query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
How are meteorologists able to predict the 10-day forecast down to the hour? | [
"We aren’t. They are computer model output, which are highly inaccurate. Any forecast more than 3 days out is still pushing the envelope on accuracy."
] | [
"It means that on others days in the past that had the same conditions as today, (such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, etc,) it rained on about half of them, and on the other half of those days it didn't rain. So because we can only predict future events based on the past, the best ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about weather:"
} |
Why do powerlifters get nosebleeds when pushing themselves in sets? | [
"There are a ton of blood vessels in the nose(hence nosebleeds to begin with). Lifting large amounts of weight massively increases the blood pressure during the lift, and those blood vessels will almost always rupture. It can happen in the eyes as well."
] | [
"Powerlifter with two world records here. When lifting extremely heavy weights, it's important to cushion your joints, tendons and ligaments to reduce damage. A diet low in fat (like those of body builders as they near competition) would not allow for enough fat to effectively do this. Also, when trying to pack on ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What is the constant beeping that we hear in our head and why is it prominent in a silent environment? | [
"I’m not sure about beeping, but in a quiet environment, you will always hear sound from blood moving through your blood vessels as well as sound from your heart valves closing while your heart beats."
] | [
"It's probably because you are far away from any media and alone with your thoughts, so it's almost like a mini meditation. It's the same thing as driving without having any music on."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Science:"
} |
how were the trigonometry tables for sine, cosine, and tangent discovered without a calculator? | [
"They can be observed by looking at physical shapes. There are loads of animated GIFs that show how they are connected to the physical shapes. [Here's one.](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"The used trigonometry. A surveyor would find a spot where he could see the top of the mountain. He would then measure the angle between the summit and the base. Next, he would measure the distance between where he took the observation and the base. Now that he has one angle and one length, he used trig to figure o... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
what makes car electronics last longer and be more reliable compared to most household items? | [
"Automotive electronics are specially-designed electronics intended for use in automobiles. Automotive electronics can be subjected to, and are therefore rated at, more extreme temperature ranges than commercial electronics. Most electrical devices are manufactured in several temperature grades with each manufactur... | [
"Some newer car do have this feature. The auto industry is always going to be a bit behind the tech industry in terms of computer control features. On top of that the average car on the road is going to be significantly older than your average tech device."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Technology:"
} |
How does a nose bleed? | [
"There are shit tons of tiny blood vessels around your body. Your nose happens to have lots of them near the skin. Blood vessel breaks, nose bleeds."
] | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
There are hundreds and thousands of pieces of space debris, most of which are travelling at enormous speeds, have huge amount of kinetic energy and ranging in size from full-on satellites all the way down to flecks of paint. How do we manage to track them all from earth? Please ELI5! Thanks! | [
"The thing about stealth jets is that they are specifically built to absorb or reflect radar at such angles so that the return signal is as small as if it was from a bird. Space junk isn't really designed that way/not made by design at all so they give a much better return signal. Aside from that, the estimated mil... | [
"Nope The US Space Surveillance Network is tasked with tracking satellites(active or inactive), spent rockets, debris, and anything else orbiting Earth. There are public ones that exist as well that track most satellites in orbit. If a missile comes from space it'd be pretty easy to track it back to which satellite... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Science and Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Science and Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why do sometimes when I'm almost asleep I suddently twitch or jump up like a madman and wake myself up? I often feel like I'm falling or I'm tripping and then falling and that's mostly the reason I suddently twitch, lile getting scared of falling or something. | [
"It's called an Hypnic Jerk, it's exact causes are unknown, although there are some theories but they're lacking any substantial evidence. See the link below. [Link](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"Iirc basically the reason most people dont sleep walk and act out all their dreams physically is because our body releases a chemical throughout your body that effectively paralyzes you until you start to wake up. Sleep paralysis is when the chemical doesnt go away when you wake up for a long while. So you just si... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What are the downsides of having a high ping? | [
"It takes signifficantly longer for the website or game etc. to respond to your input. Imagine having to send a message to the top floor of a tall building using the elevator. It would take longer for the message to arrive to its destination and longer for an answer to arrive at your place. The height of the buildi... | [
"I am not an expert, but my answer would be three words: high interest rates."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
the rules of ice hockey. | [
"Don’t be intimidated by all the lines and rules. Hockey is a great game. Watch and listen to commentary. They do a great job of explaining the game for newer viewers. When an official with orange on his sleeves (“referee”. As opposed to officials without orange on their sleeves who are called “linesmen”) calls a ... | [
"There is its called florescent lighting. Edit: typo"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Technology:"
} |
How did electron knows which path is shorter? (e.g How electricity will choose to flows through metal rather than wood) | [
"Imagine a huge crowd of people trying to get into a building with two doors. For them, the doors look identical, but inside the building, one of them leads to a nice, wide corridor, but the other leads into a tight maze. You dont know that one path is much easier than the other, but since the tight path is clogged... | [
"They do, but they don't really 'flow' in the way you think, the water flowing is a fairly poor analogy because it sets up our minds to think of electrons as if they are H20 molecules, but at the scale we are talking about electrons act nothing like liquid water. [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) They 'move' at about 1.2 inches... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Where did the cracking noise go when someone receives a text message? | [
"That noise was a phenomenon known as 'interference' which occurs when radio waves interact with eachother and end up distorting their respective signals. Advancements in technology have mitigated this effect but it can still be observed, personally I still get it with my wireless headset when someone calls my phon... | [
"You might want to provide a little more information otherwise the best anyone can do is take a wild guess. My wild guess is that it is because it is cold outside, wear gloves to prevent it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do bees survive if we keep taking honey from them? | [
"Think about honey as rent, we don't take all of it, just like a landlord wont nick all of your money if you have been a good tenant,because they want you to rent in the future."
