Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
Why does the body burn muscle before using fat reserves?	Because parts of your body like your brain or your blood cells are very very dependent on glucose. Even with induced ketosis (which in itself takes 3 days of not eating - your glycogen reservoir is used up about a couple of hours after your last meal) you still need it. Gluconeogenesis, the process of producing new glu...	[ "Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced energy intake by burning fat reserves and consuming muscle and other tissues. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in liver cells and after significant protein loss . After prolonged ...
how come babies and young children can fall asleep so fast? are they chemically different than adults?	Na, they just have no worries like bills, exams, relationships etc. Ignorance is clearly bliss.	[ "In the weeks after a human baby is born, as its nervous system matures, neural patterns in sleep begin to show a rhythm of REM and non-REM sleep. (In faster-developing mammals this process occurs in utero.) Infants spend more time in REM sleep than adults. The proportion of REM sleep then decreases significantly i...
what is laissez-faire economics?	Thnk of it as hands off economics. The government does as little as possible. Not just free market but the free-est market. The government wouldn't subsidize anything or create regulations or make standards. This is a economic theory that waxes and wanes but never is fully used by any major government.	[ "The \"laissez-faire\" principle expresses a preference for an absence of non-market pressures on prices and wages such as those from discriminatory government taxes, subsidies, tariffs, regulations of purely private behavior, or government-granted or coercive monopolies. In \"The Pure Theory of Capital\", Friedric...
drm and how it actually stops pirates instead of just making it more difficult for me to play my movies on my many devices, etc...	DRM on movies is dumb. Worst case, people can just record their screen while watching a movie legally. Best case, people just remove it. It's only an inconvenience for the legal buyer. Same goes for games (aside from Denuvo, which hasn't been cracked yet and actually has stopped piracy, but it'll be cracked at som...	[ "At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, the CEO of CD Projekt Red, Marcin Iwinski, announced that the company will not use DRM in any of its future releases. Iwinski stated of DRM, \"it's just over-complicating things. We release the game. It's cracked in two hours, it was no time for \"\". What really surprised m...
How is the "RNA World Hypothesis" generally viewed in the scientific community?	In astrobiology we reference it often and are testing to see if it is viable	[ "The RNA world hypothesis is still under consideration, with chemist Steven A. Benner and physicist Paul Davies supporting it in a chapter of the book \"Frontiers of Astrobiology\" published in 2012 by the Cambridge University Press, in the chapter \"Towards a Theory of Life\"\n", "The RNA world hypothesis descri...
what is germany doing differently then america where america is trillions of dollars in debt while germany has a several billion dollar surplus?	In the EU, there is a rule that requires every country to either keep it's debt below 60% of gdp, or actively on decreasing it. Now, enforcement here has been generally lax, but it tightened up with the financial crisis. Since Germany is above the debt limit (a result of the reunification), they're working on reducing...	[ "The total national debt of the United States in the United States was $18.527 trillion (106% of the GDP) in 2014. The United States has the largest external debt in the world and the 14th largest government debt as a % of GDP in the world.\n", "The debt-to-GDP ratio of Germany had its peak in 2010 when it stood ...
how is it possible that military aircraft like the b-52 are still in service? do they just replace all the computers?	There are modernization programs to upgrade avionics, weaponry, etc. One of the most extreme examples is the mig-21 which has been flying for quite some time with occasional upgrades to the electronics.	[ "Only the B-52H model is still active in the Air Force inventory. It is primarily assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command and the Air Force Reserve Command, with one additional example in the Air Force Materiel Command supporting flight research operations with NASA.\n", "B-52s are periodically refurbishe...
Is someone trying to develop electric airplanes?	Unless there is an unprecedented breakthrough in battery technology, electric airplanes replacing regular commercial jets isn't something that's going to happen. This is due to the fact that fossil fuels have a very high energy density compared to batteries. High end lithium ion batteries clock in at somewhere around ...	[ "BULLET::::- Zunum Aero announces that it is working with Boeing HorizonX and JetBlue Technology Ventures to develop electric aircraft that could compete with private automobiles, trains, and buses on trips of up to in terms both of operating costs for airlines and the cost and time of travel for passengers. The co...
are all neutrinos majorana particles?	We don't know yet if neutrinos are Majorana particles, but if they are, then all of them are, because they are excitations of the same field. If neutrinos are Majorana, then the lepton number is not conserved. It is easy to see this if you consider a pair production of a neutrino and an antineutrino. Since neutrinos a...	[ ", it is not known whether neutrinos are Majorana or Dirac particles. It is possible to test this property experimentally. For example, if neutrinos are indeed Majorana particles, then lepton-number violating processes such as neutrinoless double beta decay would be allowed, while they would not if neutrinos are Di...
would it be possible to change a planet's atmosphere, terrain, etc enough to make it capable of supporting life	The process that you are referring to is called Terra forming. Theoretically it would be possible, though at current times, we struggle just to manage maintaining little national parks. The process of changing another planets atmosphere without drastically changing it too much might be more than we could ever manage.	[ "If this experiment works on Mars, they will propose to build several large and sealed structures called biodomes, to produce and harvest oxygen for a future human mission to Mars life support systems. Being able to create oxygen there would provide considerable cost-savings to NASA and allow for longer human visit...
why are americans needing to crowdfund disaster relief efforts whenever they occur (katrina, sandy, harvey)? does the us really not have money aside for such things?	America does have disaster relief funds. They cover life saving basics. But yeah, the US has a venomous hatred of social safety nets and lack a ton of services other countries have. If you are hurt during a disaster you will get free treatment to stop you from bleeding and get you safe, but after that you pay your ow...	[ "Governments of many countries have offered help to the U.S. for disaster relief, including the governments of Canada, France, United Kingdom, Germany and Mexico, with Canada even offering to accept Katrina evacuees. In addition to asking for federal funds, President Bush has enlisted the help of former presidents ...
why do bathroom scales give incorrect readings when placed on carpet?	bathroom scales us a spring if they're mechanical or a load cell that's basically a spring with a little electronic sensor on it if they're digital. the spring deflects when you stand on it, and the readout is a gauge that measures the deflection of a spring and displays it in units you can understand. if you place it...	[ "A ceiling effect is said to occur when a high proportion of subjects in a study have maximum scores on the observed variable. This makes discrimination among subjects among the top end of the scale impossible. For example, an examination paper may lead to, say, 50% of the students scoring 100%. While such a paper ...
