id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
44st9f | Why didn't the Algerian Civil War of the 90s lead to the same kind of refugee crisis that we see today in Syria, despite the war's similarly destructive nature and Algeria's close proximity to Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Hi OP, this topic may be very difficult to address in this subreddit, due to this subreddit's [20-year rule against discussing current events](_URL_0_). The Algerian Civil War took place from 1991-2002, whereas our cutoff is 1996, which is the half-way point. Respondents are welcome to discuss the ... | null |
4e6u60 | why does oil smoke when heated instead of boiling like water does? | [
{
"answer": "Because it's burning. Oil is a complex organic molecule which can't really go into gas phase the way that water can. Instead, it just falls apart when you heat it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Majority of \"stuff capable of burning\" does contain carbon and that's also the main ... | null |
1iheer | retirement plans such as 401k | [
{
"answer": "I can't tell you if they even out but you are talking about a traditional IRA versus a Roth IRA. These are not part of a 401k they are completely different parts of the tax code. IRAs are ways for individuals to save for retirement, a 401k is sponsored by your employer and can receive tax deferred ... | null |
4vikq9 | Why are all Muslim historical states called by their ruling dynasties? | [
{
"answer": "The -id (or sometimes a small variation, like -ite) indicates lineage. The Ummayads trace descent from Ummaya, the Abbasids from Abbas, the Hashemites from Hashem and so on.\n\nNot all Muslim historical states were named in this fashion. The Sultanate of Rum, the Mamluks and the Almohads would be c... | null |
3jvpnf | "only 23 people are required in a room to have two persons same birth-date" please explain this phenomenon in simple logic. | [
{
"answer": "It's actually \"only 23 people in a room are required to have a *50% chance* of two people having the same birthday.\"\n\nBasically it works because it's possible that any two people have the same birthday, which might be any one of the 365 days in the year, not just one specific day.",
"proven... | null |
6ju9go | how do ships "suck" water away from coastlines? | [
{
"answer": "The ship displaces a lot of water. It pushes a lot of water higher in front of it. It has a 'hole' in the water behind it. In this case the ship first pushed a lot of extra water into that cove when it approached, then the water rushed in behind the ship to fill the 'hole'.\n\nWhen the water wen... | null |
7uyw81 | What does it mean when a particle has a statistical significance? | [
{
"answer": "The significance of a particle is just a proxy for the p-value from statistics. A larger significance means a smaller p-value.\n\nWhat they’re doing is a statistical hypothesis test. They are testing their data against the hypothesis that all they see is background. \n\nIf there is a feature in the... | null |
2r1g3e | if it really is so easy to ddos xbl/psn. why aren't more people doing it? | [
{
"answer": "becouse it requeres huge botnet and its criminal activity.\n\nthats like saying if its so easy to shoot a person, why more people arent doing it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's exactly as easy as it is to get a bot-net. A DDoS only works if you have more bandwidth than the ta... | null |
3gzt2z | Why do girls reach sexual maturity before their bodies are ready to bear children? | [
{
"answer": " > There are many health risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, particularly below the age of 15.\n\nThere are many health risks (to both mother and baby) also associated with giving birth after the age of 35. Yet many older women do get pregnant and deliver healthy babies.\n\nIn terms of ... | null |
45tatu | who's coming to collect when it comes to the u.s. deficit? how will they do it? | [
{
"answer": "No one has ever had to \"demand\" payment on US debt. You simply say \"here is my matured treasure bond\" and you get your money back.\n\nExcept for debt payments suspended in times of war, the US has never failed to repay its debts on time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
19zhp1 | What kind of interactions are present between my cotton shirt and the red wine I spill on it, to make the stain so hard to remove. | [
{
"answer": "Cotton is mainly composed of cellulose, which as you can see from its [chemical structure](_URL_0_) has many hydroxyl groups. Various dyes present in wine, such as tannins also usually have multiple hydoxyl groups, e.g. as with.[this particular tannin](_URL_1_) As a result, strong hydrogen bonds ca... | null |
5v4fn0 | what happens to our bodies when someone makes us jump? | [
{
"answer": "Your brain thinks there is an immediate danger and tells your body to suddenly release loads of adrenaline and activate a part of your nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system which deals with the fight or flight response. \n\nThis has the effect of increasing your heart rate, making yo... | null |
3v657u | why doesn't the us fed just keep interest rates at a sustainable rate rather than extremely high and extremely low? | [
{
