query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1 value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Why do people drink? | [
"One of the many reasons is peer pressure. People usually start drinking because they were offered one by a friend or family. Some continue to drink because they like the feeling they get when they drink. Some drink when the are depressed. A lot of people like to drink to celebrate. There are many reasons to drink,... | [
"How do you think they stay rich? ;)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
- Why do all the cows lie down when it's about to rain? How can they sense this? Coming from Indiana, I was surrounded by farms and cornfields, so I saw this all the time. If you drive past a farm and all the cows are lying down, you can guarantee it's about to rain. What's the explanation? | [
"Cows are more likely to lay down when they get cold, as rain fall is preceded by a drop in atmospheric pressure-- it gets colder before the rain. Cow lay down as the storm front approches, giving the illusion that they lay down for the rain, when they are just keeping warm"
] | [
"I personally raise about 60 chickens every year and about half of those are roosters. The reason they are believed to crow in the morning is that's when they see the first light and do it to assert dominance. If I were to go into my coop in the middle of the night and turn on the light they would start crowing. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why Are Farm Subsidies Necessary? | [
"The original intent was to smooth out supply, since agriculture is so important to society. Farming is a business where one bad year, or a string of bad years, could put you out of business. Also, a business where the end price of the product you produce could vary wildly. So farming is hard! But it's essential, s... | [
"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 query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
If the Earth stopped spinning, would we feel it? | [
"Only if you count us and everything that's not superbly secured underground flung into the cold depths of space \"feeling it\"."
] | [
"If the earth had always been spinning the other way? Pretty much nothing interesting, other than the sun rising in the west."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does it hurt to pee with an erection? | [
"Uh, it does? Last time I did it it wasn't uncomfortable. I always sit down in that case though, maybe that's why."
] | [
"Go see a doctor. You might have a urinary tract infection (UTI). You shouldn't have burning or pressure when you urinate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why are some chicken mcnuggets shapped like boots, some like fish, and some are round? | [
"**Short**: Because McDonald's Inc thought that those shapes would make them look more \"natural\" than all being identical lumps. **Long**: Before the get nugget'd, the chicken used in McNuggets first gets ground up, like beef is for hamburgers. They do this so the flavor and texture is consistent...and so they ca... | [
"Both the drumstick and \"wing\" parts of a chicken wing are the \"arm/wing\" of the actual chicken. Know how you have two bones in your lower arm? thats the \"wing\" chicken-wing piece (two bones). The \"drumstick\" chicken-wing is the upper arm, like your upper arm. The actual drumstick of the chicken would be it... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How are bombs (especially the atomic bomb during the Manhattan project) built safely without worrying about it going off? | [
"uranium and plutonium aren't like gunpowder. It's not like a stray spark would make them explode. They're arguably safer to work with than conventional explosives in most respects. Nuclear material will only actually explode under very specific conditions. Building a machine that actually was able to create the he... | [
"Bombs are designed to use up as much of the radioactive material as possible in a split second. Any less would be a waste of destructive power. Power plants are designed to use up fuel slowly (in theory!) The arrangement, type, amount of the fuel, and location of radiation release (power plants are on the ground w... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does a traffic light work and how complex its "computer" is? | [
"it depends, some of these have city/synchronization control, traffic measurement and traffic cameras ... but ill limit myself to a 'stand alone' system So... > how complex its \"computer\" is? I wrote a 4 way traffic light system including pedestrian crossing in the late 1980's on a simple microprocessor with ( i... | [
"Computer science is more theoretical and mathematical. It's a field that attempts to look at the math behind how computer without delving into how the computer is actually implemented in the physical world. Computer engineering is the complement - how to actually build a computer, electronics, transistors and such... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Where did the stereotype of black people liking fried chicken come from? | [
"It was a popular dish among slaves, partially because they weren't allowed to keep any animals other than chickens. For a lot of people, Fried Chicken, watermelon, and chitterlings were the best food they were even *able* to have, so it's only natural that they become fond of it. But since whites were used to far ... | [
"The best things come in pairs, breasts, testicles, sandwiches, butt cheeks, you get the gist."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is necrophilia so much more taboo than murder? | [
"Victorian dogma about fear and revilement of death/respect for the dead that has lingered on. If we lived in a purely rational society, it would probably be possible to donate your body to necrophilia, because you are correct. Burying a dead body is throwing away a full set of valuable organs and tissues. It's a w... | [
"Related/follow-up question: did the Victorians think child sexual abuse was worse than now-accepted sexual practices that they considered immoral, like adultery or homosexuality? Or in the same league?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are clothes with reflector stripes really bright in the dark when in contact with weak light sources, while they just appear grey in daylight? | [
"The reflector stripes contain many small [Retroreflectors](_URL_0_), which reflect light back in the direction of the light source. At night it reflects the light from the car headlight back to the car it came from, and looks bright to the person driving the car."
] | [
"Both tinting and mirroring work both ways. The only difference is that if there is a significant difference in illumination in one side against the other the transmitted image intensity outweighs the reflected or vice versa. If you are outside on a sunny day, it's very hard to see into an unlit room through an ord... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do most smartphones not have built-in FM receivers? (When they have many other technologies like WiFi, GPS, 4G, etc.) | [
"It completely depends on the market. In India and China it's an important feature so manufacturers go out of their way to include it as consumers look for it. In North America, it has so little interest that we've seen some manufacturers disable it because it's cheaper not to test/support than it is to deliver it.... | [
"Proximity sensor, gyroscope, wifi, bluetooth, 3g, 4g, GPS, multitouch super dense screen, multiple cameras, multiple microphones, light sensor, NFC stuff. Theres a ton of stuff in there. I'm surprised its so cheep."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Technology:"
} |
What distinguishes good acting from phenomenal, award-winning acting? | [
"The illusion that no acting is taking place is always a good one."
