id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
46lsto | government deficit spending like how the us did during the great depression. how can a government spend money it doesn't have? | [
{
"answer": "The same way anyone or any organization does: the government borrows it from other people.\n\nWhen you buy a government bond, that's lending the government money.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They borrow money from others, mostly by selling bonds. You can buy a bond from the gov... | null |
61n56z | This week's theme: Oral History | [
{
"answer": "Wew, not a whole lot of answers this round. Shame too, a lot of these questions were pretty good :\\",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "33869005",
"title": "NAMM Oral History Program",
"section": "Section::::His... | null |
60pl5d | How is magnetized plasma created and what kind of gasses produce them? | [
{
"answer": "The gases can be most anything. Hydrogen (including its fusion-fuel isotopes deuterium and/or tritium) or helium are common choices. Storage generally requires some sort of magnetic confinement. A toroidal magnetic field geometry such as in a [tokamak](_URL_1_) is a common choice, though there are ... | null |
7x8edj | Where does sediments comes from? | [
{
"answer": "Sediment deposition somewhere is the product of erosion somewhere else. Imagine a mountain with a stream flowing down the side of it that eventually flows into a lake. Rocks are weathered (broken down into smaller bits by physical and chemical processes at the Earth's surface) and then the products... | null |
3ib42c | how come cats get stuck in trees and need to be rescued? could they get down on their own given enough time? | [
{
"answer": "Cat claws are designed for climbing up. A cat is not a squirrel. Squirrels can climb up, down, and sideways, always headfirst, no problem. But a cat has to climb with her head up to avoid falling, and once she’s up, the only way down is to back down. A cat that's exhausted, scared, or injured can... | null |
5x1d18 | why do most foods taste better when drunk or high? | [
{
"answer": "in very simple terms, weed blocks certain neurotransmitter reuptake. so, if your brain sends a signal that something tastes good, that signal will have a hard time turning off. so, that \"this tastes good\" signal will just keep firing. \n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Alcohol ... | null |
5jbm1e | why do we react with anger upon hurting ourselves? | [
{
"answer": "Our brain has a complex reward system that is activated both when we receive a reward (food, money, etc.) and when we make an error.\n\nError detection is extremely important for our survival. For example, if touching a plant gives you a rash, you won't want to touch that plant anymore. \n\nBecause... | null |
23ienu | what's the deal with muslims in the u.k.? | [
{
"answer": "Never been to the UK, but seeing this headlines from there scares me. Is it really as bad as the news say? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The same situation is going on in France, they do not assimilate where ever they assemble a large enough population they will then start to ... | null |
ysvff | Can someone please explain medically what Lance Armstrong took and how he got away with it? | [
{
"answer": "He has been accused by the US Anti-Doping Agency of using erythropoietin and steroids. Erythropoietin (EPO) makes your body make more red blood cells, which increases how much oxygen your blood can carry and, to a lesser extent, how much CO2 it can carry away. This increases aerobic capacity grea... | null |
20in1y | Is freezing a feasible way to separate Heavy Water from Light Water? | [
{
"answer": "This effect is known as isotopic fractionation. Using water as an example, the heavy isotopes (deuterium, tritium, oxygen-17 and oxygen-18) tend to favour the solid phase during freezing. The ice becomes enriched in heavy isotopes and the leftover liquid is depleted in heavy isotopes. However the d... | null |
80ezzn | when using a debit card, why do some merchants require me to enter a pin, sign a receipt, or simply swipe? | [
{
"answer": "Along with the other answer, most card providers do not require signatures or PINs for transactions under a certain amount, usually $20-$25. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I can't remember the last time I swiped my card or signed a receipt. \n\nIn the UK it's pretty much chip an... | null |
4fq20x | what do insurance companies mean when they say "you can save $x when you switch to this company."? | [
{
"answer": "It's typically an annual savings amount. However, they only mention that \"those who switch save $X\", but they never mention what percentage of people who contact them for a quote actually switch. Maybe it's only a specific demographic that saves a lot and thus chooses to switch, while the vast ma... | null |
