id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
213egh | How Were Knights/Common Soldiers Paid? | [
{
"answer": "In the later middle ages in England, military service increasingly became based on service contracts, either for long or short periods. The earliest such short term contracts (that we have found) date from 1270 CE, when Prince Edward (later King Edward I) paid a company of knights to serve with him... | null |
6pa37a | Is it possible for something travelling at the speed of light, such as photons, to orbit a body, like a black hole for example? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, photons can orbit a body like a black hole, but there are no stable orbits. There is [a certain radius](_URL_0_) around a stationary black hole where a photon would have a circular orbit, but it isn't stable, so a photon deviating a little from that radius will either escape or be pulled into ... | null |
ae9dzz | (Astronomy) How do astronomers differentiate the change in a stars color caused by movement (blue/red shift) from the change in color caused by temperature? | [
{
"answer": "Spectroscopy. All the elements emit/absorb light of specific wavelengths. We can measure the wavelengths in the lab and we can find the same patterns in starlight - just shifted. This shift depends on their motion only, not on their temperature. Once you correct the spectrum for this shift (in soft... | null |
8c0dcy | Why is it reptiles and certain animals are able to survive such long periods on a single meal, compared to humans? | [
{
"answer": "Cold blooded. Humans use up massive amounts of energy keeping ourselves at optimum temperature, humans also have higher than average energy requirements than most other mammals due to our larger brains. Humans can survive months without eating btw.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nu... | null |
5dzpqd | why do apartments keep raising rents every year until you leave, if they're just going to rent it out to someone new and unknown at a lower rent afterwards? | [
{
"answer": "They aren't. Your rent is being increased to keep up with inflation, and rental prices in your market. Any new tenet will be paying a comparable amount to you. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "9590858",
"title": "Sho... | null |
3oc4e7 | After I receive a transition of blood, when does that blood physiologically become my blood? | [
{
"answer": "The red blood cells remain the same after the transfusion. Prior to the transfusion, tests for cell surface antigens on the donor and recipient RBCs would be done to ensure no differences are present that might cause a transfusion reaction. So in that respect donor cells are similar to recipient ce... | null |
pt8eh | How did/do wings evolve? Why are the in-between generations of "not winged" to "winged" creatures considered advantageous for evolution's criteria? | [
{
"answer": "There are considered 4 separate evolutions of flight- insects, bats, birds and pterosaurs. I can't comment on 3 of the 4, but there are two common theories for how pre-avian theropods started evolving wings. They are wing-like front limbs to aid in gliding and to aid in ascending steep surfaces/aid... | null |
5p9u02 | if some letters are silent in certain words then why include then at all? | [
{
"answer": "Often just tradition. When they began printing books in English, there weren't many typesetters in England, so they imported Dutch typesetters who often spelled English words in a Dutch way. So that's how we got the 'h' in 'ghost' and 'ghastly.'\n\nOther times the silent letter actually serves a pu... | null |
1kq69h | how does it work in america when someone doesn't have health insurance? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of doctors will put you on a payment plan, hospital/office permitting. Family friend needed to have a \"minor\" surgery, major enough that if left untreated it would lead to death within a year. They didn't have insurance, nor the money, so the doctor paid for a portion of it, and worked out ... | null |
1if3hy | Did early agriculture effectively strip-mine the Fertile Crescent? | [
{
"answer": "From the book [*Guns, Germs, and Steel*](_URL_0_), by Jared Diamond pg. 411:\n\n\"The region's transformation from fertile woodland to eroded scrub or desert has been elucidated by paleobotanists and archeologists. Its woodlands were cleared for agriculture, or cut to obtain construction timber, or... | null |
2w1w4o | In the Antebellum South, how did plantation preachers treat the story of Moses and its anti-slavery elements? | [
{
"answer": "It is important to remember that Christianisation was not a universal phenomenon in the antebellum South; efforts to bring slaves into the Christian fold begin on a meaningful scale only quite late in slavery's history, and the extent to which they were successful is highly debatable. For some cont... | null |
2b9jv0 | why do people hate the .gif file format? | [
{
"answer": "It's old and terribly inefficient, meaning that a small number of frames make a file that is much larger and slower to load than modern file formats.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It was never designed for short looping sequences. It's heavy and it has a very low quality/resoluti... | null |
