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[Deadpool] If he can heal, could he burn his entire body and have his skin regenerate back to normal? | 25 | no, because his skin is a byproduct of his multitudes of cancerous tumors. his tumors are overcharged by his healing factor giving him, essentially SUPERCANCER. burning off all his skin wouldn't do anything because it wouldn't cure his cancer. | 41 | |
[The Walking Dead] Is the humanity doomed? | He don't see any real signs of survival of anything else than a small group of people. No planes/helicopters.
Sure, we also don't know about other countries (and perhaps some US states, because there's no much information about these places).
The walkers don't seem to "disintegrate" over time, as should be expected.... | 21 | Nah, humanity as a whole will survive, though in greatly reduced numbers. The group has run across enough other groups of survivors to establish that there are probably significant settlements elsewhere. In colder regions, zombies will freeze, or at least substantially slow down, and their numbers will thus be much thi... | 22 |
[Star Wars] Would Vader have ever gone for a Padme clone, if he could get one made? | 26 | Given how cloning works in the Star Wars Universe, he'd be raising a child in real time at best and stuck with a rapidly aging knockoff at worst. He'd wind up with nothing close to what he originally had, and he knows it. However, if you take the cloning element out of it, the undercurrent of your question actually has... | 35 | |
CMV: Voting in elections is the best way to bring about political change in America, and people that choose not to vote are directly responsible for the current state of affairs in American politics | The previous national election cycle saw voter turnout of only
36% of eligible voters. Voter turnout is at record lows, and a result is the hyper-partisan government we see today. Far right and far left politicians have been able to gain office due to the fact that the far right and far left are turning out to vote fa... | 441 | How do you feel about the fact that even political experts advise that you vote for the democratic or republican representative that best represents your interests if your main choice would have been a third party candidate?
Many people don't vote out of apathy because we're still living in an age where choosing a pre... | 166 |
ELI5: A pound of lard has 4200 calories. Consuming 3000 calories makes me gain a pound of fat. How does eating a pound of fat create more fat? | 294 | It doesn't quite work like that. The oft-cited 3,000 calories in a pound of body fat isn't quite accurate. But even using that, it takes more than 3,000 calories to accumulate 3,000 calories, because processing those calories burns calories. One body fat pound == 3,000 does not mean eating 3,000 extra calories == a ... | 237 | |
[Halo (Bungie/343 Industries)] Do Spartan-III's make Spartan-II's obsolete? Do S-II's have virtually any advantage over the S-III's, at all? | I've lately been reading a lot of 'Spartan II vs Spartan III' style threads on various forums, and the consensus I'm getting is that S-III augmentations actually put them on-par with S-II's, combat-wise, and that the only reason that we notice any difference between these generations is due to the financial need for S-... | 29 | So in terms of say a modern military logistics the 3s are better in most regards. The cost of making them is offset by their effectiveness and they're still replaceable. They benefit from nearly 20 years of spartan 2 development and research and have a wider pool of possible recruits. They can even skip the child soldi... | 46 |
I believe that Australia should become a republic. CMV | Australia is an independent country with a British head of state. It makes more sense to me to have an Australian head of state for Australia.
In the 112 years since Australia gained independence, there's been waves of immigration. This has led to Australia becoming multicultural, with Aboriginal, Southeast Asian and... | 20 | For what it's worth, the Queen *is* an Australian citizen, as well as a citizen of each country she is head of state of, by default. The Queen may be based in Britain, but she is an Australian head of state (as well as Canadian head of state, British hos, etc). | 17 |
ELI5: why do negative prescription glasses require a prescription from a docter and cost hundreds of dollars where positive lens glasses can be bought for $3 with no prescription. | 104 | This isn't exactly true. What you have to look at is what the "negative" and "positive" mean. However, there is a distinction between that and prescription glasses versus non-prescription.
The negative and positive reflect what your eyes need--negative is for people who are near-sighted (can see close, but not far), ... | 22 | |
Why do women tend to live longer than men? | I know men tend to take more risks but what are some other reasons? | 47 | Tons of speculation on this thread.
Currently we believe a big driver to be the estrogen effect. Women produce around 4 times less mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, produce much more superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase...all factors that decrease cellular and chromosomal internal injury.
Postmenopau... | 43 |
Why are investors willing to invest so much money into Spotify, even though it did not make any profit since its start? | Is it "simply" the hope Spotify will make a lot of money some day? | 17 | >Is it "simply" the hope Spotify will make a lot of money some day?
In a word, yes, although the reasoning can be a little more sophisticated. Stock prices are essentially the aggregated present value of a company's future cash flows over an indefinite time frame divided by the number of shares on the market. When ... | 19 |
[GoTG] Ronan and Thanos (Spoilers) | When Ronan gets his hands on the infinity stone from the orb he claims he is going to come after Thanos after he is done destroying Xandar. Is this even remotely possible for Ronan to accomplish or would Thanos just laugh at power gem boosted Ronan and swat him like a bug? | 16 | Ronan goes down hard. Even if the infinity stone gives him enough power to take on Thanos he made the huge mistake of telling Thanos of his intentions. Thanos is an absolute genius and he is a master of preparation. By the time Ronan arrives Thanos will already have devised a means of gaining the upper hand. | 30 |
Does the shape of a lightning bolt have an effect on the sound of the thunder? | Primarily if we were to graph a bolt of lightning and compare it the the levels recorded to that associated roll of thunder, would we see a correlation?
What if the sound were graphed in a 3D space? How different is a forked lighting bolts' thunder VS the thunder from a bolt with no forks?