"answer": "They use interest rates to actively affect the economy.\n\nBanks lending too much money, leading to increased debt and potential for an economic collapse if things keep growing too fast? Raise rates to make it very unattractive to loan money to slow down loans.\n\nPeople too conservative with the c... | null |
33g1q9 | Is communication between Earth and our space vehicles and stations encrypted? And was it always that way? | [
{
"answer": "Communication was definitely not encrypted in the 1960s. The US had/has listening posts around the world and regularly monitored radio traffic. So they didn't just get lucky. I'm sure they monitored everything about the Soviet space program.\n\nMore recently, I believe communication to some NASA sa... | null |
dutr0h | how does a fingernail let go of the skin under your fingernail without hurting? | [
{
"answer": "It's not the nail that lets go of the skin, it's the other way around: the skin has to let go of the nail. Nail gets pushed as it grows, but isn't technically the one \"Holding on\" as it were",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The part of your finger that the nail attaches to is call... | null |
1d82y5 | why is blackberry so commonly used in workplaces and why businesses would choose the z10 over iphones or android? | [
{
"answer": "Its actually a relative few people in the world who enjoy technology. BlackBerrys became a necessity when they came out, and a lot of people struggled to learn them. These are people who dont want to learn new things, they dont want to learn android or ios, even if they are far superior. Google \"l... | null |
31tt8w | Do materials that heat up the fastest also lose heat the fastest (i.e., retain heat the worst)? If not, why not? | [
{
"answer": "Yup. Thermal conductors are generally symmetric with respect to the direction of heat flow, they conduct heat and loose heat easier than thermal insulators, \n_URL_0_ \nThis is because the thermal diffusivity in the heat equation is just a constant value. However, because the thermal diffusivity ... | null |
18dsmk | Why do abandoned buildings seem to decay so quickly when people live in buildings that are centuries old? | [
{
"answer": "Buildings that are not abandoned are maintained. Wood is protected from rotting, iron and steel is shielded from the environment to slow down rusting, plants are prevented from growing and breaking apart concrete and mortar, etc.\n\nBasically, most man-made structures are not designed to be able t... | null |
1zm3i4 | how are big buildings like the hotels in vegas air conditioned/cooled? | [
{
"answer": "with big ol airconditioners that go everywhere.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Industrial grade AC. The units are not the same small units that we see at home or office. Such big buildings are chilled by cooling water which is then used to cool air which is circulated inside the... | null |
7z6vu4 | Japan and Korea being of a Chinese descent? | [
{
"answer": "You might want to read on the Japanese Jomon period (14,000 B.C.), and on the Korean Jeulmun period (8,000 B.C.) to know about both regions probable first peoples.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The major historical sources of Korea are *Samguk Sagi* and *Samguk Yusa* which were w... | null |
2rv0z6 | why does the exact same post appear as the 4th post on the first page and the 27th post on the second page and the 53 post on the 3rd page? | [
{
"answer": " > there's really no such thing as \"pages\" on Reddit. Instead, you're saying \"give me the links (from my current 50 subreddits at this time) #1 to #[page size] as ranked by voting right now at this exact moment\"... When you go to the next page, you're saying \"give me links #[page size] to #[p... | null |
1mvrfh | Would a split brain patient be able to do sign language with both hands? | [
{
"answer": "Language isn't purely lateralized in the brain. People with differing levels of lateralization show corresponding resistance to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; a big magnet screwing around with specific brain areas). People with less lateralization were less affected when a TMS-induced temp... | null |
5ilhqg | If we don't know the exact value for Pi, how can we know the exact area of a circle if that is 2(pi) Rad? | [
{
"answer": "We *do* know the exact value of pi. It's... pi. You are most likely conflating \"knowing an exact value\" with \"having a terminating or repeating decimal representation\". A number that lacks the latter is no less exact than any other number. Also, we may compute the decimal representation of pi f... | null |
1s1qf0 | eil5: why do cable and internet companies make their services cheaper if you bundle a land line you don't use with it? | [
{
"answer": "They make more money. Consider Im a store and I normally make $10 per item when you buy 2 of them so I profit $20. But if I can sell you 3 items by offering you a $2 discount on each then I make $24 profit at the end of the transaction. It's logical for year store to try and make $24 instead of $20... | null |
75aqnl | What were Roman burial practices for soldiers out on campaign? | [
{
