Split (2)

train · 219k rows

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why is it illegal to fight back on a "no knock warrant"?	No knock warrants just mean they don't knock. They will loudly and repeatedly identify themselves as law enforcement agents, and they will be wearing vests with POLICE in large letters on both sides. So there's really no way you could legitimately not know if they are are law enforcement agents.	[ "No-knock warrants are controversial for various reasons. There have been cases where burglars have robbed homes by pretending to be officers with a no-knock warrant. There have been many cases where armed homeowners, believing that they are being invaded, have shot at officers, resulting in deaths on both sides. W...
Many technological advances in the past decades can be attributed to NASA. How much (if any) technological advances can be attributed to the Soviet space program?	I know it may not be what your looking for but I think a lot of your answers will inevitably be in regards to rocketry. On that front, the Soviets developed a number of advanced rocket engines, some of which are still some of the best in the world. The [RD-170](_URL_1_) for instance maintains the title as the most po...	[ "During the Cold War, the world's two great superpowers — the Soviet Union and the United States of America — spent large proportions of their GDP on developing military technologies. The drive to place objects in orbit stimulated space research and started the Space Race. In 1957, the USSR launched the first artif...
Why is the myth that conscripted make up the bulk of medieval armies so prevalent?	I have a theory that the reason for this is fairly simple: miscommunication. "Medieval" usually refers to the European Middle Ages, a period that stretched from the Fall of Rome in 476 until the Fall of Constantinople in ~~1492~~ 1453. There are about a thousand differing start and end dates, but using the demise of t...	[ "Though usually the aspect of financing of a military force is seen as \"derivative,\" in the case of the States Army it played an important formative role, and influenced the peculiarities of the organisation also. Though 16th-century armies were usually preponderantly mercenary armies, there often were elements o...
what stops cops from simply planting cocaine in your pocket and arresting you?	It happens. Cops have been known to plant drugs on suspects to arrest them. Why don't they? Well should they be caught the will be on the other end of that jailtime.	[ "A man goes looking for cocaine on an island. Some cops (undercover) offer to help by taking the map and getting the coke in exchange for half. The cops (still undercover) send the man a picture of a hole with a bag in it, implying that cocaine is in the bag. They ask the man to come to a parking lot to give him hi...
Can cancer go away on its own?	[Coley's toxins](_URL_0_) were developed from when William Coley observed a small number of patients whose incurable cancers went into remission following sepsis caused by streptococcal infections. In this sense, the spontaneous remission followed infection, so it didn't go away "on its own," but it did go away without...	[ "Treatment and survival is determined, to a great extent, by whether or not a cancer remains localized or spreads to other locations in the body. If the cancer metastasizes to other tissues or organs it usually dramatically increases a patient's likelihood of death. Some cancers—such as some forms of leukemia, a ca...
Is it possible to have a solid block of something floating in a gas?	~~Yes! Here's a [video](_URL_0_) of an aluminium foil ship floating in sulphur hexaflouride.~~ Wait, this isn't what you asked at all. Sorry, ignore.	[ "Gas bubbles with a radius greater than 1 micron should float to the surface of a standing liquid, whereas smaller ones should dissolve rapidly due to surface tension. The Tiny Bubble Group has been able to resolve this apparent paradox by developing and experimentally verifying a new model for stable gas nuclei.\n...
Books about Diogenes of Sinope	Diogenes the Cynic, L. Navia (2005)	[ "BULLET::::- Lost works of Diogenes of Sinope He is reported to have written several books, none of which has survived to the present date. Whether or not these books were actually his writings or attributions are in dispute.\n", "The Liexian Zhuan, sometimes translated as Biographies of Immortals, is the oldest ...
Is it true that the quantum states of two related electrons can be entangled, making it so that changes to one effect the other, regardless of distance? If so, why? [Layman Here]	It's kind of a version of Schrodinger's Cat, also known as the EPR paradox. For the wiki article, read: _URL_0_ Here's it in short - one type of subatomic particle (a muon) can decay into an electron of spin up and an electron of spin down. However, before you measure the spin on the electron, you don't know which on...	[ "If two different quantum registers are entangled (they cannot be expressed as a tensor product), measurement of one register affects or reveals the state of the other register by partially or entirely collapsing its state too. An example of such a linearly inseparable state is the EPR pair, which can be constructe...
why do some drinks like arnold palmer have a faint marijuana-like taste?	Could be that ganga you just smoked? I personally haven't had this experience.	[ "The Arnold Palmer is a name commonly used for a non-alcoholic beverage that combines iced tea and lemonade. The name \"Arnold Palmer\" refers to the professional American golfer Arnold Palmer, who was known to often request and drink this beverage combination; some attribute the invention of the beverage to the go...
why there's no algae over the surface of oceans ?	There is. A lot of it. But constant turbulence of the surface prevents it from getting too clumped up. Additionally, there are a lot of things eating the algae, too, which keep algal populations manageable. Sometimes those things get out of whack and you end up with [massive algal blooms](_URL_0_) that cover huge sw...	[ "\"S. algae\" is of great interest to the United States Department of Energy because of its ability to reduce the amount of radioactive waste in groundwater by making it less soluble. An example would be:\n", "Algae's strong photosynthesis creates a large affinity for nutrients; this allows the seaweed to be used...
Weapon ownership in Medieval Europe	In Iceland it certainly, from a Saga perspective (from the viewpoint that they reflect society in the Sturlung period, that is from about 1200 onwards) does not seem uncommon for 'farmers' (in Medieval Iceland nearly everybody was a farmer, as there were not urbanised areas/ towns\|), or lower class landowners, to posse...	[ "\"Weapons\" is a compendium of virtually every edged or impact melee weapon used in any medieval or primitive culture. \"Weapons\" is an indexed sourcebook describing hundreds of different melee weapons, each illustrated. Weapons are covered in six sections: Swords, Knives, Hafted Weapons, Spears, Pole Arms, and M...
Why didn't the Jews attempt to rebel or "rise up" in WW2 against their Nazi captors?	You are right, it isn't that simple. First of all, the nazi persecution of the Jews happened incrementally, not all at once, and it was by no means clear that "they were going to die anyway". It is clear to us in hindsight, but you have to keep in mind that the concept of rounding up men, women and children, putting t...	[ "If the Germans discovered people were involved in the resistance, they were often immediately jailed. It was the social democrats, Catholics, and communists who started the resistance movement. Membership of an armed or military organized group could lead to prolonged stays in concentration camps, and after mid-19...
