id stringlengths 10 10 | question stringlengths 18 294 | comment stringlengths 28 6.89k | passages list | presuppositions list | corrections list | labels list | raw_presuppositions list | raw_labels list | raw_corrections list |
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2018-00874 | why did women’s breasts seem pointy in the 50s and 60s, and not so much today? NSFW | Bra design trends. It was an exaggeration of the hourglass figure and intended to highlight femininity. The trend died out with the rise of the women’s lib movement. | [
"The 1930s and 1940s witnessed the devastating effects of the second World War. While men were out on the battlefield, females began entering the workforce. This resulted in more formal and traditional military dress styles for women, which caused another shift in body image. While waists remained thin but prominen... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-00958 | Why can spicy foods induce asthma? | The chemicals in spicy foods cause inflammation and or irritation in the throat. Which causes trouble breathing. Just like running would. So that causes an attack. It also doesn’t help that since the spice and flavor tends to raise your body temperature and heart rate which will also heighten breathing | [
"[eosinophil]]s in response to capsaicin, can trigger further sensory sensitization to the molecule. Patients with chronic cough also have an enhanced cough reflex to pathogens even if the pathogen has been expelled. In both cases, the release of eosinophils and other immune molecules cause a hypersensitization of ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal"
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2018-16130 | How can high weight low reps possibly be a healthy way to workout? | You do build muscle over time. But that process doesn't happen in one session. The person you watched has worked out countless times prior to get to the point that he can lift that heavy weight now. Also, it's likely that he's doing that to push a personal record rather than working out to build muscle. | [
"However, performing exercises at the absolute limit of one's strength (known as one rep max lifts) is considered too risky for all but the most experienced practitioners. Moreover, most individuals wish to develop a combination of strength, endurance and muscle size. One repetition sets are not well suited to thes... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"high weight low reps is a healthy workout."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"It is actually someone just pushing their limits for a record, not trying to workout to increase muscle. "
] |
2018-23844 | How does insulin and some drugs work when you can just inject it anywhere? | The bloodstream is very effective to distributing stuff everywhere the body. For medications like insulin, time until the drug enters the bloodstream isn't critical, and injecting into a muscle or under the skin is a lot safer and easier than directly to a vein. However, injecting directly into a vein results in the drug being absorbed very quickly, which is desireable for recreational drugs. It also takes a long time to set up, which is why emergency administration of some medicines, such as naloxone (for opiate overdoses) isn't done by IV unless an IV line is already set up. | [
"Once the drugs are dissolved, a small syringe (usually 0.5 or 1 cc) is used to draw the solution through a filter, usually cotton from a cigarette filter or cotton swab (cotton bud). \"Tuberculin\" syringes and types of syringes used to inject insulin are commonly used. Commonly used syringes usually have a built-... | [
"Insulin can be injected anywhere in the body. "
] | [
"Injecting insulin into muscle is safer and easier than into a vein."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Insulin can be injected anywhere in the body. ",
"Insulin can be injected anywhere in the body. "
] | [
"normal",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Injecting insulin into muscle is safer and easier than into a vein.",
"Injecting insulin into muscle is safer and easier than into a vein."
] |
2018-02395 | Why does yawning make your eyes water? | Yawning tightens the muscles and skin around your eyes, which pushes on the lacrimal glands at the top corners of your eyes. These glands store tears for use later, and the pressure can squeeze small amounts out. Interestingly, it’s very individual. Some people’s yawns don’t seem to do this much. Others quite a bit. It depends on the exact shape of your face. | [
"Section::::Detection.:Decreased volume.:Renin-angiotensin system.\n",
"found also with \"-n-\" suffix in Greek χαίνω \"to yawn\", and without the \"-n-\" in English \"gap\" (compare the \"figura etymologica\" in Norse \"ginnunga-gap\"), \"gum\" \"palate\" and \"gasp\" (via Old Norse), Latin \"hiō, hiatus\", and ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-08193 | How can flies and other insects stay vertical on windows? | Yes, their feet are somehow "sticky". This works in a few different ways. But small things are strong compared to their weight, so enough "stickiness" to keep a bug from falling isn't enough to stop it from moving. The reason for this is the square-cube law. Imagine you were twice as big. Twice the length (front to back), twice the width (left to right) and twice the height. That's *eight* times the volume and weight. But your legs are only twice the length and twice the width. They may be 4x as strong, but their additional height *doesn't* make them stronger and they'd be too weak for double-size human. Obviously humans can be fairly large *compared to bugs*, but we don't have the same strength-to-weight ratio. | [
"The bottom of the enclosure, if it is not the ground or trays of dirt, needs be a surface more solid than screening. A snail placed in a wire-mesh-bottom pen will keep crawling, trying to get off the wires and onto solid, more comfortable ground.\n",
"Another alternative, suitable for solid wall enclosures, is t... | [] | [] | [
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"normal"
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2018-01702 | What is the difference between True North and Magnetic North | The "true north" is the direction to the geographic north pole which is the point where the Earth rotation axis intersect the surface. Magnetic north is the direction to the magnetic north pole. (The point where the Earth magnetic field goes downward). This is the north a compasses point to. | [
"Magnetic variation (also known as magnetic declination) is different depending on the geographic position on the globe. The Magnetic North Pole is currently in Northern Canada and is moving generally south. A straight line can be drawn from the Geographic North Pole, down to the Magnetic North Pole and then contin... | [] | [] | [
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"normal"
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2018-01860 | Why does steam start rising from water before it's boiling? | Because the visible "steam" you see isn't steam (steam is invisible) but airborne water vapor caused by some of the water evaporating due to having enough heat energy to do so but then condensing in the air as tiny droplets of visible water vapor (just like a cloud). | [
"For example, if the vapor's partial pressure is 2% of atmospheric pressure and the air is cooled from 25 °C, starting at about 22 °C water will start to condense, defining the dew point, and creating fog or dew. The reverse process accounts for the fog burning off in the morning. If the humidity is increased at ro... | [
"steam rises from water when it is boiling",
"It is expected to see steam before water starts to boil."
] | [
"It isn't steam that is rising from the water but water vapour that is airborne.",
"It isn't possible to see steam, what is actually seen prior to water boiling is water vapor."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"steam rises from water when it is boiling",
"It is expected to see steam before water starts to boil."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"It isn't steam that is rising from the water but water vapour that is airborne.",
"It isn't possible to see steam, what is actually seen prior to water boiling is water vapor."
] |
2018-05100 | How Come When We Sleep makes a Difference Even Though in Theory We Get the Same Amount of Sleep. | Sleeping at the "wrong" time makes you feel bad because your sleep schedule and your internal clock (or circadian rhythm) are out of sync. This clock is affected by how much light (especially blue light) you see, and many other factors, so unless you also change these factors along with your bedtime, you won't feel rested. Restfulness after sleep is also affected by how consistant your sleep schedule is. If you get the same amount of sleep every single night but go to bed at different times each night, you are again messing with your internal clock. | [
"The most pronounced physiological changes in sleep occur in the brain. The brain uses significantly less energy during sleep than it does when awake, especially during non-REM sleep. In areas with reduced activity, the brain restores its supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule used for short-term stor... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-03717 | Olympics are almost never profitable, why would countries spend billions on it? | National pride is huge. And it's easy to sell it as a big, world shaping event. When done well, it can be profitable, but few places do it well. Toss in a good dose of bribes and political pandering and you've got yourself a recipe for economic disturbances of olympic proportions. | [
"Section::::Background.:National goals.\n\nThe sports funding agencies of some nations have set targets of reaching a certain rank in the medals table, usually based on gold medals; examples are Australia, Japan, France, and Germany. Funding is reduced for sports with low prospects of medals.\n",
"Section::::Mode... | [
"Countries should not spend money on olympics if it doesn't make money."
] | [
"Countries spend on olympics for other reasons including pride."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Countries should not spend money on olympics if it doesn't make money."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Countries spend on olympics for other reasons including pride."
