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ELI5: How do we know that languages like Sanskrit and most the European languages are descended from the same language but languages like Basque we know are completely unrelated to any known language? | 65 | We can compare the words for different things in different languages. If the words are almost the same then it is likely that the languages are very closely related. For example Spanish and Portuguese share a lot of words and grammar. The less similar they are the longer back they separated. For example Spanish and Fre... | 33 | |
Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology | Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on **Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology**
Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big o... | 287 | [Neuroscience]
It’s said that, when you go though some trauma (I’m thinking about ptsd) your brain is physically damaged in the process. How can that happen? How does that actually happen? (So what is damaged and how)
Thanks! | 23 |
ELI5: Why do stores like Walmart or Meijer have 25 registers yet only keep 2 open? | 32 | It doesn't cost much to install registers. It does cost a lot to pay people to stand next to them. Most stores have software that predicts how many customers they'll have that day & thus the absolute minimum number of employees they need. Sometimes they'll underestimate (and often managers are encouraged to staff a... | 40 | |
National grid: When demand outstrips supply, why does the frequency drop rather than the voltage/current? | I’ve heard that in the UK when there are massive demands for power (or a generator goes offline) the mains frequency dips, why isn’t it the voltage or the current that decreases?
Thanks | 15 | Two things:
1) frequency of mains current is set by the frequency of turbines spinning in generators connected to the grid.
2) generator turbines receive a "back emf", a force resisting their motion proportional to the load in the circuit.
When one generator goes offline the load on the others increases. This slows ... | 26 |
ELI5: How can the SCOTUS rule that healthcare laws put too much pressure on states to comply when it was ok to use federal highway funding to pressure states into adopting the national speed limit and drinking age? | There was a 2012 ruling in healthcare where the SCOTUS said fed put too much pressure on states. Now, today, they're discussing this idea with the Affordable Care Act and the fed withholding tax credits for compliance. This idea sounds ridiculous to me in light of all the federal laws passed by holding money hostage fr... | 35 | In *South Dakota v. Dole*, South Dakota challenged the federal government's conditioning of highway funds on states raising the drinking age to 21. South Dakota wanted to continue to let 19-year-olds drink and receive federal money. The Court held that the government can condition policy changes on funds provided that ... | 23 |
If the Moon was orbiting the Sun instead of the Earth, would it be classified as a planet or a dwarf planet ? | 25 | If it was orbiting amongst a collection of similarly sized bodied and didn't have enough mass to gravitationally affect them and toss them out of that orbit, then it would be classified as a dwarf planet. Like Pluto and Charon cannot clear out their orbit of other Kuiper Belt objects. Yes, it's a dodgy definition, but ... | 28 | |
What are the differences between Nietzsche’s Will to Power and Schopenhauer’s Will to Life? | I know Nietzsche took many of Schopenhauer’s pessimistic ideas and transformed them to be more life affirming, but how does the Will to Power differentiate from Schopenhauer? Schopenhauer writes a lot about how humans can never be satisfied and that life is a pendulum between pain and boredom, so does Nietzsche comment... | 30 | Schopenhauer's Will is to be suppressed and eliminated, since it is the origin of all suffering. On the other hand, Nietzsche's Will is to grow and have its influence on the subject's life, since it is the only way he can live an authentic life. | 10 |
[D&D] Why does the skill, "use magic item" require the charisma stat modifier? | 24 | Charisma represents force of personality and innate aptitude for magic in D&D (and a few other seemingly unrelated things. Its a bit of a grab bag stat). It's the same reason why sorcerers and bards use their charisma bonus for spellcasting. | 37 | |
(General) Why would someone invade a planet already settled? | Why would we invade a planet? If it's settled then all you would need to do is establish a blockade and make any ship coming off planet pay a tax and if it doesn't it's boarded and taken or just blown up.
The argument against is that it's really hard to have that many ships surrounding one planet, let alone multiple s... | 15 | Well for the reasons you listed (and genocide doesn't always fall under religion).
If you don't need the tax money then a blockade is pointless. Maybe the native population doesn't even have taxable space flight (earth). Could be territorial and we're too close to their home or political and were made out to be a thr... | 11 |
ELI5: Why does room temperature water feel cold (in your mouth) after chewing minty gum? | 38 | You're triggering cold-sensing nerves.
When you drink water, you're washing other chemicals off of those cold-sensing nerves, and the menthol remaining in your mouth snags right onto them and sets them off. (You get similar effects when you drink water after eating other foods, like artichokes.)
It doesn't actually... | 22 | |
Is long-run economic growth going to be higher after the corona crisis? | I recently got into economics and while studying the Solow model, the main conclusion I got is to maintain economic growth technological progress is required. As far as I know, this crisis has led to increasing technological advances.
In so a question has been bothering me, after we reach steady-state, would the econ... | 60 | Could you elaborate?
The assumption that technology creates most long-term economic growth relies on the assumption that all tech is some kind of efficiency or quality improvenent. The COVID vaccine and policies might not have a long-term effect if they are only used to solve one crisis (although getting out of the c... | 21 |
[Star Wars] Are droids conscious and enslaved? | 68 | Pretty much, yeah. Can't even make the argument "but you can't reprogram a person like you can a droid, thus they aren't actually sapient" when the Jedi Mind Trick is a known phenomenon in this universe. Have little doubt it depends on the sophistication of the AI - can't imagine what cruel bastard would make a roomba ... | 90 | |
[META] With all due respect, what has happened to this subreddit? | I mean no disrespect at all, I used to really value and enjoy the discussions that went on in this sub but as of recently it seems that Rule 1 and Rule 3 are being broken constantly and nothing is being done about it anymore.