How well accepted is the theory that the Minoan civilization was devastated by a massive tsunami and that this event lead to the the myth of Atlantis?	Not even a tiny little bit. * Just to be clear, strictly speaking "Minoan" is the name of a style of material culture. It is often dangerous, and often wrong, to equate that with a particular ethnic group, language, or political entity. Certainly by the historical period Crete had a very diverse ethnic composition. Ha...	[ "Around 1600 BCE, a tsunami caused by the eruption of Thira devastated the Minoan civilization on Crete and related cultures in the Cyclades, as well as in areas on the Greek mainland facing the eruption, such as the Argolid.\n", "The Thera eruption, dated to the seventeenth or sixteenth century BC, caused a larg...
why haven't we researched more into tunnelling through the earth as a means of travel?	It's simply far, far, far, far, far, faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar simpler to travel across the surface. Maintaining (for that matter, even creating) a tunnel through the earth is beyond our technological capabilities for the far forseeable future. Even if we could do it, it would be astronomically expensive, with the total b...	[ "A major tunnel project must start with a comprehensive investigation of ground conditions by collecting samples from boreholes and by other geophysical techniques. An informed choice can then be made of machinery and methods for excavation and ground support, which will reduce the risk of encountering unforeseen g...
Why have the majority of governments adopted parliamentarian republicanism rather than presidential republicanism?	The premise of this question is rather flawed. In democratic Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, Westminster-style systems are the distinct minority. Far more common in the aggregate are three other systems: strong Presidents (i.e., not only executive Presidents in the US sense but possessed of significan...	[ "Politically, republicanism is officially supported by the Labor Party and the Greens, and is also supported by some Liberal Party members of the Australian parliament. Australian voters rejected a proposal to establish a republic with a parliamentary appointed head of state in a referendum held in 1999.\n", "In ...
Tell me about ANZAC soldiers roles in WWII	ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) is actually mostly a WWI term which didn't have a whole lot of application to WWII. However, it is commonly used as a moniker for all Australian and NZ land forces in WWII. As part of the British Empire, Australians and New Zealanders were deployed alongside other Commonwealth ...	[ "Anzacs (named for members of the all volunteer ANZAC army formations) is a 1985 Australian five-part television miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion (Australia) of the First Australian Imperial Force in 1914, fighting first a...
is it more politically correct to say indian or native american? is one preferred by the race?	Indians are from the Indian subcontinent. Native Americans were in the US before it was the US.	[ "Some Indian Americans who were unfamiliar with the ethnonymic conventions used in the United States, mistakenly indicated that they were \"American Indian\" as their race in the 1990 US Census, because they were unaware that this term is used in the United States to refer to Native Americans.\n", "Compared with ...
Why is digital camouflage preferable to more traditional styles?	Some references [here](_URL_0_)	[ "\"Active camouflage\" (or \"adaptive camouflage\") is a group of camouflage technologies which would allow an object (usually military in nature) to blend into its surroundings by use of panels or coatings capable of changing color or luminosity. Active camouflage can be seen as having the potential to become the ...
why, in some videos i've seen recently, is the snow not melting and just turning black when people try to melt it with lighters?	because the flame isnt hot enough, so it's basically just spitting the gas residue onto the snow.	[ "The orange snow was malodorous, oily to the touch, and reported to contain four times the normal level of iron. Though mostly orange, some of the snow was red or yellow. It affected an area with about 27,000 residents. It was originally speculated that it was caused by industrial pollution, a rocket launch or even...
according to the cdc, the transmission rate for hiv and other stds are statistically low. why exactly is this?	The human immune system is pretty good. You don't get a cold every times somebody sneezes around you. You don't get e.coli every time somebody undercooks a burger. ...and you don't get HIV every time your dick touches somebody.	[ "Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain a major public health challenge in the United States. CDC estimates that there are approximately 19 million new STD infections yearly. The two most commonly reported infectious diseases with 1.5 million total cases (2009) are chlamydia and gonorrhea. Adolescent girls (15...
why are buildings in australia and america not built with sturdier materials, to deal with the regular natural disasters?	So, nothing holds up against tornadoes. You can build a tornado-resistant house, but it's extraordinarily expensive and frankly not worth it. You essentially need to build a missile-proof bunker. Bricks will not stand a chance against one.	[ "The hard grey stone is one of the most durable materials available and helps to explain why the city's buildings look brand-new when they have been newly cleaned and the cement has been pointed. Unlike other Scottish cities where less durable stone, such as sandstone, has been used, the buildings do not weather, a...
Is there an animal who can control their digestive systems?	Many animals including birds and insects have the ability to purge their stomach contents on command. Bird feedings and flies vomiting stomach acid is an example of this phenomena. Once it goes past the stomach there is usually in mammals at least a one way valve that prevents food from going in the opposite direction....	[ "The arthropod digestive system is divisible into three areas: the fore gut, mid gut, and hind gut. All free-living species exhibit a distinct and separate mouth and anus, and in all species, food must be moved through the digestive tract by muscular activity rather than cilia activity since the lumen of the fore g...
What makes James Dean an icon?	You might get a good answer on r/truefilm as well.	[ "Dean was named the first \"Producer in Residence\" at New York University, for the 2010–11 academic year. About.com ranked him number 27 on its list of the \"Top 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Producers,\" and \"The Source\" included him on its list of the \"20 greatest producers\" in the magazine's 20-year history. Fellow A...
how do they measure the time a car needs to accelerate from 1 to 100 km/h? does this not heavily depend on the driver?	It actually does depend on the driver, and other factors. Manufacturers are known to cheat a little bit with this, but usually not so severely that it results in a grossly inaccurate time. The following factors are important: 1) Condition of the pavement or strip (wet, smooth?) 2) Temperature, humidity, and ambie...	[ "In another study drivers were asked to indicate how much time they feel can be saved when increasing from either a low (30 mph) or high (60 mph) speed (Fuller et al., 2009). For example, participants were asked the following question: \"You are driving along an open road. How much time do you feel you would gain i...
How do we know the age of the universe, specifically with a margin of error of 59 million years?	There's a phenomena called the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB. If you point a radio telescope in any direction, you see radio waves from the CMB. Looking at radio waves from the CMB is kind of like looking at visible light from the sun. If you go far back enough in time, the universe was denser and hotter, so dens...	[ "The age of the universe based on the best fit to Planck 2015 data alone is billion years (the estimate of billion years uses Gaussian priors based on earlier estimates from other studies to determine the combined uncertainty). This number represents an accurate \"direct\" measurement of the age of the universe (ot...
Would an object falling to Earth fall faster if it is in the Earth's path as it revolves around the Sun?	Well that depends on where the object originated. For example, if it was simply floating in the space that the Earth is moving into, then yes. It will fall like a normal object with an initial downward velocity equal to the speed of the Earth. If the object originated from Earth's frame of reference, it would not matte...	[ "With the Earth move [...] all things that are on the Earth. If, therefore, from a point outside the Earth something were thrown upon the Earth, it would lose, because of the latter's motion, its straightness as would be seen on the ship [...] moving along a river, if someone on point C of the riverbank were to thr...