dxhqg8 | explain to me the difference between something as a nuclear reactor and something like a nuclear weapon, how are they different, and how are they the same? | [
{
"answer": "In short, weapons are constructed to release the stored energy in the fuel all at once whereas reactors are designed to do so slowly over the course of decades. Technically a reactor can never explode like a bomb can and movies really exaggerate. It can explode but it’s more so because of intense p... | null |
y1tht | Why do satellite dishes near the equator NOT point up? | [
{
"answer": "satellite dishes need to point towards the satellite\n\nthe odds are very low for the satellite to be directly above you",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "769088",
"title": "Satellite Internet access",
"section... | null |
3fp7kc | how exactly gps works? who owns the satellites? why i don't have to pay a fee to use them? | [
{
"answer": "GPS satellites are basically big clocks in the sky that broadcast what time it is and what time they sent the signal. Your device \"hears\" from 4 satellites, and can do some cool equations using the difference in time from each satellite to determine where you exactly are. (This is the very simpl... | null |
2tfc5t | Were the majority of the population of North Africa ethnically black previous to the Islamic expansion? | [
{
"answer": "There is a large genetic continuity between modern North African populations and their pre-Islamic ancestors. [Studies of Egyptian DNA](_URL_0_) show that waves of invaders and settlers have accounted for only about 10 percent of the population's DNA. As in many other modern Arab nations, the vast ... | null |
5k9t25 | in american football, other than the quarterback, why do most players never pass the ball? | [
{
"answer": "Well it's not their job or position. Each individual position has a specific job. The quarterback's is to pass. The running back's is to carry the ball. The wide receiver and tight end's is to catch. The Offensive Line is to block. It's like asking why the shortstop doesn't pitch in baseball.",
... | null |
1sy58s | why isn't caffeine dependency considered a 'drug addiction'? | [
{
"answer": "I think it has to do with the stigma associated with users of other drugs. And the personality changes a lot of them induce. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because with few exceptions, caffeine doesn't disrupt your life in any meaningful way. It's cheap and legal, which means peo... | null |
t92us | Did people justify slavery on the basis that it was 'better than what they'd have in their own country'? | [
{
"answer": "Just a layman here so hopefully someone more knowledgeable comes along. The short answer is yes iirc. Here is a quote from Robert E. Lee \n\n > There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is idle to exp... | null |
1bcilr | How does the cell control its mitochondria? | [
{
"answer": "basically the same way it controls most of its organelles:\nthe regulation of theexpression of mitochondrial proteins is not much different from other organelles.\nthe reason for this is that the mDNA codes for few proteins \n\n_URL_1_\n\nthe genes for most of the mitochondrial proteins are stored ... | null |
1eo0jg | what is the big deal with the movie "the breakfast club"? | [
{
"answer": "It was one if the first teen angst/teen problems that portrayed teens in more of an adult manner. Plus, the music and directing was good. I'm 36 so it has plenty of nostalgia for me. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It shows why all the stereotypical clique activity that occurs in ... | null |
u4uwa | If I was in a perfect vacuum with zero gravity at rest, is there any possible way that I could move myself? | [
{
"answer": "Anything that expels mass in some direction would do the trick, due to conservation of momentum. Blow in one direction, take your show off and throw it, tear off your arm and throw it... ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Exhale the air still in your lungs. Spit. Throw a shoe. Shoot... | null |
3g864h | How long were the ship battles in WWII? | [
{
"answer": "If we are talking ship-to-ship combat then generally no, modern battleships took a lot of punishment before actually sinking. \nAn example would be Bismarck which had pretty much it's entire superstructure shot away and took multiple torpedo hits before actually sinking.\n\nHowever, less modern bat... | null |
9vosty | Why are you not supposed to use cellphones at gas pumps? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly because people are paranoid. These is a non-zero chance your phone gives off a spark that ignites the gas fumes and blows up the whole station. \n\nThere is also a non-zero chance that the Sun will electron tunnel 100% of it's mass right on top of Earth so take these non-zero chance things w... | null |
5070fa | how does the combined birth control pill work and how likely is pregnancy if directions are not followed precisely? | [
{
"answer": "The pill is designed to allow occasional missed doses, but its effectiveness definitely plummets if you don't use it correctly. You will not get your period if you're pregnant on the pill, since that's how pregnancy works (you may get implantation bleeding, but that's not everybody and is relative... | null |
2ig17z | What evidence is there that the Black Death in the 14th Century was *not* bubonic plague? | [
