query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
What's the difference between embryonic stem cells and embryonic stem-like cells? | [
"Embryonic stem-like cells (also known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) are cells that have been reprogrammed from other cell types to have characteristics similar to those of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). About a decade ago, researchers in Japan (Yamanaka et al.) identifies several genes that, when turn... | [
"They disagree with _embryonic_ stem cell research. This involves harvesting stem cells from an early stage human embryo."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
why does the zigzag pattern on packages (chip bags, chocolate bars,etc) make it easier to tear the plastic? | [
"It does two things. Plastic is made of very long stands of molecules called polymers, must like a fabric is made if long threads. It's just a lot smaller, and not really woven together (though there can be a grain to it). The ridges first benefit is that it removes support from surrounding polymer fibers. On a fla... | [
"They don't always. Here in the UK, both come in plastic bags. I don't actually know what you mean by metal bags as I have never seen this? We do have metallic plastic bags like [this](_URL_0_). . It's easy to tell the difference between metal and metallised plastic film. If you scrunch the bag up, if it springs ba... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do graphics cards use GDDR6 RAM but RAM in our phones, PCs, etc are DDR4? | [
"After GDDR4/DDR3, GDDR spit off to be a different style of RAM with different goals. Graphics memory requires obscenely high throughput, but some latency is acceptable as they're only looking to draw a frame every few milliseconds or so and all graphical tasks can go in parallel so the GPU tends to pull large chun... | [
"SATA isn't a drive, it's a interface used to connect drives to the motherboard. Your HDD and CD/DVD drive are connected to your motherboard using a SATA cable. There are also multiple versions: SATA 1.5 Gbit/s, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s, SATA 6.0 Gbit/s. SSD stands for Solid State Drive, it's like an HDD, but instead of a d... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why is it that when you fold and unfold a piece of paper, the crease remains pretty much permanently, but this isn’t the case for some other materials like fabric? | [
"the material itself. & #x200B; Paper is made of WOOD fibers. The same wood that your computer desk is made of. & #x200B; You cannot fold a piece of wood in half and then straighten it back out (not without a LOT of luck and determination and a ton of failures first) & #x200B; Fabric, on the other hand, is gener... | [
"Because the regrowth is not perfect, the body also needs to grow until its twenties, and because wrinkles are not affected by replacement. A wrinkle is like if you squished a cloth a bunch of times, it would have wrinkles and replacing all the individual threads of the cloth would NOT make the wrinkle go away, bec... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Science:"
} |
- Why does pouring beer or soda directly on the inside of a glass create less foam? | [
"It decreases the amount of agitation of the fluid because it falls a shorter distance as opposed to going all the way to the bottom of the glass. Less agitation means less bubbling."
] | [
"That is a myth. Beer will always go flat once it is not under pressure (keg, bottle, or can) so it will go flat in any glass that it is poured into. Now the kernel of truth that exists is that if you pour beer into an unwashed milk glass it will not form a good head. This is due to the fats from the milk preventi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How come kids are allowed to act before the age of 16? Isn’t this child labor? | [
"Child labor isn't inherantly illegal: it just has a lot more laws regulating it. You're allowed to work before you're 16, but what you can work as, how long you can work per day, and what specific workload you're allowed to undertake is a very narrow window compared to adults. Child actors are allowed to act unde... | [
"This is not limited to games, when was the last time you saw a nude person on Sesame Street? People want to shelter their kids from the world and then throw them into head first when they turn 18. This is why therapists are so popular these days."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how exactly do you “lose your voice”? Do your vocal cords wear out or something? | [
"So basically, when you lose your voice, the tissue covering the vocal cords becomes inflamed, making it harder for them to vibrate. This is why you can speak at lower pitches but not higher ones when your voice is lost, as your vocal cords can’t constrict enough to create the high pitch. Another way you can lose y... | [
"Had someone tell me once it's because your voice box is a muscle and needs to be stretched just like any muscle might when you wake up. Would explain any kind of vocal exercises for musicians though."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Wellness:"
} |
Why does fish meat need to be in ice all the time? Is there something unique to seafood which causes it to decompose faster compared to other meats? Chicken, beef or pork for example...are never accompanied with a 'put this on ice ASAP' type of label | [
"Fish are cold blooded animals adapted to live at lower temperatures. This means that their molecular machines are tuned to work at temperatures that would stop any mammalian ones. When we die, enzymes in our bodies keep working for a while, breaking out our bodies and making the inner bits available for bacteria ... | [
"Well to start with there are different standards of safety in each country. Most standards in western countries err heavily on the side of caution which means that food is generally safe to eat long after most experts tell you to throw it out. The time frame they use for those gauges is generally as soon as it's e... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do stocks and bonds benefit businesses? | [
"u/demanbmore and u/ooobs are both right. What I would add is more philosophical and fundamental: stocks benefit businesses in the ways they described, but, in a very real sense, stocks *define* business. The whole idea of a \"company\" is that a group of people can pool their resources to engage in an endeavor tha... | [
"Two main ways: - They charge you fees and interest to do your banking and loan you money - They invest their own money, as well as their clients' money, in everything from stocks and bonds to foreign currencies and venture capital."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Could you in theory stomp out a tornado? Just like when you step in one of the the small torrents of wind and leaves you sometimes see. | [
"You’d be fighting a game of “whack-a-mole” IMO because more would happen immediately after busting one up. The conditions that create them would have to be modified to make them stop forming, namely the warm air with moisture meets cold air and rotation / shear develops over miles of area..."
