for example fly larvae (maggots) were formerly used to treat wounds to prevent or stop gangrene, as they would only consume dead flesh. This treatment is finding modern usage in some hospitals. Recently insects have also gained attention as potential sources of drugs and other me...
How do glass fibre cables improve data stream speed compared to regular metal cables?	Optical fiber doesn't reduce the time it takes for a signal to travel from the source to the receiver. In fact, the speed of light in glass is about 2/3 c, whereas the speed of a radio wave in the air is of course c, and the speed of an electrical signal through coaxial cable varies depending on the dielectric used...	[ "The use of optical fiber offers much higher data rates over relatively longer distances. Most high-capacity Internet and cable television backbones already use fiber optic technology, with data switched to other technologies (DSL, cable, POTS) for final delivery to customers.\n", "For short-distance applications...
Why is lava orange?	All objects emit [thermal radiation](_URL_0_), with the precise spectrum of light being emitted depending on the temperature. Anything heated to lava-like temperatures will glow orange. Note that this is associated with the object being hot, not with it being molten (although most things melt if heated enough); tungs...	[ "According to the band, the name Mild Orange was chosen because 'The colour orange can cause one to experience a heightened sense of optimism, a boost in aspiration, and a stimulation of warmth and happiness'.\n", "Orange is a slice-of-life romance manga series written and illustrated by Ichigo Takano, aimed at t...
how does topographical prominence work?	Imagine you are standing on a mountaintop and the sea level starts rising. Eventually, the mountain will become an island, and at the moment, the topological prominence will be the distance from the mountaintop to the water. In more technical terms, topological prominence is defined by the key col. Between any to ...	[ "A topographic prominence criterion is applied to exclude high points which are considered subsidiary peaks of a larger mountain. The definition of topographic prominence is the vertical separation between a peak and the low point of the highest ridge connecting it to a higher one. In practical terms, prominence is...
I've heard it said there's no historical evidence that any of the tribes of Israel built the pyramids or were ever enslaved in Egypt. If this is true, how do events in the Book of Exodus, including Passover, enter into the Torah and play such a large part in modern Jewish law and celebrations?	First thing to realize is that the pyramids are never mentioned in the Bible. The reason for that is very simple. By the time period of Exodus, the pyramids were already a solid thousand years old and becoming ruins. They were built ~2600 bc. Exodus is usually dated to some point between 1500 bc- 1300 bc. They'...	[ "In a 1998 commencement speech at Andrews University, Carson publicly expressed the view that the Pyramids of Giza were not tombs, but grain silos built by Joseph, the Biblical son of Jacob, in preparation for the famine depicted in the Book of Genesis. He added that \"various scientists\" say ancient aliens could ...
Why does my UV bulb glow purple? Are there UV bulbs that emit no visible light?	UV is short for UltraViolet because it is just at the edge and slightly outside of human vision spectrum. The last color we can see before UV is violet, so you're seeing the low end of the radiation coming from that bulb. It is a huge challenge to get anything to glow in only one frequency. When you see lights or fi...	[ "'Black light' incandescent lamps are also made, from an incandescent light bulb with a filter coating which absorbs most visible light. Halogen lamps with fused quartz envelopes are used as inexpensive UV light sources in the near UV range, from 400 to 300 nm, in some scientific instruments. Due to its black-body ...
How old are "Full Metal Jacket"-style bootcamp techniques that involve verbal abuse, insults, psychological stress?	Follow up question: What other types of bootcamp training strategies would drill instructors use? Also what were training structures like when there was a massive influx of troops who needed to be trained quickly, such as when the US joined WWII after Pearl Harbor?	[ "Basic Training is a greatest hits compilation album from Hip Hop collective Boot Camp Clik, featuring singles released from Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun/Cocoa Brovaz, Heltah Skeltah and O.G.C. between 1992 and 1999.\n", "Jailhouse rock or JHR is a name used to describe a collection of different fighting styles that...
why is there after every http in a link ://?	So if you wanted to find a file on a computer, you'd identify it by /directory/filename for example /webpages/index.html Now, if you wanted to find that file in a directory on another computer you have to give some indication that you're referring to computer's name rather than a directory. You do that with //, so...	[ "The HTTP (originally a misspelling of referrer) is an optional HTTP header field that identifies the address of the webpage (i.e. the URI or IRI) which is linked to the resource being requested. By checking the referrer, the new webpage can see where the request originated.\n", "httpRange-14 is a long-running lo...
how did i just get an electric shock from touching a carrot?	[This was the closest explanation I could find from a quick Google search.](_URL_0_)	[ "Electrical injury is a physiological reaction caused by electric current passing through the body. Electric shock occurs upon contact of a (human) body part with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient magnitude of current to pass through the victim's flesh, viscera or hair. Physical contact with energi...
Can some people "fight" illnesses and have a better success rate than those who give up?	There was a [study](_URL_0_) published a few years back examining a related phenomenon in which it was commonly believed that people with terminal illnesses could "hold on for the holidays" through sheer will. The statistical analysis showed that this was not the case, and that the death rate was unchanged by the holi...	[ "For example, if people who have a more refractory or serious problem tend to drop out of a study at a higher rate, even a completely ineffective treatment may appear to be providing benefits if one merely compares the condition before and after the treatment for only those who finish the study (ignoring those who ...
Do all photons in sunlight have the same energy?	No, sunlight is black body radiation. It emits photons with a huge range of energies, some more common than others. IIRC it emits more green photons than any other. The atmosphere blocks most of the range, but what gets through are mostly the photons with energies that our eyes are able to detect. Red photons have lowe...	[ "If the photon has less energy than the bandgap, it is not collected at all. This is a major consideration for conventional solar cells, which are not sensitive to most of the infrared spectrum, although that represents almost half of the power coming from the sun. Conversely, photons with more energy than the band...
Where does the energy come from in Slingshot maneuver in space travel?	You actually steal a little bit of energy from the body you're using to slingshot, but because that object is typically so large the effect on it isn't noticeable. An analogy would be the experiment where you drop a tennis ball on top of a basketball to the ground: the tennis ball shoots up far higher by taking energy...	[ "A gravitational slingshot can carry a space probe onward to other destinations without the expense of reaction mass. By harnessing the gravitational energy of other celestial objects, the spacecraft can pick up kinetic energy. However, even more energy can be obtained from the gravity assist if rockets are used.\n...
How should we be teaching history in order to foster a healthy lifelong interest in the subject, avoid bad caricatures of historical events, foster level headed discussions and skepticism towards sketchy interpretations of the facts?	The answer to this question is, I think: get good teachers and let them teach the way they want to. I studied history as an undergrad and grad student, and then taught it briefly at the high school level (I still teach, but a different subject now). I had a lot of different teachers. Some of them focused on nuts-and-...	[ "Sometimes called historical reasoning skills, historical thinking skills are frequently described in contrast to history content such as names, dates, and places. This dichotomous presentation is often misinterpreted as a claim for the superiority of one form of knowing over the other. In fact, the distinction is ...