] | [
"The story that is presented to the viewers is ultimately delivered via the director's choices. The same story in the hands of a less talented director wouldn't be as engaging and enjoyable for the audience."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does Coca-Cola have a secret formula when all the ingredients are in the nutrition facts? | [
"Its the ratios and the prep that you dont know. I could give you a list of ingredients for my World famous apple pie but if you dont know how much of each or when to use each then your screwed."
] | [
"Exactly what happened when someone did - nothing. Coca-Cola is not about the flavor. It would not be difficult to replicate Coca-Cola - although one known ingredient, the coca leaf extract, flavors from the plant that cocaine comes from, isn't available to anyone else because of drug laws. Coca-Cola is about the b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why are so many more people allergic to gluten or have celiac disease than in the past? Or if this is not the case, how did they live? | [
"I've not seen anything to suggest that more people have celiac disease than in the past. What we do have now are far more gluten-free options for people who do have the disease, and a lot of people who don't have the condition but who seem to think (with little basis) that gluten is inherently bad for them. In the... | [
"Lactose intolerance used to be the default condition for humans. That is an inability to digest the sugar in milk, though, not an immune reaction to the proteins in it, but many people confuse milk allergies and lactose intolerance. At the moment, we don't know. Some people have hypothesized that parents keeping ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health:"
} |
how does that switch on my rearview mirror that helps dim headlights at night work? | [
"Now I just wish they would invent auto dimming side mirrors :( stop those dam Toyota Corrolas from blinding me"
] | [
"they're not extra. they just don't have the correct light bulbs in them. each click is for a different light setting, from low to high. But you have to have use certain light bulbs or it won't work and you'll just get a click where nothing happens."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Electrical engineering:"
} |
What will happen, in general, if something travelled faster than light? | [
"Light itself doesnt have anything to do with it. The speed of light is really just the upper speed limit of the universe. Space and time arent separate things the are actually one thing called spacetime. The faster you move through space the slower you move through time as the two speeds together have to add up t... | [
"a bus cannot go the speed of light since it has mass. That said, you can never go the speed of light ever since you also have mass. Finally, nothing that is now going slower than the speed of light can ever go faster than the speed of light."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are there so many specific words for different groups of animals? Herd of cows, murder of crows. Business of ferrets, etc.. | [
"I've searched tha seven seas fer an answer. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [Why are there so many different words for groups of animals? Are there real differences in the way a < insert fancy name > behaves vs how < insert other fancy name > does? ](_URL_5_) ^(_._) 1. [ELI5: Why do ... | [
"Oscar Wilde did a bunch of them, although several of the more common ones existed long before him. He thought it was funny. Best collective noun -- easily a crash of rhinoceroses."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why does ice expand instead of contracting? | [
"I think scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why this happens exclusively with water, but in a liquid state, water molecules are allowed to freely flow around each other. When they freeze, though, they form a crystal structure which, by the nature of its shape, takes up more room. In other substances ... | [
"Gasses dissolve more in colder water than hotter water. Solids on the other hand dissolve more in hot water than cold water."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Chemistry:"
} |
Why does cracking your joints get easier if you do it a lot? | [
"My mom used to be a medical researcher. From what she explained to me, the most negative side effect is that when you pop any joint, you overextend the connective tissue surrounding the joint. Which I guess would eventually make it easier to pop your joints the more you do it. This overextension wouldn't cause to ... | [
"Those are knuckles and joints, not bones. Cracking a bone hurts just slightly more. Semantics aside, the general consensus is that its ok to crack them as long as your not extending or moving them past where you naturally would just doing everyday tasks. Hard to explain, hope that makes sense..."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why do our voices get higher pitch when something exciting happens? | [
"Increased airflow, and tightening of the vocal cords themselves. Excitement can be related to many things, but speaking biologically it implies that extra physical capability could be useful - adrenaline, deeper breaths (feed muscles more oxygen), and tightening of muscles to prepare to spring."
] | [
"After sleep, your vocal chords are relaxed. This makes your voice deeper. Think of a guitar, if you loosen the strings the pitch becomes lower. It's kind of the same thing with your vocal chords."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Wellness:"
} |
How is fetanyl becoming so widely available? | [
"> Where's it coming from? The largest suppliers appear to be in China, shipping both the tools of production and the raw fentanyl to the US and Mexican cartels."
] | [
"They did. However there were better drugs out there. When legal production ended it was harder to get which caused people to move to other drugs that gave more effect for the money. However ludes are still popular in other places around the world like South Africa and India."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How are TV and Radio ratings are calculated? | [
"[Nielsen Ratings](_URL_0_) are the primary method, especially for broadcast TV. Households are randomly selected to become paid participants in a survey of what they watch. Some are simply asked to write down what they watch on a diary, others receive a box they connect to their TV that notes what they watch and t... | [
"What do you mean? Your question needs to be a bit more specific. Are you asking what it is? Or how it's set? Or how the payments are made?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how do serrated blades work? What about the serration makes them better than flat edge blades? | [
"The reason a knife is good at all at cutting something is down to pressure. The narrower and sharper an edge, the more pressure it puts on whatever is being cut. The blunter it is, the wider an area the force you're applying is spread so the less pressure there is at the point of the cut. A serrated edge lifts th... | [
"Serrated knives are best for sawing through tough materials, like meat. Straight knives are good for quickly chopping softer things, like fruit and vegetables. Straight-edge cleavers are good at both, provided that you have the physical strength to chop straight through meat and bone."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
- Why does extended exposure to water dry your hands rather than moisturize it? | [
"Osmosis is the diffusion of water. When you overflow your hands or any body parts or almost any tissue/organism with water, the net flow of water will be wherever there is a higher concentration of solute. When you put water on your hands, it flows in because there is more solute like salt in your blood and inside... | [
"The pores of your feet open when exposed to water for long periods of time. This causes water to continuously come out of your pores, which is why you'd usually have to towel yourself a couple times after showering. Once the moisture is expended from your opened pores and they begin to close, your skin overall bec... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do we have Skype and telephone calls that provide instant voice transfer but news stations have that slight delay when they interview people at different locations? | [
"TV stations are using satellite links. Satellites are *considerably* farther away than the closest cell tower is. This causes a slight delay in both directions of the conversation."
