id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1sv2gj | Why do only one or two new immunogenic strains of the influenza virus appear yearly despite their highly variable nature ? | [
{
"answer": "More strains almost certainly appear, but there are very, very few amino acid mutations that both 1) help either change an epitope to evade the immune system or change a binding protein so it recognizes humans, and 2) that allow their proteins (usually nueraminidase or hemagglutinin) to properly fu... | null |
885svl | What did pre-germ theory people think was going on when a cut got infected? | [
{
"answer": "/u/Sir_David_S wrote an answer to a similar question regarding Miasma theory in this thread: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe thread and answer specifically deal with reasons why people believed in Miasma theory, which was one of the predominant theories of disease transmission prior to germ theory. \n\nFigured ... | null |
4hpn9p | How did you choose a graduate school? | [
{
"answer": "I did two overlapping things while I was searching for PhD programs:\n\n1. I remembered work that was in a similar vein to what I wanted to do, or that had impacted my scholarly development in a positive way. I then figured out where those scholars were. If they were in a top-level graduate program... | null |
2jcea5 | what purpose does the wingdings font serve? | [
{
"answer": "Those fonts were made to provide computers a method of displaying basic graphics when graphics were limited.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "555004",
"title": "Wingdings",
"section": "",
"start_paragr... | null |
9wcmgl | Do planets expand when they're closer to the sun? And get smaller when they're distant from the heat? | [
{
"answer": "As much as the material of the planet can expand due to heat, yes.\n\nIf the Earth got closer to the Sun, then the gases in the atmosphere would expand. The tides may even get more extreme. However, the rocky crust would not change.\n\nA planet where the mass is pretty much all gas, like Jupiter, w... | null |
1zw5ro | What happens if a patient with an allergy to anesthetic needs surgery? | [
{
"answer": "Well there should be alternatives to the main anesthetic that hospitals utilize, so if you're allergic to one they can provide a different option. Here's a paper on one- _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Med-student, 6th and last year here. \n\nIf a patient is allergic to th... | null |
6emz4e | Why didn't the Ottoman Empire do anything during the 30 years war? | [
{
"answer": "The relative lull in their conflicts in the west actually gave the Ottomans some breathing space to focus on their long standing rival in the east, the Safavids of Persia. The last war with the Habsburgs, the \"long war\" from 1593-1606 was a exhausting draw and stopped further Ottoman advance into... | null |
2jbep3 | why does music, or even television seemingly get quieter the longer i listen? | [
{
"answer": "Best ELI5 answer I can come up with: Compare it to how a dark room seems brighter the longer you're in it. That's your eyes adjusting to a low level of light.\n\nThe opposite happens when you listen to a t.v. loud for a while, your ears try to adjust to a high level of sound.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
2l86gg | why does anything that takes multiple batteries require them to be alternated? | [
{
"answer": "batteries are DC or direct current meaning the current goes one way which goes from + terminal to - terminal. alternating just makes it easier to connect the two battery terminals\n\nedit: current goes from positive to negative but electrons flow the other way.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
3kt1uz | why would someone want to/ need to use tor? | [
{
"answer": "There are many reasons why people would want to hide their activity or be anonymous. A lot are legitimate, a lot are not, and a whole lot are in between.\n\nSay you live in a country with a repressive regime that blocks access to, say, pro-democracy websites. You can get around that with Tor. \n\nS... | null |
17v499 | how cease and desist letters are not blackmail. | [
{
"answer": "Cease and desist does not threaten anything illegal (such as violence), all it threatens is a lawsuit which is the accepted way to settle a dispute, and there's no guarantee that it will go either way, the plaintiff may lose. \n\nBlackmail: \"If you don't give me your lunch money I'm going to beat ... | null |
a6qtw4 | why does a lack of genetic diversity cause deformities? | [
{
"answer": "Imagine a machine that makes bricks that you make a house with but machine needs a sample brick to make more bricks like it.\n\nImagine you only have a few types of bricks. One of em gets chipped and goes into the machine. \n\nIf there are many bricks the machine will see the difference between a c... | null |
2ersaw | how do coin counting machines work? | [
{
"answer": "They have various holes of increasing size, separating the individual coins. After being separated, each coin pushes a trigger bar as it falls, incrementing a counter which keeps tally of that kind of coin. From there, it's all multiplication and addition to come up with the value of all the coins.... | null |