when i want to type an apostrophe, i would hit the key next to the enter key on my keyboard and get this character ' but why does this alternate character ’ show up in text that i have copied off the web? are they meant to be used interchangeably?	The prevailing wisdom is ' should be used for feet or minutes, while the curlier ’ should be used as a quote or apostrophe.	[ "In Microsoft Windows, holding down the Alt key while typing in numbers (often referred to as Alt codes) on the numeric keypad allows the user to type special characters not normally available on the keyboard. For example, holding down Alt while typing 0225 () on the numeric keypad will result in á, the character a...
what happened at dunkirk, and why are the french held in unfavorable light in regards to it?	The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was holding its own but the French forces to their south fell back. This put the BEF in danger of being surrounded and cut off so they had to fall back. They fell back to Dunkirk where over 300k British soldiers were rescued, minus their heavy equipment, by a flotilla of navy and...	[ "During the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, a team of German saboteurs assume the identities of dead British soldiers and are transported to England. Their first objective is to cripple British air defences by destroying radar stations. Though the identities and whereabouts of the saboteurs are unknown, a team of Briti...
how do companies perform background checks on prospective employees?	For most private companies, it is typically a check of your references, your past employers, your criminal convictions, a credit check, and/or a social media search. For a government job, it can include a thorough criminal check, including criminal records beyond convictions that are not publically available. It can ...	[ "Background checks are often requested by employers on job candidates for employment screening, especially on candidates seeking a position that requires high security or a position of trust, such as in a school, courthouse, hospital, financial institution, airport, and government. These checks are traditionally ad...
why is tanning viewed as attractive when any kind of tanning is bad for you?	Pale skin used to be fashionable because tans were a sign of being someone who worked outdoors with manual labour, whereas paleness indicated a level of luxury. Conversely, these days people are typically lumped into office/shop/inside jobs so having a tan implies a life of luxury like going on holiday and such. It's...	[ "Excessive tanning increases the risk of developing certain types of skin cancer. People that are addicted to tanning are dealing with a body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). People with tanorexia dislike the color of their skin but in reality the perceived defect may be only a slight imperfection or non-existent. Common...
If Jordan is a mostly Sunni country, why is it a big deal that the king can trace his lineage back to the prophet Mohammed, pbuh?	The Shia/Sunni divide was mainly a debate about who should lead the faithful after Muhammad's death (which then lead to further splits on mainly judicial and interpretive issues). So while the Sunni do not believe that the leader of the faithful must be a descendant of Muhammad, his family does still have a special st...	[ "Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein (, \"ʿAbdullāh ath-thānī bin Al-Ḥusayn\", born 30 January 1962) has been King of Jordan since 1999. He belongs to the Hashemite family, who have ruled Jordan since 1921 and claim agnatic descent from Muhammad's daughter Fatimah.\n", "Sunni Islam is the dominant religion in Jordan. Musl...
Can anyone help u/nochains identify some Nazi memorabilia?	Those are Kragenspiegel (collar patch) from a SS uniform, specifically from [SS-Totenkopfverbände](_URL_0_). These were units tasked with the administration of concentration camps. [SS-Scharführer in Mauthausen](_URL_1_)	[ "Pieces of art looted by the Nazis can still be found in Russian/Soviet and American institutions: the Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed a list of 393 paintings that have gaps in their provenance during the Nazi Era, the Art Institute of Chicago has posted a listing of more than 500 works \"for which links in the...
what determined the age groups for ratings on media such as movies, games and tv shows?	This is not a perfect answer, but it paints a picture on how these standards are influenced by social norms, history, politics and so on _URL_0_	[ "In the following summary, \"rating\" is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and \"share\" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in. \"18–49\" is the percentage of all adults aged 18–49 tuned into the show. \"Viewers\" is the number of viewers,...
How do our skin cells stay together so that they form a solid surface?	Skin cells -- formally, [squamous epithelial cells](_URL_0_) -- form [interlocking pieces](_URL_2_), kind of like puzzle pieces, that are held together by protein structures called [desmosomes](_URL_1_) -- sort of intercellular velcro. The surface isn't really all that solid either; it's fairly porous, but many layers ...	[ "Cells are held together by special linking proteins. When too many cross-links form between cells in a tissue, the tissue can lose its elasticity and cause problems including arteriosclerosis, presbyopia and weakened skin texture. These are chemical bonds between structures that are part of the body, but not withi...
Was Martin Luther (the reformist) sexist?	Judging historical figures against modern morality and norms is generally not a good idea. Specifically in regards to sexist ideas, the overwhelming majority of historical figures prior to the mid 20th century would be considered sexist just by adhering to the beliefs of their times.	[ "Luther borrowed from the humanists the sense of individualism, that each man can be his own priest (an attitude likely to find popular support considering the rapid rise of an educated urban middle class in the North), and that the only true authority is the Bible, echoing the reformist zeal of the Conciliar movem...
Whats known about the pre-Christian religions in Poland? What happened to them?	To add to this question. Lithuania was the last country in Europe to give up Slavic Paganism ~1000AD(?). When did other countries do so and were they official transitions or simply the effects of missionary work? EDIT: thank you all for the responses!	[ "The Christianization of Poland (Polish: \"chrystianizacja Polski\") refers to the introduction and subsequent spread of Christianity in Poland. The impetus to the process was the Baptism of Poland (), the personal baptism of Mieszko I, the first ruler of the future Polish state, and much of his court. The ceremony...
why aren’t there drug dealers for insulin?	Insulin is harder to produce. If I remember right it is made with engineered yeast or bacteria.	[ "Since January 2006, all insulins distributed in the U.S. and some other countries are synthetic \"human\" insulins or their analogues. A special FDA importation process is required to obtain bovine or porcine derived insulin for use in the U.S., although there may be some remaining stocks of porcine insulin made b...
What about black and white film makes it easier than color film?	There are a couple reasons we couldn't really have jumped straight to color film. One is that early photographic film was sensitive only to blue-green, blue, violet, and ultraviolet - so we had no way of recording red light. We could never make full-color pictures without a dye sensitive to red light. Another reason ...	[ "Colour films improved, both for print negatives and reversal slides, while black-and-white films offered smoother grain and faster speeds than previously available. Since 35 mm was preferred by both amateur and professional photographers, makers of film stock have long offered the widest range of different film sp...
4d shapes	There is no reason you need to or should be able to visualize it. 4D shapes are entirely a mathematical construct. Just understand what they are/what properties they have.	[ "In five dimensional geometry, a rectified 5-simplex, is a uniform 5-polytope with 15 vertices, 60 edges, 80 triangular faces, 45 cells (15 tetrahedral, and 30 octahedral), and 12 4-faces (6 5-cell and 6 rectified 5-cells). It is also called 0 for its branching Coxeter-Dynkin diagram, shown as .\n", "Just as a 3D...