Does this make sense? | 45 | The jagged and irregular shape of a lightning bolt is one thing that causes thunder to rumble. Different points all along the lightning bolt are different distances from your ears and thus the sounds arrives at slightly different times. If a lightning bolt were perfectly straight, for example, you'd hear a big boom but... | 14 |
How different would I be if a different sperm reached the egg instead of mine? | 94 | You could be a different gender since the sperm determines gender. In terms of how you look (your phenotype) the maximum difference would be the sum of alleles for which your father is heterozygous. In terms of raw genetics, this maximum difference would be the sum of single nucleotide polymorphisms for which your fath... | 61 | |
[MCU] When Odin took away Thor's powers in his standalone, did Thor become as strong as the average Asgardian without mods or as strong as a human? | 23 | Regular Asgardians are still tremendously strong. We see one on Agents of Shield and he effortlessly bends a combat knife.
When Odin banished Thor to Earth, he took away his godly might. He's effectively just a heavily muscled and well-trained human up until the Hammer comes back to him. | 43 | |
ELI5:How can dogs smell cancer? | 41 | The current theory is that cancer cells produce characteristic organic compounds which get into the bloodstream and are then also present in the patient's breath - only in tiny amounts, but enough to be detected by a dog's amazingly keen sense of smell.
Which compounds those are exactly is still being researched, in ... | 20 | |
[General] Why are superheroes' suits so durable? | I understand that Superman can be hit by a missile but surely he would be standing there naked afterwards? Substitute any superhero. | 49 | Atleast in marvel, Reed Richards makes sits for a lot of People. They are made from so called unstable molecules and adapts to Its wearer. Thats how reeds suit can stretch and human torchs suit doesnt burn up | 49 |
ELI5: What is the purpose of fainting? What are the benefits of this mechanism? In extreme situations (e.g. being under attack) humans and animals sometimes faint but I see this as counterproductive and it would probability be better to become more alert in these situations, right? | 30 | Our brains need a *lot* of blood to stay alive. Normally, our bodies work just fine pumping blood against gravity and up to our noggins, but sometimes things go wrong. If for any reason there's a drop in blood pressure or heart rate or reduced level of oxygen to your brain, your brain is going to make you faint. Why? B... | 81 | |
[Star Wars] Unless General Grievous was force sensitive, how was he even remotely fast enough to duel with Obi Wan? | 32 | I feel your question doesn't quite reflect the nature of what happened. Grievous was a cyborg and his mechanical limbs actually allowed for the incredible speed with which he could attack. His spinning attack could strike ~20 times a second and would overwhelm most opponents, so speed is not the issue, and we know he h... | 76 | |
ELI5: Why do wolves & dogs wag their tails when happy and hold them still when agitated, and why do cats wag their tails when agitated & hold them still when calm? | 50 | Different species use different ways of communicating their internal states (e.g. their feelings and emotions). Dogs and cats, while both domestic animals, share little else in common. They are not closely related evolutionarily and therefore it is quite logical that those groups or even species within those groups dev... | 20 | |
ELI5: What is Insider Trading | 23 | So say you work for a company that sells orange juice. Your company is traded on the stock market, so news about it can have an effect on the company's value.
Since we had so much rain this year, everyone thinks that the orange juice you make won't be very good in the coming season. Since the juice won't be good, your... | 34 | |
CMV: If you have more than 15 items you should not be able to use self checkout. | This irks me to no end. I go into the store for one or 2 items, easy enough I will just use self checkout and be on my way in 5 minutes or so. NOPE. Get to self check out and it is backed up with people that have A CART FULL OF SHIT. WHY?!? Inevitably these peoplw have things that need codes put in or they have bagging... | 19 | Self checkout has never been about speed, it's been about saving the supermarket money. There is not a posted limit on the number of items, it's not the express checkout lane (which is poorly enforced to start with, and there's someone there who can shame you easily for it). I'd say the logistical problems of getting a... | 17 |
ELI5: How is it that everything in life is in a constant state of entropy (where everything degrades over time), and yet it's the general consensus that the universe/life has naturally progressed on it's own? (Related to the data.is.beautiful post from this morning) | I'm agnostic/atheist and still have a hard time wrapping my brain around this. | 24 | The sun is converting hundreds of tons of matter into energy every second.
This enormously entropic process ultimately drives the vast majority of chemical processes on Earth. Reactions that become more ordered (like photosynthesis) require a significant energy input from elsewhere.
The Earth isn't a closed system, ... | 37 |
[Fallout] Why did the resource wars even happen? | We see that the ever dwindling supply of oil lead to a break out of wars, eventually leading to the nuclear apocalypse but why were they fighting over oil if everything they used was nuclear powered?
For example, T-51b power armour can last 10000 years due to it's fusion reactor. Why didn't they just adapt to fusion? | 20 | The wars weren't just fought for oil, they were fought for ALL major resources. Even a fusion reactor is no good if you don't have the uranium you need to run it. Plus, the old staples like arable farm land, clean water, sugar cane and plutonium for the Nuka-Cola. Hell, even just living space would be at a premium.
I... | 33 |
Lightning produces ozone. Many ionizing air purifiers also produce ozone. Does an electric current exposed to air always produce ozone? | Does this mean that those open coil electric heaters are bad for people with asthma? How do ionizing air purifiers generate ions? | 494 | Molecular Oxygen (dioxygen) is broken into two oxygen atoms with enough energy input (either photon or thermal). One of these excited atoms will then encounter an oxygen molecule in a collision, creating ozone.
Your heaters at home aren't likely to produce any ozone at all as they don't produce a corona discharge (o... | 88 |
[Marvel] Who did the Watcher make his oath to? | The Watcher swore an oath to only observe, never to intervene. But who did he swear it to? Does the Watcher have a boss who comes by and checks to make sure that he's only watching? Uatu seems to look for loopholes in the "just watching" oath all the time, so I don't think he made that oath just on his own or else he'd... | 54 | The oath of non-interference is a defining aspect of the culture of his people.
