id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
wrbjm | #Physics #Astronomy Expanding Earth hypothesis and possible solutions to make it work!? | [
{
"answer": "No, it's not just the mass problem. \n\nThere's also the entire geometry problem. Take the roundest egg you can find, break its shell into pieces. Now try and fit those pieces to a the outside of a football or basketball. You notice how the curvatures are all wrong? To get them to fit you have to... | null |
dj8qe2 | why high fevers make us loopy/silly | [
{
"answer": "The purpose of a fever is to cook whatever invader is inside of you. Your body is going into the most primitive for of survival so it's not too worried about higher level things such as say doing algebra. \n\nHomeostasis (maintaining an even environment in the body) is very important for overall fu... | null |
21tamk | Why did Early Christians call Hell "Hades" after the god rather than Tartarus? | [
{
"answer": "Both Greek words, *Hades* and *Tartarus* do double-duty as both an abode for the dead, and a personified deity-figure, so the choice is not between naming a place after the god Hades and the use of Tartarus.\n\nIt's a little unclear whether *hades* first referred to the god or to the place, I have ... | null |
25f9vr | why do i only seem to realize how drunk i am when i go to the bathroom? | [
{
"answer": "Its exactly what you suspect it is. Being alone, and lack of stimuli relative to the party. All of your thought power is on you and you notice that you feel weird.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Going to the bathroom is the experience that links me to all past drunk experiences. E... | null |
1zq8bz | How did America come to love sugar so much more than other countries? | [
{
"answer": "At least part of the reason was [demand for rum.](_URL_0_) Rum is [made from sugar cane](_URL_1_), which we imported from the Caribbean, distilled into molasses and rum, then exported out again. Manufacture of rum was early Colonial New England's largest and [most prosperous industry.](_URL_2_) \n... | null |
1u7gwr | Are there many cases of a 'food taster' actually consuming poison and dying on the spot? | [
{
"answer": "For some reason, people seem to want to fill this thread with things they've heard, movie anecdotes, and statistics on the speed of various poisons. None of these things actually answers the question, which involves whether a food taster ever *actually consumed poison and died*. If you cannot answe... | null |
1smuwd | How much is actually known about the naming of US cities and towns after European cities? Did they really just give the city the same name as the place they came from? | [
{
"answer": "Well, Wikipedia may not be the most nuanced and scholarly source for toponomic history. Pretty much every state has a book devoted to the sources of its placenames; the grandfather of them all is George R. Stewart's 1945 book *Names Upon the Land.*\n\nStewart (pp. 46-47) vividly imagines the discu... | null |
6o4scv | If we have a blind spot in the center of our vision from our optical nerve, how come when I close one eye I don't see a "hole" in my vision? | [
{
"answer": "You do have a hole in your field of vision. Your brain is just reeeaaally good about making sure you don't notice it.\n\nIt uses details from what's around it to infer what *should* be there, and fills it in for you. \n\nThere are even certain tests you can do to make it noticeable.\n\nEdit: For ex... | null |
hhu4a | What do we actually know about the Big Bang? | [
{
"answer": "\"Big bang\" can mean several things.\nFor a cosmologist, it's a theoretical framework which claims that the Universe was hotter and denser in the past. If you push the predictions to the edge, they predict a singularity. We don't know anything about this singularity because we know our laws of phy... | null |
a43qzl | How did King Kamehameha unite the Hawaiian Islands one by one? | [
{
"answer": "##Part 1\n\nIn the work *Voices of Resistance and Renewal: Indigenous Leadership in Education* (2015), Housman writes concerning Indigenous leadership principles from a Hawaiian perspective in chapter three (pp. 49-75). In describing these principles, stories of Kamehameha's leadership are used to ... | null |
2r8erz | why does israel collect palestine's taxes? | [
{
"answer": "Because Palestine doesn't really exist yet. It's a complicated situation. The lands that are 'Palestine' are technically still owned by Israel. It's what is called a de jure state. The territory is nominally controlled by the Palestinians but they do not have true sovereignty yet.",
"proven... | null |
2sjdgw | if cooking kills bacteria, why does it matter how long we leave meat out, or how often we thaw and refreeze it? | [
{
"answer": "Some bacteria create toxins in the process of breaking down the food they're living in. Enough of these toxins can make you sick, even if almost all the bacteria that made them are long since dead. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As bacteria grow they release toxins. Even if you... | null |