Is there such thing as a photographic/perfect memory?	What you're referring to is an eidetic memory. I will substantiate a bit but Wikipedia probably does a better job. _URL_0_ _URL_1_ As far as I know, Kim Peek is one of the few currently existent people who are actually very close to the definition. There are a few who merely claim to remember but basically have train...	[ "By contrast, photographic memory may be defined as the ability to recall pages of text, numbers, or similar, in great detail, without the visualization that comes with eidetic memory. It may be described as the ability to briefly look at a page of information and then recite it perfectly from memory. This type of ...
how do vr headsets that use the phone screen within close proximity to the eyes not damage peoples' vision?	From what I've heard, it's not that bad for your eyes because you're focusing far away. The lenses on Google Cardboard make it seem as if the image is far away.	[ "VR headsets may regularly cause eye fatigue, as does all screened technology, because people tend to blink less when watching screens, causing their eyes to become more dried out. There have been some concerns about VR headsets contributing to myopia, but although VR headsets sit close to the eyes, they may not ne...
Did the ancient Mayan civilization ever come in contact with other civilizations?	The "others" in question are a group known as the Itzá, which came from the Western half of Mesoamerica. Specifically, they likely came from somewhere in the Gulf Coast region near the modern Mexican state of Veracruz. Chichen Itza was a relatively minor city in the Classic Period, but after the migration of the Itzá i...	[ "The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya ...
If I work on one of the lower floors of a high-rise building that's hit by a serious earthquake, am I better off making a break for the exit or getting under a standard metal cubicle desk?	If you're in a reasonably modern high-rise building, they are built to withstand ridiculously strong earthquakes. The structure of the building is most likely flexible enough to swing multiple meters at the top, and the largest even have devices like huge pendulums installed at the top to counteract the oscillation. So...	[ "Traditional seismic design assumes that the lower stories of a building are stronger than the upper stories; where this is not the case—if the lower story is less strong than the upper structure—the structure will not respond to earthquakes in the expected fashion. Using modern design methods, it is possible to ta...
Is a superfluid fountain really a perpetual motion device?	As soon as the fluid came in contact with the turbine it would lose some energy, eventually slowing the fluid to a stop. edit: perpetual motion machines can't exist according to the laws of physics.	[ "Heron's fountain is not a perpetual motion machine. If the nozzle of the spout is narrow, it may play for several minutes, but it eventually comes to a stop. The water coming out of the tube may go higher than the level in any container, but the net flow of water is downward. If, however, the volumes of the air su...
How many living organisms are in a 1 inch by 1 inch plot of everyday soil?	First, 1x1 in is an area measurement, but we need to have a volume measurement -- so let's just say a 1x1x1 inch cube. The count of bugs and worms is probably going to be < 10. The number of organisms is going to be super skewed by bacteria. Assuming about 15 g of soil in a 1 inch cube, the number of bateria are...	[ "Is this the largest organism in the world? This 2,400-acre (9.7 km2) site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth of mycelium before logging roads cut through it. Estimated at 1,665 football fields in size and 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it several times over, and in so doing has...
why didn't space travel get cheaper and easier after roughly 50 years from apollo 11?	It has - it's now commonplace (for a small selected group of people) and so cheap that we can have over 2,000 satellites currently in space. EDIT tyop.	[ "From 2015 SpaceX have demonstrated significant progress in their more incremental approach to reducing the cost of orbital spaceflight. Their potential for cost reduction comes mainly from pioneering propulsive landing with their reusable rocket booster stage as well as their Dragon capsule, but also includes reus...
how did chemists in the past discover and collect gaseous elements such as helium?	Helium was discoed by observing light from the sun the name is from Helios the Greek word for the sun. Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. Different atoms and molecules releases and absorb light of different colors. Neon for example release a distinct red light...	[ "On March 26, 1895, Scottish chemist, Sir William Ramsay, isolated helium on Earth by treating the mineral cleveite (a variety of uraninite with at least 10% rare earth elements) with mineral acids. Ramsay was looking for argon but, after separating nitrogen and oxygen from the gas, liberated by sulfuric acid, he n...
when amazon video offers to show me a 1968 movie in hd for $1 more, is there actually any difference in quality?	Sure. Film in good condition is actually very high quality, better than HD. Quality was lost when SD media was made from it in the 1990s, so going back and making an HD version will result in a higher quality video.	[ "Google Play Movies & TV offers movies and television shows for purchase or rental, depending on availability. Google states that \"Most movies and TV shows on Google Play are available in high definition\", with a resolution of 1,280×720 pixels (720p) or 1,920×1,080 pixels (1080p). Google added a 4K Ultra HD video...
If you are floating in space with no protection, and cut yourself, what would the color of your blood be?	The same color it always is: red. Oxygenated blood is red and de-oxygenated blood is dark red. When you see blue lines under your skin, you are seeing the way that light scatters through your skin and off of the blood vessels. The blood itself is not blue.	[ "It is worn by people wanting to be seen, including highway workers and lifeguards. Prisoners are also sometimes dressed in orange clothing to make them easier to see during an escape. Lifeguards on the beaches of Los Angeles County, both real and in television series, wear orange swimsuits to make them stand out. ...
why does going outside to get some "fresh air" genuinely seem to help with headaches/feeling ill?	Many possible reasons, including psychological factors, but a big one is that, even in an urban area, indoor air can be up to ten times more polluted than outdoor air given conventional ventilation and latently toxic building and finishing materials.	[ "Dry, drafty environments and those with smoke and dust should be avoided. This includes avoiding hair dryers, heaters, air conditioners or fans, especially when these devices are directed toward the eyes. Wearing glasses or directing gaze downward, for example, by lowering computer screens can be helpful to protec...