] |
2018-01932 | How are cars in Google Maps perfectly positioned and photographed when the Google Map car moves? | You've seen photos from sporting events, right? Of athletes while they're moving? You just take the picture very quickly. | [
"Another type of feature recently made practical for structure from motion are general curves (e.g., locally an edge with gradients in one direction), part of a technology known as \"Pointless\" SfM, useful when point features are insufficient, common in man-made environments.\n\nThe features detected from all the ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-09072 | Why does the UK use . URL_0 rather than just .uk? | When the country-specific top-level domains were created, the UK already had an academic network of its own (JANET) with its own naming scheme similar to DNS. Academic sites started URL_2 , commercial ones started URL_1 , and government ones UK.MOD (Ministry of Defence). The obvious thing to do was flip all the existing names around to create the equivalent DNS names. So Cambridge university was already known as URL_2 .CAM on JANET, and was assigned the domain URL_0 to match. | [
"The general form of the rules (i.e. which domains can be registered and whether to allow second level domains) was set by the Naming Committee. Nominet has not made major changes to the rules, although it has introduced a new second level domain .me.uk for individuals.\n\nUntil 10 June 2014 it was not possible to ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-01437 | What causes the bright white flash in your eye when it is poked? | Short answer; Pressure phosphenes are believed to be induced by stretch-induced activation of retinal ganglion cells. Background; Flashes of light (phosphenes) due to pressure on the eye ball are referred to as pressure phosphenes. Based on an electrophysiological study (Grüsser et al., 1989), eyeball indentation presumably tangentially stretches the retina locally, which variably depolarizes horizontal cells. This in turn depolarizes ON-bipolar ganglion cells, while hyperpolarizing OFF-bipolars. Some ON-center neurons also seem to respond to the removal of the deformation. Bipolar cells connect to the retinal ganglion cells. These ganglion cells carry visual information from the retina via their axons in the optic nerve to the brain. Hence, to answer your question: yes, pressure phosphenes are related to activity in the optic nerve. Source; URL_0 I was actually just researching this yesterday lol | [
"When this occurs there is a characteristic pattern of symptoms:\n\nBULLET::::- Flashes of light (photopsia)\n\nBULLET::::- A sudden dramatic increase in the number of floaters\n\nBULLET::::- A ring of floaters or hairs just to the temporal side of the central vision\n\nAs a posterior vitreous detachment proceeds, ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02284 | How can people suddenly get a heritable disease/illness when no one in the family has it? | A genetic disorder is a disease caused in whole or in part by a change in the DNA sequence away from the normal sequence. Genetic disorders can be caused by a mutation in one gene (monogenic disorder), by mutations in multiple genes (multifactorial inheritance disorder), by a combination of gene mutations and environmental factors, or by damage to chromosomes (changes in the number or structure of entire chromosomes, the structures that carry genes). As we unlock the secrets of the human genome (the complete set of human genes), we are learning that nearly all diseases have a genetic component. Some diseases are caused by mutations that are inherited from the parents and are present in an individual at birth, like sickle cell disease. Other diseases are caused by acquired mutations in a gene or group of genes that occur during a person's life. Such mutations are not inherited from a parent, but occur either randomly or due to some environmental exposure (such as cigarette smoke). These include many cancers, as well as some forms of neurofibromatosis. Genetic disorders typically involve the inheritance of a particular mutated disease-causing gene, such as sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease. The mutated gene is passed down through a family, and each generation of children can inherit the gene that causes the disease. Rarely, one of these monogenic diseases can occur spontaneously in a child when his/her parents do not have the disease gene, or there is no history of the disease in the family. This can result from a new mutation occurring in the egg or sperm that gave rise to that child. Most genetic disorders, however, are "multifactorial inheritance disorders," meaning they are caused by a combination of inherited mutations in multiple genes, often acting together with environmental factors. Examples of such diseases include many commonly-occurring diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, which are present in many people in different populations around the world. Research on the human genome has shown that although many commonly occurring diseases are usually caused by inheritance of mutations in multiple genes at once, such common diseases can also be caused by rare hereditary mutations in a single gene. In these cases, gene mutations that cause or strongly predispose a person to these diseases run in a family, and can significantly increase each family member's risk of developing the disease. | [
"Despite these and other challenges in the identification of \"de novo\" gene birth events, there is now abundant evidence indicating that the phenomenon is not only possible, but has occurred in every lineage systematically examined thus far.\n\nSection::::Prevalence.\n\nSection::::Prevalence.:Estimates of numbers... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-19677 | How does a song/album debut at #1? | It would be quite inconvenient to measure on a steady sales/hour and deliver constant reports like that. If you'd measure like that, yes, an album would start at the bottom, before the first album is sold, then make a small jump, then up from there. Most of these numbers and charts are calculated in weeks, as far as I know. And if you're going to release a new Metallica album, you better believe that people are going to be ridiculously hyped for it, ready to buy it at stores the very moment it's released. A week is plenty time for an album of a well-known band to sell enough to overtake the sales of other albums. Even with lesser known bands, it's enough time to get a decent amount of traction via word of mouth and radio if it's a really good song. But you'll typically see that these songs can at times take a small while to rise to the top of the charts. | [
"BULLET::::- The first album to debut at number one was \"Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy\" by Elton John. John repeated the same feat with the album \"Rock of the Westies\" – the second album to debut at number one – making John the first artist to have two consecutive studio albums debut at number one... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-20039 | How people made phone calls onboard airplanes on 9/11 | Airphones. Satellite telephones, they've been on airliners since the late 90s. Usually cost a $fortune. Also depending on the altitude the plane is at you might get cellular connection. | [
"BULLET::::- October 13 David D. Meilahn made the first-ever commercial cell phone call from his 1983 Mercedes-Benz 380SL at Soldier Field on a Motorola DynaTAC. This is considered a major turning point in communications. The call was to Bob Barnett, the former president of Ameritech Mobile Communications, who then... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-14957 | Why are jeans traditionally blue?! | Jean denim is dyed with an indigo dye, which appears as the standard blue we see on most jeans. The reason this dye was used was due to its chemical properties. Most dyes permeate fabric in hot temperatures making the dye stick, however the traditional indigo dye would only dye the outside of threads. As this denim gets washed, the dye would partially wear off, creating that 'jean' feel of white/blue. This softness made blue jeans manufacturers main choice, especially as demand for blue jeans skyrocketed | [
"The term jeans appears first in 1795, when a Swiss banker by the name Jean-Gabriel Eynard and his brother Jacques went to Genoa and both were soon heading a flourishing commercial concern. In 1800 Massena's troops entered the town and Jean-Gabriel was entrusted with their supply. In particular he furnished them wi... | [] | [] | [
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-01603 | How did the classic 5 point star come to be since actual stars aren’t that shape? | Stars appear to twinkle, having multiple points emerging out from a center. The class of polygons with such features are named "stars" for the similarity. The five pointed star is just one such example of this type of shape. | [
"The original Moravian star as manufactured in Herrnhut since 1897 exists only in a 25-point form, composed of eighteen square and seven triangular cone-shaped points. The 26th point is missing and used for mounting. This shape is technically known as an augmented rhombicuboctahedron. Each face of the geometric sol... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-19915 | How do WiFi signals get transmitted and received by that specific device? | Every network device have a unique MAC address designated to it. Each transmission includes the MAC address of the sending device and the receiving device. If the receiving MAC address does not match the MAC address of the device it is ignored. You can get software that can, depending on the network interface, sniff all data and display it to you. If you are using encryption the data is also encrypted with a unique key for each device so that anyone else would just get encrypted traffic. | [
"After this communication of the device capabilities from both ends, the user initiates the actual protocol session. The session consists of eight messages that are followed, in the case of a successful session, by a message to indicate that the protocol is completed. The exact stream of messages may change when co... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-04055 | Why do some women’s bodies get red after an orgasm? | After sexual release, as the body calms back down, there is a relaxation of the muscles in the walls of blood vessels, allowing a sudden rush of blood back to the skin. This, along with the flood of endorphins, causes the flushing to appear. The most common areas for this to be noticeable is the face and upper chest, though it can happen anywhere. | [
"Bloody show is another indication that the cervix is dilating. Bloody show usually comes along with the mucus plug, and may continue throughout labor, making the mucus tinged pink, red or brown. Fresh, red blood is usually not associated with dilation, but rather serious complications such as placental abruption, ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-16884 | Why does a nuclear bomb detonation emit an electromagnetic pulse that destroys electrical systems? | The chain reaction generates a huge amount of electrical current, because many of the fragments of the original atoms are charged. These fragments are moving super fast, and moving charged particles generate a magnetic field. It's only called a pulse because it doesn't last long. | [
"A nuclear electromagnetic pulse is the abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation resulting from a nuclear explosion. The resulting rapidly changing electric fields and magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges.\n\nThe intense gamma radiation emitte... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04698 | Why do rechargeable batteries become worse/less effective with time? | Batteries work by a chemical reaction that produces electricity. Rechargable batteries work by a reversible chemical reaction, but it isn't *perfectly 100.0% reversible* If it's 99.9% reversible then you're down to 74% capacity after 300 charge cycles and 54% after 600(about 2 years) People like to complain it's planned obsolescence but it's not planned for, it's planned around. You want something cheap that'll work for a couple years rather than something obscenely expensive that'll work for a few decades | [
"Even just a single string of batteries wired in series can have adverse interactions if new batteries are mixed with old batteries. Older batteries tend to have reduced storage capacity, and so will both discharge faster than new batteries and also charge to their maximum capacity more rapidly than new batteries.\... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal"
] | [] |
2018-15285 | Why does normal skin get dirty but scars don’t? | Short answer: scars dont have hair follicles or sweat glands. So no holes or sweat for dirt to stick to. | [
"Section::::Periwound issues.:Risk factors.\n\nAmong risk factors that may contribute to degrading the periwound skin performance are:\n\nBULLET::::- Chronic wounds (excessive harmful exudate)\n\nBULLET::::- Old age (increased skin fragility, epidermal thinning, loss of elasticity)\n\nBULLET::::- Underlying disorde... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal"
] | [] |
2018-01577 | What happens when a ship "runs aground" and why is it dangerous? | Running aground is when a ship hits the seabed or some outcropping under the surface. It's basically the ship crashing into the sea floor underneath it. As for why it's dangerous, grounding can damage the hull or even breach the hull, resulting in cargo spills, total loss of the vessel, and, in the worst cases, human casualties. Cargo spills, especially of chemicals or petroleum products, can be disastrous. One of the most well known incidents was when the Exon Valdez ran aground spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil and created an environmental catastrophe. | [
"Ship grounding\n\nShip grounding is the impact of a ship on seabed or\n\nwaterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidental cases, it is commonly referred to as \"running aground.\"\n\nWhen u... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04879 | in the case of being on fire, how does rolling on the floor help extinguish the flames? | It's similar to covering it in a fire proof blanket, rolling chokes it of oxygen between the body and in this case the floor | [
"The effectiveness of stop, drop and roll may be further enhanced by combining it with other firefighting techniques, including the use of a fire extinguisher, dousing with water, or fire beating one's skin.\n",
"Rollover (fire)\n\nRollover (also known as flameover) is a stage of a structure fire when fire gases ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00300 | How does opening your eyes under water affect your eyes? | It depends, on the water. Water in a swimming pool is purified, so there are "anti-life" chemicals in it that can irritate your eyes. Most swimmers get used to it, because the benefits of seeing outweigh the sting, or they wear goggles. The ocean is full of salt, so the sting there tells you something different. There is more salt in the ocean that your body prefers. Polluted water can have very serious consequences for your eyes. | [
"Water in the eye can alter the optical properties of the eye and blur vision. It can also wash away the tear fluid—along with it the protective lipid layer—and can alter corneal physiology, due to osmotic differences between tear fluid and freshwater. Osmotic effects are made apparent when swimming in freshwater p... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-22523 | What’s the purpose of having an outer ear instead of just a hole we can hear from like laptop mics? | Outer ears are useful in localization of sound. The inherent asymmetry contributed to a slight difference in the time sound reaches either ear if it emanates from a point not directly in the center, allowing the brain to sort of localize it in horizontal plane | [
"The mechanical role of the tectorial membrane in hearing is yet to be fully understood, and traditionally was neglected or downplayed in many models of the cochlea. However, recent genetic\n",
"Section::::Definitive mammalian middle ear.\n",
"In mammals (other than monotremes), the cochlea is extended still fu... | [] | [] | [
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-03617 | How does the experience of pain go from the brain saying "that hurts, stop." to it actually hurting. | The brain actually does not cause you to move away from something hot. That takes way too much time. It happens at a local nervous level and your brain never gets involved. The brain is never the part that says something hurts and you need to stop. It only intervenes when the pain lasts long enough to suggest a real immediate problem. Pain is weird. Its not really a thing, but the name we gave a system. What you interpret as pain is a warning and a notification. It says "This area has a problem. You need to pay attention." The awareness of damage is what we call pain. The reason it feels so unpleasant is because it works really well at making you act. In the same way that a fire alarm gets your attention, even though its just a wave of pressure through the air. | [
"The ability to experience pain is essential for protection from injury, and recognition of the presence of injury. Episodic analgesia may occur under special circumstances, such as in the excitement of sport or war: a soldier on the battlefield may feel no pain for many hours from a traumatic amputation or other s... | [
"Experience of pain goes from brain to an action."