3403ox | Why does lithium not form a strong base, and florine a strong acid? | [
{
"answer": "The main difference between lithium and fluorine and the rest of the members of their groups is atomic size.\n\nIn general, atomic/ionic radii increase as you move down any group in the periodic table (because heavier elements have more electrons taking up space). Because lithium and fluorine lie a... | null |
55gzff | what is the significance of the u.s. losing the contract giving them authority over internet ip addresses? | [
{
"answer": "They have not lost anything. They are contemplating releasing control of it over to the UN. That has not happened yet. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "6852935",
"title": "IPv4 address exhaustion",
"section":... | null |
2d4lxh | When and why did trousers become the standard garment for European men? | [
{
"answer": "My knowledge doesn't go back as far as their invention, but there's a great deal of discussion over the ancient usage of split leg garments in the other links already provided. As for trousers as we know them today, they begin to appear around the early 18th century. Prior to that you have hose, a ... | null |
ahop5t | In Medieval Europe, women were considered inherently lustful and prone to sexual sin. Would modern stereotypes of male sexual appetite apply to them? | [
{
"answer": "No. Latin medieval culture could, and did, spin a fancy tale of the devil seducing Eve seducing Adam, and the humoral composition of women making them \"leaky\" and \"open\" to demonic influence. They made up theological and biological backing for this teaching.\n\nPopular comic literature came dow... | null |
na63m | eli15 sn1 and sn2 reactions and their differences. | [
{
"answer": "Basically, SN1 favors stability, and SN2 favors a quick attack. If you have a large structure with many carbons attached to it, and/or with many conjugated bonds (which also increase stability) See benzene, SN1 will likely be favored thermodynamically. There are still reactions with SN2 models on l... | null |
nikjx | What is the limit of the size of an element's atomic nucleus? Could a neutron star be considered an element? | [
{
"answer": "A neutron star is held together by gravity, not by the strong nuclear force.\n\nAny normal element's nucleus is held together by the strong nuclear force.\nPretty much every element at the edge of the periodic table is unstable and only exists for a fraction of a second before it breaks apart... so... | null |
eo8cly | What caused Celtic languages in the British Isles to develop phonemes like Bh (V), Mh (W), and Y in place of U, when their conquerors who exposed them to the Latin alphabet didn’t? | [
{
"answer": "The use of the 'h' to represent a *séimhiú* (the lenition of a consonant) is relatively new. Traditionally Irish was written in Gaelic script (which some enthusiasts still use) which, while still clearly based on the Roman alphabet, is different enough from regular letters to take a while to get us... | null |
1m05jt | when people "catch the holy spirit" and start freaking out in church, what's that all about? | [
{
"answer": "The mind is a very powerful thing. Those people legitimately believe the Holy Spirit is with them and basically imagine and act out the entire thing. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mass hysteria, hysterical conversion, emotional contagion. Call it whatever you want, just don't u... | null |
4cxmtq | how does the sun's heat reach us if there's so little matter to transfer it in space? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't transfer through conduction or convection, but radiation. It travels in the form of infrared photons, which are emitted directly from the sun radiate outwards.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The sun's heat reaches us through radiation.\n\nAnything with a heat warmer tha... | null |
2kbnia | Did Romans know about elephants before the Punic Wars, or were they a completely new animal to them? | [
{
"answer": "The Romans faced war elephants a few years before the First Punic War. In 280 B.C. Pyrrhus brought 20 war elephants from Greece to Rome. As Cassius Dio (via Zonaras) reports in [book IX](_URL_0_):\n\n > Now Pyrrhus set out, not even awaiting the coming of spring, taking along a large, picked army,... | null |
s2rm8 | Did America ever steal tech or knowledge from the Soviet Union? | [
{
"answer": "In the first several years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the leading Russian export was... patents and inventions. Sorry, don't remember the source. \n\n\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As a layman\n\nWell, I don't know if you could really say the US stole technology fro... | null |