What were the religious beliefs of the Varangian Guard and how did they interact with the religion of the Byzantine Empire?	The Varangian Guard originated as settlers and emigres from Northern Europe who traveled southwards and sold their services as mercenaries to the wealthy nobles around the Volga River, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea. Throughout the history of the later Byzantine Empire the emperor became more and more dependent o...	[ "The Varangian Guard not only provided security for Byzantine emperors but participated in many wars involving Byzantium and often played a crucial role, since it was usually employed at critical moments of battle. By the late 13th century, Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by Byzantines, though the gua...
How would blood react in extreme cold (-40 c or less)? Would it clot up faster, would it flow normally, or would it just freeze?	From my understanding, the blood plasma would freeze, even though it’s freezing point is lower than pure water. The RBCs would rupture die to water forming ice crystals inside of it and expanding. WBCs would act the same. All of that would happen if it was just exposed to the environment directly. While still inside ...	[ "The actual cause of death in cold water is usually the bodily reactions to heat loss and to freezing water, rather than hypothermia (loss of core temperature) itself. For example, plunged into freezing seas, around 20% of victims die within two minutes from cold shock (uncontrolled rapid breathing, and gasping, ca...
Why did the North Koreans not choose to revolt during and after the event of the N.K. Famine?	They blamed others for it ~ specifically they blame the United States. The North Korean propaganda machine is strong and has instilled in the heads of the populace that the American imperialists are out to get North Korea and are responsible for even the smallest things such as lights flickering. The cult of Kim Il Sun...	[ "At the same time, the years of famine were also marked by a dramatic revival of illegal, private market activities. Smuggling across the border boomed, and up to 250,000 North Koreans moved to China. Amartya Sen had mentioned bad governance as one of the structural and economic problems which contributed to the fa...
How developed are the chicks inside eggs when they're laid?	It takes just a little [over 1 day](_URL_1_) after a chicken's egg has been fertilized (or not) until the egg is laid. At that point, the yolk of a fertilized egg contains a [blastoderm](_URL_2_) of a few dozen cells. It is just enough to tell if an egg [is fertilized or not](_URL_0_) to the naked eye.	[ "Fertile chicken eggs hatch at the end of the incubation period, about 21 days. Development of the chick starts only when incubation begins, so all chicks hatch within a day or two of each other, despite perhaps being laid over a period of two weeks or so. Before hatching, the hen can hear the chicks peeping inside...
why is it more difficult for a lefty batter to hit a lefty pitcher, then a right handed batter to hit a right handed pitcher	Practice. At the end of the day there are far more right handed pitchers to practice against than left handed pitchers.	[ "In baseball a left-handed batter is about two steps closer to first base than a right-handed batter, one important advantage. Because curveballs and sliders – the most commonly used breaking pitches in the game – curve in the direction of a pitcher's non-throwing hand, a batter who bats opposite the pitcher's thro...
why does ingesting grapefruit and grapefruit juice interfere with my anti-anxiety medication?	There are a group of enzymes known as CYP450, and are responsible for the breakdown (metabolism) of a lot drugs. Other drugs and food stuffs can interact with these enzymes, either speeding the metabolism up (by promoting the body to increase the number of a particular enzyme) or slowing down the breakdown / reducing...	[ "Under normal circumstances, the grapefruit juice effect is considered to be a negative interaction, and patients are often warned not to consume grapefruit or its juice when taking medication. However, some current research is focused on the potential benefits of cytochrome P450 inhibition. Bergamottin, dihydroxyb...
For tidal power generation, what is the prime source of energy that is being tapped? Is it the potential energy between the earth and the moon? If so, is tide power slowly pulling the moon into the earth?	Tides are caused by the Earth spinning relative to the Moon. Friction between water and land slows the Earth very slightly. So the energy used is the kinetic energy of the Earth. We will not move the Moon, instead by dampening the waves (if you will excuse the pun) we are slowing the Earth in its spin very slightly.	[ "Tidal power is the only technology that draws on energy inherent in the orbital characteristics of the Earth–Moon system, and to a lesser extent in the Earth–Sun system. Other natural energies exploited by human technology originate directly or indirectly with the Sun, including fossil fuel, conventional hydroelec...
how/why putin is not considered a dictator? (or at least the head of an authoritarian regime?)	Putin is indeed considered a dictator in some political circles, and his policies and media utterances are looking a lot like fascism. However, there are diplomatic reasons why politicians use more moderate language.	[ "By western commentators and the Russian opposition, Putin has been described as a dictator. Putin biographer Masha Gessen has stated that \"Putin is a dictator,\" comparing him to Alexander Lukashenko. Former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has described Putin as a \"ruthless dictator\" whose \"days are number...
Is it possible to program an unbeatable chess algorithm?	There is an algorithm, but it requires monstrous computational resources. Chess is a zero-sum, deterministic, two player, perfect information (i.e no hidden moves/partial observability) game (or a Markov Game if you prefer). You can use the minmax algorithm to solve such games. The minmax algorithm is an implementatio...	[ "Information theorist Claude Shannon argued in 1951 that it is not feasible for any computer to actually solve chess, since it would either need to compare some 10 possible game variations, or have a \"dictionary\" denoting an optimal move for each of the about 10 possible board positions. It is thus theoretically ...
Does the ovary that releases the egg rotate every month during ovulation? Can an ovary accidentally release multiple eggs?	Which ovary releases the egg per month is [apparently random](_URL_0_). That link describes the process by which this occurs, but if it was TL;DR: Hormones stimulate the growth of follicles across both ovaries, but usually one side outpaces the other. Sensitivity to the ongoing hormone release communicates loss of ...	[ "After being released from the ovary, the egg is swept into the fallopian tube by the fimbria, which is a fringe of tissue at the end of each fallopian tube. After about a day, an unfertilized egg will disintegrate or dissolve in the fallopian tube.\n", "Usually, ovulation occurs in one of the two ovaries releasi...
why are there no full bulletproof body armours, or why are they not being used?	You would more or less have to look like this: _URL_0_ And that's very very heavy, and very very cumbersome. Imagine wearing this suit hours and hours, every day, for years and years. It just can't be done. Plus, you'd be giving up a whole load of other safety measures, like being able to see properly, run away fro...	[ "Modern body armor may combine a ballistic vest with other items of protective clothing, such as a combat helmet. Vests intended for police and military use may also include ballistic shoulder and side protection armor components, and bomb disposal officers wear heavy armor and helmets with face visors and spine pr...
why do amazon's prices fluctuate so drastically?	Vendor with the cheap price sold out, and it automatically displays the next lowest price from the other vendors	[ "In January 2017, Amazon.ca was required by the Competition Bureau to pay a $1M penalty, plus $100,000 in costs, over pricing practices for failing to provide \"truth in advertising\" according to Josephine Palumbo, the deputy commissioner for deceptive marketing practices. This fine was levied because some product...
why do almost all police cars have the same wheels/rims?	Most US police forces buy cars specifically made for the police force or buy cars in fleets. This means police generally buy multiple cars of the same car model.	[ "Traffic police cars, known in the UK as Road Policing Units, are cars designed for the job of enforcing traffic laws, and as such usually have the highest performance of any of the police vehicles, as they must be capable of catching most other vehicles on the road. They may be fitted with special bumpers designed...