In the past, I would take the time to report inappropriate comments and posts (whilst trying... | 55 | Just needs more active modding. A sub like this is prone to become overrun with people asking for diagnostic impressions, and as long as that's happening, laypeople are going to weigh in with what they read on wikipedia or heard in their undergrad classes. It just needs to be modded out. | 24 |
[Star Wars] What if Luke Skywalker would have turned to the dark side when Vader revealed himself as Luke's father? | Vader says that they can end the war, overthrow emperor Palpatine, and rule the galaxy as father and son. Would this have happened? Or would there have been a different outcome? | 18 | Luke was incredibly strong in the Force, as was Vader to a more limited extent. With some secret training a la Starkiller, it's feasible that they could have united and overthrown the Emperor (breaking the Rule of Two), though Vader might die in the process due to his vulnerability to Sidious' lightning. Then, the Rebe... | 19 |
[Resident Evil 1996; 2002] Why is S.T.A.R.S uniform policy so lax? | Seems like ever member just wears whatever they want on each mission. Why does the Racoon City Police Department not have a policy regarding the uniforms of their elite force? | 44 | Same reason US Special Forces have a lax uniform policy. At that level, it is assumed that you know best what the mission requires, clothes and grooming standards both. US Special Forces regularly grow beards because it helps them integrate with local culture that they work closely with, furthermore from a tactical per... | 68 |
ELI5: What happens when holding back a sneeze? | 51 | The neurons that are triggering a sneeze reflex (mostly nose hairs) are trying to set off a huge sneeze. You are attempting to use different muscle groups to suppress it. Heard once that it is dangerous cause you could rupture a blood vessel doing so. | 12 | |
[Dungeons and Dragons] Many of the greatest villains have believed that their actions were just. So, how does that effect their alignment? If a person does evil things, but with good intentions, are they good or evil? | As an example, from our perspective, ISIS seems chaotic evil. But, they believe they're fighting to create a better world. So, does that mean they're actually lawful good?
Really, very few people view themselves as evil. Most everyone thinks they're a good person. So, how does alignment get applied to bad people... | 35 | Alignment only work in multiverses in which there is an absolute definition for the extremes.
If, in yours, the definitions of good and evil are subjective, alignment must also be, which means that someone believing they are doing good will be good in their reference system, but not necessarily in yours. | 34 |
I can't help but dislike rich kids for no reason other than the fact they are well-off. CMV. | I have a roommate who is pretty wealthy. He embodies the rich white boy stereotypes (pretty much a fratbro), which is almost funny because of how stereotypical it is. With that being said, he has treated me with nothing but respect and kindness thus far. Not only that, he's quite considerate, if I'm napping and he has ... | 24 | > However, wouldn't everyone be jealous of a guy who has everything handed to him in life?
And a billion people in the world are thinking about the same thing about you and your lifestyle. Do you think you are deserving of their dislike?
| 73 |
Whats going on with the euro?? | 268 | The Euro is a shared currency. Basically, a bunch of countries all use the Euro as their currency. This means that when these countries borrow money, they borrow Euros, and repay it in Euros. Now, a bit about the value of money - it's all based on how much there is in the market, and how much people want that money. Th... | 303 | |
[Mario Kart] Since when they start allowing babies to drive? | 18 | These are closed course races held in the Mushroom Kingdom where the Princess is one of the racers. Anything goes. Also the races are actually remarkably safe. Even after high speed crashes no one is ever injured or even damaged enough to stop racing. | 23 | |
[Mystery Dungeon] Where did Mewtwo come from? | If humans don't exist/are extinct in this world, where did Mewtwo come from?
Mind you, Super Mystery Dungeon explicitly states that the main characters came from the world of humans. While I may be taking it a bit literally, does that mean that this is a separate universe with no humans? | 25 | World of humans may mean that it is just a world that primarily has humans. After all, there was a human natively in an offshoot future timeline...
Also, the humans seem to know about what the pokemon are... perhaps Mewtwo could have also come from the human world? | 10 |
[astronomy] If the universe expanded at the same rate during the Big Bang why are there areas of high mass density( galaxies) and areas of low mass densities? | 25 | That is actually a great question, but very hard to answer. It touches on many different parts of cosmology and there is still a lot of debate around this.
One part is basically the question of initial conditions. What did the universe look like at the beginning? And why? Answering this involves topics like: string th... | 16 | |
How important is it to publish as sole author or without PhD supervisor as co-author after finishing a PhD? | Hi, so I recently finished my PhD and have been told by several people now that I should now think about publishing as sole author or without my PhD supervisor as some Post-Doc applications have such a requirement.
There are two opportunities for me to publish data which my supervisor was not a part of (not the PI of... | 40 | If you're in STE, don't do this unless it's 100 % your own work. As you said, most research is collaborative, and if other people had a part in it, it would be a severe violation of publishing ethics.
If you look around the literature, you'll notice that sole-author papers these days are in most cases not research pap... | 58 |
[Marvel] Do characters who are always fully armored like Dr. Doom have to completely remove their armor any time they need to use the restroom, bathe, or sleep? | 35 | DOOM is beyond petty things like using the restroom.
Really though, he likely just has a system in place to recycle or expel waste. With him, it could be tech or magic. Hell, maybe he really has done some kind of magic on himself so he doesn't need to go. | 42 | |
[Star Wars] What is the criteria for a weak minded individual who can be manipulated by the force? | 16 | Basically anyone that isn't feeling any strong emotion or feelings towards whatever you're trying to do. A more skilled force user can implant an idea into a person's mind or even dominate their will but the basic mind trick isn't going to be too effective on most people. Someone just going through their day as fast as... | 20 | |
ELI5: Why does the key of a song playing on a set earphones change when the earphones are at some distance from the ears? | I was listening to a playlist on my earphones and after a while I dropped them not too far from my ears. I could still hear them but it sounded like the key had changed. Same thing happened when I put them back on, key returned to normal. Whats the cause of this? | 24 | Higher frequencies get dampened harder over the same distance.