{
"answer": "As walker6168 said: hard to answer without the source article.\n\nI'll add that their data had better be pretty solid as there has been extant genetic caracterisation of pathogen material from mass graves from medieval Black Death epidemics ([source](_URL_0_)).\n\nHowever there was a suggestion tha... | null |
1er2ty | According to wikipedia, instants after the big bang occurred, the four fundamental forces "separated" from each other. What exactly does that entail? How did they separate, and what were they like before they did? | [
{
"answer": "To begin with: We do not know for a fact that the four fundamental forces were unified at some early stage. This is theoretical speculation/prejudice. Thus we cannot say how they separated, or what they were like before they separated.\n\nWhat we can do is offer scenarios in which something like ... | null |
3np49w | Where is the mistake in this line of thinking? | [
{
"answer": "Your mistake is thinking that amount of energy (or energy density) is what determines energy flow, when really it is entropy that determines it. \n\nAs you know, heat will flow from a higher temperature object to a lower temperature object. In an ideal gas, temperature is simply a function of energ... | null |
dyxh7k | where does the name of the game “duck duck goose” come from? | [
{
"answer": "(just speculation) Ducks and geese are kinda alike, but geese are scary bastards that chase after you, maybe that.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Do you mean \"duck, duck, grey duck\"?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikip... | null |
3rgmeg | takata airbags has been given a $70 million fine with the possibility of a $200 million fine for non-compliance by the nhtsa. how are the fine amounts determined in large cases such as this? | [
{
"answer": "The law states what the maximum possible fine can be per X thing. For example VW can have a maximum possible fine of $35,000 per car for what they did.\n\nWhether or not the maximum fine is sought depends on how the error came to be, what the company did to address it, if there was a criminal eleme... | null |
ur6sn | Creativity seems to be directly related with intelligence. What's the psychology behind this? | [
{
"answer": "Well you could easily conclude that more intelligent people know how to use their brain faster, more efficiently, and can perform certain functions that slower and inexperienced people haven't used their brains for yet.\n\nHere's a cool fact I learned today. Albert Einstein supposedly didn't learn ... | null |
56y9cf | how does the weatherman/woman know where to look on the chroma key when reporting? | [
{
"answer": "Well in addition to the monitor, it´s all practice. They aren´t doing this for the first time and the map is usually the same anyway.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They do look off camera to see the things the viewer is seeing. How awkward/smoothly they can pull it off depends on... | null |
dikjlt | i have ulcerative colitis. it’s extremely painful. but if there are no pain-sensing nerves in the colon... what is actually hurting? | [
{
"answer": "Where did you read that there are no pain sensing nerves in the colon?\nYou have pain receptors in pretty much every part of the body, safe for the brain itself.\n\nThe pain is caused by ulcers and subsequent inflammation, both triggering your pain receptors.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
1tvyd4 | How could the pupa stage of insects evolve? | [
{
"answer": "[Here's](_URL_0_) a sort of pop-sci version of the (relatively) current state of the field. The basic idea is an original group of insects whose initial form was basically the same as the adult form, followed by steps of less complete metamorphosis, and finally the kind of metamorphosis we think of... | null |
34wz6o | why music or albums aren't released worldwide the same day | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak as to why it started out that way, they are changing it to Fridays globally this summer\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "48782520",
"title": "Global Release Day",
"section": "",
... | null |
1jn8cs | what would happen if you sprayed a mosquito with mosquito repellent? | [
{
"answer": "It will die, never knowing what it means to love.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1633981",
"title": "Insect repellent",
"section": "Section::::Repellent safety for humans.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 4... | null |
4zz68h | In the early Middle Ages the belief in Witchcraft was condemned as "unChristian" by high-ranking churchmen, as well as by Charlemagne. At the same time, both secular and canon law decreed that Witchcraft existed, had power, and deserved punishment. How were these contrary positions resolved? | [
{
"answer": "There isn't a lot to reconcile here, but rather a reframing. At no point did any decree of Catholic Church or medieval Christian king accept the existence of witchcraft (*maleficium*). Most of these decrees state flat out that belief in *maleficium* was itself the work of the devil, a contamination... | null |
7j8ene | Why can some viruses (smallpox, polio) be virtually eradicated while others cannot (HIV, influenza)? | [
{