The Watchers are one of the first species to develop sentience after the birth of the universe, if not the first. After developing interstellar travel, the Watchers made an attempt to accelerate the development of a younger species. Th... | 87 |
[Comics] Why doesn’t Batman also use a staff like Robin?,wouldn’t it be more practical then just using his fist? | 37 | Batman is a master combatant and trained marksman, so we know his choice to not use a weapon is a conscious one.
Bruce doesn’t use a weapon because being unarmed keeps him the most versatile and adaptable to any situation. Batman would also probably consider using a weapon too often as him becoming dependent on it an... | 52 | |
ELI5:If I boil a kettle does everything inside become sterile? if so how long does it stay sterile? | 16 | Actually sterilized? No. Boiling water and steam are damned effective at killing germs, but you generally need much higher temperatures than you'll achieve in a kettle to reach an effectiveness where you can call it sterile (99.9999999% of microbes killed). In particular, bacterial and fungal spores are generally ten... | 27 | |
[Star Wars] How come if the far far away galaxy has the force and the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy had the force, our galaxy doesn't have the force? | Shouldn't the force be something that pervades the universe? Why would it be localized? Or do some humans have it but it isn't cultivated? | 113 | There were only 10, 000 Jedi Knights in a republic of trillions, at the very least. Assuming -conservatively- there were only 100 trillion in the Republic that would average out at 1 person who can become a Jedi for every 10 billion sentients. So even on Earth, we'd fit the average if there wasn't a single person who c... | 82 |
ELI5: How does a painting like "When Will You Marry" sell for $300 million dollars when it doesn't look like anything spectacular | [This Painting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Will_You_Marry%3F) | 19 | When it comes to a lot of art, context is more important than the actual material. Rarity, historical context etc. make a thing more valuable than its actual aesthetic properties. For example, some shitty buggy SNES or N64 games will sell for huge amounts if they are well preserved and in the original packaging etc, ev... | 12 |
ELI5: How does tilt photography trick our minds into thinking the subject of the photo is a miniature? | 174 | When you lean in and look at a miniature or model, you're eyes are focused on what's right in front of them, and things in your peripheral vision are blurrier - Usually, in a photo everything is clear no matter what part you are focused on- but in tilt-shift photography the focal point is clear and draws your eye to it... | 111 | |
ELI5: Why is Botulinum toxin, the most lethal toxin known, purposefully injected into humans for cosmetic surgeries such as botox? Is there nothing else that could be used? | 87 | Simply put, it is the most effective at what it does.
This is sort of like how we use (potentially) deadly poison's for anesthesia. There are other potential options (botox for cosmetic surgery is basically a paralyzing agent), but none last as long and work as efficiently, so we don't use them. With anesthesia there... | 31 | |
[Attack On Titan] What was it like when the Titans first appeared? | What was the reaction? How did world leaders react? How were they able to overpower us despite our technology (drones, bombs, etc)
What were the theories of current scientists on their origin? | 85 | We have no idea what the world was like before. From what drawings we have seen it appears that the Titans invaded during a world in the 17th-19th century tech range. All evidence is kept hidden by the higher ups, as the manga goes into detail that they are intentionally hiding the history of the Wall, the Titans, and ... | 73 |
[Harry Potter] Does magic have an upper limit? | It doesn't seem like anyone really tries to push the boundaries other than ol' voldy and he had a pretty limited and self centered view on it. If someone really tried to push magic as far as it can go, what could they accomplish? | 18 | There seem to be upper limits. A perfect spell can't really be more perfecter. You change your coats colour from red to green. That's it. It's green now, can't get greener, can it? Avada Kedavra kills. The victim is dead. The end.
But there are also spells that are bit more complicated to measure.
Wizards and witche... | 14 |
[The Lorax] How did the Once-ler not notice he was running out of trees until literally the moment the very last one was chopped down? | In the old animated version, he even yells at the Lorax about how he has more long-term plans to keep producing thneeds and "biggering" *immediately* before the final tree is fallen, which he *immediately* takes notice of and realizes was the very last one.
A lot of people seem to think that the story is against using... | 39 | You are exactly correct about the message, and about why this isn't any sort of hole in the story. The message of the Lorax is about care, it's only the story that happens to be about the environment.
People seem to take a very surface reading of the story. There's a good guy, The Lorax, who wants to help the anima... | 48 |
ELI5: What are birth marks and why do we get them? | Edit: Thanks for all the replies guys loved reading them all! | 339 | **What are birthmarks?**
There are different types. Some are a bunch of blood vessels and capillaries close to the surface of the skin. These are not permanent, but are common among newborn children. This kind is usually red.
The other kind is an above average accumulation of pigment cells in the skin. These are typi... | 131 |
[Alpha Centauri] Why do the faction leaders keep announcing their secret projects? | This is not how secrecy works. | 46 | >As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny
Free and unrestrained information prevents others from keeping secrets from you. But it also works in the reverse. Secrecy is only an illusion of formality. | 15 |
ELI5: Why do power tools (especially ones that need high torque) often employ a motor spinning at a ridiculous speed and then a deep reduction, instead of a motor spinning directly at the tool's speed and higher torque? | 74 | An electric motor works by having magnets and electromagnets arranged around the axle, which attract and repel each other in succession to spin the motor. To get high torque you need to have very strong magnets and/or very strong electromagnets. Increasing the strength of the magnets and/or electromagnets by 20 times y... | 106 | |
how are planetary rings stable ? | Something just occurred to me, if all extraplanetary masses formed from from gravitational forces acting on small bits of debris pulling them together, and planetary rings are just that except in a stable orbit around a larger mass, how hasn't the same process happened there ? | 31 | Close enough to a planet, tidal forces will tear apart any moon that's held together solely by gravity. The near side of the moon is closer to the planet so pulled more strongly compared to the far side, and this difference in gravity is stronger than the moon's own gravity.