] | [
"If you're talking about on TV it isn't *actually* live. There is still a delay, but yet I would assume someone is still typing fairly quickly, or they are using a damn good translation service."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do websites need to ask for your city, country, and state, when they can figure it all out through your zipcode? | [
"That pretty much is a thing of \"laziness\" (also known as \"costs\"): Its much cheaper to put multiple inputs there instead of maintaining (or at least buying) a catalogue of all zips mapping to the required information. EDIT: Source: I work in software development"
] | [
"Pretty much the only thing the site knows about where you're connecting from is your IP address. That tells them which company is your ISP, which will often narrow it down to the right city for a broadband connection. For a mobile you could be pretty much anywhere in the country. It's possible for the site to ask ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Is Erdogan really that powerful as he is presented in western media? If so, how did he become it? | [
"He's hardly represented in western media in the US. He is an extremist, rather than centrist, politician. While that seems fashionable today, political fashions vary year by year. When warm and fuzzy collaborative politicians become fashionable in a few years, he's going to look like a throwback to the region's di... | [
"Ten more years of Erdogan. After that, another extension. Eventually he will retire and leave the post to his son. In the meantime Turkey will become poorer, more religious, and more agressive with its neighbours to assert and increase its power. Especially now that he has the military under control."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why can't I "unbake" a cake? | [
"There are differences between certain actions (or you might call them \"reactions\"). For instance with a cake, you might mix egg and flour, and whatever other ingredients, together. This is what's called a *physical* reaction - one that can be reversed. It would be a pain in the arse to reverse it, but technicall... | [
"You put it on a baking sheet for a softer crust. Directly on the rack for crispy."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Are content updates in videogames a bad business strategy? | [
"A game developer doesn't release a single game in a vacuum. Its competing against other game developers, and it most likely intends to release more than one game. So it could publish and then leave it and never touch it again, but if his competition then proceeds to publish a game, and delivers a steady stream of... | [
"For the promoters, this seems like a pretty good system. You don't seem to agree, what would be a \"better\" system in your mind?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why do companies care about the price of their stocks? | [
"A share of stock is literally a small piece of the company. If the stock value is high, the company is worth a lot of money, meaning the company has leverage to buy things, build offices, take over other companies, and borrow money. Also, executives typically own a lot of stock, so it makes them richer."
] | [
"A company wants to earn as much money as possible, so they change their website, selection etc. to earn as much money as possible."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
What is it about Chemotherapy that causes hair loss? Why aren't eyebrows and eyelashes affected? | [
"Chemotherapy attacks fast dividing/growing/feeding cells. This is normally targeting a tumor, but because hair is a fast growing item, that gets taken out as a side effect sometimes. Your eyelashes and eyebrows can indeed fall out, but they're not as fast growing, or you'd be going to get eyebrow cuts all the time... | [
"Men produce a hormone called Dihydrotestosterone. One of the things this affects is hair follciles, stimulating growth particularly in eyebrows, the nose, ears, beard, and body hair. As men get older they sometimes produce more of it leading to those bushy eyebrows."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
If we colonised another planet (e.g. Mars) how would the date/time work in conjunction with Earth? | [
"Seconds, minutes and hours would be the same. Days would need to be adjusted since a sidereal day is 24 hours 37 minutes. This would affect things like months and years, slowly becoming more and more out of sync. I imagine some sort of earth year would be used for certain aspects, while the martian year would be u... | [
"> Since One Year Equals One Revolution Around The Sun, Shouldn’t We All Celebrate New Years At The Same Time Regardless Of What Timezone You Are In? No, because a year *doesn't* equal a revolution around the sun, it equals a specific number of days. That the length of our year is calibrated to as closely match our... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
the little pi thing on the bottom of every page on reddit | [
"This has been asked before but it is hard to search for. Reddit as a whole has a lot of people visiting the website at any given time. That many people would be too much for just one computer, so there's a special computer that moves each visitor to another computer (in a bank of computers) so each individual com... | [
"they push on other things or use little scales on their belly _URL_0_ props to asking a question which is literally answered on a \"kidzone\" website. this is truly ELI5-worthy."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:"
} |
If you killed someone on the Four Corners Monument, which state's laws would you be prosecuted with? | [
"[Slightly NSFW.](_URL_0_) Since it's a serious crime that is inter-state, the federal government will likely step in. Also, it's a national monument and in Indian Reservation territory, even more reason for it to be the FBI. Double also, simply searching Google about this (\"four corners jurisdiction\") bro... | [
"Well, there's a difference between state and federal law in the US. If you break a state law and get sentenced to jail time - > state prison If you break a federal law and get sentenced to jail time - > federal prison"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are modern computers still having trouble with editing large-ish (20-50MB) text files? | [
"it is the limitations of the software not your computer(usually). if you want to push 1000 balloons up a chimney they still need to go one at a time, more cores and ram = more chimneys. but if you have 100,000,000 balloons it will always bottleneck while the program tries to sort the next lot of data so the ballo... | [
"Historically, archives had the option to be split into equal segments to fit on a portable memory medium (Some of us will never forget the number 1.457, that is the capacity of a 3.5\" floppy disk). Nowadays they can be split for a similar reason, for example an on-line storage allowing max 100MB pieces. Or back w... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why don't car companies like Ford and GM make technologically advanced replicas of some of the classics instead of ugly modern cars? | [
"Remember what happened last time they tried that? The Chevy HHR and the PT Cruiser were created. Horrifying."