1iduoh | In Feudal Europe, how did doctors become doctors? | [
{
"answer": "Define time period",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "39393677",
"title": "The Physician (2013 film)",
"section": "Section::::Plot.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 4,
"start_character": 0,
"end... | null |
mi9rc | eil5: what was the conflict between edison and tesla about? | [
{
"answer": "**While Tesla and Edison:** When Tesla moved to America, he began to work for Edison. He quickly started to climb Edison's corporate ladder, until Edison wanted him to redesign generators/motors using A/C. He offered Tesla lots of money for them. However, once Tesla went to give Edison the designs,... | null |
24uiuo | how do tv/any screens actually work, like how do each pixels show different colours? | [
{
"answer": "Good explanation here:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe LED lights are just used for backlighting, not for each individual pixel.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In LCD/LED TV's, each pixel has a red, green and blue element that can recreate a range of shades of that color. When combined you can ... | null |
5vrkk7 | "OK" is the survivor of an 1839 slang in which speakers would abbreviate purposefully misspelled phrases (all correct=oll korrect=ok). Do we have any record of negative reactions to or criticisms of this fad and it's creators? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. The etymologist who tracked down the origin of OK as \"oll korrect\" was named [Allen Walker Read](_URL_2_). \n\nThe groundbreaking article authored by him is called [The First Stage in the History of \"O.K.\"](_URL_0_) He presents many examples that clearly support his assertion of the use o... | null |
d4v06i | if the sun is constantly adding heat/energy to earth, then why has the temperature always stayed the same? | [
{
"answer": "The Earth radiates heat away into space. Radiation does not require a medium to move through.\n\nA certain amount of heat is also lost with gases that escape the atmosphere, or consumed in chemical reactions.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "heat leaves via radiation = the same way ... | null |
1u93r7 | If the Americans secretly invented the atomic bomb, how did Russia get their hands on the technology so soon after it's invention? | [
{
"answer": "The [Manhattan Project](_URL_4_) was more than just Americans invention an atomic bomb. It was the continuation of [Tube Alloys](_URL_3_), the British research into fission weapons, which had been relocated to Los Alamos in part to evade German air raids. As a result, it recruited many scientists w... | null |
2hnpae | how is it safe to consume smoked meats? | [
{
"answer": "Same way cooking does, by getting the meat hot enough to kill bacteria. Even a \"low-temp\" smoker is at about 200 F.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Smoke meats are high in salt and also may have sodium nitrate or nitrites. \nHigh salt make a tough environment for bacteria to surv... | null |
6pe1zx | What is the curvature of empty space? | [
{
"answer": "There are many non-trivial vacuum spacetimes, including all of the familiar black hole solutions (Schwarzschild, Kerr-Newman, etc.). Vacuum does not imply zero curvature.\n\n > The curvature of the universe is 0, at least, as close as we've been able to measure it.\n\nThe *spatial* curvature is th... | null |
frwyzx | why isn't water vapor considered worse than carbon in climate issues? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly because we can't control it. Average water content of air is directly related to the temperature of the air for the most part. There's nothing we can do about it, aside from reducing the amount of other gasses (mostly CO2), which will reduce temperatures.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
3qkm4i | how do you properly use the paper toilet seat covers provided in public restrooms? | [
{
"answer": "The fully-cut side goes to the back; the flap side should fall down from the front. It's supposedly for men when they sit, so their penis doesn't touch the porcelain. But it's also the only orientation where the paper cover doesn't just slide into the water before you ever manage to sit down.\n\nDo... | null |
34aevv | Why are all particles bosons or fermions? | [
{
"answer": "Excellent questions - the answers are very subtle.\n\nFirst of all, let's look at your first question, why exchange has to be symmetric or antisymmetric. You may be surprised to know that It's actually a peculiarity of having 3 (actually, just of having more than 2) spatial dimensions.\n\nTo see wh... | null |
15s1tt | When one person fails to open a pickle jar, the next person to try often succeeds. Has the first person's attempt at opening the jar 'loosened' it up? | [
{
"answer": "This strikes me as highly unlikely, since we don't experience a sudden failing of musculature that would lead the first person to be unable to open the \"loosened\" jar. (Unless you have cataplexy.)\n\nInstead, it seems much more likely that the second person is already anticipating a greater effor... | null |
