id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
2aehw5 | mri machines and how they look inside the brain. | [
{
"answer": "The machine uses an oscillating magnetic field to excite the hydrogen atoms in the water in your body. These emit a radio frequency which it then maps. So it's basically measuring how much water is in your body. Different types of tissue have different amounts of water which creates the contrast an... | null |
k3azb | What would it look like to be living on a planet in or very "close" to a nebula? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\ntldw: it wouldn't look like anything.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "while it does not simulate auroras, give Space Engine a try. fly into a nebula and find a star system with a planet that has an atmosphere. Land, check out the sky.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
7acv4v | tax cuts and jobs act proposal | [
{
"answer": "So, one of the things that the Republican party is doing right now to try to look a little more competent and generate buzz is that they're passing the same bill back and forth between the house and senate as a skeleton outline.\n\nIn the process as usual, what happens is that one of the two chambe... | null |
1o9qwm | Solubility of Sugar | [
{
"answer": "Not trying to be presumptuous here, but have you carried out the experiment more than once and reproduced your results?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "59529",
"title": "Solubility equilibrium",
"section": "S... | null |
3fp6s0 | how does the fed determine interest rates? | [
{
"answer": "Interest is, in economic terms, the cost of using money. So interest rates have their own supply/demand curves depending on how much money is available and how much money people want to use. The Federal Reserve can change the supply of money, and thus has some control over interest rates. They also... | null |
11t6ys | Is there a known limit to selective breeding for physical traits (e.g. size)? | [
{
"answer": "Selective breeding of miniature animals is not uncommon. There are miniature breeds of horse, donkey, cow, chicken, goat, rabbit, and dog, and considerable dwarfing of carp (and probably others that I am unaware of). Some of the dwarfs of these domestic creatures are pretty incredibly small (the ... | null |
3gb3bc | why have the british liberal democrats fallen in support so much recently? | [
{
"answer": "In 2010 the Liberal Democrats joined the government as the junior half of a coalition. This government followed a programme of austerity, with (among other policies) cutting back on welfare and tripling the cost of university places. Because many Lib-Dem voters had supported them because they belie... | null |
6j0nme | why do smaller loans have much higher interest rates than larger loans? | [
{
"answer": "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing.\n\nIn a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of... | null |
14q2mx | Can you "strain" hearing and damage it that way? | [
{
"answer": "Eyes and ears have a threshold. If you stare at a certain color too long, the cones and rods in your eyes start to tire and the other colors seem to pop out. Same thing when it comes to hearing. You can work it for too long and put too much stress on it. You would think quiet would be a good thing ... | null |
k38om | what events or people from the bible have been proven scientifically to have actually occurred/existed? | [
{
"answer": "Well, if you're interested in old testament stuff...\n\nThere were definitely a group of people called the Israelites. They definitely migrated all over the middle east, and definitely ended up in Egypt at some point. The bible says they were slaves in Egypt, I'm not sure if that part's verified.... | null |
7at7xw | what is the reason the leaves fall off the trees in the fall. | [
{
"answer": "With the decrease in the availability of both water and sunlight in the winter, photosynthesis yield is pretty low. So during the winter, those big broad leaves are using up a lot of energy without really doing anything useful, so the tree basically cuts them off to conserve energy and then regrows... | null |
9d7dbf | "Eight million horses and countless mules and donkeys died in the First World War. " "The WWII German Army was 80% Horse Drawn" Is this accurate? How did Germany recover it's horse pop. by the 1940? Did they rely on conquered nations stock? | [
{
"answer": "FYI, you might get better answers if you provide the source of those quotes. History and historiography are inextricable.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When the Nazis seized power in 1933, Germany was one of the least motorized societies in Europe. Hitler idolized the motorcar an... | null |
6h5gvx | why do so many white, western liberals and progressives defend islam? | [
{
"answer": "They tend to support freedom of religion. They tend to support civil rights for minorities. Seems strange to think of them as a minority but in the US and Western countries they are.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm pretty sure you're not asking this in good faith but I'll play ... | null |
2sn7bt | Why did Irish monks play such an important role in the christianization of Europe? | [
{