How successful was Friedrich Engels as a businessman? And how were the living conditions of his employees?	Engels was not in charge of the business he was sent to Manchester to join - a cotton thread factory. It was majority-owned, and run, by his father's business partner, Peter Ermen. Ermen suspected that the younger Engels had been sent to spy on him, so he refused to place him in positions where he had much responsibil...	[ "Having accumulated considerable wealth, he financially supported several European botanists and donated large sums to various scientific institutions at home. He bequeathed his estate to the University of Uppsala.\n", "Via the \"Arnold Georg AG\" and the \"AG für Steinindustrie\" (both headquartered in Neuwied, ...
Was there ever an official reason as to why the Confederate Army chose not to invade Washington DC in the beginning days of the Civil War when the city was completely unprotected?	Your question presupposes a couple of things that aren't necessarily true. First, the Confederates weren't in any better position to just storm "Washington City" (as it was known then) than the Union was to march straight into Richmond. The early months of the war saw both sides consolidating and, even more importantly...	[ "In May, it was decided to move the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, in part because the defense of Virginia's capital was deemed vital to the Confederacy's survival. On May 24, 1861, the U.S. Army moved into northern Virginia and captured Alexandria without a fight. Most of the ...
What were the scale of the battles in both the world wars? I have a hard time imagining millions, plural, dying.	OK, here are the top ten deadliest battles of both wars. You have to remember that these "battles" were often more like "offensives" or "campaigns" - they could last up to several weeks or months (in WWI), and weren't settled in a day like most medieval battles. People died in their thousands or tens of thousands in a ...	[ "Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century. These are the two World Wars, followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War (which is sometimes considered part of World War II, or as overlapping). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death toll ...
why do people keep saying 'splenda is poison'	One thing people don't understand is that a molecule isn't necessarily toxic just because a toxic molecule was used to make it. For example, I'm currently trying to make an anti-tumor drug but a few of the reagents are carcinogenic.	[ "Poison is the story of a rebellious human teenager living in the swamp town of Gull with her father, stepmother, and her baby sister Azalea. She struggles against the oppression in her life, particularly with her strained relationship with her Stepmother, Snapdragon. Her only friend in Gull is the old traveler, Fl...
why don’t car manufacturers design cars that cannot be started without seatbelt being fastened	Emergencies. What if there is some sort of accident while you’re driving and you can’t pull over? What if you want to pull over and sleep with the heat on? What if you need to jump start your car alone, hopping in and out. Also it’s too easy to trick the car. It also creates another system that could go wrong and cau...	[ "In the United States, the Legacy was introduced with automatic seat belts due to United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulations stating that all cars produced from April 1, 1989 were to be equipped with a passive front passenger restraint system that would protect front occupants ...
how does sound work on a microscale? eg if i've shrunk myself to insect size could i hear a spider chew its food if i stood next to it?	You can hear it without shrinking, you just need to get close with your ears. Maybe the spider has to sit in your ear chewing on its food. It is not your size really that determines that, it is more that evolutionary your ear are not designed to hear something like that, since it was never important for your survival....	[ "Communication using surface-borne vibrational signals is more widespread among insects because of size constraints in producing air-borne sounds. Insects cannot effectively produce low-frequency sounds, and high-frequency sounds tend to disperse more in a dense environment (such as foliage), so insects living in s...
coffee culture	My good friend The Oatmeal can explain it all in [a handy infographic!](_URL_0_) Lets break down your question. Size? I comes in small, medium, and large. Starbucks loves to use Italian names for their sizes because foreign branding works. Ingredients? Ground coffee, milk, sugar, cream and maybe in very select cases [...	[ "Coffee culture is a phrase that describes a social atmosphere or associated social behaviors that depend heavily on coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. The term also refers to the cultural diffusion and adoption of coffee as a widely consumed stimulant. In the late 20th century, espresso became an increasi...
How does the intestinal flora re-establish?	1) This would depend on the gut flora and how they respond to the treatment. A lot would die from the antibiotics, although some do survive. This can cause gastrointestinal distress because the antibiotics essentially change the biodiversity in the intestines. You end up having high abundance of some, low abundance of ...	[ "In humans, a gut flora similar to an adult's is formed within one to two years of birth. As the gut flora gets established, the lining of the intestines – the intestinal epithelium and the intestinal mucosal barrier that it secretes – develop as well, in a way that is tolerant to, and even supportive of, commensal...
why is christianity in decline in the western world?.	Expanding religions have historically grown most in times of colonial power structures or population booms. As the people of the western hemisphere have lost new places to expand into and supplant existing cultures with their own, and don't have as many children as the rest of the world, there has ceased to be an avenu...	[ "The decline of Christianity is an ongoing trend in Europe. Developed countries and denominations in the post-World War II era have shifted towards post-Christian, secular, globalized, multicultural and multifaith societies. Infant baptism has declined in many nations, with thousands of churches closing or merging ...
Is there any historical/archeological record regarding the beginnings of widespread hair styles? If so, where and when did it begin, and which gender was more likely to participate?	It's not like people were putting together catalogs of what was in style for the season, but ideas and styles were communicated visually as well as aurally. Men and women would have both been interested in hair styles, but in the West women's styles were often more elaborate. There is actually a really great record jus...	[ "The oldest known depiction of hair styling is hair braiding which dates back about 30,000 years. In history, women's hair was often elaborately and carefully dressed in special ways. From the time of the Roman Empire until the Middle Ages, most women grew their hair as long as it would naturally grow. Between the ...
How do babies get the essential bacteria in their large intestine, if the slightest infection will nearly or just outright kill them?	They get it from mom. Vaginal birthed babies aspirate as they pass through, breast fed babies get it as they nurse (from the skin), and they otherwise acquire it in the classic stick-everything-in-your-mouth stage.	[ "During birth and rapidly thereafter, bacteria from the mother and the surrounding environment colonize the infant's gut. The exact sources of bacteria is not fully understood, but may include the birth canal, other people (parents, siblings, hospital workers), breastmilk, food, and the general environment with whi...
Can a photo-realistic game be run on a super computer?	Warning. I am not a graphics researcher so my answer is an educated guess. I would say that we aren't even close. Photo realistic stills are still very difficult. Graphics research would be a lot less exciting if all they did was make existing systems render faster. Advances in the way we handle light are still being ...	[ "Today there are several different computer programs that simulate things like cars and airplanes. An obvious example is a flight simulator, another would be video games where players drive cars. But neither of these tools is designed to help movie makers and content-creators to make editable, recorded animation ma...
why is it so hard to remove pharmaceuticals from water?	Molecules are really small and difficult to deal with on an individual basis. It isn't like you can just strain them out like with a sieve.	[ "Traces of prescription drugs — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been detected in drinking water. Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) discarded from human therapy and their metabolites have been found to not be completely eliminated by sewage treatment plants a...
