query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1 value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
How does prosthetic arms know how/when to move its fingers? | [
"That's an entire 300-level college course, right there, but the basic answer is electronics and black sorcery in coding. The prosthetic uses special sensors that read electrical signals from nerves or brain neurons, and turns them into signals that run the prosthetic limb. The brain doesn't get feedback from the ... | [
"Human here: You can, it's just harder. Your fingers are easier to move because they have 3 bones connecting them to your hand but your foot only has 1. If you try hard enough you can move only 1 toe at a time. At least I can."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Biology:"
} |
Why do lots of mobile video game advertisers just show random fragments of out of context gameplay, without showing us the name of the game or even trying to make an ad that is nice to watch? Does that strategy even work? | [
"ads are designed to capture as much attention in as short a time as possible. and these ads you're talking about do exactly that. after some time you might realize the ad doesn't represent the thing very well, but there're tons of people who haven't seen the ad yet. and the more exposure you're given the more like... | [
"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 post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
What causes a "cough" | [
"A cough is a involuntary reaction to try and get mucus out of your respiratory system. Your lungs are meant for air so when non air gets in your lungs or trachea your body is trying to get it back out."
] | [
"Can you clarify what you mean by an 'armor display'?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why does Germany retain a budget surplus, when most countries agree that incurring debt to fund economic growth is a better strategy? | [
"What’s supposed to happen is the Government is supposed to accrue the budget surplus in good years and put that money back into the economy in leaner years this averaging everything out . That’s the principle of Keynesian economics Debt is not a good way to prop up your Government if it’s done year after year"
] | [
"Austerity comes from the word austere, meaning self-disciplined, solemn, and/or without luxury. In the context of the Greece issue, austerity measures are designed to limit the amount of money the government of Greece can spend, and also to encourage the government to raise more money through taxes. The Greek gove... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What are the white semi-circles on a person’s nails? | [
"I'm no expert, but according to my own research for curiosity purposes: There are a lot of complicated names for a lot of different bits of the nail structure. The white semi-circle you're talking about is called the **lunula**, and it's actually just the visible portion of a larger structure called the **matrix**... | [
"Follow up question, why do I have like three times as many hairs around my left nipple than my right one?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the answer about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do we know for sure that there's a recession coming, and why can't we stop it? | [
"Recessions are natural. We know its coming because they come in a cycle, and its been a while since the last. There are also a number of indicators that suggest a shock will come soon. The difficulty is in predicting the exact time and severity of the recession. We can't stop it because recessions are a natural p... | [
"How bad is it *right now*? Not that bad. But it's going to get a lot worse in the next hundred years or so. That's a big part of why it seems like nobody's working to fix it: the consequences aren't immediate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Science:"
} |
Why does sneezing feel good? | [
"Sneezing and orgasm work off the same brain mechanism, I believe I read somewhere it is a lower order function (from our reptilian part of the brain) that comes from our instinctual past and is coded I to our DNA"
] | [
"How do you know that you don't sneeze in your sleep?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How does a large radiation source cause surrounding objects to become radioactive too? | [
"The clothes themselves aren't radioactive, per se, but they are contaminated with radioactive material. Particles, dust, even individual atoms of radioactive material can cling to the surface of things they come into contact with. As those contaminants decay they release radiation, but they can also be dislodged o... | [
"We can't see them because there's no light reflecting from them. We can observe their effects on the surrounding space."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How are you able to keep bandages/dressings on post surgery for an extended amount of time before it can be washed/changed without getting an infection? | [
"Right now that bandage is a shield. It’s acting like your skin in the sense that it’s keeping all the gross things outside. Medical bandages are woven tighter, and have a denser glue that holds it together. This prevents dirt and bacteria from being absorbed. They’ll also usually have a layer of antibiotics undern... | [
"Generally It won't if you keep the wound in question moist and disinfected. Often times people just use a bandage to stop the bleeding but then let it scab up and dry out. This causes the skin to dry out and become less elastic as your skin lays down the foundation for the healing process. In short: keep the wound... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it that space travel takes so long? If space is (nearly) a vacuum and by Newton's laws, the acceleration of a spacecraft would be incredibly high, wouldn't it allow the spacecraft to reach nearby celestial bodies quickly? | [
"Acceleration it according to F=m\\*a is a=f/m. So the accelerate quickly you need a powerful engine compared to the mass of the spacecraft. But a powerful engine require more fuel and you have a more mass in the spacecraft. So it is limitation it not the max speed but the amount of fule (more exact propellant) you... | [
"We can travel further into the future by accelerating to very high speed where relativity would make a noticeable difference in the rate we progress through time. There are still a number of huge technical hurdles to doing this to advance more than a few microseconds ahead of Earth time. Accelerating to relativist... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How do doorbells work? | [
"So traditional wired doorbells are normally simply a complete wired circuit involving: - a bell - a transformer to lower the voltage so that if the button gets compromised people won’t get a high voltage shock by pressing the button - a button outside - and wiring connecting it all When you press the button outsid... | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
What are API's, and how do they work between software or applications? | [
"An API is like a menu at a restaurant. You don’t need to know how the chef works and how the kitchen runs; you just need to know what to ask for. Likewise, an API for a program tells you what you can ask for, without needing to know how the program works. A game, for example, won’t let people see its code because... | [
"API: Application programming interface - definitions, communication protocols, and tools for building software, mostly built by companies to allow 3rd party access REST: REpresentational State Transfer - standardised communication style SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol - platform independent format for sending ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why do sheep, snakes and some other animals have slit pupils? How does this change the image created on the retina? | [
"Sheep, goats, and a few other mammals have rectangular pupils. It gives them a relatively poor depth perception, but allows them a roughly 300 degree field of vision. Slit style eyes (seen in cats and reptiles) construct to allow for a much greater range of lighting conditions."
