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What happens when I get a random twitch/flinch? | Essentially, its the result of phantom nerve signals that don't come from your brain. Something in the electrical system of the nerve responsible for one small bundle of muscle fibers goes haywire, and the nerve fires without being prompted. Most often some kind of local electrolyte imbalance is to blame . |
Why do most bipedal robots always keep their knees bent a bit when standing? | I'm still an industrial electronics student but if I had to guess I would say that it is because when engineers program robots they are given a "home position" that the robot stays in. In this case the home position is the one that best allows the robot to react to varying conditions. Like if the robot were to step int... |
Why is the oil price is not going up over the years when it is limited resource | General market laws of supply and demand. Currently there is more supply due to the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the fact that [OPEC] is pumping huge supplies of oil onto the world market. OPEC have demonstrated in the past that they have a very strong influence on oil prices, as they control a large portion of ... |
The specs of a PC | RAM: short-term memory. The more of this you have, the more stuff your computer can keep running at a time before getting sluggish. More tabs open, more applications running. Hard Drive/Solid State Drive: long-term memory. The more you've got, the more stuff you can save - photos, applications, videos, documents. A har... |
How exactly does computer hacking work? | In real life hacking there are two main phases, discovery of a weakness, and then exploiting that weakness. The discovery phase involves researching how computer systems work and trying to find ways to interact with them that weren't intended. An example would be going to a site and experimenting with inputting text in... |
Why does carbon dating work with man made objects? | The issue is that, in the areas where carbon dating is effective, it's not telling you when the spear was fashioned, but when the thing the spear was fashioned out of died. A good analogy for carbon dating would be this: Imagine you come across a dead body. You want to know how long it's been dead, but there's no obvio... |
Why bands perform with heaps of amps/speakers on stage instead of connecting to the venues PA system. | My band uses both our own towers *and* the venue PA system: The speakers that are in front of us are used to hear ourselves play, in case our in-ear monitoring system fails. Optically and audibly, this constellation is a win/win situation, Edit: 'Optically', meaning that the stage and the entire show simply looks 'bett... |
Why do tires on a car have air in them? Why not have them made out of solid rubber? | Rubber compresses yes, but not as much as air. Very early cars had solid rubber tyres and the ride was very bumpy . Also the solid rubber tires would "bounce" like a rubber ball, not ideal. Air inside tires however acts like a shock absorber then once the tire has returned to its original shape, the air doesn't spring ... |
How do metals such as copper and zinc get into foods we pick from the ground? | So most metals when found in nature are in some sort of salt. You know how you need ores to get iron, ore is basically the salt with oxygen, where copper gets into the plant in -probably- nitrate form. Basically they get another ion and then get dissolved into the ground water, where the plants pick them up. |
Is water pressure from depth a "directional" force and therefore a downward force? Can it be alleviated? (illustrations included) | Water pressure, just like air pressure, pushes in from all around, not just from above. Neither of those diagrams will alleviate the water pressure felt. |
How does Ticketmaster get away with charging such insane fees? Why do they do this? | > How does Ticketmaster get away with charging such insane fees? Ticketmaster gets away with charging insane fees because there is no law that regulates how they price their product. The only way the government can interfere in pricing or a business model is if it becomes a monopoly but that's a whole different issue a... |
Why does our stomach and or intestines dont eat itself? | Our intestines have muscosals on the inside. That's a kind of slime between the stomach and the acid. *Side-fact: When you die, the muscosals can't be regenerated, and then you "eat" yourself. * |
Why do girls tend to have good handwriting and guys tend to have bad handwriting? | Girls develop their fine motor skills earlier than boys, and it happens to coincide with the typical age around which children learn to write. |
Why the sudden excitement after the Star Wars teaser? | I do believe that people are incredibly hyped due to both nostalgia and hope. This is our new hope after the prequel disaster.Some people were having low expectations and are still catious, other are die-hard fans and will be excited about every single piece about new Star Wars movie. I don't think it changed everythin... |
When you have two blocks, one made of metal and one made of wood, in the same room with a constant temperature, why does the metal block feel colder to the touch? | The answer is difference in thermal conductivity ie how good a material is at conduct heat. Humans can't feel what the absolute temperature is of a object we touch but instead we sense the temperature change on our skin. So what we thing is a hot object is one that transfer a lot of heat to our skin per unit of time. S... |