"answer": "From what I was taught recently, and if I'm wrong I'd love to be corrected:\n\nIn Ireland there developed a tradition focussed on rural areas, and evangelising such areas first. In the traditional 'Roman' areas the norm was to focus on the cities and evangelising outward from there.\n\nSince in the... | null |
8z71ep | how are games like "breath of the wild" ported over to a completely different console (switch) with different hardware, yet are flawlessly identical when playing both? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know the precise answer but the best vague one I can give is that the GPU/CPU architecture on the switch is well known since it runs off Tegra X1 and uses the Maxwell architecture which there is lots of information on.\n\nThe previous generation consoles were an absolute nightmare to Port g... | null |
5nkb1h | How did sailor manage navigation, back in the day? | [
{
"answer": "Navigation can be done with the stars, and the use of a sextant, which was in use from about 18th century onwards. This method can be very precise, but is reliant on clear skies. Navigation becomes super-precise when a clock that is powered by an internal spring mechanism is invented. This was John... | null |
zgyu8 | What would happen if you pushed at the baby during birth? | [
{
"answer": "No once, labour has started there's no stopping it. The contractions get progressively more and more forceful and not to mention the amniotic sac is burst at this point. So you can't push back and keep it in there for a few more days. Eventually something will give, probably the baby. Please don't ... | null |
1yfekt | what will happen to apartment owners when the buildings get too old and must be demolished. do they own the air where there apt used to be? | [
{
"answer": "Overall from what i can find. Either the whole this is ended and the land is sold and the owners get their share of the sale or the owners pay collectively for the demolition and rebuild.\n\nBut there are a number of resolutions that depend who owns the land, whats in the deed/contract, what the la... | null |
2cjied | Can physical trauma (e.g. a bullet), kill bacteria/viruses? | [
{
"answer": "It can definitely kill bacteria. Some common methods for ~~smashing~~ mechanically disrupting cells are bead-beating and sonication. I guess mechanical disruption of enveloped viruses would work just as well, but would be more difficult for non-enveloped viruses. Unfortunately guns are not standard... | null |
5zi85e | what is a flux capacitor? | [
{
"answer": "The core component of the time machine from the Back To The Future film series. It's just random technobabble, it doesn't actually exit in real life.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4932111",
"title": "Capacitor",
... | null |
2i9hop | If photons can only have energies equal to the difference between electron levels, how does blackbody radiation give off a continuous spectrum? | [
{
"answer": "Blackbody radiation arises from the motion of atoms and molecules, and the fact that they are ultimately composed of charged objects.\n\nIt does not come from atomic transitions to less-excited states. That is a separate component.\n\nFor the specific processes that result in thermal radiation, see... | null |
3gwf10 | why most of the time lead singers in songs produced by dj-producers aren't mentioned in the title of the song, like in some of avicii's songs | [
{
"answer": "The industry attaches the name to the project they are promoting for the song. If it is a David Guetta song for his album, they will call it that. But if David Guetta produces the song for someone else, it will be that persons name. \n\nSo many songs are written and completely done and then they ju... | null |
3r2cy0 | why are trains/cars/planes so loud when they go by outside but relatively quiet when you're inside them? | [
{
"answer": "No expert but I would Imagine its just your standard sound deadening material like is used in cars.\nStart removing all those materials and you end up in an uncomfortable and loud metal box.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Sound insulation between you and the noise generation. It's... | null |
258ak7 | What would the outcome of the Crittenden compromise be if it went into effect? | [
{
"answer": "Hi OP! I've removed this post since it asks respondents to speculate, which is [against rules of this subreddit](_URL_0_). Do consider x-posting to the creative minds over in /r/HistoricalWhatIf",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id"... | null |
7pb9qy | When did the right-wing become associated with better management of the economy? | [
{
"answer": "This begs the question. I don't believe that's a common perception at all, except within the right wing itself, of course.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "56522",
"title": "Right-wing politics",
"section": ""... | null |
dsjlxc | In this picture (link below) hanging up in my town's town hall showing an American colonist and some Native people in the mid 1600s, how accurately depicted are their clothing? | [
{
"answer": "It is entirely inaccurate. The depiction of the Puritan colonist instructing and evangelizing the compliant, submissive Natives is little more than a fantasy. \n\nBut more on the clothing. New England colonists often commented on how the Natives there wore less clothing, but they only wore less clo... | null |