31laws | Can anyone explain the three interactions happening in the Feynman triangle diagram? | [
{
"answer": "The absolute most important thing to remember is that Feynman diagrams are mostly just visualization technique. To start with, the angles represent nothing; though a particle's angle from the horizontal *would* correspond to its speed, in practice the diagram is used to represent all possible speed... | null |
404nl3 | why doesn't everyone capitalize the word "internet?" there is only one internet and the chicago manual of style capitalizes it, so why would anyone spell it in lowercase? | [
{
"answer": "Because it's inconvenient to hit the shift key any more than necessary. And by necessary, I mean that most people won't notice is it's casually omitted.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "14539",
"title": "Internet",
... | null |
7dm7pi | why do some coins tinkle with a metallic sound when you flick them but some coins don't sound much like anything? | [
{
"answer": "The speed of sound and resonant frequency in a coin changes with size and composition.\n\nSome coins are made of the right metals in the right shape that will reverberate with that characteristic ring, others aren't.\n\nA US nickel is 5g of 75% copper and 25% nickel, and will ring when flicked. A ... | null |
12wuwv | Is population control an absolute requirement for a post-scarcity economy? | [
{
"answer": "You mean to *achieve* a post-scarcity economy.\n\nAny answer to this would be speculative and normative in nature. One economist who would disagree with the need for population control is [Julian Simon](_URL_1_), who claimed that as resources diminish, an incentive is created to find new, more eff... | null |
abaw6z | WWII - Found this is a box of my deceased grandfathers possessions. What is it? | [
{
"answer": "That looks like German POW money tokens. I found a collection on sale at this link [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Lagergeld (literally storage money or storage charges), during WWII, were employed within ghettos and concentration camps in replacement of actual m... | null |
1nlhcn | the fcc is closed... does that mean pirate radio can not be stopped? | [
{
"answer": "More or less. However, if something can fall in a local police jurisdiction, you're out of luck, because they're still on the job. However, since it usually takes a decent bit of equipment to start a serious pirate radio station, and historically these Government shutdowns are incredibly long, it... | null |
b3yjq3 | why are acl injuries so difficult to repair properly? | [
{
"answer": "Most injuries cause the entire thing to tear, with the ends not connected at all anymore. That will never heal without surgery, because the ligament has no mechanisms that allow it to fix itself when fully torn apart.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{... | null |
6y5e6p | "Participation" of Soldiers in the American Civil War | [
{
"answer": "A few notes:\n\n1) The original source of the unfired muskets statistic seems to be an [1867 army manual](_URL_0_).\n\n > Of the 27,574 muskets picked up on the battle field of Gettysburgh and turned into the Washington Arsenal at least 24,000 were loaded. About one half of this number contained t... | null |
9cdq5b | why wouldn't this troll comic work? | [
{
"answer": "Because water only gets sucked up a vacuum by about 10 meters/32 feet.\n\nThe reason things move in a vacuum is because there is a pressure differential. The water is being pushed \"upwards\", opposing the force of the atmosphere pushing down on it, enough to rise about 32 feet, and so removing the... | null |
286ac4 | why do people discover partial fossils, not complete ones? | [
{
"answer": "Well, it takes a very specific set of circumstances for fossils to form. The specimen needs to be covered up completely, rapidly, and permanently. Those conditions are often met in violent and turbulent environments such as mudslides, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc... So, very often you end up wit... | null |
5vlmkw | How close did the UK really come to capitulation to Nazi Germany in May 1940? | [
{
"answer": "Some historians would argue that Hitler had no interest in taking Britain. He long admired the British, at one point he even offered them control of the seas while he expanded into Eastern Europe and Russia.\n\nOn top of this, the Germans did not have the capability to invade Britain even if they w... | null |
16k06b | if it takes years of study to become a lawyer and practice law, and many more to potentially ever become a judge, how can regular people be expected to know what any of the laws are so as not to break them? | [
{
"answer": " > Isn't there even a saying, \"ignorance is no excuse to the law\", but even some one who has been a lawyer for 20 years wouldn't claim they know all the law? I don't get how this can make any sense?\n\nKnowing \"all the law\" isn't the same as committing obvious crimes. In order to drive you ou... | null |
