query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
If I eat a 5 pound burrito, will I gain 5 lbs immediately? | [
"Yes you would gain the 5lbs for a very short period of time, until your body broke it down and metabolized some of it, which would begin immediately. Don't test this though, 5 year olds should not be eating 5lbs of burritos"
] | [
"> How come if I eat 4 pounds of macaroni and cheese then step on the scale immediately after it doesn't say that I gained 4 pounds? Because you either didn't actually eat four pounds of mac and cheese, or your scale is inaccurate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What happens in your body when you consume alcohol or do sports while taking antibiotics? | [
"Alcohol very-very sugary (has abnormally high amount of calories). Goes in your body. Body wants to add water to make alcohol less sugary (body needs water to make the high calory, sugar saturated alcohol dilute to digest it). You drunk, no water nearby. Brain 80% water. Body takes water from brain (not exactly br... | [
"•People taking sedative drugs (like diazepam/Valium) or antidepressants (like fluoxetine/Prozac) should avoid alcohol altogether •People taking long-term medications should be careful about drinking, as alcohol can make some drugs less effective, meaning long term conditions get worse. Examples include, people tak... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why won't banks approve mortgage loans similar to what apartment complexes charge? Why can people get approved for $1,000+/month rent in an appartment complex, but not get approved for even 6-700/month in mortgage payments? | [
"because you can be evicted from a lease with very little fuss. where as foreclosure is a real headache and may leave the bank with a loss. Also, there are other costs to home ownership, maintenance, property tax, home owners insurance, ect."
] | [
"A typical non-FHA/USDA loan usually requires 20% downpayment because the lender doesn't want to be too exposed in the event of a foreclosure. The government loans tend to be more forgiving in regards to credit. The two houses we've bought over the years have been FHA because we didn't have 800+ credit scores and 2... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why is it that I wake up in the middle of the night with my arm essentially paralysed with no motor control and it'll take around 30 seconds for my hand to fully function again? | [
"Your body is positioned in such a way that it's putting pressure on a nerve in your arm. The pressure inhibits the nerve and blocks the path of signals being sent from your arm to your brain and vice versa. When you wake you shift your position such that your body weight is no longer putting pressure on the nerve ... | [
"If you're talking about the random jerking awake when you're on the point of sleeping it pretty much happens when your muscles get to a state of total relaxation. Your body thinks it is impossible to feel like that unless you're in freefall and jerks you awake. Really freaking annoying, happens to me at least twic... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Health and Wellness:"
} |
Why does it hurt to put hand sanitizer on a cut? | [
"some antiseptic compounds (like alcohol) will lower the threshold at which pain receptors will be activated. If you think of the pain receptor as a sticky switch that needs a certain force to trip it, the sanitizer greases the switch and whatever \"undetected\" sensation you are experiencing now suddenly trips the... | [
"Because when you rub your eyes, presumably with your hands or fingers, you're putting dirt, oil, and germs into your eyes making them more irritated. Next time use something clean like a napkin or tissue."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Health and Physiology:"
} |
Why do time zones have definitive lines and change strictly on an hourly basis instead of gradually changing time as you move around the globe? | [
"Because that would be confusing. It's a lot easier to remember that the whole West Coast is 3 hours behind the whole East Coast than to try to figure out if LA is 239 minutes behind NYC and Pheonix is 228 minutes behind Miami. Time zones were instituted to make keeping track of long distance overland travel easier... | [
"Neither. > A person who goes around the world from east to west (the same direction as Magellan's voyage) would gain or set their clock back one hour for every 15° of longitude crossed, and would gain 24 hours for one circuit of the globe from east to west if they did not compensate by setting their clock forward... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Could someone explain to me the process of being electrocuted? How and when does it happen? | [
"When too much electricity runs through your body, it damages nerves and structures in a way that can kill you. Most of the time it happens in construction/industrial accidents, or occasionally with lightning."
] | [
"The electric eel is not actually an eel its more like a type of fish. It makes its electrical shocks with three organs lined up in a row. When threatened, the fish's brain sends a signal through the nervous system to the organs reversing their polarity and generating an electric current in a manner similar to a ba... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument about biology:"
} |
Why dogs don't see colour? | [
"They do. Just not as well as we do. That's to be expected though, since we primates rely so much more heavily on vision, and dogs on smell and hearing."
] | [
"Some men just want to see the world burn."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does water turn into vapor from cold temperatures? | [
"The fog you see is due to the condensation of water vapour that's already in the air. At relatively high temperatures water molecules move rather quickly and when they bump into another molecule they just bounce off, similar to what happens when rubber balls collide. At lower temperatures however, the colliding w... | [
"100 degrees celcius is the boiling point of water, not its evaporation point. Water can evaporate at any temperature given the right humidity. If there is less water in the surrounding air than the puddle of water on your counter, then the water will evaporate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are police in the US using more and more military/unnecessary equipment? | [
"You're pretty much right but I think its also kind of a cop out answer that we get. The wars are winding down so yeah there is a lot of surplus equipment but why not just keep it for the next war? Because then defense contractors would cease to create profit. And there are so many voting districts with defense com... | [
"Law enforcement here: There's really not a lot of headgear that protects against bullets. The ones that do are heavy and uncomfortable. It's just not practical. Also, most police that are killed are not shot in the head. Plus, people cry and criticize when they see us in military-looking gear. That being said; so... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How come whenever there is a commercial break on tv, I always see commercials cut to the end rather than it showing the whole thing? | [
"Because usually the time slot given is 30 seconds long and it is a few seconds over, or it could be that they put a commercial in the wrong slot so they xut it and put the correct ad in, or perhaps its just a glitch."