] | [
"Old guy here. Cadillacs actually turned into crappy cars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. GM realized they could basically just take a Chevy-like base and add some expensive decoration to it. Meanwhile the European makers were actually making excellent cars, from the suspension on up."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Static Electricity and it’s connection to objects | [
"It’s been a while since this lecture, so forgive me if I mess up a few points. From what I remember, every object on the planet has sort of a key number of electrons it likes to have. Objects that are known to be great conductors of electricity (copper for example) have a much higher key number than say humans do.... | [
"To simply put it, your Head, or rather the Water in your Head, works like an Antenna, increasing the Signals Strength and therefore Range :)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
you know how people do crazy stunts like unicycling through the Amazon for charity? How does that actually raise money? | [
"Basically people just donate money because they either think the stunt is cool, or the stunt gets their attention and then they learn about the cause (where they otherwise would not have) and donate because they think it's righteous. The stunt is about getting attention. Nothing more."
] | [
"You've seen them haven't you? There's your answer. Dopes will pay to advertise for other people all in the name of looking cool."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do people swap languages while talking? | [
"i do this, switching languages after sentences/in the middle of a sentence/or whatever. the reason i do this is is because sometimes things just don't translate well. some words/phrases in another language or in English, just doesn't have an equivalent that will give you the full effect of what you're trying to sa... | [
"Why do people in Western countries use forks?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If meds are always eliminated in half by the body, how is it ever completely eliminated? | [
"First, the half life of a medicine is more of a general rule to follow when considering dosages, and it's not like **exactly** half is left after each half life. Also, unlike pure math, in the physical world an object can't be cut in half infinitely. Eventually you would get down to a single molecule and at the ne... | [
"Accomodating the poor English, are you asking why you can't take the whole course of medication at once? Let's use the antibiotic 'Gentamycin' for example. The drug is not easily filtered out by the kidneys, and an overdose would cause the kidneys to not work. That results in kidney failure and you'd potentially d... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why Do Reddit Points Fluctuate Over Time? | [
"The fluctuations are a bot prevention mechanism. Shadow bans were created in order to get rid of malicious bots, but that could be easily tested if their upvote did not count toward a thread if the page was refreshed a minute later. Thus, Reddit came up with the idea that they should create vote fluctuations. The ... | [
"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 document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
A recent YSN post said that cell phone companies can't prevent me from unlocking my phone. What does that mean? | [
"You're mixing up unlocking and rooting. Unlocking is taking off a restriction that prevents you from putting a SIM Card (which is a little card that says who you are) into your GSM (t-mobile and at & t in the US) phone. When the phone is unlocked, it will let you just take your phone to the other network and have ... | [
"Yes, and they've done it a lot. USB keys for getting mobile internet, routers that take a SIM card and I know the arduino microcontroller even has a shield just for that so you can do whatever you want with it. > Would you need some kind of agreement with a company somewhere alone the lines for it to work? Yes, t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why can't I hear myself snoring, or anything else for that matter, when I'm half-awake/half-asleep? | [
"As you move from a waking state to a sleeping state, your senses get (mostly) turned off. This last summer, I was running a box fan in my bedroom to stay cool. In addition to providing airflow, it also make a pleasant low drone. One night, I noticed my hearing turn off because I was listening to the fan's noise. I... | [
"They're not always closed. I sleepwalk almost all the time and when I do I'm usually in a state somewhere between being asleep and awake. I can see and walk around but usually I will be hysteric, thinking I'm late for school and stuff when it's in the middle of the night."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why does air feel cooler when it's moving when energy/movement creates heat? | [
"Our bodies are constantly radiating heat. Air, being a good insulator, forms a hot-bubble around us, like a blanket. When the wind blows, it brings cooler air against our skin and removes the air we've already heated. Also, you have to know that our skin doesn't sense temperature, but the relative flow of heat in ... | [
"When something \"feels cold\", you're not actually feeling its temperature directly. What you're feeling is heat *transfer* - how fast your body loses heat to it. Water has a higher heat conductivity that air does, so room-temp water sucks heat out of your body faster than room-temp air. This means that the water ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Science:"
} |
Boxsprings. Is there an actual purpose to them? | [
"Just asked this at the mattress store! Their only function is to keep the mattress flat so it wears more evenly. If you don't have a bed frame and leave your mattress on the floor you don't need one. If you have frame with a solid bottom that keeps your mattress flat, you don't need one. You only need them if your... | [
"Can add butt hair to this? What purpose does it serve?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Biology:"
} |
How can Pi never repeat if it never ends? | [
"What they mean with never repeating is that it won't act like normal fractions like 1/7 = 0.142857142857142857142857142857... which repeats the sequence 142857 forever over and over again. The same sequence \"142857\" occurs in pi too. Apparently it occurs 210 time in the first 2 million digits of pi. So you have ... | [
". 9999999...(repeating on forever) and 1 are equal. . 3333...=1/3 1/3 x 3 = 1 .3333... X 3 =.99999...=1 One of the reason this is true is because there can not be a number between them. You can't tack a 1 on the end because that would mean there is an end, which there is not. And two numbers with nothing between... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How come I can focus my eyes on the floaters on my cornea, but not my finger when it's almost touching it? | [
"Your eye isn't really focusing on the floater, as it's behind the cornea. It's more like having dust on the film, it gets sent directly to the brain as is. Your finger you actually do need to focus on."