Additionally, you can only hear sound thats at least a certain loudness.
Headphones are low-power speakers and if you increase the distance high frequencies seem do drop out because the fall under that threshold.
The last thing to disappear if you inc... | 12 |
[Superman]How does he work out? Also, what's stopping him from putting on the pounds? | If he's so strong, then how does he build muscle? I feel like nothing will ever be heavy enough to give him a workout.
Also, if he doesn't need to expend energy like a normal human does (working out, walking, running, etc.), then why doesn't he get fat?
Can he get fat? | 56 | Remember: Superman *does* expend energy to move and use his powers; otherwise he would violate the basic laws of physics. But he has an enormous stockpile of yellow-sun energy stored in his cells, from the photonucleic properties of his Krypton physiology. Expending this energy doesn't make him tired or sore, as it d... | 55 |
Can somebody explain version control to me, the difference between push and commit and the other things about it, I'm having trouble picturing how it works? | 60 | It depends on which version control your using / plan on using but simply for git:
* Pull, take the changes from the remote machine into your machine.
* Commit, the changes you've made making a save point on your local machine.
* Push, put one or more commits onto the remote machine.
* Pull request, request that your ... | 47 | |
Is it true that mosquitos and fleas like the taste of some people better than others? | 106 | It's not taste so much as smell. Mosquitos are attracted to the CO2 we emit, but also more attracted to some people than others. Exactly why this is the case is still being studied, but genetics and lifestyle are likely part of it, as is determines the exact composition of your sweat and body oils. Everyone is slightly... | 75 | |
[Star Wars] What happened to force sensitive storm troopers? | If a storm trooper trained from a young age began showing signs of being force sensitive what would the empire or first order do with them? | 50 | With the Empire, there are standing orders to look out for potential force-sensitives, who are brought to the attention of the Inquisitors.
They may be recruited and trained as Inquisitors themselves - or simply disappear. | 61 |
[John Wick 3] What does it take to be an IT specialist for the High Table? | Based on the offices we've seen, here are some of the technologies that need to be interconnected:
* iMacs
* iPhones
* Flip phones
* 1980's-era terminals
* Typewriters
* Carrier pigeons, perhaps using the [IP over Avian Carriers protocol](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149)
Is there a bootcamp I can attend to prepar... | 36 | The carrier pigeons are the Bowery King's intranet, so you can let his people take care of that translation.
The typewriters seemed to be for internal records in the central office, which is inefficient (but very secure) - but, again, not part of the actual communications network; the clerks will enter everything sepa... | 28 |
[King Kong (1933)] What was the theater show going to be about if King Kong hadn't escaped? | So end of the movie King Kong escapes and does his iconic scene on top of the Empire State Building, but what would have happened if he hadn't escaped? People paid $20 (almost $400 today) to see Carl Denham's show. [This is what we see before King Kong escapes.](https://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.42483013.158345484... | 84 | Isn't it implied that they brought camera equipment to Skull island? (I know it's explicit in the 2005 remake but don't remember about the original) It's possible that the plan was to show some of that footage.
Although, honestly, if King Kong was real people would definitely shell out 400 dollars to be among the firs... | 57 |
[VtM] What is the smallest herd a Vampire could live off without killing them? | Under Vampire: The Masquerade rules, a Kindred must expend one blood point (defined as a pint or half a liter, iirc, feel free to correct me if that's wrong) to awaken every night, and further points to use his/her vampiric powers (Usually 1 point per use). Vampires in this setting can also feed without killing their v... | 67 | A safe ballpark figure for "humans" is about 5000ml of blood total. After a single point loss of around 2000ml you're looking at life threateningly low pressure and will generally be incapable of doing much of anything for yourself. A healthy adult human with plenty can sustain 500ish ml of replenishment of all the var... | 39 |
CMV: No pandemic has been as politically polarizing in American history as COVID-19. | Things are getting better for a lot of America right now...
In my own state number of new cases found and percent of people found positive have both dropped like a stone.
But when I see stuff like this...
[https://www.businessinsider.com/white-republicans-more-likely-to-reject-covid-19-vaccine-2021-3](https:... | 16 | The HIV/AIDS pandemic was probably more polarizing in some ways and less in others. After all, there's never been a huge stigma against people who have/had COVID or a large group of people saying COVID is a good thing because it means God is punishing "degenerates." It also took way less time to get the political and e... | 26 |
ELI5: Why are/were Dalmatians fire dogs? | 16 | Dalmatians got along well with the horses that pulled the old fire carriages that were common before the advent of the modern fire engine. They would apparently keep other animals away from the horses and even keep the horses calm once they approached the fire. Also, they learned to recognized the fire bells and would ... | 10 | |
ELI5 Why batteries (cameras,power banks, cells, etc) are not allowed in luggage bags in airport but are allowed in carry bag.? | 652 | These items contain batteries which store a lot of energy. If there is a short circuit they can generate a lot of heat starting a fire. In a cabin with lots of people these fires could quickly be extinguished or at least contained until the airplane lands. However if the fire breaks out in the cargo compartment it migh... | 918 | |
CMV: The US/world is headed in a direction that leaves young adults/teens hopeless. | Maybe it’s the media, from Reddit to cable news, but it seems like a lot of young adults like myself, and younger teens, are distraught and hopeless. Housing, jobs, government, climate, etc. we all know the “tone” for the future based on the present narrative. It’s bleak. Or seems so.
I’d love for someone to offer ne... | 916 | Did you know that you're less likely to be murdered now than at any time previously in history?
Yup, taken as an aggregate and normalized on a per capita basis, even a couple of world wars doesn't equal the violence of endemic warfare, slavery, and vigilante justice prevalent in previous centuries.