"answer": "It's not easy to give a generalized answer for this, but your question already goes into the right direction. There are not many primary sources that dwell on this, but some things can be gathered from what we have.\n\nAny Roman would expect a proper burial after his death, piety required this - an... | null |
43gl8t | Countable vs uncountable infinity: 0 to 1? | [
{
"answer": "Many variations of this question have been asked on this sub and you can find them by a simple search (e.g., \"different infinities\"). We should probably add something about cardinality to the FAQ. But anyway, quick rehash won't do any harm...\n\n---\n > Specifically between 0 and 1, I could use ... | null |
1wddeg | What is the acceleration due to gravity of a black hole? | [
{
"answer": "There's nothing gravitationally special about a black hole. For example, if the sun were replaced by a black hole of equivalent mass, none of the orbits of any of the planets and other objects in the solar system would change.\n\nIn short, the acceleration due to gravity of a black hole is proport... | null |
1676of | coding: what exactly is it? and how important is it to the creation of a video game? | [
{
"answer": "R/learnprogramming. \n\nTl;Dr all games have rules and instructions that a) tell the computer how everything works, like the graphics and the controls and such and b) control the logic of the game. Coding is the practice of speaking to the computer in a way it can understand. It's easy to get start... | null |
1of7ok | what is the difference between assault, aggravated assault and battery? | [
{
"answer": "Assault: Threatening to harm someone (or make unwanted physical contact). For instance, if you tell someone, \"You'd better get out of here before you get hurt,\" while walking menacingly toward them and cracking your knuckles.\n\nAggravated assault: Attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, regar... | null |
6nu80h | with no atmosphere to propagate a shock wave, are explosives in space actually even lethal? | [
{
"answer": "The gas from the explosive itself will propogate a pressure wave a short distance, but range will be severely limited by the extremely low ambient pressure.\n\nAt a moderate distance shrapnel would be the greater concern because it won't slow down or stop in space. The shockwave would still cause ... | null |
19r9rq | What dictated a killed/wounded ratio in a battle? | [
{
"answer": "One of the things is access to prompt medical aid. Along the Kokoda Track during WW2 there were times when decent medical aid (for the Australians and talking hospital/surgery) was over a week away. Pretty much any wound to the abdomen would be fatal.\n\nKilled:wounded was about 600:1000.\n\nSour... | null |
26807x | if my urine is completely clear, is it still urine or just excess water being dumped? | [
{
"answer": "It comes from your bladder so it is urine, even if the urea content is very low. Urine usually is mostly water, otherwise you would pee paste.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As far as I know, its still urine. The fact its clear simply means you are properly hydrated.",
"proven... | null |
4ryuvo | why is there a sudden rise in nationalism in english speaking countries? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know, but I've got a hunch: Our grandparents who lived through the second world war are dead or dying. This means the living memory about the horrors of nationalism is also disapearing. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It seems very sudden, but it has not been.\n\nNational... | null |
lkzhi | What do nebulae and other stellar phenomenon actually look like? | [
{
"answer": "This might not fully answer your question, but it would probably be worth your time to check out [this thread](_URL_0_) from a few days ago in r/astronomy. Read both dVnt's post (which is what the link is to) and doctorBenton's response.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This might n... | null |
1nyuts | how does the nuclear fusion produce cheap, reliable energy and eli5 how the new data produced in livermore, ca help us? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nOriginal story in which I am inquiring..",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Currently it does not, but the hope is that we can figure out how to start fusion in some capacity so it can run on it's own. Similar to how nuclear fission (that's with an i) happens right now with... | null |
1z8le7 | Why the hype about the gut microbiome? | [
{
"answer": "It has important implications for treatment. We were generally aware that the microbe population can change, but once we have a better understanding of those changes, we can start developing therapeutic recommendations to improve the microbiome. Stool transplants are one example of a therapy being ... | null |
22xgsg | what exactly is happening to your legs in restless leg syndrome? | [
{
"answer": "There are a wealth of different reasons that doctors will give for why RLS happens and what causes it in a specific person (ie. iron deficiency, dopamine problems, etc.). For me, it seems to run in my family. I fought/tied to ignore it for years until my husband said it was like trying to sleep b... | null |
40zeg1 | Why wasn't Russia broken up similarly to the Balkan states? | [
{