] | [
"Things that you can either sink slowly into, or crush your fists if you punch them. Besides having some funny and very scientifically special properties, those also got huge surface tension, this is why you'd be able to run on them if you kick hard enough with every step, but as soon as you stop, you'd sink."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do some electronic screens look weird at certain angles? | [
"Most screens these days are Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). It works by shining a light through a filter that only allows light that is twisted horizontally through. (Polarising Filter) Then there's a liquid crystal that either twists it until it's vertical or lets it through unchanged. Then there's another Filt... | [
"What the other posts say used to be true, but most of these landmarks and buildings have modern LED lights that have Red, Green, and Blue elements. As a result they can be easily programmed to be almost any color in less than a minute from the control software."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is some lighting not followed my thunder | [
"I'm not really an expert but I know sound doesn't travel indefinitely. And the speed of sound isn't really that fast. So basically that lightning is too far away for the sound to travel to you. There could also be other reasons I'm unaware of, for instance I have no idea if a lightning strike on the ground and a c... | [
"Is it possible to get a better picture with a little more light?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it painful to fully extend a sore muscle? | [
"So when your muscle is sore, that means the fibers that make it up are torn. That’s how muscles are built, you work out, tear the fibers, and they are built back bigger than before. So when you extend the muscle, you’re tearing more fibers in the muscle."
] | [
"I'm not a fitness guru by any means, but when you lift you tighten muscles and push hard. People might have to train themselves to not strain the diaphragm as well (the muscle that pushes your lungs). Sort of like training your pinky not to move when you flex your ring finger."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why are we much more sensitive to noise at night even if we don't feel tired or anything ? | [
"Perhaps because most of the ambient noise present in the day stops. The night is usually more silent than the day and our vision is also lessend by the dark, causing us to rely on our hearing more."
] | [
"Cats and dogs can hear a wider range of sound frequencies. That does not necessarily mean that they will experience noice to be any louder then what we experience it to be. Also, dogs tend to not give a f*ck."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Sleep and fatigue:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph about Sleep and fatigue:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do clouds look like they have a flat bottom, as if they have hit an invisible barrier? | [
"Liquids (which includes things like air when doing fluid dynamics) do not mix evenly like you think they would. They form layers. If you have ever dove down in a lake you may have experienced a [thermocline.](_URL_0_) The water is, literally, warmer on side and colder on the other. Stick your arm through and you c... | [
"It doesn't a rainbow is a full circle, you'd actually see a full circle if you were at a high enough altitude and the conditions were just right. Most of the time the full circle is just blocked off by the horizon."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Meteorology:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Meteorology:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
What is that "gulp" feeling like something stuck in your throat finally gave in when you're drinking water or whatever liquid? | [
"Your throat contracts as you swallow to help push down foods, it doesn't discriminate between food that needs to be pushed down and liquid that will fall down and contracts either way. The muscles contract and release all along your throat to push the food down...if you have too much drink or food pushing through ... | [
"You hold your breath in for a good bit when you go for a long few gulps of water. When you're done your body exhales naturally. Sometimes it's forceful enough to work your vocal cords."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Science:"
} |
Why does there not seem to be any solitary source for nutritional/diet information that isn't a wide variety of conflicting advice or obvious pseudo-science? | [
"It’s a combination of things. First, basic nutrition is pretty simple and everyone largely knows it. Eat more vegetables, eat less meat, eat less processed foods, drink less soda, that kind of thing. Those kinds of things aren’t very interesting to write about because you can describe them in like one sentence. Bu... | [
"Like most things in life, one needs to separate the _amount of noise_ from _actual population in support of a side_. There is no huge debate in the scientific community - it is in general agreement that fluoridation decreases dental caries and, when implemented correctly, has minimal risk of fluorosis. The same ru... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
What determines the color of a sunset? | [
"dust particles in the air scatter light based on the particle's size. Larger particles scatter lower wavelengths like reds and oranges. Smaller particles scatter blue light which is why the sky is blue."
] | [
"The sky is usually blue. Similar to a sunset, the storm clouds cause a small amount of red light to scatter. Blue + red = purple."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Where do herbivores get their proteins from? | [
"A lot of it that others are not saying is that herbivores eat a lot more food than omnivores and carnivores. This is actually called an [energy pyramid](_URL_0_) and is a pretty straightforward way on how energy travels around the circle of life!"
] | [
"They have the proper enzymes and gut bacteria to digest the plant matter and extract or create the proteins and other things they need. They also eat most of the day."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do women pregnant with twins or triplets look the same as women who are pregnant with one child? Isn’t she supposed to be twice as fat? | [
"The main thing is that most of the weight gained during pregnancy is not the child itself, but the body preparing for being a factory to build a baby inside of it."
] | [
"Human babies are born a lot sooner than those of other mammals (relatively speaking). If humans would be born at a similar developmental level pregnancy would take about 18 months; a woman would basically have to squeeze out a toddler."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Biology:"
} |
why does dust happen | [
"They are loose particles in the air that settle because there is no wind to blow it away. It's some parts skin, dirt, hair and other stuff that made its way into your house."
] | [
"how can people in a very hot climate practice snow sports?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are casinos considered the best way to launder money? | [
"Laundering money is done best in a business where people pay in cash. Casinos are almost entirely done in cash. Laundering money works best when you have enough customers coming in that no one could keep track of them all. Where you don't have an actual product that you give that you'd have to have bookkeeping for... | [
"Because the traditional, land-based casinos have very powerful lobbyists. They don't want people to gamble online, they want them to walk into their casinos."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why can't Youtube advertisers just choose what kind of videos they want their ads on | [
"The issue here is that in general, no advertiser wants their ads on the channels in question. Pretty much no one wants to go \"I'm going to advertise my product on a channel known for defending white supremacists!\" or \"I'm okay with my ads going on someone who uses hate speech to insult gay people!\" Likewise,... | [
"Most advertisements aren't created specifically for YouTube: they are intended for TV spots. They are simply shoehorned into the YouTube videos without much planning, and sometimes the product name isn't included in the first five seconds. Your question raises an interesting point, however: as more and more advert... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why do names have meaning even though they're never used conversationally for that meaning? | [
"Typically they are words from other languages, or from older versions of our language, so they had meaning in their original context but don't in our time and place."