] | [
"Brain is not involved in this. The nervous system does everything by itself without sending a signal to the brain. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Experience of pain goes from brain to an action."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Brain is not involved in this. The nervous system does everything by itself without sending a signal to the brain. "
] |
2018-19713 | Why are most animals symmetrical externally? | There is seldom any benefit to asymmetry, unless it’s something that serves a specific purpose. Like those crabs with the big claw. | [
"Developmental homeostasis is present not only in humans, but in animals as well. The choosing of symmetrical features over asymmetrical features have been observed in birds, lizards, Araneae,and even insects. For example, barn swallow females have been reported to prefer males whose long outer feathers are the sam... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-04381 | How do restaurants get that "taste" that you can't get at home? | Add fat and salt to everything until it tastes good. Restaurant kitchens get through *a lot* of butter. | [
"BULLET::::- In 2011, the concept of a Secret Restaurant was launched by the joint collaboration of Secret cinema and St John restaurant. Just like Secret Cinema did for film, the audience was immersed in a gastronomic evening within a specifically designed location, adapting its cinematographic concept to the culi... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"Restaurants have a taste that you can't get at home."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"You can get that taste by adding more fat and salt to your food. "
] |
2018-01088 | Do meteors that burn up in atmosphere adding to the planet's mass? | Yes, they do. However, we are constantly losing some of our mass due to gas particles escaping. I am not familiar with the actual rates, so the Earth could be either gaining or losing mass right now. | [
"It is a well known fact that the earth is constantly acquiring mass through accumulation of rocks and dust from space, as are all other planetary bodies in our system. According to NASA, \"Every day about 100 tons of meteoroids -- fragments of dust and gravel and sometimes even big rocks – enter the Earth's atmosp... | [] | [] | [
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"normal",
"normal"
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2018-03981 | how do radio towers create waves? | They use an antenna which is specially configured for the frequency they want to broadcast. They then generate electric fields in the antenna. Because of the configuration of the antenna, those fields begin to propagate some of their energy to the surrounding space, in the form of electromagnetic waves. The antenna is important, though. It has to be specially shaped and sized to do a good job of creating those waves. | [
"Lower power transmitters often use electrically short quarter wave monopoles such as inverted-L or T antennas, which are brought into resonance with a loading coil at their base.\n",
"BULLET::::- Direct digital synthesis\n\nSection::::Determining the frequency.:Frequency multiplication.\n",
"Many other types o... | [] | [] | [
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2018-10207 | How is 'I am.' a complete sentence while 'I'm.' is not? | The issue here comes down to the type of verb "am" is acting as in each context. "Am" is the present tense of the verb "to be". "To be" and all of its conjugate forms function differently than other verbs in the English language. To be can be an active verb, an inactive linking verb, or an auxiliary verb, depending on its form and context. In the sentence "I am.", the verb "am" is serving as an active verb, in the transitive, which means it links directly to the subject. In this context am is synonymous with "exist", and so the sentence is complete. However, in the contraction "I'm", the am is no longer synonymous with "exist" and so the sentence isn't complete. The contraction "I'm" uses the auxiliary form of the word am. Auxiliary verbs are verbs that require other verbs to form a complete sentence. In the colloquial usage, "I'm" almost always precedes an active verb and a direct object. "I'm going to the store." "I'm driving there later." "I'm thinking about what to make for dinner." This is why "I'm" cannot be a complete sentence on its own. Same verb base, different usage. | [
"BULLET::::- NKJV \"Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.\" (Good News Translation GNT; International Standard Version ISV; Phillips; Jubillee Bible 2000; Modern English Version MEV and other translations render it in capital letters \"I AM\" as well, to indicate the Title element)\n\nSection::::G... | [
"I am and I'm always mean the same thing.",
"The verb \"am\" is always the same word. "
] | [
"They are different conjugate forms of the same verb, and in the auxiliary form the words are not synonymous with \"I exist.\"",
"The verb \"am\" can be a different word due to context, which changes it's meaning."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"I am and I'm always mean the same thing.",
"The verb \"am\" is always the same word. "
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"They are different conjugate forms of the same verb, and in the auxiliary form the words are not synonymous with \"I exist.\"",
"The verb \"am\" can be a different word due to context, which changes it's meaning."
] |
2018-03229 | What makes the Parkland school shooting different from those before it? Why is this one the straw that broke the camel's back? | 1) Students were able to communicate what was going on live via their social medias. That dials the emotions of the event up by several degrees. 2) More people died than is average for these kinds of events. 3) The FBI and local police were warned but failed to act upon those warnings. | [
"Section::::Shooting.\n",
"Two suspects, who were students at the school, were taken into custody in two separate locations following the shooting. Local media outlets reported that the weapons used by the suspects were stolen from a parent, and that neither were known to law enforcement prior to the attack. Some... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00910 | Why can't humans hold themselves perfectly still without twitching, hence the difficulty of the game "operation"? | Muscles are composed of many strands. When your arm is held up, not all fibers are being used simultaneously, as that would need you to carry an extra weight. Over time fibers get tenuous, needing to relax, so your they switch to other strands, and this switch is usually abrupt, so our arm twitches a bit. | [
"The game is fully controlled by the analog sticks. The left analog stick is touch-sensitive; through various degrees of holding, tapping or pressing along with other buttons allows the player character Nina Williams to walk, run or evade. The right analog stick is used for offensive moves.\n",
"An initial versio... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00905 | how do rockets fly in space? | That don't push against the air. A rocket propelled by throwing mass behind. Actually the air reduces the efficency of the rocket engine. You can find out more about rocket physics here : URL_0 | [
"Rocket\n\nA rocket (from Italian \"rocchetto\" \"bobbin\") is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely from propellant carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"Rockets fly in space."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"Rockets don't \"fly\" the same way planes do. Rockets expell mass out of the back which pushes the rocket itself forward. "
] |
2018-01584 | Why are some animals much more aggressive than others? | Different species have found different techniques for survival. Some get food by attacking, others by sneaking, others by just eating plants. Some defend themselves by fighting, others by fleeing, others by hiding. Using a technique different from your competitors can increase your survival odds. | [
"Section::::Examples.:The rough-skinned newt and the common garter snake.\n",
"The asymmetries between individuals have been categorized into three types of interactions.\n\nBULLET::::1. Resource-holding potential: Animals that are better able to defend resources often win without much physical contact.\n\nBULLET... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-06930 | Classical music is still relevant es ever. Nevertheless how come there are no longer super star composers like in earlier times and how do you actually transcend undying music of genius composers to be relevant today? | Well, the landscape of classical music changed a lot over the course of the last hundred and fifty years because there are other means of entertainment. It used to be that classical music was the music of the common man, but now it has the appearance of an aristocratic activity. Composers writing academic art music aren’t necessarily writing for a wider audience, rather they’re writing for academically trained composers like themselves. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t composers that everyone knows these days, take John Williams or Hans Zimmer for example. They’re writing for the most popular media of today just like how Puccini, Verdi or Wagner wrote for opera, which was the most popular media in the 19th century. | [
"During the earlier part of the 20th century, new music was generally written for and performed by closed circles of musicians: Schoenberg founded the Society for Private Musical Performances a membership-only organization which deliberately kept out “sensation-seeking” members of the public, and other societies, s... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02115 | Why internet companies don’t match upload speeds with download speeds. | Because that would be a waste of bandwidth for most users. Your common internet user is a consumer of the internet, they are watching videos, browsing websites, and downloading things. The average user is not hosting a website, uploading lots of things, etc. So they set upload speed high enough to more than handle common usage. If you have a business that does a lot of uploading or hosting of things there are business class packages that have high upload speeds. | [
"The higher data rate dial-up modems and many broadband services are \"asymmetric\"—supporting much higher data rates for download (toward the user) than for upload (toward the Internet).\n",
"The marketing reasons for an asymmetric connection are that, firstly, most users of internet traffic will require less da... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02446 | How did someone with significantly less votes become president? | The president of the US is not elected by direct vote nationwide. Instead, most (except for two or so) states use what is essentially a winner-takes-all election at the state level. States also have a different weight in the nationwide election based upon their congressional representation (which only changes every 10 years). This could result in a situation where one candidate obtains a majority of the electoral college (state victories) by a narrow margin in each, while the other candidate recieved an overwhelming majority in states with a lesser amount of total electoral votes, and still loses the election. | [
"Under the U.S. Constitution, the president was chosen by the Electoral College, which consisted of electors selected by each state. Prior to the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, each elector cast two votes; the individual who received the most electoral votes would become president, while the individual who ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00045 | How did the inventors of the defibrillator test the machine and determine the correct time for practical use? | Defibrillators were first demonstrated in 1899 by Jean-Louis Prévost and Frédéric Batelli, two physiologists from University of Geneva, Switzerland. They discovered that small electrical shocks could induce ventricular fibrillation in dogs, and that larger charges would reverse the condition. Basically they tested it on dogs before human use. | [
"The development of the ICD was pioneered at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore by a team including Michel Mirowski, Morton Mower, Alois Langer and William Staewen. Mirowski teamed up with Mower and Staewen and together they commenced their research in 1969 but it was 11 years before they treated their first patient.\n",
... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00777 | Why do different items usually have the same shipping price even if they're completely different in size, weight, shape, etc? | One reason is that the shipping company has price ranges to simplify billing. A small box that weighs next to nothing costs the same to ship as a box sized exactly the same but containing four books. If you look at the price ranges of shipping companies it usually says something like this: Size 1: not larger than AxBxC inches & not heavier than D ounce. And then they define size ranges. Your package costs as the first category it fits. Then, to simplify things further Amazon (or any other large retailer) goes I the shipping company and says “hey, we want to offer you the possibility of having five million packages of ours shipped yearly. We want them flat rate. Here is our statistics on the size and weight of all packages sent the last five years. What’s your offer?” | [
"However, there are a number of factors that limit the parcel size :\n\nBULLET::::- The stock level;\n\nBULLET::::- Available depth;\n\nBULLET::::- Decreasing economies of scale in larger ships.\n",
"BULLET::::- The nature of the shipped product - shipping eggs and shipping shirts can require differing fulfillmen... | [
"All items should cost different amounts to ship."