18iny8 | Is there any proof or reasoning behind people associating particular moods with particular alcohols (whiskey makes me fight) Or is it just a placebo effect? | [
{
"answer": "This is to do with some factors such as strength of alcohol, how easy it is to absorb, any additional chemicals added and how it is marketed (as certain drinks have a certain psychological effect due to how it is marketed e.g. wine seeming to be more regal and classy than beer)\n\nFor example, alco... | null |
lexgr | How big is the Moon's shadow during a solar eclipse? | [
{
"answer": "Wikipedia says over 250 km across.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It all depends on how close the moon is to the earth at the time of the eclipse. Sometimes it can be an Annular eclipse and there is no place that the sun is completely blocked out. It looks like the largest that it... | null |
dfu17u | In 1975, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was ‘dismissed’ by the Governor-General. How much evidence is there that both the CIA and the Nixon/Ford administrations played a significant role in the dismissal, along with Rupert Murdoch? If so, why? | [
{
"answer": "So firstly, some background: Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister of Australia in 1972, and became the first Labor Prime Minister since 1949. Labor, as a result of being out of power for over two decades, had a progressive legislative agenda which they were eager to enact, and which they wanted to d... | null |
3a9av7 | if newton's third law, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is true, then why is there acceleration at all in the universe? | [
{
"answer": "You're misinterpreting the 3rd law. I hate that translation of it, but it's the one that everybody uses. A much better way to formulate it is \"for every force exerted by one object on another, there is another equal force by the second object on the first\". \n\nIn other words, I push on the wall,... | null |
1qfbjg | Do people with higher alcohol tolerances actually process alcohol more efficiently (i.e., are their BACs comparatively lower), or are they simply more accustomed to handling the effects of alcohol? | [
{
"answer": "That depends who you are comparing. Females typically have far less [alcohol dehydrogenase](_URL_1_) activity which is an enzyme responsible for alcohol 'processing' so in this case males do process alcohol more efficiently. If you are talking about people who frequently consume alcohol so they can... | null |
120qxf | what is the difference between attraction, connection, and love? | [
{
"answer": "It varies since its such a subjective topic but attraction commonly refers to being physically attracted to the other person aka thinking theyre pretty. A connection tends to be getting along with another person and having a lot in common aka liking eachother (though connection implies its coupled ... | null |
3u185i | why isn't there a company that makes really good looking cars(lambo category) with mediocre engines?wouldn't they sell a lot? | [
{
"answer": "They would not sell much at all. The entire reason that top end sports cars are lusted after is their performance. To have a car that looks like one but does not perform like would be absolutely embarrassing. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are companies making that, or at l... | null |
5k4zc1 | why does one have no strength when waking up? | [
{
"answer": "Your body paralyzes itself while you're asleep so you won't act out your dreams. It's takes some time for your body to regain full strength from it after you wake up. \n\nFun fact, this is the same cause as sleep paralysis, or waking nightmares. You wake up at night, but your body is still locked, ... | null |
7ov5b0 | How did redlining in the United States create the racial make up of the suburbs? | [
{
"answer": "Play around here. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThis is my city, and I’ve researched the topic of redlining after this map came out. I’ve also talked to the author of that project. Redlining happened in the late 30’s. \n\nSo Louisville is an old city and a river city. Most of the early economy was based on t... | null |
2cqxcs | what prevents a gas station employee from lying about how much i won on a lottery ticket like powerball and then stealing the winnings? | [
{
"answer": "Gas Stations don't pay out anything over a few hundred dollars.\n\nIf you win any significant amount then you have to go to the State Gambling Bureau and claim the money.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is actually a pretty big deal. Lotteries catch store owners doing this all... | null |
2fpa29 | why do i have to go to the pharmacy 12 times a year to buy birth control pills, instead of being able to purchase my entire year-long prescription at once? | [
{
"answer": "I have the same problem with my psychotropics meds for the treatment of depression/anxiety.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So the pharmacy can charge you a dispensing fee and for there to be some control over the amount of meds being dispensed. A huge majority of prescriptions tha... | null |