AMA: The Economy of the Ancient Roman Empire	This is something I've long wondered: During the height of the Empire, Rome had a population close to a million people, and most of those people lived in apartment blocks. They presumably didn't have any arable land as part of their personal property. So what did those people do all day? Did they work 9-5s like we do ...	[ "The Ancient Economy is a book about the economic system of classical antiquity written by the classicist Moses I. Finley. It was originally published in 1973. Finley interprets the economy from 1000 BC to 500 AD sociologically, instead of using economic models (like for example Michael Rostovtzeff). Finley attempt...
How did Michelin, a tire company, become the creators of the definitive guide to fine dining?	As it should be when connecting tire companies with restaurant reviews, the Michelin Guide's popularity started to rise with the innovation of the "motor tourist," the vehicle-toting traveler. The Michelin Tyre company made its first Guide Michelin France in 1900. The first Michelin Guides were just driver's handbo...	[ "François Michelin (15 June 1926 – 29 April 2015) was a French heir and business executive. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Michelin from 1955 to 1999. Under his leadership at the helm of a family business founded by his grandfather in 1889, Michelin became the number one manufacturer of tires globally,...
Tuesday Trivia \| Where Are they Now? Surprising Legacies of Historic Places and Things	On the main square of the old centre of the Sicilian city of Syracuse stands the [Duomo di Siracusa](_URL_0_). On the outside, it is a beautiful 18th century High Sicilian Baroque church. On the inside, it is a [Greek temple](_URL_1_). The columns that still support the roof of the church date to the 5th century BC....	[ "Many visitors investigate their genealogy at historic immigration sites such as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Other tourist destinations include the Empire State Building, for 41 years the world's tallest building after its construction in 1931, Radio City Music Hall, home of The Rockettes, a variety of ...
Engineering/Environmental Science: How viable are solar panels when considering when material production concerns?	Depends on the type of panels. For crystalline Silicon (most common), energy payback times (how long it takes to produce the energy required to make it) are a few years. Silicon is the second most abundant element on the planet, so supply isn't really an issue. The problem for c-Si is centered around cost -- growing cr...	[ "Its negative impact on the environment lies in the creation of the solar cells which are made primarily of silica (from sand) and the extraction of silicon from silica may require the use of fossil fuels, although newer manufacturing processes have eliminated CO production. Solar power carries an upfront cost to t...
does it take more energy to run with 4 legs than it does 2?	The really simple answer is that humans run more efficiently because we let gravity do a lot more of the work; when we go forward we're basically putting one foot out and falling forward, then pulling ourselves forward and repeating the process with the other foot. When quadrapedal animals run, they need to propel them...	[ "Compared to a conventional bicycle, a tandem has double the pedalling power, without necessarily doubling the speed, and with only slightly more frictional loss in the drivetrain. It has about the same wind resistance as a conventional bicycle. High-performance tandems may weigh less than twice as much as a single...
What is the definition of Boiling Point?	Ever try and do a push up with someone sitting on your back? (Don't do that.) It's kinda like that. External pressure modulates where the boiling point is, the mechanism is still the same, but it's where the thermodynamic scale tips in favor of phase change. A high pressure provides a lot of surface force onto the l...	[ "Boiling-point elevation describes the phenomenon that the boiling point of a liquid (a solvent) will be higher when another compound is added, meaning that a solution has a higher boiling point than a pure solvent. This happens whenever a non-volatile solute, such as a salt, is added to a pure solvent, such as wat...
If the brain is split, are some tasks harder if the input comes from just one eye/ear, or if the input moves from left to right eye/ear?	Just to clarify, the thing that makes split-brain patients interesting is that they can highlight cognitive difficulties (things to do with thoughts being broken), which we were not aware of prior to these experiments. The reason we were not aware of these difficulties is that they do not manifest in daily life. You wi...	[ "The brain contains areas that are specialized to deal with language, located in the perisylvian cortex of the left hemisphere. These areas are crucial for performing language tasks, but they are not the only areas that are used; disparate parts of both right and left brain hemispheres are active during language pr...
why did it change from chinese new year to 'lunar new year' if multiple other cultures have lunar calendars with different dates for new years (ie islam, judaism, etc)?	It is technically called Lunar New Years because, as you know, the calender is based off the phases of the moon. It is commonly called Chinese New Years in the west because "white people" first heard of this from the Chinese immigrants who came during the California Gold Rush of 1849 to 1860s. Chinese New Years has bee...	[ "The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines the date of Lunar New Year. The calendar is also used in countries that have been influenced by, or have relations with, China – such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam, though occasionally the date celebrated may differ by one day or even one moon cycle due to using a meridian b...
My friend's farts always smell like death. Do people really have distinctive fart smells?	The answer to both your questions is yes. People do have colonic bacterial ‘fingerprints’, but they are not static and change over time depending on a multitude of factors. The bacterial biome can change the odor of a persons flatulence but that is also dependent on diet, illness, etc. For example the smells associate...	[ "The effect his scent has had now confirms to Grenouille how much he hates people, especially as he realizes that they worship him now and that even this degree of control does not give him satisfaction. He decides to return to Paris, intending to die there, and after a long journey ends up at the fish market where...
why do conditioners make little to no foam unlike shampoos?	It is about their purpose. The foam in soaps and shampoos is part of what makes it able to clean the dirt and oils from the hair and scalp. Conditioner is there to add back in some of what is lost since not all those oils are required to be stripped away as part of that cleaning, so they are made differently, conditi...	[ "Conditioners are often used after shampooing to smooth down the cuticle layer of the hair, which can become roughened during the physical process of shampooing. There are three main types of conditioners: anti-oxidant conditioners, which are mainly used in salons after chemical services and prevent creeping oxidat...
Why does both heating and cooling my house dry out the air?	With very few exceptions, air has a certain level of water vapor in it, which is what we refer to as humidity. Air can only hold so much water vapor in it until it is completely saturated, and this is what we mean when we say the (relative) humidity is 40%: currently, the air has 40% of the maximum amount of vapor it ...	[ "To conserve energy the cooling air is not refrigerated but is cooled by being passed through a labyrinth of pipes buried under the house at a depth where the temperature remains suitable all year round. The house is designed so that the maximum temperature should not exceed .\n", "The house is designed to mainta...
Why did the Danube valley fail to produce a great early civilisation, like the Nile, the Euphrates, the Indus, the Yangtze etc.	/u/cthulhushrugged is right on here. The question can't be answered, and if it could, it would be an anthropological question just as much as a geo-climactic one. A note on the latter, though: the Danube watersheds were largely primeval forests in prehistory (though this is a gigantic region and can't really be so ...	[ "The Indus Valley Civilisation went into decline around the year 1700 BC for reasons that are not entirely known, though its downfall was probably precipitated by an earthquake or natural event that dried up the Ghaggar River. The Indo-Aryans are believed to have founded the Vedic civilisation that existed between ...