This also means no object can come together... | 35 |
ELI5: Why is there WAY more snow in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere? | Even at the bottom of South America there is little to no snow during winter (excluding on mountains) even though it's not far above Antarctica. Why is that ? | 54 | Because it's surrounded by ocean, so has a maritime climate - which doesn't get all that cold.
The northern hemisphere has large land masses, which lead to continental climates, which can get very much colder because they don't have the thermal damping of the oceans. | 62 |
[MGS4] Question about FOXDIE | Why didn’t the FOXDIE kill Ocelot during the brief fight with Snake after he burned Big Boss’s body? | 16 | Actual reason: The plot demanded that it didn’t.
Kojima approved reasoning: Ocelot had prior knowledge of FOXDIE and was taking some kind of blockers in conjunction with all the drugs he was taking to be Liquid, sort of like the nanomachine blockers that Snake was using throughout the game. During the battle on the boa... | 13 |
[Dune] We're told over and over that the spice has "geriatric properties", but what does that actually mean? | 45 | Geriatric = an aged person. So it lets you get older than normal
"Without melange and its amplification of the human immunogenic system, life expectancy for the very rich degenerated by a factor of at least four"
It lets you get older by a lot. | 45 | |
ELI5: Why is ESPN in so much trouble? | I understand the omnipresent threat of "cable-cutting," but surely these concerns are overblown? What's going on? | 18 | ESPN is the most expensive cable Chanel by far for cable companies to subscribe to. They pay each channel for the right to broadcast their channels but ESPN demands an extreme amount.
So much so that cable companies have to increase what they charge for other channels and packages to compensate
As a result many ca... | 18 |
If 98F is my inner temperature, why does it feel so hot when the ambient temperature is 97F? | Why does my body feels the need to cool itself at that temperature? | 576 | Because your body is constantly generating more and more heat you'll only feel comfortable when your body is able to shed heat at the right rate.
At 97F the air around you is barely conducting any heat from your body, but down at 70F it feels just right.
But then water at 70F will feel pretty chilly, because water i... | 664 |
ELI5 - Why were men like Erik the Red and Napoleon exiled instead of executed? | 1,046 | For napoleon, at least, it was to avoid making him a martyr. Napoleon had a lot of supporters in france at the time he was exiled. Would he have been killed, they could have used him as a symbol and continued fighting on a new leaders behalf. However, since they kept him alive, he both acted as a living reminder of def... | 794 | |
How do you remove indium metal from a metal surface? | We got indium on a copper surface and want to remove the indium without damaging the copper surface.
Is ther anyway to do this with a solvent or anything from than mechanically peeling/scratching it off? | 18 | You can oxidize it off in a dilute acid solution. I'd use 0.1M Sulfuric acid, with include 0.1M Copper Sulfate. Volume of solution needs to be calculated based on the amount of In you need to remove. Don't let the Indium exceed 0.05M or so.
Use alegator clips to connect your In coated piece to a sheet or snarl of Cu w... | 12 |
How do biological receptors recognise a photon if photons have no mass? | 30 | Photons have energy, and interact with objects through the electromagnetic field. Namely, photons interact with electrons, exciting them to a different energy level from which the electron has sufficient energy to participate in chemical reactions (oxidation/reduction). These chemical reactions move electrons through m... | 15 | |
[Time Travel] I've been assigned to stop a nuclear terrorist attack in 1855 Philadelphia. How do I enlist the local authorities without blowing my cover? | There are hostile chrononauts in the region that wish to unleash the device. I have clothing, a standard issue ferromagnetic side arm, and 500 dollars in period-appropriate money. | 61 | Not too sure but lets say they are inside a building. Beat yourself up a bit, black eye, torn clothes, cuts, etc. Run to nearest police and say you escaped from a cult of kidnappers. Hopefully this will cause a good amount of cops to show. Also are you wearing modern clothes? | 44 |
[ELI5]: If something is 1 in 292 million, then how do over 400 million lose? | 65 | The odds of a coin flip landing “heads” is ~50%, but you could still have a run of many flips all landing “tails.” Take that same logic and blow it up to huge proportions.
Also bear in mind that there is no system that prevents multiple tickets from having the same numbers. If each number was unique, you would be cor... | 379 | |
CMV: Media shouldn't be censored or expected to be censored on the basis that it may be considered sensitive, triggering, or otherwise offensive. | E2: **Points of view adjustment:**
>Mattel markets toys to children. Children are stupid and cannot make good decisions
>Children also should not have to suffer because parents make poor decisions. Thats why its a law, not a recommendation, to have child safety seats. Or why you can't show people being raped a... | 162 | > Restricting this ability assumes people are stupid and cannot make good decisions
Mattel markets toys to children. Children *are* stupid and cannot make good decisions
Children also should not have to suffer because parents make poor decisions. Thats why its a law, not a recommendation, to have child safety seat... | 26 |
[Star Trek]Is Data bound by the laws of robotics? | Being a sentient being in his own right is Data bound by the [laws of robotics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics)? | 48 | No.
Data is bound, instead, by a strong sense of morality, duty to his fellow officers and his own self-preservation.
* A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm - Data has harmed sentient lifeforms including humans on multiple occasions and also allowed them to co... | 38 |
ELI5: Why does something travelling at supersonic speeds make a loud bang? | With my fairly limited knowledge of physics I would guess it has something to do with the distortion of sound waves, similar to [red-shifted light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift), but that doesn't seem right to me. | 38 | When things fly through the air, they produce sound waves. As long as the thing is flying slower than the speed of sound, the sound waves can propagate in front of the object and the waves don't really overlap very much.
