query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Why do strobe lights cause seizures for certain people? | [
"The bright, flashing lights irritate the nerves of some people to the point of overexcitement, causing those nerves to send continuous signals to the brain. The brain can’t process it adequately, so it, in essence, shuts down and reboots."
] | [
"Apparently the body releases a certain odor that is undetectable to humans, but not to dogs right before some types of seizures."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Rainbow like waves on cellphone screens while using sunglasses | [
"ah so this is probably more suited to r/askscience, but I'll take my best guess as a former optical physicist. Your sunglasses have polarized lenses, which means only light that waves a certain way can get through them. But your screen also refreshes a certain way, so at certain angles, this refreshing could be vi... | [
"Because it get close to the center and at a certain angle a connection closes to start that action."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How do babies in the womb not get the negative affects of blood rushing to their head while being upside down for so long? | [
"Imagine being upside down in a pool. Not quite the same blood rush to the head, is it? A fetus is basically in a fluid filled sac."
] | [
"Do you want cause or effect? Cause: bump to the head or not enough oxygen to brain. A bump to the head would be a defence mechanism from the sudden jostling of the brain to protect it. I think the same thing goes from a shock, stress, fear, pain... I don’t know for sure. Not enough oxygen getting to the brain is t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does electricity work? | [
"If you put all your Hot Wheels in a row on the coffee table or counter so they got from edge to edge, and then get just one more and push it in line so that it ends on the countertop/table, it'll push the one on the other end off. That's how electricity moves. Metal is made of atoms, and atoms have electrons. The... | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why can some plants live in water, but the same plant will die if it gets too much water? | [
"Plants use water to transport nutrients to the plant cells. They evolved to do that optimally in the environment they exist. When subjected to other conditions it impairs their ability to function properly."
] | [
"Their bodies are adapted to their environment. Fresh water doesn't have a lot of salt, so fresh water fish don't have a lot of salt in their bodies. Salt water has a lot of salt, so salt water fish have a lot of salt in their bodies. If you put a fresh water fish in salt water, it's not used to that level of salt,... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does the moon control the ocean waves? | [
"Gravitational pull. When the moon lines up with the earth at a certain orientation it causes spring tides and neap tides. Neap tides occur twice a month and are your regular tides aka high and low tides. Spring tides occur only during a full moon or new moon Someone smarter and with more time can elaborate. Or te... | [
"Truthfully, we don't really know, that is part of the mission of the International Space Station. To monitor the effects long periods of weightlessness have on the human body."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why did Korea split into two countries during the Korean War, but not the U.S during the Civil War? | [
"Because during civil war the side that was against splitting won. During the Korean war neither side won and the war technically never ended. There have been many skirmishes at the DMZ since the Korean 1953, notably [in 1976](_URL_0_) where American soldiers were chopping down a tree in the DMZ and the North Korea... | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do colds happen? | [
"The common cold is simply a virus, specifically one of over 200 different strains of viruses. They spread through the air or by direct contact. Most symptoms are simply the body's immune response to the cold. Despite the name, there's little evidence that it's actually caused by cold weather."
] | [
"Why do some parts of the world call gasoline petrol?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why do mushrooms naturally grow in a circle shape? | [
"Many types of fungi feed of plant matter buried in the ground. They form a vast network of roots, the so called [mycelium](_URL_0_). This network grows underground, absorbing all the nutrients, at at some point they use the stored up nutrients to grow above ground to spread their spores with the wind. So if you se... | [
"There are[ spores](_URL_0_)(think microscopic seeds) floating in the air around us all the time. When one of these lands in a place with favorable conditions, i.e water and a food source, it begins to grow, when it grows large enough we see it as mold. There are many different species so yes the one one your walls... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
In movies and TV shows, when actors and actresses snort a substance (cocaine, heroin, etc.) what are they really snorting? | [
"It depends on what they're doing with the substance. If it's just going to sit on a table or get cut into lines, they use a mixture of corn starch and baby powder. If it's going up a nose, they'll use powdered lactose instead (or vitamin B powder if they're lactose intolerant), and they might coat the inside of th... | [
"Lots of bad info in this thread so far. Anything that comes in powder form can usually be snorted, injected, smoked, or swallowed. It's just that hard core users prefer one over the other because it increases the intensity of the high and, since drugs are expensive, they usually want the most bang for their buck. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Entertainment:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Entertainment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are polar bears able to go months without food? | [
"Animals that hibernate build up fat reserves in the summer and then go into a state where they minimize how much quickly they use that up by remaining inactive, slowing their metabolism and lowering their body temperature. It's not limited to polar bears, many other bears do and also animals like hedgehogs, tortoi... | [
"Many of them have thick coats of fur to keep them warm. They'll also seek shelter in a burrow or some other enclosed area that they can warm up with their body heat. They limit their exposure by not leaving their shelter very often or even at all - some will have spent the entire fall overeating to build up excess... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How do different animals age differently? What is the difference in their physiology that makes them age live longer/shorter lives than us? | [
"Heart beat speed is a common factor, faster heart beat tends to equal shorter life expectancy while slower heart beats equal longer life expectancy. I read this once so take with a grain of salt."
] | [
"Reproduction. Females develop sooner than males because one male can impregnate many females, but one female can only be impregnated by one male at a time. Males can also continue to impregnate women pretty much until the day they die, but females eventually hit menopause. As such, it is more important for females... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why is it better to pre-heat the oven when cooking meat? | [
"If you need to cook for a long time, then it doesn't matter. If you need to cook for a short, set amount of time, then it matters because each oven takes a different time to heat up, so the recipe would be inconsistent between different ovens unless you preheat them."