] | [
"National and local commercials overwriting one another, the national station broadcasts national commercials and the local stations play their local commercials over them, sometimes they are a split second late in doing so."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What happens to the cars that dealerships don't sell? There's no way some dealerships sell every vehicle before the next year's models ship. | [
"They reduce the price, and keep selling them until they're gone. There's always going to be somebody willing to buy last year's model car at a discount of a couple thousand dollars. Each new year's car model is not like each new iphone model, the differences are pretty negligible, you're not missing out by buying ... | [
"Let's say a brand new Ford Focus costs $16,000. Would you be willing to pay $16,000 for a Focus that someone bought, drove around for a little bit, and then returned for some reason. The average consumer is always going to choose the new car over the slightly used car, so dealerships are going to have to offer th... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is there no cheap imitation of computer parts? (motherboard, video card, memory etc? ) | [
"These devices are already frequently manufactured in China. Companies like Intel and Nvidia do tons of research into how to make the chips, and then patent the technology. It is much more difficult to rip off something like that than a simple product design."
] | [
"Check out /r/buildapc for some help. In addition, [logicalincrements](_URL_0_) is an easy way to build a system for your budget with an idea of the kind of performance you might get out of it. You can build a \"decent\" system for $500-$600. What you need at the very least (assuming you are building from scratch):... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
We get hungover because we are so dehydrated. But in the processes pf drinking my urine is clear. What is the process dehydrating me, making me hung over? | [
"Ethanol (the active ingredient in alcohol that makes it alcohol) inhibits anti-diuretic hormone in the body. This hormone promotes water reuptake, so its inhibition results in increased water release that is greater than simply the extra water you're taking in by drinking. As a result, you get dehydrated."
] | [
"because it gets processed by your liver and the benefits are spread out during your sleep (so at least 5/6 hours?) but be careful doing that, it's not a good idea to chug any medicine when your liver is already stressed parsing all the alcohol you had... Drink A LOT of water instead before sleeping (well not enoug... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How come the diamond industry is able to keep diamond prices so high but be sued for price fixing? | [
"_URL_0_ Relevant long read about diamond pricing. Recommended."
] | [
"It most certainly would have if DeBeers operated in the United States, but they have no operations officially on US soil. In this way they can control the global market, and if retailers, even ones in the US, want diamonds they have to buy from them anyway."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do some meals trigger diarrhea almost instantly? | [
"There are three reflexes of the Gastrointestinal tract. Two of them, the gastroileal reflex and the gastrocolic reflex make food move through from the stomach all the way through the intestines etc. out to poop. They can be triggered by eating meals, to make more room for the new food, or sometimes they get trigge... | [
"Even if it doesn't cause illness, it is a different biome of bacteria. Your gut bacteria may be replaced with different local strains that upset your stomach and cause diarrhea."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Are dead germs safe? | [
"The \"corpses\" can be dangerous indeed in specific cases. It are usually not only the germs itself which cause problems, but toxins produced by the germs. Even when the germs are dead, these toxins may still be active and be a cause for trouble."
] | [
"What is your definition of \"clean\"? If dead bacteria are unclean, when why aren't dead skin cells?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Science:"
} |
Why are we taught to walk across the street? Surely it's safer to run? | [
"You're more prone to tripping when running, which would leave you prone, which is more prone to being run over."
] | [
"Because people think that they can race the train and win. Some people are too impatient to wait the 5 min that it takes a train to pass, and try to beat it across the crossing. These people are idiots."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why is chocolate poisonous to dogs? | [
"There's a stimulant drug in chocolate called theobromine. We can process it easily, dogs can't."
] | [
"Do you also cough when eating popsicles and frankfurters/hot dogs? If so, it might be your technique."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What’s the difference between the kinds of gas that you can get at a gas station? | [
"Unleaded gasoline, labeled (usually) 87, 89, 91 is a measurement of different octane ratings (the numbers can vary based on location. They'll be lower in places like Denver since it's higher elevation). High performance engines have more compression of the fuel in their engines. If the octane is too low, it will e... | [
"Why do some parts of the world call gasoline petrol?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What is the political situation in Russia? | [
"Russia has a hybrid system, meaning that they have both a prime minister with a parliament, and a president. They have a constitution, which both describes the government and protects human rights. The president has a limit of two successive 6 year terms, meaning you can be president for 12 years, take a 6 year br... | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Our eyesight deteriorates with age but what causes the rate and extent to which our eyesight deteriorates to be faster/stronger in some people than others? Besides genetics, what are the actual processes behind this happening? | [
"The eye has two lenses, the outer lens, which is pretty static, and the inner lens. The inner lens is \"adjustable\", there are tiny muscles that can pull on it, changing it's shape. This is how your eye switches from near focus to far focus. Changes in vision as you are growing ( < 18 years old), particularly nea... | [
"Various cells in your body are constantly dying from the day you're born, during your developmental years your cells are multiplying faster than they are dying. At some point, your cells begin to multiply at a steady rate to cell death, and then cell death begins to occur more frequently than cell multiplication. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do dogs like playing fetch with things? (Sticks, tennis balls, etc.) | [
"It satisfies their instinctual urge to hunt something down and then pounce on it. Remember, wolves are powerful predators, and though we've bred most of that out of our cuddly friends, we can't get all of it."