] | [
"In English, when you say, \"What's up?\" you're not literally asking what is above the person. You're asking, \"What are you doing?\" or, \"How are you?\" Other languages do things like this too, to varying degrees. NOTE: This is an example of slang, but the same thing happens with non-slang terminology where what... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph about Language and Translation:"
} |
what’s happening in hong kong ? What are the protests all about ? | [
"The Chinese government wants to imply a extradition law between HK-China, so they can extradite people from HK to China for trial and sentencing. The problem is that the law in China is basically a joke; for example an artist has just been jailed for 10 years just for writing a BL (male homosexual) novel. If the ... | [
"A bad man from Taiwan fled to Hong Kong. Hong Kong said let's pass a law to send this man back to Taiwan to face justice! Then China said yes and don't stop there; also send back everyone who criticizes the communist party back to China to face justice as well! Hong Kong said no! But then the executive leader of H... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How do birds know they have to swallow stones? | [
"Birds have an organ called a Gizzard which people don't have, that is between their beak and their stomach. This organ mashes up their food and is particularly good at breaking up seeds when there is grit (sand) in with the seeds. The grit sort of acts like our teeth, helping to break the seed's shell. In terms o... | [
"They stop to roost at night, and they catch updrafts when possible. They fly in formation to reduce wind resistance. But the answer to your question really is that they do get tired. The weaker birds don't make it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are pharmaceuticals manufactured in a batch process and not a continuous process? | [
"They do it in batches in case something is wrong with it. Then they can recall the batch rather than every single pill. Occasionally there will be a bad mix, or they’ll use an inert ingredient that turns out to be problematic, etc. A larger problem would be if a person on the line while manufacturing that batch s... | [
"A simple answer is it is just a set of compounds woven together tightly into proteins. These compounds are generated biologically rather than in a factory. They are mostly composed of Alanine and Glycine which are major amino acids. This is called Fibron. Creating this on a large scale would be major expensive and... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do cryptographic hashing functions work? | [
"I don't know how to explain the alghoritm and proof in a simple way, but the method used by the hash functions of MD5, and all SHAs is the Merkle-Damgard construction."
] | [
"Outside of their importance in mathematics, they play a crucial role in encryption. Many popular encryption schemes rely on large primes to remain secure while allowing access to those that should have it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Mathematics:"
} |
How come if you hit a fly or insect with something 1000x bigger than it, it still survives ? | [
"A flying insect is light and just gets moved, the relative size has little to do with it. The degree of damage or not depends on the acceleration versus the strength of the structure. Insects have an exoskeleton which will move as a whole rather than a soft body like us where the shock wave of acceleration force h... | [
"Excellent description of flicking a bug. A full paint can is really heavy and when you drop it, it dents. But an empty paint can is really light, and when you drop it, it's fine. Same thing goes with living stuff but living stuff is squishier. If you drop a horse from fifty feet, it squishes. A person: squishes bu... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
How is the amount of people in crowds counted? | [
"looking at aerial pictures, you can make a box and count how many people are inside said box, and then if we assume the crowd is homogenous, you can multiply the number of people with how many boxes fit."
] | [
"Using the data from everyone who has a smartphone turned on."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What is unionising ? | [
"Imagine if you walk up to your boss and say \"I want to be paid more, or I'll stop working\". The end result here is that your boss probably fires you. Now imagine you get all your coworkers, every single one, to go up as one group and say \"We want to be paid more, or we'll stop working\". Your boss can't just fi... | [
"Maybe let's start with: what is ring tone rap?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do businesses save their computer files with underscores in the names rather than spaces? | [
"In the terminal, spaces are used to separate command line options. If you have a space in a file name, you can't use it as an option without putting it in quotes. The terminal is a place where you can type commands to make the computer do stuff. Some people, like [Strong Bad](_URL_0_), find this easier than using ... | [
"In Windows, backslashes are used to separate directories in file paths. On the internet, we use forward slashes in our urls. When there needs to be a difference, I don't know but there is one."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How does single use password work? | [
"Yes. there is a secret seed and an algorithm based on time. The whole thing is standardised (for compatibility). I'm not sure about the exact details, but first you agree on a seed (a long number, or a QR code you scan with your phone). At the time when you need a password, the server as well as your authenticator... | [
"Is there a revealed hash I don't know about to maintain integrity?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are most eggs, egg shaped and some eggs are spherical? | [
"'Egg-shaped' (ovoid) eggs have the advantage of *not* rolling in a straight line - particularly useful if you're a bird that nests on high ledges, cliff tops, etc - in these types of birds, evolution has had the effect of ensuring that only the genes of ovoid-egg-laying birds survive to the next successive generat... | [
"The white and yellow parts of the egg are nutrients. They are used to feed the embryo if it gets fertilized. They are somewhat like a placenta. Eggs from the store are not fertilized, though, so they don't have the whole cell, but contain only the female part."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How a gyrocopter works | [
"Falling is a relative term. If you get sucked into the air by a tornado, you're still falling through the air toward the earth, but the air around you is moving so quickly that you \"fall up\" faster than you \"fall down\". You're not wrong to think the autogyro has to fall in order to fly, but it falls in a very ... | [
"There's a massive underground reservoir beneath the gas station, the truck you are mentioning usually just tops it up."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does salt draw out moisture out of food? | [
"It's called Osmotic Pressure. Across membranes which are 'semi-permeable' -- that is, water can pass through, but not salt -- the water will flow through the membrane towards to the side with a higher amount of salt. The system is attempting to 'balance' the salt concentration on both sides. The flowing water dil... | [
"To prevent the growth of mold, mildew, etc. They absorb moisture from the surrounding air."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do lithium ion batteries in a laptops charge to 100% then uses adaptor power while batteries on phone don't? | [
"Two reasons, the practical being the most important case though Practical: There is basically zero demand for people to run a mobile phone, without a battery, in a fixed location. This is an exceptionally obscure condition, as such, designing a phone that would be in a case with no battery and get power direct is ... | [
"The AA/ AAA and other conventional batteries slowly drops im voltage as the battery drains it self. The 3DS has a Lithium ion battery that has the advantage of working at full voltage until the last 20% or so. Your 3DS only monitors the voltage so to it, a full and a half full battery will show the same voltage. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How does Microsoft and Sony compete with similar specs? | [
"They both have a similar release date in mind since you don't want to come out too far after your competition and 3rd party developers want to know when to start making higher end games. As well they have similar price points in mind as you don't want to be way more expensive then the competition. So when you comb... | [
"There is a very small difference ($5-$10) due to license fees. Basically, Xbox games are part of the Microsoft brand, Playstation games are part of the Sony brand. But no one \"owns\" PC and therefore there is no license fee."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How/why do certain TV shows appear more ‘polished’, and others more ‘live’? | [