] | [
"broiling- Heat coming from above the item in the oven. baking and roasting are the same (heat from all around the unit in the oven), the only difference is what you put in the oven. so if its a cake, you are baking. prime rib, roasting. muffins, baking."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
why do moths wait until the sun is down to be active, yet seem to spend all their waking hours around lamps? | [
"they normally use the moon to navigate and these lights just confuse them. It's not like they \"like\" or need the light to live."
] | [
"They're attracted by the moisture and salt on your skin. The reason they keep coming is because flies arent aware you exist. You like a million times bigger than they are. The reason they keep hitting into you even after you swat at them is they have very poor memory. You ever seen a fly come inside through an ope... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How can someone make a fraudulent transaction just by knowing my Debit Card Number and CVV? | [
"i didn't need any Pin or anything to add my credit card to amazon, they might get suspicious if the name on the adress is not the same, but that's easy to change."
] | [
"It's all about the routing and account info at the bottom of the check. It's not any different, really, than making an online payment with a debit card."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about banking:"
} |
How snorted substances affect the brain without properly being ingested or injected | [
"Chemicals dissolve in the mucus which coats most of the surface in the nose/back of throat. It can diffuse through the cells and enter your bloodstream directly. Same thing when you put something under your tongue, like lsd."
] | [
"The mucus membrane is where cocaine and other powdered dry substances are most quickly delivered to the bloodstream and is most directly accessed via the nasal cavity."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do gunshots sound so different at distance? | [
"The bang at the gun is from the explosion of propellant. The snap downrange is the shockwave from the bullet going faster than sound. This sound is drowned out by the bang when you're closer to the gun. There is also a whizzing sound as the bullet destabilizes or ricochets and starts to tumble. This is caused by... | [
"Older films had a different set of stock sounds than modern films. Modern technology allows much more accurate recordings under many different circumstances. Films like Saving Private Ryan have realistic gun sounds, mostly due to rifles and machine guns firing blanks, while older films will had to make do with the... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How can our brains distinguish between men with high voices and women with low voices? (Eg. Charlie Day vs. Emma Stone) | [
"Even if the pitch between a higher pitched male voice and a lower pitched female voice is the same, a male voice sounds different due to differences in the vocal tract and the resulting acoustic resonance. This is called a formant. However, it’s more difficult distinguishing between the two when this quality of th... | [
"If you did this a lot when you were younger, it carries on into adulthood. Some people can imitate a lot better, like Jim Carrey with his voices and faces. Is your first language deutsch or english?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Neuroscience:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph about Neuroscience:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How Do Military Operations Get Named? | [
"I think I read somewhere it's a random generator. After all, if you're job is to think of cool names about \"the death ray fired at the sun\" you as a human may inadvertently reveal details of the project subconsciously, like Operation Ray-Ban, Operation Icarus, Operation SPF3000, Operation Lantern Archon. Etc... ... | [
"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 Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How do scientists estimate the age of a very old animal ? | [
"Inside living beings are some sort of radioactive material. And those things have something called half-life. If the half-life is, let's say 100 years, then every 100 years half of the radioactive material is gone. After the next 100 years, the half of the half is gone and so on. Scientist can then say, based on h... | [
"Lack of DNA The 'shelf life' of a DNA strand is very short compared to how long ago the dinosaurs lived."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Astronomy:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Astronomy:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are children viewed as more of a financial burden than they used to? | [
"The expenses that have outpaced inflation the most are those that children require. Health care, housing, education. It can cost tens of thousands just to have a pregnancy and delivery."
] | [
"Would you rather get paid, and be able to afford food and shelter for your children, or lose your job and livelihood over your principles? Young people and those without dependents don't understand the hard choices that parents have to make some times."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do tower crane counterweights keep from falling out? | [
"In the image you have linked you can clearly see the retaining bolts coming out of the sides, this stops them slipping through."
] | [
"There are a few ways. * The crane is cemented in with concrete on the ground. Smaller cranes are used to build the crane's tower upwards along the outside of the building. As the building gets taller, so does the crane. The crane is secured to the side of the building every 15 stories or so, which is about how oft... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why are male children more likely to inherit or surpass the height of their parents over their female siblings? | [
"Oestrogen closes your growth plates at the ends of your bones, so when girls hit puberty they stop growing shortly afterwards. Boys, who produce much less oestrogen keep growing for much longer and so can reach their full growth potential"
] | [
"It could be genetics or it could be nutritional. Perhaps you simply had a better diet growing up than your parents. On the other hand, do you resemble the mailman more than your father?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
If your brain can remember memories from a very long time ago out of nowhere, why is it so hard to trigger your brain to remember things from as recent as yesterday? | [
"Our brain remembers different things very differently, and we have many different types of memory. Explicit memory is one of the two types of long-term memory that allows us to remember things like life-events and facts. This type of memory is conscious which means that you have to make a conscious effort to remem... | [
"Sleep is what turns your short term memories into long term memories. Your brain \"files\" memories based on how long and how often you think about something. You will remember a family member dying the day before because it has a deep emotional impact on you, which your brain sees as \"important\". Whereas you wo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Cognitive psychology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Cognitive psychology:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Sleep and boredom:"
} |
Is that spinning circle of leaves that spins around a few times technically a tornado? Why does it happen? | [
"The way air moves can create a 'vortex' (like water spins as it goes down a plughole) the leaves actually make the vortex seeable. Vortexes of wind happen pretty often."