vrt9o | hypothetically, if the trillion dollar deficit were paid off, who would be getting paid off? | [
{
"answer": "Everyone holding US Treasury securities would be getting paid off. The thing is, *they get paid off anyway*. All that reducing the debt to 0 would mean is that new securities are not going out. The government may owe a trillion dollars in total debt right now, but they have always paid every indivi... | null |
2qwep3 | What is the minimum amount of organs required to sustain a human life? | [
{
"answer": "Can you clarify what you mean by that?\nSome organs you can do without entirely and live (ie spleen, tonsils) though there may be health issues to a greater or lesser extent\n\nOther organs you need close to 100% of (ie the heart)\n\nOther organs you can lose a large portion of, depending on WHICH ... | null |
2q2qo9 | Was 'The Pale' ever located in southeast Ireland? | [
{
"answer": "You can't both ignore the legend and notes and still interpret the map. The map is of viking settlements in Ireland around 850 AD. The area ringed with yellow dots shows the area that was under viking control during that time. It would be completely irrelevant to \"the pale\" as designated in 15... | null |
1uyr2u | How come Ireland got christanized so early? | [
{
"answer": "First, while, yes, the majority of Ireland was converted by the end of the fifth century, early Irish Christianity was **super weird**. Very little earlier mythology seems to have been completely abandoned, although the Irish did try to claim some *romanitas* by insisting that the founder of the \"... | null |
2m0n4o | Is there a reason why radio towers aren't used for wifi? | [
{
"answer": "wifi is in what is commonly referred to as the \"junk band\" - reserved for consumer use. The FCC limits how far the signals can propagate for that spectrum. and the reason for that is there is a limited amount of it. You don't want signals interfering with one another. You know how if you close n... | null |
cvv89f | what happens if an individual can’t pay a large fine? | [
{
"answer": "They probably cant.. theyll set u up w a payment plan or they can garnish wages, put a lien on your house, even put u in jail.. theyll get their money",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "7697801",
"title": "Day-fine",
... | null |
1ojcfj | When did the practice of attaching genders to words begin? | [
{
"answer": "You might try /r/linguistics! ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "10869922",
"title": "Gender in English",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 1,
"start_character": 0,
"end_paragraph_id"... | null |
2k2mmv | Was there any equivalent to a homicide detective in ancient Greek and Roman times? Are there any surviving "detective stories" from those times? | [
{
"answer": "**Greece:**\n\nTo answer the first question, It would be a yes, and a no. Yes, because the city of Athens developed a court for homicide called the [Areopagus](_URL_7_) (also called Areios Pagos, Areiopagus, and Rock of Ares), which dealt with anything from small claims issues, to homicide. However... | null |
1sx2fb | why do current tv's still play static sound if there is no channel? | [
{
"answer": "It's fake static. On many TV models if you look closely enough you can see that the \"static\" is a looped animation with just a few frames showing a simple white and black geometric pattern.\n\nIt's a great example of [skeumorphism](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
6vuizw | Has there ever been black Roman Senators in Roman Republic? | [
{
"answer": "Just to clarify, do you mean specifically someone with Sub-Saharan origins or anyone with skin much darker than the average Roman?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "24708461",
"title": "Gaius Valerius Troucillus",
... | null |
bgj54c | why do you experience withdrawal from opiates but not from orgasms? | [
{
"answer": "Opiates hack the brain's normal chemistry, forcing the brain to do things it's not designed to do. Chemical addictions trick the brain into thinking the drug is necessary to continue to live, whereas orgasms are a normal bodily process. Opiates and amphetamines and cocaine are also much more intens... | null |
a5u4z9 | It seems like multiple large Christian sects in colonial America considered dancing to be evil. Where did this view of dance come from? What happened to it? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up question: did any of these people feel the same about instruments? I was raised Church of Christ and dancing wasn't allowed, and instruments weren't allowed in the church (on your own time was fine, but I think we were pretty liberal there)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
1up34t | When did contractions like "won't" and "can't" start being used in the English language? | [
{
"answer": "You may also want to try the linguists in /r/linguistics or /r/AskSocialScience or in /r/Etymology.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1355112",
"title": "How Sacred Harp music is sung",
"section": "Section::::T... | null |
19nn0d | Is it possible to breakdown CO and/or CO2 into carbon and oxygen? | [