"answer": "Hello.\n\nI think your question could do with a little bit better phrasing. Are you wondering about why Russia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, remained so large? \n\nWell, of course when the Soviet Union broke apart a large portion of the country did break away, creating something like fou... | null |
4mgfjb | what happens if neither presidential candidate can continue to run? | [
{
"answer": "The parties would probably each hold another convention. In fact, that's probably what would happen if only one of the two nominees could no longer run, provided there was sufficient time.\n\nPolitical parties are private entities, so there isn't a specific clause in the Constitution or anything to... | null |
2pn8yk | what exactly is being a stock broker and if they make so much money, why doesn't everybody become one? | [
{
"answer": "They are salespeople. They earn a commission on what they sell. What they happen to sell are millions and millions of dollars of financial products, so their commissions are enormous.\n\nVery hard job to get (well, its easy to get a job as a broker, it's just hard to get a job as a broker with cl... | null |
2mxlyr | Do aromatic molecules have a defined smell, or do different animals smell things differently? | [
{
"answer": "Smell cannot be objective. It is a sense that only has a definition with regards to human beings. An object does not inherently have a smell (or color for that matter), it releases molecules (or certain wavelengths of light in case of color) which are characteristic of the object. How those molecul... | null |
m1zsa | the superposition of atoms | [
{
"answer": "Atoms do not have (a noticeable) superpositon, it's the things that make up the atom that do, one type of these strange thingys are called electrons.\n\n\n\nLets step back a little. How do we know where anything is? Well by looking at it of course. But what if whatever we're looking at doesn't have... | null |
2i8pgc | What is the probable condition of man made objects left on the moon? | [
{
"answer": "There are several factors in the environment affecting this.\n\nCosmic rays are charged particles with very high kinetic energy. When they reach electronics [they can flip bits or burn transistors](_URL_0_) - the latter is a permanent damage. Over the course of all these decades, most likely all th... | null |
2effu5 | why do cats not bleed when they are given sub cutaneous fluids. it's still a needle in their skin? | [
{
"answer": "1, Needles in *skin* rarely bleed, try it on yourself. Its needles in veins that bleed, and needles in arteries that bleed more.\n\n2, as humans, our skin is fairly well attached to the muscle and bone and whatever beneath. Dogs, cats, bears, rodents... not so much. Theres a lot of free space in t... | null |
776oxu | why are fungi considered neither plant nor animal? | [
{
"answer": "They aren't plants because they don't engage in photosynthesis and their genetic ancestry has them more closely related to animals.\n\nHowever, they are still sufficiently different from animals that they aren't animals either. Animal cells don't have cell walls (fungi do), animals have sensory org... | null |
1zx2bi | How do chemists know the taste and odor of highly toxic substances? | [
{
"answer": "Chemists frequently used to taste the chemicals they made in the lab. Sometimes it just happens by accident. If the chemist who invented saccharine had washed his hands properly before eating dinner, we would not be using it as a sweetener today.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "U... | null |
2yi0yk | how long would power grids stay up in an area who's power comes from hydrostatic electricity if a "last man on earth" situation arose? | [
{
"answer": "If you suddenly find yourself as the last man on earth, power wouldn't really be that much of a problem. As you don't need the power from the hover dam to power what you need.\n\nJust find yourself a generator and a gas station and you will have power for a long time.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
sfa46 | What is a "permanent" orbit, exactly? | [
{
"answer": "In a truly ideal physical model, sure. In the real world, I can imagine chaos could perturb a system from the ideal \"permanence\" to what is just \"practically permanent\"",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The Moon is gradually moving away from the Earth, but is not escaping. It wil... | null |
2lza05 | what exactly do economists do to "seasonally adjust" unemployment figures | [
{
"answer": "It's pretty chill, iirc.\n\nStep 1: Data\n\nYou want the average unemployment each year for 10 years or so, and the average unemployment during the test season for each of those.\n\nStep 2: Ratios\n\nIn each year, figure out how much bigger or smaller it is than usual during the season. Like, if it... | null |
3jp1n6 | why do soldiers wear watches with dial underside of wrist instead of over wrist? | [
{
"answer": "For us mechanics I did it because it would get in the way more often if it was on top of my wrist rather than in the \"elbow\" of my wrist. Cellphones are a huge no no on a flightline, and that was a big reason to get a watch.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Worn on the inside of t... | null |