] | [
"It's a metal ball that moves back and forth to stir things up better than they would on their own."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why does the key of a song playing on a set earphones change when the earphones are at some distance from the ears? | [
"Higher frequencies get dampened harder over the same distance. Additionally, you can only hear sound thats at least a certain loudness. Headphones are low-power speakers and if you increase the distance high frequencies seem do drop out because the fall under that threshold. The last thing to disappear if you i... | [
"There might be a physical difference. in some headphones they are mirror images of each other. In others they are interchangeable. but much sound is in stereo. This means that separate sounds are sent to each of the two earphones. If you are watching a show, this could make a real difference. A noise from left of... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why are some soldiers wearing pixelated camouflage? | [
"Under certain conditions the pixelated/digital camo does a better job at breaking up the lines/outline/silhouette of the soldier. The point of camouflage is not only to match the background colour of the soldier's environment, but also to break up any easily identifiable lines. If camo was colour matched to the s... | [
"Because typically it is rock stars that wear British flag shirts and rednecks that wear American flag shirts."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are Performance Enhancing Drugs in baseball treated much more harshly than in other sports such as football and basketball? | [
"They’re not, all leagues suspend player for significant amounts of time for use of PEDs. Baseball may suspend more games, but that’s because they have much longer season."
] | [
"We can only speculate, but here are a few informed guesses. 1. There aren't as many MMA fighters as there are players in other sports. 1% of 100 people is 1. 1% of 1000 people is 10. 2. MMA is bare knuckle. That means that fighters have a limit to how much damage they do. In gloved boxing, fighters are able to hit... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How Hong Kong could leave China? | [
"War china will attack if they attempt to leave already stated they haven't ruled out forcing Taiwan to submit by force."
] | [
"Reddit as the new opiate of the masses?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do GPS satellites and receivers compute our position without synchronous clocks between them? | [
"If you assume that the receiver have the exact same time as the transmitter then you would only need 3 satellites as you would be able to know the exact distance to each satellite alone just based on the difference in time. However the receiver does not have an accurate clock. But it is accurate enough to measure ... | [
"Your GPS still works when airplane mode is on, because GPS functions by *receiving* signals, not by sending them. Essentially, the phone listens for timing signals sent out by multiple satellites at known locations, and uses that information to triangulate its own position. So as long as you have the map data cach... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do our bodies fix the mistakes that proteins/enzymes make every now and then? | [
"Most mistakes don't matter, but defective proteins have certain physical characteristics that cause them to be digested by other specialized enzymes.* Mistakes in DNA replication are repaired using the complementary strand as a template (the older strand will have chemical modifications that distinguish it from th... | [
"Some special type of enzymes need them to work. They are also part of some cellular structures. So if you do not have them, some cells do not work properly and some chemical reactions made by these enzymes just not happen."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
If we are supposed to eat meat, how come we have to clean it and cook it, but all other animals eat it raw? | [
"Humans do not have to cook meat. Sushi, Steak Tartar, Ceviche, are all food preparations that involve uncooked meat. What cooking meat, and other foods does is kill pathogens on the meat that can make us sick (a lot of animals get sick or die from food contamination). This is particularly important as we do not ea... | [
"For the same reasons why some parts of the world eat cows and pigs and think nothing of it, while others eat cats and dogs and think nothing of it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
On boats & ships, how do propeller shafts remain watertight despite the friction caused by the propeller movement? | [
"The boats I'm familiar with, sailboats around 30 - 40 ft, it's not water tight. You should get about 1 drip every 30 seconds. You need a bit of water coming through to act as cooling. Then you have a bilge pump to pump the water back out. The shaft goes through what is called a stuffing box. (_URL_0_). You have a ... | [
"Drills are usually driven by electric motors, an inner magnetic piece spins within (but separate from) a charged coil, there is nothing to tangle as the power is being transmitted via electromagnetism. Wheels spin on lubricated bearings, round or cylindrical pieces of metal coated in lubricant arranged around the... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do directors not film scenes in the order in which they appear in the movie? | [
"In those two cases, if you film the climax of the movie first, you have time to do it right, and fix anything that may go wrong in the process. Wait and do it last, you might have to delay the movie if any issues come up. Also, cost and simplicity come into play. If you have a bunch of scenes in your movie that al... | [
"Previews aren't always based on final cuts. When a preview features a scene that isn't in the final film, it isn't out of an attempt to deceive, but because the editing changed between the time the preview was constructed and when the final film was released."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does a software input into a computer physically change a transistor | [
"Input is made on a wire by turning a voltage on and off. (We call on 1 and we call off 0.) Transistors respond directly to voltage."
] | [
"Physically: think of light switches, 1 being on, 0 being off this is binary. Electricity is used to flip the switches. A clock is consistently running that with every tick turns the switch on or off. Now think of tons of these switches, this is where the memory or current application state is held. Applications in... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Computer Science:"
} |
Why are baseball bats and cricket bats shaped the ways that they are? | [
"The cricket bat shape has evolved to be optimal for striking the ball when coming to you as it does from a bowler, and holding it as batsmen and women do. There is a \"sweet spot\" on a bat, more or less opposite the widest part (front to back) - hit a ball square on there and it will fly.... when you watch top ba... | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
why do you have to avoid grapefruit while on so many medications? | [
"You have molecules (enzymes) in your body that break down medications and other molecules. There is one family of enzymes called the CYP3A family. Enzymes in this group are responsible for breaking down (metabolizing) more drugs than any other group of enzymes in your body. One of the components of grapefruit juic... | [
"Your teacher is an idiot. Talk to a doctor about the best way to beat a type of cancer. That being said, a diet high in vegetables and low in red meat would lower your chances of getting cancer in the first place."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Will it be possible in the near future to create laptops that are able to withstand severe heat? | [
"The problem is one of \"small.\" In order to make the laptops as flat and light as possible, everything gets jammed together. Airflow suffers, and components run hotter. Compound this with components getting faster, which causes then to run hotter, too. Bigger, bulkier laptops, or laptops without the highest-end ... | [
"Because they are built to do so, They are very compact and rugged and resistant to extreme heat. If they couldn't survive most crashes, there would be no reason to bother putting them on the planes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
why does some gum lose its flavor so fast? | [
"The flavors in gum have to be able to get released from the gum to have a taste. That means that they should bind better to spit than to the gum. Gum itself doesn't break down much from saliva. The flavor in gum lasts quite a bit longer than it used to."