How do physicists prove the existence of subatomic particles?	It really depends on the particle in question. For instance, the existence of the neutrino was first made obvious when it was noticed that in beta decay (a neutron decaying to a proton + electron), the electron emitted could have a range of energies/momenta, whilst the proton remains fairly stationary/with well underst...	[ "This is a timeline of subatomic particle discoveries, including all particles thus far discovered which appear to be elementary (that is, indivisible) given the best available evidence. It also includes the discovery of composite particles and antiparticles that were of particular historical importance.\n", "Mod...
Did the Romans discover South America?	The short answer is there is no historical evidence for any sort of substantial or prolonged contact between Rome and the Americas; that is to say, there is no surviving account of an expedition to there and back again, nor any significant, confirmed material evidence of trade or exchange between the two regions prior ...	[ "In 1768, Romans became principal deputy surveyor for the Southern District (the British Colonies of , North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida, and West Florida). Starting in 1769, Romans surveyed the coastal waters of East Florida. Later that year, his boat sank in the Manatee River near Tampa Bay. R...
what do scalpers do with unsold tickets?	They generally don't have unsold tickets. After the event starts they will likely drop the price to get rid of them to any bargain shoppers still hanging around.	[ "Ticket scalpers (or ticket touts in British English) work outside events, often showing up with unsold tickets from brokers' offices on a consignment basis or showing up without tickets and buying extra tickets from fans at or below face value on a speculative basis hoping to resell them at a profit. There are man...
how do researchers get schedule 1 substances for studies?	From regulated suppliers, for example _URL_0_	[ "Medicinal Chemistry: Research in medicinal chemistry involves design, synthesis, structure elucidation, and analysis of synthetic compounds possessing biological (potential drug) activity. Specific research programs include: Synthetic chemistry directed toward neurodegenerative and oncologic diseases, computationa...
if bank check security features have been developed after decades of check fraud how can we now take pictures of checks to deposit them?	Balance of risk of fraud vs attracting customers. And u can only deposit 1000 max with a photoed check	[ "Before 2004, if someone deposited a check in an account with one bank, the banks would have to physically exchange the paper check to the bank on which the check is drawn before the money would be credited to the account in the deposit bank. Under Check 21, the deposit bank can simply send an image of the check to...
Are all tetrahedral molecules non polar?	It's more about the symmetry of the charges than the geometry that determine whether something is polar. For example water is bent and it is polar but it's not just the fact that it's bent that let's you say aha its polar. You need to consider electronegativity. Oxygen's electronegativity is much higher than hydrogen's...	[ "Strictly speaking, a circular core is not required in order to have two degenerate polarization states. Rather, one requires a core whose symmetry group admits a two-dimensional irreducible representation. For example, a square or equilateral-triangle core would also have two equal-speed polarization solutions for...
what does full development/maturity of the human brain really mean?	Generally it means that the person becomes less impulsive and weighs risks.	[ "The brain grows rapidly for the first five years of human development. At age five, the human brain is 90% of its total size. Then the brain finishes growing gradually until age twenty. From start to finish, the brain increases in size by over 300% from birth. The critical period, defined as the beginning years of...
why do most perishables expire in exactly 24 hours, one month, one year, etc? is this a coincidence or are they just rounding up/down, and if so then what validates expiration?	Expiration dates are an estimate, on the low side, for legal purposes rather than some kind of hard classification. You can legally sell something like bologna for seven days after the vacuum packing is removed. If you sold it after eight days it would probably still be fine though the taste might be off, and past th...	[ "\"Sell by date\" is a less ambiguous term for what is often referred to as an \"expiration date\". Most food is still edible after the expiration date. A product that has passed its shelf life might still be safe, but quality is no longer guaranteed. In most food stores, waste is minimized by using stock rotation,...
How do we designate stellar areas?	I don't think there's any standard, since there's no need for one yet. All the moons in our solar systems are named, so we can use those, and we can't detect moons of exoplanets yet (we might have one or two, but not enough for much of a naming system, amd certainly none where we know anuthing about surface features). ...	[ "A stellarium is a three-dimensional map of the stars, typically centered on Earth. They are common fixtures at planetariums, where they illustrate the local deep space out to perhaps 50 light years. Older examples were normally built using small colored balls or lights on support rods (painted black to make them l...
How bright does the Earth's core glow?	Assuming black-body radiation. Since Earth's core temperature is quite close to Sun's surface temperature (both around 6000 K), imagine standing on the surface of the Sun. Or to put it into perspective, we can use the brightness data from [the wikipedia page on Sun.](_URL_0_) It says the luminance is about 1.88 gigaca...	[ "The production of energy at the core is the reason stars shine so brightly: every time two or more atomic nuclei fuse together to form a single atomic nucleus of a new heavier element, gamma ray photons are released from the nuclear fusion product. This energy is converted to other forms of electromagnetic energy ...
Is it possible to bring a dead cell/tissue back to life without using any kind of living cells/tissues?	Exactly what do you mean? On the cellular/molecular level, the definition of "life" gets a bit dodgy. There are some ways your question could be answered "yes," though. Humans are brought "back from the dead" after brain death. Things like cells, bacteria, and simple organisms can be cryogenically frozen (which is ...	[ "To replace live tissue, either the existing cells of the body are stimulated to regrow the tissue native to the area or bioactive substances inserted in the pulp chamber. These include stem cell therapy, growth factors, morphogens, tissue scaffolds and biologically active delivery systems.\n", "In cases of non-f...
difference between angel investors and venture capitalists	Angel Investors generally provide the capital to get a venture off the ground. Legal startup costs, proposals, grants applications and such. Venture capitalists provide the funds necessary to launch and sustain the venture until it can generate revenue by itself. Angels generally have more risk and get a larger share ...	[ "Angels typically invest their own funds, unlike venture capitalists who manage the pooled money of others in a professionally managed fund. Although typically reflecting the investment judgment of an individual, the actual entity that provides the funding may be a trust, business, limited liability company, invest...
if you killed someone on the four corners monument, which state's laws would you be prosecuted with?	[Slightly NSFW.](_URL_0_) Since it's a serious crime that is inter-state, the federal government will likely step in. Also, it's a national monument and in Indian Reservation territory, even more reason for it to be the FBI. Double also, simply searching Google about this ("four corners jurisdiction") b...	[ "Moore said that Thompson, \"fearing that I would not obey his order, decided to threaten other state officials and force them to remove the monument if I did not do so. A threat of heavy fines was his way of coercing obedience to that order,\" an action that Moore saw as a violation of the Eleventh Amendment to th...