] | [
"The best things come in pairs, breasts, testicles, sandwiches, butt cheeks, you get the gist."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What exactly is a "Demigod"? | [
"\"Demi\" is French for \"half\". So anything that's demi-something is half something. Or 'not quite'. A demigod is not quite a full god. Either someone who has one godly parent and one human parent, or a human who is so awesome that they've almost become a god. Are they fictional? Well I guess that depends on whet... | [
"The single technical term for this would be 'Fucked Up'"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do we need so many different types of screw heads? Straight, Phillips, Torx, Square, Hexagon, etc... couldn't we settle on just a few? | [
"The simplest screw head, the flat head, allows your tool to slide out at the slightest misalignment. Phillips heads solved that problem, but introduced another: the screws strip easily when the driver cams out due to excessive torque. Newer designs have different balances of torque protection, size, manufacturing ... | [
"Bluetooth is designed to be short range, low power, low bandwidth, and limited devices If you need higher bandwidth, longer range, or more simultaneous devices then you should use WiFi instead Rather than attempting to make each tool in the toolbox universal and therefore terrible at everything, each tool is speci... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Is it possible for there to be sun sized chunks of rock floating without orbit in our universe? | [
"No... gravity excludes the possibility. The chunk of rock you refer to would long ago have begun a process to become it's own sun. Darting around the cosmos. It would form based upon the composition of its environment into one of a myriad possibilities... all of which we would call stars. The environment I refer ... | [
"The effects of gravity between local objects outweighs the overall expansion. Local can be quite a long distance away when dealing with the gravity of huge masses like the total mass of stars in a galaxy."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
What's the 'point of no return' for regenerating muscles and bones? If you loose a finger, that's it, but if you get a really nasty cut, most will heal. | [
"I had a first joint almost full amputation of my middle digit finger (basically cut off my finger to right below the cuticle). I had to have a snip of finger bone trimmed that was approximately 1/8th inch long. The surgeon I had to repair it was fresh out of medical school, and told me the tip of my finger had th... | [
"Read about a guy who passed out drunk in college, slept for too long on his arm, woke up and did bad enough nerve damage that he couldn't use his arm for months, had to undergo physical therapy for it, etc. Finally regained movement. Read another story about a girl who did the same thing with her leg and needed am... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
the psychology of the "superfan" and why they have such strong emotional connections to their Idols? | [
"Different reasons for different people, I think. Superfans of a sports team or a particular player likely have very fond memories of the sport, team, or player growing up, or fond memories of the connection they made with others through that love, such as with a parent, sibling, friend, etc. The team or sport or p... | [
"* Projection: They want to live vicariously through the athletes, and watching them allows them to to an extent. * Genuine Interest in Strategy: Sports are very complex strategically, especially football. Strategy per game or season is one thing, but the *real* interesting stuff is other the course of years. * Adr... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Since the TSA is a government agency, why are airport security shortcuts allowed for certain classes of passengers (those who pay more)? Unlike on an airplane, shouldn't there be non-preferential treatment for all? | [
"The TSA's job is to screen passengers, not to enforce fairness in the airport's chosen queuing system. The fairness or lack-there-of is under the purview of the airport operator. Edit: There's at least one bill that tried to change this, but didn't get anywhere: _URL_0_"
] | [
"> The fourth amendment protects from *unreasonable* search and seizure The lower courts have decided that what the TSA is doing is *reasonable*, and the Supreme Court hasn't said otherwise. The lower courts think it is reasonable because previous events have shown that air travel can be a danger to individual and ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
If we exhale CO2, how does giving breaths to an unconscious person help them at all? | [
"The average breath you exhale only has about 4-5% less oxygen in it than it did when you inhaled it."
] | [
"Because oxygen is the principle component keeping you alive in what you breathe. You may suck 7:2 nitrogen to oxygen into your lungs, but that is not representative of what is being used by your body."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Health and First Aid:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Health and First Aid:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How do antibiotics destroy gut flora / lead to weight gain? How do you restore it? | [
"Gut flora is just bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics kill bacteria, and they don't discriminate between \"good\" and \"bad\" bacteria. One way to restore gut flora is to [eat yogurt,](_URL_0_) or other sources of [probiotics.](_URL_1_)"
] | [
"There are, they're just not referred to as diseases. Your intestines are home to lots and lots of bacteria that help you digest food, train your immune system, and prevent the growth of other more harmful bacteria. It's perfectly possible to live without your gut flora, but they're beneficial."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
For account security, how is the "security question" feature not a massive security concern? (details inside) | [
"> Let's say someone's password is \"Ford%12a\". Note how secure this password is: it has a capital letter, numbers, and a special character (the percentage sign). [Relevant XKCD](_URL_2_). Not as secure as you'd think. > My question is, how is the whole \"security question\" model not a massive security hole? And... | [
"The idea behind it is to verify to the user that the site is legitimate. A good example of sites that do this are banks. Page 1 has you enter your username (or card number). Page 2 displays something relevant to your account (eg. a picture you chose, a phrase, etc.). Seeing this association to your account confirm... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why seeing something disgusting can make us vomit. | [
"AFAIK this is an instinct; your body is saying 'do NOT eat this'. If you associate rotten food with puking, you will not eat the rotten food (hopefully)."
] | [
"Laughter is 'contagious'. Hearing laughter makes you think something is funny."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why is it that when I see something that grosses me out(like Trypophobia), I still want to see more? | [
"Well one possible explanation that my psych prof explained in class once is that fear chemically is potentially addictive. When we see something that disgusts us or something that we're afraid of, the brain releases the neurotransmitter dopamine which provides an almost high type feeling in collaboration with feel... | [
"I had never done this until reading this post. Now, I can't stop doing it! The tingling sensation is so cool. Can't wait to see the answer"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Biology:"
} |
Why doesn't the TSA agent face criminal charges for lying in court? | [
"I've wondered about this too. I have also seen a reddit post from a news channel baiting TSA agents with Ipads. TSA agents stole the ipads and then the news correspondents used an app to locate the equipment back to their home. What is going on here?"