] | [
"Pour a bunch of sugar on a piece of paper. Put the sugar and paper in your mouth and chew it. Once you don't taste any more sugar, spit the paper out. Do you think you just consumed some calories even though you didn't eat any paper? The answer is yes. Same concept applies to gum."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How are animals like felines able to jump and leap insane distances? What makes humans unable to do the same? | [
"The design of the hind legs has a lot to do with it. Animals like cats and deer walk on their rear toes. The \"heel\" is quite high off of the ground. So their rear legs have three major segments instead of two, giving them more power and range of motion. This leads to bigger jumps. And you also have to be abl... | [
"That is what they are adapted to do. It is like asking how fish can swim all the time or how whales can hold their breath for so long. The stress of being used for what they do isn't something difficult for nipples to do."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
When you stretch and hear little cracks in your back, what is actually taking place in the body? | [
"That sound is called cavitation. It's the same as cracking your knuckles OR is could be the realignment of misaligned bones/joints, OR if it's more of a crackle/pulling sound, it's the muscle fibers. 👍 Source 15+yrs experience with a DC program and training over 1K DC interns."
] | [
"I guess when you crack your joints, the fact that the gas bubbles are popping should alleviate any lingering pressure you feel within those joints. With less pressure, it makes sense for your joints to feel slightly looser and therefore somewhat pleasurable in comparison."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
What actually is a “gut feeling?” | [
"A gut feeling is that feeling that something is wrong without any obvious outside information, just your instincts. What it actually is, is your blood pressure raising due to the uncomfortable and unknown situation at hand. Your subconscious mind has calculated that the scenario isn't going to go well based on you... | [
"In a nutshell, \"Mind your own damned business.\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If water is non-conductive how does is short electronics | [
"*Pure* distilled water is non conductive. Most water however has impurities in it which are what conspire to make it conductive."
] | [
"because the electricity is looking for the path of least resistance, so it changes direction depending on which part of the air has a more favorable electron/proton balance, along with humidity and other factors that make it easiest for electricity to flow"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why dont we raise space ships with balloons before using rocket engines to escape earths gravity? | [
"The physics are complex, but simply put, look at a Goodyear blimp. The blimp (the actual envelope containing the helium) is huge relative to the tiny cabin attached underneath. Now, replace the tiny cabin with a spaceship made of materials capable of sustaining atmospheric re-entry, fuel for the round-way trip, pl... | [
"The further you go up in the atmosphere the less dense the atmosphere becomes, planes can only fly because they move fast enough for air pressure to keep them aloft, if you're to high in the sky your engines will stall and quite possible overheat from lack of air. It takes a lot of energy to escape earth's gravity... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Aerospace Engineering:"
} |
why are most (all?) green parties against nuclear power? | [
"This is a handy link- _URL_0_ as to the potential negatives of nuclear power, I will summarise them for you though to save time. 1. Implementing enough nuclear power plants in time to cut emissions before 2050 seems financially unviable 2. Inherent error, human risk, design flaws even natural disasters 3. Deters i... | [
"more like ELI5 why is there so much tension between ethnic groups all over the world"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
In the photos you see of nebulas, galaxies etc. What exactly does the coloured smoky areas represent? Is it just light or something cooler? | [
"Those are clouds of gas. As a quick and dirty guide you can break then into three groups. Red ones are thicker regions of hydrogen that are warmed by nearby starts to glow a red color. Blue have dust in them and are reflecting light. Dark ones can actually have larger dust grains, molecules of hydrocarbons etc. Th... | [
"The y-axis of the key, brightness, running from black to white, indicates how much hydrogen lies on that line of sight. Dark means very little hydrogen, ie that line of sight is a clean void. White means a great deal of hydrogen lies along that direction, ie that line of sight is full of gas. The x axis of the key... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about science:",
"pos": "Represent the text about science:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why don't shoes last nearly as long as vehicle tires? | [
"First shoes impact the ground differently, tires roll, assuming properly aligned and balanced wheels. Shoes impact the ground and skid slightly that's why the heel or ball of the foot wears out faster. Tires can be made of heavier rubber, heavy shoes like work boots or hiking boots are not always desirable. So the... | [
"Because a lot of people live there, and there aren't enough trains to take everyone where they want to go comfortably."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Automotive technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Automotive technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do colors “clash?” | [
"I’m no scientist but I bet it has something to do with why certain music notes don’t sound good together. The “wobble” you hear when two notes clash is caused by the wavelength of those particular notes. Seeing how light is also a wave, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the two waves are clashing causing ... | [
"Exercise releases endorphins Endorphins make you happy Happy people just don't shoot their husbands."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why do laser beams have "brighter dots"? | [
"The light is striking dust and other particulate matter in the air and therefore being scattered/reflected. Some gets reflected toward your eyes so you perceive those spots as brighter."
] | [
"> What is the \"beam\" made of Light. \"Laser\" is an acronym of **L**ight **A**mplication by **S**timulated **E**mission of **R**adiation. As simplified as possible, there's a crystal that light is passed through. The crystal is excited so that the photons passing through it can cause its atoms to release more p... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
How does sunscreen work? | [
"The part of light that burns you is called UV, or ultraviolet light. You can't see it, but it's part of the light we get from the sun. Sunscreen reflects and scatters the UV rays or absorbs it instead of your skin absorbing it, depending on what the sunscreen is made of."
] | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Body temperature what makes it 98.5 and how does it regulate it? | [
"Keeps warm by : - Hairs standing up on body to trap heat - shaking to generate heat - (shut down parts of the body - in extreme cases) Keeps cool by : - sweating ( a layer of sweat helps take heat away from the body which then transfers to the air around us ). Thus cooling the body."
] | [
"Your body temperature is your core temperature, how hot it is inside your body. Your skin is much cooler than your internal body temperature which makes 30C feel hot."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Science:"
} |
What's the difference between having undetectable levels of HIV and being cured? | [
"You have spotted the thing. & #x200B; From a functional perspective, if you are undetectable, you cannot pass on the virus to a HIV- person. The virus is no longer in your blood (but it can hide in other tissues which is why it comes back if you stop taking your ARV meds). & #x200B; While you are undetectable, t... | [
"HIV is a virus. AIDS is the state the body and immune system gets in from having so much damage done to it by the HIV virus. Because you have HIV does not mean you'll ever develop AIDS."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How do celebrities, like OJ Simpson, who lose their fortunes still live seemingly lavish lifestyles? | [
"Because his income can't be touched. As a former NFL player, OJ has a very large pension, and pensions can't be attached in civil lawsuits."
] | [
"You don't get rich by giving money away. Just because someone has a lot of money doesn't mean they're also the sort of person who doesn't care about how much they spend on things; it's usually those who do care about financing and manage to earn a lot of cash while spending only a small amount that get rich."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
why have severe allergies for example peanut allergies that can lead to someone's, death not been bred out by natural selection in humans? | [
"Because it isn't a simple gene. It is a combination of genes, as well as an environmental component. People without allergies have children with allergies. People with allergies have children without. Allergies can start off mild and over time develop into serious allergies. Or the opposite can happen, over time t... | [
"it is not 100% known why. But it is part of the evolution, some believe it was intended to remove toxins, or poisons. protecting the fetus from food-borne illnesses be potentially harmful. something strange to note, most other mammals do not have morning sickness, more singular to human evolution"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
How is alcohol (mouthwash) removed from city water? | [
"Most city water is not made by reprocessing waste water. Waste water, containing mouthwash, goes to a sewage treatment plant. There are many processes that go on there, but at least one of them is bubbling air through the water with an open surface. Alcohol evaporates under these conditions, leaving only the wate... | [
"They're not filtered by the equipment used for treating sewage before releasing it back into lakes/rivers, but they are filtered by the equipment used for cleaning drinking water."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How are we able to determine if something technical “makes sense” or “seems right” when we have no prior knowledge on the subject? | [
"You draw on any experience you have with other things that might have something in common. Or it's just explained well enough to give you a basic understanding of how it works."
] | [
"It depends on how you define random. If you define it based on someone's relative knowledge, then you can easily have things that are random because people don't know enough to predict them. For example, you may be able to know how a coin will land if you have all the information about how I'm flipping it. However... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are teeth a part of the nervous system? | [
"Simple evolution. Look at human teeth as an evolved mammalian example. Humans are omnivores and throughout human evolution meat and found plants foods such as roots have been a large part of the human diet. Biting too hard into a bone or a small rock and breaking a tooth would seriously hamper nutrition intake for... | [
"You have a higher concentration of nerves in your hand than you have in most other places on your body."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does scar cream work (does it even work)? | [
"It doesn't. Scars are fibrous tissue where the wound closed up under the skin without the skin cells covering it. They usually fade over time because skin will regenerate over it over time but that takes a long time. Creams say they make scars \"softer, smoother and less noticeable\" which basically mean they hyd... | [
"Possibly involves direct stimulation of hair follicle growth; may increase local blood flow; and stimulate dormant/resting hair follicles What's interesting is that once you start it you can't stop. If you start bucking the system it hurts hair growth. Much like acne medication or OTC creams you need to use it EVE... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do carbonated drinks exclusively use CO2 and not other gases? | [
"The short answer is that CO2 is the ideal gas for carbonation. First of all its cheap compared to more exotic things like Helium or Neon, and isn't flammable and toxic like Hydrogen or Petroleum gases. Nitrogen for example is plentiful but it doesn't dissolve in water nearly as well as CO2 so it doesn't make bubbl... | [
"Beer is made from grains and contains plant proteins. This proteins are what hold the foam together to form a head. Too high an alcohol content in the beer however will weaken the bubbles and the head won't stay. Soda on the other hand is mostly sugar, water, and usually Carbonic Acid which decays to make the CO2.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What does the term "passive agressive" actually mean? | [
"Think of a situation where someone could react really aggressively, like if I responded, “this sub is a terrible place for you to ask for the definition of a single term! Why didn’t you just google the term, idiot?!” But instead of saying that outright, I convey the same level of aggression, in a toned down way, t... | [
"We don't know. We don't even really have a handle on what \"legitimate\" emotions and pain even is."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why do "weeds" grow so much more quickly and without any nurturing compared to plants/crops? | [
"We have carefully selected our crops to produce large yields. This is economically costly to the plant. Plants in nature don't produce yields like that because natural selection penalises that kind of economic investment. We ensure that it is beneficial for the plant through carefully removing competitors, inputs ... | [
"Basically all the grain crops were \"weeds\" which have been bred and developed to be the useful crops they now are, they bear very little resemblance to the original plants."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
The Vagus Nerve; what exactly is it? | [
"The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that runs from your brain, down into your chest and into your abdomen. It is a purely parasympathetic nerve, which means it can slow things down, like your heart rate, breathing and or help things along that happen best when you are relaxed, like gastric movement. People sometime... | [
"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 query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence about Health and wellness:"
} |
Does using internet on a flight really affect the plane’s instruments? | [
"The short answer is that it's possible, so don't. The Mythbusters did an episode on this. What they found was older electronics had more of an effect than the newers ones. Also that most modern airliners have shielding on the instrumentation to help protect them against this sort of thing. But on smaller and older... | [
"It disables the cellular transceiver in your phone. It just turns off the part of your phone that sends and receives data from cell towers. The idea is that you will not be creating electromagnetic interference that could potentially interact with the aircraft's instrumentation. The reality is that everything is s... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
A tree can contain hundreds or thousand pounds of wood, Where all this come from ? Does it come from the ground ? | [
"It comes from the air! Plants use CO2 from the air to make things (photosynthesis), wood is 90% carbon and oxygen."