] | [
"They think that some of the chemicals farmers use on their crops is messing with the internal GPS that bees have. So the bees go out to find pollen, get sick, get lost, die because they can't make it back to their hive. It is not a total everywhere problem but in certain locations (like California) many beekeeper... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why don’t electric car companies make the whole roof out of solar panels to help charge the battery’s? | [
"The amount of sunlight you receive on the car itself is too little to justify the extra weight. Here’s some calculations. At optimal conditions, the surface of the earth receives 1000 W/m^2 of sunlight. The best solar panels have an efficiency of 22%, so you can get a maximum of ~200W. A Tesla uses 566,732 W, so a... | [
"The electricity has to come from somewhere. The grid is built to handle a certain amount of people using electronics. Charging electric cars uses a massive amount of power. If enough people start using electric cars (~3-5%) the power grid will be overloaded and fail. Furthermore, batteries are hugely inefficient. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
The whole healthcare system in USA | [
"Hospitals have to provide life saving treatment to anyone, no matter their economic situation or their insurance. And even if you can not pay for yourself you will get a bill and it will get sent to a collections agency when you do not pay. The issue is that hospitals do not get paid for their expenses in those si... | [
"America has a health care industry - not a healthcare system like Germany or the UK. It’s a totally different beast. It’s a consumer product. It’s why Goldman Sachs is asking if healing patients is a good business model."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
When exactly did Canada become independent from Great Britain and how are they still associated with the British? | [
"On July 1, 1867, with passage of the British North America Act, the Dominion of Canada was officially established as a self-governing entity within the British Empire. The passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 recognized that Canada had become co-equal with the United Kingdom. However the Queen is still th... | [
"Canada and Australia are former colonies of the British Empire. Them as well as other former British colonies were given self rule at various times. Now all those countries are collectively known as the Commonwealth of Nations since \"British Empire\" doesn't really apply anymore. Most members of the Commonwealth ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Where do dinosaurs fit into the timeline of Christianity? | [
"It depends who you ask. Literal Six-Day Creationists will tell you that they co-existed with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Which... no, they just didn't. Christians who believe in Theistic Evolution still believe in the evolutionary timescale (they just believe that God started it all) and, thus, believe (... | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is Germany called many different names by many other countries? Do Germans call it Germany? | [
"Nah fam, we call ourself \"the Supreme nation worthy to rule them all\" Also Deutschland on the occasions we feel humble."
] | [
"The actually country is called the Netherlands, while “holland” is actually 2 states inside of the Netherlands called North Holland and South Holland. As for the dutch part, people who live in the Hollands are called Hollanders, but all citizens of the Netherlands are called Dutch ,because Dutch is their language.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
If the sun is hot, why is space cold? | [
"It's a misconception, space isn't cold, space doesn't have temperature at all. Temperature is the level of thermal energy that a particle have and oscillate. So stuff in space can have a temperature, but not space itself. And the temperature of stuff in space vary GREATLY. On earth, the atmosphere serve as a reser... | [
"The warmth comes from the sun. The longer the time with no sun, the cooler it gets. Right before sunrise is the longest period of time without the sun."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How do electrons know where to go? | [
"The same way water moves down a pipe: the forces applied to them make them move in that direction. But that's not *totally* accurate. While there is some electron drift when electricity flows, most of them don't move too far--the pulse of electricity down a wire is less of actually flowing electrons and more a wav... | [
"Water molecules are terrible at figuring our what state they are supposed to be in. They need some external influence to show them what to do."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why doesn't the ISS (or anything in space) cast a huge shadow across land directly beneath? | [
"In order to cast a shadow, it would have to block out the sun for some point on Earth. But it can't, because visually it is much smaller than the sun. [Here](_URL_0_) is an illustration of what the ISS looks like passing in front of the sun. Obviously it can only block out a tiny, unnoticeable portion of sunlight.... | [
"Either they're crazy or trying to argue with you. You can stand at some places on Earth and actually see the curvature of the planet. Not to mention, you know... the fact that we've been to (and still are in) outer space and are constantly videoing the earth from outer space. Also, the physics in our solar system ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it bad when people aren't concerned about the government / companies tracking them online? | [
"You having nothing to hide isn’t the point. You should be worried about the larger fact that your rights are slowly being eroded away in front of your eyes until one day you live in a society that looks nothing like the one you used to. The constitution is important."
] | [
"Because believe it or not it affects what goes on around you. The amount of tax you pay, the amount of social assistance, whether or not wars both foreign and domestic occur. Look at what just happened with net neutrality. Had that not passed your Internet could be slowed down considerably while giving corporation... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why are certain oils (jojoba, argan, shea butter) better for use on skin than others? | [
"Largely because someone decided to advertise them as such. There are absolutely some that absorb better or some that just create a protective barrier but those can achieve the same results. Most of what you'll find out there is advertising and company funded research. In addition to things you've listed you can fi... | [
"2 things: hydration and retention. When you put lotion on, the water (or oil or glycerin) in the lotion soaks into your skin There is another part, a fatty part, that acts as a barrier to the water evaporating off of your skin. Most lotions are emulsions. Some form of oil and water combination has been processed s... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How can a company be massively successful in one country but bankrupt in another? | [
"You make a company in UK selling apples. People in UK love apples, so your company becomes popular. You decide to expand to Italy. You open an italian franchise. But turns out italians really dont care about apples, they are all about pears. And your firm in italy just can't make ends meet. Different countries h... | [
"It can be difficult for a store to expand into a new market if already dominated by competitors. For example Wal-Mart is also notably weak in Minnesota, because it's the home of Target who already dominated the department store market. Some chains have a huge following in their home region but haven't expanded lik... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why do bugs like moths and flies love light sources so much? | [
"They use the moon to navigate. They usually pick some angle and keep the moon at that angle so they know which direction they’re going. When there’s artificial light, they think it’s the moon and they follow that instead."
