id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1k1l6a | Should Americans really be worried about radiation coming across the Pacific Ocean from Japan? | [
{
"answer": "No. In fact, the [WHO found](_URL_0_) that even in Fukushima itself, the radiation levels were too low to affect fetal development. Risks of cancer went up slightly overall (4-7% above baseline, with 70% over baseline for thyroid cancer, keeping in mind thyroid cancer is one of the least dangerous ... | null |
95d81p | how does discord make money if they have no advertisements? | [
{
"answer": "\"If you aren't the consumer, you're the product.\"\n\nWith a lot of new tech companies, market share is more important to investors than income. Snapchat is burning money but the stock is valued so highly because it's the head honcho as far as the \"temporary picture message\" platforms go. The id... | null |
25xo1b | - what are vpns and what kind of magic makes them unblock restricted websites and stuff? | [
{
"answer": "A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a network connection that enables you to create a secure connection over Internet. With a VPN, all network traffic (data, voice, and video) goes through a secure virtual tunnel between the host device (client) and the VPN provider’s servers, and is encrypted. [Di... | null |
ant93h | how do rocket engines not crush themselves under their own thrust? | [
{
"answer": "They are often times made out of extremely strong and robust exotic metals like titanium alloys or [Inconel.](_URL_0_)\n\nIn short, super duper strong and well engineered.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They are actually just more robust than they look. Careful engineering and des... | null |
z8wge | Growing Universe? | [
{
"answer": "The universe is not growing, it is expanding.\n\nNew matter is not being created. The distance between existing matter is just increasing at large scales. As far as we can tell, this is just a property of space.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
5gcfci | why do galaxies form in clusters rather than spread out from one another? | [
{
"answer": "Because after the Big Bang matter clumped in certain areas of higher density due to gravity. These clumps would become Galaxy Clusters. They in turn would clump up even more and the resulting smaller clumps would become galaxies. Note that Galaxy Clusters are actually themselves parts of bigger str... | null |
916o9z | how is it possible to see a star that might’ve exploded thousands of years ago? | [
{
"answer": "Light takes time to reach us. \n\nA star that is a million light years away may have exploded a thousand years ago, but the light carrying that information hasn't reached us yet.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because it is so far away the light is just now reaching us. If a star ... | null |
490j50 | how does the military determine when someone gets deployed overseas? | [
{
"answer": "In the Navy you get stationed on a ship. Ships go through alternating cycles of maintenance, training and then deployment. If you're stationed on the ship and it deploys you go with it. Small ships deploy for six months every 18 months, larger ships like aircraft carriers deploy every two years.... | null |
8zcgtp | why does it seem that people with mental disabilities are happier than those who don't? | [
{
"answer": "It some instances, maybe they're not and simply cannot communicate. But for the rest, probably because they will never have the same worries and responsibilities. Many will be cared for their whole lives. Perhaps they dont have the capacity for that level of worry/anxiety.",
"provenance": n... | null |
1x3l3p | Do we actually LEARN to walk, or do we ACQUIRE THE ABILITY to walk as our brains continue to develop? | [
{
"answer": "Humans are born with a walking reflex that serves as the basis for walking behavior. Applying pressure to the bottom of the foot will cause the same leg to extend and the other leg to swing forward. Like many reflexes, this is based on nerves traveling from peripheral sensory receptors through the ... | null |
10qfn7 | Given the evolution of language over time, if I were to step into a time machine and come out 10,000 years in the future, what are the odds that I could understand what anyone is saying? | [
{
"answer": "Extremely unlikely. As far as I know, there are no languages being spoken today which were spoken 10,000 years ago.\n\nHowever, things are different now. We now have recordings of how people speak. This is a very recent development, comparatively speaking - we've been able to record speech for less... | null |
37au3q | During the German occupation of France did soldiers pay businesses money for goods and services or was it just expected that they would get them for free? | [
{
"answer": "Generally speaking they paid money for goods and services, though to be perfectly clear they paid with French money collected via taxes in France. As a general policy of Nazi Germany occupation costs were transferred to the occupied country. \n\nThis and other information about the Nazis' methods o... | null |
76kn6r | can people have smaller than average organs and what does it mean? | [
{