"answer": "There are some characteristics of a disease that make it practical to try to eradicate it:\n\n1. Only infects one species\n2. Short-term infection, followed by\n3. long-term immunity\n4. No asymptomatic carrier state\n5. Highly effective vaccine\n6. Visible and easily identified infection\n\nThose ... | null |
lez24 | So, the universe is ever expanding. Does that also mean that the distance between our planets in our solar system will also slowly drift apart? | [
{
"answer": "Please use the search function before posting. [This has been asked here before](_URL_0_). It's also covered in the [FAQ](_URL_1_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The answer is no. That's because the rate of expansion is too small to affect such closely gravitationally bound objec... | null |
4x73oi | What happened to the Jews expelled from Spain and went to the Ottoman Empire? | [
{
"answer": "Like... do they still exist? Yes. There are several thousand who still live in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire, at this point Turkey and the Balkans (including Greece). They continued to speak Judeo-Spanish/Ladino until a generation or two ago (so most people around 50 can speak it, but mos... | null |
5pzc8b | - if pi is in between the number 3 and 4 how can it be infinite? | [
{
"answer": "It is *not* an infinite amount. It is less than 4.\n\nIn *does* take an infinite amount of digits to explain precisely what the amount is, but that's about being precise, not about being huge.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Pi isn't infinite - it's more than 3 and less than 4.\n\n... | null |
3tf1r7 | how do shops during the week still attract so many customers. | [
{
"answer": "Not everyone one works, you have families were the husband or the wife don't work and can shop. People leave work before shops closes, it's often in the end of the afternoon that they make most of their sales.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There will always be:\n\n- people with w... | null |
2oetg0 | why does beer taste so different on nitro? | [
{
"answer": "Beer on nitro - either on nitrokeg or draughtflow cans - has very little carbonation, which makes the mouthfeel very smooth. Carbonation is dissolved carbon dioxide, which actually adds a small amount of acid to the beer, and makes the mouthfeel prickly.\n\nThe faucet for nitrokeg is different beca... | null |
15ss0y | Can black people have blond hair? | [
{
"answer": "Well there is [THIS](_URL_1_) which is [THIS](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In theory yes. Melanesians (I'm not sure how you are defining \"black\") have a blond gene among them that is not related to the European genes and works in a different way: _URL_0_",
"prove... | null |
a3o40k | why are people / country's banning or heavily against huawei from using 5g? | [
{
"answer": "It's not because of 5G, but because of Huawei themselves. They have close ties to Chinese goverment, and other countries see that as a major threat. Huawei phones were even banned from being used in USA senate and other important places due to suspicions of Huawei installing spyware on their phones... | null |
3arx9t | if the average surface temperature on mars is below freezing, how is colonization a possibility? | [
{
"answer": "Actually, the technology to protect us from such harsh conditions already exists for the most part, except that Mars has not atmosphere compared to the Earth, which is actually why it is so darn cold on the surface.\n\nIdeally, any colony we establish will actually have an atmosphere, as in air and... | null |
2smj9p | Have any other fashion choices/hairstyles/et cetera been ruined in the same manner as the "Hitler mustache," either before or after? | [
{
"answer": "It wasn't as enduring, but another example from WWII was the umbrella becoming a symbol of appeasing one's enemies. Neville Chamberlain, the prime minister of Great Britain is perhaps most remembered for brokering the Munich Agreement, which basically said that Germany could have portions of Czecho... | null |
elzcfn | why does glitter stick to everything even if it isnt really sticky? | [
{
"answer": "Glitter is made of a plastic that can easily create **\"static electricity\"**. \n\nIn short, the **\"static electricity\"** makes the glitter more easily able to be stuck on surfaces. And as they're very small, they can go everywhere and be very hard to take care of.\n\n#For more details on static... | null |
36i2lf | When becoming accustomed to eating spicy food is your mouth physically changing/adapting to be more resistant to spice, or is it is a neural/phsychological change where you no longer experience the heat? | [
{
"answer": "Conditioned responses. Over time your body acclimates to the stimulus, and you stop having as strong of a response. This is why it takes more and more for some people to get the same feeling from it.\n\nIt's the same thing people experience with exercise, or drugs. You get used to the sensation,... | null |
fgff4q | how do magnified mirrors work? and why do they seem blurry if you look into them from a distance? | [
{
"answer": "A lens is a piece of glass that bends light so that the rays converge to a single point. If you bend a mirror it will make all the beams converge in the same pint, so it’s the same as a lens, only instead of passing light through, it reflects it, so both the observer and the object are on the same ... | null |