] | [
"I often see bugs flying into our fire pit, attracted by it. Makes me sad every time. Perhaps you haven't recognized their actions because they immediately incinerate?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Science:"
} |
why did dial up modems need to make noise? Why couldn’t they silently send their signals through phone lines? | [
"After the connection is established, they would go silent. And they could be configured to be completely silent. But the nice thing about having the noise at the beginning was that you could tell when the connection had been established. There was an easily distinguished change in the noise that said \"everything ... | [
"The phone company can connect to a phone line, like making a call, but the connection isn't broken down when one side hangs up. It's not like what you see in TV, where they can seem to control the bank's internal phone equipment remotely."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do reverse gears on vehicles whine? | [
"Most transmissions have the forward gears cut in a spiral bevel pattern that makes them run smoothly and quietly, but aren't easy to mesh while turning and generate thrust along the rotation axis that must be handled with a bearing. Reverse gears usually aren't meshed until selected, which would be very difficult ... | [
"Those force your car to stay in a low gear. There are some times when you are going up a hill or driving in snow when you want to force your car to stop shifting. Those extra selections tell your car not to shift out of those gears."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Is there a reason why our bodies know when to wake up if you go to bed with a time in mind? | [
"The hour or so before waking up, your body starts to release adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). Normally this is dependent upon the circadian rhythm. However a [study](_URL_0_) done in Germany showed evidence that the release of ACTH is not confined to daily rhythms. They found that \"Anticipation, which is generally con... | [
"Days you don't work you likely don't have an alarm so you wake up at the correct time in your sleep (when you are ready to get up during your sleep pattern). If your alarm goes off during deep sleep, you will probably feel groggy"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health:"
} |
the science/reasoning behind contra-rotating propeller blades. Either boat or airplane; preferably airplane. | [
"There is torque from the first propeller which is cancelled out by the second propeller. I don't know if you have ever picked up a hard drive which is spinning, but if you have you would be able to feel exactly what torque can do. It can make things inherently unstable. So cancelling it out is a great idea, make... | [
"Two-bladed fans would be prone to a phenomenon known as gyroscopic precession, resulting in a wobbling. Any number of blades greater than three would create greater air resistance, slowing sucking in air fro behind and hence cooling air coming out from the front, thus becoming less efficient than a three blade fan... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does removing a storage device from a computer too soon damage the files on the storage device? | [
"Imagine you are drinking water out of a cup through a straw and pull the straw out of the cup mid sip, you wont get all the water out. Now imagine you have different cups with different liquids. If you put the straw in the wrong cup, you might get koolaid instead of water. No big deal. However, you could also put ... | [
"A lot of problems are caused by errors with things stored in RAM. Restarting a computer wipes your RAM, and reloads all needed files from the hard drive."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
If we increased the temperature of water every time our body got used to it, how high could it go? | [
"Just because the body gets used to it, doesnt mean its good for you. If you are in hot water too long, even if it feels fine, it can damage you. So you can put it as high as you will get before your body shuts down. Besides, eventually you will reach a temperature that you just wont get used to."
] | [
"Water conducts much better, carrying heat away from your body. That's largely how your brain decides how warm or cold something is."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Health and Medicine:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Health and Medicine:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Science:"
} |
Why do pregnant women get such bizarre cravings while they are pregnant? | [
"Experts are still working on it, but it looks like it’s most likely hormones fluctuating. Science does not support the claim that cravings are caused by nutrient deficiency."
] | [
"The butterflies sensation is caused by a lack of blood flow to your stomach. It is a result of adrenaline being released because you are nervous. Different people have different nervous reactions. I dont get butterflies, but my legs get shaky. Some people get sweaty palms. Everyone is a bit different in their resp... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
why would the melting water not take the space that the ice used to take? | [
"If you are talking about rising sea levels from global warming then the issue isn't sea ice its the ice thats on top of the antarctic archipelago, green land, northern Europe, Russia and Northern Canada. There is lots of glacier that is sitting on the ground not floating on the Ocean."
] | [
"Because the ground takes a long time to get below freezing; also it takes a long time to freeze large amounts of water just like it takes a long time to freeze something in the freezer.. Secondly, contaminants in the water like salt lower the freezing point of water."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do touchscreens and trackpads work with 'organic' materials (fingers, bananas, etc) but don't work with the majority 'inorganic' materials (metals, plastic, etc.)? | [
"Touchscreens work by detecting capacitance of whatever is near enough the sensors. They're calibrated to respond only to the values that are expected from human skin. The other organic stuff just happens to have similar enough capacitance to human skin. Metals and common plastics being aren't that close."
] | [
"They have two different types of screens. I'm sure someone else could explain it better, but the DS has a ressistive touch screen which can work with anything poking it, where your smartphone has a capacitive touch screen which only works with a conductive surface such as your finger or the stylus."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the post about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
How objects in open space get cold? What they transfer energy to in vacuum? | [
"All matter above absolute zero emits radiation. In cases of cooler objects, this is infrared light. Like how night vision works."
