query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Why does it snow even though it is 34-35 degrees? | [
"Because while it's 34 degrees on the ground, it's colder a few thousand feet up, and that's where the snow forms."
] | [
"That's just an average. As a comparative, this year's earth's average is 33.56 °F (0.87 °C). Barely above water freezing point. A few decades ago this number was below freezing. A summer day on Mars may get up to 70 °F (20 °C) near the equator. Warm enough for liquid water, with or without salts."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it that before attempting to stop an addiction, the addicted will often binge on the substance? | [
"The mindset is something like the abused substance will no longer exist after quitting, will no longer be an option, so we try to get as much in as possible before the tap is theoretically cut off for good. Kinda like getting two McRibs the day before they discontinue. I don't believe there is a widely accepted te... | [
"People with addictive tendencies will easily swap out one addiction for another. The parts of the brain that participate in the addiction feedback loop are mostly the same for a wide variety of substances, and we already know his is wired for addiction. He wasn't addicted to alcohol specifically, but as a former d... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does Japan have such an efficient railway system? | [
"Some of it is a cultural component. The Japanese place a high degree on efficiency and technology. To them any delay is unacceptable and they the people who run the trains know this. So they must adhere to the standards of Japanese culture and be as efficient and on time as possible. Japan's use of technology is u... | [
"Why weren't they in the market before? Too costly, or was it another concern?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
why it seems to be nearly impossible for plastic surgery to make someone look genuinely 20+ years younger. | [
"Real young is a lot more complicated and subtle than making a doll face. They can't exactly figure it out, but it's noticeable in the result. Kinda like real/artificial vanilla extract. There's trace amounts of many chemicals in real vanilla extract that chemists can't really tell all of the chemicals, but in the... | [
"Society seems to have an ideal age to look like (somewhere around 21-25), and everyone is always trying to look as close to that age as possible. Asking someone their age destroys any and all effort they've put into that attempt to appear closer to that ideal age."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How did freshwater fish species end up across thousands of non-connected lakes across huge regions and sometimes over multiple continents? | [
"Hurricanes can grab fish and deposit them in another pond. Floods can connect two lakes. A drought may separate a lakes. Animals may carry fish or their eggs around."
] | [
"There's more evidence than just looking at drift and coastline shapes. There are fossils of identical species on distant continents, showing that they were once close together. In addition, there is geological evidence such as identical rock layers on distant coasts."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why do refrigerators come with interior lights but freezers don't? | [
"People generally go into their fridge much more often than they go into their freezer. I don't know what else to say, but I feel like I need to type more so this isn't automatically removed."
] | [
"Your freezer is colder than the freezer at the store. The ice cream is able to get harder because of this. Don't adjust your freezer though."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
What happens if the Government ignores a Supreme court decision? | [
"I know it has happened in the USA. It makes for some real awkward law"
] | [
"It was not a Washington State court. It was a Federal Judge who lives in Washington State. There is a very big difference. As to how the Federal Judge can overrule an executive order? That is one of the purposes of Federal Judges and the Judicial Branch's check and balance against the Executive."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does the Navy prevent boat damage during hurricanes? | [
"The same way anyone does. Try to find a place relatively safe from a hurricane ('hurricane holes' i think they're called.) set anchor, loosely so it doesnt get ripped off, and hope for the best. But navy ships usually have lots of stuff in them, which makes them relatively safe in a hurricane at sea. its the empty... | [
"A pothole in an airport Runway would have catastrophic results for a plane that strikes it while Landing. The runways are regularly checked year-round to make sure that there are no obstructions or surface damage that could potentially impact a plane as it takes off or lands"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
why do you have to check in for your flight if you already bought a ticket? | [
"Because they oversell flights assuming/hoping that not everybody shows up. If you have 100 seats and sell 105 of them figuring that 5 people won't show up then you just made 5% more money for free"
] | [
"Be there early. After that, you can literally just walk up to airport staff and ask what you need to do. Find the check in area to get a boarding pass - > go through security - > find your gate where you board the airplane."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why would a human colony on Mars be better than one on the Moon? | [
"Because mars has an atmosphere, water, and gravity. Any settlement on the moon would have to live on what they brought with them. Mars has natural resources."