9jv007 | why do pawns in chess that cross the board get to choose something other than the queen? why would you choose something inferior that has less moves? | [
{
"answer": "It's not exactly known but it probably dates to the fact that chess has had the promotion rule longer than the modern queen.\n\n\"Queens chess\" is the modern chess rules, because the last major rules change was the modern movement for the queen, before then the queen moved just like a king (except... | null |
6nv23b | Did the 1989 abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine achieve the goals of the D.C. Court of Appeals in Syracuse Peace Council v. FCC? | [
{
"answer": "Would it be more accurate to say that this question is asking whether it had achieved those goals by 1997? I'm not entirely sure how the 20-year rule applies in a case like this.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It depends who you ask. The Fairness Doctrine is so tied into modern p... | null |
2crxut | If the world's most powerful telescope was pointed towards the moon how closely could we examine the moon's surface? | [
{
"answer": "Power, as it comes to telescopes, is really about two separate things.\n\n1) light gathering. Very distant objects are very very dim. (brightness decreases with the square of distance). So if you want to see dim things you need a really really wide telescope. Most of our \"most powerful\" telescope... | null |
svlzd | How are lab-created gemstones different from naturally formed ones? | [
{
"answer": "*Not responding as my tag - but because I am a gemstone collector*\n\nIt depends on the gemstone. Diamonds, topaz, sapphire, etc - can be grown in the lab and create flawless gems.\n\nHowever... there is a big difference between lab grown and natural - which boils down to the impurities (rutilation... | null |
14q05r | Why does paper 'remember' when it's been rolled up? | [
{
"answer": "The outside of the roll is under tensile stress. Therefore, the interface in between the paper fibres and the matrix is deformed more than the inside. When you let go of the roll, the paper recovers the elastic portion of the deformation, but not the plastic portion. ",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
922j26 | Why do historians sometimes reference a secondary source when a primary source is readily available? | [
{
"answer": "It can help to build credibility by showing that other people agree with you, and helps share and acknowledge ideas. When researching a topic you tend to read supporting material about it, which you often go on to credit and reference in your own. Also depending on where you are primarily sources m... | null |
37fkuc | sqrt(2) squared creates an rational number from an irrational number; can something similar be done for pi? Are there any exponents of pi that are rational? | [
{
"answer": "No non-zero rational exponent will do this, because pi is transcendental.\n\nsqrt(2) is irrational but algebraic - that means there is a polynomial with rational coefficients to which sqrt(2) is the solution. Of course, the polynomial is x^2 - 2 = 0.\n\nBut pi is transcendental, which means it's n... | null |
bm602w | how do smartphones maintain their touchscreen capabilities with a glass/plastic screen protector? | [
{
"answer": "They work by capacitance. A capacitor is, at its simplest, two parallel plates which can accumulate electric charge. No direct contact is required as long as the distance is small. If the gap is too high, it won't work.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most modern smartphones have a... | null |
14wxex | Why can i see the outline of the whole moon right now, even though only a sliver is lit up? | [
{
"answer": "Reflected Earthlight: In the same way the dark surface of the Earth is lit by moonlight, the dark surface of the moon in turn is lit by the light reflected from the Earth.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "527661",
"ti... | null |
406s4u | When space expands, do objects get bigger? | [
{
"answer": "No. The expansion of space is only a \"global\" phenomenon - it's something which makes sense to talk about on the largest scales, but it's not present when you're talking about atoms and the solar system and the galaxy and such.\n\nBy the way, you'll often read that this is because gravity \"overc... | null |
1if5dc | What is the minimum sized moon (or asteroid) that I could reasonably stand on and not reach escape velocity by simply pushing off? | [
{
"answer": "[This sums it up pretty well](_URL_0_)\n\nDeimos is at about the limit of what's necessary to keep you grounded.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Sort of follow up question.\n\nCould there be an asteroid made of something really dense that had a large enough mass for it to be the si... | null |
5ph11e | Why does overclocking a CPU make it unstable? | [
{
"answer": "Instability is not caused by heat; that answer is simply incorrect. Higher temperature can lower stability slightly but the factor is very small compared to higher clock itself.\n\nEach clock cycle consists of a set of instructions being run by the cpu. When you raise the clock the amount of time a... | null |
2h0yoy | Why does ethanol provide calories? How is it metabolized? | [
{