Besides Market Garden, what are some other notable and interesting Allied failures of World War 2?	While this might be a bit of a stretch since in the end it is billed as an Allied military victory, I think the Battle of Anzio and its after effects failed to accomplish their primary objectives. At the end of 1943/beginning of 1944 the Allies were bogged down assaulting the Gustav line, a series of German defensive...	[ "Operation Market Garden was a failed World War II military operation fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. It was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, planned primarily by Generals Brereton and Williams of the USAAF. The airborne part of the operation was undertaken by the ...
if lava is melted rock, why is it so fertile when it cools down?	It's not. Take a look at the [western coast of the island of Hawaii](_URL_0_). The land on the western coast is considerably more recent than the land on the eastern coast. The weather and mountain range plays a large role as well but the fresh land was so rocky and porous that it could not hold water sufficiently t...	[ "Because lava usually cools and crystallizes rapidly, it is usually fine-grained. If the cooling has been so rapid as to prevent the formation of even small crystals after extrusion, the resulting rock may be mostly glass (such as the rock obsidian). If the cooling of the lava happened more slowly, the rock would b...
What is wrong with the "Black Legend"?	Here's three things: 1. Most of the perpetrators of the Black Legend weren't simply saying "the Spanish are very oppressive to indigenous peoples." The Pope called them "the scum of the Earth." Immanuel Kant, in Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, calls the Spaniard cruel, centuries behind in s...	[ "A black legend is a historiographical phenomenon in which a sustained trend in historical writing of biased reporting and introduction of fabricated, exaggerated and/or decontextualized facts is directed against particular persons, nations or institutions with the intention of creating a distorted and uniquely inh...
asteroid belts and planetary rings	Orbiting happens when you continuously fall towards the planet but keep missing. Missing the planet happens because of sideways motion, you drop towards the planet a bit, but your sideways motion has taken you so far the planet is still just as far away as it was before. If you orbit too fast, you will just fling out,...	[ "The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It is made of thousands of rocky planetesimals from to a few meters across. These are thought to be debris of the formation of the Solar System that could not form a planet due to Jupiter's gravity. When asteroids collide they produce small fragments that occa...
why can luxury restaurants charge $60 for a single ravioli on a white plate?	Well, lets start with the food itself. The food components used in a luxury restaurant like a Michelin-starred one are generally of very high quality and fresh. Where "normal" restaurants may substitute with e.g. pre-made sauces and pasta, a luxury restaurant of certain reputation will always prepare everything fresh a...	[ "Kaiseki is often very expensive – kaiseki dinners at top traditional restaurants generally cost from 5,000 yen to upwards of 40,000 per person, without drinks. Cheaper options are available, notably lunch (from around 4,000 to 8,000 yen (US $37 to $74), and in some circumstances bento (around 2,000 to 4,000 yen (U...
if the nsa can easily mine most/all data and circumvent encryption methods, why can't they easily locate groups like anonymous?	They aren't allowed to. NSA's main goal is to investigate/surveillance foreign intelligence(foreign military threats to the US and since 9/11, terrorist plots and threats , Not foreign intelligence services ) And they can only investigate US citizens if they can find a link between that citizen and a foreign terrori...	[ "Due to new technologies, it was necessary to update cryptographic algorithms. This need has raised the level of complexity of techniques used for encrypting the data of individuals to guarantee network security. Because of the difficulty of deciphering data, government agencies have begun to search for other ways ...
Are different sections of our bodies different temperatures? Everyone talks about internal body temp, but how much variance do we normally see in the temperature in extremities and such?	In humans the average internal temperature is 37.0 °C. However, we don't always has exactly the same temperature at every moment of the day. Temperatures cycle up and down, controlled by our circadian rhythm. The lowest temperature occurs about two hours before we normally wake up (Altough the circadian rhytm can be al...	[ "Normal human body temperature varies slightly from person to person and by the time of day. Consequently, each type of measurement has a range of normal temperatures. The range for normal human body temperatures, taken orally, is (). This means that any oral temperature between is likely to be normal.\n", "Indiv...
How (If at all) do rainstorms interfere with cellular phone reception?	Rainfall certainly does; as well as interference caused by the leading edge of a storm front. The general phenomenon is called [rain fade](_URL_0_). Radio and TV are just colors of light that we can't perceive with the human eye. They can be affected by physical objects (like raindrops).	[ "Cell Broadcast is not affected by traffic load; therefore, it is usable during a disaster when load spikes of data (social media and mobile app), regular SMS and voice calls usage (mass call events) tend to significantly slowdown mobile networks, as multiple events have shown. \n", "The rainstorm warning signals...
How/why did the tribes who took over areas of the old Roman empire go from speaking Germanic languages to Romance ones? And why not in England?	One must remember that when Rome fell, the people in the provinces did not simply disappear. They, for the most part, stayed right where they were. The people of Gaul spoke a vulgar form of Latin, but it had become region specific, displacing much of the Celtic languages that were there before. A linguist might be be...	[ "The \"cisrhenane Germani\" eventually ceased to be restricted to a band of occupation near the border, and all Roman provinces west of the Rhine were eventually conquered by Germanic tribes, speaking Germanic languages: the Franks (Germania inferior, Francia), the Alemanni (Germania superior, Alemannia), the Burgu...
how can someone survive a 3500ft fall and expect to make a full recovery?	The article says the parachute malfuctioned, not that it didn't open at all. The full story is that the parachute partially opened and that she hit the ground at 50 mph instead of terminal velocity. Also, she landed in a way in which her legs absorbed the power of the fall.	[ "In October 2018, at least two fairing recovery tests were performed, involving \"Mr. Steven\" and a helicopter, which would drop a fairing half from the height of about 3300 meters. The actual outcome of the tests is unclear.\n", "In 1942, DeHaven started the Crash Injury Research project at Cornell, and publish...
How much would the Roman Colosseum cost if it were to be built today?	Woah something I can answer. I work at an architecture firm, so I can give some insight but I've never worked on a stadium. I mostly work on large higher ed. and hospital projects. The Colosseum is a load bearing masonry structure. Large scale projects stopped being built this way around 1900. The last great examples ...	[ "In Malta, a replica of about one-third of Rome's Colosseum was built, to a height of 52 feet (15.8 meters), mostly from plaster and plywood (the other two-thirds and remaining height were added digitally). The replica took several months to build and cost an estimated $1 million. The reverse side of the complex su...
how much of the sky do we see at any given moment in time? (lying on a beach on at night, what percentage of the sky am i currently seeing with a naked eye)?	Human vision is 210 degrees wide and 150 degrees high. But if you lay on the ground you are on a flat plane so you can only see 180 degrees wide. 150 degrees is 150/360=0.41 of a circle. So you can see maximum of 41% of the sky without moving your eyes. A more complex question if that mound of that field of view you ...	[ "A human can see objects in starlight or in bright sunlight, even though on a moonless night objects receive 1/1,000,000,000 of the illumination they would on a bright sunny day; a dynamic range of 90 dB.\n", "The very large field of view of the telescopes and the short exposure times enable approximately 6000 sq...
the sign on the utility pole says "we buy houses, cash" - who are these guys and why do they advertise this way?	Rich investors with lots of cash buy houses for cheap, from desperate sellers who need the money fast. Then they can take their time, fix them up a bit, and sell them at full price when ready.	[ "Typically the goods in a garage sale are unwanted items from the household with its owners conducting the sale. The conditions of the goods vary, but they are usually usable. Some of these items are offered for sale because the owner does not want or need the item to minimize their possessions or to raise funds. P...