] | [
"Some see two seperate things with both eyes, some animals like chameleons have control of both eyes and what they are looking at, horses can see about 340 degrees around them due to eye locations and the shape of their pupils. So it will vary from animal to animal."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
All insects have 6 legs, but their larvae often has more. So is a caterpillar an insect? | [
"Yes, caterpillars are insects. The many \"legs\" that you see on caterpillars and other similar (\"eruciform\", which literally means \"caterpillar-shaped\") types of larvae aren't actually real legs, they're what's called \"prolegs\": basically, stubby leg-esque appendages that don't have the same structure as a ... | [
"The claws on a scorpion are called pedipalps. They are like the \"feelers\" of a spider. Some spiders have long pedipapls as well, and looks like they have ten legs. This is very different compared to a crab claw which is classified as a pinoer or its first leg."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why do some tail lights appear to flicker in dashcam videos? | [
"Old filament lights won't do this, modern LED lights will, the brightness of the light is varied by switching the supply on and off rapidly the on time and off time can be varied, the longer it's on the brighter the light, this switching happens at something like a thousand times a second, the human eye can't dete... | [
"A lot of modern cars use LEDs, now LEDs don't really dim, they actually just flash on and off really fast to give the perception of them being dimmer. So, if the same bulb is used for the high beams, then the regular headlight brightness will be achieved by dimming."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
What are the protests in Hong Kong about? | [
"They are protesting a new law that allows Chinese government to arrest residents inside Hong Kong and bring them back to China. You see, Hong Kong used to be a British colony, and was ruled like a western, free country. It was turned over to China a few decades back but China has *promised* not to enforce Chinese ... | [
"What do you want to hear more about? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? The Israel vs. Palestine situation? The Arab Spring? The recent attacks on US embassies?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does composting work? How is it beneficial? What does it do? | [
"By composting food scraps, you are giving the food to bacteria to eat Bacteria poops out all sorts of stuff that plants love eating. The process however also creates a lot of heat and temporary nasty stuff that could kill plants. So you wait until composting process is done and take the remaining stuff, now compos... | [
"No, they will not decompose the same unless you just throw them together at the end anyway. Food waste mixed in with trash and buried in a landfill will just rot and eventually give off a lot of methane gas. But when cities have you separate it out it's so they can *compost* it and turn it into fertilizer. Compost... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does Air Conditioning work? | [
"A compressor takes electrical or mechanical power and uses that to compress a refrigerant gas. That gas is then released into a series of coils where it can expand in volume. That expansion causes the gas to become very cold, which makes the coils very cold. Air is blown over the cold coils, which cools the air. T... | [
"Turbo Charger: Take exhaust from Engine, sent it to a turbine and use it to send more air to Engine Super Charger: Take power from the Engine and directly use it to send more air to the Engine More air + More Fuel = More Power (in case you are wondering.) Source: I'm a Mechanical Engineer"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
- What do people mean when they say that Hong Kong is “semi-autonomous” from China and how is this autonomy affected by the new extradition laws China are trying to push through? | [
"Taiwan is a totally independent country. HK and Macau control some of their own affairs but are under Chinese sovereignty and therefore the Chinese government and military call the final shots there. Taiwan has their own military, whose entire purpose is to stop China being able to invade and annex them, which Chi... | [
"China had leased Hong Kong to the UK for 99 years and allowed a different legal system to be established, a \"great experiment\" in the capitalist free market economy and western style government. China did not however give up their territorial claims to the area and when the lease came to an end did not allow it ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
If flu is seasonal, what happens to it in between seasons and how does it come back? | [
"It's always around, to an extent. People are always catching the flu, all year round. Most of the time, it doesn't spread that quickly, so only a few people are catching it. Very few. But when the the whether is cold, something happens that suddenly causes it to spread much faster. Doctors aren't entirely sure why... | [
"There are many different strains of flu, and they have to build up a large amount of vaccines in time for the winter flu season, so they have to try to predict which strains are going to be the important ones. They do this by watching the flu season in the other hemisphere, watching the trends and try to properly ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How do geiger counters work? | [
"They are chambers filled with a special gas (Boron Triflouride) that interacts with high energy photons and neutrons by releasing electrons. These electrons are attracted to a positively charged center rod in the chamber, and as they accelerate towards this rod, they create secondary reactions in the gas, releasin... | [
"Americium is radioactive, and we put some next to a radiation detector. When smoke gets in there, the radiation can't reach the detector. Detectors are designed so this sets the alarm off."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
how did people used to keep their teeth clean before toothpaste? | [
"Primitive toothbrushes, aka chewing and rubbing with soft sticks. Or just dying before dental issues could really be a problem, depending on how far back you want to go. Also they didn't have a bunch of shit and sugar in everything so teeth lasted longer."
] | [
"1. People did have bad breath 2. People may not have brushed their teeth with what we consider today to be a toothbrush (Bristle toothbrush) but various cultures had various ways of cleaning teeth. Prior to the toothbrush as we know it today, similiar devices were used as far back as 1500 with animal hair for the ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How did higher education work in the Soviet Union? | [
"Generally, college was free and job placement was 100% since it was government centralized and there was a huge focus on preparing students for the workforce, and education was a priority. You picked a job before you graduated and had to work there for a certain number of years to sort of ‘repay’ the education. Un... | [
"Are you considering the 18th century to be in conjunction with the great divergence?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Epsom Salt, how does it work to help relieve pain on sore joints? | [
"Epsom salt is Magnesium Sulfate. Your muscles use magnesium to relax. Soaking in it causes the magnesium to get absorbed through the skin and helps your muscles relax. You can also spray magnesium oil on your skin or take a magnesium supplement internally for the same type of effect."
] | [
"Cold contracts blood vessels and reduces inflammation and swelling. Great for acute injuries like a twisted ankle. Heat dilates blood vessels, loosens joints, and relaxes muscles. Great for soothing a sore back or arthritic hands."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why do photos of stripes/patters get all messed up on computer screens? | [
"Do you mean moire patterns? _URL_0_ In television and digital photography, a pattern on an object being photographed can interfere with the shape of the light sensors to generate unwanted artifacts."