] | [
"I believe the alcohol affect your the area of you brain responsible for vision which affects your eyes ability to properly focus. While you might be trying to look at something near to you, your eyes may be focusing on something far away and vice-versa. It has happened to me on a few occasions. I'll be looking at... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How does Global Blue make money? | [
"> Global Blue operates a wide and trusted Tax Free Shopping network, allowing travellers to save money on purchases they make in any one of our 270,000 partner stores around the world Above description if from their website. You only get tax refunded if you shop in one of their partner stores. Think of it as a dis... | [
"It's a big system. It also carries a bit from state to state. Are you interested in the application process? Policy? Logistics?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
In the course of history, why have people exiled others as opposed to killing them? | [
"If Napoleon was killed, it would have made a great deal of french people angry that their leader was killed, and turn him into a symbol another french army could rally around. \"Our leader was killed, let's avenge him!\" Instead, by exiling him, no one is angry that he's killed, and it's hard to rally around a lea... | [
"Desperation leading to ingrained de-humanization of their enemies. People have, for the entirety of humanity, done things similar to what the SS had done. There have been massacres and slaughter and war since the dawn of man."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why was prohibition less successful than the war on drugs? | [
"The war on drugs was a failure in the exact same way that prohibition of alcohol was. We just keep doing it anyway."
] | [
"I don't know of any law in history that has ever prohibited alcohol without an exception for religious uses. Certainly not the Volstead Act, which was what implemented prohibition in the United States."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Chicken used in KFC zinger? | [
"KFC claims it is a chicken breast filet, double breaded and deep fried. There's really no reason to doubt the claim, either."
] | [
"Bitch grade or non bitch grade, Poseidon decides."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
The practical everyday uses we gain from the American high school courses English, Math, Science, and history. | [
"Adding a quick note to the good material already here: One major problem for many students in school is they firmly believe they already know enough of these subjects to function well in society. And if they do not they think they can get the info quickly via google or other means. We all believe we know enough at... | [
"You only get a single piece of paper that says that you passed high school, yep. If they desire, an employer can ask for a transcript as well, which will detail every class you took and the grade that you got in each. However, that's uncommon, since jobs that don't require a college degree generally don't require ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do radio stations announce the next songs and then play them in the reverse order? | [
"They announce the most popular songs first so that it grabs your attention and more people keep listening for that song to play, then go to commercial (it's called a teaser so you wait through commercials) then play them in reverse order so you wait for your song to come up. The radio world is all about getting yo... | [
"So people can choose to repeat a single song, or repeat an entire album, library, playlist, whatever. Some people like to just listen to the same song over and over again, I guess."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Music:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Music:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What are the most noticeable differences between genuine American-made Fender Stratocasters and Gibson Les Pauls, compared to cheaper counterparts like Epiphone or Squier made in Indonesia, Mexico, etc.? | [
"For current guitars, the Made In USA badge adds a lot to the cost, but it's hard to generalise beyond the obvious factors: differences in quality of wood and parts. Historically, it's been a moving target: for example, I heard only good things about first Squiers made in Japan, some arguing that the quality excee... | [
"Guitar player here. I've owned some pretty expensive stuff in my time. It's all about 1)Mystique. People will pay much more for something that is in very short supply. Also, people tend to fondly remember 'how good things were in the old days.' 2) Some of them *DID* sound very good indeed. There was a time (late ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What makes someone professionally good at fishing? | [
"Probably experience and perception. I'm sure a good fisherman can tell where the fish will likely be in the lake, or how deep to go to get certain fish and what patterns they follow"
] | [
"There's a big difference between being good with words and having the talents required to write dictionaries."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How can many cultures have so many similar myths? | [
"Angels are not very similar across cultures, except those that came into contact with one another. Ghosts are just a discussion of \"what happens after you die,\" a universal human concern. Dragons differ hugely across cultures; it's a stretch that we call them all one thing. Monsters aren't similar at all across... | [
"Myths are stories with an important cultural status, often explaining the origin of a natural phenomenon. The term doesn't imply the story is false, only its cultural position. We refer to \"Greek mythology\" rather than \"Greek religion\" because the religion is no longer practiced, and in any case the stories we... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What makes lithium ion batteries so combustible? | [
"Lots of chemical energy separated by super thin insulators made of an easy to melt plastic. The fire produced in a tiny spot heats the insulator enough to melt it in the adjacent area, which generates more heat, ... . It's a chain reaction."
] | [
"Phones use lithium batteries. Lithium batteries are terrible. AA batteries last 30+ years without being touched"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
After a terror attack, why do certain groups claim responsibility? | [
"So, a lot of terrorist groups have some kind of agenda, normally they think that there is something wrong with a group of people, and they are the enlightened few who will \"purge the world\". If we look at them like ransomers, they have a set of demands (which are in line with their agenda) so all they need is a ... | [
"I'm not fluent in this matter, but I don't believe that most Chechen rebels even wanted this attention. I think that these two worked on their own in an effort to gain international attention. Obviously, their motives are unknown at this time, but expect to hear them in the near future."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How exactly is money transferred to athletes and celebrities when they sign those 1+ million dollar deals? Do they write cheques? Or email transfer 6 million dollars? | [
"Pretty sure they just get checks like anyone else would. Last year Thomas Vanek got investigated by the NHL because he was gambling and signed over one of his paychecks to cover a bet to his bookie. He ended up being clear of any wrong doing but how stupid do you have to be to sign over a paycheck to a bookie."