] | [
"Depends. If we are discussing infrared radiation, then speed of light. I.E. how the sun gives earth energy including other spectrums of light. If we are talking about heat propagation from say one side of the vacuum to the other, then zero since there is nothing to transfer the heat."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Physics:"
} |
Why do Youtube playlists always devolve to a single band? | [
"The YouTube algorithm isn't well understood by anyone outside of Google. Any answers would be speculation, which is not allowed in ELI5. Try, r/answers or r/nostupidquestions"
] | [
"A side question that I don't want to create another topic for. Why will a youtube video play and then abruptly end with a ton of time left to go?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Music:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Music:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why the push to stop female genital mutilation while male circumcision is still accepted as completely normal? | [
"They are anatomically similar in the same way that amputating my pinky and amputating my thumb are the same in that they are both appendages on the end of my arm. One of them has significantly more of a proven quality of life impact, and is guaranteed to have do so in a negative way. the other can have negative c... | [
"In the 1870s a few influential American doctors thought that circumcision was good for your health, so they endorsed it as standard practice on medical grounds. 50 years later, doctors figured out that circumcision didn't really affect your health one way or the other. However, circumcision had been the standard l... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Circumcision in the US:"
} |
difference between further and farther? | [
"Further is used in metaphorical contexts, while farther is used in more literal/physical contexts. \"I could not have been further away from the solution\" \"I feel like I have been drifting further and further away from my wife\" vs \"The two men were farther apart the next day\" \"The mountain was farther away t... | [
"It's the same brain pathway creation on display when you attempt to brush your teeth with your nondominant hand. You can do it but it doesn't feel right Your brain has long term memory that has pathways formed over thousands of repetition. When you change the game, saying a common phrase in reverse or using your n... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why is there such a significant delay when streaming live content online such as sporting events as opposed to watching OTA? | [
"OTA, you're looking at a continuous signal representing video. This used to be an analog signal, but DTV didn't really rethink TV, it just recoded it. Streaming is a sophisticated two-way protocol that automatically balances the packet rates so that they don't get lost or overflow queues in network devices from th... | [
"Chances are is doesn't. You may be thinking you are streaming and downloading the exact same thing but there is a good chance there is a difference. Also depending on where you are downloading said file you could see major differences. For example, most days I can max out my line speed on a 4K YouTube video and it... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph about Internet speed and service:"
} |
How does the process of moving a limb begin? | [
"When you \"learn to move your arm\" neurons in the brain are conditioned that firing certain fibers causes the appropriate muscle to contract and the limb to move. If you watch a baby, you see a lot of trial-and-error. Over time, the baby reinforces the right connections and gains control over the limb. It takes 1... | [
"It's a big system. It also carries a bit from state to state. Are you interested in the application process? Policy? Logistics?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How do sea turtles sleep? | [
"From the [Sea Turtle Conservancy FAQ](_URL_0_): > 12. **How long can a sea turtle hold its breath? And why do they drown?** As sea turtles are air breathing reptiles, they need to surface to breathe. Sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours, depending upon the level of activity. **A resting or sleepin... | [
"Because most people don't live where penguins live."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do cut apples, pears and other fruits become brown and mealy on the surface of the cut when left untouched for a while? | [
"Its because the flesh of the fruit oxidizes. Oxygen from the air interacts with the fruit. Its not unlike how metal will oxidize (rust). Oxygen is actually a fairly dangerous and destructive element. The skin of the fruit protects the meat from oxygen (among other things)."
] | [
"Fruits contain enzymes which will partially digest the fruit in a process called ripening. Ripened fruits have their starches converted into sugars, change colour as green chlorophyll is digested, and become as the structure of the fruit is broken down. All of these make the fruit nicer to eat. Some fruits (like b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What role does DHT play in fully grown men? | [
"Did you mean to post this in r/askscience? Seems like it would fit much better there, both in terms of the question and the answers you'd get."
] | [
"Because baldness is often related to an excess of testosterone, which is in turn related to a full beard."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
The role of blood in the color of our flesh and what would it look like if we had no blood. | [
"Flesh appears \"reddish\" in humans because hemoglobin, a type of protein, contains an iron component which to a greater or lesser degree acts as a pigment for flesh. & #x200B; Decellularized organs/tissues are \"white\". You might find this example interesting: & #x200B; [_URL_0_](_URL_1_)"
] | [
"There is on that I heard about where they need to remove all the blood in a patient's body in order see how the blood was affecting some aspect of the body that would have otherwise killed them."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why do some cities want to ban all diesel fueled cars, regardless of the fact Euro 6 diesels have lower CO2 emissions? | [
"There's a lot of other combustion products that can be more damaging than CO2. For diesel engines, one of the big pollutants of concern is ozone. Diesels don't directly make ozone, but they do make precursors like oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC's). In sunlight these can react and crea... | [
"The US *used* to have smog issues, but the government then put in emissions regulations. US emissions regulations (and, critically, testing) for the things that cause smog are stricter than in Europe; the priority for US emissions regulation is local air quality, while the priority in Europe is climate change. For... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What is the point of a journalist acquiring information 'off the record', if they cannot use that information anyway? | [
"Because they absolutely can use the information--they just can't quote it in the paper. I could, for example, be trying to tackle a major corruption story. Maybe the accountant I speak to doesn't want his name associated with the story at all--but he tells me, off the record, that there's an account at this other ... | [
"There is no legal requirement to report the location of criminals. Seeing a criminal and not reporting them to police isn't itself a crime. Reporters then can obtain interviews and write their stories without breaking any laws. Now how they get in touch will vary but presumably they talk to other people who can pa... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Law and Entertainment:"
} |
How do magnets work? | [
"Fuckin' miracles But seriously, as far as I know, it's the flow of electrons-- electricity-- through the bit of metal, causing it to attract opposite charges or electricity, and repel similar. The poles, then, just indicate which way the electrons flow"
] | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it easy to cross your eyes to your nose, but hard to make them move outwards? | [
"You can focus on one thing only. If you hold out your hand and focus on your finger - and then bring that finger slowly closer till it touches your nose, your eyes will naturally go crosseyed while following. But when you hold out both hands and hold up two fingers - you can't even start to get each eye focussed o... | [
"You may find this cool - it can creep people out too Try crossing your eyes and without readjusting your sight by focusing straight ahead first, immediately try to look to either your left or your right (don't turn your head, just use your eyes) Essentially one of your eyes is already looking that direction, so it... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph about Biology:"
} |
How do dryer sheets remove wrinkles and/or reduce static if it's just the small sheet? Wouldn't it not be touching all the clothes in the load? | [
"Dryer sheets are fabric squares soaked in fabric softener (either quaternary ammonium salts or silicone oil). As the dryer blows hot air through all the clothes and mixes them around, the fabric softener very lightly coats all of the load. This thin coating of softener gives the laundry the nice scent and the posi... | [
"Because of fabric softener. Fabric softener is what makes those towels so soft and fluffy. The way it works is by coating the towel in a thin layer of a special chemical. This chemical conducts electricity, so it prevents static electricity from making fibers from clinging to each other. That makes it fluffy. The ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
the magnetic North Pole is moving south at a faster pace than usual. What does this mean for our civilization and where is it going? | [
"The magnetic north and south poles aren't what you think. It's more like a bunch of small poles that line up to make one big magnet. The magnetic north amd south poles have actually swapped places numerous times in the earth's history. Other than accurate navigation, this will have little impact. If the megnetosp... | [
"If the earth had always been spinning the other way? Pretty much nothing interesting, other than the sun rising in the west."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why do buses not have curved windshields? | [
"Vehicles that travel a lot of miles in their lifetime will experience a lot of rock chips and cracked windshields. It is more economical to replace a flat two-piece windshield than a fancy curved one. This is why most semis, box vans, buses and utility/work vehicles and a lot of equipment will have flat windows."