tkl1c | What is the difference between Genetic Modification and Cross pollination? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up question: do genetically modified crops ever contain kill switches to make them unusually easy to kill with a common herbicide? This would be to help control the crop and any other plants that the genetic modifications may spread to.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Direct... | null |
2g7rn2 | why are 28 pages classified in the congressional 9/11 report? if the terrorists were being supported by another country, shouldn't that information be public? | [
{
"answer": "The government keeps secrets for a lot of reasons. For example, suppose the report contained information only available to someone highly placed in certain governments, A.K.A. a spy. Releasing that info publicly would likely get them killed.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Obviousl... | null |
1od44c | How do doctors tell the difference between someone with ADHD and someone who just has a poor attention span (unfocused, undisciplined, etc.) ? | [
{
"answer": "The diagnosis of ADHD is a clinical one, meaning that it is not diagnosed based on objective data such as lab tests or imaging. It is based on a series of criteria agreed upon by psychiatrists and other physicians. The criteria is listed in a book called the DSM V. \n\nIn order to make the diagnosi... | null |
6ve5k4 | As we gain weight, do we store more blood? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, though normally it's related to height compared to weight. That is why people get hypertension because the blood has to be pumped harder through the adipose tissue to prevent tissue death, a good example of this if you've ever seen \"Body Worlds\" with the cross sections healthy/obese arms & ... | null |
3yao71 | Did Christians/Jewish groups ever perform acts of terrorism? | [
{
"answer": "So this is a difficult question to answer due to the complex definition of Terrorism, however the answer is absolutely yes. For the sake of answering this question I am going to define terrorism as an act committed by a group against a civilian population in order to inspire fear. I am sure that so... | null |
3w5pew | how come the f-35 program cost way more to develop than the f-22 despite being generally less technologically advanced? | [
{
"answer": "F-35 is pretty much 3 different planes, that look similar. \n\n* Navy version has different wings and modifications to frame to support carrier landing. \n\n* Marine version has VSTOL. \n\n* Air Force version has better performance. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Partially due to... | null |
7po8d5 | Did the Habsburg monarchs know about incest problems? | [
{
"answer": "/u/cleopatra_philopater talked about royal inbreeding in [In societies where incestual marriage with very close degrees of relation was tolerated/celebrated (eg; brother-sister pairings in Egypt) did people ever notice or point out that the children of such pairings seemed to die more often than on... | null |
d6e3zr | How close can two planets be to each other? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, they most definitely will influence each other. How much? Well that depends on mass, distance, and just how different the planets are from each other. \n\nSo for your SciFi example, You're probably imagining two planets of roughly equal size in proximity to each other, peacefully coexisting. T... | null |
7vf6fp | how do altimeters work? (altitude detecting gauges) | [
{
"answer": "Most of them are essentially pressure gauges. The higher you are above a given level the lower the air pressure. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3903716",
"title": "Radar altimeter",
"section": "Section::::P... | null |
6pf4y1 | why some movies get low rating on imdb and rotten tomatoes but it's still enjoyable and well liked by a lot of people? | [
{
"answer": "Because an enjoyable movie doesn't necessarily have to be a good movie. The directing or acting or whatever could technically be \"bad\" but you still might like the story for example. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The answer is simple: people have different opinions. \n\nThe sc... | null |
a1jhf6 | What causes the magnetic moment of charged particles like the electron? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think you'll find a deeper \"reason\". It is a particle property, just like the electric charge and the mass.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1673288",
"title": "Electron magnetic moment",
"section": ... | null |
2id6hm | Did Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley change R & B and Rock and Roll in any significant way, or did they just popularize the music among white Americans? | [
{
"answer": "Not an expert, but I'm currently taking a History of Rock class and I might be able to shed some light on this, regarding Elvis specifically. First a little bit of background:\n\nIt's generally agreed upon that the common ancestor of almost all popular music of the 20th century began with ragtime i... | null |
1vvt0i | Was getting attacked by large predators a problem for early American colonists or frontier settlers? | [
{