] | [
"\"Obstruction of Justice\" or \"Impeding a police investigation\" are the usually the charges level against those who knowingly lie to the police during an active investigation"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Sometimes when i get maybe 2 -3 hours sleep i feel great when i wake up, but sometimes i get 8 - 10 hours sleep and feel like crap and have to go back to bed later because im tired. Why does this happen? | [
"It has to do with your sleep cycles. For the average person, a sleep cycle will last around 90 minutes. You have light sleep, medium sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep, and they all take place within the cycle. When you wake up during REM sleep (at the tail end of the 90 minutes), you feel a lot better than when you... | [
"how much sleep are you getting per night? it could be you're getting too little, maybe go to bed earlier when it's possible. or it could even be too much sleep. I'm kinda with you though, it seems like no matter how little or much I sleep or how good the sleep is, I'm just slow waking up, especially the earlier it... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Sleep and its effects on the body:"
} |
What causes intrusive thoughts? | [
"My theory is that when we lived in the wild as cavemen we had to constantly be on alert for dangers and for things to eat. Our brains spent all day thinking about staying safe and finding food. Now our brains don't need to do that anymore, but the constant thinking hasn't evolved out of us yet. So our brains make ... | [
"There is a huge list of things that can cause someone to suffer hallucinations (which is what this sounds like). In terms of mental illnesses, you might be thinking of Schizophrenia, the symptoms of which often include hallucinations, delusions and so on."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how radiation can both give you cancer and be used in the treatment of cancer. | [
"The difference between a cure and a toxin is often just dosage size. Radiation damages cells, causing the kind of damage that can cause cells to turn cancerous... but that doesn't change the fact that radiation can also just straight up kill cells. It is sort of like how a knife can (in the hands of a surgeon) sav... | [
"Cancer is the term for uncontrolled cell growth. You could create a single cure for them all, but it's unlikely. For example, you could have a super small machine in the bloodstream that detects and kills cancerous cells. The best options we have now are surgery and drugs. Unfortunately, both of those are harmful ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are there so many coding languages? | [
"Because someone didn't like the way some particular limitation of the existing programming language they were using so they decided to make their own. * C was made to be extremely fast, but not tied to specific hardware * LISP was made to express programs as pure mathematical expressions * C++ was created to add ... | [
"Do you have any programming experience at all?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
. Why does porn seem so much louder than everything else? | [
"Haha, paranoia. Basically the same feeling you gent when you smoke weed and swear that everyone knows. It's just psychology, you're most likely trying to be quiet. It's like opening a bag of chips during S movie. Loud as fuck, but really it's just the circumstance"
] | [
"Creating content other people enjoy? Why are movies a thing? What do the creators get out of it? Why is youtube a thing? What do the creators get out it? Why (was) vine a thing? That's probably the more direct western analogue."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does putting a magnet next to a non magnetic object make said object magnetic as well? | [
"[This video by Veritasium](_URL_0_) does a great job of explaining it, the relevant bit is around 4:40 in. Basically if the material can be magnetic, but isnt, it's because it's not all alligned the same way inside, when you introduce a magnetic field, you can allign everything in such a way that it becomes magnet... | [
"they use an electro magnetic field to “send” electricity over a small gap when electricity flows through a coil it creates a temporary magnetic field. when another coil enters this field, current will start flowing through it allowing a device to be charged wirelessly. hope that explains it well enough."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do some things cut better with a serrated knife and others with a straight blade? | [
"Is there also an effect where a serration tooth puts tension into a piece of material and then the material springs over the tooth and slams into the next tooth?"
] | [
"I sold cutco knives for a brief period of time so I actually know the answer to this. The answer is that very little food actually dulls your knife. It's usually your cutting board. Wood, plastic, stone, ceramic. All of these dull your knife edge very quickly. The \"trick\" to cutco knives is that the actually cut... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are there so many abandoned cities in China? | [
"China has a problem; they have a lot of citizens and not nearly enough jobs to keep them all employed. One of their solutions has been to invest heavily in construction resulting in the building of cities for a population they just don't have."
] | [
"If you think treatment of animals is bad in China, you have to seriously look at the treatment of people in The Republic Of China."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
I know beef suit is derived from fatty parts of cows (around kidneys, etc). Why do bird feed manufacturers use suit to keep the bits together for common birds (i.e. house sparrows, finches, etc?) | [
"That's \"suet,\" not suit. Suet is a very firm fat that acts as a glue for the seed. It's also a source of calories for the birds. You could glue the seed together with, say, corn syrup or some kind of batter, but if the seed log got wet - ecch."
] | [
"Pigeons like large fields and don't mind nesting in cities, that also don't mind eating french fries and such. Many of the birds, or even most, just don't like that type of environment and won't nest near it, you won't find hummingbirds in an open park, they eat nectar and stay near flowers, you won't find goldfin... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Bird behavior:"
} |
What is the method behind the numbering of roads/highways? | [
"\"In the numbering scheme for the primary routes, east-west highways are assigned even numbers and north-south highways are assigned odd numbers. Odd route numbers increase from west to east, and even-numbered routes increase from south to north\" _URL_0_"
] | [
"Does it matter if there is water instead of roads between a number of small towns? We have boats and bridges."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do orchestras know how a song should sound the first time they're playing it? | [
"Do you know what the word \"omniferous\" means? It means \"bearing many things\". Have you ever seen or heard that word before? I'm going to assume you haven't. Do you know how to say it? Even though you've never heard it pronounced? Of course you do. They know how to read music, just like you know how to read let... | [
"You mean like an orchestra? A conductor's job is to get the players to read the written music all in the same way. What if your brass section thinks a piece should be real rigid with the tempo very constant, while the strings players want to be more free flowing and emotional? What if every musician had his or her... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How is "Source Code" different from the software released to consumers, and why is it important? | [
"Like you're 5... The software released to consumers is a cookie, and the source code is the recipe for that cookie. Without the source code recipe, you don't really know what's in the cookie, or how it was made. You can't change it or improve it. If the cookie has rasins and you'd prefer chocolate chips, you can't... | [
"The really short answer that it either boils down to is that Open Source programmers value the dissemination of information over profiting from their code, or they think that it could potentially be useful to someone, somewhere, but don't think it would be worth it to try and monetize it. For some people, it is an... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why is manga/anime, essentially comic books and cartoons, so huge in Japan? | [
"The way it was explained to me is that there's a mentality in the United States, and probably most of the Western world, that most cartoons and comics were originally intended for and targeted towards children (and to a lesser extent, the parents thereof), a mentality that's only recently falling apart. Japan neve... | [
"Hardcore fans argue otherwise, but the majority of anime *is* poorly-animated entertainment fodder marketed towards teenage boys. This is coming from someone who enjoys some anime series, but it's a medium that most Japanese natives look down on for this reason, too. Because anime is deemed a niche genre unto itse... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Entertainment:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Entertainment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Credit and good ways to build it | [