"answer": "If you made it this long with little to no problems, I wouldn't worry about it.\n\nBest thing to do is talk to your doctor about it. She would probably feel bad if she knew what she said made you uncomfortable and she didn't know/therefore couldn't explain things for you so you could feel better.\... | null |
22keic | why are rooms with higher ceilings cooler than those with lower ones? | [
{
"answer": "Hot air rises. A tall room can hold more hot air before it gets to the level where you can feel it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Warm air rises. Cool air falls. It's a density thing based on temperature. The taller the room, the more separation available between the warm air at ... | null |
4m7yji | [NSFW] What is the earliest reference we have to non-vaginal intercourse? | [
{
"answer": "There must be something in the air. Just two days ago, /u/tjdraws asked a similar question and we got loads of answers from all over the world at _URL_0_ \n\nOf course, there's always room for more information...\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
1emd6f | Why did Jell-o get so popular in the 1970s, especially as a savory dish? | [
{
"answer": "I remember there was a segment on Unwrapped about Jello. \n\n\nI can't find the video anywhere online, but I remember part of it saying when it came around in the 70's, it's popularity was partially because of how simple it was for the average person to make it, and how many different things you co... | null |
71knyt | If sea level is rising, why are the beaches I know still the same size and shape? | [
{
"answer": "Couple of things. \n\n1) For Northern Europe, depends a lot on where you are. Throughout Northern Europe, a lot of the crust is still [responding isostatically to the removal of large ice sheets](_URL_2_), so in some portions of Northern Europe (especially Scandinavia, northern parts of Scotland/No... | null |
4io4u6 | Guy Fawkes name is bandied about a lot in the plot of blowing up the UK Parliament in the early 1600s, however, who were the true masterminds of this plot and why is Guy Fawkes alone synonymous with this plot to the extent that there is a Guy Fawkes day as well? | [
{
"answer": "The true leaders of the plot were Robert Catesby (1572-1605) a Warwickshire gentleman, and Thomas Percy (1560-1605) a member of the Percy family of northern nobles. Both of them were killed at the siege of Holbeche House in Staffordshire in a shootout with the Sheriff of Worcester's troops on 8th N... | null |
abk682 | When was the first 'reboot' of an old film? Have there been trends of rebooting films in the past or is it mostly a modern phenomenon? | [
{
"answer": "While ‘rebooting’ is a new term, remaking classic stories in a new medium is hardly new. \n\nFor example look at the history of Les Miserable in American medium. Though only published in novel 1862 by 1897, ‘Victor Hugo et les principaux personnages des misérables’, a short film by the Lumière brot... | null |
3vvvd8 | Who's the earliest person to have been written about in history? | [
{
"answer": "/u/stonedeye answered this one a while back in [this thread](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3709305",
"title": "Ancient literature",
"section": "Section::::List of ancient texts.:Bronze Age.\n",
... | null |
gyi4y | If a photon experiences no time, could all photons we observe from our reference frame really just be the same photon in every possible position in the universe? | [
{
"answer": "Sounds like Feynmann's [one-electron universe hypothesis](_URL_1_). More information [here](_URL_0_).\n\nBased purely on the fact that the wikipedia page is a stub, I'm inclined to believe it's not a seriously considered theory, but hopefully somebody more scientifically inclined can help more. ",
... | null |
19las0 | how us govt. enforces that all children go to school (public, private, charter, etc) | [
{
"answer": "The US government doesn't really get involved; it's a state level thing, and each state of the US does it differently.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "378405",
"title": "Secondary education in the United States",
... | null |
7nmah7 | [Human Body] Are 'fast twitch' muscle fibers anatomically larger in size than 'slow twitch' ones? | [
{
"answer": "I actually just graduated with a degree in Kinesiology, so it's good to see it be somewhat useful. The shortest answer is yes, FT muscle cells that have been exercised will be larger than slow twitch. It's the whole idea that human muscle cells grow solely by hypertrophy (growing larger) than hyper... | null |
55ucgd | Do the upper most limits of the atmosphere display surface tension? | [
{
"answer": "An ideal gas is assumed to have no intermolecular/interatomic forces (i.e. gas particles neither repel nor attract each other), so there is no surface tension. \n\nYou're right to be skeptical of surface tension as the factor explaining stones skipping. Surface tension of liquids is a small force... | null |
sx9xh | Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac Immunity? Is it possible? | [
{
"answer": "yes it is completely possible. it is actually not being immune per-say, its just that you are not allergic as most of the population is. I'm like you i do not get poison ivy, or oak. do not know about sumac because i have not encountered it i have lived in the woods for sometime. At one point in m... | null |
7g0ur5 | How was Caesar's "Gallic War" created and distributed? | [
{