... | [
"Typically, the rear door is obstructed by the wheel well. As such, there is not room in the door for the window to go down all the way. Some cars without that obstruction (SUVs for example) typically will go all the way down."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Transportation:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Transportation:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why do todays cell phones still use horrible .3gp (potato cam) format to transmit video? | [
"because the link is very low bitrate. Higher quality video uses more bandwidth that is not available over mms. MMS is a different application than say 4g which is data only"
] | [
"Gifs have notoriously bad compression, which means you're using way more bandwidth for the same image quality if you're considering 1080p60fps on youtube, for example, which has excellent compression."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do countries want to continuously expand their nuclear arms inventory when the use of any of them would cause mutual destruction? | [
"Because if you can both destroy each other no one wants to push that button. If the US could knock out all of Russia's nuclear retaliation capability in one shot they could easily win a fight. Same thing the other way. So countries build them so they have a bargaining chip in international dealings."
] | [
"Very unlikely, unless a terrorist secretly gets control of a nuclear weapon. Modern countries are too interconnected, economically and militarily, to risk an overt conventional war, much less a nuclear exchange, which would probably destroy human civilization."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do contact lenses stay perfectly centered on your eye and slide/rotate back into place after you move them aside? | [
"Your eye isn't just a perfect sphere. The lens is actually a bump out from the surface and the contact is curved. Staying on the lens then is preferred because sliding off would require pulling away or deforming the contact."
] | [
"A razor blade is used to cut a flap from the front of the cornea, with a hinge at the top. The flap is folded back and the laser beam carves your prescription into the cornea. The flap is then replaced and heals in a month. That's the basics. The reason they don't carve into the surface of the eye is (I was told) ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What is a Macaron and are they from a specific region? I’m from New England in the USA and I’ve never even seen, much less eaten one of these treats. I hear a lot about them, and I was wondering if anybody could explain what they are to me. | [
"Macarons (French spelling is used so people don't get Macaroons confused with coconut macaroons, which are different) are Italian in origin (I didn't know that, looked it up because I assumed they were French), but I see them all over the place here in Nevada and California. There's a great Armenian bakery that ma... | [
"It's not really sold anywhere and it isn't a cultural item either, so there aren't any parents making it for their kids or college kids getting it at a diner. I made it for the first time a couple years ago (I'm 26), just because I'd heard about it through the internet and I *absolutely love it*. I've mentioned it... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do maggots get into a closed container with meat in it? | [
"IIRC I took a course in college where I believe I was taught that meat basically has naturally occurring tiny little eggs in it from parasites. It's one of the reasons why eating raw meat isn't good for humans. Cooking the meat, however, will destroy these parasites/eggs and thus you have perfectly edible meat. Me... | [
"Because they've been treated to remove bacteria, which can grow by feeding on the material. Once you open it, you've exposed it to bacteria again. You can't get the cat out of the bag again.. wait is that how that goes?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How did early humans keep their teeth clean or at least prevent them from rotting? | [
"Our diets today are much more prone to cause tooth decay (a lot more sugar; things like soda really do rot your teeth), so early humans had that dental hygiene advantage. The earliest evidence we have of humans cleaning their teeth began back in 5000 BC, when people used their fingers and charcoal powder, kind of ... | [
"We're one of the few animals to eat a high-carbohydrate diet, a diet only possible because we grow grains as crops with agriculture. Because we eat carbs, we leave lots of delicious bits of sugar behind on our teeth for bacteria to feast on, causing tooth decay. If we don't brush, we can get painful cavities and o... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Dentistry:"
} |
How does a rice cooker know that the rice inside is cooked and automatically stops? | [
"Water boils at 212 degrees. The steam dissipates and takes the heat with it. It's difficult to get it hotter under normal conditions. There is a temperature sensor in the rice cooker that monitors the temp at the bottom of the cooker bowl and when it starts to rise that means the water is all/mostly boiled off and... | [
"The rate at which the pasta absorbs water depends on the water's temperature. If you add pasta to cold water and then heat it, the rate at which the pasta soaks up water will change depending on how much water you put in the pot, how high you turn the burner on, and other variables. This makes it hard to time it a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why are houses in the U.S. built out of sticks and thin wood? | [
"They don’t, and a lot of older houses are built from brick. Tornados are incredibly powerful though, and buildings of any material don’t really stand a chance. The strong ones can toss about cars and rip trees from the ground like it’s nothing. A brick wall has no chance."
] | [
"Middle eastern homes don’t have to deal with the snowfall. The flat roof also helps with collecting rain water. In places that get snow they have V shapes so the snow slides off and doesn’t build up on the roof and cause it to collapse. Thirdly is material. A lot of middle eastern homes are made of brick, with tim... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How do DNA companies determine what diseases you are prone to? | [
"They look for the most common genetic markers. of different diseases.They do this by checking a specific area of your DNA’s sequence; if the sequence matches up with a mutation that is linked to, say, breast cancer, this means that you may be genetically predisposed to the condition."
] | [
"There are genetic predispositions to cancer. This doesn't guarantee that you *will* get cancer, but it means that you are more likely to do so than average. So if your great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all died of cancer, you will probably want to see your doctor and think about how best to deal with your... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does thoroughly rinsing rice prior to cooking make it better? | [
"it removes the excess starch so that when the rice cooks it doesn’t become gluggy or chalky, and instead the rice grains are fluffy and separated."