Why are rest stops built with one on each side of a highway/interstate rather than one build in the middle? | They are in the median in some places. The left exit and entry is problematic for slower vehicles/drivers. Speaking of slow drivers, if you circle around looking for an open parking spot, eat, pee, and get gas, your internal compass may get confused and you could enter the highway going in the opposite direction I almo... |
why can't 32 bit or 64 bit Windows run 16 but apps? | The difference isn't so much in the "number of bits", but rather in the fact that 16 bit apps are old and are designed for an entirely different runtime and file format and they require a completely different set of dependencies. They're now known as "16 bit", but the reality is the operating system's kernel was comple... |
The sound barrier, and how you "break it" | We're used to air behaving a certain way as we move through it. It flows out of the way as we move. However, it can only flow so quickly, and at a certain speed its ability to flow basically stops, and that's the speed of sound. As you get closer to that speed, the air can't get out of your way quickly enough, and buil... |
Does putting a chair under a round door handle really stop it from being opened? | Yes it works. The objective of putting the change under a round door handle is not to prevent the handle from being able to be turned it its to prevent the door from being opened by way of 'wedging' the door closed. See [here]", 'Has nothing to do with turning the handle, more like a wedge to prevent the door from open... |
what speed do nerve signals travel at? And do giant whales have a delay since they are huge? | The speed is affected by a lot of factors such as age and gender. The impulse has to travel along the axons. Some axons can vary in diameter and can be more or less myelinated . There are a lot of types of fibers. The nerve signal can travel from 0.5 to 120 m/s depending on the type. Now, the impulse has to travel thro... |
Why do businesses store my credit card number, and why can't I opt out? | Depending on the store, several factors are at play. Some of the reasons: 1. Convenience - For instance, if you buy stuff from Best Buy, you don't need to store your receipts as long as you have the card you used for the purchase. This one time, I bought a camera in Phoenix and was browsing through a store in NYC a wee... |
What's going on with Russia and Syria right now and how does it affect the rest of the world? | Russia is allies with Syrian leader, Assad, due to a navy base there. Russia claims to enter Syria to fight ISIS but it appears they may have attacked Syrian Rebels that oppose both ISIS and Assad, Rebels that America is backing financially and with training, risking a proxy war with USA. Edit - to further clarify USA ... |
Baseball: From pitch to hits | **If a pitcher is throwing 98mph and the batter makes perfect contact the ball will be traveling close to 105mph. That lower speed or what some people would think is too low of a speed is due to the wooden bats used. If the MLB players used aluminum bats the ball would be traveling at near 130mph. That is why they will... |
The Visual Acuity AKA 20/20 system | This is the way it was explained to me . Imagine someone is standing 20 feet away from a wall. Someone with 20/20 vision will be able to clearly read text written in letters that are 20 inches tall. 20/40 would be someone who needs text 40 inches all. **EDIT:**I *was* in fact wrong. "If you have 20/20 vision, it means ... |
Why is it considered immoral to outsource labor to workers in countries willing to work for very little money? | Usually it's the working conditions that people are protesting. Factories in developing countries with little regulation and workers\' rights can be downright abysmal to work in. They're not called "sweatshops" for nothing. In addition to poor working conditions is also worker safety. A man might lose an arm operating ... |
In simple terms, what does the mathematical constant "e" mean? | e is special because of what happens when you take it to some exponent. Namely, if you graph y=e^x . [Here is a reference]. It's special because, at every point on that line, the slope of the graph is exactly equal to the y value of the graph. At y=1, y'=1. At y=2, y'=2. Turns out, that symmetry is very useful and help... |
Why are certain credit cards not accepted by certain buisinesses | Very simply: every credit card company requires the business to "subscribe" to their service. The subscription lets the business accept that particular credit card. Unlike a magazine or MMO subscription, however, there's a charge **per transaction** , with a mandatory minimum charge . Some businesses are small enough t... |
How do people become addicted to smoking cigarettes when it is so awful the first few times? | For many people, smoking isn't about cigarettes, but rather about a little social club you get to hang out with outside every few hours. It's not always bad the first time. I liked the cigarettes the first time I smoked one. It just felt right, and the feeling of hot smoke in my lungs was pleasant. I only didn't pick t... |
Why do some games have huge modding communities (Minecraft, Skyrim), whereas others have none at all? | Some games are easier to mod than others. Most have no official modding tools, unlike games like Skyrim or Valve games. |