"The main thing is that they use different cameras. Soap operas and lower budget shows use different equipment to shoot. High production value shows are done with cinema cameras and equipment, while cheaper productions are done with TV cameras. Back in the days of filming on a film, the difference between things ... | [
"The film and the camera are cheaper. It also creates a grainy, rough look that may suit their artistic goals of being explicitly \"movie-like.\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What exactly is a game engine, and why are some better or stronger than others? | [
"It's a framework, somewhere between programming language and development environment. Think of it like a foundation over which you build games. So instead of having to start a game with a blank page and having to write every piece of code for it. You have a basic makeup and as a developer only have to fill in the ... | [
"The iOS app market is more lucrative, so it's not unusual for apps to be written for it first. Yes, more coding is necessary to bring the same app to Android."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why can't phone cameras take pictures the way I see things at night, even though they can adjust for brightness? | [
"Camera sensors are typically not sensitive enough to pick out details from very low light scenes. Human eyes aren't well suited for low light either, considering that many more animals have better night vision performance than us, but we still have better eyes than cell phone cameras. There are cameras that are mo... | [
"They are dim, and require long exposures to show up. If you take a picture of the night sky here on earth, you will rarely get any stars in it unless you play with the exposure time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why does pressing clothes with hot iron works while using cold iron doesn't ? | [
"The hot iron also uses water to create steam. The steam \"softens\" the fabric, the hot iron presses it flat and dries any moisture left by the steam. Techically, a cold iron would also work, it would just take longer. Get the wrinkly spot wet, set cold iron on to keep it flat, the wait for it to dry."
] | [
"Why do I feel as though my bottles of water don't do this but instead just freeze normally in the freezer?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
why does breaking the sound barrier cause an “explosion”? | [
"It does not, if anything it's the opposite. As you approach the speed of sound the sound energy moving away in front of you doesn't travel far before the sound energy from your leading edge is added to it. It's a compressive effect that can damage the airframe unless it's specially designed."
] | [
"When you flick your whip, the tip of the whip snaps and actually reaches a speed faster than the speed of sound which makes a small 'sonic boom' and that's the *crack* that you hear."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
What exactly is radiation? | [
"Radiation, in the basic sense, is the transfer of energy in the form of waves or particles. You might then say \"But isn't light just transfer of energy?\" and you'd be correct, light is called electromagnetic radiation, just like radio waves, microwaves, and many other things. What we tend to talk about when talk... | [
"What's to explain? Why we have it? How it works?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why is the chance of getting struck by lightning so low? | [
"A few reasons: 1) Few people are outside during thunderstorms. 2) The Earth and the storm are huge and you're very very small. 3) Although lightning doesn't *always* hit the tallest object in view, a tall object usually is the lowest resistance path. That means lightning is more likely to blow up trees and power l... | [
"Super expensive. Waste of resources. Plus, the odds of getting in a plane or train crash are A LOT slimmer than the odds of getting in a car accident."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why do our voices change as we age? What causes the stereotypical "old person voice"? | [
"Your vocal cords create sounds by vibrating against each other, powered by your breath and stabilized with your torso muscles. As you get older the cords can become less flexible, dryer, and your muscles can be weaker at powering the whole operation."
] | [
"Several factors that mostly have to do with the shape of your body: 1) Length of your larynx (vocal cords). Men tend to have longer and more robust vocal cords due to testosterone. Just like strings on a piano, the longer the cords the lower the tone. 2) Shape of your chest cavity. Your chest cavity gives a place ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What's the difference between a number 2 pencil and a pencil that isn't labeled number 2? And if number 2s are almost always required why not just only make number 2 pencils? | [
"The number describes the hardness. Different numbers are made mostly for artists, who want different effects when they draw with pencils."
] | [
"It's not really an issue of whether it works, but of who is responsible in the event that it doesn't work. They aren't going to test their machine with every possible type of pencil. Even if they tested it with a variety, *someone* would find *some* pencil that doesn't scan right. So instead, they test it with the... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why is it so easy to fall asleep on crouch unintentionally than to fall asleep in bed intentionally. | [
"Great minds think alike. Ahoy, fellow redditor. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why do you fall asleep much easier on the couch watching TV (or anywhere other than your normal sleeping place) than in your normally used bed? ](_URL_0_) ^(_57 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why is easy to ... | [
"I was actually thinking about this the other day because I'm the kind of person seems to never get comfortable. I found out if you stretch and loosen up your muscles you'll have an easier time sitting still or even falling asleep at night."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do different emotions work chemically? What's different between a "bad" emotion and a "good" emotion? | [
"Valence is the term for what differentiates a good emotion from a bad, \"surprise\" being the debatably only avalent emotion. Chemically we tend to assiociate the release of dopamine with \"good.\" Serotonin seems to be more associated with satiation instead of happiness, but I suppose you could group that in with... | [
"Depression. Depression and anxiety have physical symptoms, some of which are chest pains/tightening in the chest and a lack of appetite. Basically, your body goes a bit haywire in response to the imbalance of hormones in your brain."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How did scientists conclude/figure out that the Earth's inner core is solid while the outer core is molten? | [
"The waves generated during earthquakes travel throughout the planet. If you know when and where the quake was, you can calculate how long it should take the waves to get to your monitors on the other side of the planet. Trouble was that the waves were not arriving when and where they were calculated assuming a tot... | [
"Earth's magnetic field is generated by moving currents in the outer core. In that sense, it's more like a gargantuan electromagnet than a permanent magnet. Moving charge generates a magnetic field, and the liquid outer core moves in circular currents due to the intense temperature difference between the inner core... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How animals can carry diseases but not actually have those diseases | [
"You do this too. You carry around all manner of intestinal bacteria that are kept segregated from the rest of your body. If they get into other animals or into places they don't belong, they can cause a serious infection. They'd rather just ride along with you indefinitely. You also occasionally carry around human... | [
"We can catch flu viruses from animals. Bird and pig flu can be passed to us, surely you're heard of \"bird flu\". Even if removed from humans, animals can continue to pass on viruses back to humans again. The common cold, of course, is caused by other viruses not flu viruses. Many viruses can cause typical \"cold\... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Medicine:"
} |
Why does head lice always spread in schools? | [
"Anywhere you get many people in close proximity, you can have lice infection. Stories from concentration camps show they had to deal with lice, soldiers talk about the issue and many other situations. Schools are just a modern example of many people close to each other in one building."