] | [
"The reason being is pasta is processed and just needs to soften with little absorption. Grains on the other hand need to absorb liquid to become soft, but the can only take in so much liquid. This is why it must be precise with grains and not pasta."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why aren’t older gaming consoles emulated on phones these days? New phones have powerful processors/displays and should be able to handle NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, etc. right? | [
"There are emulators out there, as well as emulators for early PC games. I'm not sure why you think there aren't. The reason the original companies don't make the games again is that it doesn't make much money. So you have to rely on community programmers instead."
] | [
"Because compatiblity through emulation is difficult and almost always inexact. For true compatiblity you want the same hardware. The Wii was backwards compatible with the GameCube because the Wii was just a faster GameCube with more RAM so it was easy to just reduce the clockspeed to run older games. Other console... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Technology:"
} |
Why does the nurse look in the toilet bowl after you’ve taken a drug test? | [
"To see if you tried to ditch any evidence of tricking the test. They're supposed to flush it, not you."
] | [
"They defecate and urinate normally. Nurses use bed pans, catheters, etc to move the waste away from the patient."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it soothing to breathe in with your mouth after eating something super spicy? And why does is hurt more while exhaling? | [
"Cool air in. Warm air out. The same reason cool water soothes a burn and hot makes it worse. The air on your lungs is warmed by your body and isn’t as cool as the air coming into your mouth."
] | [
"It gives you the chance to hold something and breath without swallowing. Imagine if the substance was blood, poison, or saltwater: would you really want to swallow? By the same token, say your mouth is full of water and you try to breathe through your nose; do you want that water going into your lungs? It's all to... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What is the difference between Homicide and Manslaughter? | [
"Understand that every country, and every state in the US defines crimes differently. *Generally* murder is the intentional killing of another person with malice. So, wanting to kill someone and doing it. Manslaughter is usually killing someone without malice, such as through negligence. For example, running a stop... | [
"Can someone explain the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's, please?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Would breast feeding an infant from multiple lactating mothers provide the child with a better equipped immune system? | [
"Maybe?? But there are studies done on lactating mothers that literally show a change in milk composition when their babies get sick—their bodies instinctually change the makeup of the milk depending on what’s going on with the baby. So really, a mother in contact with her nursing child is going to provide everythi... | [
"Antibodies are only passed down to the next generation while the child is connected to the placenta, and to a lesser extent when they are nursing. Once nursing has ended the infant uses its own immune system. Now there are genetic factors that may have aided in surviving a disease such as the Spanish Flu or Black... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Biology:"
} |
The differing stages of cancer | [
"Stage I means the cancer is small and only in one area. Stage II & III means that it has grown, and now occupies a large area. Stage IV means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, and it becomes very difficult to treat."
] | [
"Improvements in detection, reduction of more lethal conditions, and environmental factors."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Can some one tell me how compound interest works? | [
"Compound interest is a simple concept. Suppose you have 10% interest on $100, that is $10. Another 10% interest would be another $10 so after two cycles you owe $120. But *compound* interest is interest which applies to everything you owe. So 10% interest on $100 is $10 so you now owe $110, and then another 10% in... | [
"What do you mean? Your question needs to be a bit more specific. Are you asking what it is? Or how it's set? Or how the payments are made?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
does the North Pole move? | [
"The geographic north pole (the top of the world) is fixed. The magnetic north pole on the other hand is moving. Compasses don't point to the geographic north pole, instead they point to a spot known as the magnetic north pole which is currently in the far north of Canada and is in fact moving towards Siberia. Furt... | [
"Tough question, might as well ask: What is love?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Science:"
} |
does smoking the glucose in marijuana count as sugar intake for the sake of diabetes? | [
"Sugar is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. In each molecule of table sugar there are: 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms. So when burnt it turns into carbon, like in a chimney."
] | [
"Because sugar is cheap, addictive, and easy to manufacture. Sweeteners dont have the addictibe quality that manufacturers of food products want. Also sweeteners may not be healthier, we dont really know the long term affects such as the links to asthma, cancer, allergies, mihranes etc."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What are the main theories for what happens when the universe is overly expanded? | [
"One theory regarding this has been dubbed the Big Freeze. Whether the Universe will continue to expand or if it will ever stop or even reverse is unknown. There are variations of this but one theory is that eventually the Universe will become so large that even light won't able to travel fast enough to reach anyth... | [
"Because it's a theory on the initial expansion and afterwards. It's not a theory on what happened, if there was, beforehand. The same how the Theory of Evolution is about how life changes and not how life was created in the first place. Plus there wouldn't have been a big ball of gas before the Big Bang anyway. T... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about science:"
} |
Why is Britain leaving the EU? | [
"The people voted for it. There was a referendum and that's what was voted for. It wasn't legally binding, but it indicated that's what people wanted. Common reasons given for wanting to leave were control of immigration and for preventing the EU from being able to impose laws and regulations on Britain. I personal... | [
"One of these is not like the others."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Could air get in the body during surgery? | [
"Yea it does, very often. And it doesn’t have have any negative effects in of itself. It can feel a bit weird for a while, but the gasses will eventually be reabsorbed by the body."
] | [
"What if you were wearing a sealed helmet with oxygen supply and no way for air to escape the helmet. What would happen to your body?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph about Science:"
} |
How is a Disney/Fox merger *not* a violation of anti-trust laws? | [
"Because the combined company still isn't anywhere close to being the only media conglomerate. Warner Bros is still a thing."