] | [
"Those things coming out are the sprouting roots and stem. So yes, that is how potatoes grow."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
If the human body is constantly seeking homeostasis, and our ideal body temperature is near 98.6 Fahrenheit, why do most of us prefer external temperatures that are 20-30 degrees cooler? | [
"Because the human body generates a lot of heat so in order to maintain homeostasis it needs to be able to shed excess heat, a high external temperature make it difficult to shed this extra heat. - _URL_0_"
] | [
"Women don't just feel colder, they ARE colder, and they are FAR more sensitive to temperature than men are. This is proven science. This is due mostly to body mass; men are heavier and larger on average, and therefore run hotter than the smaller, lighter women. Women, on the other hand, have higher core temperatur... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Food and Beverage:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Food and Beverage:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Can a body that currently needs 7-8 hrs of sleep get used to 6hrs of regular sleep? | [
"Yes. All you need to have are fixed times for sleeping. Get up every day, even weekends and holidays, at the same time. If you are still tired the first week that shouldn't be surprising. If you still are overly tired after a month, improve your overall sleep quality. For example get better pillows or sleep in a r... | [
"A lot of factors to consider here. 1. The stages of sleep you enter. If you're going in and out of REM, it drains energy. 2. Breathing. A lot of people actually have sleep apnea but don't realize it. 3. Naps give you the boost feeling, it does not provide you with the long sustained wakefulness that a quality slee... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health:"
} |
Why do towels absorb water? | [
"Water likes to stick to some things more than others. The amount of water that sticks to something is determined mainly by three factors: How much it wants to stick to that thing, the amount of surface area of that thing, and the amount that water wants to stick to the other thing (in the case of a beach towel, th... | [
"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 title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why can’t we have both hands/feet be predominant instead of just having one side? | [
"It would be a waste of resources. When you are using fine motor skills one hand at a time is sufficient for most tasks. There is very little to gain from being able to use your hands equally well. So the ability to use both was never selected for as their were other uses for that brain power."
] | [
"The thumb, at least now, serves as the opposing force to other fingers allowing you grip and fine holding. If your thumb is longer youd have difficulty."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about science:",
"pos": "Represent the text about science:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Anatomy:"
} |
How do Japanese internet users use so many different characters to make custom emoticons and why did no one else do the same? | [
"It started on [2channel](_URL_0_). The culture and large audience of this text-only site led its denizens to go looking for characters to make pictures from, first [the Shift JIS character set](_URL_1_), but then later the whole Unicode character set. Just like on Reddit, text that looks like a picture stands out ... | [
"> Is there some sort of restriction because of the infrastructure texting was built on? Yes. Text messages have a standard amount of data they can use and that data doesn't have enough space in it to allow you to encode extra information like italics or bold etc. It would be possible to create a new standard for t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
With all the talk about putting satellites with sub machine guns into orbit, what would happen if a bullet were to be fired down towards earth? | [
"Pls link to \"all that talk\". First bit: A bullet fired down would not actually go to Earth due to orbital mechanics - it would actually be best to fire the bullet backwards from the orbit. Now: bullets falling from orbit would just disintegrate unless they were very specially designed. They would likely have to ... | [
"They're going really high and really fast. They basically travel up into space, around the Earth, and then come back down at a very high speed. Also if there's an all-out nuclear war, there's going to be hundreds (maybe thousands) in flight at once, likely overwhelming your missile defense system."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
what is the incentive for GoodRX to get us cheaper prescription prices for free? | [
"The pharmacies pay for inclusion in the app/site's listings. They also pay a portion of the discount to GoodRx."
] | [
"It's how your plan is structured. Even if the cash price of the drug were the same (which is unlikely) your plan will pay less of that cost for going to your neighborhood pharmacy. Many insurance companies own their own mail order, basically paying themselves to dispense to you. TL;DR: the insurance coverage ch... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why Do People Grow Wisdom Teeth Just To Have Them Removed? | [
"Wisdom teeth are vestigial. Which means that basically they are a hold over from the days when we used to need them to eat plants. Some people don't get wisdom teeth at all. The issue with Wisdom Teeth is not the teeth themselves, but the fact that the jaw doesn't have sufficient space to support them and the teet... | [
"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 Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
; why are tattoos such taboo in some religions? | [
"Some religions believe your body is the physical property of God. You are just borrowing it for your time on Earth and at the end when you die he gets it back. You're not allowed to damage it because it's not yours and a tattoo is damaging the skin."
] | [
"Social reasons in some cultures, in other cultures both sexes wear body or face make-up, have tattoos and adornments. It all depends what the cultural nom is for a particular community."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why is it reported that it's safe to use plastic water bottles the first time, but dangerous chemicals will leach into your water if you refill it for use later? | [
"According to the FDA, the plastic used in water bottles is completely safe for repeated use. They do add that you should wash your plastic bottles because they could have bacteria in them that builds up after being refilled multiple times. Per the FDA, the original source of the rumor that plastic bottles being re... | [
"The actual plastic in the bottle will decay and somewhat \"poison\" the water inside. Note however that no company would put the expiration date as the point at which the water becomes dangerous. In other words, the expiration date gives a rough estimate for when the bottle is probably becoming a bit unhealthy, bu... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Health and Safety:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Health and Safety:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How did the debt grow so much when the deficit decreased under Obama? | [
"The deficit is the amount by which spending outpaced earnings. So if the debt is 100k, and your deficit is 20k, now debt is 120k. As long as you have *any* deficit, the debt will go up."