] | [
"Allergies happen in Spring and Fall due to plants blooming. Actual colds usually occur in the Winter because people choose to stay inside because it's cold outside. When people are inside, they're closer to each other. When people are closer to each other, it's easier for them to share germs, which is why \"colds\... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do things like marijuana and alcohol get consumed through the mouth/stomach/lungs and then have an affect on the brain? | [
"When you inhale, most of the stuff you're inhaling goes right into your blood. That's what the lungs are for, getting oxygen from the outside into your blood. & #x200B; Same with the digestive system. Your blood is what delivers nutrients to your body, so it has to get into your blood. & #x200B; Not everything i... | [
"It doesn't. The medication is absorbed into your bloodstream, and goes everywhere in your entire body. The only exception is that some chemicals can't pass the blood-brain barrier into the brain, while other can. But medicine that you take internally does not travel to specific areas."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do fruits and vegetables continue to ripen when disconnected from their branch/plant | [
"The ripening is a chemical reaction within the still living cells of the fruit, not something the plant is required to do to the fruit. The fruit itself can undergo the changes that are ripening."
] | [
"Depends on the plant and on the part of the plant you harvest. Fruits (like tomato or strawberry) and stalks (like celery) are still living tissue capable of performing their metabolic functions for at least a while. When you pick them you have severed the source of their nutrients and it's a matter of time before... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how a flyswatter kills a fly, yet leaves it seemingly unharmed. What kills the fly? | [
"It is about your perspective as a giant human compared to that of a fly. If you were much smaller, and familiar with the anatomy of a fly you would see the amount of damage done. In some cases, like if you swat the fly out of the air as opposed to against a wall, you are sometimes just knocking him out, not killi... | [
"It's connected to their innards and pulls out their innards when they sting something and then fly away."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When you get a cut on your finger your skin will usually grow back after a few days. How come the foreskin does not grow back after a few days? | [
"The body needs a matrix upon which to generate. If you have a cut on your finger, then the body has a framework—the finger, to grow on. But when you amputate a body part, it has no framework upon which to build. The foreskin is gone so it’s not going to grow. However, I understand that some guys do some kind of st... | [
"I lost an arm in a car crash and as far as I understand it, the doctor just sewed the skin of my arm together and then put a pressure cuff around the stump to stop blood from building up. The body is able to do the rest of the repairs on its own."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Biology:"
} |
How do you make an operating system? | [
"With great difficulty. You have to start with the hardware, will it run on regular modern computer hardware or its own custom thing? You write code that will communicate with the hardware in a structured predictable way (usually assembly/machine code). You write it in a way that it can store and manipulate data. O... | [
"How are you going to change the filter?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why do lips get chapped in cold weather compared to hot? Doesn’t the hot air absorb the moisture more? | [
"Hot air does make moisture move more, but that also includes nearby water sources, making the air more humid. The higher water content of the warm air doesn't suck from your lips as much as the very dry cold air. Plus, when it's warmer, you're sweating more, applying moisture more directly."
] | [
"Putting vaseline on your lips doesn't necessary make them softer(or hydrate your lips) so to say, but it prevents the cold/ wind from further drying them out. This aids the natural healing process."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why does shampoo bubble so much more on the second wash? | [
"The detergent of the shampoo binds with the oils in your hair during the first wash, resulting in a mix of oily detergent that doesn't bubble much. After rinsing, the next application will have less oil to bind to and will thus bubble more readily."
] | [
"Shampoo is much more mild .. Shampoo doesn't have enough 'oomph' to clean your body properly. Body wash, on the other hand, is too harsh you use in your hair on a regular basis. The whole reason Shampoo was invented was because regular soap left peoples' hair dry and damaged."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do we accurately measure temperatures near absolute zero? | [
"Short answer: largely with lasers. You have things that are easy to measure like Doppler and Stark shifts, mass/volume/density of a cooled cloud (shadow case by laser absorption) that all change based on temperature. Really, though, as alluded to by RRumpleTeazzer's answer, temperatures that low are more \"calcula... | [
"In terms of the universe itself, the temperature is around 2 Kelvin. This is theoretically due to the residual radiation/heat left over from the Big Bang. In terms of cooling something to absolute zero in the lab, it's not possible due to how heat engines work, using a system called the Carnot Cycle. The efficienc... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What does it mean to be pragmatic? | [
"It means that you choose actions based on their likely outcome, rather than as a matter of principle, ideology, ethics, or unlikely hope."
] | [
"What you're really asking is, why is aesthetic subjective?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How do bugs fly in swarms without bumping into each other? | [
"If I had to guess, they do bump into each other. Generally bugs or their wings at least are pretty flexible and bugs are also just really light. Hence I think they’d just bounce and change direction then keep going."
] | [
"Your depth perception is compromised when it's above the ground making it harder for your brain to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other without tripping. Edit: spelling"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Physics:"
} |
why does your skin turn white when you scratch it without breaking skin? | [
"You are breaking skin. Just the outermost layer of dead skin cells, so no blood is drawn. Those broken skin cells refract the light shining through them, eventually reflecting light out in various directions, creating a white color as a result."
] | [
"The white part is dry nails because it's not touching the skin and getting the natural oils. This is also why the white part turns translucent when you submerge them in water for long enough but go back to being white when they dry. I googled this a while back cause I was curious too hahaha"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment about Biology:"
} |
literally: What is energy? | [
"Energy is the ability to do work. It comes in different forms such as chemical energy, kinetic energy, or thermal energy, but what unites all its forms is that they can be harnessed to do work."