This little factoi... | 237 |
ELI5:How were (pre)renaissance scientiests paid for working on seemingly non-pragmatic ideas such as the motions of the planets etc.? | It seems like some scientists weren't set out to solve problems such as why does this wine turn sour, but many seemed to just be trying to find out more about what the hell is going on, however how did that bring an income for them to fund their experiments & time doing mathematics and scientific method? | 25 | Because then as now, some people were curious and wanted to know the truth. Including powerful and wealthy people. A king or queen interested in astronomy or astrology or alchemy would take a learned man under their wing and provide him with a place to live, a salary, and means to perform their experiments.
In some ca... | 23 |
[Batman] Whats the deal with the Ventriloquist's dummy Scarface? is Scarface a split personality? Is he really a cursed demon doll forcing an innocent man to commit heinous acts like Wesker says. Is Wesker actually faking it and is really in control but pretends to be nuts to gain a lighter sentance | There's also the in between that Wesker IS in control but doesn't realize it because he uses Scarface as an outlet to convince himself he isn't in control. But I'm not really certain what his deal is all together! | 83 | Funnily enough, Wesker has a split personality but it's something entirely separate and Scarface is indeed a possessed doll. The dummy has been passed on to other people (and in fact did not start with Wesker) and it keeps it's personality and memories. | 75 |
[Amazing Spider-Man 2] Why does Spider-Man take his sweet time with stopping the plutonium heist? Every second he spends cracking jokes and not stopping the truck just further endangers innocent people and allows more property damage to occur! | 104 | The jokes are a part of his thought process. They help him adapt on his feet. He doesn't have Mission Control on the radio; he has to figure things out himself. The jokes are his way of coming to terms with his situation.
There are plenty of times when he responds wordlessly in a split-second when things are *really* ... | 63 | |
Can electrical breakdown, such as lightning or electric arc, be considered as quantum tunneling effect? | 20 | No arcing is cause by the potential (voltage) increasing to the point that the permittivity of air can no longer insulate it. Once the arc is struck the air around the arc is physically different. Quantum tunneling has a signature aspect of negative resistance. Voltage increases and current actually drops. | 13 | |
Will NSF let me use student funds for summer salary during a no cost extension? | I won't be able to use all the remaining funds on my CAREER award before it expires in 1.25 years, so I'll need to request a no cost extension. The problem is that most of my remaining funds are for grad student support, but it's not nearly enough to hire a new student. Are they likely to let me use the remaining money... | 61 | Yes. The NSF doesn’t track (or care) how you spend your grant funds as long as it is more or less on the work you proposed to do. This isn’t something you even have to request approval for. You can just do it.
Edit: You need to request the NCTE. You do not need to request the use of the funds for summer salary instead... | 49 |
[Harry Potter] Do wizards have to get real-life skills or jobs after going to Hoggwarts or do they just live in the wizard world forever? | Setting up my young kids to play Lego Harry Potter and seeing the the game broken up into Year 1-4 and 5-7 made me realize the kids in Harry Potter spend a shitload of their lives at Hoggwarts. Once they graduate from Wizarding School... then what? Do they go on to become lawyers and doctors and accountants and graphic... | 18 | It is answered in the books. Hogwarts graduates get professions within the wizarding community.
With some notable exceptions, they essentially live their entire lives in a secret parallel society from Muggles, having little to no interaction with anybody who is not in the magical community. | 52 |
[Batman] When Bruce calls villains by their real names, like Crane, Felicia, Victor, Garfield, etc. is that a sign of respect, or a psychological tactic to dismiss their reputation by refusing to use their title? | 636 | It's more him trying to pull them out of their personas. When Crane puts on his mask he isn't Crane anymore, he's the Scarecrow.
Batman off all people knows how powerful this can be and tries to appeal to their humanity whenever possible. | 716 | |
How does a language handle an array "pointerwise"? | I know that variables in higher languages, for example python, just point to specific places in the storage (to be accurate its just a reference but I think I know that the code "behind" variables work with pointers). What is an array? Is it just a bunch of auto-generated variables numerated? And those variables "point... | 23 | In C the way it works is that when you declare an array, you specify its size and the type of the values the array will hold. When you store this array in a variable, you are actually storing the address of the first element of the array. Let's say that the address is 10 and let's say the array contains 4 byte ints. Th... | 23 |
CMV:Curving grades is a poor teaching practice that lowers the overall quality of an education. | Curving grades is a popular teaching technique because it makes both the students and the teachers look better, which is seemingly a win win. But at the end of the day, curving a grade is giving a student credit for knowing things that they do not know. Establishing a curve simply lowers the standards of performance, w... | 40 | > There is no such thing as a curve in the real world,
Relative performance in the real world is huge. You just need to be the best looking person in the club. You just need to be the best worker in your company. You just need to be the best player on the court. etc.
Since its huge in the real world, it is a go... | 59 |
ELI5: Why did older video games use checkpoints or locations to have to save your game instead of an options menu button like is most common now? | more like why technically, was it limited by the systems or etc... | 32 | I did some reading on this and it seems that the method of saving really depends on the developer, and less about technology. Not to say there were technological constraints, of course.
Games use to be cartridge based, so saves had to be as predetermined points because all of the information was on the cartridge itsel... | 21 |
How does silver kill germs/ sterilize stuff when other metals do not? | 22 | It's called the Oligodynamic effect. Silver binds to thiol groups on enzymes and denatures those enzymes, forming sulfides.
There's no special explanation for this. A lot of metals are toxic in high doses. Silver happens to be especially reactive with bacterial amino acids. | 22 | |
I believe that giving food to starving nations during a famine only worsens the problem in the long run. CMV. | The argument is basically this: say during a famine, in a certain area, 100 children are saved by foreign aid. Those 100 children will grow up, and have an average of 2-3 children each. This will cause a population surge and, with too many people to feed, the area will go into famine again, inciting more foreign aid.... | 33 | Famines do not happen because there are too many people to feed. Famines happen when you have a combination of overreliance on a single crop, inadequate government welfare, and random bad weather. Overpopulation just doesn't have anything to do with it. | 26 |
ELI5: What is the difference between forward and reverse osmosis? | I see "reverse osmosis water" on a lot of products these days and I'm curious how reverse osmosis is different. | 261 | In osmosis, water travels through a membrane from a low-concentration (i.e. less dissolved solids) mixture to a high-concentration mixture until the concentration on both sides is the same.