] | [
"They don't, it s a novelty item. They're usually also given a genuine check that they can cash an any bank just like anything else. Or they might also use electronic fund transfer to deposit the money directly into their accounts."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why does it seem like there are way more conspiracy theorists in the USA now than 20 years ago? | [
"Probably has a lot to do with the fact far more people have gotten on the internet in the past 10 years. Sure, internet wasn't rare in 2004 but more people than you might imagine weren't really using it until the last ~5 years. Additionally people tend to group up so that you'll get concentrations of people likely... | [
"I'm no expert, but look how much athletes have improved in the past 40-50 years alone."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do we sometimes get fleeting pains at random parts of our body? | [
"The phenomenon is called \"referred pain\". It occurs when sensory information comes to the spinal cord as coming from one location, but is interpreted by the brain as coming from another location. Source: Gray's Anatomy for Students, 2nd edition. Page 76 under \"In the clinic\". Edit: Btw I'm disappointed by al... | [
"The feeling can and does occur in other parts of your body. I get the feeling in my upper back normally."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
What causes the involuntary scowl when we eat something unexpectedly bitter? | [
"I think it was Steven Pinker who said that it's probably an evolutionary defense mechanism. When you taste something unexpectedly bitter you tend to make a face and stick your tongue out (children start doing this very early). This is probably a mechanism to eject any of the substance still in your mouth. Not real... | [
"It could just be the fact that too much of one taste will get old after a while or in some cases the food is too rich, ect. (Try chugging eggnog)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
If I, for example, pop a zit on my left shoulder, why do I sometimes feel a sharp sting in my lower back? | [
"I would guess nerve endings. My SO at the time poked me in my belly button one time and I felt a sharp pain in my anus area. No joke."
] | [
"It's just that many of our nerves are connected in really weird ways. I'm not sure if it happens to everyone, but I know a lot of people who experiences a cough or a tickling sensation when they poke around in their (left) ear."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and wellness:"
} |
What's the story behind the Enron scandal? | [
"It's a very complicated situation - I've only watched the documentary *Smartest Guys in the Room*. Long story short, the leading executives made a lot of moves that put a lot of money in their pockets at the expense of their company, and the livelihood of thousands of employees"
] | [
"...Tell us more about the New England vampire scare. Where and when?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why are some TV shows recorded in front of a live studio audience? | [
"First off those type of shows are called Multi Camera Setups. And they play out more or less live like any other performance, they don't have to record one actor, then the other, then back and forth like single camera shows. Those are done on closed sets and are considered higher production value because there is ... | [
"This was just what was done in the 70s and 80s. The preview was basically click-bait, to hopefully get you to sit down and watch the show. You have to remember that recording shows was fairly uncommon at this time. People actually sat down and watched these shows as they went to air. So the networks would put a fe... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What is that grainy stuff around resized low resolution pictures? | [
"It's impossible to truly scale up an image. You can't just stretch things; the computer needs to know what pixels are going where. There's typically an interpolation algorithm that tries to guess where the pixels should be when scaling, but there are limits to how accurate it is. Mistakes are made and you can get ... | [
"I think it is a picture of the screen, not a screenshot. The camera got the white balance off resulting in the off white color."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Computer Science:"
} |
Why would Assad’s regime use chemical weapons, as opposed to conventional ones, which don't generate anywhere near the same international uproar and are presumably equally lethal, albeit less horrifically so? | [
"> presumably equally lethal This is pretty much why. Chemical weapons tend to have very high human casualties while being able to minimise damage to infrastructure. To achieve the same effect with conventional armaments you would incur far greater collateral damages in terms of infrastructure."
] | [
"There are a bunch of rebels who don't like the government. The government doesn't like the rebels. The two groups, then, are fighting. The government, with its enormously larger resources, has inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels as well as innocent civilians. Nobody has intervened because nobody wants to get ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
why am i, and other men, attracted to breasts? | [
"There is also a theory that they mimic the female butt."
] | [
"People are funny. different strokes for different folks. It's theoretically possible to be attracted to literally anything. Some people just happen to be attracted to furries."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do so many gaming web sites demand to know your date of birth (with annoying drop-down menus), but porn sites never do? | [
"Porn websites can't be blamed for school shootings, so gaming websites have more reason to cover their asses."
] | [
"Adblockers have been around for a long time. Advertisers don't care about them. The people who are technically savvy and determined enough to add ad blockers aren't going to buy their product because of an ad anyway. It's not piracy because you can't be required to see an ad to view content. You can't enforce cont... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How come the adverse effects on the leaflet of every drug include almost any possible effect you might think of? | [
"If you tracked all of your high school classmates for 5 years, would some of them get into car accidents? get killed? get cancer? Odds are pretty good of that. Did that occur because of life happens? Or was that because they all attended the same high school? In a large scale drug study, same thing occurs, people... | [
"They are listed as potential side effects because some subjects reported those symptoms during trial of the drug. They probably won't happen to you at the same time, but either one could happen."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
What is a Neoliberal? | [
"Neoliberals are open border capitalist, which breaks from traditional positions liberals held as this favors corporations over labor. Labor used to be the bread and butter of liberal policy."
] | [
"Next Week's Theme: 'Royalty, Nobility, and the Exercise of Power' To be followed by: \"Eastern Europe\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does eviction work? | [
"varies from place to place, in NY it takes a court order from a judge before the police can evict you. It is a long, expensive and tedious process."