8aoa0z | if scotland exits from the union, what animal would replace the unicorn on the british coa? | [
{
"answer": "Another lion, or perhaps the welsh dragon?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I studied heraldry briefly. It would most likely be a lion, based on the fact that Wales is a principality of England. Which would mean that the dominant nations animal would appear",
"provenance": null
... | null |
2k9m2q | why do asians/africans/southern europeans have a higher rate of lactose intolerance, while nordic europeans rarely have it at all? | [
{
"answer": "Genetic mutation thousands of years ago. Travel was more difficult, so Europeans bred with Europeans, Africans with Africans, etc.\n\nSomewhere along the line, a European had a genetic mutation that made it so they could handle milk. As the mutation proved beneficial, evolution continued to hand it... | null |
4ccflu | if earth and mars switched places, would life still sustain on earth? | [
{
"answer": "Assuming they were the same size and had the same atmosphere as they currently are, then the biggest differences would be temperature, due to the distance from the sun, and the stability of orbits. Other thing like the length of the year doesn't really affect sustaining life.\n\nEarth is ~150M km f... | null |
7ewkr4 | are there any classic signs/symptoms that indicate someone is about to have a heart attack? | [
{
"answer": "In the boy scouts we learned that a heart attack is characterized by: Nausea, Excess Sweating, Chest pain, Weakness/faintness, and Shortness of breath.\n\nHeart attack or not if you or someone around you had these symptoms I'd be pretty concerned",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[Ac... | null |
57nick | Can gyroscopes at the end of an axle or some other "no thrust" alternative be used to control the rate of precession of a big spinning wheel in space? | [
{
"answer": "Contrary to what /u/SpaceIsKindOfCool said, there is a no-thrust solution to your problem. Sun-synchronous orbits use Earth's prolate shape to generate the necessary precession. [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) actually has all the math you need to figure it out. It turns out that the inclination required for ... | null |
17d66p | was Aristotle held in high regard by roman/Greek philosophers in AD250? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. The Peripatetic School, founded by Aristotle, was still around in 250. It was in decline by that point, and its members focused more on preserving Aristotle's own work than expanding on it, but the vital thread of Aristotlean philosophy was picked up by the Neoplatonists (who, despite their ... | null |
4hybq5 | Why were there no eunuchs in the Japanese court? | [
{
"answer": "[This was asked once before!](_URL_0_) My answer was not very satisfactory though, but it's the only thing I've ever read that approached the question. I'd caution you not to make too much of the concubines and sexual access though. Sterility is a red herring! Eunuchs are more than castration! So d... | null |
4g780a | why do we measure speed by the hour instead of minutes? | [
{
"answer": "60 miles per hour (sorry, using the units I'm most comfortable with on the road) is 1 mile per minute. I go 80 on the highways around here, and it's comfortable.\n\nIf we're measuring by minute, though, the next unit up is 2 miles per minute, or 120 miles per hour. This is not comfortable. 80 mph i... | null |
uee1w | Can anyone help me identify this substance I found in my yard? | [
{
"answer": "Maybe it IS beeswax or ~~rather some other wax-like stuff~~ paraffin, which is probably the most common in outdoor candles (in Sweden at least). It could have been caused by something similar to [this](_URL_0_) (don't know the English word for these type of candles). It looks like the burned area h... | null |
3yaisl | what is the point of those "fowarding you to your download in 5.." pages | [
{
"answer": "They basically either make you look at ads, or are there to convince you into paying for a premium service. \n\nThere's a *slight* chance that they're actually load-balancing and just want you to have something to look at so you don't think it's frozen and hit reload constantly, too. ",
"proven... | null |
35k0fz | When an object moves, how quickly does the change in direction of its gravitational field spread? | [
{
"answer": "Two things could happen. \n\nIn your scenario, if the object were magically teleported away, the other object would only observe the change in gravitational effect after the signal reaches it. That means that if it's 10 light years away, object B would only notice the object A moving away 10 years ... | null |
pee7r | Our ears are so sensitive, that we can ear someone murmur from a few meters in a quiet room. How come the wind doesn't render us deaf ? | [
{
"answer": "You have 2 muscles which attach to the conductive bones in your ear. The stapedius muscle attaches to the stapes (stirrup) and the tensor tympani attaches to the malleus (hammer). \n\nContraction of these muscles prevent the bones from vibrating as much and thus makes sounds less loud. You have two... | null |
34w9r3 | if the fdic ensures 250k, how do billionaires organize so much money? | [
{