This happens spontaneously and can be quite dramatic if one side is extremely highly concentrated. This is why drinking salt wat... | 131 |
ELI5: Why are prices in stores like Costco and Sam's Club much cheaper than your average grocery store? | 227 | They don't sell just anything, you will notice that while the core offerings are fairly consistent, the overall items they sell changes throughout the year. They are spot buying what they can get at a large discount.
Because they offer far less "choice" than a regular store, they will buy significantly larger lots of... | 432 | |
Does the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, create any gravitational distortion while running? | 82 | No. The mass of the beams is about 7x10^-13 kg (2 x 1.5x10^11 proton/bunch x (1.67x10^-27 kg) x 1380 bunches) and it's uniformly distributed around the ring. Even if you account for the protons having 4 TeV of energy instead of 1 GeV for its rest mass, that's only an extra factor of 10^3.
| 23 | |
Eli5 What is Plasma? | I can't grasp the concept of it. And why and how is harnessing it from our bodies help cure diseases? | 21 | Since you tagged the post as "Physics", i think the issue is you are mixing up *plasma*, as the state of matter, and *blood plasma*, as in blood which have been centrifuged to remove the blood cells.
The latter is often abberviated to plasma, which causes much confusion. | 50 |
Does the existence of a stereotype make a stereotyped person more likely to do the action of the stereotype? | than | 58 | Check out the wikipedia about Stereotype Threat. It will lead you to a lot of sources, but the general consensus is that exposure to the stereotype makes people more likely to comply with the stereotype.
Most of these studies, however, deal with a lack of performance (eg, performing more poorly at a game of chess) rat... | 24 |
[The Martian] Was there any opposition to putting in billions, if not trillions, into multiple attempts to rescue just one person? | 110 | Nobody who mattered, and nothing that made a big enough splash to get national coverage.
Sure, there were plenty of people posting to Facebook and other social media that it was a waste of money to rescue one man from Mars when there are billions of dollars worth of problems that still need solving on Earth, but from ... | 132 | |
CMV: I think the ending of the Watchmen movie was better than the ending of the comic. | *Spoiler alert*
If you haven't watched the movie and read the comic, this is quite a major spoiler, and since they are both good, go enjoy both of them and come back to prove me wrong.
In the comic, as you know, a giant squid comes out of nowhere and destroys New York. That's framed as some kind of alien invasion and... | 68 | >When it comes for the story, it basically comes out of nowhere, out of theme, out of message out of character, everything.
That's kind of the point though. Veidt's intentions are to unite the world. The idea of the squid is that the world needs to band together to be able to fight any unforeseen enemy. The squid i... | 37 |
ELI5: Why were pants mainly for men and skirts for women back in the olden days? | Wouldn't skirts be better for males because of our genitalia? Wouldn't pants be better for females because of their genitalia? | 195 | First off, many cultures around the world don't have this distinction - men and women in skirts is normal and they wouldn't understand the fuss. For the western world, trousers came about for practical reasons - they're easier to ride horses with is a big one. Women have kept skirts and dresses as western attitudes on ... | 125 |
ELI5: why are prices always a cent cut short? Like "5.99" "299.99"? | 15 | Two reasons. 1) people don't really pay attention to the cents so if the dollar is lower the price looks significantly lower.
2) cents are used as code in store so x.99=full price, x.98=on sale, x.95 = clearance. | 13 | |
ELI5: How does a radio station determine the popularity of their shows? | Obviously they'd need stats to know whether a specific talk show/ dj is getting a lot of viewers to let advertisers know that it's worth paying to put an ad on their station. Can they tell, like television, how many "listeners" there are? I doubt it because they just send out a signal that other devices pick up. Do the... | 19 | There are "consumer research companies" specializing in studying this issue for radio stations and other media companies. These consumer research companies, such as Nielson, do large surveys to determine what people are listening to, watching, and reading. They've benefitted enormously from the refining of "scientific"... | 10 |
ELI5: Do hand sanitizers really kill 99.99% of germs? How can they prove that's true? | 8,062 | ELI5 answer: they use the product on a surface covered in bacteria, fewer than 1 in 10,000 cells remain. Therefore they can say it's 99.99% effective. Simple as that.
Longer answer:
First it's important to note that "kills 99.99% of bacteria" doesn't mean that it kills all of 99.99% of known bacterial species, or any... | 4,706 | |
If you lay or sit in a position that causes a limb to "go to sleep," would you then be able to amputate that limb painlessly? | 140 | Extremely unlikely. Parasthesia is usually caused by reduced circulation; reducing circulation enough to inhibit nerve responses would cause both tissue damage and significant pain of its own accord. | 14 | |
ELI5, how will the two spending bills (totaling $5 Trillion) not create hyperinflation? | 51 | Hyper inflation is a lot, like 50% or more like everyday. Where normal is like 2% a year. If we had hyper inflation meat would cost $5 a lb one day and like $7.5 the next and then $10 the next day after that. We won't have that. The central bank would clamp down hard on lending and try and pull back in a lot of the mon... | 88 | |
[LoTR] Could Sauron have taken a different approach and rather than put all his eggs in one basket instead split his power between several rings of equal power, or even held back a minor portion for himself? How might things have gone differently if he had gone in this direction? | 37 | He likely wouldn't have been able to corrupt people like he did if the Ring wasn't as powerful. Remember, the ring was designed to try and bend even the elves to his will.