"answer": "During the first two steps of alcohol metabolism, it is oxidized into acetate with concomitant creation of 2NADH. Each NADH is good for creating 2.5 ATP molecules (these are energy equivalents). After creation of acetate, this can proceed into the TCA cycle as acetyl-CoA or into fat generation.Eith... | null |
a7sj1v | How difficult was it to design Chess? Was there multiple, evolving versions of it? How did it spread across the globe like it has? | [
{
"answer": "Chess was most likely created in modern-day India roughly 1500 years ago, where it was called \"four members\" (chaturanga), referring to the 4 parts of an army: cavalry, elephants, chariots, and infantry. The earliest rule sets are lost to time, but it looked similar to modern chess. It was played... | null |
esng1w | In 1604 there was a supernova that caused a star to be bright enough to be seen during day time. How was this interpreted at the time? Did any figures or groups try to capitalise on it for political or spiritual influence? | [
{
"answer": "Hopefully more people will be along to provide other perspectives!\n\nApparently, physican Baldassare Capra used the nova as an excuse to attack Galileo and make himself look better. Given the number of you who have heard of Galileo versus the number familiar with Capra, I think we can guess how *t... | null |
9e2v60 | what's the structural difference between regular glass, pyrex and corning gorilla glass, etc? | [
{
"answer": "Pyrex, used in high temp laboratory glass and high temp cooking, is borosilcate; it has a percentage of boron blended into the batch.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Everything we commonly think of as glass is mostly made of silicon dioxide, also called silica. This is the same thi... | null |
d53dlt | ; why does lying down make you less nauseous? | [
{
"answer": "In nature, nausea is almost always caused by food poisoning. Motion sickness is very hard to get by chance without a mount or a vehicle. \n\nNausea makes you want to stop doing what you are doing, throw up, and lay down. Throwing up is good for treating food poisoning. Laying down just genera... | null |
241g4f | Books on French colonial wars | [
{
"answer": "You should have gone to 'Middle East and North Africa' - > Modern History to find a suggestion on the Algerian War on my behalf. Anyhow, here are my suggestions!\n\n*A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962* by Alistair Horne - A classic in the literature of modern warfare, this outdated classic s... | null |
38ji1t | why is it illegal to deface united states currency yet those penny smashing machines are at every zoo and museum? | [
{
"answer": "It's only illegal if you are going to buy something with a defaced piece of currency. No one is going to use those smashed pennies to buy something.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When it comes to coins, the law is against fraudulently altering the coin. If you're not doing it to ... | null |
14uq9b | Why is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) considered only effective with antidepressant-resistant patients? | [
{
"answer": "TMS isn't as well studied as traditional drug-based treatments. It's considered riskier because of that vague uncertainty. Its effectiveness may not compensate for risk factors we simply haven't yet observed because of the treatment's novelty. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > Wh... | null |
2pddsq | with airspace so vast, why are there so many mid-air collisions and near-collisions? | [
{
"answer": "I am not sure what you mean by \"so many\" as such things are rare. But almost all such collisions take place near airports, where the airspace is much more crowded.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Actual knowledgeable answer here. They are rare, but the reason so many happen is us... | null |
5crsik | Has any President-elect ever done as poorly in their home state as Donald Trump? | [
{
"answer": "I took a glance at all the presidential election data and found a few presidents-elect who lost their home state, depending on you define it. There was Trump, as you mentioned, but also the arguable cases of George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Woodrow Wilson, and James K. Polk.\n\n\nIn the 1988 electi... | null |
81xqen | how does the removal of amygdala affect someone? | [
{
"answer": "The amygdala is the emotion centre of the brain, so it can mess with certain functions such as feeling emotions, for example fear. It could also make it difficult for the person to recognise emotions in other people, so if someone else was experiencing fear, they would find that difficult or imposs... | null |
np9pe | What's happening when we go to sleep hungry, but awake without the urge to eat? Are we eating ourselves in our sleep? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, when you're fasting, your body will get most of its energy from stored fat, unless you're below about 4% body fat, then most will come from muscle tissue.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes, when you're fasting, your body will get most of its energy from stored fat, unless yo... | null |
hk8k4 | How can an electron be "spherical"? | [
{
"answer": "Very good explanation:\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "39654522",