"Credit - The more you have of it, the easier it is to get more. If you want a shiny new bicycle, but Mommy doesn't have enough money, if the store thinks she is a good girl they will give her the bike (for you!) and let her pay for it later. The way they say she's a good person or not is called her \"credit rating... | [
"Its a quick at a glance number to tell companies how reliable you are at paying your credit dept. If you want to take out a big loan, say for a house or a car the better your credit score the more willing the bank will be to give you a fair deal. A credit card is the tool to build your credit score, pay your bill... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Finance:"
} |
When and how was the accepted world map model created? Was there a reasoning behind, for example, New Zealand being the 'official' rightmost country, or was it arbitrary? | [
"The reason New Zealand is farther to the right is because it's about the farthest East you can from London without traveling more than 1/2 the globe. Why London? Because the British decided to use it as their starting point. It was basically arbitrary *to them* so London made sense. Eventually most of the ships in... | [
"Back in the day, if you started from Europe, you see Asia to the east and an undefined amount of water to the west. When we found out there's actually several Americas there the West/East dichotomy had already been established. And overall, USA is extremely similar with Europe in terms of culture. If the Chinese h... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How were hand-drawn cartoons transfered to newspaper printers before scanners were a thing? | [
"This was one of my first jobs on my college newspaper just before we went digital using desktop layout (early 90’s). Photostatic cameras were used to take a picture of them on film, but at the same time they would, through the use of filters, turn the darker areas into a series of dots. At the same time they coul... | [
"Technology *was indeed* advancing super fast even in the 1940s. Each technology builds on the innovations that came before it. You can't make cellphones without transistors. You can't make jet planes without basic airplanes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
what happens to my brain when I'm feeling "mentally drained"? | [
"You need energy to fuel your brain, as much as you need energy to flex your muscles. When you run low on energy, you have less ability to make decisions, because your brain becomes focused on finding food instead of an abstract task. [Research Paper](_URL_0_) [Great Lifehacker article](_URL_1_) So have a light sna... | [
"because you're not really tired, you're just bored."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Health:"
} |
Why is it when we try to remove an impaled object from ourselves, it hurts so much? | [
"Think of it as a cork. For example, a knife impaled into the abdomen will create a wound the exact same size as the knife. As the knife is removed, anything that was cut on the way in is no longer \"snug\" against the knifes blade (blood vessels, nerves, etc..). This is where internal bleeding becomes a big issue,... | [
"Yes, they are called phantom pains. And of course when you cut it off it's going to hurt obviously."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why is the speed of light the "universal speed limit"? | [
"The \"speed of light\" is the speed of all massless particles. What makes them special is they have no mass. So all EM travels at the speed of light, and, in fact, all EM technically qualifies as light, not just the visible light people commonly think of. But, again, the \"speed of light\" is not reserved for only... | [
"There is no theory of instantaneous interstellar communication. The \"speed of light\" is better named the \"maximum speed of information transfer\"."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
In the English language why is there always a U next to a Q? | [
"In Greek, there was a time when Q (called \"koppa\" and later replaced by kappa) was generally followed by rounded vowels (not just U) and by itself had an unvoiced K sound kind of like a hard G. Gradually, more and more of those sounds began to use the letter C, and Q only remained useful in order to make the /kw... | [
"You use an if the next letter starts with a vowel sound and a if it doesn't. An apple, a pear, an elephant, a donkey, etc. The only thing you have to look out for is words like unicycle or honor. They are a unicycle and an honor, because you look at the first sound of the word, not the first letter. Also, some peo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do nature documentaries get those incredible close ups of wildlife? | [
"you use a hide, basically a tent that's dressed up to look like the surroundings and left there for weeks and months until the animals are quite used to it, then you hide in it, keep very quiet and just let the animals get on with doing their thing"
] | [
"Hours and hours and hours. For instance, their scenes of the snow leopard, a few minutes in show time, took 3 years of effort. The birds of paradise took 300 hours of film time, spending 8 or 9 hours a day watching and waiting for the bird to be present and possibly start a mating dance or other interesting activi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What happens to smells once they're "gone"? | [
"smells are just vapor or particles in the air that react with our nose. When smells go away, whatever vapors or particles that were in the air causing that smell have spread out enough that it either isn't going into our nose at all, or such a small amount is there that we can't detect it."
] | [
"You can send smell right now. Fart into a jar, mail it to your friend. Or try the perfume industry. Smell is receptors in your nose detecting certain volatile compounds. All you need to do is send someone those compounds in some sort of containment vessel so that they don't dissipate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do birds all fly perfectly in sync with each other when in a flock? | [
"Birds vision and reaction times are better than ours. They essentially see and hear the world much faster than we do. A bit like bullet time in games. Most birds also have a much wider field of view and can process a substantially wider range of colours. _URL_0_"
] | [
"I live near a long string of parks. Over decades I have watcher the behavior of Canadian geese in particular. Groups will do to the golf course or another pond on a regular schedule. They fly a direct route between these locations. They definitely know where they are going. I remember one terribly windy winter day... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why won't I drive through a red light even if there is nobody around me and there is a 0% chance of me getting caught, but I'll run across a street with cars bearing down on me? | [
"Somebody jaywalking will probably just get given a warning. Somebody running a red light will get a ticket and probably a mandatory court appearance."
] | [
"Because that would lead to a lot of accidents. A lot of people run red lights, by either a fraction of a second or a few seconds. A timer would mean more people gunning it when it turns green, which would lead to more collisions with people running red lights. A timer would also mean people would slow down less wh... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Technology:"
} |
Why do stores only accept plastic soda bottles for recycling? Are they made of more valuable plastic than other forms of plastic? | [
"Because you (by you, I mean the consumer) don't pay a redemption value on other plastics you buy, even if it's made of the exact same plastic. If your soda bottle was made at the same factory as the ones who makes plastic containers for something else (say like the container for Orange Juice or Apple Juice) and yo... | [
"Depends on what your idea of \"reuse\" is. You can put water in a bottle and drink from it again. No problem. Most people are too lazy to reuse a water bottle because it involves carrying it around. It's easier to throw it away when finished and buy a new one when needed. You can't collect bottles and return them... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
A fair tax/consumption tax (pros and cons) | [
"A fair tax is essentially a sales tax. It is intended to replace other taxes in general and make it so that people are taxed based on what they consume. Statistically this would mean those who spend (consume) more of their income (the poor) would be taxed a larger percentage of their income as those who do not. In... | [
"You should definitely include those questions that are posted ad nauseum. * Israel and Palestine. * Different social and fiscal policies (communism etc) * Binary/data storage"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
EP vs LP vs Album. What is the difference and why does it matter? | [
"This makes me feel old that people don't know this anymore, but the reason EP v LP mattered is because when music was released on vinyl records, the size of the record depended on whether it was a full 12\" record (LP) or a smaller 8\" (EP)."