] | [
"Companies can make long term flat rate offers based on statistics. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"All items should cost different amounts to ship."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Companies can make long term flat rate offers based on statistics. "
] |
2018-00866 | What is needed to get matter to being a Bose-Einstein condensate, the least known about state of matter? | You want bosons in a system(usually weakly or noninteracting- typically using a dilute gas) at a low enough temperature. At it's core, a BEC is a bunch of bosons sitting in the same ground state. You want bosons as opposed to fermions because Pauli exclusion won't allow fermions to all chill in the same ground state. > the least known about state of matter? I'm not sure I'd classify it as the least known about state of matter. There are many many new states of matter these days, that we know very little about. BECs aren't completely solved, but we do know quite a lot about them and how to make them. Especially the simpler cases- you can derive the critical temperature for the simplest case of a noninteracting boson gas with pretty standard quantum stat mech edit: As someone pointed out below, i assumed you had some background (or were willing to let some things be swept under the rug for the sake of simplicity) based on the way you worded your question. If you'd like BECs explained in much greater detail from scratch, I'd recommend these previous posts: URL_0 URL_1 They do go into *much* more detail (that i swept under the rug), but it's a lot to take in if you have no background. | [
"Researchers in the new field of atomtronics use the properties of Bose–Einstein condensates when manipulating groups of identical cold atoms using lasers.\n\nIn 1970, BECs were proposed by Emmanuel David Tannenbaum for anti-stealth technology.\n\nSection::::Current research.:Dark matter.\n\nP. Sikivie and Q. Yang ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"Bose Einstein Condensates are the least known states of matter."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"There are other lesser known states of matter."
] |
2018-01900 | The human body is 70% water." - How did we find this out? | We have a pretty stong understanding of anatomy and cellular biology. Its not a big guess we just actually know what we are made up of... We gained that knowledge through centuries of medical science, chemistry and biology. So put more bluntly, we measured it. | [
"BULLET::::- blood plasma: Evans blue\n\nIntracellular fluid may then be estimated by subtracting extracellular fluid from total body water.\n\nSection::::Measurement.:Bioelectrical impedance analysis.\n",
"Another method of determining total body water percentage (TBW%) is via Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (B... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-13681 | If Anxiety is just the response to danger manifested by producing adrenaline (Epinephrine), why is it not possible to create drugs that stops production of Epinephrine? | MD here. In general anxiety has lots of causes(genetic factors, substance abuse, injuty etc.) but all of them lead to neurotransmitters inbalance(norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine). To treat this imbalance we use mainly antidepressants(they inhibit destroy of neurotransmitters therefore bringing back the balance). We also use bensodiasepines for acute panic attacks to slow down our central nervous system by increasing GABA in CNS(that's a type of slowing neurotransmitter). Cognitive behavioral therapy is the third(and effective) option of treatment. For your question. There are drugs that block epi receptors in tissues(blood vessels, heart, uterus, bronchi). But these receptors are crucial for survival(speeding up the heart, constricting blood vessels, dilating bronchi) so blocking them in otherwise healthy human can cause them to even die. So that's not an option. Sorry for my English(not native language). | [
"While EPM is the most commonly employed animal behavioral model of anxiety, there are several issues concerning the validity of the model. Classical clinical anxiolytics, such as benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium), do reduce measures of anxiety in EPM. However, more novel compounds, such as 5-HT agonists (e.g., Buspar... | [
"Anxiety is just the response to danger manifested by producing adrenaline (Epinephrine).",
"It is not possible to create drugs that stop the production of epinephrine."
] | [
"Anxiety can have many causes, such as genetic factors, substance abuse, and injury, and it leads to an imbalance of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine..",
"There are drugs that block epi receptors, but those receptors are crucial for survival so blocking them is not a good idea. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Anxiety is just the response to danger manifested by producing adrenaline (Epinephrine).",
"It is not possible to create drugs that stop the production of epinephrine."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Anxiety can have many causes, such as genetic factors, substance abuse, and injury, and it leads to an imbalance of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine..",
"There are drugs that block epi receptors, but those receptors are crucial for survival so blocking them is not a good idea. "
] |
2018-14593 | What makes gems (diamonds, in particular) so valuable? | Because people are vain and want shiny glittery things. And people are also suckers to marketing from de Beers saying that diamonds are rare. | [
"BULLET::::- Amber: Amber, an ancient organic gemstone, is composed of tree resin that has hardened over time. The stone must be at least one million years old to be classified as amber, and some amber can be up to 120 million years old.\n\nBULLET::::- Amethyst: Amethyst has historically been the most prized gemsto... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-14133 | What did former South Korean president Park Geun-hye do exactly to warrant huge protests and a long prison sentence? | There were a lot of things that made her unpopular and worthy of protest. The straw that broke the camel's back was her relationship with a cult leader. A news organization found a laptop in the trash. Files on the laptop proved that Park Geun-Hye was giving confidential information to a cult leader, asking for advice, and even allowing the cult leader to edit her speeches. The cult leader was not elected or part of the government, so giving her confidential data was illegal. That clearly illegal act started the impeachment process. Her approval rating dropped down to 1% and massive protests started. The Korean legislative body and the highest court both removed her from office (Korean law requires both the legislative and judicial branches to agree to an impeachment). After she was forced out as President, she could no longer continue covering up or blocking investigations into her other crimes, such as bribery. Charges continued piling up against her as investigations found more evidence of more illegal acts. It would be hard to give a list of every crime she committed to warrant a long prison sentence, but suffice it to say that she was accepting bribes often, She also stole public money and facilitated money laundering by organized crime. Two of her other crimes which have got a lot of attention: * The Sewol Ferry disaster. It was one of the biggest disasters in Korea's modern history. A large passenger ferry capsized, killing hundreds of high school students. The magnitude of the tragedy brought the entire nation together: the entire nation *except* Park Geun-Hye. Not only did she seem unaffected by the tragedy (going to a salon to get her hair done as soon as she heard about it), but she actively (and criminally) blocked investigation into its causes. There were a lot of things that went wrong to cause the disaster, but the government's unwillingness to enforce safety regulations was seen as a big one. * Blacklisting in the media. There had been rumours that journalists or comedians critical of Park Geun-Hye unfairly got blacklisted from television. It later came out that this was real, deliberate, and orchestrated by Park Geun-Hye herself in an attempt to control her image in the media. | [
"In the ensuing struggle for power, many of those that had been in positions of power during the reign of President Park now found themselves without position, power or influence. In many cases those that held positions under President Park were now singled out as targets for legal action, whether justified or not.... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-06527 | What makes an object silver as opposed to white? | > Does it have something to do with how much the material scatters the light? Yes: There are two phenomenons at play here: * Very smooth surfaces will reflect light coherently producing sharp reflections while rough surfaces will reflect light in somewhat random directions producing blurry reflections. * Dielectric materials (ie: non metals) will absorb part of the light before re-emitting it in a random direction. This light is remitted uniformly in all directions and in all colors so it produce no reflection and appear uniform. This is called diffusion. (chalk is a good example of a mostly diffuse material) > why do some rough surfaces still look silver? Metals are not diffuse, they only reflect incoming light (creating more or less blurred reflections, depending on roughness), that's what give them their silvery look [Here is an illustration from a computer graphics book]( URL_0 ) | [
"Section::::Applications.:Photography.\n",
"Section::::Compounds.:Organometallic.\n",
"Section::::Compounds.\n\nSection::::Compounds.:Oxides and chalcogenides.\n",
"BULLET::::- When combined with silver, hydrogen sulfide gas creates a layer of black silver sulfide patina on the silver, protecting the inner si... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-17564 | How are we able to make guesses and thoughts on what objects would look like in a 4th Dimension, if we cannot perceive it with our eyes? | It’s not guessing. We simply extend the exact same logic of Euclidean geometry to an additional dimension. Specifically Euclid established the following rules 1. A straight line segment can be drawn between two points. 2. A straight line segment can be extended indefinitely. 3. Given a straight line segment, a circle can always be drawn with it as the radius. 4. All right angles are equal to one another. 5. If a straight line falling on two straight lines make the interior angles on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if produced indefinitely, meet on that side on which the angles are less than two right angles. (This one basically establishes the difference between parallel and non-parallel lines). If these assumptions hold true for any set of geometric patterns, we call or Euclidean geometry. The rest of Euclidean geometry is a natural extension of these postulates, including the principle of dimensions. A dimension means how many lines it is possible to make intersect through a point such that they are all at right angles to each other. We extend everything here to the fourth dimension and the logic works out. Note that the Klein bottle is a bit misleading, that hole the tube goes through in the larger bottle is actually supposed to be found in the fourth dimension in such a way that the tube doesn’t touch the larger bottle. A Möbius strip is the 3D equivalent of a Klein bottle. An additional example is a tesseract, a 4D cube. The basis of these objects consists of a shape in a lower dimension, two of which are applied for every dimension. A square is a set of 4 identical line segments all connected at right angles to each other. A cube is 6 squares connected to each other at right angles. A tesseract is 8 cubes connected to eachother at right angles. | [
"Similarly, objects in the fourth dimension can be mathematically projected to the familiar three dimensions, where they can be more conveniently examined. In this case, the 'retina' of the four-dimensional eye is a three-dimensional array of receptors. A hypothetical being with such an eye would perceive the natur... | [
"Our thoughts about what objects would look like in a 4th Dimension are guesses.",
"We \"guess\" when we try to determine what an object would look like in a fourth dimension."
] | [
"Our thoughts about what objects would look like in a 4th Dimension are based on Euclidean geometry, and are not guesses.",
"It's not guessing - we can use the logic of Euclidean geometry to add a dimension."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Our thoughts about what objects would look like in a 4th Dimension are guesses.",
"We \"guess\" when we try to determine what an object would look like in a fourth dimension."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Our thoughts about what objects would look like in a 4th Dimension are based on Euclidean geometry, and are not guesses.",
"It's not guessing - we can use the logic of Euclidean geometry to add a dimension."