However, when an object breaks the speed of sound, sound waves created by the object can no longer... | 25 |
CMV: There should be an option to commit suicide for the purpose of organ donation. | There are currently 80,000 people in the US on organ donor waiting lists. Approximately 50,000 people in the US commit suicide each year. Even if just one in twenty of those suicides were to volunteer to have their organs harvested in exchange for assisted suicide, that injects 2,500 warm bodies a year into the organ d... | 106 | 1 suicidal people are usually the elderly or people down on their luck, both types are not people who tend to have healthy organs
2 ethical forms of suicide and forms of suicide that allows organs to be harvested rarely overlap.
3 suicidal patients who are otherwise healthy are usually mentally ill, to get assisted... | 39 |
Does the air inside the tires of a moving car move inside them? | 84 | Yes, in multiple ways. When the tire is stationary, the air molecules are still constantly moving and bumping into both each other and the sides of its container. When the tire is moving, the molecules that hit the sides of the container (the spinning tire) are flung in the direction of the spin, causing the air to gen... | 37 | |
CMV: The way anti smoking ads are presented needs to be seriously reconsidered. | We've all seen those ads that shows someone, probably in a grey hoodie, in a dark background smoking a cigarette. They tend to highlight them having a large amount of smoke, which makes the cigarette look disgusting. Except that only looks disgusting to those of us who find smoking disgusting.
​
Those ads ... | 27 | I was always under the impression that those ads were targeted at the people who might start smoking, not current smokers trying to quit. To a non smoker that doesn't have those craving this wouldn't be seen as attractive
The shit on the cigarette packages (black lungs, fucked up mouths, etc) are targetted at current ... | 16 |
ELI5: why somes species don't have their own body heat (like reptiles) and rely on the environment's temperature when the combustion of sugar in the blood releases energy and heat (and allows us to have our own body temperature)? | 66 | There's more to body heat than producing energy.
You are right, "cold" blooded animals do produce body heat. However, they don't retain it. There are a few reasons for this.
They don't regulate their production of body heat. They don't produce more when they're cold by doing things like shivering.
They don't cons... | 83 | |
ELI5: What exactly is radiation/ radiation poisoning and why aren't there ways to "flush" it out of your system? | 77 | Think of radiation as little tiny bullets, that smash into the molecules that make up your cells, breaking them apart.
If enough of your molecules get smashed, then you have "radiation poisoning," which is really just the symptoms associated with that kind of damage. But note, it's not like what we normally think of ... | 83 | |
If Venus and Earth are approximately the same size, why is Venus' atmosphere so much thicker? | I'd heard years ago from a forgotten source that the reason is because of the fact that our moons mass is particularly high compared to ours (highest ratio in the solar system) and that over time the moons gravity had pulled a lot of our atmosphere out into space where it dispersed.
When I mentioned this in a discuss... | 244 | Most of Earth's CO₂ is bound in the carbonates (such as limestone). When CO₂ dissolves in water, it forms CO₃²⁻ anions, which react with several metal cations to form insoluble carbonate minerals, such as limestone or dolomite.
When you heat carbonate minerals, the CO₂ is released, and carbonates turn into oxides (for... | 91 |
If the deepest we have drilled into earth is 7.5 miles, not exceeding earths crust, how do we have detailed descriptions/illustrations of what the other of the thousands of miles look like? For example earths core, the mantle and inner core. | 34 | Seismic waves. Earthquakes.
When there is an earthquake different waves will move through the earth, through the different parts of the earth, at different speeds and in different ways. We can measure this at different points and begin to paint a picture. What you are seeing on your seisometre took x time longer to be... | 25 | |
What is fire, and why does it form the shape that it does (like in a candle flame, for example)? | I am guessing that it is made out of some sort of matter (photons presumably). But if this is so, what gives the shape it is? | 19 | If you have ever sat around a campfire, or a warm fireplace in your living room,
or even the burners on a gas stove, you will agree that fire seems quite
substantial. You can see it, and you can see the instantaneous effects when
something flammable comes in contact with it. Paper blackens and burns,
plastic melts and ... | 11 |
Can someone explain source code directories to me? (e.g., src, makefile, include, etc) | I've been googling this for two days but i can't figure it out. I compiled or built a Fortran package from source and don't really understand what I did or what each of the folders inside the source directory mean. All I know is the src contains the main instructions. But what is in the include folder? Why does it exis... | 17 | Unfortunately it's different for almost every project and idioms are different in different programming languages and the cultures surrounding them.
There's some common rules of thumb but these are fuzzy at best.
src - the majority of the code
build - intermediate build results
dist - compiled / build results
docs... | 11 |
CMV: In American elementary schools, American history classes should focus more on the Constitution than on the Declaration of Independence. | While I was still going to public school in America, most of my history classes focused more on the Declaration of Independence, rather than the Constitution. We focused so much on it, I thought that the Declaration of Independence was the most important document America ever had. While it definitely isn't *un*importan... | 183 | Ummm... we're taught both...
But really, the Declaration is a simple historical document, and so is best taught in a history class. It goes over, in excruciating detail, all of the reasons for the American Revolution.
The Constitution is a legal document, and if you're going to go over it in detail that's probably b... | 40 |
How much holy water do I need to drink before I become toxic to vampires? | 24 | There is no way to make yourself toxic to vampires by drinking holy water.
Holy water is pure H2O blessed by the grace of a higher deity. It's nothing but hydrogen, oxygen, and benevolent deific power. If you add anything else, the vessel becomes an impure container for the energy and it is returned to being normal wa... | 27 | |
Question : decided to learn about Existentialism, what to read ? | Hello, I've decided to learn about Nihilism and Existentialism, what books should I read and in what order ?
Most answers I found just throw authors names - Kirkegaard, Nietzsche , Sartre , Frankel ...
I decided to start from Kirkegaard - Fear and Trembling, Is thats the right chose ?