Prior to the Edict of Milan, were Christians sentenced to death by animals? (Damnatio Ad Bestias)	Yes, yes they were. The Polycarp of Martyrdom, usually dated to the mid-to-late 2nd century, refers to this in the case of other martyrs, and holds it out as a threat to Polycarp. ([source in translation](_URL_0_)) The third century text, the Passion of Perpetua and Felicty features the death of martyrs sentences to ...	[ "Christians who refused to recant by performing ceremonies to honour the gods would meet with severe penalties; Roman citizens were exiled or condemned to a swift death by beheading. Slaves, foreign-born residents, and lower classes were liable to be put to death by wild beasts as a public spectacle. A variety of a...
how to wirelessly project my computer screen onto a tv?	As u/CptCreosote said, Plex is probably the way to go. I wanted to add to that. This is service software that should run on a dedicated media PC you can designate as your media server. Congratulations, you're in the IT business now. I'm not saying it's hard to setup or anything, I actually want to comment on WiFi bandw...	[ "The computer sends the image to the projector. The projector generates light beams which form the image on the screen. When the user touches the screen, a tactile membrane film reacts to these movements, generating electrical impulses that are sent back to the computer. The computer interprets the received impulse...
why does music sound slower when i'm sick?	Your body temperature can deregulate your internal clock. Quoting [PubMed](_URL_0_): > Experiments investigating timing behaviour in humans under conditions where body temperature was raised or (much more rarely) lowered, dating from 1927 to 1993, were reviewed. These tested the hypothesis that humans possess a temp...	[ "Other than their inability to hear music, which is most likely due to a genetic defect, the rest of an amusic's brain remains normal. The only effect is on the ability to tell different notes apart due to the separation of two key areas in the brain. Most sufferers of amusia describe music as unpleasant. Others si...
Why are virus capsids tiled by hexagons? Did they evolve this way to minimize the surface energy of the tiles?	This topic might help: _URL_0_ Circles, or spheres in 3D, pack most efficiently in a hexagonal grid. This means you can fit the maximum number of circles into a given area by packing them this way. If you wanted to completely fill that plane, for example if you were building a wall or a capsid, you'd have to fill in t...	[ "Its capsid appears hexagonal under an electron microscope, therefore the capsid symmetry is icosahedral. It does not appear to possess an outer viral envelope, suggesting that the virus does not exit the host cell by exocytosis.\n", "HEF trimers on the surfaces of both spherical and filamentous particles are arr...
would a cannonball splash save me from dying at a high enough altitude into the water?	TL;DR: Absolutely not. Your best bet is to hit feet first, arms tucked in and appropriate holes clenched. A big part of what kills you on water impact is deceleration trauma. How fast you decelerate in the water is directly connected to the overall length of what's entering the water; a long, narrow object penetrates ...	[ "A Cannonball, also referred to as a Bomb, is a diving style where the diver hugs their knees and attempts to enter the water with their body shaped as much like a sphere as possible. The goal is to create a large splash.\n", "When the boat was demonstrated to Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, the Princess Roya...
how can the color spectrum be wrapped into a continuous color wheel? how can the highest frequency colors blend into the lowest frequency colors without clashing?	Because our eyes only detect three colours of light: red, green, and blue. When both red and blue light reaches our eyes but not green, we perceive it as magenta (a bright pinkish purple color). When both red and green light reaches out eyes but not blue, we perceive it as yellow - but what is interesting is that thi...	[ "A color circle based on spectral wavelengths appears with red at one end of the spectrum and is 100% mixable violet at the other. A wedge-shaped gap represents colors that have no unique spectral frequency. These extra-spectral colors, the purples, form from additive mixture of colors from the ends of the spectrum...
Why do all the planets with substantial axial tilt have such similar angles (besides Uranus)?	It is mostly luck. Neglecting planet-planet or planet-star or planet-disc interactions you would expect that the spin axis would align with the axis of the protoplanetary disc they formed from. With planet-star tidal interactions you would expect a reduction of obliquity due to tidal effects resulting in either a pro...	[ "One result of this axis orientation is that, averaged over the Uranian year, the polar regions of Uranus receive a greater energy input from the Sun than its equatorial regions. Nevertheless, Uranus is hotter at its equator than at its poles. The underlying mechanism that causes this is unknown. The reason for Ura...
Does light ever travel slower than the speed of light?	The simplest way to explain this is to say that any little "piece" of light, a photon, travels at c always. It can't not travel at c. However, when light passes through a material, the material is made of charged particles. And those charged particles respond with photons of their own, and the net effect is tha...	[ "Virtual photons in some calculations in quantum field theory may also travel at a different speed for short distances; however, this doesn't imply that anything can travel faster than light. While it has been claimed (see VSL criticism below) that no meaning can be ascribed to a dimensional quantity such as the sp...
Can waste heat be recaptured on the ground from a rocket launch?	Not worth it, at least at the moment. Even the busiest launch pads only get one launch per month or so, and then they are only heated for a few seconds. A power harvesting device that is active for just a minute per year won't recover its cost.	[ "Thiokol has used surplus rocket fuel through an agreement with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center used the fuel to produce a flare that can safely destroy landmines. The fuel that is left unused from a launch will become a solid, which cannot be reused but can be used as an ingredient needed to create the Deminin...
why do flies have such short life-spans?	Their lifespans are only short relative to human lifespans. There's no objective way to measure "long" or "short" when you're looking at organisms' life spans; these words only mean anything in reference to something else. You could just as easily ask why humans have such long lifespans. There isn't a universal evolut...	[ "Fruit flies raised under axenic conditions (i.e., without any bacteria in the environment) or cured of their microbiota with antibiotics had a shorter lifespan than flies raised under normal conditions. The microbiota influence on longevity seems to be particularly strong early in development.\n", "The life cycl...
when people are in an accident and initially live, but then "succumb to their injuries" in the hospital, what do they actually die of?	There are a variety of things. For example if the kidneys or liver are damaged and can't be repaired, then the body can't do the processing it needs and the body slowly poisons itself. An initially survived head trauma could lead to swelling that proves fatal. If the bleeding is internal, pumping more blood into the sy...	[ "Injuries, unlike accidents, do not happen by chance. The science of injury prevention has demonstrated that injuries and the events leading up to injuries are not random. Like disease, they follow a distinct pattern. Studying these patterns has made it possible to learn to predict and prevent injuries from occurri...
why do we screw up our face when lifting heavy weight?	Its been scientifically proven that grunting reduces the level of perceived pain. I would assume that scrunching up your face achieves a similar effect.	[ "Most braces are made of PVC, carbon fiber or light-weight metals to keep the weight down. If the brace were too heavy it would defeat the purpose of using it, reduced camera shake and fluidity of movement.\n", "Weight lifting, if not done correctly, can be detrimental to posture, and causes a lot of the neck and...
In the Napoleonic wars how were the troops transferred?	Yep, pretty much (or, rather, they would have marched there from the various departments or depots they were stationed in). Troops could often be transported by ship, as well, but in the case of land campaigns such as Napoleon's in Russia, plain old foot marches were how soldiers would get from place to place. It would...	[ "Military forces during the Napoleonic Wars consisted largely of the three principal combat arms, and several combat support services, and included the infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and logistics troops which were called the army train during the period. The period gave a start to what are today military...