Why do some people scream when they sneeze? | Could be cultural ties. Even the way people sneeze is influenced. Culturally and ethnically. That's not the be all, end all reasoning But it definitely influences it.It has to do with how much air is in your lungs when you sneeze. As a child I would sneeze uncontrollably loud, to the point where I would get kicked out ... |
How do people invest in stocks without going through a broker or brokerage firm? | Do you mean just like "how"? I used Robinhood . If you mean figuring out what stocks to buy - that's a personal choice, but there are tons of resources online. |
Why do i always feel a bigger need to smoke when i drink alcohol? Is it purely the social part of smoking, or are there in fact other factors which are to blame? | I think it's just being intoxicated in general. Why are you more hungry/horny/outgoing etc when you're drunk? It's just easier to give in to your desires, whatever they may be. |
if muscles can work anaerobically, why do we need to breathe oxygen, on a biological level? | Without oxygen we would lose about 94% of our capacity to convert glucose to energy usable for our body. It generally doesn't take too long for this to become a problem. |
Why do we get to decide if Iran is allowed to make nuclear weapons? | Iran is a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has therefore agreed to not build nuclear weapons. Source:_URL_0_International relations is not about fairness. Its about various actors each trying to get what they believe is best for themselves done. Quite a few actors, including powerful ones, think Iran gett... |
Why did Canada get rid of the penny? | Canada got rid of the penny because the penny costs more to make than it's worth. A good video: [Canada gets rid of the penny] Edit: put in the right link |
Is there a mechanical reason fan switches often go from off to full power, and then down? (Ordered "0,3,2,1" on the switch) | Although the other answers may have some truth to them, one of the big reasons for this is that any electric motor will have a "startup current" that's much higher than the normal operating current. When the motor is physically rotating at a different speed than its electricity makes it "want" to rotate, it soaks up ex... |
Why does glue not harden when it's in the container, but harden when it is poured out? | Glue only hardens when it is exposed to air, and the water inside it evaporates.When glue is in a container, it's sealed from most air, but when released, gases are able to start diffusing in/out, which may be what causes the glue to cure. |
If memories are so susceptible to change over time, how can I be sure an event that I remember actually happened? | supporting evidence. Other people agree it happened, there are photos, diaries, souvenirs. There are lots of reasons to be trust your memories. |
Why does it feel better to have feet elevated when you sit? | Your feet take a lot of wear and tear, and are often in tight shoes and socks. Elevating them on a footstool repositions them so they're off the ground and not at the very bottom of your entire bloodstream's contents. It takes a little bit of the pressure off of them, meanwhile flexing the knees a bit so they're not ri... |
Does having a larger penis increase the likelihood of conception? | No, just like a longer needle doesn't increase the effectiveness of a vaccine. As long as it's sufficient for injecting the genetic material in the correct hole, that's all that matters.Nope. The vaginal tube is only about 6-8" in length, the only thing longer than average does is make it potentially painful during int... |
Why are Computer Malware so obvious to detect for the victim? | Some malware is obviously visible, like changing your browser's homepage to some ad-riddled horror show. Many casual computer users won't know what to do, so they'll just let it slide, and use the bloated crapshoot as their homepage, making the malware people advertisement money. However, just because you can see some ... |
How does the on field screen work during the Superbowl halftime show? | While I could be quite wrong, I am fairly certain that it works something like this:During the game, you'll notice that they put images onto the field, such as a marker indicating who has the ball, and the line they must cross before the end of the 4th down These images are not actually on the field, nor are they visib... |
- Why some occupation titles have genders and some don't? | It's because we 've been slowly winnowing the gendered occupations out of English. "Author" is a good example -- until probably the early 20th century, the word "authoress" was used to refer to a woman, but that dropped out of fashion. The same thing is happening with "actress," and you can see the term "actor" being a... |
Is there an evolutionary benefit for men having beards other than helping with the ladies? | They actually have a surprising benefit if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the cold. At least for me, I shaved off about six months of beard growth in the middle of this winter, and my face felt much, much colder. It's not a huge benefit, but it was the difference between having to wear a scarf or not.Not really no... |
Difference Between Heat and Temperature | You can think of temperature as being similar to the level of water in a bucket, and heat as being the actual amount of water in a bucket. If you have two buckets, they might both be filled five inches deep with water. But if one bucket is much wider, that five inches represents a lot more water in the big bucket than ... |