] | [
"What's happening is that you have two patterns lining up, the grid of pixels in your camera's sensor and the grid of pixels on the computer screen. When they don't line up exactly evenly, you get a Moiré pattern, which is a pattern that \"emerges\" from the interaction of the two patterns we're dealing with. It's ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
The mass of what I eat compared to the waste that comes out isn't even close to balanced. Where does it all go?! | [
"The largest amount comes out in the form of urine. The moisture in your food is extracted. A lot also comes out in your breath, in the form of H2O and in the form of CO2 (carbon waste)."
] | [
"You do lose weight when you poop. You just don't lose body fat or muscle. But since the amount of food and feces in you is mostly constant over time, it doesn't really factor in for total body weight."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How can scientist determine what things are made of on different planets or moons? | [
"imagine you drop a ball. ball 1 hits wood, ball 2 hits carpet, ball 3 hits metal. you'll notice when you do this, each ball bounces to a different height. If you couldnt see the floor but only know the height the ball bounces you could reasonably guess what kind of floor it hit. Now instead of a ball, they use lig... | [
"We are able to detect planets much further away, yes. But we are not able to take a picture of them. We have no pictures what so ever of planets outside our solar system."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about astronomy:"
} |
We have goat milk and cow milk to consume, but why is it merely impossible to find pig milk in a grocery store? | [
"Firstly, it just doiesn't taste very good. Pig's milk is watery, and quite gamey. The real reason though is that pigs simply don't produce very much milk, and don't like being milked. Cows have been domesticated for thousands of years, and selectively bred for milk production and docility. Pigs, on the other hand,... | [
"Because they are white in color, and often used as a milk alternative. If they were clear they would be called waters or juices."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How does wind feel cool on the skin even if the air itself isn’t a low temperature? | [
"It’s actually because of evaporative cooling. Your body releases small water molecules through skin pores all the time. Even at the same temperature the dry wind sucks some of the fastest moving (hottest) H2O molecules thus cooling you down. That’s why hot dry air feels cool but humid hot air does not."
] | [
"Wind chill doesn't actually freeze anything. Its called a wind chill because the wind blowing makes the air \"feel\" colder, not actually be colder. Despite how windy it is, the air is still whatever the ambient temperature is."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How does LSD do *that* to your brain? | [
"LSD functions primarily through the neurotransmitter serotonin, and to a lesser extent dopamine. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter that, among other things, regulates mood, cognition, and memory, and triggers feelings of well-being and happiness. It's unclear exactly how LSD works on the serotonin recepto... | [
"> **ELI5: How do scientists know that blind people can't see in their dreams ?** They ask the blind people: \"Do you see in your dreams?\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why does placing a wooden spoon across the top of a pot of boiling pasta prevent it from boiling over? | [
"Boiling pasta produces bubbles. These bubbles will be pushed in a column out of the pot by the bubbles under it. Once they are above a certain height above the pot, the column of bubbles fall apart and slide onto the stove. By putting something on top of the pot, a large part of that column of bubbles will pop and... | [
"As it boils the pasta is going to release starch into the water. If the concentration of starch in the water is too high it will result in gummy pasta."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why have humans acclimatized themselves to spicy flavors better than bitter flavors? | [
"Because bitterness is often a useful indicator that something is poisonous. Spiciness, by contrast, is not correlated with actual danger."
] | [
"Meat is a lot easier to digest than vegetables. Carnivores have way shorter intestines than herbivores, for exactly that reason."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why do printers make so much noise before and after actually producing a document? | [
"For inkjet as well they like to purge a little bit of ink if it hasn't been used in a while, it's a lengthy and noisy processes that wastes some of your precious ink, but it protects your printhead and makes sure your prints come out properly."
] | [
"Several reasons, the ink may dry up, the internal circuitry of the cartridge might register that enough pagers have been printed, or the expiration date may be arbitrary to encourage you to buy new ink. The printer and cartridge industry is very invested in getting you to buy as much ink as possible, as all the p... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are women born with their eggs, but men produce sperm monthly? | [
"Not sure where you get the figure of sperm production being monthly, I think it's a matter of hours/days..."
] | [
"There's no way to know, really. Your body constantly produces sperm, unlike eggs which are made once and that's it. There are special cells in your testicles that divide and produce immature sperm, and then those immature sperm grow into the kind that's capable of fertilizing an egg. The whole process takes around... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Company structure rules | [
"You *can* just \"run your company\" as a sole proprietorship. Incorporation, however, gives you legal & financial advantages. If the government is going to grant you special privileges, they're allowed to put conditions on how you must run your business."
] | [
"_URL_0_ Top 3 comments cover into this, in short it's way beyond that."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about astronomy:"
} |
why are processed meats Group 1 carcinogenic along cigarettes and plutonium? | [
"Processed meats contain a class of compounds called nitrites that are toxic to bacteria. This prevents the meat from spoiling and prolongs its life. However, nitrites can equilibrate with nitrous acid in the body. The DNA bases cytosine and adenine can become oxidatively deaminated into uracil and hypoxanthine fro... | [
"Nutritional labels are for this that the body metabolizes. The body doesn't metabolize aspartame. Nor does it yellow #5."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How can one computer infected with a virus spread it over LAN? | [
"If it spreads on its own, it would be called a worm, not a virus. Home networking doesn't usually have particularly complicated configuration over the internal network. Your switch is just blindly shuffling data back and forth between devices on your network without caring what it is. You'd need more expensive & c... | [
"It means you are connected to your router, so you can do things like file share to other computers on that network, but your router isn't connected to the Internet."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does Dissociative Identity Disorder work? Are all the personalities conscious the same time? | [
"It doesn't. It's not real. The theory came sbout in the 1970s after a psychiatrist met a schizophrenic and wrote a book claiming that this was a new psychiatric condition."
] | [
"I think you're referring to dissociation. That can include everything from daydreaming, to losing track of the drive home, all the way to Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities)."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
What is Upregulation? | [
"It is increasing stimulus to an action. Kinda like you know fire is hot when you touch it, if you go to touch it later you know its going to be hot so you flinch. Up regulating is that flinch, the preparedness for an action. Since running causes your body to be stressed your body releases the steroid cortisol fo... | [
"Sleep - Shake Unconscious - Splash Coma - Wait and Hope Vegetative State - Wait and Bury"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How can apple trademark "apple" | [
"Trademarks only apply within a specific industry or product type. They can trademark \"apple\" as a name for computer equipment because no one else was using it for that. They can't control its use for fruit, flavors or other unrelated stuff."