] |
2018-06353 | Why do elements react to give compounds with completely different properties? | For 99% of chemical differences, electron shell is the relevant attribute. The chemical properties we observe are due to the electron shells and how they are seeking low-energy states. When something forms a compound, this is due to the electron shell interacting with another electron shell in a way that changes both shells. | [
"The same trend in stability is noted in groups 14, 15 and 16. The heaviest members of each group, i.e. lead, bismuth and polonium are comparatively stable in oxidation states +2, +3, and +4 respectively.\n",
"Most (66 of 94) naturally occurring elements have more than one stable isotope. Except for the isotopes ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-10728 | Why males are genetically taller than women? | Estrogen causes your epiphyseal growth plates in your long bones (like arms and legs) to seal, and women get a burst of estrogen earlier than men, so their growth plates fuse earlier. | [
"Females are taller, on average, than males in early adolescence, but males, on average, surpass them in height in later adolescence and adulthood. In the United States, adult males are, on average, 9% taller and 16.5% heavier than adult females. There is no comparative evidence of differing levels of sexual select... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04072 | Why does a dehydrated brain cause a headache? | Your body is filled with veins and arteries, including your brain. These veins and arteries can get wider or thinner depending on what’s going on (cold/hot, too much/too little water). If you have WAY too little water, the veins and arteries shrink so much that your brain shrinks, and tugs on your skull. Source: google why dehydration headache, website medicalnewstoday | [
"At the onset of this condition, fluid outside the cells has an excessively low amount of solutes, such as sodium and other electrolytes, in comparison to fluid inside the cells, causing the fluid to move into the cells to balance its concentration. This causes the cells to swell. In the brain, this swelling increa... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02259 | Why do people blame the NRA for mass shootings? | they’re a big part of the reason why gun control laws are so lax in the US, and give tons of money to politicians for their special interests. hence why it’s so easy to get a gun. | [
"The NRA has been criticized for their media strategy following mass shootings in the United States. After the Sandy Hook shooting the NRA released an online video which attacked Obama and mentioned Obama's daughters; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called it \"reprehensible\" and said that it demeaned the organ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02516 | Why are we not aware of the passing of time when we sleep? | > Why are we not aware of the passing of time when we sleep? You're not aware of *anything* when you sleep. So you can't perceive the passage time as it happens, because you're not really perceiving things at all, other than at a very basic, "strong stimuli will wake you up" sense. And you can't perceive the passage of time after you wake up because forming memories that give order and sequence to what's happened to you is how you recall the passage of time of things in the past. When you're asleep, you're not forming new memories, so you have no way to judge the passage of time after the fact. Other things that prevent memory formation, like being put under for surgery, or being blackout drunk, will affect your ability to retroactively remember how much time has passed. | [
"The perception of time is temporarily suspended during sleep, or more often during REM sleep. This can be attributed to the altered state of consciousness associated with sleep where the person is kept unaware of their surroundings, which would make it difficult to remain informed of the passing of time. When the ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"We aware of things other than time when we sleep."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"We aren't aware of anything when we sleep."
] |
2018-20070 | How do stealth planes work? What makes them stealthy? | When they talk about stealth, they mean via RADAR. A quick breakdown of RADAR: Pretend it works like a dolphin's or bat's echolocation: we shoot radio waves in a direction and then those waves bounce off stuff and if the waves bounce back toward us, we can "see" whatever the radio wave bounced off of. Stealth planes use a combination of angular shapes and reflective materials to bounce RADAR off of the plane, but not back towards the "listening" location. Imaging a dolphin trying to look for fish with clicks, but every time a sound hits the fish, the sound bounces up or down instead back to the dolphin, making it so the dolphin doesn't detect that particular fish. | [
"Section::::Reception.\n",
"Section::::Design.:Stealth.:Infrared.\n\nSome analysts claim infra-red search and track systems (IRSTs) can be deployed against stealth aircraft, because any aircraft surface heats up due to air friction and with a two channel IRST is a CO2 (4.3 µm absorption maxima) detection possible... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-17317 | Why do human ears have this weird shape, while many other animals' are just flat? | The outside of your ear is called the *pinna* and it serves a couple of purposes. The obvious one is to channel sound into your ear. That allows you to catch more sound, so you can hear very faint sounds better. Most animals that rely on sound have even better mechanisms to do this, like [a wolf's ear]( URL_2 ) or [owls' ears]( URL_0 ), which are hidden under the feathers but are really shaped almost like a parabolic dish. The reason our pinnas have all the weird bumps and ridges is for another purpose: they help us locate sound in three dimensions. Figuring out if a sound is coming from the left or the right is *fairly* easy. High frequencies can be located by analyzing which side is slightly louder. Low frequencies are a bit more complicated, but it has to do with the timing of the wavelengths. Up or down, and front or back are more challenging. Other animals accomplish this in a few ways. Dogs and cats will do a [head tilt]( URL_4 ) to locate sounds. Essentially, they rotate the "plane" of left/right so that it's also slightly up/down, and they will swivel their ears to see which direction catches the most sound without turning their heads, too. Owls have famously flexible necks and will completely turn their heads around, like a radar dish looking for a plane. Owls' ears are also [slightly offset]( URL_3 ), again making the left/right also slightly up/down. ([Here's what their skull looks like]( URL_1 ).) Humans can't swivel our ears, our heads don't turn around much, and we don't head tilt. Instead, the bumps and ridges in our pinnas very subtly alters a sound as it travels into our ears, depending on the direction the sound comes from. Different frequencies get emphasized or reduced. Every person's pinnas are unique, and over the course of our lives as we listen to things and then locate them, we learn how to recognize the direction a sound comes from based on how the pinna changes it. If you put clay into the ridges of your pinna and mess up the way sound flows into your ear, it completely destroys your ability to locate a sound in the up/down axis and doesn't help with the front/back, either. The final purpose of the pinna is to amplify the range of frequencies of typical human speech. The pinna resonates in those ranges, carrying those frequencies better, making it easier for us, as very social animals to communicate. | [
"Those with more natural ear shapes, like those of wild canids like the fox, generally hear better than those with the floppier ears of many domesticated species.\n\nSection::::Senses.:Smell.\n",
"The ear, with its blood vessels close to the surface, is an essential thermoregulator in some land mammals, including... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-01924 | Chicken pox. Why did my parents want my brother and I to get it at the same time? | Depending on your age, this was a thing that parents did prior to the vaccine. It was easier to just get it over with all at once instead of battling the illness multiple times. Contracting chicken pox was expected during childhood (and is more dangerous as you age). When I had chicken pox in the mid 80's, I was sent to play with some neighbor kids for the sole purpose of spreading the disease. Having the vaccine is a way better option. | [
"\"Parvovirus B19\" which causes fifth disease in humans, is a member of species \"Primate erythroparvovirus 1\" in the genus \"Erythroparvovirus\". It infects red blood cell precursors and was the first parvovirus shown to cause human disease. Some infections do not result in visible infection, while some manifest... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-03032 | Why do people yawn when they see someone else yawn? | I was told when I was young its because a yawn is the body's way of intaking a greater-than-normal breath, so we yawn as well because our body thinks there is a reason for it. In a sense, competing with that person. This could be totally false though. | [
"The yawn reflex has long been observed to be contagious. In 1508, Erasmus wrote, \"One man's yawning makes another yawn\", and the French proverbialized the idea to \"Un bon bâilleur en fait bâiller sept\" (\"One good gaper makes seven others gape\"). Often, if one person yawns, this may cause another person to \"... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-01424 | When a clock is say, five minutes ahead of time and we reset it, why does it return to being five minutes ahead? | The timing mechanisms(?) are off, so a minute or an hour on your clock is not the same as a minute or hour in real life, so gradually over time it begins to get further and further out of sync. Then someone notices it is out of time, resets it and the process starts again. | [
"RTCs often have an alternate source of power, so they can continue to keep time while the primary source of power is off or unavailable. This alternate source of power is normally a lithium battery in older systems, but some newer systems use a supercapacitor, because they are rechargeable and can be soldered. The... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-19420 | What is happening when I'm peeing and I get the full body shakes? | So, as far as I know, it happens when you hold it in for awhile, then you urinate. And I believe it's because your body lost that rather large storage of heat that it had, and tries to compensate for the now relatively cold area by shivering. | [
"In order for Watsu to work, the therapist should be situated at the centre of the participants back, not too low that they are near their lumbar spine and not too high that they are near their cervical vertebrates. Watsu is heavily dependent on the therapist as no floaties are used. By using the “supine position”,... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-13047 | Why does the ground look wet when it’s hot, from certain angles? | It has to do with the air beeing hotter (and thus less dense) close to the ground. This changes the refractive index of the air which causes light to change direction when entering this hot region. This is however not stable, as the air is continuously moving around, and therefore it looks like it moves around a bit, kind of like water :) URL_0 | [
"Wet floor effect\n\nWet floor effect is a graphic effects technique popular in conjunction Web 2.0 style pages, particularly in logos. The effect can be done manually or an auxiliary tool can be installed to create the effect automatically. Unlike a standard \"reflection\" (and the Java \"water\" effect popular in... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02356 | Why do some Asians only want crisp/new money bills? | > I constantly get requests for crisp, clean, new money bills from Asian people during withdraws or exchanges. No other ethnicity asks for perfect bills nearly as much. Why? Almost certainly this has to do with Asian traditions about gifting money. You probably ask this question because you are getting a flurry of requests, which only makes sense considering Chinese New Years is on February 16th where children will be given the traditional red envelope (hóng bāo) containing money as a New Years gift. Money is also given at weddings and birthdays. In all occasions the money should be crisp and new, as old or dirty money is in bad taste. Would you send someone a dirty Christmas card? Same idea. | [
"Back in the 1960s, children in Hong Kong used to say 恭喜發財,利是逗來,斗零唔愛 (Cantonese, Gung Hei Fat Choy, Lai Si Tau Loi, Tau Ling M Ngoi), which was recorded in the pop song Kowloon Hong Kong by Reynettes in 1966. Later in the 1970s, children in Hong Kong used the saying: 恭喜發財,利是逗來,伍毫嫌少,壹蚊唔愛 (Cantonese), roughly transla... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00331 | What is the end goal of a bee colony supposed to look like? | When a colony runs out of space to expand, the queen will take half the worker bees with her and leave the colony to look for a new home. This is called swarming. The bees that are left behind in the original colony will raise a new queen from one of the eggs the original queen left behind. Then this cycle continues year after year. A beekeeper can recognize when a colony is preparing to swarm and prevent it by adding new hive boxes (for expansion) OR they can do what's called 'splitting' the hive to make two hives. They basically do a manual 'swarm' and retain the bees that would have been lost. When the bees do this themselves, it's how they propagate the species. | [
"Human intervention is not needed, and is not condoned. \"B. sylvestris\" has evolved naturally alongside its target species, such as \"B. pratorum\" and \"B. jonellus\".\"\", and presents the natural order of their existence. An alternative method to help bees is to ensure the bees have rich environments and habit... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-12974 | Why do countries like China and Japan own so much of the United States Debt? | Because US Debt is an extremely safe investment. If you have a lot of money (and China and Japan have plenty), and want to ensure that you have it (plus some interest) in 20 years, investing in US debt is a great idea. The US government is happy to get money from these countries, as the US government believes that having their money now is more valuable to them than the money we'll give them back (plus interest) in 20 years. | [