"answer": "There are really a few questions here, some of which have no definite answer and others of which only have partial answers. In the first place, how were books published in the Roman world? In the second, how were they distributed? And finally, how was the *de bello Gallico* composed and prepared fo... | null |
33bxkw | how do windows/glass reflect light if it's sole purpose is to let light through? | [
{
"answer": "This happens because although windows are designed to let light through, they are not perfect. Glass lets through the vast majority of light, but always reflects some of it back.\n\nSo why don't we always see a reflection?\n\nWell, the percentage of light reflected back is very tiny, and the percen... | null |
5jxmyx | How far back in history would a current high school graduate have to go to be considered a leading expert in the various scientific fields, based on today's typical high school curriculum? | [
{
"answer": "Or, given the number of things humans have believed throughout history that turned out to be wrong: how far back in history would a current high school graduate have to go to have a better understanding of various scientific fields than leading experts at the time?",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
e5vsa6 | how are sounds in video games and movies made from complete scratch? | [
{
"answer": "Many of them will be pre-recorded and just saved into a pack that can be dragged and dropped in. The rest will be Foley sound which is just recording something that sounds like the action in a sound proof room. Off the top of my head the only one I can think of was snapping a piece of celery for a ... | null |
7tjryw | Thinking about the umbilical cord, at what point is it the mother's DNA and at what point is it the baby's DNA? Is there a point where they're mixed? | [
{
"answer": "I think a similar question was asked a few years ago — > [Umbilical cord](_URL_0_) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The umbilical cord is entirely the baby’s tissue. But the placenta is the interface between the fetal bloodstream and the mother’s is the closest the two come to mixi... | null |
426n1b | What is the best way to learn about the American Civil War for a non-american? | [
{
"answer": "I'm afraid my advice is rather conventional. If you are really wanting to get a proper understanding of the war, or of any aspect of history, you won't find it in movies, websites, video games, or documentaries. You have to read. Find accessible, introductory-level scholarly works, read them, then ... | null |
4bmsxu | in 2014, drunk driving absolutely dwarfed the statistics for terrorism (accounting for american blood spilled.) if was able to find these statistics on the internet within seconds, then why do we still have people believing that terrorism is the highest priority on american soil? | [
{
"answer": "The answer, interestingly, is in your original question:\n\n > If was able to find these statistics on the internet within seconds\n\nMost people don't go looking. They react to information which is actively presented to them, and we don't put every auto accident on the news. People have a tenden... | null |
3sjcql | When did the word "mad" start to mean angry/upset rather than crazy in the US? | [
{
"answer": "This is sense 6b in the Oxford English Dictionary under \"mad\" (adj.):\n\n > Angry, irate, cross. Also, in weakened sense: annoyed, exasperated (with †against, at, with, etc.). Now colloq. (chiefly N. Amer.) and Brit. regional.\n\nThe earliest citation for this sense is from 1400, and there are ci... | null |
656965 | what makes it so difficult to cure paralysis? | [
{
"answer": "Nerves do not regenerate the way other cells do. Nerves when cut quickly close themselves off to the matrix outside of the cell, and can grow back a little bit, but we don't see nerves re-fusing together frequently. If we are able to manipulate the severed nerves to join together and the function... | null |
cler8r | how far do the atoms in a rubber band stretch (separate) in relation to each other compared to the atoms in, say, a steel bar when you pull on it? | [
{
"answer": "Rubber is actually something called a polymer which is a long chain of segments called monomers. These long chains are like a big pot of spaghetti. This is what gives rubber (and many other polymers) their ability to stretch and bend. The atomic radius of the atoms in rubber isnt really increasing ... | null |
8glj8f | what is the difference between a negative control and a positive control in experiments? | [
{
"answer": "A negative control is a control sample you're expecting not to react\n\nA positive control is a control sample that you are expecting to react\n\nIf you have to test a dozen samples for X and you have a test that turns blue in the presence of X then you would set it up with two control samples. On... | null |
1a84wp | what is the business sense of walgreens, cvs and rite aid all being on the same street corner? | [
{
"answer": "Wendy's made it by locating its restaurants near an existing McDonald's. Same principle. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One company will spend time and money figuring out the best location for their store. The other companies then piggy back on the original store and set up shop ... | null |
1s37e6 | How does my TV know which pixel to light up? | [