6xt0z7 | why does the female body need less calories than the male? | [
{
"answer": "Women are generally smaller and have less muscle mass than men, so they don't burn/require as many calories to perform the same metabolic functions. It's sort of similar to a smaller car needing a smaller gas tank and engine when compared to a larger car. A Mini Cooper and a Semi truck can both go ... | null |
26pkhq | When Germany reunified at the end of the cold war, how did the militaries of East Germany and West Germany merge into one? | [
{
"answer": "This question was asked pretty recently: _URL_0_\n\nRemember, the search bar is your friend. :)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "33166",
"title": "West Germany",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 4,... | null |
2sjz6j | Did Winston Churchill approve of Alan Turings punishment ? | [
{
"answer": "I cant see any evidence that he commented on it. However, its likely he did approve, to an extent. Cabinet notes from 24th Feb 1954.\n\nWinston Churchill.\nTory Party won´t want to accept responsibility for makg. law on homosexuality more lenient – or for maisons tolerées. But, w´out enquiry -\ni) ... | null |
yiqtj | How do you devise an original research topic, fellow historians? | [
{
"answer": "I pretty much at random pick a source text, read it, and see if anything sparks my imagination. I know this is too general so I'll give you two examples:\n\n1. Latin America history class: I chose a topic at random from the teacher's list - the Panama canal and its construction. I looked online and... | null |
900mwc | Can we predict when the next major change in the earths layout and therefore map will be? | [
{
"answer": "\"Major\" changes don't really happen when you're talking geological timescales. The tectonic plates are always moving. Tomorrow's map will be different from today's map, just on miniscule scales. \n\nThe fastest moving plates are the Cocos and Nazca plates which are moving at the breakneck pace ... | null |
yy4ze | the ongoing lawsuits between apple and google. why are they suing each other, and who is winning? | [
{
"answer": "I too am interested in this but am not very qualified to answer your question. But from what I gather here are two of some of the main points (and most of what I know is from articles I have found on Reddit).\n\n1) Apple just won a patent suit against Samsung and it points to their pinch to zoom te... | null |
l4a9m | could someone please explain to me like i'm 5 what an insurance deductible is? metaphors are always good. | [
{
"answer": "The deductable is the amount deducted from what the insurance company gives you when you file a claim.\n\nEXAMPLE: You wreck your car. It's insured value is $10,000 and it's a complete loss. You have a $1000 deductible. The insurance company therefore pays you $9000.\n\nAs for the Roth thing, maybe... | null |
6vg8o1 | Around what voltage is needed for you to actually feel yourself being shocked? | [
{
"answer": "It's not really as simple as a voltage measurement to determine sensation; voltage is a measure of electrical pressure (which will help to overcome the skin barrier), but amperage -- the measure of current -- plays easily an equal part in determining shock sensation. AC or DC current will also play... | null |
43cey2 | why are the american presidential primary elections not riddled with voters registering with the opposite party and voting against the candidate most likely to beat their favorite? | [
{
"answer": "Rules depends on the state. For example, New Hampshire is not closed.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Nothing stops it, and registering for the opposing party in order to vote for the candidate that you think will win a nomination, but lose an election is not an unheard ... | null |
2efztq | why all the censorship on reddit in relation to the whole zoe quin thing | [
{
"answer": "Mods claim it was due to the thread being \"out of control\" which I find laughable. Many legitimate posts were banned while other ones, supporting Quinn, remained. People have also been banned for upvoting posts that are anti-Zoe, speaking out about Zoe or questioning prettyy much anything at all.... | null |
2qj8sa | Are mutations overrated? | [
{
"answer": "The standing (already existing) genetic variation in a population is usually what is selected upon in a natural population. However, all of that natural variation was originally created through mutation. So neither is more important than the other, because all genetic variation was initially create... | null |
m08r9 | why the body can kill some viruses like the common cold but not others like hiv. | [
{
"answer": "Rhetorical question for a 5 year old:\nWhy can a gun kill the mortal man but not superman?\n\nCause they're different. Superman is a badass, common cold is not.\n\naddendum:\nHIV has proteins and functions inherent in the DNA makeup of the virus which allow it certain functions not available to the... | null |
bcdggp | What was British culture like right before the Anglo-Saxons settled the island? | [
{
"answer": "The Roman province of Britannia in the 5th century was in the middle of a horrific economic collapse that marred the northern periphery of the Roman world. Robin Fleming's *Britain After Rome* deals with this economic collapse pretty extensively and that's the source I'll be using for the majority... | null |