62he0e | us citzens, what happens if someone commits a crime in a state and runs to another state that what he has done is not ilegal? | [
{
"answer": "If you commit a crime, and flee across State lines, the United States Federal Government is responsible for returning you to the State in question to face charges. This is accomplished by the US Marshall's. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) ... | null |
1q3vql | how does a new stock on the market open trading at a price different than it was offered? | [
{
"answer": "The market makers are the first ones to release the stock into the world. The stock is essentially private, controlled by the market makers. They bought it from Twitter at $x, and are now reselling it on the open market. They want to get as much money as possible for their stock. \n\nThey initi... | null |
1m361e | Is it possible to determine where in Africa modern humans originated? | [
{
"answer": "[National Geographic](_URL_2_): \"*Most paleoanthropologists and geneticists agree that modern humans arose some 200,000 years ago in Africa. The earliest modern human fossils were found in Omo Kibish, Ethiopia. Sites in Israel hold the earliest evidence of modern humans outside Africa, but that gr... | null |
yz3wz | why is mediafire still online but megaupload got taken down? | [
{
"answer": "Because megaupload had many many more users, plus brought in more money",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To my understanding, it's because\n \n * Megaupload had tons of illegal uploads and barely anything was being done about it, while MediaFire actively takes down illegal files\n ... | null |
hjoy4 | Would using a heavier head on a golf club give the ball more distance? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, moving at the same speed, a heavier head would make the golf ball go faster. But there are other factors, such as moriaantje mentioning the contact time would likely not be the same. Also, you won't be swinging a heavier golf club at exactly the same speed, which complicates the issue. ",
... | null |
1b74g2 | Why is walking/running up a hill so much harder despite physical condition? | [
{
"answer": "When you walk up a flight of stairs or see a gradual hill, your body begins to 'prepare' itself by activating the sympathetic nervous system. This will increase your heart rate and respiratory rate. So even if your a marathon runner, just walking up a few flights of stairs will get your HR/resp r... | null |
2e19li | why do big websites such as reddit and facebook not require their users to verify their emails? | [
{
"answer": "I recently worked on a project and I had to make this decision, so I'll share my thought process.\n\nFirst of all, verifying emails takes a long time and a lot of clicks. I'd estimate that 50% of users probably would close the tab if they saw that an email was required on registration.\n\nSecond, t... | null |
2w07es | why do companies like ferrari which advertise minimally still achieve international recognition? | [
{
"answer": "Supercar and luxury car manufacturers often advertise on the professional racing circuit instead of TV.\n\nA Lamborghini ad will be wasted on the vast majority of the populace, but a Lamborghini winning a prestigious endurance race will put that car above others in the minds of millionaire racing e... | null |
q2v5g | Does Boxing/MMA headgear protect against trauma? | [
{
"answer": "I'll give this my best shot, since none have answered yet.\n\nThe headgear/padding used in most fighting sports are there to protect you from the most serious injuries: skull fractures, fingers/knuckles cracking, wrists breaking. As far as protection from concussions or brain trauma, again it prot... | null |
10pq5r | Can you identify what decade this picture was from based on the clothes worn? | [
{
"answer": "The buildings are probably a better bet.\n\nContext: The image is looking roughly south (the Pacific -- west -- is to the right, Santa Monica -- east -- is to the left). The rings are just south of the famous Santa Monica Pier.\n\n* The two tall buildings by the acrobat's hands look to be the Santa... | null |
465xaw | why is it called hemophilia? | [
{
"answer": "You bleed a lot I guess. You love blood so much you just can't clot your wounds.\n\nPhilia also means \"tendency toward\"",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "According to _URL_0_\nit's using an alternative emphasis on the latter part of the word.\n > [philia](_URL_1_) \"to love\", here... | null |
99rwz8 | My high school history teachers always said that the Manhattan Project scientists had some degree of not knowing what was going to happen during the Trinity Test. How much of these allegations, specifically that some thought they'd light the sky on fire, were true? | [