] | [
"To be honest, there is no real reason to go there. We have landed on the moon and confirmed what we already knew from moon rocks that landed on Earth. There are no resources to exploit. There are no scientific gains to be made from living on the moon. As to using the moon as a stepping stone to get to Mars, it wou... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Who is Leicester City and why is it such a big deal they just won? | [
"The fact you're asking who they are is *exactly* why it's a big deal that they won. They're a 'small' team who have spent the best part of the last decade in the lower divisions and were facing relegation from the EPL last year, and have just broken the hold that the 'big money' teams such as Manchester United, Ch... | [
"Start watching the English Premier League...The season just ended a few weeks ago with a good finish. Manchester City won the season by only 2 points with Liverpool in 2nd place and Chelsea in 3rd. Its fast paced soccer that is the most popular league in the world. A lot of good players"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What actually happens when a random command is issued to a computer? How does the computer compute something random? | [
"Strictly speaking, it doesn't most of the time. There are algorithms that produce (through some fairly hard to ELI5 means) numbers that \"seem\" random, usually by feeding something like the number of milliseconds since your computer booted up into a function built to scramble things up. Truly random numbers, whic... | [
"Computer code. Code is a sequence of instructions, written to perform a specified task with a computer. It's like any other program , except it hides and make bad things happen to the computer and your data."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Technology:"
} |
Why does Japan get special editions of albums? | [
"With the explosion of consumerism in Japan, it was quickly noted that the Japanese are a nation of avid collectors; to an almost obsessive degree, if they like something they REALLY like it, and will buy the t-shirt, the book, the posters and the sticker album of their favourite musician, as well as all the albums... | [
"What's so bad about having something made in Israel?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What reason would a former employer have for not wanting you to go on unemployment after they terminate you? Are there negative repercussions for the company? | [
"My understanding (i am not an HR person), is that all companies pay into unemployment insurance similar to individuals. (social security). However, the AMOUNT of former workers filing for unemployment affects the employers base score, and dependant on their base score, is how much they pay in that type of tax. in ... | [
"So unemployment is basically a pot of money funded by the federal and state unemployment taxes that businesses pay. The more workers a business has file for unemployment, the higher their unemployment tax rate. You don't have to contact the employer at all - the state will do that part. The rules for whether you ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why is a perpetual motion machine impossible to build? | [
"The rules of thermodynamics can be loosely put as: Zero: The universe wants to play a game where it changes your internal energy. One: You can't beat the universe. You can only hope to tie it. Two: You can only tie the universe at absolute zero. Three: You can't get to absolute zero. Building a machine that never ... | [
"We don't know, such a temperature has never been achieved and is theoretically impossible to obtain. So there really isn't a definite answer to that question."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
why are people upset about Fluoride being put in our water? | [
"Fluoride in water at appropriate levels is a safe and effective way of preventing tooth decay. However some people may take issue with the concept of a government making personal health decisions for individuals, even if those decisions seem uncontroversial. Add in that there are some people who are completely ins... | [
"From what you have heard or researched? Water fluoridation is a good thing and drastically prevents tooth decay in modern countries. Literally anything is bad to swallow in certain dosages, including water which can kill you if you drink enough. The fluoride level in your water is low enough to be healthy to inge... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Happy music in sad and/or violent scenes | [
"This tactic is called '[Soundtrack Dissonance](_URL_1_)'. The point of using music which does not seem to match the scene is often to challenge the audience, forcing them to reconcile two or more moods at the same time. This can be used to make the audience think about and sift through their thoughts and feelings.... | [
"Why would you want to leave the theater depressed? The point is to have a closing that let's you leave on a positive note. There are French (and of course other places) movies however, that end without happiness."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does more profound/clear thought come in the middle of the night, while lying in bed? | [
"Because you have a calm time in your day to think about things. Your mind is free to explore ideas, create ideas, and daydream....rather than stress about daily things. (Driving. Cooking and not hurting yourself. Walking.) All youre doing in bed is breathing."
] | [
"Because you are waking up in the middle of it. If you have someone wake you in the middle of normal dreams you remember them better too."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Psychology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Psychology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
LI5: How can China be manipulating the value of their currency and how does that affect the price of their goods? | [
"When China artificially makes their currency worth less than it otherwise would be, Chinese goods end up costing less. If a country's currency is worth more, it can buy a lot more of other countries goods (import), but other countries can not buy as many of their goods (export). So, if China's currency were to ris... | [
"The US was one of the last nations to use the Gold Standard and part of the reason she left it was manipulation. Think of it this way. If a foreign nation buys up significant portions of gold and selectively releases it they can manipulate the value. If you tie the value of your currency to the value of gold you a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What is about turning lights on and off that makes it more efficient to just leave them on 24/7? | [
"There is some left over mythology here. Once upon a time fluorescent lights used an electronics system that consumed a lot of power to start up. You'd have to have them on for quite a while to amortize the start-up expense. Recently installed fluorescent systems use better electronics and don't have that penalty. ... | [
"No, you'd be lucky to power two lightbulbs using an exercise bike, and since every home has a refrigerator, which uses about 20 times that amount of power, it's just not gonna happen, sadly :("
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How can non-contagious diseases (like depression or obesity) become an "epidemic?" | [
"An epidemic is a localized outbreak of a contagion, as opposed to a pandemic which is a global outbreak. You're right, though, that the strict definition is about infectious diseases. The use of the word epidemic when talking about obesity or depression is being used metaphorically, just to say that it's a widespr... | [
"Yes. It's called mental illness. Usually something like schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder and other such mental illnesses. Neurological conditions such as Tourette's syndrome or epilepsy are also often cited."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why can't I use wifi or data while taking off or landing on an airplane? Does it really make that much of a difference? | [
"I've been taught that the real actual reason is the period of time during takeoff and landing while the plane is below 10,000ft is the time when an accident is most likely to take place. Basically, they want you paying attention to what is happening rather than dicking around on your phone. Source: Studied aviatio... | [
"Technically, you don't. Mythbusters tested this a while back, and phones didn't interfere with planes at all. That being said, since so many new phones are developed all the time, there's a ban on using them during the flight, just in case they might affect the plane."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do we let corporations carry losses back/forward? | [
"Simply because profits fluctuate over time. For e.g. if a company made a loss of 100 in one year and a profit of hundred in the next year, if they are not allowed to carry over losses, you have made zero profit over two years, but would be paying 35 of tax (at 35% rate). This tax would actually be paid out of the... | [
"A lot of wealthy people paid other people to figure out how to use loopholes to avoid paying taxes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Finance:"
} |
How do states with no personal income tax function? | [
"[Here is a link to the Texas Revenue Estimate for the next biennium](_URL_0_). The short of it is that they collect plenty of taxes, just not income tax. Texas expects to collect nearly $100 billion in taxes in the next 2 years, with more than $60 billion coming from the state sales tax. For some perspective, [N... | [
"They can, but because taxes vary from city to city in the US, larger companies with stores in multiple locations find it easier to just not include the tax."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How could Batman even stand a chance against Superman in the movie coming out considering how ridiculous his powers are. | [
"Three reasons: 1) Kryptonite. And Superman is now a normal human, while Batman is a human with crazy training and gadgets. 2) Quoting Batman (may misquote slightly): \"Superman has one big weakness, even bigger than kryptonite. Deep down, he's a good guy. I'm not.\" 3) Plot device. This is the cheapest out, but if... | [
"Superman loves to take it easy on his enemies. Remember the time he fought Muhammad Ali and lost? Something similar will likely happen."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why are all the audience guests at shows like Ellen/Oprah jump / scream hysterically in pretty much the same way? Is it directed? Are they cherry picked based on their "enthusiasm" level? Or do all people behave like this naturally when getting a free gift / meeting a celebrity in a TV show? | [
"They are very much encouraged to be this wild and enthusiatic.Most shows have someone \"warm up\" the audience before tapping. As for the guests, remember, most are professional performers, have done these shows for years and know the drill, it's all an act."