How stable is the planetary orbital structure of our system?	Highly stable. Looking at the surface geology and chemical composition of the planets, there's no evidence that they've moved significantly in the past few billion years. All the movement happened at the very beginning of the solar system. Without gravity, planets would move in straight lines. Gravity pulls them tow...	[ "Orbital resonance from major orbiting bodies creates regions around the Sun that are free of long-term stable orbits. Results from simulations of planetary formation support the idea that a randomly chosen stable planetary system will likely satisfy a Titius–Bode law.\n", "Long-term numerical integration shows t...
multiple life sentences.	The murderer was charged with and convicted of two crimes each carrying a life imprisonment sentence. The sentencing judge ruled that the sentences not be served concurrently. The two charges now exist independently of one another, and can be appealed and removed independently. This means that if the murderer can lat...	[ "The laws in the United States divide life sentences between \"determinate life sentences\" and \"indeterminate life sentences.\" For example, sentences of \"15 years to life,\" \"25 years to life,\" or \"life with mercy\" may be given, which is called an \"indeterminate life sentence.\" A sentence of \"life withou...
Why was the center of the Arabian Peninsula ignored by so many conquerors?	The other responses in this thread have it basically correct. The interior of the Arabian peninsula is not a hospitable place. It is [very dry](_URL_0_), and isn't traversed by any permanent rivers. This affects both the why would people conquer it and the how would people conquer it. The climate meant that the f...	[ "The Iberian Peninsula was the westernmost tip of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus and was under the rule of the governor of Ifriqiya. In 720, the caliph even considered abandoning the territory. The conquest was followed by a period of several hundred years during which most of the Iberian peninsula was known as ...
why doesn't everyone keep their money in tax haven accounts?	Generally speaking you aren't taxed on your savings, you are taxed on your income. The only advantage to moving it overseas is to prevent a garnishing of your assets. For the most part tax haven accounts are more for companies and corporations. The idea being if it is cheaper to do business in another country and pa...	[ "All of the funds in the account are exempt from income tax and capital gains tax, including at maturity. However, the 10% dividend tax payable on franked income (UK share dividends) cannot be reclaimed. The UK government has stated that at age 18 it will be possible to transfer the entire CTF into an ISA to keep t...
Why do lipophilic molecules diffuse THROUGH membranes?	If a molecule is too lypophilic it will get stuck in the membrane and won't come out. Certain membrane dyes used in molecular biology work this way and are used to label the membrane for imaging. A good drug has a balance of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. In general, a drugs preference for where to go can be measu...	[ "Polar molecules and large ions dissolved in water cannot diffuse freely across the plasma membrane due to the hydrophobic nature of the fatty acid tails of the phospholipids that make up the lipid bilayer. Only small, non-polar molecules, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, can diffuse easily across the membrane. H...
Why does burnt food like milk stick to the bottom of the pot and why is it almost impossible to remove?	The milk contains proteins and sugar. The excessive heat applied to the pan caused the proteins to coagulate and bind to the source of the heat. The first amount of protein has thermal insulating properties that allow the pan to get even hotter, since less of the heat gets transferred to the water content of the milk...	[ "The food inside the pot loses little to no moisture because it is surrounded by steam, creating a tender, flavorful dish. Water absorbed within the walls of the pot prevents burning so long as the pot is not allowed to dry completely. Because no oil needs to be added with this cooking technique, food cooked in cla...
What is this weapon? Are there any historical records of it's usage?Any famous historical or mythological users?	It looks like [a guandao](_URL_0_). According a legend it was invented Guan Yu (~200 AD), but there is no evidence it existed before the 11th century.	[ "The weapon, along with and , is listed as one of \"three great spears\" in the \"Kyōhō Meibutsucho\", a listing of famous Koto blades made before the Nanbokucho period and compiled by the Hon'ami family during the Kyōhō era (1716–1735).\n", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a 16th-century combination weapon ...
why do flatscreen/lcd monitors display random colours and bizzare shapes or patterns upon being cracked?	Like others have mentioned, it can be the glass breaking and causing rainbows (from diffraction). You asked specially about Liquid Crystal Displays, the liquid can flow around when the display is (more accurately, the pixels are) broken. “Flatscreen” is a physical shape and not a method of building a display - these c...	[ "Flat panel displays are thin panels of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying text, images, or video. LCD (liquid-crystal displays) and OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays are largely the same, except that an LCD uses a liquid crystal that reacts to an electric current blocking light or allow...
the front page of reddit	Your front page is made up of the top topics from the subreddits to which you subscribe. Each person starts with default subreddits to which they subscribe, but subscriptions can be changed simply by hitting subscribe or unsubscribe on the right side of a subreddit topic's screen. When someone refers to the front pa...	[ "The front page is often an important community related news story, featuring a large captioned picture. The pages that follow contain an assortment of columnists' contributions, local news stories, community bulletins, and business advertisements. Beyond these pages, the newspaper has several sections including an...
Why do frogs hatch from eggs as tadpoles and not baby frogs?	> I was never taught why frogs are born as tadpoles instead of miniature frogs. Some frogs do have direct development: _URL_1_ Many salamanders do too, like many of the Plethodontid salamanders like Redbacks. > Other than insects such as butterflies That "other than" covers [most animals](_URL_0_). > I can't...	[ "Adult frogs lay their eggs in moist places, including on leaves, in plants, among exposed roots, and elsewhere. Once the eggs hatch, the adult piggybacks the tadpoles, one at a time, to suitable water, either a pool, or the water gathered in the throat of bromeliads or other plants. The tadpoles remain there until...