I'm debating with someone about the Big Bang, they are saying it can't be true because of the Law of the Conservation of Angular Momentum.	Nothing about the big bang theory contradicts conservation of angular momentum. Without more explanation of their argument, we can't really give you a better explanation than that.	[ "The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. Despite its success in explaining many observed features of the universe including galactic redshifts, the relative abundance of light elements such as hydrogen an...
A question about voyager entering intergalactic space	As HoldingTheFire says, the velocity is basically the vector sum of the earths movement and the movement relative to earth. So, it will indeed be dragged along relative to us, unless it hits something which is unlikely.	[ "In March 2013, it was announced that \"Voyager 1\" might have become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space, having detected a marked change in the plasma environment on August 25, 2012. However, until September 12, 2013, it was still an open question as to whether the new region was interstellar space o...
What would happen to you if you were to consume 5lbs of sugar all at once?	Some possibilities: 5 lbs may overwhelm the absorption maxima in the gut leading to watery diarrhea due to an osmotic solute in the large intestine. Depending on the water loss, typical dehydration responses would begin. Say gut motility halted to a point that all of the sugars were absorbed and dumped into the blood...	[ "If a food containing even small but perceivable amount of sugar (simple sugars or disaccharides that can be tasted sweet, or starch that is at least minimally hydrolyzed by salivary amylase, or even some non-sugar sweeteners) is eaten in this state, there may be a period of time after it enters stomach and before ...
the concept of qualia.	Basically, it's the belief that every person perceives things differently. For example, when we're little, we're taught that a certain color is red. You and I both agree that that color is called red. When we see it at a traffic light, we both know when to stop because we both know that as red. But what if what I see a...	[ "In philosophy and certain models of psychology, qualia ( or ; singular form: quale) are defined as individual instances of subjective, conscious experience. The term \"qualia\" derives from the Latin neuter plural form (\"qualia\") of the Latin adjective \"quālis\" () meaning \"of what sort\" or \"of what kind\" i...
what is the difference between "all of our servers are busy" and "we took too long to make this page" error pages on reddit?	From our standpoint as users, nothing at all. From Reddit's standpoint, one of them means the backend computers told them "sorry too busy" and the other means that the backend didn't respond at all.	[ "When servers indicate temporary failures, either by explicitly sending a 4xx error or by ending the connection unexpectedly (which must be treated as a 451 error, according to Section 3.8 of the RFC), Section 4.5.4.1 says: \"The sender MUST delay retrying a particular destination after one attempt has failed.\"\n"...
Why did Israel give back the conquered territories of the six day war?	As for why they won, a few points: 1. Momentum. Israel attacked after Egypt advanced into the Sinai, without waiting for the actual attack. This allowed the IAF to effectively control the air over the Middle East throughout the war, making Arab advances difficult. * Better planning. This is from memory, but I belie...	[ "The war resulted in an Israeli victory, with Israel annexing territory beyond the partition borders for a proposed Jewish state and into the borders for a proposed Palestinian Arab state. Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt signed the 1949 Armistice Agreements with Israel. The remaining territories, the Gaza Strip a...
why don't dogs' paws get extremely cold in the snow?	I've heard that the pads of dogs and cats paws can get frost bitten and extremely dry. So they recommend putting booties on dogs if the temperature is incredibly low and lotion on their paws or something to keep them from getting too chapped	[ "Greyhounds have very thin skin and very short fur. They can be easily harmed by biting or scratching from other dogs or accidentally running into sharp objects. Combined with their low body fat, coats or sweaters are required when outside in cold weather. Some owners also put boots on their Greyhounds in very cold...
Who were the marine paratroopers?	In May 1940, the acting director of the Division of Plans and Policies, U.S. Marine Corps, issued a memo asking for ideas about the employment of parachute troops. The training of groups of Marines to become paratroopers began in October 1940, and continued at a snail's pace; the 1st Parachute Battalion took nearly a y...	[ "The Paramarines (also known as \"Marine paratroopers\") were specialized units that were trained to parachute into combat. The first Paramarines were trained in October 1940. The Parachute battalions have jumped into hostile territory. They lacked heavy mortar and machine gun support due to the amount of equipment...
why do 3rd party travel sites often list rooms as available at hotels that claim they are fully booked?	Because hotels often sell their vacant rooms to third part distributors for a discounted rate as to forgo the risk of not being able to fill them. If I have 100 vacant rooms available for next weekend, I know I am unlikely to fill them all, so I sell them at a discount to a third party who will then make them availab...	[ "Online hotel reservations are also helpful for making last minute travel arrangements. Hotels may drop the price of a room if some rooms are still available. There are several websites that specialize in searches for deals on rooms.\n", "An increasing number of hotels are building their own websites to allow the...
How was (or is) the authenticity of holy relics in the Catholic Church determined?	(N.B. this is my first time posting in this subreddit. I've tried my best to follow the rules, but any advice on improvement would be graciously welcomed, thank you) First off, I notice you use the past tense, so let me clarify something really quick before jumping into the rest of my answer: the Catholic Church sti...	[ "A number of relics are claimed to be associated with Jesus and have been displayed throughout the history of Christianity. While some individuals believe in the authenticity of Jesus relics, others doubt their validity. For instance, the sixteenth-century philosopher Erasmus wrote about the proliferation of relics...
why is there usually a little 9 next to the gas price?	I'm no expert but I believe that it's a well known rhetoric in social economics that people are naturally attracted to X.99 prices as opposed to X.00 prices.	[ "The price of natural gas varies greatly depending on location and type of consumer. In 2007, a price of $7 per 1000 cubic feet () was typical in the United States. The typical caloric value of natural gas is roughly 1,000 BTU per cubic foot, depending on gas composition. This corresponds to around $7 per million B...
Why were top loading/side loading machine guns like the Madsen and MP-18 popular for a time then fall out of use?	Top-loading machineguns like the Madsen and the plethora of designs we see in WW2 (ZB.26, Bren, Type 99, FM 24/29, etc) were intended for fire from static positions using the bipod. Being light machineguns, they were crew-served weapons, and doctrine of the time across most armies had the gunner's assistant responsible...	[ "Breech-loading guns seemed to offer important advantages. A breech-loader could be reloaded without moving the gun, a lengthy process particularly if the gun then needed to be re-aimed. The \"Warrior\"s Armstrong guns also had the virtue of being lighter than an equivalent smoothbore and, because of their rifling,...