] | [
"Debt is multi-year, deficit is a single year. So if you have a debt of $16 trillion before last year And last year your buget had $2 trillion coming in and $3 trillion going out you had a $1 trillion budget deficit. Then you have a debt of $17 trillion. If this year you had $2.5 trillion coming in and $3.25 trill... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why aren't the lids of plastic water bottles recyclable? | [
"They are made of different plastics. Usually the soft plastic bottle is made of PET (indicated with number 1). The hard caps are made using PP (number 5). It is currently not economically viable to recycle plastics PP, so most recycling plants don’t have the equipment to handle it. If a significant amount of PP we... | [
"It also depends on what country you live in. Something being recycleable doesn't necessarily mean it gets recycled, it just doesn't go into the landfill. Case in point: k-cups are now recyclable, but they're recycled right into an incinerator."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why is the download of a software update 100 MB, but does it need 1 GB of free space to complete the installation? | [
"Imagine you buy a new TV. You bring it home, you're gonna replace your old TV. Maybe the new TV is the exact same size as the old TV, so it doesn't take up any more space. But obviously it takes space just to switch them out. You're gonna make a mess, there's gonna be boxes, you have to move the old TV out of the ... | [
"When you update an app it has to download the latest version, then it replaces the old version with the new version. What's important with an update is the net size change of the app. Updates usually include an increase of code or data the app uses(images, 3D models, etc). So if they added a new image to the app, ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why do some companies refer to thier employees as "associates" and get wierd about it when you call them "employees" | [
"Because traditionally, \"associates\" are sort of partners in the company, but \"employees\" are assets. It's not official or anything, but people are soured on capitalism and this little pat on the back is meant to make workers feel better about it."
] | [
"Because there IS a threat. Embarrassment. Most people care about what other people think whether they admit it or not. You might also risk sounding like an idiot in front of superiors, potential spouses ect."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it when in a heavy rainstorm, sunglasses can actually help make your vision clearer. | [
"> Wearing polarized sunglasses when driving in the rain during the day will help a driver see better. Polarized sunglasses work to block horizontal components of scattered or reflected light, which means they help counteract the scattering of light that atmospheric effects like fog or rain have on daylight. _URL_... | [
"This is common in many sports. It stops the sun from reflecting off your cheek bones and into your eyes. It reduced glare to some degree to make it a bit easier to see in sunny conditions."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does 100 km/h not feel so incredibly fast when seated in a train or car whereas it does feel really fast when seated in an attraction like a rollarcoaster? | [
"* 100 km/h is a speed. * Humans don't feel speed, we feel force and force comes from acceleration * Acceleration is caused by two things: * Change of speed * Change of direction * When seated in a train or car you aren't accelerating very much. Sure there are small changes in speed and direction. * On a rollerco... | [
"You are higher above the road, and thus the road seems to be going by slower, kind of like when you are in an airplane at 30,000 feet the ground seems to move slowly even though you're going 500mph."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Trickle Down Economics | [
"Answer: the idea is that by giving tax breaks to job creators/companies, theyll use the extra money to expand and hire more workers/produce more goods/etc. That will stimulate the economy and cause more people to have jobs and work."
] | [
"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 argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Where do head lice come from? Not how they spread. | [
"Head lice come from eggs that are laid by other head lice. Head lice cannot spontaneously generate. An infestation starts by being spread from another infestation."
] | [
"Because most people don't live where penguins live."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does someone being intoxicated on things like pcp or spice make them resistant to tasers sending electricity through their body? | [
"A taser will cause localized muscle contractions while actively shocking, but relies on pain and shock (the medical kind, not electrical) to 'drop' people. Someone who is riding on the right chemicals (even just adrenaline, potentially) can have a great ability to ignore or not feel pain. Thus, being tazed will st... | [
"A taser is often lethal if someone has a heart condition. This is well documented. But for a healthy person the taser is not powerful enough to cause disruption of the heart."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why can't we talk to animals? | [
"Simply because animals don’t have anything like the same cognition as human beings. The sounds they make are only a ‘language’ in a rudimentary sense and don’t have the nuance necessary to engage in any kind of constructive conversation; therefore they cannot be ‘translated’ into anything close to a language syste... | [
"In the real world why would anyone want to be a politician?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How do foundations work? Example: Lebron James’ I Promise School has uniforms, food, and transportation cost covered for the kids. Where the does money come from? | [
"Donations from folks that want to know if this school format works better than other solutions. King James isn't planning to take over all education for everyone, only examine a format and try to learn from it."
] | [
"Its a combination of things Many families save some amount of money. Even if its not enough to cover all the costs, it helps cover some. Loans, Grants, Work-Study all play a part in helping to fund parts of the cost. Finally, its not like these families went from having 0 expenses to suddenly having to pay for the... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why do foods like wasabi and horseradish burn your sinuses when you eat them? | [
"Rather than the capsaicin found in chili peppers, horseradish is hot because of a chemical called *isothiocyanate*. Think of it like those liquid plumbing clog removers that come in separate bottles and are activated by mixing together. Basically, those two chemicals aren't hot by themselves, but the product is."