] | [
"If you make an app game, you can't have a title of the game be similar to Candy Crush Saga. I believe they trademarked they phraise and not the words."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does the human body generate the heat to stay on about the same temperature all the time? | [
"Metabolism! When people talk about burning calories, it's more literal than you might think. Our bodies \"burn\" the sugar glucose, a chemical fuel, by reacting it with the oxygen we breathe. They isn't a flame in your tummy or anything though, the oxidation reaction all takes place in the wet phase, in the bio-ch... | [
"Basically, warm blooded creatures have metabolic processes that generate heat to keep the creature at a specific body temperature. Cold blooded creatures do not, and tend to be at whatever temperature their environment is."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are LEDs brighter and more powerful, yet use so little energy? | [
"You know a lot of light is invisible, right? Infrared, for example. You can't see it, but you can feel it on your skin with your eyes closed when you're standing near something really hot. Take two lightbulbs that consume exactly the same amount of electric energy, but one produces only visible light, and the othe... | [
"Because light bulbs take electrical energy and convert it into light. But it's not 100% efficient so some of that energy is released as heat. Incandescent bulbs are the least efficient so put out the most heat, followed by florescent, then led."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why does it only take a hundred times ten to make a thousand but a thousand times a thousand to get a million, millionxmillion = a billion etc. | [
"One thousand times a million will equal a billion. Simplest way to look at it is add the number of zeroes of what you're multiplying and keep the one at the front. 10x10 = 100 (2 zeroes after the 1). 1,000x1,000 = 1,000,000 (6 zeroes). 1,000x1,000,000= 1,000,000,000 (9 zeroes total)"
] | [
"Well of course it's possible, just get ready for a long time spent saying \"Five hundred million, six hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and thirty-**one**, Five hundred million, six hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and thirty-**two**\" Even if you spoke fast enough to say each number... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How can I use the touchscreen of my phone even after putting on a screen guard or a protective mirror on meaning I’m not directly touching the touch screen? | [
"There are 2 types of touch screens, 1 of them works by touch, the other one is more complicated one. Phones use the more complicated solution, as this allows you to use a nice looking glass screen. Multiple times a second, your phone sends an electric signal on an layer behind the screen, starting in an corner, an... | [
"Theyre a film of tough plastic so that when your screen would get scratched up, maybe rubbing on your keys in your pocket, or whatever else, the plastic gets scratched instead. It's literally just a barrier between your phone's screen and things that would hurt it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
what are the needs of capacitors in many electronic circuits ? | [
"among many others, mainly two things: 1. filters: for example, filter out interference by filtering out high frequencies in the signal 2. voltage spikes prevention: if there is voltage spike in the circuit, it could potentially damage some parts. Capacitor is there to be charged by this spike, thus effectively re... | [
"Note that the LM386 integrated circuit has a near-complete amplifier insider, needing only a few external components to make a complete amplifier. So if you want to know how an amplifier really works, you need to go back to basics e.g. look up \"transistor amplifier\"."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do things that seem big and detailed suddenly turn out to be so small when you take a picture of it? (Ex. Moon, Mountain in the background, etc) | [
"It all has to do with the resolution of your camera. Using a low res camera to take a photo of something detailed is like using tiles to create a mosaic that recreates the object. Using a high res camera is like using grains of coloured sand instead: much more detail. Does that make sense?"
] | [
"There are times in its orbit that the moon is slightly closer to earth. But what you are describing is an optical illusion. When on the horizon your eyes and brain can reference how its size compares to what it knows is big (a mountain, a certain stretch of the horizon, etc. When up in the sky there is no basis fo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the difference between a 2 in 1 shampoo/shower gel and the separate soaps? Is it just a mix of both? And is there any danger in washing my body with shampoo or the other way around? | [
"They typically use the same soap bases, but with slightly different ratios of ingredients. It really varies by manufacturer and you'll find alot of variety in the preparation, ingredients, and concentration. It is definitely not dangerous to use body wash on your hair or vise versa. Back in the day people would ju... | [
"Not very well, is the short answer. Cosmetics companies did find conditioning chemicals that stay on the hair when used in a 2-in-1, possibly they're more resistant to the cleaning chemicals than natural oils. But they're still not able to match what a separate shampoo and conditioner can do, and product buildup i... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How come studios can't make movies with IP they don't hold the rights to, but shows like Robot Chicken can have any characters they want show up? | [
"Copyright law provides exceptions for satire/comedy... basically, you're not stealing content and using that content for your own benefit directly, you're making fun of it, laughing at it, or otherwise commentating on it in a way that doesn't preserve it's aspects that the copyright protects... more or less. A sim... | [
"Even though the network has cancelled the show, they still own the rights to it. They might not think it profitable to keep producing it themselves, but they certainly don't want their competitors to profit off of it if they can."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
When you have a blocked nostril, what happens when you hold both nostrils and blow hard that causes them to unblock for a brief second? | [
"You pressurise your nostril cavity causing it to expand under the pressure giving the feeling of being unblocked untill you release the pressure. If you need a visual example then put a marble into the neck of a balloon that is larger than the neck, you will have to stretch it to fit, then blow the balloon up and ... | [
"That is air going into your sinuses. Your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are all connected to your sinuses. Have you ever plugged your nose, closed your mouth, and tried to push air out of your lungs ever so slightly? You’ll notice your ears pop and the feeling of air coming out of your eye sockets. It’s gross and i ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Health and Physiology:"
} |
Why is it a fact that if a person were to look at a person they love, their pupils dilate? | [
"As far as I know, because it puts the body into a sympathetic nervous state. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the four f’s: fight, flee, feed and f***! You’re in this sympathetic state when looking at someone you love because of the evolutionary drive to mate, or the fourth f. Part of a sympathe... | [
"They've never seen it before. If you were in a controlled enviroment and someone introduced a new object I'm sure you'd react the same way."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Bir Tawil is the only abitable place that is not claimed by a country. What does stop me to create my own nation? | [
"Mostly the same thing that prevents all sorts of people from creating their own nation: nobody would take you seriously. There's no governmental body that maintains a registry of the nations of the world and you can make a new one by meeting some requirements and filling out some paperwork, nations exist by genera... | [
"Technically, there is an unclaimed territory in Africa called [Bir Tawil](_URL_0_) between Egypt and Sudan. Its kinda a wacky story in that its really more of disputed border than unclaimed territory. But its about as good as an example as we can get. I don't believe anyone is actually in the area, but for practic... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What do professional fighters do differently compared to average people that allow them to knockout people so quickly? | [
"Mechanics, first, precision second. Power from a punch doesnt come from pure physical strength, it comes from leveraging mechanics to produce power. Precision in that they place their punches well. A well placed punch behind the ear, or squarely on the jaw will normally daze/knock someone out. They call this hitt... | [
"The old adage 'the bigger they are the harder they fall' is just a feel good statement. The reality is that the bigger a person is the more power it takes to hurt them and the more power that can deliver. Just think about professional fights, they all have weight classes. 160lbs people do not fight 200lbs people ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why tea stains my cup but not coffee? | [
"Tea contains tannins, or tannic acid, that leaves stains. Coffee doesn’t have tannins. Red wine would stain a ceramic mug for the same reason."