{
"answer": "More can be written, but you might like to start with [\"Was there really any fear during the development of the atomic bomb that it could detonate the atmosphere?\"](_URL_1_) by /u/restricteddata.\n\nIf you're also interested in post-war calculations, a later discussion by the same is [\"I just re... | null |
2twmg7 | What, on the atomic level, causes cooling when a gas is expanding? | [
{
"answer": "In order for the gas molecules to expand, it uses energy to push away the surrounding molecules. It loses energy and will therefore be at a lower temperature than the surrounding molecules. Being at a lower temperature will mean that heat will flow from the hotter surroundings to the cold expanded ... | null |
1lp52f | How widely used was the French Revolutionary Calendar? | [
{
"answer": "It was VERY widely used. All government documents from that period bear the Republican calendar date. Passports issued use that calendar. Birth certificates. \n\nPeople were quick to adopt it, too, because it signified that you were favorable to the new Republican regime. Using words like \"citoyen... | null |
2rx24b | if potatoes are relatively healthy, olive oil is very healthy, and salt isn't that bad for you, why are french fries so terrible? | [
{
"answer": "Potatoes are starch (sugar storage for plants) oil is fat ( energy storage) and salt is actually fine as long as your water consumption is on par.\n\nYou end up eating a lot of calories for very little nutritional benefit. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1) Olive oil is not used ... | null |
1mpv36 | "jesus died for our sins" - what exactly does this mean? | [
{
"answer": "The idea as I understand it is thus:\n\nGod is perfectly good and perfectly just. Being Good, he loves his creations and wants to bless them and be with them forever. However, being Just, he cannot reward evil. The penalty for transgressions has to be paid.\n\nJesus had no sin of his own. He took t... | null |
1p5yb7 | Is the cell we each started off as still part of our body when we're born? If so, what part of the body is it in? | [
{
"answer": "While I do not know the answer to the question, you have to remember that what would you call the \"original\" cell of the body. When a cell goes through mitosis, it splits into two. How would you determined which cell was the \"original\" cell?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The ... | null |
21qcgb | what is a "tontine?" | [
{
"answer": "The money from a tontine is usually put into some sort of interest earning fund. This could be as simple as a savings account or it could mean stocks, bonds, money markets, or many other financial instruments.\n\nSince this money collects interest the amount gets bigger.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
4t16p3 | how is it decided how far to watch for deer/elk along the freeway? | [
{
"answer": "This may be wrong but my grandfather told me its figured out by collecting information based on deer population in the area along with the amount of accidents due to deer on certain roads. Let's say there's a car accident a day due to deer on a certain section of road then they will deem that parti... | null |
69vfwj | how big of a plant would you need in a sealed room for enough oxygen to survive? | [
{
"answer": "According to this guy _URL_0_ probably about 400 house plants (he doesnt give more detail) per person.\n\nYou might want to google the term Biodome (not the film) for experiments where they have actually tried putting people in sealed environments and using plants to generate the oxygen for them.",... | null |
174c9t | - why, exactly, were biggie smalls and tupac so influential? | [
{
"answer": "With regards to Biggie Smalls he arguably under the influence of Puff Daddy changed how samples were used, \"Juicy\" being a break out track for using an old funk record. In comparison to \"Boyz in the Hood\" with Eazy E whose style relied on synths. Arguably rap before then was lead by the DJ and ... | null |
8fz9a0 | Why the electron cannot be view as a spinning charged sphere? | [
{
"answer": "I guess the question is why you can't explain spin of an electron as effect caused by rotation of charged sphere.\n\nFirst it is important to understand why we sometimes speak of spin as \"sort of rotation but not really\". The reason is simple: The quantum mechanical \\(QM\\) equations that descri... | null |
526ijf | which has more caffeine and why? dark coffee beans (dark roasts) or greenish/tan coffee beans (light roasts). | [
{