{
"answer": "You can turn 2CO into 2C + O2 but it takes energy.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes it is possible, however the process is endergonic (it requires energy), which I think is easy to see given that it is the reverse of combustion. For instance, one method to make graphene involves... | null |
bb5urz | What were the chances of surviving the entire Great War? | [
{
"answer": "For a related question, see [What were your odds of surviving \"going over the top\" in a WWI trench?](_URL_0_) with a guess at the odds by /u/DuxBelisarius.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Apologies if I'm doing this wrong - I'm relatively new here. \n\nThere's a long thread at t... | null |
1mrcnd | what is the purpose of a dentist teeth cleaning appointment? what do they do that i can't do at home brushing my own teeth. | [
{
"answer": "Clean a lot more thoroughly, get rid of plaque, tartar and the sort. Generally flossing once a day and brushing once a day PROPERLY will prevent these build-ups and prevent gingivitis and other forms of gum disease, but for most people they aren't perfectly thorough. Also, it's good for the to chec... | null |
2p9455 | What are this things present on this milky way image ? | [
{
"answer": "1. Very likely the black spot in the middle of the star is an error of the imaging sensor. Basically the light at those pixel is so strong that it completely overpowered the sensor and it returned an erroneous value.\n\n2. A dense molecular cloud, which blocks most of the light from stars behind it... | null |
2t81gf | why do gummy candies become stale? | [
{
"answer": "The same reason anything else becomes stale. \n\nIt starts to break down chemically. \n\nAll the little bonds holding something together will start to break down.\n\nTypically, there is something breaking down those bonds. It's sometimes bacteria, and sometimes sunlight. \n\nIn the case of gummies,... | null |
19p1kr | How far would you have to fall on Mars to reach terminal velocity, and how fast would you be falling? | [
{
"answer": "See [this](_URL_0_). At the top of the page is the derivation of the formula for terminal velocity. And a bit further down there's a handy calculator to give you the terminal velocity. The initial values give 58 m/s for Earth which is pretty much the terminal velocity for the belly-down skydiving p... | null |
6i844r | does mars (and any other planets for that matter) have plate tectonics like earth? | [
{
"answer": " > I always thought it was something unique to earth due to the water.\n\nNo, it is due to having an active molten core. Some moons of the gas giants have molten cores, and basically any planet with volcanoes has tectonic activity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mars is solid. I... | null |
181r4z | What was the general attitude towards electricity when it was first introduced? | [
{
"answer": "Benjamin Harrison was psi dent when the White House was electrified. Though he was too afraid to turn the lights on and off himself for fear of electrocution. Not the best answer but an anecdote to give you an idea that , like all new technologies, people were suspicious of it.",
"provenance"... | null |
4cvolb | why does vision in one eye get worse than the other? | [
{
"answer": "It would be amazing if two bits of your body which aren't connected managed to stay the same. Almost none of your symmetrical bits are actually like one another when you look closely, and it doesn't take much for an eyeball to be out of focus.\n\n[Anisometropia](_URL_0_) is quite common to a small ... | null |
4g7xpu | Why do older commercial buildings (roughly 1880-1920) have such high ceilings? What purpose did they serve? | [
{
"answer": "The first air-conditioning system was made in 1902. Having a high ceiling in a public building would make cooling cheaper if the building only has one floor. \n\nYou know if have a 2 story home you turn on the air-conditioning on on the second floor and your whole house cools down? Same concept but... | null |
1nbm8m | what causes the white substance to form in your mouth when you wake up? | [
{
"answer": "It is dried saliva and mucus.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1637863",
"title": "Islamic sexual jurisprudence",
"section": "Section::::Legal sexualities.:Purification and hygiene.\n",
"start_paragrap... | null |
arhxdq | Does THC get Stored in your Body and Released? | [
{
"answer": "No. Since some of the components of marijuana are fat soluble, they do get stored in the body for a relatively long time, but they do not have any noticeable psychoactive effects during that period. It’s not even true for acid either. Acid is water soluble and can leave the body in one day.\n\nI’ve... | null |
92dh2r | Are there documented cases of schizophrenics who hear only positive, encouraging voices? | [
{
"answer": "Studies show two things - that people who cope well with voices tend to hear more positive things (and apparently by focusing on the positive voices, they get more of that and less negative over time), and that there is a cultural component. People in certain cultures tend to hear overwhelmingly ... | null |