"answer": "Governor Bradford only makes a single mention of wolves in the context of actual encounters. While scouting for a location to set up their colony some were heard howling in the darkness and frightened off with gunfire. \n\n > So being very weary, they betooke them to rest. But aboute midnight, they... | null |
2y9v8n | how do computer screens work and how do they display images | [
{
"answer": "In LCD monitors an electric current is sent through the crystal,rearranging the 'spin' of the picture to display a certain color. There are 3 layers, a plastic screen, a color censoring sheet and the crystal _URL_0_ see the color a backlight at the bottom of the monitor is passed through the setup ... | null |
9s1jxi | why is it only red light that develops photos? what makes red able to do this as opposed to any other color, or even natural daylight? | [
{
"answer": "Red light doesn't develop photos. Photos are developed with chemicals. They use red lights in dark rooms because black and white film is insensitive to red light, so you can see what you're doing without exposing the film more.\n\nFor colour film, you in fact open the film and put it in a lightproo... | null |
cwube1 | why does doubling cooking temperature not cut cooking time in half? | [
{
"answer": "It can do, but there are too many variables for it to be a direct relationship like heating all the way through, what the water percentage is, the size of object or even size of oven.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "That would lead to a burned exterior and a raw or undercooked inte... | null |
2cqykv | Were there different ethnic neighborhoods in the city of Rome where ethnicities clustered, such as the Chinatowns in various US cities? | [
{
"answer": "To a point. Around the Aventine, for example, there has been found a cluster of Palmyrene inscriptions, which indicates that there was a community there. Palmyra was an oasis city in Syria at the center of a number of trade routes that is famous for the strength of its local identity and the visibi... | null |
7goe79 | are organs the same size for everyone or are they bigger for naturally bigger people and vise versa? | [
{
"answer": "Of course, Organs needs to grow proportionately to the size of the person so they may function properly. A good example is the heart. The heart from a small person may not function properly on the body of someone with a bigger build, due to how hard it needs to work in order to circulate blood arou... | null |
aj8juz | What were the Finns doing during the Viking age? What kind of contact did they have with their Nordic neighbors? | [
{
"answer": "'the Finns' are in fact very problematic term for the Viking Ages. \n\nDo you mean the word as current Finlanders, or, 'the Finns' in contemporary and medieval Scandinavian sources? \n\nIf you mean the former, it would be very difficult for me to answer except for very general outlines, based on... | null |
5ljd6j | why are some things transparent when in liquid form but not in solid form? | [
{
"answer": "It all depends on the bonds forming (this is actually more of a chemistry question). When a thing changes states (like solid to liquid) the way its molecules bond changes and these bonds might form structures that bend light in a different way.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
9le37s | what should i do when someone around me has a seizure? | [
{
"answer": "Help them to the ground and put them in the recovery position. Call 911 regardless. Worst case they'll just check his vitals and leave. Seizures can cause permanent damage the longer they run. EMS will have Clonazepam they can give to help ease the seizure. They'll also check for a medic-alert brac... | null |
qw1lw | Reddit, why doesn't corn on the cob turn into popcorn when heated in the microwave? | [
{
"answer": "Certain [genetic varieties of corn](_URL_0_) have different propensities for popping. Zea mays averta is most commonly used for popping corn, while zea mays saccharata is a type of sweet corn (that you would eat off the cob). They differ in a way (starch content I believe) that makes one structur... | null |
2ou5yp | how did non-contemporary technology navigators/explorers get to their desired destination with such accuracy? | [
{
"answer": "The use of calculated tools and a very good system of star watching and sun tracking.\n\nNavigating used to be a very serious trade, taking years to learn and being very efficient with sometimes crude and unreliable tools.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Latitude can be calculated ... | null |
1oo1sh | Did the Neanderthals have music? | [
{
"answer": "Likely. There was an artifact found in Slovenia that suggests that would have been the case. It was a fragment of a bone flute made from the femur of a bear which is believed to be of Neanderthal origin. More info here: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Possibly. \n\nIn Slove... | null |
2mw27y | why are the careers of famous people so damaged by rape allegations when there's been no trial? | [
{
"answer": "The stigma that comes with an accusation is like having herpies. No one wants anything to do with herpies.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > Are the TV stations that afraid of social stigma that they ignore innocent until proven guilty?\n\nYes. Probably rightfully.\n\nThis is pro... | null |