"answer": "If you measure your coffee by scoops, light roasted coffee will have more caffeine. Since the beans are denser than a darker roast. However if you weigh out your scoops, darker roasts will have more caffeine, because there is less mass. What should also be noted is that Arabica beans vary in levels... | null |
10fcqu | After the sun expands to consume the earth, will earth continue to orbit as before, just inside the corona now? | [
{
"answer": "You are on the right track. The sun will expand to a maximum radius of about 1.2 AU. During this expansion the sun will have lost about one third of its mass. As a result of the loss of mass, it loses some of its \"tug\" on the Earth.\n\nNow because of the decreased mas of the Sun, the Earth's orbi... | null |
22ivss | Is using a "mind palace" an effective memory tool, or is it pseudo-scientific bunk and other memory methods are more effective? | [
{
"answer": "There is a popular [model developed by Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch in 1974](_URL_2_) that describes memory as an information processing system with specialized components, much like a computer. As I understand it, learned associations are easier to recall using this \"memory palace\" technique b... | null |
47ikxb | When did the Bishop of Rome become the Pope and primary figure of the Christian faith? | [
{
"answer": "That's a hard one to answer in a way that's going to satisfy everybody, since the question itself is kind of hard to pin down and narratives can be easily, even unconsciously, twisted in favor of an agenda. This is an excerpt from a post I wrote on BH.\n\n > *Papal Supremacy*\n\n > The doctrine th... | null |
1f3lvf | What can we do to help future historians? | [
{
"answer": "I've been curious about that myself. I think we need to make sure a good amount of human readable records are preserved. We have ancient books, but floppy discs from thirty years ago are obsolete and difficult to find readers for at best, or damaged and unreadable. It's important to make sure our r... | null |
3br7s3 | how to get infinite chocolate from a chocolate bar | [
{
"answer": "The gif is subtly doctored. When the piece moves from the left to the right, you can, if you pay attention, see it growing slightly.\n\nPay attention to the left edge of the piece. You see it growing from 2+1/2 to 2+2/3",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
5462ei | In terms of harvesting power from radio waves, is there an equivalent to a solar panel? | [
{
"answer": "This is what all satellite dishes and radio telescopes already do in the sense that they convert radio waves into some electrical signal. However, there's no step in there where they interact with some semiconductor wafer or anything like that. The signals typically need to be drastically amplified... | null |
6y2sek | how are saturn's rings clean if they have existed for millions to billions of years? | [
{
"answer": "They are not clean. They have drawn in countless meteors and such. Thus their current color instead of just looking snowy white.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To begin the rings are not solid but are made up of lose dust, gravel and rocks. A meteor would likely just pass straight... | null |
304unr | Why were ship designs so different in Asia compared to Europe? | [
{
"answer": "You're going to need to clarify a few things: what parts of Asia/Europe? Time period? Are you referring to hull design or rigging? Warships or merchantmen? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "435268",
"title": "History ... | null |
4yfh08 | how power banks understand the difference between being charged and charging? | [
{
"answer": "You plug it in the laptop via a USB port, and in the mobile phone via a micro USB port. This means you use two different ports on the powerbank as well. This decides if you're charging the bank or the device.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "actually it is very simple.\n\nfor mobile... | null |
2bs4t4 | if you got in a plane and started flying flat along with earth then maintained that direction, would you eventually begin flying out of the atmosphere? | [
{
"answer": "tl;dr: The plane would need to follow the curvature of the earth. \n\nAs an airplane gets higher in the atmosphere a few things happen. First, as the plane encounters less air resistance, it can move faster, generating more lift. Counteracting this, however, is the fact that the air gets thinner, s... | null |
90g3v1 | how did those inbuilt battery testers work? | [
{
"answer": "The bar is made of a thermochromic strip of paper/film (paper that changes colour based on temperature) layered on top of a strip of some conductor.\n\nWhen you press down on the two ends, the strip makes contact with the battery terminals and allows electricity to flow through it. This causes the ... | null |