214osn | The weird sounds that NASA recorded of Saturn, are these sounds audible to the human ear, or is this caused by the electromagnet interference caused by the planet? And what is actually going on? | [
{
"answer": "No, these are electromagnetic phenomenons that are transferred into electric signals which are then amplified and used to excite the membrane of a loud speaker thus creating sound that we can hear. \n\n----\n\nsources:\n\n1. _URL_0_\n2. _URL_2_\n3. _URL_4_\n4. _URL_3_\n5. _URL_1_",
"provenance"... | null |
ro7ik | Will a host body eventually replace the cells of a transplanted organ with cells of its own DNA, thus removing the need for immunosuppressants, or will the host body and transplanted organ always be genetically distinct? | [
{
"answer": "Biology BS but still layman here: Most organs aren't capable of regenerating their cells to any great extent. Regardless, if the original organ was removed and a new one put in its place, there shouldn't be *any* cells from the previous organ from which to regenerate. Additionally, cells that were ... | null |
7t623d | Can a brain injury cause someone to forget a language? | [
{
"answer": "Given that some people with traumatic brain injuries can forget all manner of things (childhood memories, family members, what they did yesterday to name but a few) why do you think it's fishy someone with a brain injury could forget how to speak a language they used to know?\n\nAnd to be even a bi... | null |
zh1xp | Are there examples of Brits calling Americans terrorists (or equivalent) during the American Revolutionary War? | [
{
"answer": "John Paul Jones and his ship the Ranger, sailed in the Irish sea during 1778. They raided White Haven, then tried to kidnap the Earl of Seakirk, from his Scotish castle. The Earl wasn't home. The crew of the Ranger wanted to burn his house down. Jones ta... | null |
cz3wi7 | how is weather so unpredictable? why can you have 0% chance of rain when you go to sleep and wake up to hours of thunderstorms.? | [
{
"answer": "Weather is really complicated issue, there are many many inputs you have to know to predict weather (like temperature, wind speed, humidity, clouds etc). What is more weather is phenomenon we can describe as highly sensitive to initial conditions. So let say you make two weather simulations, and th... | null |
24cxtq | how can data travel at the speed of light while electrons travel at a speed of 1 meter per day through a wire? | [
{
"answer": "Most data is transferred via optic fibre, so it travels literally at the speed of light.\n\nStill, even normal wires (obviously) move data faster than 1 metre per day. The individual electrons move back and forth, but they bump into each other so the chain reaction travels much easier than the elec... | null |
bdsqa8 | In ancient times, how did merchants traveling long distances ensure their safety? How did they make sure they were not being robbed in the way, or that they had enough supplies to last going from A to B? | [
{
"answer": "Oh man, this is a really cool question, and I'll answer it as well as I can. I'll start by discussing the ancient Silk Road, because bad news always comes first. We know virtually nothing about a land route between Rome and China, if there actually was one. We know about routes between Parthia and ... | null |
2wqk69 | why are standard home lightbulb sockets shaped the way they are? | [
{
"answer": "I guess to answer this we'd have to know what exactly you find weird about them. \n\nTo me it makes perfect sense to have a threaded cylinder that secures the bulbs and make it easy to replace.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id":... | null |
3zt7yi | if video games require more use of the brain than something like reading, why are they considered to "rot your brain?" | [
{
"answer": "They don't. This is just something moms tell their kids so they won't sit on their asses all day.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Video games don't \"rot your brain\". If anything they force you to think and bring out creativity. Some games more than others. People that say that 1:... | null |
b1un02 | why is it that the slower i go in a car, the tighter the turn is? even though my wheels are at the exact same angle. | [
{
"answer": "That would be due to slippage, and is called understeer. It happens because, when the wheels have to push very hard to change your car's direction, they start to lose traction. At lower speeds they don't have to push as hard, so they slip less.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm n... | null |
a81kor | how do steroids cure illnesses? | [
{
"answer": "Steroids are a whole class of medications. They're not all muscle builders/recovery minimizers. The steroid you were likely prescribed was prednisone, and it serves as an anti-inflammatory which is going to assist your lungs in dealing with the bronchitis.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
a0fbm6 | Why did Russia launch their 1939 invasion of Finland in the dead of winter? | [
{
"answer": "The Soviet Union had been planning for the war for quite a while. Already in 1938 - that is prior to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (MRP) - Soviet war games in the Leningrad district were based on 'aggressive defense' after a 'theoretical' border incident at Mainila. So they had been preparing for the... | null |