Do we know what actually-existing historical figures are primarily responsible for creating the Greek and Norse mythologies, or were they simply growing oral tradition among countless nameless locals?	In the case of Norse mythology we are extremely blessed and cursed with the existence of the sagas which contain almost the entirety of our knowledge of Norse mythology. There are other sources from other cultural contexts as well, and the role of archaeology is increasingly gaining prominence, but in terms of "home g...	[ "Although some Enlightenment historians continued to repeat these ancient stories as though fact, today they are recognised as manifestly mythological. There was, for example, no Franko, or Francio, ancestor of the Franks. The convergence of data from history, linguistics and archaeology have made this conclusion i...
can us political candidates make campaign promises in the form of legally binding contracts? if not, why not?	No. In order for a contract to be valid there must be "consideration" on both sides. You cannot be contractually bound to do something for free, there needs to be some sort of exchange of value (and additionally it needs to be "conscionable" so absurdly one-sided contracts can also be thrown out). Furthermore valid co...	[ "BULLET::::- A politician negotiating support for a presidential run may want to avoid bringing onboard any high-profile supporters who risk alienating other important potential supporters, while avoiding any unexpected new policies that could also limit the size of their growing coalition.\n", "Since investors c...
how come i can't tell you the order of the letters on a keyboard, but i'm easily able to type without looking?	Because of muscle memory, your fingers know exactly where the keys are, even if you don't remember the order of them.	[ "The keyboard uses one button for each finger and two for the thumb of the user's right hand. The five buttons immediately beneath the fingers are pressed in different combinations to generate all letters. The second thumb button is used to toggle through a range of modes that allow the user to switch case, enter n...
The Chilean economy did poorly in the early 1970s. Many plausible causal factors were at work, including falling copper prices, Allende's policies, and CIA shenanigans. Do historians agree on which factor(s) were most important?	My background is in "neoliberal" economics rather than history, but I can try to answer your question as fairly as possible. I recently got into argument with a historian friend on this very same subject and I am pretty sure we were talking past each other, especially because this subject is so fraught and mixed with a...	[ "However, these results were not sustainable. The price of copper took a nose-dive and production also went down, with correspondingly negative results for the economy. A commercial deficit was recorded at the end of 1971 and private investors shied away. In 1972, the Chilean economy took a turn for the worse. Expo...
like, really, explain like im 5. propulsion in space. how do space ships turn and about mass.	Well, you know that bully on the playground? How he always pushes you around? And you know how when he pushes you, he is pushed back a little too? The bully can't even stop himself from being pushed back when he pushes you, because every time something pushes on something else, that something else pushes back just as h...	[ "A spacecraft could carry a mass driver as its primary engine. With a suitable source of electrical power (probably a nuclear reactor) the spaceship could then use the mass driver to accelerate pieces of matter of almost any sort, boosting itself in the opposite direction. At the smallest scale of reaction mass, th...
does starvation actually work towards weight-loss? if yes, why? if no, why not? and why do people think it does?	Well the body burns approximately 1500-2000 calories every day just to survive. If you do not eat food the body will burn fat to meet its energy and you will lose weight. This is however very unhealthy and should be avoided. If you binge on food after starving yourself for a week... you are just stupid. In one week of ...	[ "Continuing weight loss may deteriorate into wasting, a vaguely defined condition called cachexia. Cachexia differs from starvation in part because it involves a systemic inflammatory response. It is associated with poorer outcomes. In the advanced stages of progressive disease, metabolism can change so that they l...
What is the purpose of things that are not food smelling good to us?	Because you have to remember that while evolution is guided by the pressure of natural selection, it's not a designing or engineering process, and as such our olfactory perception has been selected in regard to important factors in natural selection (rotten meat smells bad, good food smells good) but most "neutral" odo...	[ "Some odors are sought after, such as from perfumes and flowers, some of which command high prices. Whole industries have developed around products to remove unpleasant odors (see deodorant). The perception of odors is also very much dependent upon circumstance and culture. Cooking smells may be pleasant while one ...
Could an average person acclimate to live at very high altitudes, or is it a genetic adaptation?	People acclimate to high altitudes, yes. The usual mechanism for this is (roughly) having a higher red blood cell count. While the oxygen content of the atmosphere (percentage) is the same at high altitudes, the atmospheric pressure drops steeply (at 9000m it is ~35% of what it is at sea level); this means the partial...	[ "High-altitude adaptation in humans is an instance of evolutionary modification in certain human populations, including those of Tibet in Asia, the Andes of the Americas, and Ethiopia in Africa, who have acquired the ability to survive at extremely high altitudes. This adaptation means irreversible, long-term physi...
why is grilled chicken healthy and fried chicken not?	Fried chicken is considered less healthy because it is covered in an oily fried salty crust -- basically a salty donut is being added to your chicken. (And this is on top of the fatty skin, which is often left on.) The meat itself is not unhealthy.	[ "Southern fried chicken, also known simply as fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces which have been coated in a seasoned batter and pan-fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior of the chicken while retaining juices in the meat. Broiler chickens...
how would the coldest (27c) star / brown dwarf feel to a touch (wise 1828+2650)?	You'd get radiation burns and probably radiation poisoning. Conventional stars can't be alive and not emit radiation (usually). What would that feel like? You'd feel tingling of the limbs, swelling of the tongue, and a "burning up" sensation (to quote from a very unfortunate worker at some plant that was mixing too m...	[ "WISE data has revealed hundreds of new brown dwarfs. Of these, fourteen are classified as cool Ys. One of the Y dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, was, as of August 2011, the record holder for the coldest brown dwarf – emitting no visible light at all, this type of object resembles free-floating planets more than star...
why is it that passengers fall asleep when the cabin pressurizes?	I tend sleep on flights. It's not because of the pressurization -- it's because I'm strapped to an uncomfortable chair for a few hours, and sleeping is like a time machine to final approach.	[ "Cabin pressurization is the active pumping of compressed air into the cabin of an aircraft in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the occupants. It becomes necessary whenever the aircraft reaches a certain altitude, since the natural atmospheric pressure would be too low to supply sufficient oxygen to the pa...
how did switzerland (specifically geneva) become the capital of international relations?	It has a long history of remaining neutral in the various wars of Europe and neutral places are preferred for making treaties. That really is it.	[ "Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States of America, the Empire of Brazil, and the Mexican Empire, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the c...
Where does the fluid come from in the amniotic sac when a woman gets pregnant?	The water component when the amniotic sac begins to fill( linearly with growth ), comes majorly from plasma from the mother, through simple diffusion and hydrostatic pressure. The exact composition changes throughout gestation. As growth occurs, electrolytes, sugars, lipids, etc will be added. For a long time it was...	[ "The amniotic fluid allows the free movements of the fetus during the later stages of pregnancy, and also protects it by diminishing the risk of injury from without. It contains less than two percent solids, consisting of urea and other extractives, inorganic salts, a small amount of protein, and frequently a trace...