Sorry if it's weird question, p... | 41 | The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir. She never got the same fame as Sartre and Camus but this is definitely a very approachable and understandable text compared to others. That and Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism are a good quick pair and then if you feel like tackling Being and Nothingness and other ma... | 30 |
[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer] Why does Rudolph's red nose stand out so much amongst all the other abnormalities the reindeer have that are accepted at face-value? | Rudolph's mom has thick, human-like eyelashes and pink eyelids.
The coach reindeer has flexible enough lips to seal around a whistle and blow it.
​
Not to mention, the people teasing him are the only twelve or so reindeer born with the ability to fucking fly, let alone fast enough to visit every Christmas... | 55 | Note how people who are abnormally strong are treated in our society vs those with harmless but unsightly skin conditions.
Generally, the difference between "a misfit" and "an exceptional individual" is if their difference can be used by the powerful (and, indeed, Rudolph does go from the former category to the latter... | 49 |
ELI5: Why do men play baseball, but women play softball? What is the difference? | 161 | Softball was invented in a windy day in 1887 in Chicago, Ill., by a group of men waiting for results of the Harvard-Yale football game. While they were waiting, they turned a glove tied together into a large ball, with a broomstick as the bat. It was first regarded as a way to play baseball indoors, and after it gained... | 129 | |
ELI5: How do they decide on which direction to point the James Webb telescope? | 18 | By committee of course! Research proposals are submitted to a review board which then will rank them based on things like potential research value, etc. The end goal is to book as much of the telescope's time as possible and to work out a schedule where it can move the most easily between points of observation. The tel... | 30 | |
ELI5: Why do dogs lick people? | Does it represent a particular emotion on their part? | 52 | The licking action is a sign of submission. When a dog wants to let another dog know that he's no threat he will do things that young puppies do to make him seem less aggressive. Sometimes it's done in excitement as well, to welcome the pack leader home. This comes from asking their mother to vomit up what prey she ate... | 37 |
[Percy Jackson] Why doesn't anyone use guns? | As far as I know, they are only mentioned once: a centaur uses a paintball gun shooting paint mixed with Celestial Bronze (which was extremely effective) and Piper McLean being offered a modified shotgun by Annabeth Chase. So they have them, but as far as I know, not a single half-blood uses one. Not even as a backup o... | 16 | Waste of resource. Celestial bronze is extremely rare to the point that using it in for bullets or grenades is wasteful. You can recover and reuse melee weapons and arrows. You can't recover the million fragments of a Celestial bronze bullet or grenade | 13 |
[Constantine] How did John deceive Lucifer first time? | In their talk towards the end Lucifer asked John, "Is it another one of your cons?" It means when John committed suicide as a teenager and went to hell, he somehow conned Lucifer to get out of it and gain life again. Any idea how he did it? | 36 | Constantine sold his soul three times to three of the strongest Demons of Hell. Finding out and knowing that a three way war would weaken the Demons and leave God the actual victor, they decided not to collect Constantine's soul and revived him. | 53 |
Help for job after long pause ? |
Hi,
I really need help in this. I am a housewife living in Canada. I am planning to resume job after a long hiatus ( 8 years ). I did my MCA and worked at least 8 years ago in India as .Net developer, then I came to Canada. Now I want to start job and I know technology has changed a lot and pretty much with kids don’... | 32 | What’s good for you is what you want to do. If cyber security interests you then that is what you should do. Once a programmer, always a programmer. Logic is logic. The only thing that changes is the syntax. | 14 |
I believe that both Feminists and MRAs have valid points, but neither side truly fights for equality.. CMV. | On /r/MensRights, no one ever seems to acknowledge the glass ceiling or prostitution (which I think should be legal to 'clean it up' but right now causes harm to many women). However, on the various feminist sites I've seen, no one seems to acknowledge unequal child custody laws and don't seem to want to give up extra ... | 39 | Depending on who you ask, that's by design.
Some feminists say the fight for equality. Some feminists say they fight for women's rights. These two things are not necessarily the same.
I don't generally hear that the MRM is a force for equality in general in the same way that Feminism claims to be - rather they have... | 24 |
[Wall-E] Why did the humans equip EVE with a gun? | Ok, so EVE was designed with the purpose of retrieving the plant by humans in space. We know this.
It can't be for clearing obstacles, as she has an attack mode that is triggered by slight movement and noise almost instantaneously.
This leads me to ask, what were the humans expecting her to find? Is there things livi... | 54 | B+L was most likely in the automated warfare business as well. Eva tends to shoot at anything that moves, programmed to defend herself from assault robots that are still functioning but with bad or corrupt cores who attack without specified orders. There weren't robots deployed to the area we see in the movie but she n... | 59 |
[Halo] How strong is a Spartan III compared to a Spartan II? | Obviously a spartan II in full Mjolnir is going to be a lot stronger, but how would they compare if they were both unarmored? Are the spartan IIIs worse, or are the augmentations better? | 18 | Spartan IIs and IIIs have roughly equal enhancements. Outside of their armor they’re pretty much on par in terms of raw strength and speed. The differences are primarily that the IIs were all pretty much peak humans even before they were augmented, the IIs have significantly more combat experience, and the IIs in gener... | 22 |
ELI5: Morning Wood [NSFW] | Ok, well maybe like I'm 15 | 55 | The penis can actually get erect several times during a nights sleep, not just on waking. As we go in and out of deep sleep cycles, the brain shuts off several chemicals, one of which prevents erections. The flow of blood to the penis is quite healthy, as increased oxygen flows and so repair is enhanced. It can also o... | 102 |
ELI5: Why are imported chinese products of such low quality and price? | And are they the same in China itself? | 59 | Because you usually don't know its from China when its high quality. If your going to go through the quality assurance process to keep the quality up, your also likely to brand the product and not advertise its Chinese origin. | 51 |
ELI5: What gives something it's taste? Does pyrite taste like table salt because they are both cubes? | 212 | Your tongue is covered with 2 types of taste proteins, receptors and ion channels, each of which have multiple subtypes.