] | [
"A) If you're at the taping of a show, chances are you're already a fan of it, which means you'll be more likely to laugh. The excitement of actually being there probably plays into this as well. I know I'd be pretty giddy if I got to go to a Seinfeld taping or some such. B) People are much more likely to laugh wh... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What's the difference/relationship between the Internet and the World Wide Web? | [
"The Internet is a global network of computers. The World Wide Web is one of many services that runs *on* that network The Web is specifically the stuff you can access through your browser: a set of documents, referencing each other by way of hyperlinks. Email (for example) was not originally a web service, but it ... | [
"We have come full-circle. 1991: \"ELI5: What is the World Wide Web and why should I be using it rather than a BBS/Usenet/etc.?\" 2013: \"ELI5: What is Usenet?\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
If the temperature that water becomes gas is 100°c, how do wet things dry off below boiling point? | [
"Water evaporating and water boiling are two different things. Water evaporating is due to there being a difference in water saturation between the wet object and the air and water molecules transitioning to gaseous form to find equilibrium. This will even happen with ice in a process called sublimation where it g... | [
"No, water does get somewhat denser if it is frozen at colder temperatures. Additionally many plants have chemicals and enzymes in them that lowers the freezing point of the water in their cells. So the water in them might not freeze until the temperature is 10, 0, or as you state -20."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
What is the sense of having "the right against self-incrimination"? | [
"The whole premise of our legal system is that you're initially assumed to be innocent & the state must prove guilt. Ultimately, it's a protection against torture - if the authorities can force you to confess things, people will get hurt if they're giving the \"wrong\" answer."
] | [
"> Where did this misconception that the first amendment means you can say whatever you want without any repercussion come from? A lack of understanding of the first amendment."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
With the huge amount of money required to make a movie, and the associated huge profits and risk, why do we still have "Bad" movies? | [
"I think [Cracked](_URL_0_) had a good hindsight look into some of the failures. It noted how The Lone Ranger spent $200 million making a movie in a genre which has never pulled in much more than half that. They somehow believed that Johnny Depp alone could more than make up the difference. #5 in the article later ... | [
"Television and film make lots of money and the actors are the only people that the audience associates with the work. It is not uncommon for a tv show to return 100 dollars for every 1 invested. As such there is incredible interest in keeping the show going. Which allows actors to get extremely good salaries. Or A... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it considered racist or taboo among some groups to say "All Lives Matter?" | [
"It's a misunderstanding of Black Lives Matter. BLM was started as a response to police violence which was viewed to be disproportionately perpetrated against black people. It wasn't started to mean \"Black Lives are the *only* lives which matter,\" it was meant to be \"black lives matter, too!\" and to remind peop... | [
"Are you saying we should be more racist towards cats?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do we have diesel and petrol fuel? | [
"different engines work better with the diverse fuel types. certain desired outcomes - like speed for example, are better achieved by the faster burning petrol, whereas a lorry using slower burning diesel fuel is more efficient for hauling over long distances."
] | [
"The kind of engines we use for most things has separate places for gasoline and for oil because gasoline and oil serve different functions."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What, if anything, are memories physically made out of? | [
"I had a \"while taking a shower\" theory once that memories are just pointers to the actual past and that deja vues are memory leaks."
] | [
"Honestly, no body actually knows. What we do know is that different parts of the brain do different things. Specific feelings can be shown to cause specific signals to go between certain parts of the brain. Nobody really understands why those electrical and chemical signals \"feel\" the way they do, though. It is ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is a permalink and how does it differ from other links? | [
"A permalink is a link guaranteed to point to a certain piece of content forever (or at least as long as the website in maintained). This is generally used to distinguish from links to pages that change all the time, and may have a different piece of content on them in a couple days. For example, I can link you to ... | [
"Under each comment, like my comment for example, is a button/link that says \"permalink\". If you click this it will take you to a page where that comment and it's children appear at the top. It's basically a link to that comment. If you click it then copy the URL you can reference comments."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What exactly is a Boltzmann Brain | [
"Particles are always moving and changing. By sheer random luck over a period of infinite time, particles could arrange themselves into a position that allows for thought/intelligence to occur. It’s like saying stirring a can of coke might cause the sugar, flavouring, water, colouring and everything else in it to s... | [
"What the heck is a parcel pick up?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why does beer dehydrate people if it is primarily water? | [
"Because alcohol interferes with the proper functioning of your pituitary gland which control the water balance in your body. When you drink your pituitary glands send more signals to eliminate water than it should, so you can drink 32 ounces of liquid but pee out 34."
] | [
"No. Dehydration comes from your body losing water. Salt actual helps with hydration. The reason salt water, like sea water, dehydrates you is because your body processes out excess salt by using water from your blood. Salt is essential to good hydration. Even coffee has shown that drinking it won't dehydrate yo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is the letter zed pronounced zee in the United States? | [
"Zed is older and it is based on the French word for the character which evolved from the Greek character zeta. The origins of zee seem to be a bit foggy, but in a period from the 18th to 19th centuries it seems to have become popular to bring the pronunciation of the character's name in line with other english cha... | [
"They're different dialects of the same language. Some words are different, and some spellings are different. For instance, an American would say \"What color are your pants?\" whereas a person from the UK would say \"What colour are your trousers?\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why do we call some "late" or "the late ___" after they pass away? | [
"Centuries ago \"late\" could also mean \"until recently\". For example, you'd say \"his late wife\" meaning \"she was his wife until recently, but she's not his wife now (Because she's dead\"). It was a popular euphemism for a taboo subject."