What motivated Charles V to promulgate the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549?	Charles V was certainly a man of ambition and one of his ambitions was to unify and centralise his dominions - and more specifically, the Low Countries. This should be seen in the wider context of centralising states and the emerging bureaucracy, two phenomena that were gaining traction in Europe around that time. Both...	[ "The conditions that forced Charles V to accept the actions of the League changed after a few years. In 1544 the signing of the Treaty of Crépy ended after decades the conflicts between the Emperor and Francis I of France for the control of the Italian peninsula. After the treaty the League lost the support of the ...
Why do most mammals have a different color fur on their stomach, than on their back/sides?	This phenomenon, in general, is called [countershading](_URL_1_). If you look at an animal from the side, the bottom half will be in the shade, while the top half may have the sun shining on it. So, even if the animal is generally camouflaged, you'll still be able to see a brightness gradient that indicates that there'...	[ "The fur of its back is dark brown, while the fur of its belly is a paler brown. It has distinct white stripes that run the length of its face, in addition to a white stripe that runs down the middle of its back.\n", "The color of their fur varies widely between subspecies, from a dark reddish-brown to an orange ...
What is the difference between liquor aged 10 years and one aged 40 years? What changes it?	When a bottle says aged 12 year they mean 12 year in a barrel not the bottle. Liquor, for example whiskey, picks up flavor from the cask/keg it is barreled in. The cask/keg can impart very subtle textures and flavors to a whiskey. Wine, on the other hand, ages differently than liquor. As wine ages, a chemical cal...	[ "A whisky's age may be listed on the bottle providing a guarantee of the youngest whisky used. An age statement on the bottle, in the form of a number, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed age whisky. Scotch whisky without an...
the difference between java and javascript.	It's easier to explain how they're the same. They both use the word Java in their names. That's all. It's like how Clint Eastwood and I are the same. We both use the word Clint in our names. Otherwise, we're completely different people, and we're not interchangable in any normal sense of the word. Same for Java...	[ "JavaScript is a scripting language that is mainly used for creating for implementing dynamic website pages and enhanced user interfaces for web browsers. Highly influenced by programming languages such as C, Java, Self, and Scheme, JavaScript supports object oriented, functional, and imperative programming styles....
do the signs on the backs of trucks that say, "warning stay back 200ft, not responsible for broken windshields" carry legal weight?	They carry zero legal weight in cases where something falls from the truck. You can't unilaterally disclaim liability for negligence. Loads are required to be secured in every state. The driver would be negligent by either not securing the load or improperly doing so, and a single stone falling from a truck is an unsec...	[ "Since the beginning of 2008, the purchase of a motorway sticker is handled electronically (known as an \"e-sticker\" or \"e-matrica\"), thus cannot be put physically on the windshield anymore, it is only registered in a computer system with its validity period. The highway cameras are checking the registered plate...
unsupervised learning/machine learning and how data is relevant	Unsupervised learning isn't generally used to make predictions - for that task a supervised learner is typically used. You hinted at why in your question - if we do have a way to evaluate whether our predictions are accurate, then we should be able to frame the task as a classification problem and train a supervised ...	[ "Data-driven instruction is an educational approach that relies on information to inform teaching and learning. The idea refers to a method teachers use to improve instruction by looking at the information they have about their students. It takes place within the classroom, compared to data-driven decision making. ...
what is the significance of bauhaus?	Bauhaus was a school of design in Germany that was shut down by the Nazis. But the word has since grown to mean a style of minimalism and simplicity, used in art, architecture, furniture, typography, etc. It’s also grown to mean a movement that ushered in the current style we now call “modern” (think 1950s sleek sty...	[ "The Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. The German term \"\"—literally \"building house\"—was understood as meaning \"School of Building\", but in spite of its name and the fact that its founder was an architect, the Bauhaus did not initially have an architecture department. Nonetheless, it was founde...
How many atoms are split in a nuclear explosion?	This is pretty easy to answer, but you should know it depends on the _size_ (energetic release) and _type_ (fission or fission-fusion) of the explosion. For an all-fission (atoms splitting) explosion (like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs), all you need to know is that every atom split releases about 200 MeV of energy...	[ "There are two main considerations for the location of an explosion: height and surface composition. A nuclear weapon detonated in the air, called an air burst, produces less fallout than a comparable explosion near the ground. A nuclear explosion in which the fireball touches the ground pulls soil and other materi...
why do we need suffixes in web addresses? e.g. .com, .org, .gov.	It's just a naming convention. The idea in the beginning was that different types of websites should have a different ending. So commercial websites should end with .com, while organizations use .org. Schools use .edu and so on. Some of these however got mixed up with time and the rules are pretty lose (with the excep...	[ "While \"com\", \"uk\", and \"us\" are top-level domains (TLDs), Internet users cannot always register the next level of domain, such as \"co.uk\" or \"wy.us\", because these may be controlled by domain registrars. By contrast, users can register second level domains within \"com\", such as \"example.com\", because...
if the carbon in the air is absorbed to the ground isn't that bad for the soil?	All plants absorb carbon dioxide and use it to transform into cellulose to build the plant. Trees, grasses, flowers, bushes. Those are all fires awaiting a spark.	[ "Apart from afforestation, only two things can mitigate the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere: either less carbon is extracted from the ground, or it is injected back underground after harvesting its energy.\n", "Fundamentally, the below-ground carbon accumulation works as a GHG mitigation tool because it ...
What are the limitations on what we can view in deep space?	What makes the Hubble so wonderful is not its ability to zoom. What makes the Hubble so wonderful is its ability to collect large quantities of light. Astronomical objects are not hard to see because they are small, they are hard to see because they are dim. For instance, in the night sky the [Andromeda Galaxy](_URL_0_...	[ "Visibility can vary from nearly unlimited to low, or non-existent, and can go from one extreme to the other in a single dive. While a less-intensive kind of diving called cavern diving does not take divers beyond the reach of natural light (and typically no deeper than ), and penetration not further than , true ca...
Are the rules of a language based on how it's supposed to be spoken, or how it's supposed to be written?	Spoken language is primary. Written language is based on it, but it has some quirks of its own. Grammar "rules" aren't the prescriptive stuff you've been told to do; they're the things you do naturally when speaking your language. Written language rules aren't really linguistic; they're more or less sociological.	[ "Another way in which languages convey meaning is through the order of words within a sentence. The grammatical rules for how to produce new sentences from words that are already known is called syntax. The syntactical rules of a language determine why a sentence in English such as \"I love you\" is meaningful, but...