] | [
"Record the show, upload it to the website. Am I missing something here?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why isn't it mandatory for people to retake their drivers licence test every 5/10 years? | [
"It's assumed that if you haven't gotten any major speeding tickets, been in any major accidents, etc. that you don't need to be retested. The hassle of retesting everyone would be an enormous hassle. Look at how crowded DMVs and DriveTest Centres are already. It's a cost-benefit kind of thing. If 1% of drivers are... | [
"social security cards, also, depending on where you live, lots of people get state issued photo ids at 15 or 16, when they get a learners permit and drivers license."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why did Mark Zuckerberg think he would get away with diluting Eduardo Saverin's stake in Facebook down from 34% to .03% in The Social Network? | [
"also this was a good read on more of what acutally happened. _URL_2_"
] | [
"For the most part, it's impossible to get kicked out of a company that you own more than 50% of. The issue is that a lot of people give up control of their company to investors in exchange for money. For example, Mark Zuckerberg currently only owns 28.2% of Facebook. So, he has a minority share. It's still the lar... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What causes older computers to die? | [
"One of the most common failures in a PC is the capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors are \"filled\" with a product that allows them to function, however long periods on non-use, freak reverse current moments, long periods of use, and basically farting sideways while not speaking the correct phrase in their presence ... | [
"This is assuming that your PC is properly maintained and cooled. Leaving it on at all times will wear out some parts faster, but in most PC's it's not fast enough to really matter. You'll probably end up upgrading parts or buying a new PC before it really matters. Some people leave their computers on all the time ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What exactly happens to a person when they're in a coma and wake up years later? Do they dream the whole time or is it like waking up after a dreamless sleep that lasted too long? | [
"short summary: coma is, by definition, not sleeping. Sleeping is when you have this very specific cycle of brain activity. Coma: nope. Your brain is basically just inactive or irregular. Coming out of a coma is not like it is on TV. it's a gradual process, almost like your brain is slowly remembering to do things... | [
"I would disagree with the basic premise of it feeling instant. When I wake up, I feel like a significant amount of time has passed, maybe due to the shift from night until day. When I was under anesthesia, that felt more like closing your eyes and opening them to find that an hour had passed. Ditto for when I got ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Health:"
} |
United States vacation laws... Why does such an advanced economy have such poor laws regarding vacation time? (x-post r/labor) | [
"I blame the phrase \"if you don't like it, you can quit.\" When it comes to employee rights or other labor issues in America, this one phrase has been used to shut down so many potential improvements. So if you try to pass a law establishing a minimum number of vacation days, someone complains about how that hurts... | [
"There is a top post on /r/todayilearned about unions. for future reference, this type of question would probably fit better in /r/OutOfTheLoop"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do banana peels turn brown faster if you remove the banana? | [
"Some of the primary culprits of rotting food are air, moisture, light, temperature, and microbial growth. When you remove the inside of banana, you open it up and expose the inside of the peel to the elements too. Increasing the surface area that is vulnerable to the elements will speed up the process, especially ... | [
"Most (all?) fruits ripen when exposed to something called ethylene, which is a gas. As the fruit ripens it releases more of this gas into the air. This is how all the fruit on a tree or in an orchard ripens are about the same time! What probably happened is the oranges were probably much more ripe than the bananas... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why does most articles in the internet tend to be cut by a 'Continue Reading' button? | [
"Knowing that the person is actually reading the page allows higher advertising rates to be charged. I mean, if you were an advertiser, wouldn't you pay more for a page that had proof that it was being read over a page that didn't?"
] | [
"> I wanted to know if anyone knows why there's a black box at the bottom of the pdf file. Your .pdf reader is messing up, there is no black box."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why is David Hasselhoff such a star in Germany? | [
"Rewboss, a Brit living in Germany quite perfectly explained it in [this video](_URL_0_). Short version: He is only famous for one song \"Looking for freedom\" because that song coincided with the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and therefore the pursuit of freedom was a rather popular sentiment in Germany around 1990. Mo... | [
"He is considered to be one of the funniest comedians in America and he hasn't done nearly anything on TV since his show was cancelled 10 years ago."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
What does ISIS have against football/soccer? | [
"Soccer is a western sport. Western *anything* is against Islam by ISIS's theory of *how Islam works*. That's really it. Saying *because they're crazy* is a legitimate response when *they are crazy*. ISIS is doing things that even *other* Islamic extremists think is *too extreme*."
] | [
"Because China cares less about footie than the USA does."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
In the Marvel Superhero world, why do the Avengers not always work together? | [
"Because most of the Marvel movies happen at either the same time or very close together. I remember during Iron Man 2, Phil mentioned something about going to New Mexico, which is where Thor's hammer landed (and it's explicitly shown after the credits), making IM2 and Thor have a small amount of overlap in events.... | [
"Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch are mutants, but they have also been a part of The Avengers team pretty much since its beginning. Fox have the rights for the X-men, but Marvel has the rights for The Avengers, and Quicksilver and Scarlett kinda fall in the middle, which gives both companies the right to use them - a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why were gladiators socially acceptable during Roman times? | [
"Life was nasty, brutish, and short. It was a violent world and though there were almost certainly people who didn't think it was appropriate (Christians, for a start!) they were probably in a minority. The Romans valued martial strength and built their empire through conquest. It also appeased the masses, which wa... | [
"In ancient Rome (which I took to mean that we are speaking of republic and early empire) actors enjoyed a status equal to prostitutes, gladiators, etc. That is to say, they were the very bottom of society. Still, this status was mixed with a sort of guilty pleasure adoration as they were also symbols of virility a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How did the ice cube in my ice tray freeze upwards? | [
"Ice-spikes are a pretty cool thing to see! I recommend [Veritasium's video](_URL_0_), as he explains it much better than I can."