"Historically, the share held by foreign governments had grown over time, rising from 13 percent of the public debt in 1988 to 34 percent in 2015. In more recent years, foreign ownership has retreated both in percent of total debt and total dollar amounts. China's maximum holding of 9.1% or $1.3 trillion of US debt... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-01998 | Why does the colour red look so bad on TV and in compressed video? | You have good eyes. In the same way that dogs and cats can't see all the colors that the human eye can perceive, and in the same way that our eyes can't see color wavelengths that exist outside of what we call "the visible spectrum", our camera sensors and LCD screens can't sense or reproduce all the colors of the visible spectrum that the human eye can perceive. Our digital sensors are particularly "blind" to a range of colors in the red range. You can see a visual explanation of "color gamut" in this image search: URL_0 | [
"Section::::Reception.:Impact on machinima.\n",
"On August 19, 2013 Jim Jannard announced his retirement from RED, leaving Jarred Land the current president to take over in his absence.\n\nSection::::Cameras.\n\nSection::::Cameras.:Red One.\n",
"The format video image also suffered from head-switching noise, a ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04359 | when comedians have their own tv shows, why do they need writers? | If its a weekly show, even if its only half an hour, there's an amazing amount of work that needs to happen each and every week. The writing for each episode can only happen in 1-2 days - since the writing will dictate if there's any special props, sets, wardrobe, extras etc. that are required, special music, licensing/rights if there's to be a clip shown or played. Those things just don't show up overnight. So the script has to be in close to final form days before the show is recorded. That, and to come up with truly top notch stuff, consistently week after week? Thats hard. Podcasts are a little different. You're not expecting them to bring their A-game for an hour twice weekly... if they want to drone on about how the barista at Starbucks spelled their name wrong and you're willing to listen that's fine. But that's not the kind of content that can fill a weekly show that is broadcast on a major network or streaming platform and keep the audience coming back week after week or nightly. e.g. Seth Meyers is a funny guy and I'm loving his weeknight show. But to consistently come up with a funny (and topical!) 5-10 minute monologue plus another 10-15 minutes for "A Closer Look".... *every night*... That's too much for any person. Try it yourself. Go and write a 10 minute presentation. Keep track of all the time you spend polishing it and practicing it. I bet it will take several hours. Now try for an hour long presentation... it will be days/weeks of effort. | [
"Espenson notes that a recent trend has been to eliminate the role of the mid-level writer, relying on the senior writers to do rough outlines and giving the other writers a bit more freedom. Regardless, when the finished scripts are sent to the top writers, the latter do a final round of rewrites. Espenson also no... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04804 | Why some mushrooms are so poisonous and deadly and some are perfectly edible? | Because that's how nature works? Some stuff is poisonous, some isn't, some will kill you, some won't. "Mushrooms" are a huge section of life. That's like asking "why do some snakes kill you and some don't"? | [
"Separating edible from poisonous species requires meticulous attention to detail; there is no single trait by which all toxic mushrooms can be identified, nor one by which all edible mushrooms can be identified. People who collect mushrooms for consumption are known as mycophagists, and the act of collecting them ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-03303 | Why the armor of some tanks can ricochet tank shells? | The simple explanation is that the armor is at an angle relative to how the shell moves. The armour is hard and the shell is also hard so the initial hit might not dig down into the armour but bound off instead. Here is a profile with armour thickness if a Soves IS-2 heavy tank. URL_0 The front is 30 and 60 degrees from flat in the vertical planeso if you hit it from straight ahead you will hit thick plates with quite high angles so there is a high chance to ger the shell to bounce off compared to damaging the surface. You might not be straight a head so then the projectile will hit the Armour with a angle in horizontal plan so that make it. The projectile is hard but so is also the amour. If you try to stab a thick metal plate with a tool like a screwdriver you will notice the difference depending of the angle you hit it at. Straight down might damage is and the tool stay there but at a angel it is likely to just slide of. The design of tanks and shell have evolved over time so the modern anti tank projectile that are thin long uranium/tungsten rods are less likely to bound of compared to older designs. | [
"Section::::History and development.\n",
"Section::::Design.\n",
"Section::::Types.:Armor-piercing shells.:High-explosive anti-tank.\n",
"Sloped armour can also cause projectiles to ricochet, but this phenomenon is much more complicated and as yet not fully predictable. High rod density, impact velocity, and ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-20754 | Why does a VALID drivers license not fulfill the requirement of proof of citizenship if you had to have citizenship to get it in the first place? | You don't need to be a citizen to get a driver's license. A friend of mine is a legal resident from Costa Rica but not a citizen and she has a valid Illinois driver's license. | [
"In the state of California, obtaining a driver's license did not require proof of legal presence since the early 1990s. However, California blocked off this access in 1991, by asking all driver license applicants to provide proof of citizenship. Two years later, California explicitly committed to require proof of ... | [
"You need to be a citizen in order to get a valid driver's license.",
"A driver's license should be enough to provide proof of citizenship because you need to live in the area to receive one."
] | [
"You do not need to be a citizen to get a valid driver's license.",
"A person does not need to live in an area in order to receive a license to drive within that area."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"You need to be a citizen in order to get a valid driver's license.",
"A driver's license should be enough to provide proof of citizenship because you need to live in the area to receive one."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"You do not need to be a citizen to get a valid driver's license.",
"A person does not need to live in an area in order to receive a license to drive within that area."
] |
2018-02753 | Why do pictures of a computer screen look much different than real life? | Your brain does an enormous amount of image processing what your eyes take in and shows the results as what you "see" (optical illusions are often designed to expose this image processing). The camera takes millions of tiny samples of what's actually there at one given instant in time. Most of the time these are close enough, but computer screens use some tricks in the image processing to display an image, so the camera can't show that. The big two are: * the screen is made up of one of three very tiny red, green or blue color spots, that end up being similar in size to the red, green, or blue samplers in the camera. That creates [moire]( URL_0 ). * Further, older screens updated via a line, so the camera only captured the parts of the screen lit by the line, while your brain remembers the prior image and smooths between the two. | [
"To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer screen and repeatedly replaced by a new image which is similar to the previous image, but advanced slightly in the time domain (usually at a rate of 24 or 30 frames/second). This technique is identical to how the illusion of movement is achi... | [
"Pictures of a computer screen should look like they do in real life."
] | [
"Screens use a combination of tricks to make it look like there is an image and a camera cannot capture these."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Pictures of a computer screen should look like they do in real life."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Screens use a combination of tricks to make it look like there is an image and a camera cannot capture these."
] |
2018-05243 | Why do current video games need o be patched/updated constantly? | Because programming games is hard work and no amount of QA testing will catch every bug and every balancing problem | [
"Games developed for video game consoles have had almost no maintenance period in the past. The shipped game would forever house as many bugs and features as when released. This was common for consoles since all consoles had identical or nearly identical hardware; making incompatibility, the cause of many bugs, a n... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-17811 | Why do flight trips have weird connections where you sometimes end up flying somewhere in the other direction before reaching your destination | Demand. Basically you need a specific number of people on a flight to make it profitable so if where you flight from does not have a normal amount of people flighting to the same destination to make the flight profitable they fly you to the closest location that does. | [
"BULLET::::- Airway(s) from origin to an ocean edge, then an ocean track, then airway(s) from ocean edge to destination. Most flights over northern oceans fall into this category.\n\nBULLET::::- Airway(s) from origin to an ocean edge, then a free-flight area across an ocean, then airway(s) from ocean edge to destin... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00499 | Why do tongues stick to frozen poles, while wet fingers do not? | My fingers have gotten stuck to frozen poles. That was in Michigan when the temperature was -30 with windchill. | [
"Warm and cold sensitive nerve fibers differ in structure and function. The cold-sensitive and warm-sensitive nerve fibers are underneath the skin surface. Terminals of each temperature-sensitive fiber do not branch away to different organs in the body. They form a small sensitive point which are unique from neighb... | [
"Wetfingers dont stick to poles."
] | [
"Wet fingers can stick to poles. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Wetfingers dont stick to poles."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Wet fingers can stick to poles. "
] |
2018-21883 | Why do potential employers often ask you to fill out a resume after you've already applied with a resume? | Because they probably have a system that needs applications in a certain format, they arent going to manually go through the work ti transfer your information. | [
"There are a number of red flags when looking at resumes that should, at the very least, be noted and questioned as part of any phone screen with the candidate. Gaps in employment and job hopping are often considered to be red flags, although a study conducted by company Evolv concluded that job hoppers and the lon... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-09182 | Why do so many Vietnamese people own nail salons? | Started out decades ago after an actress visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in California. She subsequently organised for them to be trained etc, and the rest is history. URL_0 | [
"Generally, those working in nail salons are called nail technicians. In some areas throughout the UK and USA, districts require nail technicians to have formal, state recognised qualifications in order to be able to grant licenses to the salons. Also nail salons have always been mainly for women, but since then me... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-18028 | why does meat shrink when cooked? | People are trying to answer you but they are a bit off-course. The meat lose water, but you are not boiling it away from inside and the loss is a consequence, not the reason why meat shrinks. The meat also lose some fat but there is not much of it inside to start with. Not enough to justify shrinkage. Meat is made of muscle. Muscle is made of long filaments called "fibers", that are actually bundles of cords made of cells. There is fluid between the cords, containing a red substance called "myoglobin" that ensures oxygen gets to the cells and CO2 is carried away (much like what haemoglobin does in the blood). This is what gives meat its red color. To keep the cords together, the fibers are wrapped with a tight blanket of proteins called "collagen" or "connective tissue". Mind you, there are many kinds of collagen in the body, this is just one kind. When you cook the meat a lot of things happen, but one thing is relevant to your question: those collagen wrappings works like some of those plastics, the ones that shrink a lot when heated. You know the kind I'm talking of? This is precisely what happens: you heat the meat, collagen shrinks, the meat visibly shrinks and most of the reddish water get squeezed out. Incidentally, to cook a good steak you'll want to avoid this shrinkage as much as possible, because of course it will make the meat dry, hard and somewhat flavorless. But it's not the meat's fault as many believe... it's the cook's (and/or the butcher's). This collagen wrappings can also be made in to a gelatin that will make meat moist and flavorful, but it takes a long time to do properly and can be tricky (it's what you do when cooking pulled pork, for example). It is not something you'll want to do with the cuts of meat that are used to make steaks. There is a lot more going on inside meat when cooking it. Feel free to ask if you want to know more. | [
"Toughness in meat is derived from several proteins, such as actin, myosin and collagen, that combined form the structure of the muscle tissue. Heating these proteins causes them to denature, or break down into other substances, which in turn changes the structure and texture of meat, usually reducing its toughness... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-03653 | What exactly is a non-profit? How do they not make a profit? | A non-profit corporation is organized for a purpose other than making a profit. In this case, "profit" doesn't just mean revenue minus expenses, but the amounts that belong to the shareholders who own a business corporation. When a non-profit has more revenue than expenses, it will spend it (or save it for later) to further its mission. For example, a charity might be organized to operate a soup kitchen for the homeless. The more money it takes in and the less it spends on overhead, the more homeless people it can serve by expanding its operations. It's important to note that not all non-profits are charities. A credit union is a non-profit, but it wants to deliver the best service and interest rates to its members. The local chamber of commerce doesn't make any profit itself, but it does want to increase the profits of its members by encouraging local business. | [
"A charitable for-profit entity however differs from this as the organization will aim for a profit whilst still providing similar services as a charity. The for-profit entity may also be directed by a sole proprietor, while a non-profit organization needs a board of directors. Like any other for-profit organizatio... | [
"Non profit means the business makes less than they spend."