7f9vhv | Why didn't the Imperial German Navy, make more attempts at commerce raid in World War I. | [
{
"answer": "There are essentially two phases to German commerce raiding in WWI. The first was carried out by cruisers and auxiliaries that were based in the German colonies. However, these were hunted down relatively soon after the declaration of war. In 1915-17, we see the second phase, consisting mainly of c... | null |
3b2cnz | what is the source of the idea that animals and insects can "smell fear?" any credibility to fear having a smell? | [
{
"answer": "When people are scared, their breathing and heart rate both increase. Your body temperature rises, and you exhale more CO2 than normal.\n\nInsects can detect this, and are attracted to you. Not because of the fear, but because a big hot CO2 making thing flailing around is probably worth investigati... | null |
7tud8w | Was ancient Mesopotamia democratic before power was consolidated by kings and emperors? | [
{
"answer": "The idea of \"Primitive Democracy\" in ancient Mesopotamia seems to still hold currency. Jacobsen's work has been cited and elaborated in books by several big-name assyriologists like Saggs, Oppenheim, and Kramer. \nI found [this conference paper](_URL_0_) by one Benjamin Isakhan which gives a pret... | null |
1c3rul | How do the chains on a bicycle work? | [
{
"answer": "Torque is the result of multiplying force by distance. The reason that it's easier to turn a nut with a wrench is because you are applying the force some distance away from the axis. Move twice as far away, and you only need half the force to develop the same torque. Bicycle gears work the same ... | null |
2mp7pc | what are spider venoms made from, how does a spider produce it? | [
{
"answer": "Spider venom is not all the same, but most are neurotoxins which are polyamines or polypeptides. Spiders produce it from a gland they have.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "45399329",
"title": "Pathophysiology of spid... | null |
bvku95 | why do our eyes burn/sting when something gets in them? | [
{
"answer": "The eyes are one of, if not the most sensitive part of the body, it's simply them getting irritated. \n\nJust like a corrosive substance will irritate your skin, the eyes are so sensitive that dust, smoke or even an eyelash will cause pain. Because they are so important, we evolved with super sens... | null |
7t1i0e | Is it possible to use cosmic rays to generate electricity? In other words could we use cosmic rays to power solar panels or other types of materials? | [
{
"answer": "Sure, in principle. But the remnants of cosmic rays that reach sea level are minimally ionizing radiation, which means that they don't deposit very much energy into things. You won't get much energy from them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
1y6slo | When the Mongols were poised to attack Europe, how aware was western Europe of the impending attack? | [
{
"answer": "They were on the whole pretty unconcious of the threat. The only prior knowledge Europe had had of the Mongols came from garbled stories that Crusaders had heard about Mongol conquests in the East. As they had very little idea as to what was actually going on they came up with a distinctly distorte... | null |
106lri | why do oil refineries/wells have these burning tubes? | [
{
"answer": "I used to work at a refinery, and by talking with the operators there are several reasons. First, there are a lot of byproducts that are created that would be harmful such as Benzine-based derivitives. The best way to dispose these are to burn them.\n\n\nSecondly, it's a venting system. If there is... | null |
30kgys | if most voters disagree with corporate lobbying and company funded candidates, then why do we still vote for them? | [
{
"answer": "Some states experimented with severe term limits for politicians in the 1990s. The idea was supposed to be that if you kicked out all the career politicians and forced voters to elect fresh faces who had no ties to lobbyists, then you would get a corruption-free system.\n\nIt didn't work *at all*.... | null |
1xl2xg | explain how american investing works. buying/selling stocks, bonds, trusts. | [
{
"answer": "Stocks involve giving money to a company in return for a say in how it is run and a share in its future profits. If the company does well, you can resell the stocks to someone else for more than you bought them.\n\nBuying a bond means you are lending money to a government. After a predetermined amo... | null |
88y0ci | why cables - like laptop charging cable and phone usb cables- stop working without any obvious damage ? | [
{
"answer": "The wire inside the cable might break over time, that's why sometimes your headphones work in only certain positions, and then stop working altogether. It might also be that the electronics inside the adapter got messed up due to prolonged use, since using it makes it heat up. I hope that answer wa... | null |
1j629y | What did middle class Russian women wear in the late 1700s and early 1800s? | [