] | [
"It is not illegal to have a monopoly. What is illegal is to use your monopoly in certain specific ways to stifle competition. So long as Comcast and AT & T don't do that, they do not violate the anti-trust act."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it when you get up fast and blood rushes to your head, your vision goes dark for a moment? | [
"When you stand up quickly, blood rushes *away* from your head, leaving your brain short of nutrients and oxygen. Complex tasks, like vision processing, tend to suffer first. Why does the blood rush away? As your head, at the top of your body, accelerates upwards, fluids tend to take a short while to catch up, simp... | [
"Alcohol is a depressant to your nervous system so it dulls all your senses. Similar to if you bump into something while drunk, you don’t feel it until the next day, or why your vision gets blurry while drinking."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer about Science:"
} |
What exactly is happening when a computer starts getting file corruptions to the point where it's doomed towards total failure? | [
"Generally, in a HDD, it's due to mechanical failure. The drive is structured by its smallest units of storage called sectors, when it experiences a mechanical error in one of those sectors, the sector is beyond repair and referred to as a bad sector. The bad sectors are marked to be skipped, and remapped into spar... | [
"It would be a problem if you couldn't. Imagine you're stuck in an update (common in Windows 10 now). Eventually you'll have to use your computer again, but if you had no way to force restart by forcing shutdown first, you've essentially bricked your computer. Operating system updates have become far more robust ov... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Technology:"
} |
Why would jumping at the point of impact in a falling elevator not actually save you? | [
"Because if an elevator is falling fast enough to kill you, you won't be able to generate enough force with your jump to save yourself. Jumping would slightly lessen the impact, but not enough to survive. _URL_0_"
] | [
"If you had the thighs of gods and can jump at unhuman speeds, maybe. For the rest of us, no. The momentum change from jumping won't make a difference."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Physics:"
} |
Why do coughs happen during sleep and not sneezes? | [
"You're on the right track. You sneeze when an *external* irritant enters your nose. However, the neurotransmitters that send signals to the brain in order to initiate a sneeze are shut down during REM sleep. Also, because of reduced movement, you don't encounter as many particulates in the air. You can sneeze if t... | [
"It's called a Hypnic Jerk. There are a wide range of potential causes, including anxiety, caffeine, stress and strenuous activities in the evening. However, most hypnic jerks occur essentially randomly in healthy people"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Health and Wellness:"
} |
Why does the skin turn red when it gets hit or when your hand warm up after they have bin cold? | [
"It causes increased blood flow to the area, turning it a deeper, fuller colour. Similar to how your hand becomes red when you swing your arm round really fast, because centrifugal forces pull the blood"
] | [
"Probably because you are not used to the way your hair follicles feel when the hairs press against things, such as when you sleep at night. It can make them sensitive, but only at first!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why does inbreeding result in deformities and/or mutations? | [
"Inbreeding doesn't result in mutations it just allows existing mutations to become common. Many genes that cause deformities are recessive genes so unless both parents have the same genes then the potential deformity won't show, when you inbreed then both parents are likely to be carrying the gene and pass on to t... | [
"A horse and a donkey mating produces *mules*. Surely you have heard of mules. Most species cannot interbreed due to different chromosome count, unpaired chromosomes, or cellular chemistry (sperm needs very specific chemical signals from an egg cell). Cow and goats are not closely related and cannot interbreed. Goa... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are some smokers able to live to a very old age? | [
"Because smoking isn't the garunteed cancer death that people seem to believe it is. Smoking will not give you cancer; smoking will *dramatically* increase the odds of you getting cancer. That may not seem like a very large distinction, but I assure you it is."
] | [
"That is oversimplifying it. Having a healthy lifestyle won't directly make you live longer. It will simply reduce your chances of getting diseases that shorten your life e.g diabetes, heart disease. Hawking has been quite lucky to live this long with ALS."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why couldn't all of the vast improvements in technology happen decades ago? | [
"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."
] | [
"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 question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
difference (if any) between tinfoil and aluminum foil, and if they are different, which is correct? | [
"Tin foil = Made of Tin Aluminium foil = Made of aluminium People still call A.foil T.foil, simply because that's what they were used to, actual tin foil has fallen out of use since WWII."
] | [
"1 they are cloths with a far higher surface area than more common ones 2 the surface area means holding more water and particles, so you can clean more easily. All are synthetic, and high quality ones can be squeezed almost completely dry as well. 3 no they are not the same. oh I don't know about brands 4 for most... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why does it feel good to rub your eyes when they hurt? | [
"Rubbing stimulates the eyes' glands (lacrimal glands), which creates lubrication and gives some relief. And there's more than just the feeling of an itch vanquished, pressure on the eyes actually stimulates the vagus nerve. This nerve is linked to your heart and slows it's heart rate down. This makes you sleep unl... | [
"Why do the glands in my neck burn like high hell when I'm holding back tears?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Jacques Derrida's "Differance" | [
"Whether or not it is revolutionary is a matter of interpretation (Derrida owed mich to Saussure in this regard) and, as usual with Derrida, ELI5 explanations dont get us very far (his work is so complex that I'm not sure anyone understands it, only claims to!) but the basic idea is that words as concepts have mean... | [
"Are you thinking of Alexis de Tocqueville's *Democracy in America*? _URL_0_"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Archiving:"
} |
Why is there Men and Women's separate Chess Divisions? | [
"There aren't separate men's and women's chess divisions. There are chess tournaments for everyone, and chess tournaments only for women. Women are allowed to play in both. Because there aren't many women playing chess in general, and because women pretty much never win the \"for everyone\" tournaments, women-only ... | [
"Where do you mean? Europe? The US? Middle East? Africa? Eastern Asia?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why aren't bedbugs endemic (...at least in the UK)? | [
"Bedbugs are a more prominent issue in warmer climates rather then colder climates. For example New York tends to have less bed bugs then Atlanta. It is not necessarily that they do not handle the cold but they do not spread as fast in the cold as in the heat. Bedbugs are a problem in the entire world though as hum... | [
"It has to do with buildings being hot and sweaty and poorly ventilated during the summer. Completely an urban thing -- nothing to do with agriculture. Edit: It may have started as an agricultural thing, but as soon as school schedules became synchronized (no more rural schoolhouses), that went out the window. It's... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Education:"
} |
How do light and heat always come together | [
"Heat is merely light at a longer wavelength than we can see. In other words it's just another form of electromagnetic wave. The visible light spectrum runs from red to violet. Heat is just outside this range at the red end, hence we call it _infrared_ radiation. Things like sunlight have a wide spectrum of electro... | [