] | [
"I read this as \"What is an erection?\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why is wine best stored horizontally? | [
"To keep the inside of the cork wet. If you set it vertically, it will dry out and allow the wine to ruin."
] | [
"Alcohol doesn't necessarily get better with age. Many wines are aged in a process involving very specific environmental conditions before they are bottled, but once they are bottled the aging stops for the most part. The taste can still be changed through light, heat, etc, but at the end of the day if you had a $2... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Are vitamins a physical thing? | [
"\"Vitamins\" are just chemical compounds your body uses for various things. Vitamin-C, for example, is ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) and your body needs it for tissue repair and production of certain neurotransmitter chemicals. Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. Your body naturally produces 7-Dehydrochole... | [
"Vitamins E, D, K and A are fat soluble, so you need to take them with something fatty. The others are water soluble. Add that to the different effects every vitamin has."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do humans require a diverse diet and domesticated pets can eat the same dry kibble? | [
"Humans dont require a diverse diet, it's just we choose to eat that way because of the flavors....humans literally can survive by eating raw meat/fat."
] | [
"No they do not need to eat vegetables. They cannot digest vegetables. Their digestive tracts (enzymes, gut bacteria, etc) cannot digest plant matter and extracts all nutrients that they need from meat. That is the definition of Carnivore. Herbivores on the other hand cannot digest meat, for the same reasons. Omn... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do so many people with back/neck issues react negatively (more pain) to cold weather or being near a draft of cold air? | [
"Sudden cold can cause the muscles to tighten suddenly which is painful in itself but also increases back/neck pain if that pain is originally from muscle stiffness. Source: personal experience"
] | [
"A certain aspect of that is a myth. People often correlate things like not wearing a coat outside in the cold with getting sick, when the real reason people get sick in cold weather is from being indoors without proper airflow (because people leave doors and windows closed). Viruses thrive in closed environments. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What’s stopping other animals from reaching our level of intelligence where we have the ability to create technology? | [
"Intelligence is expensive. Your brain eats about about a quarter of your daily caloric intake. For most animals the added smarts aren't worth the cost."
] | [
"Humans are the only species who can understand abstract information. For example I could point to a door and tell you what is on the other side of it. You would understand without having to open the door. You would know if it was safe to open the door. No other species has this ability, yet all human cultures have... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do races decide the order of the cars at the start? | [
"The drivers do qualifying laps prior to the race. The better your qualifying lap, the better your start position."
] | [
"The driver is only one member of the race team. Running and maintaining a car that can be competitive is part of the overall race strategy. If your teams car slings a rod at the line, then you lose the race. Also, from a driver perspective, reaction times are incredibly important. During a race, the drivers first ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do movies go from the raw footage (film or digital) to 4K? | [
"With digital recordings, the raw footage is usually higher quality than 4K (IIRC, 8K is fairly common). For final release, you just render the video in the release quality and write it to the DVD or blu-ray (or digital download/streaming service). With film, we're lucky because film is actually very high quality. ... | [
"\"Dead Poets Sociaty\" were shot on 35mm film. Although you can not compare film with digital quality a 35mm film will have better quality footage then HDTV can provide. So although you may get some artifacts from the original film most of the degraded quality is from when the film were scanned and compressed into... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does a white flag mean surrender? | [
"Because it's a commonplace material that is easy to make out visually even during a battle, and that isn't used for any other military purpose. _URL_0_"
] | [
"In the real world why would anyone want to be a politician?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How does inertial damping work? | [
"Firstly, in the real world...it doesn't. It's a 'real thing' in the fantasy world (e.g. Star Trek) and a hypothetical thing in the real world. In the world of physics it's often referred to as \"intertia negation\", which is imagined to be a process functions the opposite of ballast. On a small scale we mute the ... | [
"Could you be a little more specific as to what you would like to know? How it works to facilitate the immune response? How it helps to circulate the lymph fluid? Something else?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why is zipper merging (when a lane ends) better? | [
"It's effective for the same reason stop signs are effective - and by that I mean it's effective only when EVERYONE does it. If everyone knows to let one go on one side, then one on the other side, repeat, it all works efficiently and quickly. But the problem is that everyone is kinda doing their own thing - and wh... | [
"The idea is that traffic should always be as right as possible. This has the function of separating lanes based on their speed, with the right-most lane being the slowest and the left-most lane being the fastest. This means that when you merge right to pass, you're very likely to get stuck behind someone going eve... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are women on average shorter than men? | [
"Simply put, your height is controlled by your genes. In men more of the genes that code for tallness are dominant. In women, more of the genes that code for tallness are recessive. So imagine a simple [punnett square](_URL_0_) for two heterozygotic parents. If those parents produce 4 boys: 3 should be have a gene ... | [
"Asian men are far less attractive to White women than Asian women are to White men."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
If grapes become raisins when dried, why does mango when dried, remain as dried mango. | [
"Well with plums to prunes it’s even weirder!! Grapes dry into raisins. When juiced we say grape juice! No such thing as raisin juice! Plums dry into prunes. However, there is such a thing a prune juice! How does prune JUICE exist if it’s dry plums? How can you juice something that’s been dried??"
] | [
"It isn't called plum juice because in order to get prune juice you have to make the plums into prunes first. Plum juices are not thick and dark like prune juice. Prune juice is made from prunes that are rehydrated and heated until the prunes more or less fall apart. Then the solids are strained out. The liquid tha... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What does it mean to say life is carbon-based? Are we literally made out of carbon? Could life exist based from another element? | [
"Most of our DNA and cell structure is carbon, yes. In each molecule of bio-material, a majority of what you are is carbon by weight. And yes, it is a theory that life could also exist based on other elements like silicon because it creates the same number of bonds in a molecule as carbon does, and so it would beha... | [
"At least for life on earth, most entities use water for most of our processes. Be it regulating temperature, bodily chemicals or lubricating our internal organs as the rub against eachother, water is integral to keep things in working order. Why? Is like asking why do we depend on the sun for warmth. Thats just ho... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about science:"
} |
how does the atmosphere hold in gasses. | [
"Gravity. The gas molecule has to be going faster than Escape Velocity to leave, otherwise it falls back to the planet. Sometimes though, a molecule gets hit by charged particles from the sun so hard that they reach escape velocity and leave forever. The Earth is special in that it's one of two planets in the ... | [
"Mars is only planet faurther out than earth that has a surface and it is cooler. Gas giants clouds have higher temperatures because of all the friction and energy related to their violent atmospheres."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are our teeth sensitive to cold but not heat? | [
"They are, but if you put something that hot in your mouth, you will spit it out before your teeth react to it."