"title": "Tensor operator",
"section": "Section::::Rotations of quantum states.:Angular momentum eigenkets.\n",
"start_para... | null |
9epznr | Can Alpha Decay excite the inner electrons of the atom? | [
{
"answer": "It’s possible for the alpha particle to excite the atom and/or simply knock out electrons as it leaves the atom.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It typically excites them right off the atom, leaving the residual atom in an ionised state. Nuclear events are several orders of magnitu... | null |
6zv4i8 | what is the rohingya genocide, and why is it happening right now? | [
{
"answer": "Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a largely Buddhist and Burmese country. There is a small minority of Muslims, centered in one particular region, called the Rohingya. The story the Buddhists tell is that the Rohingya are recent immigrants from Bangladesh and don't belong in Myanmar. However, the hist... | null |
b8uepa | When was the first porn website created for the internet/arpanet? | [
{
"answer": "\\[NSFW\\]\n\nWell, it has a pretty long history. It is one of the few things that pushed the growth of World Wide Web. World Wide Web was founded at CERN (Switzerland, European Atomic Research Centre) but had almost no role in porn's rising popularity. \n\nBut before I delve into that part of hist... | null |
rxtpb | gnu general public license (gpl), | [
{
"answer": "Have you tried reading the preamble? its quite well written in non legalese ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It sets up a scenario like this.\n\nAlice makes a computer program that does XYZ. She releases it online under the GPL license, which means she also gives away the source c... | null |
26n35l | why can blockbuster movie sequels be so much more profitable than the original? | [
{
"answer": "If the first movie is really good, it creates much more anticipation for the following films. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The home video business is very lucrative. Films that underperform can have a second life on DVD. In many cases, it turns them from flops to cult hits. See... | null |
3oed3q | why do we see super tiny rainbow dots zipping around in our view when looking at a neutral scene? | [
{
"answer": "They shouldn't be a rainbow, they should be basically white -- but if it looks like a bunch of little insects zipping around sort of in circles around the center of vision, what you're really seeing are your own white blood cells moving through the capillaries in your eyes.\n\nI don't know about th... | null |
3bjfz3 | why is it impossible for large crowds to keep a consistent rhythm without a clear leading percussion? | [
{
"answer": "As a musician all I can say is that it's human condition. Without direction to your tempo everybody gets faster. No matter who it is they get faster when they don't pay attention to conductors or the drum line. Also, the drum line drives the beat so without a percussion section all might as well be... | null |
4qjr70 | Why did France and England develop different forms of monarchies? | [
{
"answer": "Could you be more specific about what you want to know? No two monarchies were exactly alike, just like no two countries today have exactly the same laws. Do you mean why did France become an absolute monarchy while England became a constitutional monarchy?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
266tap | why don't officers aim for an extremity when dealing with a possible threat instead of aiming to kill? | [
{
"answer": "Dead man can't sue.\n\n\n\ntbh... i never understood that either. Perhaps its harder to hit an arm and if you only got 1-2 shots to fire, you want to make sure you stop the perp.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "38210000",
... | null |
25wy6c | Was there a "style" difference between the different decades in the Soviet Union? | [
{
"answer": "Soviet Fashion was definitely a thing. I would argue that it more closely mirrored Western Europe than America, but there was some American influence as well.\n\nDjurdja Bartlett's book on the topic is quite good, if you are interested in finding out more. It's called *FashionEast.* The book is o... | null |
7fmsqt | how does one person compose for an orchestra? | [
{
"answer": "Playing the instrument really isn't all that relevant, because the parts are generally written in the same format regardless of what instrument they're for. In theory the composer really only needs to know what the instrument sounds like, as opposed to actually knowing how to play it.",
"proven... | null |
5gr4xk | xbox download speeds | [
{
"answer": "You are not only limited by the speed of your internet connection, but also the speed at which the remote server is willing or able to send you the data.\n\nThe smart money is that Microsoft has capped their connection speed from their servers to the consoles at about 150.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
2fcv2j | when a door leading outside on the main floor of my house is opened my bedroom door on a different floor moves a little bit. how/why does this happen? | [
{