Do profession-based European surnames imply a historic de facto caste system?	Since the surname question has already been answered fairly well, I'll address the second parts of your question (which are still applicable, regardless of the surnames).Typically speaking, the ideal for most members of the Third Estate, from peasants to wholesale merchant, would be to pass their trade, their social ar...	[ "Since former styles are not recognized, while hereditary titles are only recognised in German law as part of the surname in accordance with the Weimar Constitution of 1919, family members include the title as an integral part of their name in the form, \"Prinz/essin von Thurn und Taxis\".\n", "Several South Indi...
why are most new dvd menus still 4:3 instead of 16:9	It is not a problem with the DVD, it is a problem with your set-up. My guess it that your misconfigured DVD player outputs a "squished" 4:3 signal that you "correct" by pressing "zoom" or "stretch" on the TV remote. It fills the screen for 16:9 material, but that setting doesn't work on 4:3 menus. (You are effectivel...	[ "The name R5 refers to DVD Region 5. In an effort to compete with copyright infringement in these areas, the movie industry chose to create a new format for DVD releases that could be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional DVD releases. R5 releases differ from normal releases in that they often...
How did Newton manage without vectors? How did he, or anyone else, calculate orbital trajectories?	You can do things geometrically. If you know, for example, as Kepler did, that celestial bodies orbit in an ellipse with one focus at the Sun, you can come up with [Kepler's equation](_URL_0_) to calculate the (x,y) position of the orbital body in the orbital plane at any time. P.S. as you may have noticed, it was re...	[ "Knowing three orbital positions of a planet's orbit – positions obtained by Sir Isaac Newton from astronomer John Flamsteed – Newton was able to produce an equation by straightforward analytical geometry, to predict a planet's motion; i.e., to give its orbital properties: position, orbital diameter, period and orb...
why does caffeine have a half-time? why isn't the metabolizing speed constant?	Most things your body processes have a half-life. In a way, this is because the processing speed is constant. You might think that your body should process perhaps 10g of something in an hour until it's all gone, but as the concentration drops it's harder to find, so it takes longer. Instead of an office worker sit...	[ "The structure of caffeine allows the molecule to pass freely through biological membranes including the blood-brain barrier. Absorption in the gastrointestinal tract reaches near completion at about 99% after only 45 minutes. Half-life of caffeine for most adults is between 2.5 and 4.5 hours when consumption is li...
why do senses like sight and hearing tend to deteriorate with age?	Sight deteriorates largely because the focus point for an image moves off of the fovea, normally the focus ends up behind the fovea, making the person farsighted. When it is associated with old age, this is called [presbyopia](_URL_1_). The lens is what focuses light into the eye. As we get older the lens gets less ela...	[ "As hearing becomes less reliable in old-age people may tend to rely more on lip-reading, and are encouraged to do so. However, greater reliance on lip-reading may not always make good the effects of age-related hearing loss. Cognitive decline in aging may be preceded by and/or associated with measurable hearing lo...
Is Prussia more closely related to Slavs or Germans?	The word Prussia does not contain the word Russia any more than the word fairy contains the word fair: the words sound alike but have entirely different histories. Prussia comes from Slavic/Baltic prus-, which is of uncertain origin. Etymonline suggests that it derives from po-rusi "[living] near the Rus'"...	[ "West Prussia was notable for its ethnic and religious diversity due to immigration and cultural changes, with the population becoming mixed over the centuries. Since the early Middle Ages the region was inhabited by numerous Slavic and Baltic peoples, such as Pomeranians in the Pomerelia region, Old Prussians and ...
why do people answer questions better if they look at a different direction rather than maintaining eye contact with the person?	Because eye contact is emotionally draining. We use up a lot of mental processing power looking at another person - discerning their expression, hypothesizing their intention, their thoughts, their motivations. If we are trying to do something else - like find the solution to an abstract problem - it is much easier ...	[ "When two or more individuals talk, the person that talks is used to being looked at. Therefore, making eye contact can make other people expect conversation. Discussing eye contact is actually quite difficult because any attempt to categorize the degree (of sustained contact or measure of directness) and the natur...
why do constellations look nothing like what they are supposed to represent?	It takes imagination and creativity.	[ "Each of the constellations' stars are overlain on an engraved image of the subject of the constellation. For reasons unknown, many of the human constellations are engraved as figures seen from behind whereas they had traditionally been rendered as facing the Earth. This oddity led to some confusion in the literal ...
Imagine a young German soldier on the Russian front in 1942, imagine a German soldier (of similar age & rank) working as a guard in an interment camp in Germany or one of pacified parts of Europe. How much and in what ways, do the two men’s living conditions likely differ?	Both would most likely experience the same things, but at different times. The Germans routinely rotated units out of the eastern front to rest, refit, accept new equipment (and train in new tactics and learn to use new Equipment) and new recruits and other reinforcements and in many cases be rebuilt as units after dev...	[ "German soldiers were well behaved and polite at the start of the occupation. When these soldiers were transferred away, second grade soldiers arrived and were kept under reasonable control by their officers however when these went off the islands received many eastern Soviet soldiers who had volunteered to fight f...
what's happening when i put my car in park, take my foot off the brake, and feel like its rolling back a tiny bit?	Putting your car in park is basically sliding a lock into place in the transmission, which is just a collection of gears that control how the power from the engine is transferred to moving the car. Since there is a little bit of play in those gears, they move a little before the lock catches and the car rolls a little...	[ "Automobiles usually have parking brakes on the rear wheels. If the rear axle is jacked off the ground with only the parking brake set, the vehicle may roll on the front wheels and fall. Chocking the front wheels prevents this mishap.\n", "In manual and automatic transmission vehicles, the parking brake can also ...
why can i run for half an hour on a treadmill without being tired, but running on concrete for a couple of minutes tires me and makes my legs hurt?	A few reasons, mainly: -More impact on your feet, and stress on different parts of your legs when you run on treadmill vs. road, you land differently on your feet due to self controlled running vs. sort of running in place. Be more aware of your feet, you can look up more about proper running form. -No incline on tread...	[ "Some runners may experience injuries when running on concrete surfaces. The problem with running on concrete is that the body adjusts to this flat surface running, and some of the muscles will become weaker, along with the added impact of running on a harder surface. Therefore, it is advised to change terrain occa...
Were there various "failed" sports that developed out of the primordial Football, Townball, Rounders, etc?	Hey, here's something I can answer. While I am not a sports historian, I am an ncaa (American gridiron) football official (and have been for many years) with a firm understanding of the rules and rule changes as well as a bit of research into the history of the game. Mods, please let me know if you need citations or an...	[ "The game's origins date back to at least the 1950s, with several people claiming to be the father of the game, and it appears to have been independently invented in several places. Albion, Michigan claims to be the earliest place of invention of the sport, in 1956, by Jerome Sacharski. Claude Lewis, director of th...