] | [
"The menthol in mints makes your taste buds more sensitive to cold than usual."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Dentistry:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Dentistry:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Dentistry:"
} |
Can someone please explain how an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) works and how it helps? | [
"It is a program set up through companies to offer free counseling services to their employees. Typically it's contracted through a specific agency. Associates are generally given a set number of appoints per calendar year. It then is reported back to the company the person works for anonymously. The company should... | [
"It is against the law for any recipient of Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor under Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to discriminate in a few specific ways. It's possibly just a way to make their company look better, I don't THINK advertising it is required, but someone mig... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Can someone explain Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone’s injury, why did blowing his nose to relieve pressure cause his eye to swell up? | [
"all the blood in the nose immediately leaves and the blood that was going to go there goes no way I'm not going there because I just keep getting blown out (to stop blood loss) it then goes to around his eye & #x200B; “There is a communication between the eye — specifically the lacrimal ducts — and the nose,” rin... | [
"In his interview with Holly Rowe, he said the doctors told him the arteries in his heart were enlarged due to Marfan Syndrome. If he over exerts himself he could actually rupture the arteries and die. Yes, he's been playing for years, but he's still rolling the dice anytime he steps on the court to play at an elit... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
how do insects survive long cold winters, specially the ones with a lifespan of less than a week? | [
"If I had to use one word to describe insects, it would be \"adaptive\". Our resident insects are very well adapted to survive winter. In order to survive winter, insects push the pause button. During this pause an insect's metabolic rate drops to one tenth or less, so it can use stored body fat to survive winter. ... | [
"Their *adult* lifespans are short. The actual life span for cicadas is typically 13 or 17 years. It would be very difficult if not impossible to increase the life span of a cicadas because the adult forms do not have the ability to consume or process any food."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
how does probability work with more than one variable? If i make 25% of my shots and my friend catches 50% of passes whats the probability of a successful pass?what about more variables? | [
"1/4 chance of throwing a pass properly times a 1/2 chance of catching a pass properly equals a 1/8 chance of success. So this would be a 12.5% chance of a successful pass. When you have two independant variables you multiply them to get the final probability. [Here is a website that explains this.](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"No. If the odds of a coin flip are 50/50, then to predict that you will get heads half the time only takes math. If the odds on a roulette number are 1 in 38, then to predict that you have a 2.63% change of winning still only takes math. Predicting what will happen in 1000 coin flips or 1000 roulette spins is the ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How is it that Mitch McConnell can block any vote in the Senate, even bipartisan ones | [
"The Senate majority leader controls the Senate's schedule. If they don't schedule a bill to be considered, then it just languishes in Senate limbo. The Senate minority leader can attempt to override this scheduling power by making a motion to have a bill considered. If that motion passes with a majority vote, then... | [
"He is attempting to make a point about how serious he feels it is to oppose the Affordable Care Act, and holding up the business of the Senate, but other work can proceeded elsewhere and he is not preventing any votes from being held. This can not effect the Affordable Care Act itself, as that is already law. It i... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Does soap need to lather to be effective, or is it more like a placebo where when it lathers you know for sure there is soap present? | [
"Short answer is yes, because what causes it to lather up is usually the act of rubbing or intentional \"use\" of the soap. There is a process called saponification when a strong base mixes with fat it becomes \"soapy\". This is how early soaps are made: animal fat and ash. _URL_0_ Rubbing soap on the surface of wh... | [
"It doesn't (assuming we are talking about non-antibiotic soap here). Soap and water create a foamy lather that washes away layers of dirt and dead skin that bacteria grow on. You are removing them, not killing them. Some studies have suggested you get the same effect from water and rubbing your hands with out soap... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph about Science:"
} |
what is the difference between genetic editing and mutation ? | [
"Genetic editing is deliberate - someone consciously decides the outcome they want, and works on the DNA (adding, deleting or modifying as necessary) until they get that outcome. Because it’s intentional, it’s almost entirely positive. Gene editing can, for example, make an organism less susceptible to a disease, o... | [
"Pretty much all domestic animals and food crops that people breed/farm have undergone this kind of change. Often cross breading related species has speed up this process (think dog breeds). I would not call this genetic manipulation purely because that could lead to confusion as the term often refers to scientific... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What causes migraines? | [
"Literally anything. Headaches/migraines are super, super hard to diagnose and treat properly because we really don't know that much about the brain. Because of this, they're not really well understood and a lot of what we know is anecdotal. For example... Sometimes there's a genetic component, where they can run i... | [
"Do you have Diabetes? There is also something called Maple Syrup urine disease."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why electronics suddenly stop working | [
"The most common failure points is the solder that connects the different internal pieces of the electronics to each other. After too many heat cycles they can break down and can desolder themselves which effectively breaks an electrical connection. Depending on what solder point breaks it can range from behaving w... | [
"The worst is that they are defective, either catching on fire, or sending way too much voltage into your device causing damage. More often, the voltage may be a bit off, causing your touch screen to misbehave while plugged in. Good ones work fine."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
what do pharmacists really do? | [
"All pharmacists(not techs) have intricate knowledge of drugs and interactions. They go to school for 6 years to learn how different drugs affect the body and how they interact. They are incredibly knowledgable in how drugs work and how they interact with each other. The title of Pharmacist is not easily earned. If... | [
"psychologist. advanced degree in psychology. cannot prescribe meds. psychiatrist. degree in medicine. can prescribe meds. your results may vary."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why do the ads before YouTube videos never seem to have trouble loading but the video itself will barely play at 360p? | [
"Because they are on different servers. The video might be an obscure one that only a few hundred people will ever watch but the advert will be pushed to millions of people watching a multitude of videos so it’ll be on a better server."