Granted it failed, but it was a risk he was willing to take. | 34 | |
ELI5: When you become partner at a corporation, why must you "buy-in" and what happens with your money? | 22 | You cannot become a partner at a corporation; you can become a partner at a partnership (sometimes called a "firm") or you can become a shareholder of a corporation.
In both cases, the money you contribute becomes the property of the company, and can be used however the managers of the company wish to use it. Since yo... | 12 | |
ELI5: How do hydrographics work? | I've seen lots of videos of people dipping various objects in water with some sort of design, like army helmets in camo, and the object comes out with an awesome print on it but nothing in their arms or anything. How do the designs transfer from the water to the object so perfectly? | 1,497 | It's the same process as painting anything. You need to prepare the surface for adhesion between the print and the surface. You actually have to lay down a basecoat color before dipping. You lay the pring on the dipping tank, spray with an activator, slowly dip the object into the tank, swirl around and take it out. On... | 296 |
Existentialism in the contemporary times. |
Do you think existentialism would hold up with the recent advancements in neuroscience and physics?
I.E. Does the freedom of choice (or lack thereof) dictate the existentialist movement in the recent times? Or do Existentialists ignore the mechanisms of the brain and carry out their lives according to "Existence pre... | 51 | I don't think recent advancements in neuroscience and physics in general - is there some in particular you have in mind? - would pose much of any problem for existentialism.
On the contrary to what a lot of people who haven't read much existentialist philosophy seem to assume about it, existentialism doesn't postulat... | 47 |
CMV: If the right was being honest about wanting to stem the flow of illegal immigration, there is a very simple solution. Go after the people who benefit from their labor by seizing their assets. | 316 | I've seen a lot of people on the right propose that we fine employers that hire illegal/undocumented workers. Not all on the right oppose these measures.
It should be noted that not all the right are even anti-immigrant. Take the Wall Street Journal for example. They frequently take a pro-immigration stance on their e... | 44 | |
ELI5: How is buying a textbook, starting a Meetup group, and chipping in for a professor to stop by every week for a few hours is different than paying $40k a year to attend grad school? | 16 | Accreditation. If you go through a proper university course, there are standards in place to make sure you've been taught certain information, and having a degree reflects that. Plus, when you attend a university, you're also paying for access to a lot of the facilities. | 34 | |
ELI5: Why do some people get car sick, even if they are looking at the road while they are moving? And why is it more likely while you are on a hill or mountain? | 17 | Car sickness generally comes as a result of your vestibular system sensing motion that does not agree with what your brain expects.
The vestibular system is essentially the system your body uses to sense normal movement. Your inner ear and other nervous system functions work together to let your brain figure out if... | 11 | |
ELI5: How come a Liger is larger on average than both a Lion and a Tiger despite being the product of them mating? | 56 | It's a genetics thing. Male lions have a gene that stimulates growth. Female lions have one that mitigates growth. Put them together and you get a normal sized lion.
However, female tigers don't have the same "Whoa, stop growing now" gene, so when a male lion and a female tiger mate, it produces offspring that just gr... | 59 | |
ELI5 why sunsets have orange, red and purple, while purple is on the complete other end of the spectrum | 194 | The purple is from blue scattered off particles in the upper atmosphere mixing with the normal reds and yellows. The red and yellow are due to the fact that the path of sunlight through the atmosphere is much longer at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere scatters blue-er light more than red and yellow. | 70 | |
Lisp Programmers: Is there actual use of Lisp in industry? How do you use it at your work? How do you overcome the "Lisp quirks"? | Hi all
I'm mainly a Python programmer but also know a little C. After diving a bit into Scheme (a dialect of Lisp), I found that:
- the monotone syntax are source of a lot of bugs and confusion (like parentheses, quoting, knowing what expression is evaluated, etc)
- the almost typeless design makes introducing type mi... | 28 | I have this weird friend of a friend who got an internship in a company that does exclusively Lisp, despite never having used it before, and this company is actually profitable to the point it is basically printing money. | 16 |
ELI5: The plot of the Starcraft Series | 25 | Backstory
A long, long time ago, an ancient race called the Xel'Naga decide to create the perfect species, with both "Purity of Form" and "Purity of Essence."
First they find and uplift the tribal Protoss, who have psychic abilities and Purity of Form, but not Purity of Essence. The Protoss worship the Xel'Naga as g... | 39 | |
[ATLA] Could Toph have learned to read/write by having the words written in sand? | Mild spoilers for the last(?) season(Not suuuuper important spoilers, but it's a neat scene that I'd rather not spoil too heavily):
​
>!Toph is at the beach, and using sand bending, creates a sand version of Ba Sing Se. !<
&#x200B;
Idk how to avoid this tiny spoiler, but the TL:DR is that Toph ... | 54 | I suppose so, but one could also gain the same results from scratching letters on a rock, inscribing them on a clay tablet, or embossing them on a metal sheet. With an earthbender as strong as Toph, she might even be able to sense the letters written on a piece of paper with iron gall ink or lead paint. | 44 |
ELI5: What are NASDAQ and Dowjones | Are they corporations or what? Every day on the local news they talk about those two and I'm not sure what their significance is. | 125 | NASDAQ is a market where stocks are sold. A stock is essentially a share of a company: if you own a stock in, say, Apple, it means you own a part of Apple, and are entitled to a percentage of their profits, depending on the percentage of total stock that you own.
Stocks are sold on different markets around the world. ... | 91 |
ELI5: What actually is that static or buzzing "noise" you hear when wearing earplugs or in a very quiet environment? | 20 | It's difficult to know exactly what buzzing noise you're referring to, but here are three potential answers.
1.) Electricity. When in your living room with nobody talking and no programming on, there are still lights, or computers, or some electronics plugged in. In North America electricity hums at 60 hertz, and i... | 11 | |
ELI5: How can a fighter jet force a (kidnapped) airliner to land? | Threaten to shoot it down? That wouldn't be very wise. | 33 | Wise compared to what?