Before college became a requirement for many jobs, how did employers screen and filter out candidates? | Basically before the late 90s you got a job by \'knowing a guy\' Most older people you meet, if you ask them how they got into their career the story will start "I knew this guy "', "Before the advent of the internet, it wasn't as common for employers to get bombarded with completely unqualified candidates spamming eve... |
When you have anxiety, why does your body feel weak or even have pain in your chest? | Anxiety is not just mental, it also causes the "fight or flight" effect. In essence your body prepares to run/fight an entity, this involves increased or erratic heart rate and other associated factors. This leads to the chest pain from your heart and lungs prepping for but not being used, kinda like redlining a car wi... |
Why is getting gold on Reddit such a big deal? | People will often use gold as a kind of super upvote. The recipient takes it as a compliment and confirmation that their post or comment was in some way more valuable to people. |
Why I can understand people speaking to me in my dreams, but when I try to read books or notes in my dreams the words are all gibberish. | In your dreams, you brain has to do double duty it makes the world you are perceiving, and then it perceives it. Some things, like complex and consistent visual details, are harder for it to make. Sound, on the other hand, is more reactive you hear whether you want to or not, and it is more of a reflex.Haha! You're rig... |
how can DNA tests be used to show what your ancestry is? | We don't have exactly the same DNA -- everyone has some mutations in various parts of the genome. Say you measure the DNA of 10 people from Thailand and their genome looks like this: ACGTGCCCATCGCGATCG Then you measure the DNA of 10 people from Italy and their genome looks like this: AGGTCCCCATCGCGTTCG . Then obviously... |
Why is the symbol of the heart so different from what the actual organ looks like? | The symbol developed in the Middle Ages, when it was very rare to obtain permission to dissect a body; knowledge of anatomy was quite rare. What's more, there were few drawings available, so that most people with any knowledge of anatomy relied on written descriptions of what the organ looked like. The earliest known d... |
"Quantum Cheshire Cats" | They didn't discover a method of tearing things apart, they are observing a phenomenon they don't have a proper explanation for yet, as with many things in quantum mechanics. Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert. There is a fundamental property true for all quantum objects, in that you cannot determine one part... |
I've learned today that some bugs and flies sees the world in slow motion. How does that work? | What we see isn't produced by our eyes but by how our brain interprets what our eyes see. For insects to see in slow motion just means that their brains process information from their eyes much faster than ours do. Also calling it "slow" motion is completely arbitrary as that is just a comparison to what we are used to... |
How is Microsoft making money from Windows 10 if they are giving it away for free? | 1. They collect data on you by default for targeted advertising. 2. They have a lot of services that default or redirect to Bing, which they get ad revenue from. 3. Much of their business comes from corporations using their products, not individual users. Indeed, Enterprise builds are not covered by the same upgrade de... |
What goes into starting an airline company? | Firstly you need a planes the smallest and most popular Boeing is the 737, it will set you back £70,748,963.76 per unit though you could get a lower price for bulk buying, to note if you buy them just after a terror attack they will be cheaper. It is what RyanAir did just after 9/11 attacks. Note a 737 can only do 60,0... |
The different types of alcohol (chemistry, not beverages) | Ethyl alcohol is ethanol. It has the chemical formula H₃C-CH₂OH . This is what you find in alcoholic beverages. Methanol has one carbon instead, with the formula H₃COH. This is what's dangerous in moonshine - methanol is much more toxic than ethanol because its metabolic products are formaldehyde and formic acid, the l... |
why does a bathtub of water eventually get colder than the room | It doesn't. Our sensation of heat is not the same thing as temperature. Easy example: tile floors feel colder than rugs. In reality they're the same temperature. Our sensation of heat is because tile floor more readily absorbs our body heat than does a rug. The sensation of losing our body heat quickly is what we inter... |
What's up with merchandise at stores that have a certain price on the packaging itself? | I worked at a store that was similar to Dollar General, a lot of the stuff we got in would have that printed on it, but we sold it for less. It's just how some manufacturer's package the product. I believe more often than not, those came from places where the store had its own manufacturer, and then we would get it as ... |
If matter can’t be destroyed, what happens to an object when it is vaporized? | A vapor is still matter. So are the people who were "vaporized" in the atomic blasts in Japan; they were simply broken down into much smaller component parts, probably gas, ashes and dust. However, before they were vaporized, some of those poor people blocked the initial gamma ray burst and some part of the heat and de... |