13xj2u | Which one is the oldest european coat of arms showing lions (or other exotic animals living far away)? | [
{
"answer": "Lions weren't always as exotic as you think. As seen [here](_URL_0_), lions had a much greater range in the past than they do today. To quote wikipedia;\n\n > Herodotus reported that lions had been common in Greece around 480 BC. By 100 AD they were extirpated. A population of Asiatic lions survive... | null |
3jdf8l | How did the most battle scarred countrys of WW2 cope with what must have been a very high amount of people with psychological disorders caused by the war? | [
{
"answer": "China had the longest \"experience\" of the War (1937-45), very high battle and civilian casualties (estimates vary but 14M combined war dead is a minimum) and a staggering number of refugees (numbers are inexact but quite possibly 90 *million* people were displaced from their homes! That's two an... | null |
2jr9st | why does depression rebound so hard, the happier you were? | [
{
"answer": "Because you had the taste in your mouth and you were just that close...\n\nBut here you are again. Crying quietly to yourself about how you screwed up all your chances for love and happiness years ago. But here you are again. Wishing you could change the past. But here you are again. Trying to slee... | null |
1m2s0a | why aren't all foods high in protein? isn't protein used for the structure of all living things? | [
{
"answer": "While protein does create the structure of many things, carbohydrates can also create structure. For example, chitin, which makes up the exoskeletons of bugs, is a type of carbohydrate. The structures of most plants and fungi are also the result of carbohydrates.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
1ve3uk | why does my hair stand up when i'm scared? | [
{
"answer": "The idea was that, back when the hair covering our bodies was thicker, making it stand up would make us look bigger & more intimidating to whatever is scaring us. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It makes you look bigger. It happens because \"fight or flight\" causes goosebumping... | null |
1em6wo | How did wars back in the day work? Before guns and machinery. Would each person pick his target and fight him until one dies? | [
{
"answer": "I'm guessing a mod will tell you to narrow your question. But as a general rule no, you aren't 'supposed' to pick a single target, fighting one on one is very dangerous, it's why you see formations like the [Phalanx](_URL_0_), it's always safer to fight with a group. Obviously formations break and ... | null |
c1hlsl | we have goat milk and cow milk to consume, but why is it merely impossible to find pig milk in a grocery store? | [
{
"answer": "Firstly, it just doiesn't taste very good. Pig's milk is watery, and quite gamey.\n\nThe real reason though is that pigs simply don't produce very much milk, and don't like being milked. Cows have been domesticated for thousands of years, and selectively bred for milk production and docility. Pigs,... | null |
1ha7hx | If velocity is relative, is angular velocity and therefore centripetal acceleration relative? Further questions inside. | [
{
"answer": "When considering one body orbiting another you cannot assume they are stationary with regard to one another. The body that is in orbit has a tangential velocity with regard to the body it is orbiting. The centripetal acceleration is simply a measurement of the change in this tangential velocity. ... | null |
1ldn94 | how do seat-belts know when to tighten? | [
{
"answer": "A pendulum under the seat acts as a sensor. When it swings a certain way the seat belt locks up.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "330341",
"title": "Automotive safety",
"section": "Section::::Active and passiv... | null |
25z859 | If microwaves are lower on the em spectrum, how can they be any more harmful than visible light? | [
{
"answer": "Microwaves are not harmful in the ionizing radiation sense: they don't have enough energy to remove electrons from their orbits around most atoms. (Your cell phone won't give you cancer.)\n\nMicrowaves that we cook with are tuned to the vibrational spectra of water (2450 MHz, 12cm, 10^-5 eV). Speci... | null |
ev0p4y | how do surgical masks protect you from getting infected when there are huge gaps near your cheeks and the bridge of your nose? | [
{
"answer": "They don't protect you from disease, they protect those around you from your disease. Surgical masks make it so that if you cough, you aren't spraying germs all over the place.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Wearing a surgical mask is not an effective way of preventing they wearer... | null |
n9u24 | How do different music scales and tuning systems work? | [
{
"answer": "All Western music is based on a mathematical coincidence: 3^12 (531,441) is within 1.5% of 2^19 (524,288). \n\nSome background: Scales are based on the harmonic series of notes that come out of most simple resonant systems (the \"registers\" of woodwinds and brass instruments, or \"overtones\" of... | null |
7zn6v1 | what is the "crunchy" feeling when a muscle knot is being massaged? | [
{