It's definitely better to kill everyone on the plane than let the plane be used as a missile and kill everyone on the plane and everyone in a 100 story building.
300 deaths is better than 3000 deaths.... | 46 |
ELI5: Are Forensic Pathologists able to know if a person's body was mutilated while they're still alive or if their body was mutilated after their death? | I once read a comment on a [Disturbed Reality](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWScrRn_sGcFis-wGZZb9fQ) video which states that some "not so evil" cartel sicarios prefer to kill the victim first by shooting them in the head (or smth like that) before mutilating their bodies (perhaps a way to ease their conscience), as... | 3,881 | Dead people don’t bleed much without a heartbeat, so it’s sometimes possible to tell if an injury was inflicted after death because there will be no significant blood accumulation in the damaged tissues near the injury.
Of course if the body has been badly burned or decomposed in the meantime it can be hard to tell ei... | 1,749 |
[Limitless] What exactly does NZT do? | Beyond being super smart, Eddie gets unnatural abilities like being able to recall his time spent in the womb and perfectly imitate fighting moves he's seen on tv(which hints at the pill not only affecting his mind). He describes using as not getting high but having ''clarity''.
The pill seems to have less side effe... | 41 | theory. The pill doesn’t “do” or add anything to you the way you’d think of like caffeine or something. It removes what is blocking our perception and kind of enables what everyone’s probably capable of doing (to an extent). | 23 |
ELI5: What exactly is Communism? | I just can't wrap my head around it. | 63 | The noble idea that mankind should work together in equality, each giving according to his ability, and receiving according to his needs.
Unfortunately, it has historically been implemented by people who thing that they are more equal that others. A great read on the mentality behind Soviet communism is Animal Farm, b... | 42 |
[Star Wars: Rogue One] Spoilers - About the Death Star plans | [Repeat: Spoilers](#s "Vader was literally breathing down their necks. After the Rebels finished downloading it, why did they have to physically carry the disk containing the plans? Was the shipboard wifi out? Or did *Star Wars* Comcast cap their HoloNet usage?") | 37 | So they established that it's a pretty big chunk of data, with the massive planetside broadcast array and its super phat government bandwidth they were able to beam it to a battleship in orbit but then they had to transfer it to the docked *Tantive IV*. Maybe there's not a fast enough data connection wired between the ... | 57 |
ELI5: [Physics/Chemistry] Degrees of freedom | 19 | Degrees of freedom are basically all the ways a thing can move. Imagine a square bead on a taught string. It can slide all along that string, that's one degree of freedom. It can also spin on its axis, that's another. So that bead on a string has 2 degrees of freedom.
There can be degrees of freedom in terms of mov... | 15 | |
ELI5: How do stores like dollar general make profit? | 17 | Cheaper off-brand products bought in bulk.
Think of it like this...You have Scotch-brite brillo pads for washing dishes you can buy at a Wal-Mart for $2 right?, Where as Dollar General sells the knock off "Scot-brit" brillo pads for $1.
It costs the "Scot-brit" company 20 cents per pad they make, They sell them in bu... | 26 | |
Can Weyl fermion particles escape the event horizon of a black hole? | Since these newly discovered particles have no mass are they completely unaffected by gravity? Could they then easily escape from a black holes event horizon? | 17 | Mass generates gravitational fields, but everything is affected by gravity. Gravity is not a force in the way you think of forces.
Light (photons) also have no mass, but they are affected by gravity. The key thing to understand is that gravity doesn't affect mass, it affects space itself. When something is moving in a... | 16 |
(XCOM: Enemy Unknown) Why does XCOM only have one VTOL? | I don't quite understand why my organization, with the full backing of most industrialized nations of the world, only has one Skyranger. It seems that for humanities "first and last line of defense" we only get enough money and resources to spread ourselves too thin around the world. I can build more fighter jets and ... | 18 | You may be familiar with the single Skyranger used in the primary operations conducted by XCOM. There are in fact multiple Skyrangers held in reserve in the event that one is lost during an operation. The Skyranger constitutes the best in stealth and engine technology developed by humanity pre-invasion. This being the ... | 18 |
in the FAQ it is stated that one proof of the universe's expansion is that "more distant galaxies are packed closer together". What sort of measurements have been made to show this? | 68 | Telescope observations were done to establish two things.
1) The distance to galaxies using Supernova Light curves and redshifts.
2) How seperated the galaxies are (basically galaxies "per square inch")
Its found that at larger distances, there are more galaxies per unit area at that distance.
So at 10 billion ly... | 32 | |
CMV: Gender fluidity is a misidentified form of Trait Ascription Bias | I would like to preface this post by saying that I fully support trans rights and non-binary individuals, but as of yet I've not seen a compelling argument for why gender fluidity is anything more than [trait ascription bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_ascription_bias) which I believe is an excellent explanati... | 113 | Trait ascription bias would support the existence of gender fluidity, i.e., we tend to see other's traits as essential. So we tend to assign an essential and unchanging gender to others while our own experience (which we have much more ready access to) suggests that gender is less static and for some people perhaps eve... | 27 |
ELI5: Silica Gel Packets | Some products (bags, cases, ...) come with those silica gel packets inside to control humidity. Should I leave them there while I use it? Is it bad for electronics or something else? Or is it used only while it is stocked in the store before selling? | 20 | They are there to absorb moisture in the packaging. To prevent misting during transport through different temperatures.