"If a wall is solid, how can you hear a noise from the other side? Energy can still get through the dead cells to the nerves that respond to that energy."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Science:"
} |
Explain entropy, what it is physically and how it can be used? Are there other parameters in science that are similar and that might help us understand? | [
"Entropy isn't a 'thing' in the sense of forces, matter or energy. Essentially it's a measure of how much randomness and disorder there is in the universe. Brian Cox did a wonderful ELI5 type explanation of it in the TV show \"Wonders of the universe\". Here's a clip of the relevant bit- _URL_0_"
] | [
"Equations for what, exactly? What do they describe, how did you come up with them? To have value an equation have to come from somewhere, describe something new and interesting and so on. So if it doesn't describe anything particular, then it is for sure not worth much, and if it does describe something, well then... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are there so many countries that have the word Guinea in them and no association to Guinea Pigs? | [
"Etymologists dispute the earliest origins of the word “Guinea”. Some trace it to a word in Tuareg, a Berber language, for black people: aginaw. Others think it originally referred to Djenné, a trading city in modern-day Mali. In the 15th century, Portuguese sailors used “Guiné” to describe an area near what is tod... | [
"It's not the same thing. England is a country. The United Kingdom is a country made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Britain and Great Britain is the island on which England, Scotland and Wales is on. You've basically asked the equivalent of asking an American why the US has so many different n... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument about Geography:"
} |
What's the difference between CS (Computer Science), CIS (Computer Information Science, and IT (Information Technology? | [
"Computer Science in essence is academic, research focused, scientific. It concerns studies of AI algorithms, network protocols, security research, ... Not many people who study CS continue in this theoretical field, since the demand for practical applications is enormous. CIS is the part of CS that deals with inf... | [
"Associate's Degree: 2 years Bachelor's Degree: 4 years Master's Degree: Bachelor's + 2 years Doctoral/Ph.D: Bachelor's + 4-6 years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why is it easy to hear someone talking outside when you’re in a car but hard to hear someone inside talking when you’re outside the car? | [
"I’d assume when you’re outside you’re battling more things to be heard (wind/weather/cars) so you naturally talk louder at a point you can be heard from within a nearby vehicle When you’re inside a car your windows and such block out most of this noise pollution or atleast reduce it so you’re not shouting to each ... | [
"Distance isn't the issue, noise is. When you receive the signal you are also picking up noise, as long as the signal is a lot stronger than the noise you can hear it clearly, but the further away it is, the quieter it is, and the harder it is to understand against the noise Consider standing next to someone talkin... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about aviation:"
} |
What is particle physics? | [
"Particle physics is the branch of physics that investigates the smallest components of matter and energy. Every piece of matter in the universe is made up of atoms. Inside those atoms are electrons, protons and neutrons. Inside of the protons and neutrons are various kinds of quarks. Particle physicists explore t... | [
"The things that are touching get tangled. ELI25 Version: Pursue a Ph.D. in Material Science...we still don't have all of the answers."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies bicker over jurisdiction rather than just collaborating. Don't they all want the same thing - justice? | [
"They do, but who dispenses that justice matters. Every agency has to fight for tax dollar funding. If a good case comes your way, then you want to be the agency that \"solves\" it because it is something you can tout when you are arguing for more budget next year; a police department that solves a few high profile... | [
"They aren't just going to let them get away. But most police departments have policies in regards to police chases to help mitigate risk."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How come Jewish people don't have darker complexions? | [
"Some do - they're called [Sephardi](_URL_0_) Jews. You're thinking of [Ashkenazi](_URL_1_) Jews - who trace their roots back to Eastern Europe. Jews are an ethnoreligious group. Essentially, a tribe. There are a few ethnic groups that make up this tribe. Ashkenazi is the largest of these ethnic groups (about 75%... | [
"Why are noses different in size, why are people different heights, why do we have different hair colors?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:"
} |
Why are all taxes on income and gains not taxed at the point of being earned, placing the burden on corporations and reducing both the stress on individuals and the potential for loophole-seeking? | [
"Under current law, your employer isn't obligated to find out what income you are earning besides that job, and without that information, they can't precisely and accurately pay your income taxes for you."
] | [
"It is mostly irrelevant to the economy. However making charitable donations tax deductible will tend to increase the amount of donations to charities which can benefit the society, but at the cost of reduced tax revenue which in turn will either limit government projects (unlikely) or simply shift tax burdens into... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What does 'Cognitive Bias' actually mean? | [
"In a nutshell, A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgments that people make. Some of these biases are related to memory. The way you remember an event may be biased for a number of reasons and that in turn can lead to biased thinking and decision-making. If you had t... | [
"Can someone explain the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's, please?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do Anti-depressants work? | [
"Disclaimer: I am neither a doctor nor a scientist; I am just a relatively intelligent layman with a strong interest in figuring this out. After a lot of reading and talking with experts, the honest short answer appears to be \"we don't know\". Which is why antidepressants work for only some people some of the time... | [
"Can someone explain the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's, please?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is the "Federal Universal Service Charge" on my AT & T bill so different per line? One line its $1.09 and the next line its $19.20? | [
"Looking at your bill, you should see that the line with the higher fee is the line your carrier bills your plan to, if your other lines are sharing. The fee is a percentage of the bill so different bills cause different fees."
] | [
"It's not just taxes, it's taxes and \"carrier imposed fees\" -- which include things like fuel surcharges. For example, a flight I will be taking soon has this breakdown: Taxes/Carrier Imposed Fees: $534.60 USD Taxes: $127.20 USD Carrier-Imposed Fees: $407.40 USD I mentioned fuel surcharges. Know which airline is ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why most of ancient findings, buildings, fossils etc. are found under ground? Do they sink or the Earth gets bigger? | [
"It's more to the point that most things that survive that long and need to be found survive *because* they are buried. The things that aren't buried are either a) found very quickly/easily, or b) decay or are destroyed by activity on the surface."
] | [
"Well who would disturb them? Fossil fuels and fossils are more often than not pretty deep in the ground where nobody but humans and our technology can get at them. If you're referring to geological events disturbing them, they certainly do. There are deep sea fossils on the tops of mountains because they were dist... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
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