] | [
"Why is any modifying adjective used anywhere? It's just a descriptive term. Though, it is somewhat old fashioned. You would be more likely to hear it from 1940-1960 than you would today."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
As a follow-up to a front-page story, why does it seem like knives are treated more harshly than guns in cases of self-defense when the criminal ends up dead? | [
"It takes more effort (a lot more) to kill someone with a knife than a gun. It incredible rare for someone to die from a single knife wound, and when there are multiple knife wounds people start to see it as less and less of self-defense. Or in simple terms, during self-defense people see firing one bullet and sta... | [
"We have special penalties for killing officers in the performance of their duties. You get more time in jail for killing a policemen than killing a random non-policeman. The crime is still the crime, but the penalty is different. Same thing for the police dog. If you kill it while it is working as a police dog, yo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
why a shot is measured as 35.5ml ?? | [
"35.5ml is 1/16 of an imperial pint. As Obvious0ne pointed out, though, that's not the universal measurement of a shot."
] | [
"No, 11 < < 6353 . It's not like the radius of the Earth were 6,353m. That would be les than 11,000m (=11km)."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do we disassociate/depersonalize on shrooms/LSD? | [
"I feel like that's a loaded question. I do shrooms often and I don't feel I disassociate on them. It's not delirium at all. It's clarity. I'm sure there's many that would disagree with me though."
] | [
"Adding to the question. Why do people do this while on ecstasy, cocaine, adderall, etc.?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why was OJs trial on TV? Will Cosbys be on as well? | [
"The judge lifted reporting restrictions, if the judge does so in the Cosby case it probably will be as well, but due to the nature of the crime and the vulnerabilities of the victims it is highly unlikely that reporting restrictions will be lifted."
] | [
"1. He was a handsome national football celebrity 2. Probably murdered his wife. 3. Wife was white, he was black. 4. Racists on both sides started to agitate and capitalise on the issue. 5. I. Black racists: \"They are hanging our hero!!\" 6. Ii. White racists: \"They can murder our daughters and get away with it n... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is it about cancer that makes it so difficult to cure? | [
"> What is it about cancer that makes it so difficult to cure? Cancer is a malfunction of your own cells. So a cure for cancer needs to be able to kill part of you, but not *all* of you, which is a pretty tricky proposition."
] | [
"So what is it about human physiology that makes this work differently for us?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How come male chicks (Roosters) are just sent to their deaths and not eaten like the females? | [
"There are two major types of chickens. One type is bred to produce maximum eggs, and nearly all the males are killed. Often by throwing them alive into a grinder. The other type is bred for maximum meat and males and females are both used."
] | [
"They would argue that mass production *is* very harmful for the animals. Chickens are kept in tiny cages to lay eggs 24/7. They are fed steroids so that they get huge so quickly they can't even stand. Cows are hooked up to milking machines and kept on cages. Bees are gassed and go unconscious while the honey is fa... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How do we understand languages? | [
"May I ask how you understand \"how we understand physical objects like apes\"? That's a pretty tough question...in some ways even harder to understand than concepts. Just so I can get a better idea of where you are coming from and what level I should reply at."
] | [
"What's to explain? Why we have it? How it works?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How people can take a photo of the milky way in the night sky | [
"The milky way galaxy is basically a fried-egg shape and we're out in the white somewhere. Also, it's almost completely empty space. Imagine being in a cloud of fireflies: you can see pretty much all of them because of the space between them. Same thing with stars in the galaxy. Talking about the specific photo you... | [
"How do you even take a picture of the center of a tornado?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why do fighters fly in Chinese fight movies? | [
"Because they can. that is the true answer. Because they can."
] | [
"Go on plane. Fly really high. Dive at a certain angle. Ever see those people in plane where it looks like they’re floating?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How do doctors know when to stop cutting your skull so they don't damage the brain? | [
"med student here- they use a pneumatic drill. Designed to cut-off when there is a sudden change in pressure. You'd have to really not know what you're doing, or be intent on killing someone to screw up."
] | [
"Tumors grow *on* something and make it hard to just suck out, like fat is with lipo. To even be able to access it enough to properly remove it (if even a little section of the tumor is left, it can come back), they would have to remove some section of the skull in your friend's case. I hope your friend overcomes.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
If the function of life is to grow, reproduce, and continue indefinitely, how does that explain diseases that kill the host (and hence themselves)? | [
"Successful viruses and parasites don't kill their hosts before they're able to multiply and find another host. A lot of parasites weaken the host, but not so much that the host can't continue living. And some parasites will make their hosts do bizarre things in order to facilitate the parasite's reproduction (like... | [
"Evolution doesn't have plans or thoughts, it relies on chance mutations. As good of an idea as anything may or may not be, there's no guarantee it'll ever evolve. Furthermore having redundant brains or hearts would make us require far more food to survive as we now have duplicates of the most energy-hungry parts o... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why do humans need vitamin D to survive, but nocturnal animals do not? Do they find Vitamin D somewhere else? | [
"Even when we are talking about mammals - we still have very different metabolism and some mammals can produce biological stuff that other mammals can't. Take cats for example: they are incapable of producing taurine while most mammals can."