1z9dm0 | During the late 19th century, why was Japan able to modernize its military better than China? | [
{
"answer": "This is an age old topic.\n\nMy answer is pretty simple. Japan could modernize because it became a nation-state by using ethnic nationalism. Qing China (1644-1911) could not modernize because it was multiethnic empire ruled by the minority Manchus.\n\nSo in Japan's case, the new Meiji state (1868-... | null |
fush1m | Question regarding using the blood plasma of recovered people to treat sick people: When the plasma is injected, is it just the antibodies in the donated plasma that attacks the virus, or does the body detect the antibodies and create more ? | [
{
"answer": "It's not the plasma that is injected. That is just what is extracted from the donor. The donated plasma is processed, refined, and the desired elements are extracted. In this case, the anti-Covid19 antibodies. Do a quick search of Anti-D, or Anti-Tetanus, or Anti-Rabies. It would be the same proce... | null |
p9eer | ...the difference between behaviorism and cognitive science. | [
{
"answer": "I'm just going off memory here, and it's been a little while since I learned about this stuff, but I'll give it a shot. (Note: I'm not familiar with Chomsky's particular arguments or ideas on the topic, but hopefully my answer isn't entirely useless)\n\nAs I recall, Behaviourism is the study of obs... | null |
1pmhm3 | what causes the "stitch" | [
{
"answer": "It's said that it's caused by the midriff, a muscle that important for breathing. If you are breathing in a fast maner, it can feel the same pain as any other muscle that you overuse. Running more and breathing deeper and more slowly will do the trick.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer"... | null |
7dcxmj | why does an object traveling at the speed of light gain infinite mass | [
{
"answer": "\nRelativistic mass is an outdated concept.\n\nMany contemporary authors such as Taylor and Wheeler strongly argue against the concept of dynamic mass, and most modern textbooks actually avoid it. \n\nTaylor and Wheeler state [1]\n\n > The concept of \"relativistic mass\" is subject to misundersta... | null |
3jsd9s | Have there been recorded cases of randomly decreasing entropy? | [
{
"answer": "Something like that happening on the macro scale is statistically less likely than everyone independently hallucinating that it happened and was recorded and well established. The standard deviation increases with the square root of the number of independent events added together, so for 6\\*10^23 ... | null |
3cppf9 | how do you make an app? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on what operating system (Android, iOS, Windows).\n\nBut in either case there is software that exists which lets you write code in a specific programming language. That code is compiled and then you're able to either distribute that app directly or submit it to an app store.\n\nFor each... | null |
5b4on3 | what is actually happening when a single taste bud decides to stick way out and get super sensitive? | [
{
"answer": "Your taste bud is getting inflamed because it was likely damaged, such as when you bite your tongue, eating something sharp, or something too hot for your mouth. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Welcome to the wonderful world of inflammation.\n\nThe most common scenario where this ... | null |
1d8ld0 | How did Portugal (as a fascist state under the Estado Novo) manage to stay non-belligerent in World War Two? | [
{
"answer": "Because Estado Novo is a very peculiar fascist state. We didn't had 90% of the ostentation of Italy and Germany, and Salazar didn't want to recuperate the Portuguese Empire as the Italians want to bring back the Roman Empire or the German the Reich, Salazar wanted his people poor, traditional and i... | null |
26lpwy | How was oil obtained in the middle ages? | [
{
"answer": "They got them from oil wells near the surface. Herodotus describes oil pits near Babylon, for instance, where they dug for oil much like you'd dig for water.\n\nMore specifically for the Middle Ages, Marco Polo -for instance- describes oil springs in Baku (Azerbaijan):\n\n > bordering upon Armenia... | null |
24ojmp | when talking on a cellular phone how does my voice get translated into bits of ones and zeroes? | [
{
"answer": "The sounds you vocalize lead to a series of compressions in the air.\n\nThe compressions are picked up by a microphone, where they cause a membrame to move in synch with your voice.\n\nThe movement of the membrame in the microphone is measured and gives rise to an electric signal that varies over t... | null |
1mai9i | Does low birth weight in humans have an effect on the brain later in life? | [
{