] | [
"Follow-up question, I hate drinking milk but i love it with cake, cookies or brownies; what causes the taste difference? I even notice when it goes back to tasting gross after a few seconds, its weird."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why do eyes water when nervous? | [
"Our bodies respond to most stresses with some degree of what is called the ‘fight or flight’ response. During this period, our heart beats faster and we breath more deeply or quickly to increase the oxygen in our blood to fuel running if need be, or to heighten reflex’s in case of a fight. Feelings of anxiety, tea... | [
"A lot of nerves in your ear canal link to most of your body. Tickling them makes your blood pressure drop and thus leads to pleasure. At least that's what I read. Correct me if I'm wrong."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Health and wellness:"
} |
Why haven’t we gone to a specific screw type yet? | [
"Different screws are needed for different applications. Some are designed to be \"security\" screws, some are designed for higher torque, others are made just to be cheap, and some are made for convience."
] | [
"We shouldn't have it, it's just a worthless throwback. We should split the difference and use the same time year round."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does the method of cooking change the taste of food so drastically? | [
"When they are fried they are infused with the oil you fried with, when boiled they are more filled with water, when baked they are as they are minus the burnt juices (speaking of onions as the example given)"
] | [
"Brown Sugar tends to add a distinct flavor to the foods its added to. White sugar simply dissolves more readily and affects the taste a little less. Both still sweeteners. I suggest trying both and seeing if there's a difference. Enjoy your coffee!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How do peanut allergies work? | [
"If you're allergic to peanuts, then as soon as you eat them your immune system looks at them and says, \"What the @#!% is this nonsense?\" and attacks it. Certain immune cells, called mast cells, store a compound called histamine that basically acts as a flag for the immune system and says, \"Hey, all y'all get up... | [
"Latex is produced from natural rubber that is tapped from a tree. The proteins in banana's are very similar to the proteins you can find in natural rubber, so if you are allergic to banana's there is a high chance you're also allergic to latex. You also might be allergic to kiwis, avocados, and chestnuts for the s... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
what was the Berlin Wall | [
"A wall that separated the east and west side of Berlin, Germany around the time of the Cold War."
] | [
"I would assume this is all talking about the 19th century; is this a typo?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
What exactly is glass? | [
"Think of it like ice cubes. Most ice cubes you see aren't clear, they're white. This has to do with impurities and bubbles while solidifying. But there is a way to make completely clear ice cubes (many companies are in business to provide clear ice), and it's done using a specific process. In this process, when wa... | [
"Maybe let's start with: what is ring tone rap?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Is the solar system flat the way it is depicted in images or is it spherical? If it is flat, why? | [
"It's a disc. The tldr of it is that the solar system formed from a cloud of particles that slowly drew together into an accretion disc. The distribution of particles and thus the motion along one axis cancels out, jamming them more and more towards a 2d plane in rotation around a fixed axis. Due to conservation of... | [
"Either they're crazy or trying to argue with you. You can stand at some places on Earth and actually see the curvature of the planet. Not to mention, you know... the fact that we've been to (and still are in) outer space and are constantly videoing the earth from outer space. Also, the physics in our solar system ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How is war profitable | [
"War is profitable to specific people/institutions. It comes with a commensurate loss by others (ex: taxpayers). & #x200B; That money being spent goes to defense contractors like Blackwater, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, and they get rich. When government spends money, that money goes into the economy, usual... | [
"Would you mind clarifying the question a little? Are you asking if the American participation in the Vietnam War is responsible for the recession of communism *now*?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How does replanting rainforest differ from regular forest? | [
"They’re vastly different. Regular forest is “old growth forest”—it’s a vast ecosystem that has existed for perhaps millions of years. Thousands or millions of species have evolved to coexist in that environment. But then loggers come and clear cut the forest, chopping down the trees and destroying the habitats of ... | [
"Trees are more familiar, and humanity’s effects on them are more easily understood. You can imagine 100 acres of rainforest being cleared for ranch land or banana plantations a lot more easily than a cloud of phytoplankton dying off. Just the simple fact that trees and humans are on land, while plankton and algae ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why does aluminum foil never get hot to the touch. You can leave it in the oven and touch it directly out of the oven without it feeling hot. Why is this? | [
"Aluminum has a very low specific heat capacity and foil is very thin, these combine together to get it a very low thermal mass (it cannot hold a lot of heat). It also has a very high surface area to volume ratio and a very high thermal conductivity. This means that the heat that it can store can move in and out of... | [
"Food heated in an oven is simply heated for much longer. This allows the heat to spread throughout the food. Put food in the microwave for 60 second, it'll probably be hot. Put it in the oven for 60 seconds and it will basically not have changed at all."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer about Science:"
} |
Is there a scientific reason that an alarm always sounds bad when awakening you? No matter what sound/song it is? | [
"Imprinting. You associate getting up with that noise, and the sound of that is then associated with having to do stuff you don’t want to do. Which essentially makes you hear that noise and remind you off stress/ whatever that task entails. It’s why you shouldn’t set a song as your alarm as you will end up hating ... | [
"It's based on you experiences you have had with these genres. For example, I used to listen to the most annoying alarm clock every morning because it was the only thing loud enough to wake me. One day I was walking through a store and heard a sound with the same frequency going over the PA and immediately felt ang... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:"
} |
sorry of this seems really stupid to ask but I'm not the best at understanding politics, let alone foreign politics. What's the Hong Kong protest about? | [
"The HK government wants to enter into an extradition treaty with China. To break it down more, HK is TECHNICALLY a part of China, but it is ruled by its' own government and is relatively autonomous. Because of that relationship, a lot of embarrassing media is coming out of HK regarding China. China wants HK to e... | [