How can it be that every lock in the world is different and there are not two of the same? Or isn't this the case? | It isn't the case. It would be theoretical possible to have every lock in the world be different by making them all a different size and shape but it would be highly impractical. Most locks operate with a series of different pins and lengths - your standard household lock would have somewhere between 100,000 and 200,00... |
how does catnip work and would it work on other animals.? | Works just like any other drug. Changing how long or how many neutral transmitters are left in the cleft to bind to the receptor neuron. As long as an animal has similar receptors to the ones a cat has it should effect them also. See _URL_0_Some humans smoke it. |
How come Germany get to keep the 3 world cups from when they were West Germany? Surely when East and West united it became a brand new country? | Officially the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist, and it's territory was ceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. The current German state is technically the same one as west Germany, just with more territory than it used to have. Same as how the USA did not become a new country when Texas joined. |
What is the photoelectric effect? | Imagine for moment that electrons responded to sound instead of to light. An electron will jump to higher energy levels in response to a sound of a specific pitch. Even if the sound is quiet it will still respond and jump to the higher energy level. However, even if the sound is very loud, if it is the wrong pitch, the... |
What is the Anthropocene, why is it important that it be recognizes as a real event, and why would anybody be opposed to such a thing? | According to [Wikipedia], it is "a proposed epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems". Epochs are portions of the history of Earth on a geologic timescale, "longer than an age but shorter than a period*." **For example, "Jurrasic" is a period spanning about 56... |
How did European's become light skinned? | Your skin has something called melanin which gives the skin its dark or light colour. More melanin means darker colour and less means lighter colour. The goal of melanin is to protect from UV radiation. Since there's less UV exposure up north, skin needs to produce less melanin and the people from there are thus lighte... |
Why do small private colleges without large staff, facilities or research departments have such high tuition? Where does that money go? | Because small private schools lack state-funding, lack large, research oriented programs that draw in grant money, and lack major athletic programs to draw in revenue. These reasons make it so that if small schools want to keep the lights on, they have to charge more in tuition. It is not, in fact, done to line the poc... |
Why does the Nintendo Zapper not work with modern televisions? | The Zapper was very precisely timed to the screens . It looked for the screen to be drawn at a certain exact moment, and used that data to tell if you had, for example, hit the duck or not. Today's plasma and LCD televisions have different refresh rates/timing, and are in fact less responsive than the CRT TVs of the pa... |
What are the curving lines that appear in digital photos of computer screens? | [Moiré pattern]. It's what happens when the grid of pixels that create image on the screen and the grid of pixels that capture the image in the camera don't perfectly align, which is almost always because they only align at four angles and are not aligned at every angle in-between. |
how actors who only work in bit parts, make a living | How they make a living? Working in restaurantsThis [link] shows what wages are required by SAG. The rates are outdated, and are different for TV actors, but it gives you a general idea of the pay rate. |
What happens when I put a magnet up to a computer monitor, or television screen. | A CRT display is based on firing a beam of electrons at a coated surface that lights up when hit by electrons. The display is controlled using an electromagnet to deflect the beam, so that the right bits light up to make the desired image. Moving another magnet close to the display messes up this control system. Newer ... |
How forums detect whether you're still online or not? | They tag you as "online" when you visit a page of theirs. After that, you're "online" for a certain period of time . If you haven't done anything on the site for that time, you're tagged "offline". Otherwise, your "online" timer restarts/u/daniu is right. Most forums detect that way. But, some of them detect by keeping... |
Why do your emotions come in 'waves' after something very emotional occurs? | most emotions come from chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenalin, serotonin, etc. When your brain starts to release these chemicals, it doesn't happen all at once. It begins to secrete them as if opening a valve. The flow starts slow until you get enough of the chemicals and your brain is filled wit... |
Why does 100 degree F water feel hotter then 100 degree F weather | When you put your hand in 100 degree F air the air around your hand starts cooling down. However only the immediate air around your hand. Air is a good thermal insulator which means that it will not transfer heat from the surrounding air to the air in contact with your skin very fast. The molecules are too far apart an... |