] | [
"Your body stores the precursor to vitamin D in your skin. UV light is utilized to turn it into the usable form of vitamin d. You do not absorb vitamins from sunlight itself."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and nutrition:"
} |
How is it that the top post in /r/funny has almost 40 thousand link karma, but the guy who posted it has under 5 thousand? | [
"_URL_0_ > Karma also does not share a 1:1 ratio with upvotes. It is common for link karma to be lower than the total number of upvotes you receive on your links. This also applies to comment karma."
] | [
"Reddit has vhanged vote fuzzing. This is why were seeing posts with 9000 upvotes rather than 5000. This means that old posts stay up longer"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How can every finger on your hand can be lifted easily except for the ring finger? | [
"basically the tendons that control you middle finger and ring finger are tied together, with the dominance being given to the middle finger. because of this, if you middle finger is held down, the position of the tendon that pulls your ring finger up, cannot be moved in that way. of the two your middle finger is... | [
"The snap comes from your finger hitting the palm of your hand. The middle finger has a better angle than the index or ring finger."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Context Behind Genderfluidity? | [
"The basic idea is that gender is a function of society and not something set in stone by birth. You might be born with male features, but identify as a female (or vice versa) and decide later in life to have procedures to change this. You also might not feel attached to any particular sex, as a woman in [Oregon](_... | [
"Sleep - Shake Unconscious - Splash Coma - Wait and Hope Vegetative State - Wait and Bury"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why can I hear noises other people can't? | [
"Because you have more sensitive hearing No, your not spider man"
] | [
"Much like how when you are asleep you don't hear or feel your surroundings, they don't see."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are partners of millionaires entitled to half their worth and sometimes even future earnings? | [
"> rich guy's wife wants half of his Half of **their**. When you are married, everything earned while married is considered mutual property. There is no **his** money or **her** money, it is their money. > Why would she be \"entitled\" to anything he earned **They** earned. While it may not be true for any particu... | [
"It goes both ways. It's just far more common to have a household where the husband is the primary breadwinner and the wife only works part time or stays at home. Thus many of the assets in the family are accumulated with the husbands salary, but they are legally owned by both the husband and wife. There are instan... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Law and Gender Equality:"
} |
Why are curse words bad? Like, who picked out those words? Why those words in particular? What makes them worse than other words which mean the same thing? | [
"Basically we all agreed they were bad. VSauce has more _URL_0_"
] | [
"Because that is what our culture teaches you. The kind of language you use depends a lot on the language other people around you use, the kind of language you heard growing up, and the things you were taught to say either by your parents or at school. And many expressions don't necessarily have to be in line with ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Linguistics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Linguistics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
The sound barrier and what happens when it 'breaks' | [
"The sound barrier is just the speed of sound, once thought to be an impassable speed limit (barrier). When you approach the speed of sound and then \"break\" the barrier, you begin to outrun the pressure waves and sound of your own craft moving and so the sound ends up trailing behind you in a cone shape. The resu... | [
"As the jet moves it pushes air out of the way. The fastest the air can move out of the way is the speed of sound. So when the jet goes at the speed of sound air can’t move out of the way quick enough and builds up at the front of the jet. Once the jet goes faster than the speed of sound it leaves this build up beh... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:"
} |
What is an Eligibility List? | [
"It's generally a list of people who are eligible for something. You'll have to be more specific about what context you're seeing the term in to get a more specific answer."
] | [
"Being Black Does Actually Have (Relatively Minor) Health Consequences, It's Just That They're Obviated By Modern Life. There's An Energy Cost To Have Extra Melanin, Even A Small One, So If You Don't Need It It Won't Be Selected For. Melanin Reduces Vitamin-D Uptake From The Sun If Sunlight Is Lower Than You're Ada... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
how does a computer display a string of text that contains both " & ' (like this sentence). Surely using both would break the program when entered? | [
"In a lot of languages, we use some type of escape character to tell the computer when this is going to happen. For example, in c++ you use a slash before the needed character like this \\\""
] | [
"01100001, 97, and 'a' are the same for all computational purposes. The expression *(97 == 'a')* returns true in C. The only time you have to distinguish between the two is when you output them to the user... it just depends on whether you want it to display the number value or the ASCII character."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Did the North Korean Government really tell their country that they won the Football World Cup? And why would they bother creating such a false fact? | [
"The government did not report this to their people. Someone made a news report-like video announcing NK as the winners of the World Cup, but it was merely a parody of NK's media distortion and was never aired on North Korean TV. The dialects used in the video are not North Korean."
] | [
"If the things North Korea did made sense, they wouldn't be North Korea."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
If aliens were to come to Earth, which US Government agency would be the most likely to deal with it.... and why? | [
"Oh the arrogance of Americans... What makes you assume it would have to be a US agency?"