“World War II in colour” is amongst the most famous modern documentaries covering the War, but does it have any glaring historical inaccuracies?	I'm going to focus on Episode 2: Lightning War. I wouldn't say that both of these are 100% false, but they are inaccuracies that play into pretty standard tropes of the war that remove some of the nuance that I think is necessary in studying the conflict. The episode details what it calls Blitzkrieg doctrine and i...	[ "World War 1 in Colour is a six-episode television documentary series recounting the major events of World War I narrated by Kenneth Branagh. The first of its six parts aired on 23 July 2003. The series consists of colourised footage, with the colour of the images having been enhanced by computer-aided technology.\...
why devices like ipods or zunes die quicker depending on how loud they output music	The device needs to make a 'prominent' signal. Basically, it's converting electricity into sound energy. A louder sound energy needs more energy to produce. Louder sounds needing more energy is intuitive too. Making things move needs energy since you're affecting the world with physical motions. If you want to make i...	[ "iPods have been criticized for alleged short lifespan and fragile hard drives. A 2005 survey conducted on the MacInTouch website found that the iPod line had an average failure rate of 13.7% (although they note that comments from respondents indicate that \"the true iPod failure rate may be lower than it appears\"...
common forms of democratically electing officials.	The truth is that there's no best way to run an election. There's several different ways, but each of them has advantages and disadvantages and many will work for some countries better than they will for others. There's also an argument to be made that we don't always want the government to represent the wishes of th...	[ "Unicameral or lower houses are always directly elected, whereas an upper house may be directly elected (e.g. the Senate of Poland); or have a more limited electorate, such as a higher voting age (e.g. the Italian Senate); or indirectly elected, for example, by regional legislatures (e.g. the Federal Council of Aus...
what is the actual story behind the theory that the us invaded the middle east for oil?	There is no story. The trade of oil is important to the economy. If it were to stop, there would be chaos. This is why the US has a massive oil storage (so that in the event of a temporary disruption, the economy won't come grinding to a halt). Instability in the middle east causes threat to the trade of oil. In some...	[ "Conspiracy theorists in the Arab world have advanced rumors that the US is secretly behind the existence and emboldening of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as part of an attempt to further destabilize the Middle East. After such rumors became widespread, the US embassy in Lebanon issued an official state...
how are tv shows such as "bar rescue", or any of the home renovation/makeover shows able to afford these huge and i would assume expensive renovations?	I'm sure it's like extreme makeover where sure, you get it for free but then they get stuck with the taxes on everything. There's a lot of money made in commercials and endorsements though. Plenty enough to cover the part they pay	[ "Bar Rescue is an American reality television series that premiered on Spike on July 17, 2011rebranded as Paramount Network in 2018. It stars Jon Taffer, a long-time food and beverage industry consultant specializing in nightclubs, bars, and pubs, who offers his professional expertise plus renovations and equipment...
what's with so many movies/tv shows using the same coffee cups?	[Here's a brief history.](_URL_0_). The cup does have a name. Simply put, it's recognizable and simple. Movies often include the Wilhelm Scream as well, for no other reason than it's a tradition. Like games have Easter Eggs, so do movies. In fact, if you watch many famous directors' films, you'll find that they co...	[ "Characters from David Lynch's \"Twin Peaks\" advertised Georgia coffee in a 4-part commercial series in 1991. In PlayStation Home, the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, Coca-Cola has placed a vending machine in Home that takes users to a space called the \"Georgia Break Station\". The vending machine...
how does google maps know if there is "an accident on i-85 s is causing 30 min delays"?	Google pays for access to official government traffic info, in addition to crowd sourced info like Waze.	[ "Google Maps supplies critical crisis information to the public through search engines. It is used to provide crisis information such as road closure, areas covered in debris, roads which are passable, and resources such as for emergency medical stations. Using the My Map feature, KPBS, a broadcast station, created...
Economics after the French revolution	Is this a homework question? It says in our rules: > Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come to us with q...	[ "The French economy was in continual crisis during the Directory. At the beginning, the treasury was empty; the paper money, the Assignat, had fallen to a fraction of its value, and prices soared. The Directory stopped printing assignats and restored the value of the money, but this caused a new crisis; prices and ...
Why wasn't Hanover incorporated into the UK?	I actually have written about this topic a bit before: _URL_0_ The thing to remember is that there was a personal union, not a political union, although Hanover's foreign policy and government in exile were at different periods run out of London. Hanover was a possession of the crown, but had its own independent exis...	[ "In 1813, George III was restored to his Hanoverian territories, and in October 1814 they were constituted as the independent Kingdom of Hanover at the Congress of Vienna. The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria because the succession laws in Hanover, based on Sal...
how do recruitment agencies, such as lucas group, work in terms of finding you a job? do you pay them from your future salary, or are they even legit?	Agencies like this are paid a fee by the company they have been contracted by. They will help you prepare your resume, highlight your skills and send you for interviews they have set-up with the contracted companies. If they say that you have to pay them, or owe them a part of the wage then it’s not legit.	[ "Some third-party recruiters work on their own, while others operate through an agency, acting as direct contacts between client companies and the job candidates they recruit. They can specialize in client relationships only (sales or business development), in finding candidates (recruiting or sourcing), or in both...
How did people of different religions interact in the ancient world? For example, how did the Roman adherents feel about Egyptian beliefs? Was there religious controversy?	Using Herodotus as a source, the Ancient Greeks seemed to have viewed other polytheistic religions as being pretty much equivalent to their own. Sure, other cultures might worship in a different manner, not worship some gods, but, you know, no big deal. Here's some stuff from Herodotus' Histories, Book 2: > "It is at...	[ "Native Egyptian religion clearly had at least a somewhat substantial effect on Graeco-Roman polytheism; in Egypt itself, however, native religion probably felt little other effect from the new pagan rulers, until the advent of Christianity. Although Augustus built new temples and repaired existing ones in Egypt, R...
Did an Ionian Crusade happen?	Do you have any more information about this book? I can't seem to find anything about it, but I imagine it might be in Greek? In any case, Matteo (or Maio) is a rather enigmatic figure. It's not clear that he was really an Orsini, or where he was from. He may have just been some random irate that took advantage of the...	[ "From the late 11th century, the Ionian Islands became a battleground in the Byzantine–Norman Wars. The island of Corfu was held by the Normans in 1081–1085 and 1147–1149, while the Venetians unsuccessfully besieged it in 1122–1123. The island of Cephalonia was also unsuccessfully besieged in 1085, but was plundere...