{
"answer": "When an image is recorded, it is broken down into information for a certain resolution. It basically includes what each pixel of a tv will need to display (red/green/blue of various shades) to reproduce each frame. This happens several times per second (24 frames per second for film). This informat... | null |
npaut | How are quantum mechanical wave function collapse and the second law of thermodynamics related? | [
{
"answer": "They're not related in any fundamental sense. I mean, wavefunction collapse usually increases entropy, but so do lots of things.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I think I've studied enough quantum information theory to give a good run at this question.\n\nIt's probably more accurat... | null |
46rup3 | Why do we have separate systems for myelination of the central and peripheral nervous systems? | [
{
"answer": "Their embryonic origin: \nOligodendrocytes myelinate the neurons in the central nervous system - They are both derivatives of the neural tube \nSchwann cells myelinate the neurons in the peripheral nervous system - they are both derived from the neural crest",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
79wxdr | how did hitler manage to give so many people a job, building the army, the luftwaffe, the autobahn and many more at a time when the whole world suffered an economical crisis? | [
{
"answer": "Well first off, the economy was already recovering before Hitler came to power. So he was given a better hand than just the flat out mega depression.\n\nSecond is that they basically did what the US did during the era but on a massive scale. Government controlled and centralized work force doing in... | null |
2u9ykn | does shaving with a razor on your legs dull the razor faster than using it on your face? | [
{
"answer": "You have a lot more leg than face. Shaving your legs once is like shaving your face 10 times.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1703365",
"title": "Straight razor",
"section": "Section::::Modern use.\n",
... | null |
4k87so | Are there reported instances of PTSD or psychological trauma caused by violence amongst proto-agricultural Native American tribes or other proto-agricultural or hunter gatherer societies? | [
{
"answer": "Speaking for the Cayuse: Symptoms of what is now called PTSD isn't present in accounts that concern warfare and warriors. War was considered more of a sport for the Cayuse than something to be dreaded (this isn't an uncommon view among other American Indian tribes). Warfare was such a big part of l... | null |
4j1vaj | How well developed were the roads circa 300 BC India - Mauryan Empire ? | [
{
"answer": "No, the show you saw was wrong. I suspect it was the popular Indian TV series on Ashoka, which is a soap opera set in ancient times, not a historical work. Archaeological records show that Indian roads at the time were paved with stone, typically elevated for drainage.\n\nThe Mauryans were prolific... | null |
3o7jks | what happens when a us state losses a representative in the house due to population decrease? | [
{
"answer": "Essentially it's like this, imagine a state with 3 equal districts, each have a candidate representing it.\n\n [ Bob | John | Anna]\n\nIn the next elections they lose a representative due to a population shift. Bob will likely still run for his seat, as will Anna. But John can't run for that s... | null |
1vro5w | why is canada's leader, stephen harper, supporting israel so enthusiastically lately? | [
{
"answer": "* Israel doesn't really need Canadian support.\n\n* It's good for Harper politically. To the best of my knowledge, the Conservatives & religious people in Canada are pretty pro-Israel, just like in America.\n\n* Reddit is pretty anti-Israel. A lot of people aren't. I think that always seems to es... | null |
5wilux | why does walking on wet sand leave dry footprints? | [
{
"answer": "When you step you compress the space between the sand particles. This forces the water that was occupying the spaces out. When you lift your foot, the sand remains more compact than it was before. Also water is cohesive. It likes to stick to itself (Think of a drop of water on a table. It's not goi... | null |
22mvmn | How do we track a spacecraft in interplanetary space? | [
{
"answer": "There are a number of ways, such as triangulation via radio waves, the probe having a star finder, and inertial guidance systesms which report back. Also measuring doppler shift to guage velocity relative to us. Correcting for doppler shift is important not just for this, but to also correctly deco... | null |
a3dd0c | What were the primary motivations for Danish Vikings to invade and settle in England starting at the end of the 8th century? | [
{
"answer": "So a clarification question, are you more interested in settlement and invasion or the earlier raids marked as starting by the attack on Lindisfarne? There were was over 50 years from the first raids on England to the arrival of the Micel Here and the establishment of the Danelaw.",
"provenanc... | null |
5l3bjf | AskScience AMA Series: I'm /u/OrbitalPete, a volcanologist who works on explosive eruptions, earthquakes, and underwater currents. Ask Me Anything! | [
{