] | [
"Most video players still let you do it. Youtube is pretty much the only one that doesn't. They stopped letting you do it because they're so big, people watch so many Youtube videos, that buffering every single video that anyone watches would waste a ton of their server capacity. If you turn off the video before yo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
What causes the tentacles of the octopus to still move after being cut? | [
"Octopuses have a unique nervous system - only about 1/3 of their neurons are in their brains, while the rest are in their arms. What this essentially means is that each arm has its own \"brain\" and can function without any input from the octopus's actual brain."
] | [
"Their limbs are hydraulic in nature and use pressure to move their legs around and to push them out. When they die and subsequently lose control of this system then the legs retract and they tip over - when you see a dead insect flat on their back you also tend to see all their legs curled up in their retracted st... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
why is it that some of us get tired throughout the day and when we try to go to bed our brain goes 100 Mph? | [
"Because of circadian rhythms within every cell in your body. Post lunch slump is common across all people, some people find a short nap in the evening then going to bed at midnight or 1 am is better than sleeping from say 10 till 5 or whatever. _URL_0_ As for hyperactivity in bed, you need better sleep habits. No... | [
"Feels. I wake up super early then can't get back to sleep. Next time when you get up try to sit in the shower for a bit, make some food and take some multivitamins + fish oil then put some calming music on and go back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. Personally the music helps me take my mind off trying to go over ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Sleep and fatigue:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Sleep and fatigue:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
what could cause my phone to completely lose its 4G connection at the same spot during my daily commute? | [
"One of two things. 1) The phone is switching cell towers and there's a minor loss of signal(sometimes due to overloaded switchboards depending on your carrier) or 2) the housing and shops have enough concrete and metal in them to cause a small deadzone. I used to work for Verizon Wireless. Its fun explaining why a... | [
"Strong signal means you are close to the cell tower - so there's one/some in the subway. Slow data means either lots of people are all trying to use the data at once or the cell tower(s) have a slow connection to the providers Internet. It's likely that lots of people are using the data as most smart phones keep ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
why do all solar planets rotate counter clockwise but venus don't | [
"First of all, Uranus also rotates the opposite way. Second, science doesn't have a firm explanation. In Venus' case, the leading theory has to do with Venus' thick atmosphere; initially, Venus shared the \"proper\" direction, but over eons, the Sun's gravitational pull may have caused tidal disturbances which even... | [
"a day is how long it takes to spin in one spot. a year is how long it takes to go in a circle around a star if the planet takes longer to spin than it does to circle around its star, then it's day is longer than its year"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
What properties does milk have that soothe the tongue/mouth after we eat something super spicy? | [
"The substance that makes hot sauce hot is called capsaicin. It’s a non-polar substance - that has to do with the distribution of electric charges in the molecule - polar means strongly positive on one side and strongly negative on the other, while non-polar means no strong charge in any direction. Polar liquids (l... | [
"Sour is acidity. That's literally what sourness is measuring. Your tongue/gums haven't been cut so much as chemically burned a little bit. Though you might aggravate it by chewing on your tongue perhaps giving you more of a literal \"cut\". Think about how the same chemical effect is burning at your teeth, and bru... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Most of not all of us prefer hot showers, due to it being more comfortable. However, same cannot be said said for a hot room to sleep in, which is labelled uncomfortable. Why is this? | [
"Water has a higher heat capacity than air and it also conducts heat better than air. This means that 70 degree air is refreshing for many people, but 70 degree water would have them shivering uncontrollably. The water conducts heat away from the body much faster than air (which is a good insulator) and it also has... | [
"Your body temperature drops while sleeping, your entire body when you wake up is at rest, so even if the temperature is the same as the time you went to bed it feels colder."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How does grass spread? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen grass seeds being produced by the grass you buy/plant | [
"It does produce seeds but we usually cut it before it gets to that point. Ever seen tall, yellowish grass? Or grass with sticky bits on the end or 'wheat-like' tips? That's the stage where it begins producing seeds and sometimes even flowers."
] | [
"Animals are a bit more messy than humans, they eat the seeds as well as the fruit. Animals then shit out the seeds somewhere else, possibly even farther than the plant could have gotten its seeds on its own. It's a really complicated method to spread seed but it works very well."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do instruments sound different if sound is just vibrating air? | [
"It all has to do with what they call timbre. Different instruments may be capable of playing the same note or pitch, but they all do it differently. Not only is the pitch (or frequency of the note) being sounded, but also other frequencies get sounded, too. These might be overtones, or multiples of the intended fr... | [
"Sound is a weird thing. Sound is the vibration of waves through a gas, liquid, or solid. When things move, they cause vibrations. Since water is a liquid consisting of millions of particles, one can see why when millions of particles move they cause millions of little vibrations. Vibrations = sound, running water... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How do common OTC pain relievers like ibuprofen, aspirin, and acetaminophen work? Whats the difference between them? What makes them unsafe? | [
"Ibuptofen and aspirin are anti inflammatory - that being said is that they reduced inflammation within the body, this in turn reduces pressure that may be pushing on nerves, reduce pressure, reduce pain. Tylenol or actaminophen is a neurological pain blocker, stops the transmission of the pain to the brain in whic... | [
"Cold/flu medications do not cure or fight viral infections like the flu or the common cold. They contain a pain reliever/anti-inflammatory which helps with fever and aches. They also usually contain a cough suppressant and the day time versions usually have some sort of decongestant. The nighttime formulations con... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do humans have better equilibrium when steadily staring at an inert object/surface? | [
"Balance is primarily controlled by the the inner ear however, vision is also used heavily to confirm what the ear is detecting. Closing your eyes for example, takes this confirmation away and makes it harder to maintain balance. If you are focusing on a moving object, your confusing your brain, your ear is saying ... | [
"Well, the density of humans varies from one person to the next, but assuming that the human in question is an average person (slightly less dense than the water) then a little bit of that person's body is going to stick out of the water. When a person is on their back, the highest part of them is their nose and m... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
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