"answer": "They spread it out over many banks. They also have a ton of assets that simply aren't FDIC insured. The FDIC isn't designed to protect the money of billionaires. The purpose of the program is to prevent bank runs in times of desperation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "invest in st... | null |
1rr7jz | "There may only be one electron in the whole Universe"? | [
{
"answer": "It was casually suggested by John Wheeler in 1940. You shouldn't think of it as a serious idea. \n\nThe idea is that there's one single electron moving back and forth in time. The positron is when the electron is moving backwards in time. In fact, a positron does look like an electron in the opposi... | null |
21kqxm | what is the little metal piece that coaches press against a boxers cuts? | [
{
"answer": "It's suppose to reduce swelling. It's cold and absorbs body heat quickly.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It is to stop the bruising, vaseline was used to stop the bleeding and protect the cuts but now they use a chalk like stick which looks like its metal.\n\n\n-_URL_0_\n",
"p... | null |
egn6ox | what makes md5 such a bad hashing algorithm? | [
{
"answer": "A couple of things:\n\n1) It's very fast. \"How is that a disadvantage?\" you may ask. Don't we want computers to be fast? Well, not in this case. For one, you don't need the speed. If your login takes 500 ms instead of 0.5 ms because of a slow hash function, you don't really mind. On the other han... | null |
47cqwa | Could a planetary system be close enough to a nebula so as to have "nebula-lit night sky?" | [
{
"answer": "The most dramatic nebula images you generally see are those of [molecular clouds](_URL_0_). These are star forming regions, which will form stars and planets. However, much of the gas is dissipated within 10s of millions of years by the radiation and winds from big bright short-lived stars, which i... | null |
lw7l5 | Curious question about female ovulation | [
{
"answer": "EDIT: Mostly outside my area of expertise, don't trust my tag too much.\n\nThe only reason a biology teacher should feel awkward being asked this question is if they don't know the answer and aren't willing to help you find someone or a source that does.\n\nSo the menstrual cycle is generated by a ... | null |
400506 | Why weren't air rifles more widely used in the American Civil War? | [
{
"answer": "Can you elaborate?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "18467712",
"title": "Rifles in the American Civil War",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 1,
"start_character": 0,
"end_paragraph_... | null |
1y1ghe | When an electrical flow is traveling down a metal wire, what is going on at the atomic level? | [
{
"answer": "Electrical current is the \"pushing\" of electrons on each other. You can think of it as electrons being pulled from one atom, jumping to the next, and being replaced by those in line behind them to create a cycle. This is why electrical current only flows in a *circuit*, or a complete loop for the... | null |
26l4ae | Was "boiling oil" ever regularly used in siege warfare, or is this a myth, or something that only happened a few times? | [
{
"answer": "From the point of view of European medieval siege warfare, there are instances of a whole host of things being thrown by defenders over walls, through machicolations and down murder holes, or via siege engines by attackers. These include everything from rocks and pitch, to waste and effluent, to hu... | null |
gezjw | Would the Superconducting Super Collider, that was cancelled have been a huge science gain over the LHC? | [
{
"answer": "It would have had about three times the energy: 40 TeV total vs 14. That means that it would have gotten the same results faster (look at how fast the LHC found what the Tevatron spent years looking for) and would have had a better chance at finding new physics like supersymmetry.",
"provenance... | null |
d2napm | why do many high-education-required jobs pay less than low-education-required counterparts? | [
{
"answer": "It really depends on the details, you'd need to be more specific. A trade skill can be quite valuable if it's in demand and doesn't require a degree, so probably plumbers with no degree make more money on average than people with many kinds of humanities degrees. But on average across the whole p... | null |
iut19 | Does it save energy to turn down your furnace (or
AC) during the day? | [
{
"answer": "I think the confusing thing though is that people mention the HVAC \"working hard\". The system doesn't really work harder, just longer if the target temp is a ways off or it's not at peak efficiency.\n\nThe outdoor temperature can effect the efficiency of an A/C system or heat pump. In cooling, th... | null |
371m3k | why are bogs so good at preserving organic material? | [
{
"answer": "The broad answer: loss of sunlight and oxygen (due to excess pigmented and colloidal organic material), low pH, (due to organic acids, especially humic acids), and low N, K, and P content (bogs are usually relatively upland, and away from volcanic soils or metamorphic mineral soils). Corrections ... | null |
44qa5e | why isn't the female condom more popular? | [
{