"Not really sure if this is really a ELI5 topic, as its less of a explanation but just a question (might have better luck on a politics subreddit) As for the question his promise to shut down of guantanamo bay can objectively be considered a failure."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What is the origin of the US-American "gun culture"? | [
"1) Settlers in an untamed region need to hunt for a lot of their food, at least for a time. It takes months if not years to get agriculture going strong enough to support a community. This means that our early settlers were all hunters and this cultural habit carried on as we pushed west. 2) One of the tactics tha... | [
"What do you mean by downfall? This is still a dominant part of current culture."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about History:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about History:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
why don’t women ‘save up’ their eggs when they take the pill which stops periods? | [
"In fact when a woman reaches menopause, whether she took the pill or not, she isn't \"out of eggs.\" It's a hormonal thing, not a lack of eggs thing."
] | [
"Why do women keep ovulating even if they're not getting any sex?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How is a word created? How does it become a generally accepted term by a population? | [
"I feel like this phenomenon is a bit too complicated to eli5 but here's the best I've got. We know there are different shades of red. For a long time though, we only had one way to describe the different shades so they were all red. The some day, some one said something like \"burgundy\" or \"crimson\". We find a... | [
"Because language development is a long complicated history of languages merging and mixing, and meanings changing and evolving. It's important to remember to that languages were not made by a single person sitting down and deciding what every word that will ever be is"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is there a big brother figure being mentioned and who or what is it referring to? | [
"He represents the government conducting constant surveillance. A figure from the famous novel *1984* by George Orwell. _URL_0_"
] | [
"Because it is a satirical figure meant to offend and mock people with religious beliefs. Remember no matter who your invisible friend is he is better than anyone else's invisible friend."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
what makes our eyes feel heavy and burn when we wake up or are very very tired and only closing them give us relief from this burn? | [
"Optometrist here! Your eyelids basically ooze really moisturizing oil whenever you blink. So the less you blink/the longer your eyes stay open, the tears on your eye are literally evaporating and exposing your eye to the air which causes that burning feeling! Super common these days the more you're on your phone o... | [
"They restrict the amount of oxygen your eyes get. Things like sore/red eyes are pretty usual, sometimes it can get so bad that you can't even put them in until they get better. My sister and I seem to be prone to getting conjunctivitis if we keep them in too long, too."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
why lifting weights/resistance exercise one time a week won’t build muscle? | [
"It will build muscle but some people do that and wonder why they dont look like Arnold Schwarzenegger."
] | [
"Generally the rule is: high rep, low weight= better stamina. low rep, high weight= better strength. Muscles get bigger by being torn (working out) and then rebuilding. If you do 10 push-ups every hour you aren't really working out muscles, causing tears in the muscle, which will then not regrow. 100 push-ups at on... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do people (not in cars) get stuck on train tracks? | [
"I suspect you're misinterpreting the stories. It feasibly could be possible that someone could get their foot jammed between a rail and a tie and not be able to extricate themselves, but I imagine that is extremely rare. When people not in vehicles are killed by trains it's almost always because either 1. they ... | [
"They use people's cell phones to track the speed of cars on the roads."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How does the flash in cameras damage paintings in museums? | [
"Flashes used to emit a lot of UV which damages dyes and paint. Flashes no longer emit UV so they don’t do any damage. Museums have kept this rule for two reasons: 1. Flashes are really annoying for everyone else. 2. They have a higher chance of selling their book to you if you can’t take good photos yourself."
] | [
"Instead of the bright lights reflecting off the skin under their eyes, the black paint absorbs the light. This helps them see better in sunny conditions."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why does water taste different after freeze and thaw? Like if you take the same water and make ice cubes with it, melt it in a glass and do a side by side comparison. | [
"Ice has a lower capacity to dissolve things, including gases, than liquid water. As a result, when you freeze water some of these solutes (the things dissolved in the water) come out of solution and are deposited as either solids or gases. This is why when you make ice it can have tiny bubbles in it and appear clo... | [
"Hot water heaters hold water for long periods of time, and as such they often have buildup of various sediments and other contaminants that you really don't want to be ingesting on a regular basis. Also, it fouls the flavor of the water. Especially if you have scale issues. Take two cups. Fill one with hot water, ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does a gas station manage to serve thousands of cars multiple gallons of gas a day when the gas tanker trucks that deliver gas don’t look like they hold that much? How do gas stations manage to keep up with their demand? | [
"The underground tanks are bigger than one fuel tanker holds and they can deliver at all hours of the day. Tankers hold from 3000 to 6000 gallons of fuel, that’s a lot of cars you can fill"
] | [
"Here's what a little bird told me. There has been increasing fuel theft in Mexico from criminals tapping into the pipelines that normally transfer fuel. So to stop the theft, they shut down the pipelines and are using tankers to deliver the fuel. It's not enough to keep up with demand, so people waiting for hours ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why does our body begs for junk food (sugar, ice cream, chocolate, etc.) when we are sad? | [
"From prior research so this might be wrong. The compounds in them make our brain release oxytocin, the chemical that is responsible for happiness"
] | [
"No one really knows for sure. There's theories out there that women crave the nutrients their bodies are missing but AFAIK it hasn't been proven. Most common cravings are sweets like chocolate/ice-cream or salty chips not healthy foods. Anecdotaly, myself and most pregnant women I know craved high-calorie foods (... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why is it difficult to let a liquid run down your throat without having the urge to swallow? | [
"I think it’s because breathing is the default option for your throat. Your body would think you are drowning."