{
"answer": "What do you mean \"middle-class?\" The middle class is an extremely recent phenomenon and is largely only has significance as a sociological category in the United States. In the 1700-1800s in Russia we are still deep in the system of Soslovie which is most similar to European feudalism so really t... | null |
3gxjdn | Do Dark Matter and/or Dark Energy remain of the same quantity through time? | [
{
"answer": "Dark energy and dark matter are two completely different things which unfortunately share similar names. While the density of dark energy remains constant as space expands over time (and is itself the cause of the accelerated expansion), dark matter much like any other matter dilutes as the univers... | null |
7kwkxk | How did scientist come up with and prove carbon dating? | [
{
"answer": "So, as you may know, the number of protons in an atom determines what kind of element it is. In it's stable form, carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, and is otherwise known as carbon 12. Nitrogen, the next element on the periodic table, is most stable with 7 protons and 7 neutrons, aka nitrogen 14... | null |
izy00 | Why doesn't lightning travel at the speed of light. | [
{
"answer": "What’s happening is the ionization of air by high‐voltage electricity. It starts at the clouds and makes a path to the ground. The ionization propagates quickly, but at nowhere near the speed of light.\n\nYou may be confused by the folk‐wisdom of measuring the difference in time between seeing the ... | null |
lh7h3 | Question for someone that understands the FDA drug approval process. | [
{
"answer": "As a result of that FDA report, mifamurtide was denied approval by the FDA\n\n > As previously announced, in the U.S., the Company continues to work with the COG as well as external experts and advisors to gather patient follow up data from the Phase 3 clinical trial of mifamurtide and to respond t... | null |
6zg4x0 | Did Henry VIII make divorce legal only for himself, or for the whole nation under the Church of England? | [
{
"answer": "Just to make a distinction... Henry VIII never actually divorced any of his wives. \n* Catherine's was an annulment. It was declared an invalid marriage due to her previous marriage to Henry's brother, Arthur.\n* Anne Boylen's was an annulment. It was declared an invalid marriage due to her (suppos... | null |
40ll7l | why do you lose your radio signal(fm) when you've driven a fair distance into a tunnel, but you don't regain it until you're completely out of it? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on the direction the FM signal is coming from. Think of it like a beam of light (actually, radio signals technically *are* light!) where solid structures casts shadows.\n\nIf the light is shining towards the entrance of a tunnel, then the inside of the tunnel is still lit up near the ent... | null |
9mghmv | what causes the vibrant clouds when a rocket is launched at night | [
{
"answer": "You're seeing condensation trails from the rocket exhaust. As the rocket fuel burns, it creates water vapor. That water vapor condenses and freezes in the upper atmosphere. It happened to show up very well in this launch because of the time of the launch. It was past sunset & dark on the gr... | null |
j2n1f | for those of you who are looking for a simple explanation of complex things: simple wikipedia | [
{
"answer": "Unfortunately, only has a very small fraction of the pages real Wikipedia has.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "didn't know about this, this would be a great thing to post on the LI5 LHC post",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well that's just great. All this effort t... | null |
m2izj | why can't you make a bit-for-bit copy of a disc and use that as the original? | [
{
"answer": "The disks used on gaming consoles have special components of the data tracks near the inside of the disk. These components can be neither read nor replicated by standard drives. Only the drives used in the consoles themselves can access and utilize these proprietary features.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
fvb8ra | why does putting pressure on a specific point on your neck 'cure' a creak in the neck? | [
{
"answer": "It's possible you have a \"pinched nerve\" essentially the muscles in your neck are cramping and by pressing on it you release some of that pressure on the nerve. It's also possible that it's just simple muscle fatigue and pressing on the affected muscle group stretches it out like stretching out y... | null |
2t120j | People say that a nuclear bomb is equivalent to X tons of TNT. Well, if X tons of TNT were actually there instead of a nuclear bomb, will it have the same effect? | [
{
"answer": "It's an equivalency of energy \n\nThey could also equate it too calories or joules but tnt they think is more relatable\n\nTo answer your question directly no it would not explode the same simply because a nuclear bombs volume is smaller than that many tons of tnt and many other factors ",
"pro... | null |
1ttn6o | Do the theories of /r/pornfree and /r/nofap hold any scientific weight? | [
{