"answer": "It seems nearly certain that it does. Low birth rate children have higher rates cognitive delays and other neurological issues. The effects seem to be mild for most affected, but they seem to be persistent. \n\nSource: _URL_0_\n\nJSTOR subscription needed, but the abstract says it. ",
"provena... | null |
8276zm | Is the heat energy that we get from the sun just from Photons? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. Since there is (almost) nothing between the sun and the earth to transfer the heat through conduction or convection, the only way for thermal energy to be transferred is through radiation, which consists of photons.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Almost entirely, yes (to a la... | null |
1vrpg7 | How come our eyes can see both dark/light areas simultaneously while cameras can only be set to a specific exposure? | [
{
"answer": "A camera's exposure is the length of time that an image is recorded for. Our eyes/brain combination record and process images constantly. Modern video cameras can do this, and they are programmed to adjust to dark and light areas, too.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's actually ... | null |
o1xsn | why the hell do big states allow smaller states to have so much influence over the direction of a political party? | [
{
"answer": "It's all about the order of the primary. Candidates get money from their party and press coverage based on how well they are doing (or how crazy they are) if you mange to win the first few states, you get tons of publicity (and civilian donations) as well as extra party backing, especially now that... | null |
8am62d | Why did it take so long to unify Italy again (1870s) after the collapse of the Roman Empire? how did countries more technologically backward such as England, France and Castile/Spain unify more quickly than what was previously the most advanced empire in history? | [
{
"answer": "This question takes in the best part of a millennium and a half of West European history, and I was aiming to find 3-4 earlier answers that might address parts of it. \n\nHowever, it turns out u/AlviseFalier has written an epic answer to a very similar question: [It seems odd that the Italian peni... | null |
3prqqs | if/once the cuban embargo is lifted, what will change? | [
{
"answer": "It will be easier people in the US to visit Cuba, acquire Cuban goods and do business in Cuba. Vice-versa for people in Cuba dealing with the US.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Cuba will finally be able to buy newer, safer cars. _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
50p67s | Are there (presently) multicellular organisms with very few (2-50) cells? | [
{
"answer": "There is a spectrum of morphologies and sizes of simple life-forms. Some organisms such as slime molds and choanoflagellates can alternate between states in which they are single cells and states in which they have multiple cells. The multicellular phases of these organisms could include states wit... | null |
tc3oq | wide area networks | [
{
"answer": "A wide area network is similar to a local area network, but uses multiple routers/hubs and occasionally a VPN system to enable network access by dozens or even hundreds of people over a large and disparate landscape.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
1jrfqu | radar guns that the police use. | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nShort version of that: The gun shoots a radar signal at the car, the signal bounces off the car but is changed slightly by the car depending on its speed, the radar gun detects how the signal was changed and calculates the car's speed. The way the signal is changed is caused the Doppler ... | null |
1e2qyd | How did music originate? | [
{
"answer": "You might have better luck asking an anthropologist than a historian.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As hangarninetysix points out, this is probably a better question for anthropologists than for historians. And, while we do have some anthropologists here, you'll also find some in... | null |
2kcm1r | how does a company gets money when you buy its share, if when you buy a share the money goes to the seller of the share (which is not necessarily the company)? | [
{
"answer": "They care about the price of the shares because the shareholders **own the company**. If the share prices do poorly, the shareholders can fire the CEO & hire a new one.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The bottom line is that stock represents ownership. Naturally companies are co... | null |
fe2gjy | why it's harder for micro-organisms to become resistant to alcohol based disinfectants than drugs | [
{