"answer": "Are there any new or troubling signs surrounding the Yellowstone Caldera? How prepared are we to deal with an event of that scope?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Two questions if you do not mind. \nScientists are sometimes known for not communicating their science to the none-sci... | null |
1sdw6v | How does gender as an analytical concept advance our understanding of history? | [
{
"answer": "Do you mean gender history or women's history? The two are commonly conflated, partly because in order to appeal more to mainstream academics the burgeoning movement of women's history academics branded it the less overtly political \"gender history\", a process Judith Bennett describes in better d... | null |
32hx92 | Is it known what the Romans and Anglo-Saxons thought of pre-occupation British sites such as Stonehenge? | [
{
"answer": "Both Anglo-Saxons and Romans recognized that time had a lot of depth, though precisely how old ruins were, and who built them, wasn't always clear. Some Roman authors like Lucretius had developed theories of human progress from stone tools to bronze to iron, and Babylonians and Egyptians both argue... | null |
1lacm5 | If you could take the average of all the temperatures of everything that exists in the world, would it always be the same? | [
{
"answer": "No it would not always be the same. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed but heat can be generated and taken away through other forms of energy. For example with friction the kinetic energy will change into heat energy, but when a liquid is evaporating it will cool the surface it is on/ the remai... | null |
59ddt7 | why isn't digital signature forgery a bigger problem? | [
{
"answer": "They're not really safe or easy to verify, but neither are actual signatures. The signature is just supposed to be an indication that you read the document and approve it; it's not some foolproof method of guaranteeing you're the one who signed it (that's what notarizing is for). Digital signatures... | null |
93zykg | How reliable is the Old Testament's accounts of Judah and Israel? | [
{
"answer": "There are a couple of schools of thought here. There is the Minimalist school, that really discounts a vast amount of the account. They only consider those parts that can be proven by archeological evidence to be accurate, and even then, only if it fulfills a few more criteria. So much of the accou... | null |
3ct1ne | how can events in dreams provide context for events and stimuli that occur in the real, physical world? | [
{
"answer": "It is usually a coincidence. You didn't notice all the times when it didn't match (you usually have multiple dreams every night, but you forget them). The one time that a super coincidence happened you think that it is really peculiar and you remember it.\n\nThat being said, (person experience from... | null |
20s3o6 | Could a nuclear winter lead to an ice age? | [
{
"answer": "According to this [excellent study] (_URL_0_) (pdf) about nuclear winter, a large nuclear war would cool global temperatures by 7-9 C, which is more than happened during the global ice age of 18,000 years ago. \n\nNow, while the short-term effects would be devastating to the human race, I do not t... | null |
3jb7ba | Are there any surviving examples of great helmets pre-14th century? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, there is a [13th century great helm in the Deutsches Historiches Museum](_URL_1_) - originally found in Schlossberg bei Dargen, Pomerania. Claude Blair and others date it to the second half of the 13th century. Note that unlike earlier great helms (such as thise illustrated on the West Front ... | null |
bavhql | since we will eventually hit a wall of reducing the size of transistors on a computer processor, what else can we do to improve its performance? | [
{
"answer": "I'm thinking that a fundamental understanding of how an electron moves between two points without passing through all points in between is going to be the next big advancement. That could theoretically open the door to having no wires. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are a f... | null |
1zmakb | how do muscles regenerate between sets of an excercise? | [
{
"answer": "Energy for you muscles to contract comes from burning sugar (glucose). Afterwards there is burnt sugar (pyruvate) left over that prevents more sugar from coming in to get burned. If there is enough oxygen (aerobic) the burnt sugar can be whisked off, but if there isn't enough oxygen (anaerobic) t... | null |
43wmge | how can sugar/sugar based things like candies go so long without spoiling but eating sugar and not brushing your teeth causes bacteria to flourish? or fermenting alcohol for that matter, why do bacteria like sugar sometimes? | [
{
"answer": "Highly concentrated sugar creates an environment toxic to bacteria. Once you dilute it with some water, it's food for them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Bacteria thrive in a warm, humid, dark environments, like the inside of a washing machine full of damp clothing, or your mouth... | null |
3m5q0y | why do astronauts not experience the effects of being in an anechoic chamber in space? | [
{
"answer": "Apparently, it's crazy loud in the ISS, to the point that it can cause issues with sleeping. Reason being, they're living inside a giant machine that has all types of systems going 24/7...AND there is no atmosphere or attached ground to dampen, absorb, and dissipate vibrational energy (sound) boun... | null |