] | [
"The CIA (despite what conspiracy theorists believe) does not investigate anything on US Soil. The FBI would be the government agency to do that."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
why are eggs (and milk for that matter) so crucial for almost all baking? | [
"As I'm sure you've heard before - oil and water don't mix. This can be bad news for baking because you might have water based ingredients and oil based ingredients and want them to mix together. In order for oil and water to mix, you need something called an emulsifier (to create an emulsion). An emulsifier has o... | [
"There are studies that grilled meats are bad, that cured meats are bad. That sugar is bad. That salt is bad. Fat, carbs, some fish, pork... on and on and on and on. Milk provides Vitamin D, potassium, B12, Calcium... in a convenient package. We've been eating dairy from cows for thousands of years, in the form of ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Regarding AI, why is the paperclip factory idea a threat but grey goo isn't? | [
"Grey goo is looking at the effects of nanotechnology/self-replication rather than AI. In grey goo, self-replicating robots consume matter and replicate themselves. If this is allowed to continue unchecked, the robots will rapidly multiply and theoretically consume all available matter to do so, until there are on... | [
"There's no such thing as simulation theory, so that's a pretty major weakness. (There are people who *say* \"whoa, maybe we're in a simulation\", but that's not the same as a scientific theory.)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What does it mean when a video game is in pre-alpha/alpha/beta? | [
"It means that the game is not done. Imagine you are building a house. You start with the foundation that might be called pre-alpha. You ave an idea of the shape of the house but it's not realy a house yet. Then frame in the walls. Then you insulate it and put siding up. At this point it might be called an \"alpha... | [
"> \"Development hell or development limbo is media industry jargon for a state during which a film or other project remains in development without progressing to production. A film, video game, television program, screenplay, computer program, concept, or idea stranded in development hell.\" TL;DR When a game/fil... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does my voice get deeper late at night or when im tired? | [
"Almost exactly for the same reason a guitar string goes lower if it's more relaxed or longer! The pitch (how low or high a note sounds) depends on the number of vibrations over a unit of time - 200 vibrations a second sounds low, 400 sounds higher. Things that are strong and \"tight\" tend to vibrate really fast ... | [
"EIL5: Why can't I stop sitting with my legs crossed, even though it hurts my knees, and why does it hurt my knees?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are Ghibli movies animated? | [
"Just many animators: good ones do the key frames, average to bad to the inbetweens. Usually, they are drawn on transparent sheets and combined with backdrops. Yes, it is enormous amout of work. Sometimes, you can notice reuses that reduce workload in cheaper productions (exactly same animation in different scene, ... | [
"Well, technically, South Korea does most of the actual 2D animation for American cartoons. Anyway, other countries do create animation. Americans just don't receive those cartoons. America mostly imports Japanese anime."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Entertainment:"
} |
Why is eggnog, and other Christmas associated foods...Christmas only foods? | [
"Eggnog is a wintery drink as it warms you up. Candy canes were originally given to kids so they quiet down during the mass. Advent calendar came from the Christian time of [Advent](_URL_0_) to build up anticipation for Christmas. Ingredients used to make fruitcakes were once expensive and families could only af... | [
"Coffee cake? Apple strudel is kinda like pie... Danishes are another sweet pastry. Muffins are pretty much cake without icing. . . There are loads of sweets that are considered socially acceptable to eat for breakfast even though they have little nutritional value other than providing you calories."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why do I only get goosebumps up half of my body at a time? | [
"Goosebumps are caused when the muscles attached to your hair follicles, called arrector pili, are stimulated by your nervous system. The nerves responsible belong to the sympathetic nervous system, which controls your involuntary \"fight or flight\" responses like raising your heart rate, giving you an adrenaline ... | [
"EIL5: Why can't I stop sitting with my legs crossed, even though it hurts my knees, and why does it hurt my knees?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why does a sounded (voiced) yawn makes you feel better and more relieved than a silent yawn? | [
"The voiced one results in a more rapid outflow of air, which makes the subsequent breath a bit deeper. I won't comment on any social side of it, since I think that's all conjecture."
] | [
"It is a learned behavior, which suggests that it is a social thing. It has nothing to do with the oxygen in the room, since we also yawn when seeing a picture of someone else yawning. Infants under a certain age *(I used to know what that age was. Maybe six months...)* do not yawn back if someone yawns in front of... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why don't people make non-educational films designed to be shown in planetariums? | [
"They are sometimes used for laser light shows. Laser Floyd comes to mind. There just isn't a lot of ways to use a movie theater with the screen on the ceiling."
] | [
"For the same reason they're socially acceptable in movies, television, advertising, video games and literature - because they sell."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Entertainment:"
} |
what exactly is IQ? What does it measure? Do people with higher IQs view regular people as being slower? | [
"It depends on your IQ. People with superior or gifted IQ do see people with regular IQs as slower when trying to explain something or sometimes get a bit frustrated when people don't catch on as fast as they do. Of course it means something. People with higher IQs excel at more lucrative professions due to their h... | [
"Different people have different IQs is the same reason some of us are tall and some not. Here are some factors: Genes. You get it or you don't. Health while growing. Unhealthy living can impact growth in every factor, including brain development. Associated childhood trauma. This can include overwhelming emotion... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
to minimize damage from second hand smoke breathe rapidly or hold your breath. | [
"Neither. The total volume of air you take into your lungs has to be the same no matter how you do it. You could potentially take a large breath (or hyperventilate and retain a large amount of oxygen) prior to entering the room and then not breathe again until you left the room. But if you're actually breathing wit... | [
"For some, you do! Some start with a double dose first and the. A single dose for the duration. But too strong a dose can cause side effects and may be more than body can absorb before expelling other ways."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does acid dissolve things? | [
"Basically, aacids are really attractive to other molecules/atoms, to the point where they will leave their current bonds to combine with the acid. As parts of the material break off to bound with the acid, it dissolves"
] | [
"The ph of Saliva is from 6.2 to 7.5. Which means that it is either a weak base or a weak acid. The acid simply isn't powerful enough to dissolve plague build up."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do archaeologists know what goes where when they put together dinosaur fossils? | [
"Archaeologists don't study dinosaurs. Paleontologists do that. Archaeologists study human civilizations and societies."