] | [
"It's a big system. It also carries a bit from state to state. Are you interested in the application process? Policy? Logistics?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How dose bacteria stay alive in places like my shower curtain or in my wash rag, where dose it get its nutrition from? | [
"The bacteria ( and more likely fungus like mildew) in your shower curtain is actually living on the soap scum which includes oils for its nourishment. The wash rag offers even more diverse fare-- some soap as well as skin particles or food particles if a dish rag and the fiber material of the rag itself. Single ce... | [
"The mini fridge you see in greys anatomy is actually called an autoclave and it does the opposite of a fridge. It goes up to about 250 degrees farenheit and uses high pressure steam to clean and sterilize the instruments. The reason why the fridge works is because some bacteria are only able to live in certain Tem... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does England have so many different dialects of English but America doesn't have as much even though its a much bigger country | [
"According to [this Wikipedia article](_URL_0_), England has 27 accents, and the United States has 40 accents (I'm only counting \"leaf nodes\" on the hierarchy, so if an accent lists sub-accents, I only count the subs). So it looks like your assumption is mistake, and the US has more accents than England. However,... | [
"What happened to the Canadian/American accents is the same thing that happened to the British accent. Both of them changed over time, as people started pronouncing things slightly differently. The current Canadian/American accent is not an offshoot of the current British accent, and the current British accent has ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What exactly happens when a music producer "masters" a song/album? | [
"When most people hear the term 'mastering', they are think of the mixing process, aka balancing volumes and adding effects, etc. Mastering is actually a specialized subset of mixing that is a form of audio quality control or quality assurance. Only a relative handful of people and studios are capable of mastering,... | [
"They mean a bunch of different things. A DJ usually refers to someone who plays music at parties, nightclubs, bars, etc. Or it can refer to the guy on the radio who plays music. It has nothing to do with *making music*. With the popularity of electronic music, DJ can also refer to. An electronic artist. This ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the idea behind being able to post bail for short term freedom before a trial? | [
"Getting arrested with a crime is just an *accusation*. You are not a criminal until you're actually convinced in court. Since you're not a criminal, there's not reason to hold you in jail as *punishment*. The only logical argument for keeping somebody in jail is to ensure that they don't try to escape justice. To ... | [
"Mainly, if you have any warrants out for your arrest. Also, to verify the information on your license."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why do condoms expire | [
"Rubber oxidized and can become more brittle, and the lubricant can slowly evaporate over time, both of these lead to a higher rate of failure which is generally considered bad. The expiration date is just a date before which the manufacturers are confidant that their product will perform as advertised. After it be... | [
"do they squirm when you squeeze them? if so yes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How can a football team take a knee and end the game with a minute left (like in the Panthers v. Falcons game that just ended)? | [
"He took two knees. The team with the ball is given 30 seconds to start a play, otherwise they face a \"delay of game\" penalty. Taking a knee is the same outcome as a running play or pass play that ends in a tackle without getting out of bounds. The play is over but the game clock keeps going and the play clock re... | [
"Because they were so close to the end zone that simply running it in with Marshawn Lynch (an amazing running back) would have almost guaranteed the Seahawks a superbowl win."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why isn't it light out when it's night time? With all the trillions of stars blanketing the night sky, where does all that light hitting earth go? | [
"There are large dust clouds within the milky way galaxy which block light from many of the stars. Apart from that, though there are many stars, they are also very far away. It used to be considered a paradox that, if there were an infinite number of stars, why wasn't the sky bright due to being filled with them. T... | [
"Space is huge. It's bigger than you can possibly imagine. Even with the billions of stars and galaxies in the universe, most of it is empty. It's that big. The best analogy I can come up with is trying to light up the Yankee stadium with a few dozen household light bulbs."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why the ratings on Netflix are so different from imbd or rotten tomatoes. | [
"As I understand it, the ratings on Netflix aren't so much ratings as a guess of how much you would like it based on your viewing history."
] | [
"% of critics on the website that like the movie. Audience score is the same, but with movie goers over Pro Critics. Don't use the Tomato rating as a \"how good\" the movie is, it's meant to be more of the % chance you'll like the movie. Theres some low 40% movies I really enjoy, and some upper 90% ones I don't. It... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why can we feel when someone is looking at us? | [
"1) Confirmation bias. 2) Sensing subconciously through odor, sound, vision."
] | [
"Your pupils dilate to let more light in and get a better look at something. It's really not a reliable way to tell if somebody is attracted to you though."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What's the difference between different types of liquor? | [
"There are what are known as fusel oils in the various types of booze. They're thought, at least by some, to affect how you feel afterwards. _URL_0_ There's also psychosomatic effects. Where people just /think/ it."
] | [
"Why do some parts of the world call gasoline petrol?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about alcohol and behavior:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about alcohol and behavior:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If a 5 year old were to fall into a coma and wake up 20 years later, how would they act? | [
"Probably like a two year old. You don't spend 15 years in a coma and come back without some severe mental deficits."
] | [
"People who are in long term comas have all sorts of vision problems. It's just movies where people wake up from comas after 20 years and are just fine."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How is it that when you blow air out of your nose, you can still smell the scent you are trying to avoid by blowing air out of your nose? | [
"Because the same air is coming out of your lungs and back out of your nose. Like asking why you taste food when throwing up."
] | [
"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 post about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Physiology:"
} |
Does wind effect soundwaves? | [
"Sound waves are vibrations in air like ripples on water Wind is the bulk movement of air like currents in water. If you were trying to signal to someone across a river you could drop a stone in the water by the bank you stand on, and hope they see or feel the ripples that reach the other side. If there is a strong... | [
"because there is no air or other matter. Sound is vibrations in air. No air=no sound. edit: no liquid=no sound as well."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are video games still sold as CDs while USB drives can be so much smaller, more durable and hold so much more. | [
"A disc costs considerably less to make than a USB drive. Digital media will usurp discs, not USB drives."