21ceap | How much do we know about Marco Polo's journeys? | [
{
"answer": "It is clear that polo was indeed in China, and was received at the Mongol court. We know this from Chinese records. But it is also clear that he was not considered terribly important. \nPart of the confusion on the Chinese side concerns a Persian who had a similar name and did have an important ro... | null |
3wy0jz | why does hollywood seem to use the same soundboard sounds for things like cats and babies? | [
{
"answer": "Because they often do.\n\nThey're called \"stock sound effects\". There are certain noises out there that are free for use (at least within a production company) and were recorded previously. Obviously, if you don't have to pay or get legal authorization for use, or pay to record/edit your own vers... | null |
gmwv4 | What does "sunlight" do that incandescent light can't do? | [
{
"answer": "You're right that they both emit at roughly blackbody distributions, but according to [Wikipedia](_URL_0_), the Sun's blackbody temperature is ~6500 K, while incandescent light bulbs have a blackbody temperature in the range 2700 - 3300 K.\n\nThat means that the sun *does* produce \"excess\" light ... | null |
2yid10 | What was the first European army to use lines of musket infantry and fire by volleys in battle? | [
{
"answer": "The second question part of the question is easier to answer than the first. \n\nFiring by volleys was an innovation popularized by Maurice of Nassau and the Dutch army and first used at the battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600. Technically, his troops used the Arquebus and not the musket, but musket has... | null |
2wt6or | Sir Mackenzie Bowell, 5th Prime Minister of Canada? | [
{
"answer": "As I've established before here, electoral history is a great love of mine, so please excuse the flair!\n\nWithin the Westminster parliamentary system, it is not necessary for the leader of the government to also be the majority leader of the lower house, though it is certainly more convenient (and... | null |
yiil1 | checksums | [
{
"answer": "A checksum is a way to check that some number has been typed correctly, or at least is likely to have been done so. For example, the last digit in credit card numbers is a check digit. It is calculated from all the other digits. When you enter your credit card number somewhere, the receiving party ... | null |
2fj898 | Watering with carbonated water? | [
{
"answer": "This is probably not a good idea. Carbonated water is more acidic than regular water because it contains carbonic acid and this will decrease the pH level of the soil. Changing the pH like this could be harmful or deadly for the plant.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prov... | null |
entp0o | does eating food affect the absorption of painkillers? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think so. That kind of recommendation sounds more like to avoid of doing something bad to your stomach. Something like when people recommend to eat something with the coffee to counter the acidity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Pharmacist here. It depends which drug speci... | null |
32c4yn | Why don't planets have 3D orbits? | [
{
"answer": "The solar system originally formed from a huge spherical cloud of gas and dust. Within this cloud, each molecule was attracted to every other molecule by gravity. The cloud was rotating (like everything else in the universe), so it started with some net angular momentum. In effect, this means that ... | null |
2s9st5 | Why was The Blitz ineffective at demoralizing the British population? | [
{
"answer": "It's rather hard to state definitively; as Richard Overy puts it in *The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945*, \"for the historian... any attempt to suggest what might have led to social breakdown even in one city is an exercise in speculation.\" Certainly before the war there was a rather apocalyptic v... | null |
4vwnyq | why do people like to make people angry? | [
{
"answer": "In my experience making someone angry is someone's way of feeling powerful by affecting someone. Probably because whoever enjoys causing people to be angry feels out of control in their own life. Also provoking someone to be angry is an easy way to get them to act aggressively and acting aggressive... | null |
pzh75 | Why does Pluto orbit the sun on a different plane to the planets? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, it's not uncommon. The more massive a body is, the harder it is to lift it out of the plane.\n\nIn the particular case of Pluto, during the Solar System's early years, interactions with Neptune produced the inclination (I'm not sure how detailed an explanation you'd like, but Neptune migrated... | null |
247jd5 | demyelinating neuropathy | [
{
"answer": "The way the brain works is a series of electrical impulses caused by an action potential. This doesn't work like the matrix says it does. This potential is actually caused by positive charges, potassium and sodium. Myelin is a fatty protein that surrounds some neurons. Other neurons are surrounded ... | null |
2imuzv | why are ebola patients being treated in a wide range of places instead of all being contained in one treatment area, or ones with close proximity? | [