They won't help much after openning. Also they have a "capacity" for absorbtion, after a while they are useless. | 13 |
ELI5: Why does drinking water when you need to pee, make that urge much stronger even though that water is far from reaching your bladder? | 4,355 | Tl;dr: if your bladder is already full of urine, your body was pretty happy with its water level. The body is very picky about its water level. If you add more water, it will quickly make more urine to allow for absorption of the water you just drank. An overfull bladder is potentially harmful, so normal urge to pee ca... | 1,344 | |
ELI5: How did Crysis look so good for it's time? | 16 | We've been doing photo realistic CGI for years. If it's a movie, you can calculate all the effects ahead of time on a supercomputer and just show the end product. If it's a game you have to calculate the effects at least 30 times a second on whatever combination of hardware player has.
Crysis had effects that only com... | 12 | |
[John Wick] How will John Wick fare in a fight with goons that have military experience and military teamwork against him? | I remember in the Punisher Max Slavers arc, Frank Castle tried to ambush the slavers but he made a mistake underestimating them and was forced to flee. In the John Wick films, the majority of the enemies just rush at John and spread out all at once to attack him. Would John Wick be forced to flee in that same scenario? | 23 | We actually see about how it'll go at the beginning of John Wick 2 when Santino blows up John's house. When confronted with a one man army like John, a proper squad with military training and equipment will go to combined arms tactics with an emphasis on heavy ordinance.
That is to say John will be located, pinned d... | 34 |
How much more rain does California need before it's out of drought trouble? | This question brought to you by a concerned Californian! | 81 | The drought in California has 1 measure and it is snowpack. For California to get out of drought the state needs a snowpack over 40 inches(across the whole mountain range) and maintain it from the months of November to March.
2013 snowpack averaged 25 inches, 2014 snowpack average is 8 inches thru February 1st. Snowpa... | 22 |
How do black holes attract light if photons have no mass? | Nothing can escape the gravitational pull of a block hole once past the event horizon, not even light can. Furthermore, light that passes near the black hole but does not reach the event horizon is distorted quite a bit, as seen in the gravitational lensing effect. However, how can light be attracted by the gravitation... | 19 | Gravity is the curvature of spacetime around momentum energy (of which mass is a component). Momentum energy naturally follows these curves. Photons have momentum energy, therefore they follow the curves of spacetime just like mass.
Edited according to some feedback by /u/Meditato. | 22 |
How come transits of Venus are very rare yet we can detect exoplanets with them much farther away? | 17 | There are two planets that are closer than are closer to the sun than Earth.
There are millions or billions of stars we can watch for transits. Even if only a small fraction have planets and a smaller fraction of those can be seen from Earth, there are still many many more planets that we could see transiting than jus... | 20 | |
ELI5 How are beavers benificial for ecological systems? | Beavers were recently reintroduced in my country to help the ecological system develop. All I know is that they build dams, which I would assume isn't very good for river fish. I also just learned they tend to eat/use young trees, which can't be good for the forest growth. How do they actually benifit the ecological sy... | 61 | They store water above sea level. Among other things, this makes them one of the most valuable creatures nature has ever created. They are classified as a keystone species like salmon. This means without them, other parts of the ecosystem will collapse.
You could rid all the humans off the planet and leave the beaver... | 69 |
Why do intuitionists reject classical logic and mathematics? | I am on a section of my Philosophy of Mathematics course on intuitionism, and am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea of intuitionism. Most of the primary reading I've been assigned, especially the Brouwer, is very difficult to break in to. I understand that the movement rejects the Completed Infini... | 21 | Because intuitionists believe that mathematical reasoning depends crucially on processes of mental construction, and this requirement leads to certain consequences that are at odds with classical logic.
For example, on this view, you cannot prove the existence of something by simply negating its non-existence, as you ... | 13 |
[Warhammer 40K] The Empror lived during the DAoT. Does he posses knowledge of how humanity's technology worked at that time? | I mean yeah I know there were other Prepetuals living back then but the Emperor is a super genius who most likely guided humanity from the shadows since he was born so he must know a lot of cool, super powerful technology right? And if he does then why didn't he restore humanity to that technology level(minus AI)?
Bon... | 53 | Probably not. At the time humanity had this sweet system where machines just did everything. All the higher technology was basically designed and built by the AIs, it is why the Mechanicum literally communicates in binary.
Anyway the Emperor probably understood more than most but he clearly wasn't aware of what was co... | 45 |
The mitochondria and chloroplast are examples of endosymbiotic relationships, but are there any other examples of eukaryotic cells forming an endosymbiotic relationship with another organism? | If there aren't, then what stops cells from forming such relationships? If there are, what is the nature of the symbiotic relationship, and are they able to pass on these endosymbionts to subsequent generations? | 18 | Corals have a symbiotic relationship with Zooxanthellae. The symbiont performs photosynthesis and helps feed the coral. The coral aids the symbiont with waste removal, safety, and a supply of carbon dioxide. Corals are not born with symbionts, they acquire them from the environment. In times of stress, the coral may ej... | 11 |
What is the power my computer uses turned into? | Am I right in thinking that most of the energy is simply turned to heat and some of it into light and other electro-magnetic fields?
So would a computer have the same efficiency for heating as an electric heater would? (Of course on a smaller scale, while my CPU might get up to 65°C it's much smaller) | 35 | You are correct. Practically everything is converted to heat. Even the light radiating from the computer is eventually turned into heat when it hits the walls.
Your computer works just like electric heater + tiny fan combo but the placement is important. If you have PC that is placed in some corner, the room feels mu... | 28 |
Would being underwater help survive a nuclear bomb? | If I jump in my pool, on the river near my house knowing that a nuclear bomb, or atomic or H-Bomb exploded around 10 km from my house, would I survive?
The way I see it is that water will protect me from the heat, so then I will be able to surface up after the explosion and escape. | 27 | If it was a powerful airburst, in a clear cloudless sky, the thermal radiation from the initial burst, expanding at the speed of light, could give you severe burns before you realize anything unusual was afoot. If you were looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time, you're also blind now.
A modest weapon – 100... | 11 |
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