6a8hua | when birds tear into the dirt looking for worms, are they just blindly excavating, or do they have some reason to believe a worm is right there? | [
{
"answer": "Birds can see movement on the ground easily from the air. Now if you're specifically talking about chickens they're probably just randomly scratching eating any bug or seed they can find. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If they're sitting on the ground pecking away, theyre listeni... | null |
1smh04 | Why did Thailand become such a huge centre for tourism? | [
{
"answer": "It's the only country in the region that has favourable conditions for tourism. \n\n* Myanmar - oppressive dictatorship\n\n* Malaysia - Muslim country, which means no sex tourism, and it's more expensive and developed\n\n* Cambodia - the Khmer Rouge fucked it up, it's too poor, it doesn't have the ... | null |
4sk8sb | Practical filtration method to remove lead from water? | [
{
"answer": "I believe activated carbon filters it well, as long as you remember to change the carbon as needed. The zero water filter system seems to be good and it comes with a conductivity test meter that is easy to use and will tell you when its time to change the cartridge. I don't think the meter is actua... | null |
1vwzb2 | Was there ever a time when gunpowder and knights took the battlefield together? | [
{
"answer": "You may be interested in some of the threads in the '[Early firearms](_URL_0_)' section of the Popular Questions pages.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "34738",
"title": "10th century",
"section": "Section::... | null |
pd8sv | How do we determine that a vaccine for a potentially fatal disease is fit for human usage? Wouldn't there be ethics violations at preliminary stages of testing? | [
{
"answer": "After animal testing shows a promising result, they move on to human testing. The first step is to try it on already infected (and then healthy) **volunteers** to make sure there are no bad reactions to just the vaccine. If that works then they give half of a large *at risk* population the vaccin... | null |
3beph3 | why can phone battery-bars act so erratic? | [
{
"answer": "Can't speak for Android, but for iPhone, you should take it to the Apple Store so that they can replace the battery, usually for free.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "For the 100%-90% drop, that's an easy answer. Your phone lies to you when it says it's at 100%. Phones can't char... | null |
2gmjzy | what would happen if you brought a really strong telescope to space and pointed it at earth? | [
{
"answer": "Yes to both your questions. See: Spy satellites.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "58017976",
"title": "Asteroid impact prediction",
"section": "Section::::Improving impact prediction.:Opposition effect.\n",
... | null |
32rmpm | when did the idea of gym begin? | [
{
"answer": "“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” -Socrates\n\nThe idea goes back a while... ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The root of the word is G... | null |
1ex38t | Do fundamental particles exist in 16 dimensions, but we "experience" them in only 3? How can dimensions be folded up inside other ones? | [
{
"answer": "I can't really comment on the 16 dimensional stuff since I'm not a string theorist, but I have a good analogy to understand the 'curled up dimensions'.\n\nConsider a long string or cable. When you hold it in front of your eyes you can see it has multiple dimensions. There is the length of the stri... | null |
1me3sf | why is it so hard for smokers to stop smoking? | [
{
"answer": "For starters, nicotine is extremely addictive. The withdrawal symptoms affect both body and mind, with cravings and mood swings quite frequent.\n\nAnd another factor is that smoking is largely a thoughtless habit ... you don't think about each individual cigarette, you tend to just light one up out... | null |
1fr6wg | why can american porn websites sell porn by simply asking if people are over 18, when store owners have to ask for id. | [
{
"answer": "Websites \"sell porn\" by asking for a Credit Card, that is their age verification measure. \n\nIf you are asking why you only have to click \"I am over 18\" to view a porn site, it comes down to business vs burden. \n\nFirst of all, by requiring you to click to verify you are over 18, the responsi... | null |
827qu8 | The dawn of the year 2000 was celebrated and feared in many parts of the world. How was the dawn of the year 1000 viewed, in those parts of the world that observed years in this way? | [
{
"answer": "This question pops upon this sub occasionally, and even though more can always be said, you may be interested in checking out these old answers:\n\n* [Was the millennium from 999-1000 ad marked in any special way?](_URL_1_) by u/savvysioux\n* [Did people in 999 AD celebrate the new millennium? Were... | null |