Why do we have historical evidence that Julius Caesar existed but none about Jesus Christ? | Because Caesar was actually important back then, unlike Jesus.He wasn't a politician, a warlord, a general, a murderer. He was just some guy that had 13 other guys follow him around all the time. He was among 1000s of prisoners crucified so nothing exceptional there. |
; Why is Jesus on a cross the symbol for the religion and used against demons? | Jesus on the cross is dying for our sins, to absolve and protect all the rest of us. He protects us from our own "demons," that is, our sinful nature. Remember, being crucified didn't destroy Jesus. He was resurrected shortly thereafter. It was merely an ordeal he went through on our behalf. I think I 've got this righ... |
Why do sunsets/sunrises turn pink and orange, but those colors aren't present with the sun is actually up? | White light is every color of light combined. When you see a rainbow, what you're seeing is the different waves of light separated. At sunset/sunrises, sun light isn't aimed directly at you. It hits the atmosphere and bends to where you are. So instead of seeing an intense white light, you'll see shades of colors. And ... |
Why does every elevator have a "door close" button if almost none of these buttons actually work? | They work fine when the fire key is turned.They do work , but most people press a floor button first, which have the 'close door' command built in. If you're standing in an elevator which hasn't been called to a floor, there will be a period before the doors close automatically that pressing door close or a floor butto... |
Movies used to show people dialing numbers like 555-1212. Why couldn't film producers secure ordinary phone numbers from the phone companies by buying them outright? | They can, and have. But why pay money when you don't have to? Also, they might not have that number forever, so whoever gets it after them will still get harassed. No point.Why do something that costs money when 555 numbers are free?', "7 digit numbers are local. 734-2322 will get you a different person depending on th... |
Why can Netflix stream at 2.0 MB/s, but Steam can't get above 500 KB/s? | I think you are confusing megabytes and megabits . Does your ISP offer you 4 MB/s or 4 Mb/s? Megabits are far more commonly used when ISPs tell you your speed. A 4 Mb/s speed is roughly 500 KB/s per second) so that sounds about right and your Netflix is probably able to utilize near the full connection as they pick the... |
Can a commercial aircraft, like a Boeing 747, do a looping? | They can't loop in the nice circular sense. They don't have enough thrust to make it over the loop even if they start at max speed. However, if you're careful, you can get far enough over than, when you stall out, you're past vertical and can "flop" over to complete the loop in a rather ungrateful manner. You are extre... |
Why do people snort coke? Does coke get in the bloodstream through your lungs? | Nope, it enters through your sinuses. Your sinus cavity has all kinds of membranes that the drugs can enter your bloodstream through, and the effect is pretty quick. The only really quicker ways are smoking or injecting, which both require some equipment and preparation - snorting is quick and easy. Eating or drinking ... |
How do we create saliva in our mouths and where does it come from? | I don't have any reference materials, so I can't to much detail, but nobody else answered yet, so I'll do a summary. Saliva is a combo of mostly water and proteins with a little bit of dissolved salts. It comes from salivary glands that are placed in several places around your mouth. Mostly under the tongue. A gland is... |
Why do we have a tax bracket system as opposed to a continuous sliding scale? | Probably just to simplify things. Imagine being an employer or personal accountant, having to count how much taxes someone pays. Brackets lets them estimate their income, choose a clearly defined bracket, and see how much income tax is. On a sliding scale, they will need to know their exact income for the year, and pro... |
Why do standardized tests each have unique and seemingly arbitrary score ranges? (e.g. SAT 400-1600, ACT 1 to 36, LSAT 120-180, MCAT 472 to 528, USMLE Step 1 1-300) | The short answer is that it is arbitrary. The longer answer is that the scoring systems reflect the priorities of the test makers. Many test creators intentionally set the lowest score far above 0 to make it more obvious that they are interval scales, not ratio scales. In other words, a score of 900 on the SAT is not "... |
If Flash and Java plugins are going to be removed from Firefox and Chrome, why can't they make "good" versions of the plugins that will still work? | The problem isn't with the plug-ins but rather security issues with the core languages of Flash and Java. Mozilla and Google feel that there aren't ways to make safe use of those languages for web-based services through your browser. |
Why is it that humans have a lot more distinct feature where you can tell one apart from another, but animals almost always look the same? | Three things: There’s a phenomenon where people have a hard time telling people of a race different than their own apart, because their brain hasn’t practiced seeing those types of faces. I would assume this is also the case with animals. Basically, we’re good at identifying human features because we see them a lot, bu... |