Are there any examples of British colonial policies, that would be considered atrocities by todays standard, and if yes, how common where they?	At the height of the British Empire, there were indeed many cases of atrocities that had been committed. Some of the most prominent having been in Africa, China, and British India. 1. Africa. During the Boer War and in the campaigns of British colonisation of Africa, there were instances of forced detention of natives...	[ "The historical record shows destructive operations by both indigenous hegemony and foreign intruders. Some of the methods used by the colonial powers are also reflected in armed European conflicts. Murdered peasants, livestock and grain seizures, arbitrary quartering of troops, and massive theft and looting by roa...
why are phone screens so hard to see when you film them?	The screens have a refresh rate, where the entire screen is converted from one image to another like a flip book. The faster the pages flip, the better it looks to us. Cameras record in a similar way, taking pictures at a quick pace. Which when shown rapidly makes a movie, like pre-digital theater projectors. These pi...	[ "BULLET::::3. Display screen on a mobile phone has limited real estate. Splitting the screen into Picture-in-Picture (in order to display both sending and received video streams) significantly degrades the Video Call user experience on a mobile phone (Video Call with Picture-in-Picture is effective in corporate app...
how do objects get named? (for example 'blanket' and how do the powers that be decide what is called what.)	Words can come from many sources, but most standard English vocabulary comes from one of two places: Latin (via French) and Germanic (via a lot of Northern European languages). This dual origin is one of the reasons for why English has so many synonyms. For example, [old](_URL_0_/index.php?term=old) comes from the We...	[ "Names of natural objects, such as men, trees and animals, are mostly primitive nouns, e.g.\"ʻO le la\", the sun; \"ʻo le tagata\", the person; \"ʻo le talo\", the taro; \"ʻo le iʻa\", the fish; also manufactured articles, such as \"matau\", an axe, \"vaʻa\", canoe, \"tao\", spear, \"fale\", house, etc.\n", "In t...
The Europeans drank ale/wine and the Chinese had tea, but what did other regions do to avoid drinking contaminated water?	While it's true that Humphrey Bogart and John Huston avoided nasty diseases by drinking whiskey instead of water while filming the African Queen, the idea that beer/ale/wine replaced water is often badhistory as the wiki points out _URL_0_ _URL_1_ /u/Qweniden gave good answers. > > I read that Beer/Cider/Wine w...	[ "Consumption of wines fortified with herbs or roots is believed to have begun in China at least as early as the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties (1250–1000 BC). The extra ingredients were added to wine to make it a medicinal drink. Medicinal drinks made by alcoholic fermentation of herbs and sugars are mentioned in...
for the average person in developed countries like the usa, how much has life changed (in economic terms) today compared to 50 years ago?	Drastically. The cost of living has risen disproportionately compared to salary & wage increases for the average worker, particularly the working class (blue collar or service industry jobs). Execs in the upper echelons of the corporate industry have received those raises, though, and it's creating a larger gap betwe...	[ "Which particular nation an impoverished person lives in deeply affects health outcomes. This can be attributed to governmental, environmental, geographical, and cultural factors. Using life expectancy as a measure of health indicates a difference between countries in likeliness of living to a certain age. Where pe...
Was Sargon of Akkad instrumental in the growth human civilisation, or did he stint its development?	All I know is is that his contributions to the field of beard-style were monumental. edit: Not even joking, everyone copied the plaited-beard style after him. Before him, clean-shaven was the [style](_URL_0_) in Mesopotamia.	[ "Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334–2279 BC) was an Akkadian king who conquered Sumer and was the reason of moving the power from Southern Mesopotamia (southern Iraq) to central Mesopotamia (central Iraq). Sargon's vast empire is known to have extended from Elam to the Mediterranean sea, including Mesopotamia, parts of moder...
Is it true the majority of soldiers who taught in both world wars did not fire their weapons, or actually aim at their adversaries?	[I wrote something about this some time ago](_URL_0_) which you might find of interest.	[ "The book is based on S.L.A. Marshall's studies from World War II, which proposed that contrary to popular perception, the majority of soldiers in war do not ever fire their weapons, because of an innate resistance to killing. Based on Marshall's studies the military instituted training measures to break down this ...
One of the 'better' emperors in Roman history?	There is no attached webpage, but I think I can answer your question anyways. Marcus Aurelius was one of the emperors referred to as "the five good emperors." Their reigns were consecutive, 96-180 AD, with Aurelius' being the last. Each of the five chose and adopted their heirs thus ensuring the Roman Empire would b...	[ "The concept of \"The Five Good Emperors\" reflects the internal Roman point of view. As regards their treatment of Roman citizens, these five Emperors clearly seem better than other Emperors – specifically, better than Domitian who immediately preceded them and Commodus who immediately followed them – and this vie...
why is 'butt chugging' a trend?	Some dumbass Pi Kappa Alpha at University of Tennessee decided that it would be a brilliant idea to pour alcohol up his ass to get really drunk. Ended up getting hospitalized and once news spread of this idiots actions the story ended up getting picked up by a lot of media outlets. Pi Kappa Alpha ended up getting suspe...	[ "BUTT was a quarterly magazine for gay men, founded in 2001 and edited by Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom. In 2005, \"The Guardian\" named \"BUTT\" as one of its top twenty magazines. , it had an estimated worldwide circulation of 24,000. In 2014, Taschen released \"BUTT Forever\", an anthology of some of the mag...
why are food cans ribbed?	Structural rigidity. Same reason corrugated cardboard is stronger than paperboard. edit: a ribbed structure can be compressed because the ribs can bend and flex, whereas something like a soda can has a harder time being compressed because the metal might just shatter instead of bending.	[ "Cans come in a variety of shapes: two common ones are the \"soup tin\" and the \"tuna tin\". Walls are often stiffened with rib bulges, especially on larger cans, to help the can resist dents that can cause seams to split.\n", "Riblets are prepared by butchers by cutting a full set of spare ribs approximately in...
what is a government bond?	It is a loan that the Federal or State government gives to a local government for a specific project. Repairing roads, building schools, establishing a city park, etc. The local government gets the money now to do the project then pays it down over time rather than having to wait that amount of time to save for the pro...	[ "A government bond or sovereign bond is a bond issued by a national government, generally with a promise to pay periodic interest payments called coupon payments and to repay the face value on the maturity date. The aim of a government bond is to support government spending. Government bonds are usually denominated...
why are governments compensating taxis for the rise of ride-sharing services like uber?	> Isn't it a free market? With taxis, no, it is not a free market. Cities regulate taxis, because they don't want too many of them clogging the streets and polluting the air. They only give out so many licenses, and decides which companies get how many. What makes a taxi different than a car service is you don't ...	[ "BULLET::::- Regulations that cover traditional taxi companies but not transportation network companies can put taxis at a competitive disadvantage. Uber has faced criticism from taxi drivers worldwide due to the increased competition. Uber has also been banned from several jurisdictions due to failure to comply wi...
why new ships are pushed sideways into the water ,isn't it dangerous	They are launched that way when there isn't enough room to launch them lengthwise. Look at the video you posted, every one of those is on a narrow river or canal. If you plan it right it's no more dangerous than any other kind of launching, but it requires more planning and a hull with a low center of gravity.	[ "Especially in navy ships, the seaboat is often launched while the ship is moving slowly. The ship may be moving for operational reasons, or because of the need to maintain steerage way (forward motion of water past the rudder to enable steering). Releasing the seaboat is a risky procedure, and in the 1880s, accide...