] | [
"USB flash drives average $1 per gigabyte. Magnetic hard drives average 5.3 cents per gigabyte. Additionally, a magnetic hard drive is typically 2-4 times as fast as a USB flash drive, or even faster. USB flash drives also have write limitations; there are only so many times you can write to them. If we're talking ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment about Technology:"
} |
Why do firefighters "make it rain" on a fire instead of pointing the hose at the ground or directly into the fire? | [
"What they are trying to do is prevent the area immediately next to where the fire is from catching fire. By doing this (in theory) the fire will have nowhere to go and eventually use up the fuel that is currently on fire and extinguish itself. The \"make it rain\" approach is common because it starves the fire of ... | [
"By removing heat, oxygen, and fuel from the fire. They remove heat from a fire by doing things like spraying above a fire. That cools down the air above the fire. They may spray foam, etc on a fire. That removes oxygen. They may back burn (controlled burning) in an area with a bushfire. That removes fuel."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why does Arkansas, a very culturally southern state, elect so many Democrats? | [
"There are a large amount of black people still in the south, and they tend to vote democrat on everything except abortion and gay rights. Rural latinos tend to vote republican on everything except immigration. White people in rural areas tend to vote republican on all issues."
] | [
"It's a push by a republican majority to gain more electoral votes from \"red\" parts of California. Since California as a whole tends to vote democrat"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
What is exposure in photography? | [
"Exposure is the chosen combination of iso, aperture and shutter speed to take a picture. This means that there's no such thing as an objectively good exposure. These variables have more effects than only lighting though, but we'll ignore that for now. For snapshots of general shots of city skylines, panorama's you... | [
"What are you using it for? Where are you located?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What makes our lungs absorb Oxygen and not Nitrogen when we breath? I think our blood cells bind to the oxygen molecules and that is why we take in oxygen, but what makes it so nitrogen can't bind to our blood cells too? | [
"Our blood DOES absorb nitrogen. It just has no biological function so it just goes for a ride in our blood not doing a whole lot. It matters a ton when you go diving though because under pressure our blood absorbs different amounts of nitrogen and it is real unfun to absorb a bunch of nitrogen then have it all tu... | [
"Carbon Dioxide mostly dissolves in the plasma as carbonic acid which is fine and the body is adapted for the removal of it since it is a waste product of respiration. Carbon Monoxide on the other hand associates very strongly with hemoglobin, which is supposed to be carrying diatomic Oxygen for us to use. CO actua... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Why do humans have hair on the interior of their posterior? | [
"It keeps your butt cheeks from chafing together and the mat of hair prevents the area from getting soggy and uncomfortable with sweat and butt leakage."
] | [
"Number of sweat glands, oil glands, and general sensitivity. Skin on your face is a lot more sensitive than your arms or back for example."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why does the radar on big boats spin? | [
"A radar not omni-directional. Just like a satellite TV dish it must be pointed in the direction of the signal in order to receive it. So in order for the ship to know what's going on around it it has to point in all directions. It spins 360° and scans all the signals around it."
] | [
"I want to know that too. Maybe i can add a question to that ELI5 topic: Why do i see lightning like things when closing my eyes and pushing/rolling them with my finger?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How can the oscars preview something that will be on after a commercial when it is a live show? | [
"Just because it is a live show doesn't mean each segment isn't meticulously planned weeks in advance. The show's producers know well in advance which segments are coming up and what is scheduled to happen in those segments, so they can create previews to highlight those segments."
] | [
"Because usually the time slot given is 30 seconds long and it is a few seconds over, or it could be that they put a commercial in the wrong slot so they xut it and put the correct ad in, or perhaps its just a glitch."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why do younger people start off enjoying very sweet food, but as we age, very bitter, tangy foods become more preferable? | [
"Taste buds numb over time. You'll notice grandma salts the shit out of her food. Kids' tastebuds are over sensitive so acidic and spicy foods are like loud music for their tongues."
] | [
"This is the same with most bitter foods like coffee and beer. People have an inherent disgust for things bitter and you have to learn that something bitter is good. After you have related the bitter taste of licorice with the sweet taste, or the bitter taste of beer with alcohol you start ignoring the bitter taste... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Food and Perception:",
"pos": "Represent the answer about Food and Perception:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why nails grow faster at summer when you are at sea | [
"An explanation that was once given to me is that your nails are just being cleaned more often. Any dirt that may be accumulated under your nails is removed by being in the water so often, giving the whites of the nails a longer appearance."
] | [
"It grows like it would any other place, with a dark and damp environment generally. Make sure to fully dry your ass and toes ladies and gents. As for why it is simple, you have what it craves."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why doesn't the US Constitution grant rights to everyone in the country instead of just Citizens? | [
"Because they didn't want to give those rights to non-citizens, because then people could just walk across the border and demand things without having to be born here or go through a process to make them american. > Also why can the NSA spy on non-citizens outside the US? Because everyone does it, and no one reall... | [
"The 10th amendment says \"if it's not in the Constitution, the states are in charge\". The 14th Amendment says \"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States\" and the Supreme Court ruled that refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay cou... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why do humans sleep and why does the stuff that happens during sleep not happen when awake? | [
"Sleep is about shutting down and then using that time to repair your body and reorganize the stuff in your head. Imagine you're a librarian and you have to organize a bunch of books back onto the shelf. If you had a hundred people constantly taking out books and delivering new books which pile up on your desk. Yo... | [
"There's a good chance you are sleeping some of the time, but don't realize it. Probably not a deep, restful sleep if you are repeatedly flitting in and out of consciousness. But it will make time seem to go by quickly."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Sleep and boredom:"
} |
PSA: stop posting politically charged questions about CISPA. | [
"/r/circlejerk By talking about it you're playing into it. Down vote and move on."
] | [
"No one is threatening legal action over any other subreddits."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it when the police lose a lawsuit it comes from tax payer money instead of something like the police pension fund? | [
"For the same reason that your employer has to pay you worker's comp if you're injured on the job, even if the injury was your own fault: because you're doing a job that introduces you to risk (be it physical or legal) and it would be unreasonable for them to not help with the fallout. No one is perfect. As well, ... | [
"If it's the result of a lawsuit. It goes to the plaintiffs (and their lawyers). If it's the result of a government bureaucracy fine, it goes into the government's coffers."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
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