] | [
"Non profit means that any extra revenue after expenses are spent on furthering the mission of the non profit. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Non profit means the business makes less than they spend."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Non profit means that any extra revenue after expenses are spent on furthering the mission of the non profit. "
] |
2018-04735 | Why do certain muscles (especially in the thigh) twitch sporadically after working out? | Need to hydrate and eat some bananas. Not sure why exactly, but it's due to overexertion or fatigue. Water, electrolytes and potassium will calm that down. | [
"Section::::Causes.\n\nITBS can result from one or more of the following: training habits, anatomical abnormalities, or muscular imbalances:\n\nTraining habits\n\nBULLET::::- Spending long periods of time/regularly sitting in lotus posture in yoga. Esp beginners forcing the feet onto the top of the thighs\n\nBULLET... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-21772 | Why do our leg hairs stop growing at a certain point but will grow again if we cut them? | All mammalian hair falls out after a certain period of growth, then restarts it's growth. For human head hair, this period of growth is measured in several years, which is what allows it to get so long. For human leg hair, it's limited to a couple of months. In other words, leg hair never stops growing, it just falls out when it reaches a certain point and then restarts it's growth. | [
"The real action of leg hair takes place below the skin or the epidermis. The cells that are in the hair follicles divide and multiply. When the space fills up in the follicle it pushes older cells out and that is what becomes the leg hair. After the older cells become hard and leave the follicle, they form a hair ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-07941 | How scents are derived from different woods and used in fragrances | In general you put wood in some kind of carrier for fragrances. It may be oil or another liquid which suits you. “Fragrance” flows from wood to your oil. Oil (another liquid) smells. Thats it. You can later purify it, extract certain chemicals from your oil etc. | [
"BULLET::::- \"Dry/destructive distillation\": The raw materials are directly heated in a still without a carrier solvent such as water. Fragrant compounds that are released from the raw material by the high heat often undergo anhydrous pyrolysis, which results in the formation of different fragrant compounds, and ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04236 | Why does saying “woooo” brings out cold air in our mouth and “haaaaa” brings out hot air? | The air isn't actually changing temperature. It's an illusion that happens do to the evaporation of moisture in your skin. If wind if faster is evaporating more moisture and "feels" colder, if that same stream of air is slowed down then less air will be flowing over your skin so less moisture will evaporate and it won't feel as cold. Just for a test get a regular fan from around the house, make sure it has air speed settings, turn it in the the different setting and compare how they feel. Faster wind will feel colder. Edit: Just to further explain the "evaporation" reasoning. That's the reason we sweat, the water we release is the same temp as our bodies but when air passes over it it removes the heat and cools us down in the process. | [
"Human sounds sometimes provide instances of onomatopoeia, as when \"mwah\" is used to represent a kiss.\n\nFor animal sounds, words like \"quack\" (duck), \"moo\" (cow), \"bark\" or \"woof\" (dog), \"roar\" (lion), \"meow\"/\"miaow\" or \"purr\" (cat), \"cluck\" (chicken) and \"baa\" (sheep) are typically used in ... | [
"woo makes cold air and haaa makes hot air."
] | [
"The air is the same temperature it just feels different because it evaporates different amounts of water. "
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"woo makes cold air and haaa makes hot air."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"The air is the same temperature it just feels different because it evaporates different amounts of water. "
] |
2018-11689 | Why are martial arts practitioners taught to say "hi-ya!" or a similar phrase with every strike? | There are a lot of mystical/spiritual reasons for it, but mechanically speaking, it teaches breath control in an easy-to-remember way. | [
"BULLET::::2. Breath control: Practitioners may include a \"kiai\" or shout, to help tense the muscles at impact and distract or frighten the opponent. Strikers generally exhale as the strike nears the target. Breath control is also important to relax the body when not attacking; novice strikers often waste signifi... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-15470 | Why every government employee with access to sensitive information gets psychologically tested, yet the President (US), who has the option to launch nukes, does not have to prove his/her mental stability? | > Why every government employee with access to sensitive information gets psychologically tested This is a 100% completely untrue statement. All persons who are granted a security clearance go through a fairly standard process, it it really doesn't involve a psychological test, except in some specific cases. (It's mostly about your background, friends/associates, foreign travel, and drugs). > the President (US), who has the option to launch nukes, does not have to prove his/her mental stability Technically, the President is the one with the actual authority to grant those security clearances! As such, he is the authority, and would not be subject to have to go through the process, since he is the one who decides security clearances anyways. In a work sense, its like the CEO of a company doesn't have to approve his own vacation time. He's the CEO. | [
"In 1978, journalist Ron Rosenbaum wrote a 15,000-word article in \"Harper's Magazine\" about the nuclear command and control system in which he publicized the case of Hering. Rosenbaum later wrote that Hering's question exposed a flaw in the very foundation of this doctrine, and asked \"What if [the president's] m... | [
"Every government employee with access to sensitive information is psychologically tested, but the president is not."
] | [
"Government employees are only psychologically tested in specific cases."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Every government employee with access to sensitive information is psychologically tested, but the president is not."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Government employees are only psychologically tested in specific cases."
] |
2018-11902 | What happens if you are morbidly obese (1000 pounds) and starve yourself? | There was a study where a man who was morbidly obese took supplements and didn't eat for a very long time. He eventually got skinny, then died in his 40s. Moral being proper diet and exercise is the better route | [
"BULLET::::- Series 3. Episode 2. John Harrison: Lost 56 lbs. Average 7.0 lbs per week. 14.8% of bodyweight lost.\n",
"One study found that the vast majority of people labelled 'overweight' and 'obese' according to current definitions do not in fact face any meaningful increased risk for early death. In a quantit... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-23521 | Why do cookies become soft after you put a slice of bread with them? | Breads and cookies hold moisture in them, to some degree, depending on how soft the cookies or bread are. Cookies have lots of sugar, and sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it abroad moisture from the air! Keeping a more moist pieces of break with your cookies allows for the moisture from said bread (less sugar) to transfer to your cookies (more sugar), thus making them softer. | [
"When rolling fondant, a silicone mat or parchment will eliminate the need for dusting the rolling surface with powdered sugar, and this will make it easier to lift and transfer the cut pieces to the cookies.\n",
"Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or just long enough that they remain soft, but some kind... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"Moisture will transfer from any bread to any cookie."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"Moisture will only transfer to cookies if the bread has less sugar. "
] |
2018-03696 | Why do Dryer Sheets work so well at negating Static Cling? | The dryer sheet has chemicals which are attracted to the electrically charged fibers; once a particle of fabric "clings" to a particle of the chemical, the two together have a neutral charge, so they won't cling to other fabric particles. | [
"BULLET::::- Plates feeding\n\nSection::::Typical applications.\n\nBelt dryers are predominantly used in the following industries:\n\nBULLET::::- Biomass\n\nBULLET::::- Pelleting\n\nBULLET::::- Anaerobic digestate\n\nBULLET::::- Chemical industry\n\nBULLET::::- Pharmaceutical industry\n\nBULLET::::- Food and feedin... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-12909 | Why do certain foods like pancakes or cake icing taste amazing at first but quickly become disgusting after I've had a certain amount? | Food scientists have found there is a "bliss point" at which food tastes the best. It's a particular amount of sugar and fat. If you consume it for a certain amount of time, then you'll become sated and not want any more. This is not good from the perspective of food companies, who want you to keep eating more and more. So they've found that they can increase the amount you consume in several ways, one of which is that you can endure sweeter foods for longer at the bliss point if there is more fat in the food. So if you want to eat more pancakes, drink whole milk with it. Cake icing already has a lot of fat in it so that won't be a help. But a palate cleanser might help--something not sweet or fat. | [
"It was quite by accident as I worked in front of a chafing dish that the cordials caught fire. I thought it was ruined. The Prince and his friends were waiting. How could I begin all over? I tasted it. It was, I thought, the most delicious medley of sweet flavors I had ever tasted. I still think so. That accident ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-09292 | How do electronics accurately know time? | Things like digital watches and computers have an internal oscillator (quartz chip). When an electric current is applied it vibrates with a known frequency, this frequency will be converted then into hours/minutes/seconds. It can drift over time as not perfectly accurate. Phones and computers using a network time application will get their time from the network. This is provided by atomic clocks which vibrate much faster than quartz and are incredibly accurate. | [
"To reduce the problem, many devices designed to operate on household electricity incorporate a battery backup to maintain the time during power outages and during times of disconnection from the power supply. More recently, some devices incorporate a method for automatically setting the time, such as using a broad... | [
"All electronics accurately know time."
] | [
"Time kept by computers and digital watches can drift over time thus is not perfectly accurate."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"All electronics accurately know time.",
"All electronics accurately know time."
] | [
"normal",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Time kept by computers and digital watches can drift over time thus is not perfectly accurate.",
"Time kept by computers and digital watches can drift over time thus is not perfectly accurate."