8bm9cm | Is it possible to only be half down syndrome? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer to your question is that yes, this is possible. It’s called [Mosaic Down Syndrome](_URL_0_), and it occurs in something like 2-4% of Down Syndrome cases. However, I don’t think it has to do with chimerism as you’re describing it. Developing embryos are full of rapidly dividing cell... | null |
wt3wx | losing your voice. | [
{
"answer": "Your throat has a \"voice box\" made up of bands of muscle called vocal cords. When you talk, the air that passes through your vocal cords sets off vibrations that make the sound of your voice. So if your vocal cords are swollen, they block a lot of the air that would normally vibrate and produce y... | null |
70ks2q | how do missile defense systems like thaad and aegis work, and are they adequate against missile attacks? | [
{
"answer": "No one really knows they're effectiveness because they've never truly been tested in a real world attack, and any secret tests aren't going to be released because releasing that information publicly would reveal any weaknesses the systems have, and open up them for exploitation.",
"provenance":... | null |
1itu2l | Why does Japan continue to hold animosity towards China and Korea over events that transpired in WWII but doesn't still hate the US for bombing them? | [
{
"answer": "What makes you think Japan holds animosity towards China and Korea? I mean it's obviously true in reverse, but this is the first time I've heard of this. \n\nAlso the idea that Japan is a \"victim\" of WWII due to the atomic bombings is part of the Japanese narrative of the war.",
"provenance":... | null |
6fz8bu | How are we able to differentiate religious texts from ancient fiction? | [
{
"answer": "Maybe this is worth it's own thread, but can I extend this and ask how we can distinguish *any* ancient texts? For example, when were the transition points where ancient epics went from preserving history to being entertainment, morality tales, etc.?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
re10o | Quantum mechanics act at a scale of 100 nm or less. Is the transition to the realm of Classical mechanics smooth or abrupt? | [
{
"answer": " > Is the transition to the realm of classical mechanics smooth or abrupt?\n\nSmooth. You can recover classical mechanics from quantum mechanics if you carefully take the limit as hbar goes to zero.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Smooth. Things at the crossover act different dep... | null |
5i08bg | how do organisms without brains (starfish, trees, jellyfish, etc) know how to "do" things like mate, flip over, swim, etc? | [
{
"answer": "Stimuli lead to certain responses which cause changes in the organism's behavior, kind of like how a complicated machine can react in different ways to different switches and levers because they cause a different cascade of actions in the internal mechanism. For example, plants can grow towards a l... | null |
cq027t | In medieval times balcksmiths' apprentices had to get up well before dawn to get the furnace hot. How was this done before alarm clocks were invented? | [
{
"answer": "First, it's often noted here that the medieval period lasted around a thousand years, so it's hard to generalize about the whole of it.\n\nBut, a very short answer would be that the blacksmith's wife woke him up, because as an apprentice he was a part of the blacksmith's household, and the blacksmi... | null |
4dr62d | how come ads on my computer are based on what kinds of websites i go on, but in cell phone apps all i get are clash of clans ads? | [
{
"answer": "If you are asking because you want to know how to turn it off, and you have Windows 10 here's how; Click the start menu icon, go to settings, go to privacy, go through each option turning off what you don't want the computer to track and data you don't want it to collect from you. After that you ca... | null |
1urkvp | Who are some of history's lesser known/under appreciated martyrs? | [
{
"answer": "Udham Singh. British colonial rule in India was very oppressive to the Indians. Resources were plundered, racial and religious tensions were sparked, and the common folk were getting taxed out of homes, fields, and food. Forcing entire generations of young men to enlist. Revolutionary activity sta... | null |
1e23w9 | So what's the story behind the European micro-states (Andorra, Lichtenstein, etc)? | [
{
"answer": "This was asked a few months ago and got some pretty good explanations.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1413089",
"title": "European microstates",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 1,
... | null |
3porrt | How certain is it that Catherine De Medici organized the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre? | [
{
"answer": "It will be great to know which books you have read.\n\nThe Bartholomew's Day Massacre comprises of several distinct stages, namely the assassination attempt on Coligny the leader of the Huguenots, then the order to murder the Huguenot leaders in Paris, then the communal murder frenzy, and finally t... | null |
31xplk | why is that many people (incluiding myself) feel extra motivated to make a big change during night time? | [
{