] | [
"We don't know what they looked like or acted like. All of our supposed knowledge of dinosaurs come from their fossils and assumed parallels to extant species."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are the units of currency (such as $ or €) always placed before the number as opposed to other units? | [
"This is mostly an English thing (Edit: and their former colonies). This practice comes from Merchant practices and English accounting laws/practices. The purpose is to differentiate money numbers from product numbers. It also makes altering the books harder. By writing $100.00 it is much harder for a subordinate ... | [
"The decimal point. [Whole dollars](_URL_0_) are on the left, so the dollar sign is on the left. [Partial dollars](_URL_1_) (cents) are on the right side of the decimal point, so the cent sign is on the right. edit: typos"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Finance:"
} |
How does Mastercard know my clothing size? | [
"The article is about a patent that MasterCard filed. Patents are used to protect original and non-obvious ideas -- they give the owner of the patent exclusive rights to the idea for a fixed period of time. This is so you can't come up with a great idea and as soon as you put it in the market, 100 other people put... | [
"Does your grocer have a loyalty card? It's not likely your bank card as they don't receive itemized transaction detail. Did you Google either of those products at any point? Aside from that, I'd be stumped too."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why did the war in Iraq start under Bush? | [
"President George W. Bush was a war hawk that overreacted to perceived threats after 9/11. The popular conservative sentiment after September 11th was that we had ignored the region too long and it bit us, and the solution was nation building in the area with force if necessary. The grounds for war with Iraq were *... | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why does water (in lakes or seas) look green up close but blue at a distance? | [
"Depends what the water contains, it can be green if there is a strong presense of certain algae. However, if there are no waves, the water acts as a mirror. So if there is a blue sky, thats what you will see in the reflection"
] | [
"Because if they are far away, there's more stuff i.e. atmosphere between you and the mountains and thus it gets a slight bluish tint. It's the same reason why the sky is blue. Blue wavelengths are scattered less easily than red ones so they 'dominate'. You'll notice that not only mountains appear bluish at a dista... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How can the human body suffer from lo/high blood pressure if the cardiovascular system is a closed circuit? | [
"The size of the cardiovascular system can change as blood vessels can expand or contract, and the blood volume can change as fluid can be added or removed from the blood. So as you see being a closed system doesn't prevent pressure change."
] | [
"It comes from the rest of the blood that is in your body. In theory your body can \"divert\" relatively small amounts of blood to pool into different parts of the body (through a very convoluted process of signalling and constriction/loosening at several locations at the body in order to control blood flow in limi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why do some people have higher metabolisms than others? | [
"Variations in human metabolisms are more limited than you might expect. Normally there is only about a 100-150 calorie fluctuation in resting metabolic rate. People having \"fast\" or \"slow\" metabolisms is largely a myth and weight gain or loss is exclusively to do with calories consumed versus calories burned, ... | [
"First, not all of them do. Elephants and crocodiles can live to be 100. Second, it has a lot to do with metabolism rates."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why there's still no decent online database related to books (such as IMDB)? | [
"Probably not a good financial model. Amazon and BN have proprietary catalogs with ratings. Publishers also limit how much info they share, but often have controlled info related to their own work. Libraries spend tons of cash on proprietary software to sort and track book ( and other media) catalogs. ...since ev... | [
"You're only looking at the English language part of the internet. There's plenty of other websites in other languages."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why People Think That 9/11 was an inside job. | [
"Can't believe no one has mentioned Building 7. See [this](_URL_3_) or [this](_URL_4_)."
] | [
"1. Make poor people poorer 2. Make rich people richer 3. ???? 4. PROFIT"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does the microwave tray spin in different directions? | [
"The tray is driven by a single-phase synchronous motor: > In the latter instance, applying AC power creates chaotic (or seemingly chaotic) jumping movement back and forth; such a motor will always start, but lacking the anti-reversal mechanism, the direction it runs is unpredictable. _URL_0_ The direction of rota... | [
"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 Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why do we snap our fingers or tap our foot when we're trying to remember something? | [
"I don't do this. Should I? Do you find this helps you remember? Maybe I should start doing this..."
] | [
"It's a learned behavior. The dog associates the good feeling of scratching an itch with making the scratching motion with its leg. When you're hitting the spot, that triggers the dog's learned behavior, so it starts waving its leg around as if it were scratching an itch, kind of like how you might start twitching/... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How do we picture things in our mind? And where are we 'seeing' them? | [
"I'm a PhD candidate in computational and molecular neurobiology. The best we have are theoretical answers but there is a lot of data to support the following simplified answer. The path from the receptors in your eyes to the visual cortex to higher visual processing centers is very well understood compared to oth... | [
"This is not an answer, but maybe a different way to ask the question: A smell is an experience that can be recorded by our brains. No different than the experience of looking at an image, or the sensation of feeling something with your fingers. So maybe a better question is, how do we remember things in general? H... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Wouldn't console companies make more money on cross platform titles vs exclusives, when they supposedly take a loss in profit in manufacturing the systems? e.g. Microsoft & Halo | [
"Using Microsoft as an example: Halo drives adoption of their system. Yes, they lose money (at first) on consoles, but think of what you are buying into. You get an xb1 you're also likely to buy other games (which MS gets a cut of). You might buy some movies or subscribe to their music service. Maybe you'll be conv... | [
"consoles have not come out together. neither last gen or this gen. several months/year between them, Wii U was wayyy off. They know that the first one out will probably get alot of the early adopters, so they both track to each other. as for game prices, they dont really get to set them, but most games are cross p... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do some urinals need urinal cakes while others do not? | [
"Urinal cakes sanitize and de-stinkify the urinal. Technically they're not *needed*, but a urinal without a cake will quickly start to smell."