] | [
"The ice is causing the water on your hands to start freezing. You're actually being frozen to the ice when you touch ice with wet hands."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
The difference between permutation and combination and how to differentiate the two. | [
"permutations consider the order of the elements in a set, combinations don't. If I want to consider all of the different ways I can pick numbers from the set of 1, 2, and 3, a permutation considers {1, 2} to be different than {2, 1} while a combination doesn't care."
] | [
"By making a multi dimensional function, we can define some outcome by multiple inputs. For example, z = x + y, z is defined by two inputs, x and y. For probabilities involving multiple steps, or probabilities that involve previous conditions, we refer to Bayes theorem, which tells us the relationship between two s... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Solution to popular Truth/Liar Door Guardian Riddle | [
"The honest guard would tell you to go through his door if you asked him which door to go through, and the liar would tell you to go through his own. So, the trick is to ask a guard which door the *other* guard would say to go through. If you ask the honest guard, he will honestly tell you that the lying guard wou... | [
"Relevant entertaining and informative youtube video Electrocution in Water: _URL_0_"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Religious beliefs unchanged by facts | [
"The definition of faith is belief in something without proof, so offering proof doesn't do much to change that. To get down to it though, many beliefs are tied deeply to someones self image. When you challenge them, most people feel like they are being attacked and harden up. Defense mechanism. Plus don't jump do... | [
"Sense of belonging to a group, purpose, and greater cause; identity. People who will take them in versus a home country that may be a little unaccepting of their religion or race."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do modern movie trailers show so much of the movie? | [
"I think they want to make their movie look as appealing as possible, so they show the best parts of the movie. So they show the best parts to get people to think its a really great movie. They don't care about spoilers because they just want money."
] | [
"In this case I believe it is because they have not released the movie to critics so as to avoid leaking plot details. Current rumor is there is some big reveal regarding Luke they don't want to give away in advance."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How come people die when strangled, but are only knocked unconscious when put in a sleeper hold? | [
"Because if you do not release the sleeper hold you will kill them. Both actions restrict blood flow to the brain strangulation can occour with a sleeper hold."
] | [
"You should probably mention what kind of snake you saw. Many non-venomous snakes are constrictors, they've squeezed the prey so it's either dead or unconscious by being unable to breath. If someone covered your face and mouth or squeezed down on your chest, you might be able to struggle for about 30-60 seconds be... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does Google have a searchable version of the internet that isn't the same size as the internet? | [
"In the same way a book has a index which is much smaller then the size of the book but allows you to find which page something is on, Google has a index of Internet. First of all the Google Search Database does contain a large portion of the text of the internet but is less concerned with the video, and pictures w... | [
"It actually searches something called an index, which is kind of like a phonebook. The index itself takes much longer to build and is constructed by a crawler that travels through the internet link by link. Your own hard drive probably isn't indexed, but if you built an index for it, those searches would be much f... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the most accepted theory on time-travel? | [
"The only scientifically sound method of traveling through time is to travel forward in time at the rate of one second per second. Basically, time travel is entirely fictional except in the most degenerate sense of time happening at the rate it is happening to happen at, which I wouldn't count as \"time travel\"."
... | [
"Because time itself is a relative construct based on the perception of time from an observer. The faster an object moves, the slower the perceived passage of time over a distance. Check out \"Time Dilation\" on wikiperia. Its neat."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
If humans a diurnal (opposite of nocturnal) then why is it so hard for me to go to sleep at night and so hard to wake up in the morning? | [
"There are a million possible reasons for this. Modern technology has done an excellent job of messing with our natural sleep cycle: you could be inundating yourself with light, maybe your sleep hygiene is bad, and maybe you are looking at a TV/computer screen too close to bedtime. Any of these or other factors can... | [
"People can adjust to living in a different time zone, and we can switch from working days to working nights with varying degrees of difficulty per person (but it is possible). To make yourself more like a morning person, you should go to bed sooner which will directly help you to wake up sooner as well. Do not tra... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Sleep and fatigue:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Sleep and fatigue:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What's the reason for censoring porn? | [
"I imagine that you are talking about Japanese porn? Since this is the only ones that my friend told me about that are censored. In the case of that type it has to do with the culture. It is allowed to make porn there that shows certain sex acts so everything is blurred out. This is the reason why tentacle porn was... | [
"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by the \"failure\" of Citizen Kane?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do potatoes continue to grow and sprout without access to sunlight, soil, or Water? | [
"They are full of energy (and some water) already. That's why we eat them - they've got a ton of starches and other nutrients. They're basically energy storage nodules for the potato plant in the first place. So they have plenty of energy with which to grow."
] | [
"The seed comes with whatever nutrients the plant needs in the correct ratios because the seed was grown purposefully to get the next plant started. And since the seedling can't get any nutrients unless it gets access to the sun, water, and soil, it has to grow fast to get the roots and leaves out, or it will use a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do some fluids like blood and egg yolk become solids at higher temperatures instead of low temperatures? | [
"Protein denaturation. Proteins consist of long chains of what are known as amino acids, these chains often fold into various three dimensional shapes because this gives them their properties, proteins are basically the molecules that do 90% of the work in your body and pretty much the most important molecule for l... | [
"Different liquids have different boiling temperature points. Many liquids would start boiling at lower temperatures. Rubbing alcohol has 82.6º C boiling point for example. This means the molecules would gain enough energy at lower temperatures to evaporate (become vapour)."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why is it when guys wear shoes without socks their feet stink, but women can wear heels, flats, and other types of shoes without socks and not have the same problem? | [
"If you think women's feet don't stink, you're sadly mistaken."