{
"answer": "Transport can be dangerous and increase the spread of infection. If you can get the treatment to the patient, better to keep him isolated to reduce the chance of spreading the disease. Also, if you centralized all the patients, one crazy nut could fire bomb the location in some deranged attempt to ... | null |
3p1rd0 | If Photons don't have a mass/charge, why don't they go through matter? | [
{
"answer": "I remember in a Sixty Symbols video in which professor Moriarty explained that photons are absorbed by matter. In the very small spectrum of light that we can observe, ROYGBIV, the rays are absorbed into a matter and light is produced by the electrons they excite. Something see through like glass h... | null |
8tum1b | why is seemingly every photo tagged with a “getty images” watermark? how big are they? and are they just an image host or do they also employ photographers? | [
{
"answer": "Getty is huge. They buy images from existing photographers and then aggressively protect copyright. I don't believe they employ their own photographers, but prefer to buy images from others.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": ... | null |
35si0z | The Enola Gay was able to fly into Japan without resistance due to similar flights done by the US that were believed to be recon, but did these previous flights get attacked and did these men die without fighter support so that the Enola Gay could complete its mission? | [
{
"answer": "By the summer of 1945 there simply put was NO Japanese air force left in any effective manner. Squadrons had been withdrawn to caves and hidden hideouts to serve as suicide attacks when the invasion came. And AAA batteries had been concentrated around Tokyo, and even then by the summer ammunition w... | null |
4xqvcf | Why did Captain James Cook doubt Australia's existence prior to his first great voyage? | [
{
"answer": "It must be understood what Cook was doubting. \n\nThe concept of a Terra Australis was one largely based on an idea that the earth had to be balanced and that the land in the Southern Hemisphere had to roughly equal land in the northern hemisphere, at the same latitudes. It was a concept largely ba... | null |
2v47hf | how did filmmakers achieved visual effects in the 70s and early 80s? | [
{
"answer": "Well [here](_URL_0_) is an example how some of the effects in Empire strikes back came to be",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Which visual effects in particular. There are many different kinds.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
6ui7h2 | Is it possible to refract radio waves at such a series of angles, that you end up with visible light? | [
{
"answer": "It is not possible to refract light into a different colour. What you are confusing is the idea of the wavelength changing in the block.\n\nWhen light enters a block and is refracted the wavelength changes because the maximum speed of light reduces. This is from L=c/f. However to conserve energy t... | null |
46bck6 | Did British/English society change in any significant way due to the American Revolution? How did it change the way Britain dealt with the rest of her colonies? | [
{
"answer": "Regarding the American revolution changing the way Britain dealt with the rest of her colonies, it does seem to have had an effect. Charles Cornwallis, the general who surrendered to US and French forces at Yorktown in 1781, ending the war, was appointed as governor general of India in 1786. One of... | null |
16yvx8 | Why was the 'hand tucked in the shirt' pose (think Napoleon) so popular in early photographs? | [
{
"answer": " In the early days of photography, exposure time was much longer than what you might be used to today. Think 30 minutes for a sunny day outside. The reason is the sensitivity of the early \"films\". \nSensitivity went higher but the exposure would still be too long: people would appear blurry if no... | null |
3my7za | what tests are scientist's willing to invest in now that there's water on mars, whereas before they wouldn't? | [
{
"answer": "Well I imagine now they would be more interested in searching for signs of life, as they now know that is a distinct possibility with liquid water. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "21857752",
"title": "Water on Mars"... | null |
9qluax | could armored dinosaurs like ankylosaurus and nodosaurus swim? | [
{
"answer": "Theoretically it is possible for large animals to swim. If these dinosaurs did is an entirely different question and one I doubt we have an answer for",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Very unlikely, because the Ankylosaurus was a walking tank. It weighed between 5 to 8 tons and was ... | null |
17wze1 | the phenomenon in our universe known as dark flow | [
{
"answer": "The first and most important thing to know about it is that it's not actually known to be a thing at all.\n\nFor starters, ignore everything in the universe smaller than a galaxy. In fact, you can *pretty much* ignore everything smaller than a galactic *cluster.* We're talking about a very large sc... | null |
3ar8sj | why are there 'war crimes' which are different to 'crimes' isn't killing someone simply murder? | [
{