"answer": "The male condom has a few advantages, mostly simply because it was invented first. It's more widely known, so people feel more comfortable with it and trust it more (this is fallacious, of course). Most importantly, male condom use is taught in schools, whereas I don't believe female condom use is ... | null |
y9mjx | how are the children of illegal immigrants in the us (who, therefore, are also illegal) able to attend high schools and universities? | [
{
"answer": "Public schools generally only require that you list your place of residence and you arrange for transportation, whether by school bus route or personally picking up or dropping off. Most school districts don't check citizenship because it's never been an issue.\n\nColleges just don't care about cit... | null |
rymvy | Why does a space shuttle do a quarter turn 15-30 seconds into launch? Why not just launch it with that orientation rather than turning? | [
{
"answer": "When a rocket launches, its goal is (typically) to attain orbit around the earth. In order to do that, it needs to have a good deal of lateral velocity. However, near the ground, there is air resistance to be accounted for. If a rocket launched at a steep angle, then it would be fighting against... | null |
bhz9i4 | If light is produced by the release of photons when electrons return to stable energy levels, why do blackbody objects emit light over a continuous and wide spectrum? | [
{
"answer": "Charged particles emit a (quasi-)discrete spectrum of EM radiation when they transition between *bound* states, but they can also emit continuous spectra when they transition between *scattering* states.\n\nThis is what bremsstrahlung is, and that's ultimately what causes the continuous Planck spec... | null |
53iatp | If time dilation increases exponentially as an object approaches a black hole's event horizon, how does anything ever reach the singularity? | [
{
"answer": "Well, the key point is that time passes differently for different observers. So yes, someone looking from far away would see everything quickly redshift and essentially become frozen and dark right on the surface of the black hole (at least until it evaporates). \n\nBut from the perspective of what... | null |
1moce6 | - the dot com crash | [
{
"answer": "When the internet was first becoming popular and a mainstay in most homes, tons of \".com\" companies were being started. For instance, I remember _URL_0_ being a Company that would deliver groceries to your door after you ordered online. Anyway, tons of these startups were being established, going... | null |
3soc3x | who or what determines a day to be "national 'whatever' day!" that i see on facebook and listen on the radio every day? | [
{
"answer": "Marketing departments of parties with a vested interest. National Chocolate Day will be promoted by the International Association of Chocolate Manufacturers etc. etc. There's nothing 'official' about it. You can declare any day to be anything and just shout about it on social media.",
"provenan... | null |
8t38sm | in places where water is scarce, could a dehumidifier collect water from the air that would be potable? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. It's called an atmospheric water generator. The cost is that it uses a substantial amount of energy.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Theoretically yes, but areas that don't get much rain will also have proportionally dry air. So, you wouldn't get much water from the air. In ad... | null |
24qxf1 | why are millennials so obsessed with college and graduate school? | [
{
"answer": "Because your boomer parents were, back when college and grad school were both affordable and afforded advantages ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because the kinds of jobs the average millenial wants all require, at minimum, a college degree, and often a graduate degree of some kin... | null |
7r6mqs | bank of canada interest rate: why do they raise it, why is it good to raise it (and who for), and why can’t they leave it at 0%? | [
{
"answer": "In general, low interest rates help boost the economy because it becomes cheaper to borrow money, which businesses can use to make investments in their business. Consumers can buy homes and other things cheaply. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, low interest rates accelerate the rate of i... | null |
25aqkd | what's happening on a biological level when my hair sticks up and i can't get it to go down? | [
{
"answer": "It's nothing biological. It could be sticking up for a number of reasons, one of which is static electricity. Static electricity comes about when there is an imbalance of positively charged and negatively charged atoms in a system (the system in this case being your hair). When your hair is charged... | null |
cemkc2 | what are the advantages (and disadvantages) of animals having larger males vs larger females? | [
{
"answer": "This is based on the type of animals and need to attract or defend. \n\nIn certain types for example bird males are more colorful because they need to attract the females. In this case, females choose the male based on their ability to sing, court, and color. They want to choose the best possible m... | null |
fa11m | How unique are individual animals of the same species? | [
{