] | [
"Social acceptance. Ever hear an American's take on French women? Society says you look better when you shave your legs, wear tights and high heels! Also, some women do it for hygiene. Everyone sweats a lot from the arm pits, and if you have hair there, it sticks around and creates some BO."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
What happens to the shadows of airplanes and jets when they are 12 kilometers in the air? | [
"The light diffuses around them because they are far enough away so there appears to be no shadow"
] | [
"They are continuously moving, but with nothing nearby as a reference point and at a great distance, it is hard to tell. It's like how a plane in the sky looks like It's going real slow, when it's actually going like 600 mph."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How much pain can a single neuron send to my brain? Do multiple neurons need to be "activated" in order to feel something? | [
"In general, yes - a multitude of things must occur before you can feel something. There are an innumerable amount of neurons in your brain, so you can only imagine how many environmental, conscious, and unconscious things can trigger any one of those neurons to fire at anytime. If we were able to respond to every ... | [
"Pain is a projection of your brain on the body part causing it. This means that if it receives a signal from say your arm, it makes you conscious about this pain and the brain tells you that it's in the arm. Things can go wrong with this system though. Sometimes, the nerves that relay pain stimuli from one part of... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why can't they come up with a alternative to the tin can that would be microwaveable? Would food not stay good as long, or is it just not cost effective? | [
"They have. If you've ever seen a soup to go, after removing the metal lid, they're microwave safe. They tend to be smaller, single person serving sizes, and can cost more than double a tin can of the same thing. So, it's primarily a cost issue."
] | [
"It actually has nothing to do with the tech. You use normal microwaves in a commercial kitchen - it's entirely up to the quality of the food. Your meal would have been prepared that day (or immediately - not everything is nuked!) by someone who knows what they're doing, with OTHER expensive tech. The reason microw... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What specifically caused the failure of the Delorean car? | [
"It's engine was crap, but so was the stainless body which was impossible to keep clean, it was expensive, and slow. Basically, John DeLorean bit off FAR more than he could chew. The man was a dreamer with an inflated sense of self-worth, and attempted (when nobody else would, for good reason) to start a brand new... | [
"To be a little less specific, what did people think the future in general would be like before the Industrial Revolution?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why are new Stars blue/white and old stars red/orange? | [
"I'm not an astronomer, or a practicing physicist, bit I'm pretty sure it has to do with the levels of the energy released by the fusion reactions between different atoms. When a star is young it is comprised mostly of hydrogen, and when hydrogen atoms are fused together in the giant reactor that is a star some of ... | [
"People tell me that this happens to mine as well. Green eyes if I'm wearing green, brown otherwise."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do dogs have such unconditional love for us? | [
"Dogs don't have an unconditional love for us. You ever have your dog continually drop a ball at your feet and then start to claw at you when you don't do anything? Your dog is annoyed with you because you aren't playing a game of fetch with it. Ever have a dog grumble when you touch it while it's sleeping? It's be... | [
"If you want proof that animals have emotions, try owning a dog. A dog can experience happiness, sadness, terror, love, shyness, affection, loneliness, in the same way that a human does. You can see it in how they act, and how they react to you."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does the public vote translate into which Electoral Voter is selected? | [
"> Does each party choose their electors and the public are voting on which party's electors to send Yep, that's exactly what it is. Each party in each state submits a list of names prior to the election equaling the number of electoral votes that state has, and those are the people who cast their votes if their ca... | [
"It's the new class of Representatives, who are sworn in on January 3rd. However, each state only gets one vote. The Representatives from a given state have to decide among themselves how their state will vote."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the Read Option in the American Football? | [
"A read option play is a running play where the quarterback 'reads' the opposition's defense before deciding which running back to hand the ball to. This differs from a more traditional play where one predesignated back receives the ball and runs a predefined route."
] | [
"Only if the federal government let it. See: American Civil War"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do parents tell their child's age in months, rather than years, after they turn a year old? | [
"Partly because there is already a cultural bias with everything being described at parents of children at this age in months. Partly because pediatricians use months well longer than parents even do. Partly because parents often want to split hairs about how much more awesome their kid is than that other person's ... | [
"For legal purposes, you would become one year old on March 1st on a non-leap year. Which makes the most sense. You are always X years old on February 28th, and X+1 years old on March 1st, whether or not it is a leap year."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How come the extreme pressure at the ocean floor isn't making the water boil? (Like high pressure areas on land equals higher temperatures) I've heard the temperature underwater actually goes as low as 33°F | [
"There are two problems here: 1) high pressure makes water boil at a *higher* temperature, so it would need to be heated even more than usual to boil. 2) Static high pressure doesn't to heat up (compressing a low pressure liquid of gas to higher pressure will heat it up though), the water deep down very cold! And ... | [
"No, water does get somewhat denser if it is frozen at colder temperatures. Additionally many plants have chemicals and enzymes in them that lowers the freezing point of the water in their cells. So the water in them might not freeze until the temperature is 10, 0, or as you state -20."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do laptops and other rechargeable devices shut off when there is still 5-15% battery still left. | [
"I work in IT, and the laptops I've dealt with here at work will go to sleep automatically at 5%. I am not a lawyer, as the saying goes, but I've always assumed that it's a built-in feature so that your computer doesn't go straight to 0% and you potentially lose everything you've been working on. You've at least go... | [
"Modern phones don't let their batteries completely discharge. If they did, they wouldn't charge again and they would need to be replaced. I don't know the exact number, but I've heard that most phones will hold 10-20% of their battery in reserve even when at 0%."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
when you copy/paste pictures onto notepad what's up with the weird symbols that pop up. | [
"As you know, all data in computers is stored as numbers. That means that there needs to be a mapping between letters and their numeric representation. For a long time the usual way of doing that was with [ascii](_URL_0_). Ascii is a 7-bit encoding, meaning any character in ascii can be encoded with only 7 binary d... | [
"> I wanted to know if anyone knows why there's a black box at the bottom of the pdf file. Your .pdf reader is messing up, there is no black box."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why was the US so affraid of Communism way back when? What was there to fear? | [
"Because it wasn't always 100% apparent that Communism would lose the Cold War. We live after 1990 when USSR fell apart and the USA pretty much won the Cold War. However before that time there was no clear victor. If you visited either country it was pretty obvious which nation had the better lifestyle. The reason ... | [
"Just the US as far as I know. To the rest of the world he was just another dictator. Possibly something to do with the proximity of communism to the US."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What constitutes being unemployed? | [
"In the United States, people who are \"unemployed\" are those who are of legal working age and legal working status, who do not currently have a job, but are actively seeking one. If you've given up looking for a job, do not feel the need to have one, or if you have a job but are only part time, you do not count a... | [
"How do you define your hints of schizophrenia?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
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