] | [
"Urinals don't require you to fully take your pants down. Using a toilet does."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What determines the volume of a sound? | [
"Sound is energy waves traveling through a medium. (usually air) How loud the waves are is their amplitude. This is how much air they move. ( air pressure) Waves on the ocean are similar. Waves that would be 'loud' would be very high. Waves that would be quiet would be more like a ripple. So volume in sound is th... | [
"Alcohol changing the density of the liquid in your inner ear."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki thriving metropolises and not contaminated wastelands like Pripyat? | [
"Nuclear blasts don't release nearly as much radiation as they are shown to in media. Each of the bombs contained a small ball of moderately radioactive material, and about 1% of that material turned to energy, and the rest was blown apart. A nuclear meltdown is a whole other business. You've got a whole pile of m... | [
"Cockroaches, like many simpler animals, are more resistant to radiation than humans. If there was an all-out nuclear war and much of the surface of the earth was irradiated, cockroaches and other arthropods would survive in conditions vertebrates could not."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do we have earlobes? | [
"Wikipedia doesn't know what they're for, usually random traits like this are caused by either: 1) The genes that cause it to grow also have other functions (maybe brain development?) that are selected for 2) Sexual selection - earlobes (for some reason) make a person look better to the opposite sex so you have mor... | [
"Why do you have so many lips and chins?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Biology:"
} |
why do a lot of people tilt their heads when writing? | [
"If you're right handed (most people) you might be inclined to tip your head to the left, so you can see what you're doing around your hand. Since we write from left to right, your right hand is constantly obstructing your view as you go along. If you're left handed (me) you just drag your whole hand through everyt... | [
"Slightly offtopic, but why do my eyes leak when I yawn?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is our time system based on minutes of 60 seconds and not 100? | [
"Because the Baylonians had a real hard-on for the number 60, possibly because it factors so well. Thousands of years later, we're still on their time."
] | [
"Do you mean units of time? Like seconds? Well, days, years and lunar months are pretty easy to observe. Now, 12 is a great number its better than ten. You can only divide 10 by 10, 5, 2, 1 but you can divide 12 by 12, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. As multiples of 12, 60 & 24 are also useful numbers. So a day was divided into 24 ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does a rainbow stay in one single arc instead of refracting everywhere? | [
"The rainbow's position is with respect to you, the observer. If you move, the rainbow appears to move with you. It's not an actual location, it is everywhere where there's water to refract sunlight, just as you implied. [Here](_URL_0_) is a video of a rainbow from a plane. As you can see, the plane isn't getting a... | [
"That's kind of like asking how long it takes for a sunbeam or your reflection in a mirror to fade away. A rainbow isn't a physical *thing*. It is just what raindrops look like when sunlight passes through them (as long as you look at them from the right angle) So it fades away when either the light goes away, or t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
- What happened to this car and why were there never more designed using similar technology? The 1963 Chrysler Turbine that used any combustible liquid for fuel and it worked very well, yet only 55 were made before being discontinued. Why? | [
"The spin up fr the engine is very slow. And the exhaust came out at such an extreme temperature it would melt cars around you."
] | [
"When cars first appeared, there was no standard for the pedals. In fact, many cars operated in a very different way altogether. The first car with pedal layouts like you find in modern cars was the Cadillac Type 53 from 1916. It wasn't immensely popular, but, for some reason, the Austin Seven copied its control la... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why do automakers continue to produce vehicles for many years without making any major updates (e.g. Nissan Xterra, Jeep Patriot, Ford Expedition)? | [
"Building a new model is REALLY expensive and hard, even if you're already in the car-making business. Millions of work-hours by engineers and designers to get the design safe, practical, and desirable. Arranging a global supply chain to deliver thousands of parts, many custom-made for the model. Taking a factory o... | [
"Those are literally the same car. Subaru, Toyota, and Scion (which is a division of Toyota) all sell the same car under different names. Plenty of other car companies do this. Nissan sold the Ford Ranger under thier badge. The Mitsubishi Eclipse was also sold as the Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do men grow beards and women do not? | [
"Beards evolved as a secondary sexual trait to signal men are grown up and able to mate. It also displays that the male actually does produce testosterone, the male sex hormone. It is also speculated that the more prominent jawline created by beards increases how strong and healthy men are viewed. Women generally f... | [
"Hair gets brittle with age, short hair has fewer split ends. Curly hair covers up bald patches better than flat hair. They're mostly styling/coloring their hair anyway, may as well curl it. It's the fashion of their generation. Why do teens style their hair as they do? Because their friends are doing it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Muscle "knots" and massaging them out. | [
"The proper term for a 'knot' is 'hypertonicity', (hyper meaning extra and tonicity meaning tension), They are caused by overworking a muscle. Little dealies in the muscle (Golgi Tendon Apparatus) tell the muscle where it is in relation to the rest of your body (it's how you can flip your lightswitch in the dark). ... | [
"The body a lot of times over exaggerates causing more inflammation that it actually needs. Icing and elevating the injuries reduce pain."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why do hackers keep attacking Playstation? | [
"You don't mess with people who want to install Linux on their PlayStations."
] | [
"Lizard Squad didn't \"Hack\" Xbox Live. They Simply DDoSed them . Honestly it's not very difficult. A bunch of kids with different computers could do it. If they hacked Xbox Live I'm pretty sure Microsoft would do something. Since a lot of people Credit Card info is on there. This wasn't a security breach. Just a ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
What are Cherry MX Switch Keyboards? | [
"Mechanical keybords contain individual mechanism for each key. The keyboard most are familiar with are membrane keybords, which have a plastic /silicone membrane all the keys push into to than touch the circuit board or button board below it to function. The benefits of a mechanical setup is that different key typ... | [
"Performance-wise, there is very little that laptop builders can change. However, they have full control over the following: * Heat dissipation * Durability * Battery life * Accessibility of ports * Aesthetics * Price * Feel (Materials)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
why haven't government regulators simply applied the measure they want for firearms to the ammo instead? Things like registries, liscencing, insurance even? Is this covered by the 2nd amendment? | [
"The right to keep and bear arms includes the right to own the basic ammunition necessary for the operation of those weapons. In American law (and the English legal tradition), the text of statutes is not usually read as being strictly literal and exhaustive."
] | [
"They are trying to garner so much public support for their cause that republicans are forced to work on some legislation for the control of firearms. Specifically they believe there should be real background checks, no guns for those on no-fly/terrorist watch-list and that there shouldn't be process exceptions for... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
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