The receptors have a pocket into which only certain molecules can fit, and when the receptor pocket interacts with one of these molecules, it is activated. The activated receptor then sends a signal... | 76 | |
why can cold temps and sugar cause tooth pain? | I know it's somewhat common, to have sensitive teeth (I should probably just go buy some sensodyne..) but I'm curious as to what's actually happening. Why is it that when I eat something like a gummy bear, or drink very very cold drinks, my teeth are in a lot of pain? What kind of reactions are going on that causes thi... | 17 | Your teeth have had their enamel worn down exposing dentin tubules. These little tubules go to inside of the tooth where the nerves are located. Pressure changes due cold water in the tubules can cause pain because of the interaction with the nerves. Not exactly sure why sugar causes pain too unless it has to do with t... | 10 |
ELI5: How do the helmet microphones that a helicopter or small plane pilot uses only pick up voice and not the helicopter engine? | 17 | The use active noise reduction. There are two microphones, one pointed towards the mouth and one pointed away. One picks up speech + noise and the other just picks up noise. Subtract the 2nd signal from the first and you are just left with the speech.
Similar technology is used in telephones, noise cancelling headpho... | 22 | |
ELI5: How the hell plants/weeds can literally push through concrete without any access to the sun? | Seriously, what sort of voodoo is nature pulling? How does photosynthesis even take place which would cause the plants to grow, much less hulk out and push through stuff far more dense. | 25 | Seeds aren't just plant-growing factories, they are also like batteries. Without any light or leaves to photosynthesise it, the plant burns stored chemical energy in the seed, analogous to a starving human burning through their fat reserves. This is also why seeds can be so nourishing for animals to eat. | 22 |
[DC] Many seemingly common occupations of heroes should be outrageously time consuming. How can a fortune 500 CEO be a superhero and have time to sleep and work? | The same could go for many jobs.
Reporters, Police or Military, Government, all of these are 40-80 hour weeks. Where does the time come?
Especially with Heroes like Batman and Green Arrow with no superpowers. | 126 | Batman has sleep deprivation, peak human stamina + mind, and a great manager Lucius Fox.
Green Arrow has a great manager and uses himself as more of a symbol for liberal corporation rather than the actual worker.
Tony Stark is Iron Man, Iron man is Tony Stark 24/7. | 118 |
[Life] Humans are very good at killing other species. Killing an alien in a space station with no weapons is one thing. Doing it on Earth is another. Is mankind doomed or is fighting off Calvin and its soon to be numerous descendants possible? | Calvin is very obviously hostile but does not seem to kill all life on sight, it didn't kill that final astronaut when trapped with him in the pod? Would Calvin destroy the entire biosphere? | 62 | While humans have caused many species to go extinct, it is mostly through over-hunting and habitat destruction. Calvin doesn’t seem to be dependent on any particular habitat and it is better at hunting us than we are at hunting it.
With most of these rapidly growing organisms your best bet is to respond quickly and t... | 28 |
Why do hibernating animals not lose their muscles, when sleeping for longer periods? | Our muscles get cut out after a week of no use/training, but what about hibernating animals who sleep for longer periods? I know that they get their energy from fat storage and lower their temperature and cell activity to reduce energy demand, but do their muscles not need some kind of stimulus to create the reason for... | 16 | Hibernators still tend to lose a good proportion of the protein (4 – 65%, depending on the species... less in bears, more in small hibernators) and strength (~25% over 130 days in bears) in their muscles during hibernation. Animals in fasting and hibernating states will always lose protein from muscles, which are catab... | 20 |
[Warhammer 40K] What was the Imperium doing for 18,000 years? | Even the most pessimistic predictions place the Singularity around 2100, by 10,00 AD the Imperium should have been so far above everything in the galaxy that there was absolutely no threat. Did humanity just sit around for 18,000 years until big wars happened? | 36 | The Warp Drive is actually listed as not being invented until the 18th Millennium, so before that humanity probably traversed the stars in large sub-light colony ships. The Warp Drive signified the start of major human expansion into the galaxy and also the start of the Dark Age Of Technology, which lasted from the 18t... | 24 |
Is it possible to halt a light beam with light? | I was reading about destructive interference, and I suspect that this might give some insight to my question, but I don't know if it totally answers it.
Basically if there are two lasers perpendicular to one another, could one beam act as a wall so that the other does not shine beyond it? If it is possible to do is i... | 80 | Light belongs to a class of particles that do not bounce or recoil off one another, they simply pass right through each other. This may make more sense if you think of light as a wave - waves do not bounce or halt one another. | 27 |
ELI5: What exactly is Freemasonry? What do Freemasons do? | I met someone with the logo on their car the other day, and I also saw a Reddit post detailing a found Freemason badge from WW2. No conspiracy or anything, I’m just interested in what it is. | 18 | It's pretty much a community club for r
people. They've got weird initiations and all, but for the most part; they pretty much sit in a room together and have cake.
If you're part of them though, it can be a great place to find employment as most of the people there are business owners and will throw you a job, that a... | 52 |
[Lovecraft/Meta] Are the great old ones, elder gods, etc. as overpowered as this sub makes them out to be? | I mean, at this point they might as well be completely omnipotent according to this sub. It doesn't matter how powerful or well organized an individual or group of individuals are. They can be powerful enough to destroy a universe like Goku, or capable of waging a war the likes of which early 20th century humans (folks... | 19 | Okay let's explain things. The Universe is inside Yog-Sothoth. Like, mathematically. The universe is a subset of things that are also Yog. Yog is the All-in-One and the One-in-All that defines the sweep of the universe, but is not limited by it.