"answer": "I'd imagine if you were the member of another species of animal you'd see much greater range in phenotype. Many, many species of animal are extremely choosy about who they mate with. Think of peahens and birds of paradise. They notice any minute flaw in a male and will refuse to mate with him. \n\n... | null |
4rws9h | what the is escrow and what does it mean if my mortgage has an escrow shortage? | [
{
"answer": "Escrow is a source of funds held by a neutral 3rd party... in the case of your mortgage, it's money you pay as part of your monthly mortgage that's held to pay property taxes (typically paid twice a year) and homeowners insurance (paid annually).\n\nIf you have an escrow shortage, then it likely me... | null |
2pwj8i | if i can water down a drink (soda, gatorade, "juice") and it's still brightly coloured, why did the manufacture add so much colouring to begin with? | [
{
"answer": "The point of the dye is to change the color from something that is probably grotesque/unappealing, to something more matching our expectations based on described flavor. So let's say your cherry drink is really blue, with all of the chemicals in it, before coloring. you add a heap of red, but it do... | null |
mf3f3 | Physics debate on Kennedy Assassination | [
{
"answer": "From the hearings:\n\nExcerpts from testimony of Alfred G. Olivier, DVM to Rockefeller Commission, April 18, 1975. Transcript of testimony taken beginning at page 21 of the testimony. Dr. Olivier, (A.) a wound ballistics scientist, is being questioned by Robert Olsen. (Q.)\n\n\nQ. What is your opin... | null |
9pzeur | Since all the plates are constanly moving, will there ever be a time where the continents will move into eachother and form a new supercontinent? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. The exact arrangement of the next supercontinent is debated, with layouts such as \"Amasia\" and \"Pangea Ultima\" proposed, depending mainly on whether subduction zones form at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean or not. But another supercontinent of some sort is very likely in future.\n\nAnd yes,... | null |
2ndkka | Did any of Leonardo Da Vinci's research actually lead to technological advancement, or was it all lost until it became irrelevant? | [
{
"answer": "I actually wrote a paper on this last year, which allows me the delicious pretentiousness of quoting myself.\n\n**TL;DR:** His rediscovered papers helped design a surgical robot in the late 1990s, and improved a specific type of heart surgery in the early 2000s. (**Edit:** And, as others have point... | null |
5eykrs | how are subtitles created for films? | [
{
"answer": "You give someone the film and a copy of the script, and they type out the subtitles/CC. It's a lot of work, I've done it for a few 10min videos on YouTube and it took hours. However, YouTube can auto-generate captions and you can edit those, which drastically reduces the time required, but it still... | null |
1lfej2 | the relationship between pressure and density in a fluid. | [
{
"answer": "Because barometers measure pressure, so it makes sense to use the most direct qualifier to describe the air, instead of putting it through an unnecessary conversion.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3032798",
"title":... | null |
3acvbd | Armistice was 11 o'clock on the 11th of November. How widespread (immediate) among the trenches was this, and is there any evidence that commanders ordered unnecessary assaults? | [
{
"answer": "The armstice was actually reached at 5am in the morning that day, to be enacted at 11am. So there was a 6 hour delay to allow the implementation of the truce. The armstice was announced in Paris at 9am, and in London around 10:20 am. Allied artillery continue to fire on the Germans even after the t... | null |
zupxl | Can you approach a black hole from any dimension and experience the same result? | [
{
"answer": "What do you mean from any dimension? Do you mean from any direction?\n\nIf the black hole isn't spinning very fast then yes. If it's spinning fast enough it depends on your direction relative to its equator.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"... | null |
26dirs | why does being warm make us drowsy, whereas being cold makes us alert ? | [
{
"answer": "Your heart hate slows in a warm environment because it doesn't have to work as hard to keep your body warm. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm the opposite actually... When I'm cold, I become narcoleptic basically ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because we don't... | null |
8hg4xt | how can a scratched dvd sometimes work when just 1 wrong letter can crash computer codes? | [
{
"answer": "Error correction routines. Essentially, they assume the disc will be scratched eventually and structure the data such that minor issues can be accounted for and dealt with.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Error correction can be a beautiful thing. If you have enough information aro... | null |
1cf6jp | pythagoreanism | [
{
"answer": "The sum of squares on the short sides is equal to the square on the long side in a right triangle.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "10649725",
"title": "Hellenistic philosophy",
"section": "Section::::Hellenis... | null |
5ayg2i | how do companies trademark super common words/terms | [