"answer": "User SteezmasterJones has alluded to the argument about pornography affecting our respect for women and objectification, which I don't know of research that directly speaks to the question, so I'll tackle this from a different angle. Novelty, habits, and habituation.\n\nSociety seems to have welcom... | null |
418naf | Why are Uranus's moons equatorial? | [
{
"answer": "So first, let's get this out of the way: The idea that Uranus got knocked on its side by a severe impact early on is an old theory, and in the past 20 years this idea has strongly fallen out of favor. It turns out it's almost impossible to have an impact large enough to turn Uranus on its side that... | null |
230dn5 | why does polishing a white object to a high sheen not turn it into a mirror? | [
{
"answer": "There are two kinds of reflection: specular reflection and diffuse reflection.\n\nSpecular reflection is when a beam of light hits an object, and is reflected back in one *specific* direction. If you shot a laser at a specular reflective surface, it would bounce right back and look pretty much the ... | null |
23ot0t | if pain is your body's way of telling you to stop doing something, then why does exercise hurt? | [
{
"answer": "Med student currently procrastinating from my dissertation on pain here. Pain is a signal warning you of potential damage. In the case of exercise, you are ripping muscle fibres among other things, hence it is painful. In a wider sense your body cannot tell if something will be good long term, only... | null |
9bvnb4 | how does baking soda remove scratches from spectacles | [
{
"answer": "It is a really mild abrasive. It will only remove tiny scratches. That is also why it is a tooth whitener.\n\nBasically if it doesn't fully dissolve, it is slightly harder than glass and grinds it down.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wi... | null |
mfz5s | today's xkcd comic, "where citations come from". | [
{
"answer": "I hope this doesn't double-comment. I submitted a response and it didn't work (damn IE). Here goes again:\n\nThe punchline is the fact that just because a Wikipedia article has a \"source\" listed does not mean that fact is true. The storyline is as follows:\n\n1. Joe makes up a random \"fact\" and... | null |
8b8ds1 | why do people prefer someone who is a lot like them than someone who is not? | [
{
"answer": "This is both quite a bit of a generalization, and very much subject to individual taste. While there's some truth there, it's absolutely not that simple. And there's also the conventional wisdom (equally flawed) that opposites attract.\n\nA decent article on the subject: _URL_0_\n\n",
"provenan... | null |
1vzta9 | why a car maneuvers better in reverse than forwards. | [
{
"answer": "The front wheels of the car are the steerable wheels, they tell the back wheels where to go. It is easier to place the static wheels where they need to go first and then adjust the front accordingly.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When you have to parallel park, you have to move t... | null |
5jqli5 | Why does the Pauli exclusion principle cause the strong nuclear force to be repulsive at short distances? | [
{
"answer": "/u/robusetceleritas would love this one.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The strong force between nucleons, the **residual** strong force, is sort of an amalgamation of many quark-quark interactions. It's sort of analogous to intermolecular forces in chemistry, where it's a manifes... | null |
1om90k | How has the image of Death (the grim reaper) changed over time? When and why did he come to be represented with a dark hood and scythe? (X-Post Art History) | [
{
"answer": "re your second question, there was a similar post a couple of months ago, so check it for previous responses:\n\n[Where did the grim reaper as a symbol of death come from?](_URL_1_)\n\n... also, this post won't really answer your first question (I don't think), but you may find it interesting as th... | null |
6tl30j | why do some exercises really have a noticeable effect on my muscles and others just makes my muscles tired? | [
{
"answer": "In the first scenario (curls), you're working your muscle near its maximum ability. This causes small tears in the muscle, and your body rebuilds those tears stronger than they were before as a way to adapt to it (get stronger).\n\nIn the second scenario (circles), you're not working your muscle a... | null |
1ke7q4 | Has an earth year always been 365.25 days? | [
{
"answer": "At no point in human history has the length of the period of the earth going around the sun changed in that manner. That's a backward rationalization trying to explain how ancient 360-day lunar calendars were actually \"correct.\"\n\nTo my knowledge, the period of the earth around the sun is pretty... | null |
8aeot7 | what makes a password stronger than another? | [
{
"answer": "Because some types of attacks will do what's called a 'dictionary attack' and try dictionary words and thing based on them (apple, Apple, APPLE, etc). If you have to brute force a password (meaning try every possible combination) then as you add numbers, case, and specials the number of possible c... | null |