One calls him and Azathoth co-rulers of the universe, but that is e... | 52 |
Why does python have a reputation for begin good with data? | 32 | Because it is extremely easy to use, setup and people have built tons of libraries and tools that make it easy to operate on datasets without much trouble
I’m sure that if you have used it before you can tell it’s essentially writing pseudocode | 35 | |
[Dawn of the Dead 1978] Is there any way they could have successfully fended off the bikers and retained the mall? | Let's say they knew they were coming, and had prep time. And for the hell of it, let's say Roger is still alive, to even the odds a tad more.
Could they survive the siege and keep the mall? | 17 | Not sure if steering locks were in a thing back then, but without seriously hampering their escape routes they could have positioned the trucks wheels so with steering locks, if going forward they would move into the solid walls of the mall (without enough speed to do any damage), and reversing would be into another tr... | 10 |
[Dark Souls] There's this one annoying undead that keeps barging into my home and attacking me to get my souls. I've killed him multiple times, to no avail. He always comes back. Has anyone had any success with imprisoning pesky undead with no means of self-harm, until they hollow completely? | 20 | Currently, someone's working on a more permanent solution, but they're being thrown into an Asylum to hollow for the meantime.
Report it to a guard and it should be taken there.
Either that, or they'll join Farron's Legion.
In distant lands, they've employed artificial soldiers to continually kill Undead e... | 16 | |
ELI5: If all carbohydrates get broken down to their most simple form, sugar, why is it unhealthy to just eat tablespoons of sugar? | 127 | Most of the dangers come from the glycemic response to these various foods.
Pure sugar with nothing to slow the absorption rate will spike your blood sugar. This causes your pancreas to release Insulin to counteract that spike, which in turn reduces your blood sugar below normal levels, so your body releases glucose i... | 116 | |
What is one thing no told you about programming that you wish you knew earlier? | 35 | Not that you could do much knowing it in advance, no one tells you soft skills are as important as actual programming. Not just for networking and interviews, but for actually doing your job. Very few developers are working with clear and unambiguous requirements written by technical people. Before you can start writin... | 64 | |
How do you reconcile the narrative that “getting by”is much harder nowadays with the data that appears to show real compensation increasing? | 72 | Well, the simple answer is, the narrative is wrong.
But I'd say a plausible explanation is; wealth isn't always obvious.
Consider what you'd consider average, relatively basic equipment for an apartment. Washing machine, fridge, oven, microwave, TV, laptop, and people also own cars, smartphones, etc. A lot of those t... | 85 | |
ELI5: How is it possible to teach a person who is blind and deaf? | 368 | I'll stick your hand in water, and sign the word "water" into your hand. You'll eventually associate it. That is basically how it works. You slowly build up. You are presented something, and you are given the sign for it. Very similarly to how we learn to speak- we are presented something and given the word for it. Eve... | 235 | |
Can insects/spiders get obese? | 6,571 | Arachnid keeper here! As far as arachnids go they can become obese from being overfed in captivity. You are very unlikely to find an obese arachnid in the wild as most arachnids are opportunistic feeders which means a meal is whatever comes their way at the time. It could be days, weeks or even months between their mea... | 6,983 | |
Do caves / cavern systems exist on Mars? If they do, how deep would we have to go to be in an area that is warm enough to support life? | 53 | There are believed to be lava tubes (pyroduct) on Mars similar to the Moon and even our own plant Earth. Little is known about how deep they can go. But we do know of their existence and we believe they are our best chance of survival in the harsh conditions outside of our atmosphere. | 37 | |
CMV: Every man demanding anal sex from a woman should try it himself first | First off, I'm a heterosexual guy. This post is not about condemning anal sex, I myself take a lot of pleasure from it. But being engaged in the topic for quite some time, I've learned that it's more than a tempting taboo thing, but rather a very intimate act, requiring lots of trust, sympathy, and patience.
Now, not ... | 44 | Who is "demanding" Anal sex? If you are demanding anything then get the fuck out.
Now asking is a different think. You don't need to want a cock up your butt to want to fuck a butt.
Another thing. It's an assumption to say all ass's are the same. Some are tighter. | 28 |
ELI5: Why is it so much easier to stay in a bad mood than a good one? | 20 | A mild bad mood (not anything like clinical depression) is a survival response to an unfamiliar or challenging situation. Our body is telling us to be alert, be on guard, and be attentive.
A mild good mood (that isn't clinical mania) is a signal that we are in a familiar and comfortable situation. We don't have to s... | 18 | |
ELI5: Why is it easier to dwell on upsetting moments rather than happy moments? | 17 | Memories get bound more strongly the stronger the emotion that accompanies that memory.
Oftentimes, happiness is simply the absence of negative emotions. Yes, sometimes you feel ecstatically, exuberantly joyous. But most happy memories are the moments where nothing in particular is stressing you out, and you are calm... | 10 | |
ELI5: How do chia seeds jellify liquid? | Everywhere I read about chia seeds absorbing liquid but they don't, they stay the same size and the liquid around them become like gel/jelly. What is happening? | 89 | The ELI5 answer s - The seeds have a shell on them that, when exposed to water, turns to a gel and absorbs the water. The benefit of this is that the gel keeps water in contact with the seeds, instead of running off, so it has "fuel" to germinate and become a chia plant. (Also allows it to stick to terra cotta for chi... | 31 |
CMV: I vote Democrat in Federal elections and Republican in State and Local elections | On most issues, I lean to the left. I think sexual orientation should be a protected status on the Federal level. I hated GWB's cowboy diplomacy and prefer Obama's diplomatic views (see Iranian nuclear deal). I think Republicans are batshit insane these days and I would be embarassed to have one represent America on a ... | 19 | Are you sure they're actually lowing your taxes? Look at Kansas, where Brownback has thoroughly slashed corporate and income taxes but raised sales and sin taxes. The state is circling the drain because of stupid Republican fiscal policies. You have to be extremely wealthy to benefit more from tax cuts than you lose in... | 23 |
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