{
"answer": "There's different levels of trademarks, and even then it's not an end-all be-all to stop anyone from using that term or word.\n\nA trademark (™) is the lower tier one. You can use this one wherever, no legal paperwork required. It's to notify competitors that you consider this thing a part of YOUR ... | null |
vfu2y | Can aerosol spray cans used as flamethrowers explode at any time? | [
{
"answer": "In order for a gas to ignite it needs to combine with (usually) oxygen. There is no oxygen in the can so the flame cannot backup into the can to explode.\n\nThis is the same reason a gas stove does not send the flame back down the pipes. The gas can only burn once it is in the presence of oxygen ... | null |
4mlx0i | why reading strings of numbers or letters out loud helps with short term memorization | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't. What you're doing is *rehearsing* which moves stuff from working/short-term memory to long-term memory. But because you're not storing it in any effective way, you'll have trouble retrieving it very shortly. \n\nShort-term/working memory can usually hold 7 items at once (maybe 1 more, m... | null |
5xuo0m | what happens if you try to play an instrument in space ? | [
{
"answer": "Instruments will not make any noise in space. Sound is the collision of particles in a substance, and there are (practically) no particles in a vacuum.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "With no way to escape into the nonexistent air, the vibrations would travel through the instrument... | null |
2tc2zk | How ISS orbit height was decided? | [
{
"answer": "The Karman line is generally considered to be the boundary between space and the atmosphere because at that altitude the air is so thin that you would have to fly faster than orbital velocity to generate enough lift for flight. However, in reality the border between space and our atmosphere is fair... | null |
3jvfcn | Does every chemical reaction emit a sound? | [
{
"answer": "Im guessing you're referring to things like the barking dog experiment. \n\nIn general reactions, unless they're very exothermic and fast (ie explosions and combustion), tend to be pretty dull. In order to make a sound you need to move a lot of air, and this is generally accomplished by by rapidly ... | null |
1b20vv | if ww3 happened tomorrow, what would be the biggest difference in warfare stuff compared to ww2? | [
{
"answer": "We just don't know. People keep trying to predict what war tactics will look like in the future, and since World War I, they've pretty consistently been wrong. We haven't had a war between major powers for over 60 years, so nobody knows how that kind of war would be fought.",
"provenance": null... | null |
yd6zd | In your opinion at point had the Roman Republic irrevocably fallen? | [
{
"answer": "The Roman Republic wasn't a singular entity, it was a collection of laws, customs, and institutions that together formed a government. Some of these were ended fairly early--Sulla's march on Rome, for example, or Cicero's execution of citizens without trial. Some of these were ended late--it wasn't... | null |
8c6uzl | How inaccurate is this "Adam Ruins Everything" video about the history of Anatomy? | [
{
"answer": "Just a brief response -- despite the host's claim to \"ruin everything\" by giving counterfactual stories, he's actually delivering a very mainstream hagiography of Vesalius that would have not seemed out of place in the 19th century (though still is popular today, especially in the medical field).... | null |
14g3ve | Just to add more to the current discussion on beer, I have a few questions inside | [
{
"answer": "1. Water was always an option. Drinking water from sources or even collected rain wasn't that unhealthy. Pure water could become a problem in medieval cities due to the population density and the disposal of waste in natural bodies of water. But as stated in one of the answers of the post you're re... | null |
b95yqn | Where does Cicero talk about "a certain Roman praetor, Cassius"? | [
{
"answer": "It's at Cic., *Pro Rosc.*, 84:\n\n > L. Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem in causis quaerere solebat 'cui bono' fuisset.\n\n > > That great L. Cassius, whom the Roman people considered the truest and wisest judge [i.e. juror], who was accustom... | null |
11ppxm | Help explaining some of the pockets of Europe NOT hit by the Black Death | [
{
"answer": "Krakow and Milan both instituted very draconian quarantine procedures early on. I have no idea what happened in the Pyrénées, but it could easily be related to lack of travel in that relatively sparsely populated and mountainous area.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prov... | null |
2j39j2 | why does out stomach hurt and we get diarrhea after eating something really spicy and hot? what happens inside of our body? | [
{
"answer": "im not a biologist so take this with a grain of salt, but im guessing its because the stomach is irritated by the spicy food and wants to purge itself.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Chili contains capsaicin, your body does not break down these compounds during digestion, and the... | null |
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