] |
2018-03390 | How do doctors amputate limbs? | Kind of depends on the type/level of the amputation. Typically you identify the major nerves and vascular structures and tie them off, followed by cutting all the soft tissue with the bone being last. | [
"BULLET::::- Amputation is used as a legal punishment in a number of countries, among them Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, and Iran.\n\nSection::::Surgery.\n\nSection::::Surgery.:Method.\n\nThe first step is ligating the supplying artery and vein, to prevent hemorrhage (bleeding). The muscles are transec... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-08527 | Did the US actually plan to detonate a bomb on the Moon? | It depends on what you mean by "plan"; the space programs of the 50's and 60's had tons of crazy ideas proposed, and almost all of them got a fully-fledged action plan of how you would do these things, including test plans and whatnot. But most of them were nixed before there were any concrete "we will do this by X date" commitments made. I don't know of any specific plans to detonate a bomb on the moon, but IMO the craziest bit of almost-happened space tech is Project Orion or the Orion Drive, which planned to detonate nuclear bombs under/behind the spacecraft and use a big metal plate to "ride" the shockwave of the atomic explosion to propel the craft upwards. So in theory, if Project Orion made it to the moon, they'd be detonating a bunch of nukes on the moon to make it lift back off. | [
"A similar idea had been put forward by Edward Teller, the \"father of the H-bomb\", who, in February 1957, proposed the detonation of nuclear devices both on and some distance from the lunar surface to analyze the effects of the explosion.\n\nSection::::Project.:Research.\n",
"Section::::Consequences.\n\nThe sig... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-07909 | Why are movies filmed in much wider aspect ratios than TV? | Part of the answer to this is the existence of TV. Films used to be shot in much more square aspect ratios, but when TV hit the scene, the studios wanted to come up with ways to differentiate their product from what you could just stay home and watch on TV. Because television sets were small (and the tube technology meant they needed to have a relatively square aspect ratio), studios began to experiment with wider aspect ratios, huge screens, color, and projects that emphasized all of the above. You couldn't see anything like *Lawrence of Arabia* or *The Sound Of Music* on TV. So the idea was that these huge spectacles would pull people away from their living rooms and get them out to the theaters. After awhile, people got used to the widescreen effect and basically all films switched over to that format. | [
"By 1932, the Great Depression had forced studios to cut back on needless expense and it was not until 1953 that wider aspect ratios were again used in an attempt to stop the fall in attendance due, partially, to the emergence of television in the U.S. However, a few producers and directors, among them Alfred Hitch... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-00639 | What does it mean when a recipe or something of that nature calls for “1 part ____ and 3 parts______”? | However much you use of the one part ingredient, you use three times that amount for the three parts one. Example, one part sugar, three parts flour is one cup sugar and three cups of flour. Or two and six, etc | [
"Process refers to a \"set of activities that results in delivery of the product benefits\". A process could be a sequential order of tasks that an employee undertakes as a part of their job. It can represent sequential steps taken by a number of various employees while attempting to complete a task. Some people ar... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-04000 | How does cancer kill? | Tumor cells need energy too, and they ravenously divert nutrients from the nearby healthy cells to themselves. In small numbers or when localized in a single out-of-the-way tumor this is relatively harmless, but cancerous cells multiply endlessly. Eventually they start crowding out other cells, spreading to other organs, and sucking you dry. They starve your organs and themselves until tissue starts to die. If the organ failure didn't kill you, the infection from dying flesh in and around the tumor(s) will. | [
"There are several possibilities: the infectious complications related to the immunodepression due to the disease and the treatments, the attack of a vital organ like the lungs invaded by so many metastases that the breathing becomes impossible, the thrombotic complications like a pulmonary embolism, an end of life... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [
"Cancer itself kills you."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"The cancer doesn't kill you, it diverts energy away from healthy cells which causes them and the organs they support to fail, which causes your death. "
] |
2018-03966 | Why can’t we capitalize numbers like how we capitalize letters? | There is no point or meaning to do so. Numbers are exactly what they are. Letters are to build up a language created locally (and spread) and then interact with others. Maths / numbers are universal. | [
"Some style manuals also base the letters' case on their number. \"The New York Times\", for example, keeps \"NATO\" in all capitals (while several guides in the British press may render it \"Nato\"), but uses lower case in \"UNICEF\" (from \"United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund\") because it is m... | [
"Capitilizing numbers should be possible.",
"We should be able to capitalize numbers in the way we capitalize letters."
] | [
"Capitilizing numbers does not have a meaning because we didn't make it have a meaning like with language. ",
"There is no point in capitalizing numbers in the way we capitalize letters."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Capitilizing numbers should be possible.",
"We should be able to capitalize numbers in the way we capitalize letters."
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Capitilizing numbers does not have a meaning because we didn't make it have a meaning like with language. ",
"There is no point in capitalizing numbers in the way we capitalize letters."
] |
2018-01590 | How does a fetus receive oxygen in the womb and when do they make the transition to breathing in oxygen? | The fetus gets oxygen via the placenta. They make the transition to oxygen breathing at birth... when they start breathing. | [
"A fetus, receiving oxygen via the placenta, is exposed to much lower oxygen pressures (about 21% of the level found in an adult's lungs), so fetuses produce another form of hemoglobin with a much higher affinity for oxygen (hemoglobin F) to function under these conditions.\n\nSection::::Physiology.:Carbon dioxide ... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-17232 | A technician is coming to our house next week to increase our internet speed. If our internet is already set up and we aren’t changing providers, why can’t the company do this instantly and remotely? | Often they can. If they have to send a technician, it's because either (A) you need a faster modem, or (B) the physical wire coming into your house isn't good enough, or (C) the line approaching your house is shared with another building and needs to be separated. | [
"BULLET::::- On-site setup by a technician. Sending a technician on-site is the most reliable approach from the provider’s point of view, as the person ensures that the internet access is working, before leaving the customer’s premises. This advantage comes at high costs – either for the provider or the customer, d... | [
"Company cannot do a remote speed-up of internet speed because the technician is coming to the house.",
"Technicians are unable to connect a client to the internet remotely if the clients connection has already been pre-set up. "
] | [
"Often internet speed can be increased remotely.",
"The technician actually can set up the internet remotely, so if a technician is being sent out, it's likely to address something else."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Company cannot do a remote speed-up of internet speed because the technician is coming to the house.",
"Technicians are unable to connect a client to the internet remotely if the clients connection has already been pre-set up. "
] | [
"false presupposition",
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Often internet speed can be increased remotely.",
"The technician actually can set up the internet remotely, so if a technician is being sent out, it's likely to address something else."
] |
2018-13008 | How can a human stomach realistically hold 74 hot dogs and buns? | The stomach is not a stiff organ. Its due to it's elasticity, the material / tissue of the stomach is pretty elastic, allowing it to hold a lot of solids/liquids without "exploding" or breaking up. It pretty much acts as a bag. Without counting the digestion that "liquidifies" aliments and reduces their volume... But i didnt know it could hold 74 hotdogs and buns, that's impressive | [
"Section::::Weighted version.\n\nThere is a weighted version of the set packing problem in which each subset is assigned a real weight and it is this weight we wish to maximize: formula_15\n\nIn our simple example above, we might weight the recipes according to the number of friends that love the resulting dishes, ... | [
"It is improbable for a human stomach to realistically hold 74 hot dogs and buns.",
"It is very unlikely that a human's stomach should be able to hold 74 hot dogs and buns.",
"It is improbable that a human stomach should be able to realistically hold 74 hot dogs and buns."
] | [
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up.",
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up.",
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"It is improbable for a human stomach to realistically hold 74 hot dogs and buns.",
"It is very unlikely that a human's stomach should be able to hold 74 hot dogs and buns.",
"It is improbable that a human stomach should be able to realistically hold 74 hot dogs and buns.",
"The human stomach has a defined vo... | [
"false presupposition",
"normal"
] | [
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up.",
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up.",
"The stomach is elastic and will stretch to hold a lot of solids and liquids without breaking up.",
"The stoma... |
2018-02427 | Why was the latest rocket launch so exciting that everyone now speaks of a new era in space travel? | It's mainly due to the fact that the rocket that was tested is currently the strongest one available (as in, can lift more than all other currently used rockets) and more importantly, parts of the rocket used to propel it into space can land back on earth and be reused, in the past those parts would just fall down somewhere on earth and be lost forever. | [
"BULLET::::- 2008 – Chinese space program launches its third manned space flight carrying its first three-person crew and conducts its first spacewalk that makes China the third nation after Russia and USA to do that, \"Shenzhou 7\", on September 25.\n\nBULLET::::- 2008 – \"Phoenix\" discovers water ice on Mars.\n\... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-23645 | How does our brain choose what memories to keep and which ones to forget? | Crash course in neuroscience time! The brain is a very complex organ ^[citation ^needed] but there are some basics that give us a general understanding of what goes on. Memories are generally not considered to be stored in a particular section of the brain, or as a unit housed inside a single neuron. You can certainly lose memories from brain damage, but not in a way that's particularly predictable (eg. we cannot excise that one part of your brain that happens to hold the memory of the most embarrassing moment in your life). What we do know are a few parts of the brain implicated in memory, and the various types of memory available. You have multiple forms of memory, [which are subject to academic debate and theory]. Generally accepted are that you have working memory, which consists of the information you use or recall at a given moment to complete whatever task you have at hand; declarative memory, consisting of information you can actively at one point recall consciously (eg. the title of a song you once played in 5th grade, or its melody); and procedural memory, consisting of information gained from learning and sometimes termed "muscle memory" (eg. the fingerings for that song you played in 5th grade). The processing for memory can vary depending on the type, and these present interesting discussions on the nature of memory. For instance, the patient Henry Molaisson (sp?) had both his hippocampus lobes removed in an effort to treat his severe seizures (an ethical nightmare by modern standards), and could consequently no longer form new declarative memories (anterograde amnesia). However, he COULD add to his procedural memory, as be could get better at new tasks, and was able to hold new memories for about 15 minutes after learning things. It gave new insights into memory that (thankfully) have not been replicated since. For our intents and purposes, however, we do have a general mechanistic theory of how memory is stored and discarded. It is thought that in the plastic areas of the brain where neurons deal with memory, the creation and weakening of synapses provide a way to lock in or "forget" memories. Essentially, the theory is that the more a person thinks about a certain memory, the stronger the synaptic connections. Links to subjects that are not thought about will gradually degrade, leading to a loss of memory. To be clear, loss of memories isn't universally a bad thing. The brain's capacity for information isn't well defined, but it is thought that the breakdown of memories is necessary to allow proper growth and development over time. Other pathways present from infancy/childhood would otherwise interfere with adult life and make it difficult to think clearly and function. However (big however!), there is always new research that can contradict older information. Recent publications indicate the mechanism might not be quite as cut and dry, seeing as some mouse studies indicated that even in the absence of these connections the memory could be induced in the animal. It's an ever changing field, and honestly we may not be certain on this topic for a long time. | [
"In the expectancy heuristic, items that reach beyond a level of distinctiveness (the likelihood an item would later be recognized in a recognition test) elicit a remember response. Items that do not reach this level of distinctiveness elicit a know response. The level of distinctiveness is determined by the contex... | [] | [] | [
"normal"
] | [] | [
"normal",
"normal"
] | [] |
2018-02672 | How is it possible for humans to "lose" or destroy the technology that sent men to the moon? | He means the US doesn't have a ready-to-go Apollo rocket + command module + lander. The last of those contained 70's technology. They were serviced in engineering hangers geared up for 70's technology, running software probably initially written with pencil, probably using communication systems that were turned off in the early 80's. Both the rocket itself and all the infrastructure to support it are long gone. He doesn't mean the US couldn't build the same thing again (well.. he might mean _some_ of the old engineering specs are literally missing) but it would take an immense amount of time and money to get a 21st century version designed and built. | [
"Section::::Rocket development.\n",
"\"I wouldn't want to be quoted on this... We've spent $35 or $40 billion on the space program. And if nothing else had come out of it except the knowledge that we gained from space photography, it would be worth ten times what the whole program has cost. Because tonight we kno... | [
"Humans have lost or destroyed the technology that sent men to the moon."
] | [
"Humans still have the technology but it would take an immense amount of time and money to build it."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Humans have lost or destroyed the technology that sent men to the moon."
] | [
"false presupposition"
] | [
"Humans still have the technology but it would take an immense amount of time and money to build it."
] |
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