"answer": "Slight changes in pressure and drafts are created when you open the door. \n\nOn a side note, a house that does not have a constant flow of people coming and going is more likely to have mold growths. Foreclosed houses that sit for long periods have been found to have extensive mold growth because ... | null |
2ilx5v | in movies when people point guns at each other is there actually a chance that if you shoot first the other person will shoot as he/she dies? | [
{
"answer": "guns are only instantly lethal if they hit very specific parts of the body. Sure you'd have a very hard time shooting someone after being shot just about anywhere, but it's possible.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Of course. Unless the guy who shoots first points the gun at a vita... | null |
10hzhp | Are there any widely accepted studies or evidence to support the blood type diet? (Biology) | [
{
"answer": "There have never been any clinic trials showing that it does anything, and goes against our general understanding of biology in several regards. More than likely it's no different than any of the other psuedo-science scams that people sell on infomercials and books to get rich. ",
"provenance":... | null |
72nyzz | How much energy does a tree consume in a day? | [
{
"answer": "The *net* amount of energy absorption that goes towards growth would in fact be the same as the caloric energy it contains.\n\nI couldn't find much on the caloric intake, and I've completely struck out for the intake of a 22,000 pound tree that is 80 feet tall and two feet wide. Here's a [newslette... | null |
1t3iqf | why does gum liquefy after eating chocolate while chewing? | [
{
"answer": "Wait, it does what? Brb op, trying this out!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Can confirm, I did this a couple times as a kid and the gum just sort of melted. The two great tastes that self-destruct if you try to taste them together...",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
2skbet | How did Nazi death camp survivors recover from malnutrition and starvation? | [
{
"answer": "Are you asking about the biology of recovering from severe malnutrition, or are you asking about the steps Allied troops and others took to rehabilitate survivors?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is probably related: I have read anecdotes about the freeing of concentration ca... | null |
29wq8w | what causes some people to be "toe walkers"? | [
{
"answer": "Chronic tight calf and hamstrings can cause it, along with inflexibility of the ankle. I\"m sure there are plenty of other causes though.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I can't speak for everyone but mine was caused by stress fractures in the shin. I used to run 6 miles everyday a... | null |
86fqup | why don’t cars use one large cylinder versus a v6/v8/v12 for additional horse power? | [
{
"answer": "Vibration issues. The more cylinders a car has, the better balanced the engine should be. If you had one big one, your car would probably shake itself to death",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Think of how much power it takes to pedal a bike in the highest gear setting. Now imagine ... | null |
3xiv7d | why are things shiny (or shinier) when wet? | [
{
"answer": "When you look at something - anything - what you're really seeing is light bouncing off of that object and then traveling to your eyes. When light strikes a surface, it will reflect at the same angle that it struck the surface at, 100% of the time, according to what is known in optics as \"the law ... | null |
5fiyib | How do storms form in the middle of a large landmass like a continent? Don't they need enormous bodies of water like oceans to form? | [
{
"answer": "1) Even inland areas can provide a great deal of water. Lakes, ponds, soil, forests, all contain a ton of H2O constantly evaporating into the sky.\n\n2) Water-laden air can still move great distances from oceans. It's generally only where there are steep temperature or altitude gradients that moi... | null |
3sreh6 | During what decade did we rule out the idea of intelligent alien life on Mars? | [
{
"answer": "William Wallace Campbell put forth an extensive, decades-spanning effort to prove against the weight of accepted turn-of-the-20th-century science to demonstrate that the Martian atmosphere had negligible water and oxygen. His 1894 and 1910 demonstrations still didn't quell public certainty, of cour... | null |
jin15 | Do radioactive materials really glow in the dark? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, when immersed in water. Blue. Due to [Cherenkov radiation](_URL_0_). \n\n[They can also glow by simple heat](_URL_1_) in which case it's usually red-orange.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "disclaimer: not an expert- but since it's empty so far...\n\ngenerally no. atomic react... | null |
4374aj | How did parents view morbid nursery rhymes children sang about current events of the time, and were they written by children or parents? | [
{
"answer": "Very likely it did not bother them to have their children singing them. Nursery rhymes would be sung at the same time Broadside Ballads would be sold in the local market and bought for singing in taverns and homes: these were composed about recent murders and other tragic events, and children would... | null |
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