Why do popping noises sound the way they do?	There has been a [related investigation.](_URL_0_)	[ "A hum is a sound made by producing a wordless tone with the mouth opened or closed, forcing the sound to emerge from the nose. To hum is to produce such a sound, often with a melody. It is also associated with thoughtful absorption, 'hmm'.\n", "Many popular aquarium fish such as goldfish and loaches have these s...
how do squatters take over homes.	The reasoning behind it is, for the most part, to prevent honest people from being made homeless because of dishonest landlords/owners. In theory, you could get a gullible person to pay rent without a lease, and the moment the cash is in hand, the landlord calls the cops and gets them hauled out. Without a paper trai...	[ "Squatting presents a non-economic way for people to transfer parts of the bundle of rights. Depending on the applicable laws, a squatter can acquire property rights by simply occupying vacant land for an extended period of time. Areas with high concentrations of squatters are sometimes thought of as \"informal set...
when people go to the beach... men are shirtless with shorts (sometimes speedos 😳) and women are wearing a two piece (sometimes topless 😈) why is it that we freak out when people see us in our underwear, and we are perfectly fine when people see us in our “beach underwear” ? 🤔	Context is important. I'm not surprised to see a hot dog at a hot dog stand. I'd be surprised if I opened my wallet to pay for a hot dog and it only had a hot dog inside. I'm not surprised to see beach clothing at a beach, but would be concerned if I'm about to go into surgery and the surgeon shows up in a speedo.	[ "Underwear is sometimes partly exposed for fashion reasons or to titillate. A woman may, for instance, allow the top of her brassiere to be visible from under her collar, or wear a see-through blouse over it. Some men wear T-shirts underneath partly or fully unbuttoned shirts. A common style among young men (2018) ...
what happens when you get new glasses?	Pretty much, yeah. Your brain can adapt pretty fast. An experiment with upside down glasses revealed that it takes a few weeks for the brain to adjust. The person's brain literally adapted to it, and his vision flipped itself rightside up. Your brain just got used to a slightly blurred vision and adjusted accordingly....	[ "The glasses appear to be more susceptible to damage than the screwdriver; in \"The Girl Who Died\", a Viking warrior takes the glasses off the Doctor's face and easily breaks them in half. Nevertheless, the glasses continue to appear via replacement or repair until the end of the season. They return the following ...
why is it that when you're in a plane and the plane is turning sideways, your hair doesn't also gravitate towards the actual ground of earth but keeps gravitating towards the floor of the airplane?	Same reason water stays in a bucket when you swing it over your head. Centrifugal force.	[ "Another problem in this maneuver is that higher lift from the faster moving outside wing will roll the airplane to the left (or to the right). Most pilots find holding forward right (or left) stick necessary throughout the pivot.\n", "no rotational acceleration (a turn). If you turn either your aircraft or your ...
how does nicotine affect a body's dopamine level?	There's really a ton of misinformation about this. People will tell you that nicotine releases dopamine because it's pleasurable, or it's pleasurable because it releases dopamine, but neither of those is very accurate at all. First off, there is no such thing as your "dopamine level". Neurotransmitters are not like ...	[ "Nicotine activates nicotinic receptors (particularly α4β2 nicotinic receptors) on neurons that innervate the ventral tegmental area and within the mesolimbic pathway where it appears to cause the release of dopamine. This nicotine-induced dopamine release occurs at least partially through activation of the choline...
how are blind people taught to understand the world? how much do they truly understand about their shape and the shape of other things?	Blind people simply can’t see. They will never understand colour, or what it means for things to look beautiful, but they still have their other senses. Don’t underestimate how good sound is for building up an understanding of the space you are standing in. Blind people can also touch things and easily understand thei...	[ "A sighted child who is reading at a basic level should be able to understand common words and answer simple questions about the information presented. They should also have enough fluency to get through the material in a timely manner. Over the course of a child's education, these foundations are built on to teach...
If a duke in medieval England, France, or Germany wanted his second son to inherit his lands and titles, would he have any way of disinheriting his oldest son?	In England, it would depend on a couple of things. If the real property were held in fee tail (Entailed) a person would need the agreement of the heir to break the fee tail. If a tail could not be broken, the ancestor/father could leave all of his personal property,money or unentailed real property any way that ...	[ "The duke, a descendant through a morganatic marriage of the royal family of Württemberg, was the elder son of Albert's aunt, Princess Florestine of Monaco. Although he was ineligible to inherit the crown of his patrilineal ancestors in Germany, given the line of succession to the Monegasque throne at that time, th...
why does coffee help a hangover?	Hangovers, in ELI5 terms, are a specific case of dehydration. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes you pee more, which doesn't help the dehydration causing you to feel like crap. However, hangovers leave you feeling sluggish, tired and achey. Caffeine is a stimulant, which helps to perk your body up, helping you o...	[ "Coffee enemas can cause serious side effects (some common to other types of enemas), including infections, sepsis, severe electrolyte imbalance, colitis, proctocolitis, salmonella, brain abscess, and heart failure. If the coffee is inserted too quickly or is too hot, it could cause internal burning or rectal perfo...
why do diseases only do bad things to us? why are there no diseases/viruses that are actually good for us?	Yes, there are good diseases. For instance, retroviruses and bornaviruses account for 8-9% of the human genetic code, and the same is true for most mammals and birds. One pretty useful thing retroviruses help with is the formation of the placenta and differentiation early in fetal development. These genes have been ...	[ "Common human diseases caused by viruses include the common cold, the flu, chickenpox and cold sores. Serious diseases such as Ebola and AIDS are also caused by viruses. Many viruses cause little or no disease and are said to be \"benign\". The more harmful viruses are described as virulent.\n", "In \"Germs Go Gl...
how does the water table work? i just did deep enough and then there's water? why aren't deep caves flooded then?	> I just did deep enough and then there's water? basically. if you had a cup of water, and added sand until the top was dry, you would have a water table. you can do this near the beach. dig down a bit and the sand is wet. the earth is a bit more complicated, though. for instance, certain materials can form a barr...	[ "It is estimated that a cave cannot exceed in depth due to the pressure of overlying rocks. For karst caves the maximum depth is determined on the basis of the lower limit of karst forming processes, coinciding with the base of the soluble carbonate rocks. Most caves are formed in limestone by dissolution.\n", "A...
What kind of spices did the ancient Mesopotamians use?	From what we know (from texts and palaeobotanic studies), there were many spices that are also used in modern Middle Eastern cuisine, such as onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, fennel, cress, dill, mint, thyme, cardamom... In addition, we have words for spices attested in the texts where we are not entirely sure what p...	[ "The ritual use of spices was common in the classical era, in many instances spices were used in oils by soaking them or creating fragrances by burning them. However many of the spices that became common place in the late classical period were spices that were originally from countries outside of Roman territory an...
why after 30+ years of life do i still randomly choke on my own spit at random?	I've read that as we were evolving to allow for complex speech, the larynx dropped lower in our throats. This makes it a lot easier for us to choke, though. So it's just an annoying trade-off for being able to speak.	[ "According to Brittany, her mother also has an eating disorder and in an interview, Brittany describes how they would have \"the greatest time\" with \"chew and spit\"; chewing \"bags and bags of candy\" and spitting it out without swallowing. Her mother's experience of anorexia is touched upon in greater detail in...
with websites like expedia, and the ease of access to the internet, what exactly do travel agents do nowadays?	My friend is one. She sells travel packages to people who just don't want to deal with it, and there are a lot of people like that. There are people who don't "use the internet" or "trust the internet", there are people who just want to go somewhere and don't want to bother with the details of finding a hotel, flight, ...	[ "In response, travel agencies have developed an internet presence of their own by creating travel websites, with detailed information and online booking capabilities. Travel agencies also use the services of the major computer reservations systems companies, also known as Global Distribution Systems (GDS), includin...