] | [
"When the cinnamon gets into your mouth, it instantly starts absorbing all the saliva in your mouth. And it can absorb a lot. I'm going to skip the science part of this for now, but ask if you want to know. Basically, because cinnamon makes your mouth so dry so quickly, you are completely unable to swallow it. It j... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What are the differences between Trademark and copyright? (R) and (C) | [
"It's in the name: a copyright is your \"right\" not to have someone else \"copy\" your art. A trademark is a \"mark\" you use to distinguish your goods from your competitors in your trade. The movie \"Incredibles 2\" is subject to copyright, because its an artistic work. No one can copy the movie itself or any art... | [
"Part 1 _URL_0_ Part 2 _URL_1_ Part 3 _URL_2_"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
When someone eats something that doesn't agree with their digestive system and it causes sudden diarrhea (ex: dairy), is it really that food (ex: ice cream) that is excreted, along with all the other digesting good that they ate? | [
"Your digestive system is one set of railway tracks from your mouth to your anus. Trains of food moves in one direction along the tracks. If you need to quickly remove one train, there is really no way to get the train off the tracks without forcing all the trains in front to move. There are no side tracks or pit s... | [
"Allergy is when your immune system is the issue, intolerance is when it's some other body issue like incorrect digestion or wrong chemical pathway. A milk allergy (which is rare) would be your immune system attacking milk like it was an intruder. lactose intolerance is your body being unable to digest milk sugar w... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How does a computer shows the correct time even after we shut it down and pull out the power cord? | [
"There's a battery, the CMOS battery, that keeps the internal clock running and manages the BIOS settings. When the battery dies the settings and clock get reset."
] | [
"Many computers do momentarily power off when restarting. However the capacitors on the motherboard have not been lacking power for long enough to completely discharge their power and so can still hold some things in memory. Sort of like when you unplug a power adapter from the wall but the little light on the bric... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
if we can absorb things through the rectum (e.g. alcohol), what prevents us from getting sick from the fecal matter passing through it? | [
"We can only absorb stuff that can be absorbed through the lining of the intestines. The stuff in faeces that make you sick is generally bacteria, which comes from the conon in the first place. Waste products excreted faecally are secreted into the colon and most of them aren't reabsorbed."
] | [
"If your butt was full of something that made you sick (virus, bacteria) then you would be sick anyway, its already been inside you. Poop is a lot less bad for you than society would have you believe, it comes from you after all, but as a human with a slow digestive system you have no reason for eating it. Licking ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How and why is the wasp's stinger area still actively moving despite the wasp already killed? | [
"Death twitches. Most animals, humans included, will continue to twitch even after death. This is caused by the body's muscles expanding and contracting on their own, adjusting to the built up tension from normal use as well as the blood and energy settling. It usually stops after a minute or two."
] | [
"Bees don't get their intestines ripped out when they sting other bees, which is the main use of stingers (defense of the hive from invading colonies). It's just that human skin is much thicker and tougher, and causes the stingers to get stuck."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What the heck does that third prong on a Western Hemisphere power plug do (the "ground") if it isn't necessary for all electronics? | [
"It's a safety feature on electronics that have a metal exterior, to prevent people from getting shocked, in case the wiring inside gets messed up and touches the case. It grounds the actual metal exterior. I guess it's only necessary if you value your safety, LOL. How and why it works is actually really interesti... | [
"That's not for \"old\" power plugs. It's still the standard for modern devices. *However*, it only applies to plugs that: 1. Don't have a grounding pin, and thus can be plugged in in either orientation. 2. Are for a device where it matters which prong is hot, and which is neutral. For a lot of modern devices, the ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Electrical plugs and their design:"
} |
What does it mean for a living thing to share the same ancestor? Like how do humans and lobsters have a common ancestor? | [
"Well, all life started as a single cell organism. From there it took different route. Some stayed at sea, some grew roots some ate other things. So yes if we trace life back to this cell we all have that common ancestor. And some can he closer related than others. Such humans and primates, or hourses and donkeys, ... | [
"We didn't come from monkeys, monkeys and humans come from the same shared ancestor."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
If the teardrop shape, blunt end forward, has the least aerodynamic drag of all shapes, why should I haul my boat on a car roof rack, mounted bow forward? | [
"A teardrop has no drag, but it still presses against the air. The bow of your boat slices the air, reducing the pressure in front of it. Also, teardrops aren’t as aerodynamic as you think. The most mathematically aerodynamic shape looks like a teardrop with two points, opposite of each other."
] | [
"It's all about wind. On a vehicle with a flat back, there's not enough downward force on the airflow to keep the window clear enough so as to protect the visibility. So in order to account for that, they put windshield wipers on those with flatter back windows."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
today I accidently sniffed Chlorine and it immediately made the back of my head hurt like when you get water up my nose, Why? | [
"I'm not sure about the back of your head, but it would have burned inside your nasal cavity. You've basically bleached the inside of your face. & #x200B; I know, cause I've done the same."