2gq2hv | Why did a US ship shoot down Iran Air 655? | [
{
"answer": "So, the Iran Air tragedy is rooted in the larger Iran/Iraq conflict. The US, at different times, supported both sides in an effort to produce a politically acceptable victory. But most importantly, the US favored stability, and tried to prevent further escalation of the war. After all, both Iraq an... | null |
1tidox | I want to learn about the past 120~ years of European history. | [
{
"answer": "May I suggest the French Revolution as a starting point? For both social and military history. Hitler also refers to it many times in Mein Kampf it played directly into his thinking.\n\nIt was also the starting point for the century that was filled with revolutions which had an immense impact.\n\nI... | null |
224xda | Is it actually possible to run across water? | [
{
"answer": "According various [online calculations](_URL_0_) a person would need to run at about 80km/h in order to generate enough thrust against the water. \n\nSmaller animals, like like basilisk lizard , have less mass and a higher power to weight ratio and can briefly run across the water. ",
"provenan... | null |
13zle1 | How useful are cryoprotectants in preserving tissue? | [
{
"answer": "One of the main uses of cryoprotectants is to prevent ice crystals from forming. We're mostly water, so freezing tissue causes the water to form crystals which rips cells apart. \n\nA lot of it depends on what you're using as a cryoprotectant. I see you're interested in humans. I work with yeast, a... | null |
2i06ng | how does someone with insomnia continue living? | [
{
"answer": "From personal experience, You can last atleast 5 days with a 30 minute nap somewhere around day 3-4.\n\nAlso, It's not like Insomniacs never sleep. They just have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"w... | null |
3f8t5t | how does the ufc get away with paying their fighters so little? | [
{
"answer": "Supply and Demand, to put it simply.\n\nThe public is apparently willing to pay hundreds of millions to watch Mayweather and Pacquiao, and just the same UFC fighters are apparently willing to fight despite not receiving such massive payouts. If, as a collective whole, UFC fighters were unwilling t... | null |
e25akg | why does stretching a muscle help it heal faster? | [
{
"answer": "There is no good evidence that shows static stretching does anything useful. Dynamic stretching (which is actually just moving around) is evidence based to be useful.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Pretty sure this is a false premise.\n\nWhat makes you think stretching a muscle he... | null |
lbejo | Speed of light VS Age of the universe? | [
{
"answer": "This has been asked a bunch of times, check these out\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\n[_URL_3_](_URL_3_)\n\n[_URL_1_](_URL_1_)\n\n[_URL_2_](_URL_2_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "simply put, you know how the universe stretches? One measurement includes the stretch of 13.7 billion years ... | null |
2lqcnn | if all the baby boomers start pulling out their money from rrsp/rifs and "the market" in general, will the stock market suffer? | [
{
"answer": "The question is not if... it is when. \n\nBaby Boomers are not going to die and leave those accounts to the children, they will be spent on vacations, medical expenses, their kids/grandkids college educations!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
glw7w | The evolution of sleep (questions inside) | [
{
"answer": "*1) What is the evolutionary advantage to sleep? It seems like an organism that does not need sleep but functions in the same way would be better off. Is it purely that sleep enables so much more powerful mechanisms?*\n\nRemember that evolution doesn't have \"aims\". It doesn't decide that it'd be... | null |
1zxm6b | why does a laptop's battery life decrease over time? | [
{
"answer": "Most (if not all) modern batteries in laptops and electronics are lithium-ion (li-ion) based.\n\nWhen you charge it, an electric current carries lithium ions from a lithium cobalt oxide cathode to a graphite anode.\n\nWhen you turn on the device, the ions then run in the opposite direction, to the ... | null |
2ihekz | Are some liquids heavier than others? | [
{
"answer": "Indeed they do. Liquid water has a density of 1000kg/m^3, liquid mercury has a density of around 13500kg/m^3, and liquid steel is around 8000kg/m^3. The weight of liquids works no differently than solids. The only difference is that they flow and thus must be put in a container to be weighed.",
... | null |
5txi9u | Why is it that mass transportation in America was never fully developed? In addition, why did America grow such a large car culture? | [
{
"answer": "I hope this is OK as a follow-up question. I've seen it claimed that there were cases of the automobile industry using tactics such as buying land to prevent the development of (particularly urban) public transport systems. Is there any documented truth in this?",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
5s6a9c | why do we sometimes feel sorry (or emotional) for inanimate objects? | [
{