"answer": "War crimes are war related crimes outlined in the Geneva convention, like killing prisoners of war, using chemical weapons like poison gas, killing medical personnel, etc.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A state of war between (or within) states is a time we've pretty much universa... | null |
9p1s9o | Looking for recommendations | [
{
"answer": "Understand that overview histories are inherently flaws as they seek general portraits that can be easily picked apart, and they carry with them embedded subjective points of view. That said, I find these two entertaining and well crafted: [the series by Michael Wood](_URL_1_) and the series by [Si... | null |
4cvgzl | Whenever I buy a lottery ticket I remind myself that 01-02-03-04-05-06 is just as likely to win as any other combination. But I can't bring myself to pick such a set of numbers as my mind just won't accept the fact that results will ever be so ordered. What is the science behind this misconception? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure if there is a name for this heuristic, but is has to do with our ideas about randomness and what we think a \"typical\" set of random numbers or events looks like.\n\nAnother example of this occurs when you ask people to simulate flipping a coin 100 times. In the sequence of heads and ... | null |
19euee | Does there exist/could there exist life that uses radiation as a food source? | [
{
"answer": "Already happened.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I assume you mean radiation with higher energy than visible light (like the various forms of ionizing radiation)?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Just want to chime in here.\n\n > If there was life that d... | null |
fah8l | What would happen to someone if they grew up in a low gravity environment such as a moon colony? | [
{
"answer": "In addition to the low bone density and weak muscles, I'd imagine they'd be really sick from constant radiation exposure. But I don't see any impediment to them coming to earth, although they might have to start off in a wheelchair.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I read once that ... | null |
jx9ts | wound healing. what is it in our body that makes it heal cuts, burns, scrapes, etc. | [
{
"answer": "In your blood are little things called platelets (or thrombocytes if you want to get specific). When you get cut, your brain tells them to fix the hole, as otherwise you could get infected etc. The platelets stick together again and again until a clot is formed, which stops continuous bleeding from... | null |
3i45zn | why are so many candidates with little chance of winning seeking presidential nomination? | [
{
"answer": "It gets them additional public exposure, and even if they don't win, the exposure can help them politically since a higher profile means more influence.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There might be several motivations: \n\n* The first one is the 'you never know factor'. You can't... | null |
1k3jhm | can you actually go blind from looking at a solar eclipse with out proper eye protection? why? | [
{
"answer": "Your pupils get large because the light levels are low, but it's still giving you a lot of UV light. Your pupils would normally get smaller to protect you from such a thing, but the eclipse fools this mechanism.\n\nYou absolutely can go blind, or at least have seriously damaged eyesight from retin... | null |
1cz686 | Has a mythical creature ever turned out to be real? | [
{
"answer": "I believe the Okapi was studied in cryptozoology (the same field that studies Bigfoot).\n\n[This site](_URL_0_) lists it along with the platypus, komodo dragon, and the mountain gorilla, and [This somewhat dubious looking website](_URL_1_) touches on the fact that it takes European evidence for an ... | null |
sewal | Light is oscillating electric and magnetic fields. Does this mean that *any* moving charge can create light? | [
{
"answer": "[Yes!](_URL_0_). A strong or fast moving charge is required.\n\nEdit: As long as it's not moving at a constant speed. And, I just that's not the paper I wanted to link to.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "9426",
"titl... | null |
13p5q1 | What did the ancient Greeks look like? | [
{
"answer": "We must remember first and foremost that Ancient Greece was not a collective entity and the way that the Athenians presented themselves was certainly not the same as how a Persian or a Macedonian would present themselves.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
wsezh | How can patients have half of their brain removed (Hemispherectomy) and still have their memory and personality unaffected? | [
{
"answer": "Hemispherectomy is usually only performed when there is such vast damage to one side of the brain that it is essentially not useful. So, yes, it matters which half is removed. If you simply removed one half of the brain in a normal person, there would be very significant detrimental effects. How... | null |
3gyezh | why does the united nations need permanent members? | [
{
"answer": "The permanent members of the security council were the most power countries at the time of the formation of the UN. They would not join the UN without the powers of veto and permanent status being given them. Without them there is no point in having the UN as it would have absolutely no power or au... | null |
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