Why do you think people become interested in a certain period in history?	For me it was expanding on topics I liked. I've always liked World War II. Since I was a kid there were video games on it, the history channel was all over it, and there were a lot of movies based on it. I slowly started reading books on the war from different perspectives. It allowed me to understand the causes for ...	[ "Our age has had no escape from an awareness of history. Much of that history has been hard and full of suffering. But now we have the luxury of an historical awareness of another sort, of an occasion not of anxiety but of promise. We may speak without exaggeration of this occasion as historic, since we have come h...
why is water bottle cost so much when they're sold separately?	Because it's profitable to sell it. Retail price is picked to be as high as possible to maximize profit. The production cost of the bottle water product is pennies per 1000 gallons	[ "Prices for bottled water are set in the market, but must be seen not as much as a price of water, than the price of the convenience, bottle and transportation. It is comparable to other bottled cheap beverages (soda, beer, ...). Retail prices vary widely between countries, brands, bottle sizes (0.33 liter to 20 li...
During the time of line infantry how long would a battle last? What numbers would be involved on average and what was the casualty rate often like?	Well, it would depend on when you're wanting to talk about. Early line battles would last no more than a day and have no more than eighty to a hundred thousand people involved, minimal artillery (say no more than fifty or so guns per army) and minimal cavalry on the flanks. Warfare was limited due to a turn toward prof...	[ "In the aftermath of the battle, US Eighth Army's casualty number exceeded 11,000 in the first count. A large number of documents, including all records from the US 2nd Infantry Division and the US 24th Infantry Regiment, were lost during the battle, and this made it difficult for historians to either analyze the e...
I need askscience's help to respond to a creationist's inquiries.	Wowzers. There's a lot of wrong here. (and EDIT - I'd love to know what the downvotes are for) > If you would like to continue, then how about we work on the age of the Earth first. Carbon dating can only effectively date something up to approximately 90,000 years. With this fact in thought, why has every single foss...	[ "As a Creationist, he teaches interventionism, a view of history that holds that there is intelligent intervention in history. His desire for respectful dialogue has been welcomed by advocates on both sides of the creation–evolution controversy. He challenges his fellow creationists to use caution when making scien...
are there any documented conversations about preserving and protecting endangered species before 1700 A.D.	The notion of extinction doesn't really show up until the late 18th century or so — Georges Cuvier is generally credited for making the notion a serious concept that was taken seriously. To believe extinction is possible, you need to believe that the supply of animals/plants in the world is in fact exhaustible, and to...	[ "The Endangered Species Conservation Act (P. L. 91–135), passed in December, 1969, amended the original law to provide additional protection to species in danger of \"worldwide extinction\" by prohibiting their importation and subsequent sale in the United States. It expanded the Lacey Act's ban on interstate comme...
Is it true that the Phoenicians founded colonies on the West African coast, and if so how successful were they?	Most scholars would respond, I believe, that this is largely a speculative argument based on a very few sources, all of which are questionable in terms of origin and transmission. The most important is probably [Herodotus] (_URL_0_). Herodotus is justly seen as a progenitor of historical studies, but his account of H...	[ "Although Strabo's claim that the Tyrians founded three hundred colonies along the west African coast is clearly exaggerated, colonies arose in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Iberia, and to a much lesser extent, on the arid coast of Libya. The Phoenicians were active in Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, ...
How can the same elements secondary structure (alpha helix, beta sheet, random coil etc.) appear in proteins that have different amino acid sequences?	a-helix and b-sheets are due to hydrogen bonding. Random coil is due to hydrophobic reactions if I remember correctly. There's also di-sulfide bridges, which only cysteine can form. Whether a protein will form an a-helix or a b-sheet depends on the sequence (the amount of residues between the two interacting residues...	[ "Primary structure refers to the amino acid backbone sequence. Secondary structure focuses on minor conformations that develop as a result of the hydrogen bonding between the amino acid chain. If most of the protein contains intermolecular hydrogen bonds it is said to be fibrillar, and the majority of its secondary...
why does the value of my country's dollar (australian) fluctuate so much against the euro/usd/gbp?	The aussie dollar did have a big run up vs the u.s. Dollar when the GFC hit because australian interests rates remained relatively high, and thus attractive to foreign investors - driving its price up. Think of it like anything you buy - if there is more demand for it the price rises. Historically - the aussie dollar...	[ "In 2016, the Australian dollar was the fifth most traded currency in world foreign exchange markets, accounting for 6.9% of the world's daily share (down from 8.6% in 2013) behind the United States dollar, the European Union's euro, the Japanese yen and the United Kingdom's pound sterling. The Australian dollar is...
What was the relationship between the East German Stasi and cultural figures (writers, poets, actors, etc.) within the GDR?	This isn't my area of expertise, though I have covered the topic of Stasi IMs (inoffizielle Mitarbeiter), who were basically informal informants, or about 2.5% of the population at the time if wikipedia is to be trusted on population statistics. This is obviously a very large percentage of people, so it is likely that...	[ "BULLET::::- Dennis, Mike. \"The East German Ministry of State Security and East German Society During the Honecker Era, 1971–1989.\" in \"German Writers and the Politics of Culture\" (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 200)3. 3–24 on the STASI\n", "Similar to literature censorship, theatre production in the GDR was con...
why can't we just install windows on consoles (xbox scorpio etc.) if they're so powerful to run hardware intensive games?	Windows is designed to run on standard PC hardware. This makes certain assumptions about the CPU, how it's connected to the rest of the system, what's provided by BIOS/UEFI, built-in interfaces for everything from keyboards to clocks and a whole bunch of other stuff. They're basically built to be backwards compatible...	[ "Because Microsoft Windows is the \"de facto\" standard operating system for PCs, hardware device drivers of different qualities can readily be found that will enable virtually any component designed for the PC architecture to function on a Windows platform. However, the same isn't true for alternative operating sy...
how does the hydrolysis of atp actually transfer energy to another molecule?	Mmm, so ATP is a highly unstable molecule so a natural decomposition would just waste energy as heat. This heat is 'wasted energy' since it is unable to do work. In metabolism ATP's highly energetic decomposition is used to make certain reactions more favorable through reaction coupling. In glycolysis this is achieved...	[ "ATP hydrolysis is the catabolic reaction process by which chemical energy that has been stored in the high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is released by splitting these bonds, for example in muscles, by producing work in the form of mechanical energy. The product is adenosine diphosp...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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