"answer": "You know you don't have to do it. You know you're about to go to bed and you can put it off for several hours. In the morning you will actually have to face doing the task you set for yourself, and the physical or mental exertion required to do it will outweigh the benefit your late night brain fou... | null |
btiy9s | how knockoff or off brand toys/items are manufactured and actually end up in stores in the west | [
{
"answer": "Most items are made in China. Usually the factory that makes them have all the tools to make more and sometimes after the brands order has been filled they're left with raw resources so they'll make their own batch and sell it to make more money then the brand paid.\n\nStores are all about making m... | null |
5w3luc | What would it take to simulate a neural network as complex as the human brain in real time? | [
{
"answer": "Neural Networks don't work the same way as the human brain. We won't be able to simulate the brain until we know how it works, that is the primary barrier to this right now.\n\nA [survey of experts](_URL_1_) puts an estimate of a 50% chance of having Human Level Machine Intelligence by 2040. There ... | null |
1fo791 | What were hospitality rituals and why were they important in their respective societies? | [
{
"answer": "Hospitality rituals could range from taking one's shoes of before entering a house to something more specific. For instance, the Lakota tribe had an interesting policy where the less words that were spoken, the more polite the guest seemed. It's often hard to actually distinguish between hospitalit... | null |
1jek08 | how a wave breaks | [
{
"answer": "So if we're talking specifically about beach waves, it's not very complicated. The wave is pushed by the wind toward the beach. But as the water goes up the beach, it eventually reaches a high point, after which it wants to run down into the sea again. Now imagine those two things happening at the ... | null |
fy8koy | how do alarm systems know when a door or window has been opened? | [
{
"answer": "The installers put a pair of tiny magnets somewhere on the door (one on the door, one on the frame.) If you open the door, the system can tell that you’ve separated the magnets because it breaks a circuit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wi... | null |
4pnb3c | Why did the Nazis end up annexing the Czech Republic, but only installed a puppet government in Slovakia? | [
{
"answer": "The Czech region of Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia) developed much differently than the Slovak region prior to their integration in 1918. The Czech lands had been the center of industrialization for the Hapsburg empire, while Slovakia had been cut off from the Czech lands through a process kn... | null |
3mpo0j | why do you think europe as a whole is less obese compared to the states? | [
{
"answer": "When I lived in the UK, I was struck by how often it just made sense to walk my errands, rather than drive . That's a lot more casual exercise. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Walking everywhere. Portions are not ridiculous. A \"small\" here in the US can be a large in Europe. M... | null |
yrobm | Negative pressure/space? | [
{
"answer": "There would still be a vacuum. A true vacuum means that there is zero matter in the box. Even if you made the box bigger, there would still be zero matter, and thus still a vacuum.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You would have to do work on the box to increase it's volume like tha... | null |
1kcmaj | the difference between rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) and hydrogen proxide | [
{
"answer": " > Are they really that different?\n\nYes, yes they are. Hydrogen peroxide is H2O2 while isopropanol is C3H7OH. Alcohols generally behave very differently from peroxides.\n\n > Will one help your wound heal faster, or do they both work in a similar manner?\n\nFor wound treatment, both work as dis... | null |
72kufw | why haven't new alphabets been introduced in our languages? | [
{
"answer": "Its more like alphabets slowly evolve and change over time, no one does it on purpose and it never happens quickly. But you can see the effects of it over time. Here's a good example: _URL_0_\n\nYou probably can't read that. But that's actually English. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
xjg4a | Can you catch STDs from a corpse? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. And it would vary with STD. A blood borne STD like AIDS wouldn't last too long, but crabs would hang out for quite a while.\n\nAnd eww.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One of the few posts that actually made me cring at the though..",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
24q35n | how do calculators do math? | [
{
"answer": "They have both hardware and software methods to do various things.\n\nAt the hardware level, you are able to implement a lot of basic arithmetic functions in the same way that any computer can. With about 5 minutes of working some stuff out, you can easily design a very basic circuit that will add ... | null |
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