How much did the Mashal plan, and things like it contribute to the recovery of Europe and Japan post WWII?	It was quite helpful. While it only constituted roughly 5% of the GDP of the areas in which it was rolled out, as a morale boost, it had a tremendous effect. America emerged from the war with a GDP worth about 45% of the world's. It was largely untouched by bombs (Pearl Harbor and the Aleutians aside), had immense indu...	[ "The Fugu Plan was an idea first discussed in 1934, in the Empire of Japan, centered around the idea of settling thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Jewish refugees escaping Nazi-occupied Europe, in Manchuria and Japanese-occupied Shanghai. The Imperial government wanted to gain Jewish economic prowess while co...
How does the elemental composition of 'average' planets change over a universe's lifetime?	There was a [Scientific American article](_URL_0_) which said that the ratio of heavier elements to hydrogen will increase in interstellar dust clouds due to supernova explosions sending heavier elements outward. Because of this, in the far future, stars will cough up more planets, including planets that are small and ...	[ "Present day elemental abundances are superimposed on an (evolving) galactic-average set of elemental abundances that was inherited by the Solar System, along with some atoms from local nucleosynthesis sources, at the time of the Sun's formation. Knowledge of these average planetary system elemental abundances is s...
Did medieval cities have addresses like we do today?	This being the European Middle Ages, the land where people spelled their name however they felt like that particular day (Beutler, Buetler, Beutlerin, Buttler, Bettlerein, Bütler...), it should not come as a surprise that addresses were likewise, shall we say, less than systematic. A good example might be University...	[ "In the early 19th century, when several important towns (especially The Hague) wanted to call themselves cities, the custom of granting city status was briefly revived. The last grant of city status in the Netherlands was to Delfshaven in 1825. But the city status granted during this period was quite different fro...
Were there any Roman stone castles?	The Romans built many great stone forts. The word "castle" is usually used to refer to the private fortified residence of a noble (though not always, there are Royal Castles, and castles of the military orders as well as the castles of nobility in Medieval times). The Romans did not build many (any?) of these types...	[ "A wooden motte-and-bailey castle appears to have existed there at one time. The site was also possibly previously used by Roman soldiers, and an ancient church was founded there by Saint Beuno in the 6th century.\n", "Until the 19th century very little was known about hill forts, as none had been excavated and t...
Is plant breeding and animal domestication considered evidence of evolution?	Yes. Although the primary force of evolution driving changes in domesticated organisms is artificial selection rather than natural selection (at least initially).	[ "Unwittingly, humans have carried out evolution experiments for as long as they have been domesticating plants and animals. Selective breeding of plants and animals has led to varieties that differ dramatically from their original wild-type ancestors. Examples are the cabbage varieties, maize, or the large number o...
what is the difference between a sponsorship and an advertisement?	What you're referring to is more frequently called underwriting. "Underwriting" and "sponsoring" can usually be used interchangeably (some organizations draw distinctions, though), but the FCC sets the rules for broadcasters and they call it underwriting. When you pay for an advertisement, you are paying for some amo...	[ "Advertising is a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea. Sponsors of advertising are typically businesses wishing to promote their products or services. Advertising is differentiated from public relations in that an advertiser pa...
Why were book titles of the 19th and 18th century so long, as well as give away the plot?	We discussed this quite a bit in my 18th Century British Novel class. You're on the right track with advertising. The long titles got people interested and piqued their curiosity. Also, keep in mind that the 18th century marked the very beginnings of the novel itself. Up until then, there were none. There were epics an...	[ "It was in the Victorian era (1837–1901) that the novel became the leading literary genre in English. Another important fact is the number of women novelists who were successful in the 19th century, even though they often had to use a masculine pseudonym. At the beginning of the 19th century most novels were publis...
why is being on your tippy toes so important to ballet?	Pointe technique (French: [pwɛ̃t tɛknik]) is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns pointe work, in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet. A dancer is said to be en pointe when the dancer's body is supported in this manner, and a fully extended vertical foot is ...	[ "Ballet technique is the foundational principles of body movement and form used in ballet. A distinctive feature of ballet technique is \"turnout;\" which is the outward rotation of the legs and feet emanating from the hip. This was first introduced into ballet by King Louis XIV because he loved to show off the shi...
Wednesday AMA \| World War One, Early 20th C. English Literature	Ok. So there's this comedian, can't recall him name though, who talked about the reasons behind WW1. He had a narrative going linking supposed German railroad ambitions between Berlin and Baghdad and abundance of oil in "Mesopotamia". Then he went on to describe WW1 as the invasion of Iraq by Brittain. Do you know th...	[ "BULLET::::- The literature of World War I makes its first appearance. John Masefield writes the poem \"August, 1914\" (published in the September 1 issue of \"The English Review\"), the last he will produce before the peace.\n", "BULLET::::- August – The literature of World War I makes its first appearance. John...
How popular were Jainism and Buddhism across the Indian subcontinent around 769 AD?	While it's hard to speak with certainty for this time period in particular, it's unlikely Jainism was the dominant belief system in India at this time. A more convincing argument could be made for Buddhism as the dominant tradition among the ruling class, while the faith of the people had likely remained eclectic. The...	[ "While the geographic impact of Jainism was limited to India, Buddhist nuns and monks eventually spread the teachings of Buddha to Central Asia, East Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. Nalanda University and Vikramshila University one of the oldest residential universities were established in Bihar during ...
how you become eligible to be knighted and the process that follows	The most common Order of Chivalry is The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, which has five "ranks." From highest to lowest, these are: 1. Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE), limited to 300 1. Knight Commander or Dame Commander of the Most Excellent O...	[ "A knighthood is granted to a man upon appointment to the High Court, usually made a Knight Bachelor; by convention, a woman on appointment to the High Court becomes a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE)). By convention judges of the Court of Appeal are appointed to the Privy Coun...
Why do bags of chocolate inflate in the freezer?	it contains water.	[ "Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Ideal storage temperatures are between , with a relative humidity of less than 50%. If refrigerated or frozen without containment, chocolate can absorb enough moisture to cause a whitish discoloration, the result of fat or sugar crystals rising to the surfac...
why did different species of leaves evolve to be different? especially if they are from the same place, what's the point?	Things don't evolve 'because of a point,' evolution is a random process that occurs generation to generation. Natural selection tends to favor beneficial outcomes, which makes it look 'after the fact' like things have evolved specifically to fit their circumstances. Since the species you are referencing aren't the *s...	[ "The shape and structure of leaves vary considerably from species to species of plant, depending largely on their adaptation to climate and available light, but also to other factors such as grazing animals (such as deer), available nutrients, and ecological competition from other plants. Considerable changes in le...