How did WW1 armies know when individual soldiers died on the battlefield?	They kept records of these guys and their families. Each soldier wears tags identifying them, find a body with tags a telegram is dispatched. If they don't find a body but the soldier fails to appear or report in they are missing and after a while missing and presumed dead.	[ "The men at the front had to struggle with supply problems–there was a shortage of food; and disease was rife in the damp, rat-infested conditions. Along with enemy action, many soldiers had to contend with new diseases: trench foot, trench fever and trench nephritis. When the war ended in November 1918, British Ar...
how slow can light be?	Slow light is the propagation of an optical pulse or other modulation of an optical carrier at a very low group velocity. Slow light occurs when a propagating pulse is substantially slowed down by the interaction with the medium in which the propagation takes place. In 1998, Danish physicist Lene Vestergaard Hau led a...	[ "A Slower Speed of Light is a freeware video game developed by MIT Game Lab that demonstrates the effects of special relativity by gradually slowing down the speed of light to a walking pace. The game runs on the Unity engine using the own open source OpenRelativity toolkit.\n", "Light propagates at 299,792,458 m...
[Meta] Some thoughts on warnings	Rule #1 of reddit: Mods are dictators by nature of the system. This sub understands that better than any around. Sounds like you were being a bit stone-minded about reposting an already removed comment. That does make perfect sense, and doesn't merit an extra rule in the list, as far as I'm concerned as a non-mod. ...	[ "BULLET::::- \"Warnings\" are messages explaining negative events, such as heavy acid rain falling on a world and therefore causing much damage there, medical problems with previous technological breakthroughs, major enemy military movements, or a toxic gas leak on a planet that results in losing the civilian popul...
why do opera singers put so much vibrato on everything? is it the only way to get the volume they need?	Voice major here... Vibrato ensures a continuous airstream from your diaphragm. It's an easy way to keep your muscles from gumming things up in the throat/jaw area, which can change the sound. Having your muscles truly loose and relaxed while singing makes for a truer more beautiful sound, and vibrato ensures that the...	[ "Traditionally, however, the deliberate cultivation of a particularly wide, pervasive vibrato by opera singers from the Latin countries has been denounced by English-speaking music critics and pedagogues as a technical fault and a stylistic blot (see Scott, cited below, Volume 1, pp. 123–127). They have expected vo...
why is it that current pop songs' lyrics are repetitive verses repeated over and over, compared to the pas,t when lyrics were very diverse with different verses?	Pop music is written around a formula that bastardizes the idea of the hook, which is the part of a song that draws you in and usually it's the part that gets stuck in your head. It's not a new idea for pop songs to just repeat the same lines over and over. It's been a popular method since the 1980s at least. Songs lik...	[ "Some of their lyrics are notable for their unusual meter patterns; a prime example of this is their 1972 hit \"Reelin' In the Years\", which crams an unusually large number of words into each line, giving it a highly syncopated quality.\n", "Most of the songs have only a few verses and the majority of them are a...
why is light the fastest thing in the universe and not any other wave?	when we use light in that statement we mean the entire spectrum, not just visible light. So essentially 'radiation' is the fastest thing in the universe	[ "In the abstract for her paper, \"Complex Speeds and Special Relativity,\" Asaro writes \"The quest to find faster‐than‐light particles has intrigued physicists for decades, though it has yet to turn up any real candidates. Even if a superluminal universe does exist, we have no way to reach it given that we must go...
What was European cooking like before the introduction of Asian spices?	While you wait for more qualified people to answer, here's a section of the FAQ that may tide you over: _URL_5_ Also, you'll need to be a little more specific about time frame and/or location within Europe, as well as which level of society you're asking about. My understanding is that in 12th-century England and no...	[ "Beginning in the 16th century, successive waves of Europeans—the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British—sought to dominate the spice trade at its sources in India and the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) of Indonesia. This meant finding a way to Asia to cut out Muslim merchants who, with their Venetian outlet in the Medit...
Why do women have 2 ovaries? Why can't there be just one ovary?	The same question can e asked of why men have two testicles - the are developmentally synonymous. Procreation is the fundamental root of evolutionary biology, thus our ancestors with two gonads were likely more successful in reporducing	[ "Birds have only one functional ovary (the left), while the other remains vestigial. Ovaries in females are analogous to testes in males, in that they are both gonads and endocrine glands. Ovaries of some kind are found in the female reproductive system of many animals that employ sexual reproduction, including inv...
What would happen if we started pumping huge amounts of water into the middle of the Sahara Desert?	For an understanding of how to do this and make it work, ie keep the water--in this case seas water--there and grow things with it, see the [Sahara Forest Project](_URL_0_). Their proposals involve using solar power to desalinize sea water, that would then be used to grow crops and trees, initially in an onsite greenho...	[ "The first person to suggest flooding large parts of the Sahara desert was the writer Jules Verne in his book \"Invasion of the Sea\". Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity reportedly date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Albrecht Penck. \n", "Scientists agree that the existence...
if a room temperature object is left in outer space for an hour, would it come back colder, warmer, or the same temperature?	Heat is also transferred by radiation, which does not require a medium (particles, like air/water/etc). Your object in space would radiate heat and start to cool, but you also have to account for incoming radiation (from the Sun, for one example). So, your answer depends quite a lot on where you put the object. If the ...	[ "If changes in external temperatures or internal heat generation changes are too rapid for the equilibrium of temperatures in space to take place, then the system never reaches a state of unchanging temperature distribution in time, and the system remains in a transient state.\n", "Human comfort levels must also ...
Is there such a thing as being "in the zone" or "having momentum" in sports?	There is a psychology term known as [Flow](_URL_0_) > Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been wi...	[ "Roy Palmer suggests that \"being in the zone\" may also influence movement patterns as better integration of the conscious and subconscious reflex functions improves coordination. Many athletes describe the effortless nature of their performance while achieving personal bests.\n", "The concept of \"being in the ...
AskScience Cosmos Q & A thread. Episode 1: Standing Up in the Milky Way	When I majored in astrophysics, I was taught that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. In Cosmos tonight, Neil deGrasse Tyson was saying 13.8 billion years. Has it really been that long since I was in university?	[ "\"Standing Up in the Milky Way\" is the first aired episode of the American documentary television series \"\". It premiered on March 9, 2014, simultaneously on various Fox television networks, including National Geographic Channel, FX, Fox Life, and others. The episode is presented by the series host astrophysici...

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