] | [
"Ear nose and throat are all connected. When I got my tonsils removed my throat hurt like hell. Then my ears began to hurt. Could not for the life of me understand why."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What do pilots do when they find air turbulence? Is the only option to wait it out, or are they able to escape it somehow? | [
"They can try to fly around it or change altitudes to fly below or above it, but that's not always possible if the airspace is crowded or the area of the turbulence is too large to avoid. Otherwise, they just fly thought it. Turbulence isn't a danger to the plane so avoiding it is for passenger comfort; avoid it if... | [
"If something is going to go wrong with the flight it will probably happen during take off or landing and as such you need to be paying attention in case emergency directions are given."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does “heat lightning” work? Why doesn’t it make thunder? | [
"Heat lightning is lightning that is very far away, but conditions like overcast let you see the flash over great distances, up to 100 miles away. It makes thunder, but sound doesn't carry anywhere near as far as light so you can't hear it. But anyone who was nearby to the actual lightning strike would've heard thu... | [
"Thunder is the sound that lightning makes. Light travels much faster than sound, so you hear it a while after you see it. The further away it is, the bigger the gap between lightning and thunder."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do so many baseball players wear those rediculously large gold necklaces when playing the game? They have to keep tucking it back in their shirt. Wouldn't that be a distraction? | [
"Many professional athletes are very superstitious and have weird routines they do to do well... and they're paid a lot of money."
] | [
"For one, they have to deal with how it *feels* because it's not like they can line up with a puffy jacket on. However, they often wear more layers of clothing, and the traditional football uniform is pretty heavy as it is. Wide receivers normally wear gloves, anyway, too. The people who struggle the most are the q... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why does the sun make you sneeze? | [
"It has to do with your genes, the medical term is Autosomal Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst. Theres sensors in your eyes and because of your Gene's you body reacts by sneezing."
] | [
"How do you know that you don't sneeze in your sleep?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does inflammation contribute to cancer? | [
"The body's inflammation response is effectively military intervention. In a well ordered city of cells, the inflammation response brings in an army of soldiers and tanks ready to attack anything foreign. However, the deployment causes damage to the surrounding cells. Roads are cracked, buildings are wrecked in the... | [
"> Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. That seems sketchy, just reading the abstract..."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why do things turn black when they burn? | [
"Your samples are all carbon based and elemental carbon is black. Also a lot of what we use to burn things uses fuels that are also made with carbons and leave black residue when burning. Burning is a fast chemical process that generally breaks down molecules into more basic elements, in this case black carbon."
] | [
"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 title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
I keep reading that Mitch McConnell won't "let" certain things move forward or be brought up for discussion/a vote. How can one man have that kind of power, especially if there are a number of others in Congress who want to advance it? | [
"The party with the most seats in the Senate elect a leader who then decides how the schedule of discussions will happen within the Senate. There are far more things to talk about and vote on than there is actually time for, so the leader can end up kicking things they don't want to bother with off the schedule ent... | [
"In all likelihood, he won't. While the President has authority to make many changes under his role as leader of the executive branch, there are also many things that he cannot change without the approval of Congress. Or perhaps I should say, there are many things that only Congress can change, and the President me... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why do elevators have an up and down button? | [
"Very old ones have just that, a single button. Basically 2 buttons is better than one button because the elevator can plan where to take people. Imagine you are in a 20 story building, and you are going from the 6th floor to the 9th floor to visit a friend. Now if there are two buttons you hit “up” and the next e... | [
"How would you know which button was the bottom button if they didn't put one on?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why can't people with hypertension or even those that have elevated blood pressure donate blood? Doesn't the reduction in blood volume in the body decrease blood pressure, why's that bad or dangerous? | [
"You have to be generally healthy. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is not healthy, as you're at risk for heart attacks, strokes, etc. You CAN donate if your high blood pressure is controlled by medication. [Here](_URL_0_) is the eligibility requirements to donate for Hoxworth, who handles most Cincinnati area bloo... | [
"In my experience donating blood, they do not test for the amount of cholesterol in the blood. They tested for the Hb in the blood. The proportion of cholesterol in your blood may stay the same after you donate blood if you have some type of health condition with elevated cholesterol. It may be more effective to l... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Biology:"
} |
what is it that makes it possible for us to swing higher on a swing set when we move our legs? What is happening? | [
"When your legs are in front of you, your center of mass changes to be closer to the front of your body. When you swing them back, it changes to be closer to the back. The changing of your center of mass creates kinetic energy."
] | [
"They basically learn to run a new way, a way where you pick up your knees and actually PUSH against the ground, not simply skipping over it like we all do when we run. High turnover is a must."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How does light-based data transmission work? Fiber optics? | [
"I have no specific knowledge about starlink sattelites, but I'm an electrical engineer and fiberoptic cables are not really complicated. You basically just put a Diode on both ends, one that can be used to create light (LED) and turn light back into electric current (Photodiode). Diodes are semiconductor technolog... | [
"Light and radiowaves are both forms of electromagnetic radiation. They can both be used to transmit information, Fibre optic cables, your infrared remote on the television and many other technologies use light as the communication medium."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:"
} |
what is different in a humans body that is allergic to shellfish compared to humans who don’t have the allergy? And why does the allergic reaction happen | [
"Your immune system basically just overreacts when an allergic reaction happens. In the case of shellfish there's a certain protein that your immune system mistakes as being harmful thus triggering the reaction"
] | [
"Every allergy is just the immune system failing to recognize a foreign body as harmless, or at least thinking that a foreign substance is harmful when it actually isn’t . That‘s why there‘s an inflammatory response if you eat something you’re allergic to; it‘s the same as when your immune system fights bacteria an... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Are there restrictions on how a person’s body can move based on their size? For example could you teach a 7ft2 person to do a perfect double somersault or does their size mean they would never be able to do it like a 5ft tall gymnast? | [
"Yes there are restrictions. The taller and larger you are the harder your body has to work for you, so there’s going to be a significant drop off in agility and perhaps flexibility. Taller people tend to suffer from joint issues at a higher rate than average, are more likely to suffer from blood clots, back pain, ... | [
"Because most people who do parkour might be pretty good at jumping, but Olympic athletes are freakishly good at what they do."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does it feel disgusting/crap to watch the porn you have just been watching after you ejaculate. | [
"It... doesn't? There's a refractory period post-orgasm where you aren't as intensely sexually interested in whatever it was that got you going in the first place (could last a minute, could last all day, every situation is unique). But you shouldn't feel negative about whatever it was you were enjoying just a mom... | [
"I'm the same way. Even when I masturbate- when I finish, I don't want anything to do with me."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
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