... | [
"It happens that the nerves in our mouth that are sensitive to cold are also sensitive to menthol, which is the chemical that makes mint taste minty. When you eat mint, the nerves that sense coldness are activated and you experience cold. A similar thing happens when you eat hot chilis. In that case, the chemical i... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Science:"
} |
How old are the hairs on my body? | [
"I can't answer the whole question, but I can answer the one part about turning grey. No, they do not turn grey while hanging off your head. Hair has color because of cells called pigments which are like color deposits (you can see them in your hair under microscopes, pretty cool!). When hair grows out of your foll... | [
"What color is the skin of most of the people who make and utilize those drawings? Theres your answer"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
is vaping bad for you? | [
"Yes, but nowhere near as bad as cigarettes. & #x200B; There's no long term research into the effects of vaping tho, so vapists are practically strawberry shortcake puffing guinea pigs. & #x200B; I'll stick to the cigs tho, they make me look extremely cool."
] | [
"Caffine blocks certain recptors in your brain, making its harder to feel tired. If you want more information, check out this video: _URL_0_"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Can the prosecution say that the defendant is not guilty? And if yes, what happens? | [
"The prosecution can decide to drop the charges, immediately ending the trial. The defendant goes free."
] | [
"I was under the impression that 'No Contest' means they are not contesting the allegations, but are not entering a guilty or not guilty plea. Not sure what else it means."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How do insurances profit and avoid misusage? | [
"> Always wondered how do car / house / personal liability insurances avoid \"cheaters\" or misusage? If you make a lot of claims, your insurance rates go up. Also, the insurance companies know that a certain amount of fraud is inevitable and they build that into the premiums that they charge."
] | [
"Inefficiencies. Who gets the money in the long run. Are we paying extra just because private practices cost more or the stupidity that is insurance?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do some animals have superlatives? | [
"People aren't following any kind of rational process for deciding what names to give animals. Sometimes a superlative name sticks, and sometimes it doesn't."
] | [
"Humans use Big Brain and opposable thumbs! It's super-effective!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how do touchscreens detect skin and rubber, but nothing else? | [
"Capacitive touch screens do not detect rubber, it detects conductive things. Styluses are made from a special conductive rubber or plastic that conducts electricity like your fingers do."
] | [
"Depends what type of touch screen. Some, mostly older ones have pressure sensors, allowing both fingers and pens to work. Others go by electrical conductivity. So it will register your finger but not a random pen. But specially made stylus will work because it has the correct conductivity"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Technology:"
} |
What determines the order of flavors? Why sauce might be sweet then spicy instead of spicy then sweet? | [
"You will smell before you taste. For example a fresh habanero will give a spicy aroma while cayenne powder will be an after heat. Remember that smell is an important component to tasting food"
] | [
"Contrasting flavors are often a successful combination because they balance each other; this prevents you from feeling that a given flavor becomes excessive. So considering the 3 examples you give, we have salty/savoury flavors of peanut butter, pork chops, and lamb, which are combined with tart/fruity flavors of ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why does puking helps to relieve headaches? | [
"From personal experience it seems to be something to do with pressure in the head being somehow equalised by the rush of blood/pressure from vomiting"
] | [
"Isn't that just basic signs of sickness? Vomiting mostly occurs when you have a sickness, like a cold, which also makes you sweat and gives you a fever."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Health and Wellness:"
} |
How are genetically modified crops created? | [
"For plants essentially what happens is scientists grab bacteria, inject it with the desired gene and then inject this into the crops."
] | [
"There is no scientific evidence showing that GMO foods are more unhealthy than non-GMO foods."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about science:"
} |
Why do babies of a certain age laugh so much? What happens to make them lose their minds laughing at silly things. | [
"Remember the first time you heard someone with the last name of Butt? It's initial funny is overwhelming. Well thats happening all the time for babies because everything is new."
] | [
"Do all babies do that? I once heard that there's no point reading books about babies, because the only thing that's certain is that the baby won't have read any of the books. So I'd be surprised if *all* babies behave this way. Having said that, babies have a few purposes in life. Everyone knows they eat, poo and ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Psychology:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Psychology:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What happens in our ears when we have a big yawn and all sound is muffled or completely silent? | [
"During a big yawn along with your jaw and neck you also move your upper jaw muscles which constricts the ear canal making sounds feel muffled. Sometimes those muscles vibrate , vibrating your inner ear and make you internally hear the sound you hear inside your ears during yawn"
] | [
"Sometimes, one of my ears will go deaf for a few minutes and all I can hear is ringing (think being too close to a grenade in Half-Life 2 when it goes off). This is different from tinnitus, because I have both. What's going on there? Also there is no trigger. I'm thinking perhaps sudden drop of blood pressure to o... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Health:"
} |
Why is it funny when people fall / get hurt? Is it a nervous reaction? | [
"Most the time its not. Its when they get back up its a nervous relief"
] | [
"Been there, done that. Laughing comes much more naturally to kids because there are so many new first times seeing or experiencing humorous things. Also, the media (and fail compilations) deadens us over time. And another great source of laughter is when things are funny, but you're not allowed to laugh because yo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How do we know what music sounded like in ancient cultures? | [
"**ELI5:** We often know what their musical instruments sounded like. Ancient peoples sometimes left clues about how their instruments were made. Then, a smart man can make a copy of the instrument - and play it! Sometimes, musical instruments are buried with people, and we can make a copy. Sometimes, an old type... | [
"To be a little less specific, what did people think the future in general would be like before the Industrial Revolution?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Linguistics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Linguistics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How is looking up a hash table O(1), but looking up something in a normal array still O(n)? What's the difference between a hash table and a list of hashes? | [
"Accessing an array is O(1). Perhaps you mean searching for something in an array. If the array is ordered then searching is O(log(n)). For an unordered array the search is O(n). Hashing means taking the search key and processing it in some consistent way to produce a single number which you can then use as the arr... | [
"An algorithm is a set of instructions (e.g. commands, rules, etc.) that solve a particular problem given a certain input. A simple adding algorithm may, for example, take input X and input Y and then return the sum of X + Y. A Data Structure is a way of structuring and organizing data in an efficient way so that y... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.