Why do we move our whole body around while playing a video game as if we are in the game? | Your brain consists of neurons that are connected to one another, and these connections strengthen over time through repetition. In your whole lifetime you 've learned that the way to evade an object flying at your head is to move certain muscles. So when some neurons send a signal "there's something flying at my head"... |
How do spacecrafts such as Juno send data back to earth? | Via radio waves. NASA and other space agencies have huge antennae arrays that can pickup the very weak signals that are being sent by the probes. |
Please ELI5: why too much salt is bad for you. | Basically too much salt can increase your blood pressure as your body has limited ability to remove it. The reason salt increases your blood pressure is due to a concept called homeostasis. Say you have two water tanks with a pipe in between them with the level equal.. if you add water to one, half that water will go i... |
How does Sensodyne toothpaste work? | Essentially, your teeth get sensitive when the dentine within the tooth is exposed. On a microscopic level, the dentine has these little tubes that pass on impulses to the pulp, which is the nerve on the tooth. So when you get a cold ice cream on it, it will transmit the signal straight to the pulp, giving you that jum... |
How do they determine the caloric value of different foods? | Originally they used a [bomb calorimeter] but now it is just calculated using the [Atwater system] from the percentages of individual components. i.e. if we know the energy in a single gram of protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, or sugar then we just need to know how many grams of each is in a piece of food and add them... |
Why is Oman such a 'quiet' nation despite being right in the middle of chaos? | I should begin with the disclaimer that I'm not an expert in the subject. That being said, I do have a very strong interest in geopolitics and can hopefully provide a half-decent answer until someone better educated comes along. Of the top of my head, I can think of three potential reasons for why Oman is relatively st... |
If diamond is the hardest substance, and you can only cut it with other diamonds, how were diamonds originally acquired? | Diamond is very hard, which means it is very resistant to scratching. It has a very low toughness though, which is the resistance to impact. Somewhat related to hardness is another mechanical property toughness, which is a material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact. The toughness of natural diamond has ... |
Why did TV and computer screens used to flicker in videos, and now they don't? | CRTs work by scanning a electron beam left to right 15 to 100 thousand times a second while scanning top to bottom at 50 to 120 times per second. That fills the screen, but the beam only hits one spot at a time. The phosphors glow brightly at first but start to fade quickly. By the time a spot is scanned again its inte... |
Drag. The origin, history and culture of men dressing up as women. | I don't know if this is the origin, but it's certainly part of the history: In ye olden tymes , it was unlawful for women to act on stage. Boys were frequently used to portray women, and some actors even found a rich niche acting in female roles. At least, this was true in Europe. I can't speak for Asian theater. |
What, exactly, is poo made of? | I'll tackle the Fiber question and I can punch it out with how tired I am. Basically we cannot digest fiber; so what happens is it is a long polysaccharides chain that scrapes the side of your intestines as it passes and this stimulates your bowels to release a mucus. This mucus helps lubricate the feces as well as kee... |
the current terrorist threat that is causing the US to shut down embassies in the Middle East | A conversation was allegedly intercepted between two top level members of AQAP speaking in very general terms about a terrorist attack in the very near future. Given what happened at Bengazi last September, the Obama administation is using an abundance of caution because the last thing they need is more dead American a... |
Why don't any larger animals have compound/multiple eyes like bugs do? | Depth perception, visual acuity, and distance. Compound eyes don't fair very well on any of those factors, all of which are far more favorable than having a large cone of view, especially in light of possessing other senses and ocular muscles.Because the only real advantage Compound eyes have over normal eyes is field ... |
Why is it that you cannot fix a flat tire if the hole is on the side? | The tread surface of a tire is much more rigid because that's the part of the tire designed to make contact with the road. The sidewall is much more flexible because it is designed to adapt to changes in tire pressure without bursting. Sealing the tread is easy because the patch will remain relatively still, but a patc... |
Why does pouring water on grease fire increase the amount of flames? | Grease is an oil, it's a liquid at burning temperatures. Oil and water don't mix, so when you squirt water on grease you get balls of water in oil and vice versa. The balls of water in oil are a big problem. The oil is over 212˚F so the water boils into steam. The steam expands, spreading the oil into a big, thin sheet... |
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