"answer": "I think it's because we tend to personify things. And that happens when we're kids, thru pretend play. And toy story doesn't help. I remember when I was little thinking my toys were alive when I wasn't around. Damn! If I had only written that out as a story.... I could have been rich!!",
"prove... | null |
66e5ry | How does a source of light, with finite surface area, send light in infinite directions? | [
{
"answer": "If you go far enough away, it will no longer be continuous, and you'll only detect the occasional photon. If you set up a large detection screen, there will be finite distance between the locations where photons are detected.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [... | null |
5gtniv | why aren't the scopes of sniper rifles on the side any more? | [
{
"answer": "This was done because those guns fed from stripper clips, which required loading straight down from the top. Well, you can't put a scope in the way of your bullets or it's not much of a rifle anymore. \n\n\nWhen countries switched to magazine feeds from the bottom of the rifle, you could mount your... | null |
4xmk7x | how do birds know not to fly in the path of a kite and its strings? | [
{
"answer": "No, but they have hearing to detect the buzzing of the wind in the lines. They also have excellent collision avoidance hardware in their brains and they use this sort of sound cue to stay in formation for long flights.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I doubt there has been a study... | null |
6nmj8m | what is actually happening when, after a day in the ocean or riding rollercoasters, the body will almost simulate the feelings when you're staying still? | [
{
"answer": "There's a few reasons why this happens, and it's actually been a source of contention for centuries now. This is part of where the term \"Sea Legs\" comes from.\n\nWhen you are on a boat, or a roller coaster or other similar behaviours, your brain, vestibulocochlear system (The tubes of fluid in yo... | null |
5wef2m | a lot of celebrities that aren't nominated for anything still get to go to the oscars. how do they decide of the non-nominees who goes and who doesn't? | [
{
"answer": "Last year's winners (for the big categories) are invited to present their award this year. The Academy invites other A-list people to present or sit in the audience for ratings and prestige, especially if they had a movie this year. \n\nStudios get a certain number of seats that they can give to an... | null |
18degp | why do we include "indigo" in the rainbow? | [
{
"answer": " > I have always believed that \"indigo\" was included in the rainbow simply to make the acronym Roy G. Biv work\n\nIt's the other way round - the acronym comes from the colour names.\n\nWe have Newton to thank for the names of the colours in the spectrum. He initially distinguished five colours (... | null |
8q3odk | Why does the Double Jeopardy Clause exist? What was the Founding Fathers' reasoning for not re-trying someone when new evidence arose? | [
{
"answer": "The reasoning for including it in US law is discussed in many modern cases. To use one example (**Green v The United States 355 US 184 (1957)**)\n\n > _\"The State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offense, ther... | null |
2zylgy | why do certain songs turn us on? | [
{
"answer": "You do know that being \"turned on\" means that you're horny, right?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "34507528",
"title": "Turn Up the Music (Chris Brown song)",
"section": "Section::::Composition and lyrics.\... | null |
23rmim | Is the Periodic Table the best design we have or just the most common? | [
{
"answer": "The periodic table is organized using the number of protons an element has (which determines the element) and also by electron orbitals. This is why elements in the same group (column) behave chemically similar. If you take a basic college level chemistry course, most of what you learn are the pr... | null |
cy2ykq | how do movie productions supply "era specific" props? | [
{
"answer": "Typically they outsource. They don't own all the props, other companies make/collect and loan them to them for the production, or they hire another company for set construction if it needs to be specific. Some bigger companies have in house prop designers too for really specific and important props... | null |
1q6q45 | Why does a magnet fall slowly through a conductive pipe? | [
{
"answer": "Wikipedia:\nAn eddy current (also known as Foucault current) is an electrical phenomenon discovered by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1851. It is caused when a conductor is exposed to a changing magnetic field due to relative motion of the field source and conductor; or due to variations of the ... | null |
2x4jq8 | how does right and left handiness work? and why can't i do things as well with my off hand? | [
{
"answer": "Increased motor dexterity isn't free, it takes up real estate in the brain. And since you, and in particular your primitive ancestors, seldom needed to have it both hands, you are better off using that brain space just once, and letting the rest be used for other things.\n\nIt is kind of like havi... | null |
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