To what extent were Nelson's manoeuvres at the Battle of Trafalgar influenced by the tactical genius of Admiral Ackbar?	The tactics of the Rebellion are built more on speed than the perfidious Nelson. The Rebellion did not have the level of ship building nor material advantage to fight a large and lumbering opponent. I would argue that their tactics are more based off of the Danes fTom The Gunboat War rather than Nelson.	[ "Lord Nelson described his tactics for the Battle of Trafalgar as inducing a \"pell mell battle\" focused on engagements between individual ships where the superior morale and skill of the Royal Navy would prevail.\n", "The Battle of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, was an engagement between the British fleet comma...
what is the difference between movies and films? also directors and filmmakers?	I forgot who said it but .... “a movie , you see and forget about in a day or even an hour after leaving the cinema. While A film, is a movie that you see and you think about weeks , months or even years after seeing it and it’s meaning is still more relevant to you than ever.” A director is a certain specialization o...	[ "Generally, the sole superiors of the director are the producer(s) and the studio that is financing the film, although sometimes the director can also be a producer of the same film. The role of a director differs from producers in that producers typically manage the logistics and business operations of the product...
If the moon was covered in a mirror like material would it look like a second sun?	No, in the same sense that a reflecting metal ball under a lamp does not look like a second lamp.	[ "Experiments with a mirror are used to show that the Moon's surface must be opaque and not a perfect crystal sphere as Simplicio believes. He refuses to accept that mountains on the Moon cause shadows, or that reflected light from the Earth is responsible for the faint outline in a crescent moon.\n", "outer atmos...
During WW1 & 2, how were senior ranks in the new divisions filled?	During WWII, most, if not all, of the commanders of the new infantry and armored divisions (on paper, major generals, but brigadier generals did serve as acting division commanders often) were career officers that had begun their military experience fighting on the ground as enlisted men or low-grade officers in World ...	[ "In 1920, the Army rank and pay system received a major overhaul. All enlisted and non-commissioned ranks were reduced from 128 different insignias and several pay grades to only seven rank insignias and seven pay grades, which were numbered in seniority from seventh grade (lowest) to first grade (highest). The sec...
why were the the bodies of those who died of a fatal dose of radiation at the chernobyl disaster still considered toxic and buried in zinc lined coffins?	Two things. First, they probably got radioactive material from the accident site all over themselves. It's not just radiation that's escaping, it's also actual physical radioactive material that can contaminate body and clothes. This what they mean by nuclear fallout. So it's not like a bullet-riddled body, but more l...	[ "As radioactive materials decay, they release particles that can damage the body and lead to cancer, particularly [[cesium-137]] and [[iodine-131]]. In the Chernobyl disaster, releases of cesium-137 contaminated land. Some communities, including the entire city of Pripyat, were abandoned permanently. One news sourc...
Does a prism divide beyond the visible spectrum? Beyond what we consider light? Where does the effect end, and what causes it to stop dividing the electromagnetic spectrum?	Yes, this was actually how infrared radiation was discovered: someone (~~I forget who~~ William Herschel) noticed that a thermometer in the path of the refracted light would still heat up even if it was below the red part. Ultimately it is determined by the wavelength-dependent index of refraction. For very high* and v...	[ "The refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength (and frequency) of light. This is called dispersion and causes prisms and rainbows to divide white light into its constituent spectral colors. As the refractive index varies with wavelength, so will the refraction angle as light goes from one material to...
the difference between client, server, and driver.	Client and Server are related to each other. In the simplest terms, a client is an application that takes input, sends data to a Server to be processed, gets returned information, and presents the output. A driver, on the other hand, is something related to hardware. It basically contains a mapping/translation so that...	[ "A driver in software provides a programming interface to control and manage specific lower level interface that is often linked to a specific type of hardware, or other low-level service. In the case of hardware, the specific subclass of drivers controlling physical or virtual hardware devices are known as device ...
how do/did pirate radio stations get shut down?	Probably using a dish antenna, like satellite TV uses, and triangulation. The antenna picks up signal strongest from where it is pointing at, so they take three readings from three different places and trace the lines back to the source. Assuming that the signal is all they have to go on, this might take several tries,...	[ "The radio station was founded by Peer Jansen and Ib Fogh. It was called a pirate radio, because it was considered a lawless attack on the monopoly of the Danish National Broadcasting Corporation, though the authorities didn't have any weapon in the first place to stop the \"radio pirates\".\n", "Operators of non...
why do some religions prohibit contraceptives?	I grew up Mormon. While I don't think it was prohibited, it was very frowned upon. The reasoning I heard was that Good commanded Adam and Eve to multiply. Contraceptives go against that because you aren't having kids.	[ "From very early times various methods of contraception have been practiced in Islam, and Muslim jurists of the two major sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia, generally agree that contraception and family planning are not forbidden by Sharia; the use of contraceptive devices is permitted if the marital partners agree. A...
how do different waves travel long distances without any distortion? (ex:radio, wi-fi, cellphones, space transmissions)	Layman's version: There is distortion. Engineers make sure devices use enough power to overcome distortion. Advanced: Engineers make a link budget that adds transmitter power output and antenna gains. Losses are included such as free space loss, attenuation, atmospheric lens loss, radome (or other enclosure), and so o...	[ "Low frequency waves can also occasionally travel long distances by reflecting from the ionosphere (the actual mechanism is one of refraction), although this method, called \"skywave\" or \"skip\" propagation, is not as common as at higher frequencies. Reflection occurs at the ionospheric E layer or F layers. Skywa...
Do we know exactly which molecules fit in all our neurotransmitter receptors?	No, there are a hell of a lot. We know a lot about a lot of them, which you can find (many of) on _URL_0_ the protein data bank. The thing is, because there are so many, and you have to crystallise each one to run xray crystallography on it to find out it's structure, or NMR on some smaller ones, it takes a lot of time...	[ "Since many of the same neurotransmitters are found in the ENS as the brain, it follows that myenteric neurons can express receptors for both peptide and non-peptide (amines, amino acids, purines) neurotransmitters. Generally, expression of a receptor is limited to a subset of myenteric neurons, with probably the o...
. will reclassification of internet as a utility have ramifications for personal privacy and government surveillance?	It doesn't seem like there'd be more government monitoring, since they are already monitoring it as deeply as technically feasible. The classification would not make a difference in that regard. The government already has laws governing how and when it can monitor your traffic. ISPs do not stand in their way.	[ "The purpose of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights is to deter Internet companies from indiscriminate collection of personal information for targeted ads. In response, The Internet companies such as Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and AOL promised to provide a \"do not track\" mechanism so that customers can c...

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