"answer": "As I understand (from my massage therapist and physio), it's the muscle fascia sort of \"slipping\" past the skin, with just enough friction to \"catch\" and release repeatedly, such as when you rub your hands together when they're slightly wet. The effect is more pronounced if you're dehydrated. W... | null |
6hebm8 | WW2, western front: where there contigency plans if the germans would have beaten the allies? If so, what where they? | [
{
"answer": "The extended German goal for the Battle of the Bulge was to reach Antwerpen and destroy the port so that the Western Allies could not use it to supply their troops, capture Western Allied supply dumps, destroy Westen Allied field air bases and generally destroy and cripple as many Western Allied fi... | null |
bldxjh | why do horses start side by side while runners are spread at equal distance before the race? | [
{
"answer": "The horses can collapse to the inside on the start, so there isn't officially any longer loop for them to take. When runners start something that they have to stay in their lanes for, there is a loop disparity and they need the distance evened out. Human races where you can immediately collapse t... | null |
by5d3l | Why did some rifles feature upward facing magazines in WWI or WWII? | [
{
"answer": "Can you cite some examples.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "12812847",
"title": "Berthier rifle",
"section": "Section::::History and usage.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 6,
"start_character": 0,
... | null |
4096rl | the scientific consensus says gmo's are safe, and we seem to value our scientific consensuses here in the usa on other issues...so whats all the fuss about? | [
{
"answer": "It's the same as the fuss about any other topic with scientific consensus--there is a substantial portion of the population that inherently trusts anecdotes and conspiracy theories over scientific experiments. It is often a problem with confirmation bias and a lack of critical thinking.\n\nTo be fa... | null |
70si9o | how do gps apps such as maps or waze know the new formation of roads after construction? | [
{
"answer": "It first important to understand how Google Maps gets all if it's data. Some of it's data is pre-programmed into their systems. This is usually used as initial data, especially for testing. Google provides many more features, however. They also show traffic and other information for your daily trav... | null |
rosna | Does musical interest correspond to intelligence? | [
{
"answer": "I've looked for some papers on the subject and I didn't turn up empty.\n\nI've found [this paper] (_URL_1_) that indicates that emotion recognition in music and emotional intelligence are highly correlated.\nI've also found two papers ([one] (_URL_3_) and [two] (_URL_4_)) that claim that music has ... | null |
9k1qvm | How were sharks perceived in the WW2 Era? Particularly by the US Navy. More particularly by the types of people who would have made of the crew of the USS Indianapolis. | [
{
"answer": "Expanded [from an earlier answer of mine](_URL_0_)\n\n**Part I**\n\n*Jaws*, both the novel and the book, certainly did shift cultural attitudes towards sharks as dangerous predators. However, neither Spielberg nor Benchley invented this image of the predator out of whole cloth. There was a long ass... | null |
5wz6dn | if america spends so much more on its military than russia, why are countries somewhat evenly matched? | [
{
"answer": "They aren't. In a conventional war the US could handle multiple Russias at the same time. However the war wouldn't be conventional because Russia's policy on nuclear weapons is that they will use them as a first strike against enemy soldiers that are at war with Russia. This would force the US to r... | null |
4d7dv0 | does turning a car at a slower speed give it a sharper turning radius? | [
{
"answer": "As long as your tires aren't slipping, they are controlling your path. So, your turning radius will just depend on steering wheel position. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2632709",
"title": "Carver (automotive comp... | null |
3d4qjl | i have a math and odds question that i don't know how to explain in the title. | [
{
"answer": "Because if you want the outcome \"2 red balls\", then you have to hit a 40% chance, and *after* successfully drawing red you have to hit another 40% chance. So you have a 40% chance of even getting to \"stage 2\", and then it's only a chance again. So of all the possible outcomes of the second draw... | null |
f36o64 | how can a broken heart hurt so much psychically? | [
{
"answer": "It's a great question. I was so hung up on this one girl that after she left, I was in torment mode for at least six months. I physically felt torn up, lethargic, and exhausted. Cold sweats at night. \n\nEventually you grow out of it but damned if the physical toll isn't hardcore.",
"provenance... | null |
2k9mak | why does medical and other scientific research cost so much money? i've seen basic research funded by millions of dollars. | [
{
"answer": "Yes, it does. Biomedical research starts with what you think of as lab experiments - people moving liquid from one tube to another, petri dishes, etc. Then it moves to animal studies, which themselves can easily cost millions of dollars per study. Then they move to human trials which can often c... | null |
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