"answer": "To keep it simple, alcohol kills the microorganisms by physical means : it mostly causes their membranes to fragilize, causing death.\n\nDrugs kill them acting on cellular mechanisms (for example, some antibiotics make it impossible for the bacterias to synthetize their membrane). However, these ce... | null |
eyx1g7 | how do antibodies actually work? does your body store antibodies for literally every disease it contracts during your lifetime, or is it more like a recipe? | [
{
"answer": "So I answered a similar question a while ago. I'll paste and tailor it to your question.\n\nYou want to defend yourself from the unknown. You don't know what's going to attack you, you just want to make sure anything that isn't you, that is inside you, gets destroyed. How do you go about doing that... | null |
16xplc | what is the difference between mitosis and meiosis | [
{
"answer": "Mitosis creates two cells which are fully functional cells with all of the organisms chromosomes. Imagine mitosis as cutting a sandwich in half, and winding up with two full sized sandwiches - it's pretty awesome.\n\nHowever, meiosis creates cells with only half of the number of chromosomes: 23 for... | null |
16bw9v | What kind of measures were taken to combat disease during military conflicts, especially for soldiers in campaigns? | [
{
"answer": "Until relatively recently the causes of the diseases were not known. They couldn't effectively fight diseases because they didn't have the necessarily scientific knowledge. The Greeks and Romans held to the [Four Humors Theory](_URL_0_) and it remained the leading knowledge of medicine up to the 18... | null |
788jme | Were the witch hunting trials by throwing people into water real? How were the deaths of innocents justified? | [
{
"answer": "Trial by water was one option available under trials by ordeal in Medieval Europe. Trials by ordeal, like trials by combat, come from ancient Germanic law customs. I'll mostly write here about its use in the High Middle Ages in Britain.\n\nTrials by ordeal generally came in two forms: trial by fire... | null |
24kl21 | what is the united nations' role in the russia/ukraine situation? | [
{
"answer": "It can't have one because Russia is on the Security Council. Motions were made to take the matter up, and Russia blocked them, as is its privilege.\n\nThis is the \"bug\" in the UN system. The permanent members of the Council (US, UK, France, Russia, China) don't have to live within the UN framew... | null |
307zv8 | Were Native Americans ever taken back to Europe, as slaves or to be assimilated into European society? | [
{
"answer": "The famous Native American Squanto was an example of this. He was captured as a young man in 1605 by the British, enslaved, and taken to England where he was taught English so he could be used as an interpreter. 9 years later he returned to New England as part of one of John Smith's expeditions. He... | null |
2og7xa | Panel AMA – East Asia in the Early 20th Century | [
{
"answer": "Have any of the Austronesian languages left a substrate in the Sinitic languages of Taiwan? If so, what does this substrate tell us about culture, history and influence in the island?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Do western, professional historians specialized in modern Chinese ... | null |
72mchy | Why can Windows run .exe files, but Mac can't even get a program to convert it to a readable file? | [
{
"answer": "Executable files don't really have anything human readable in them except for whatever text there might be stored in them as strings. When you start programming, one of the first things you have your program do is print \"hello world\" to the console. In your program it would have that string store... | null |
71u1m5 | how do we know where the borders that distinguish each ocean are, (i.e between pacific and atlantic) and how were they distinguished? | [
{
"answer": "At the boundaries between the oceans, no, there's no sudden change.\n\nThe technical borders of each ocean are dictated by the International Hydrographic Organization. For example, the boundary between the Atlantic and Indian oceans is defined by the 20E meridian from Africa to Antarctica.\n\nOn a... | null |
1yosis | who are neo-nazis, what do they believe in? | [
{
"answer": "It's hard to really put a finger on that one. There are people with different mindsets who consider themselves or are considered Neo-Nazis. \n\nOne possible definition is people who agree with what the Nazis did in the 30s and 40s, like considering Germans (or US-Americans,..) a superior race, thin... | null |
1jzevz | Why is the interior of the great pyramid in Egypt not covered in paintings and ancient Egyptian writings or reliefs like all the other supposedly older pyramids found in Egypt? | [
{
"answer": "Just like today's tombstones are not burried with the deceased, in ancient egyptian times paintings and relief decorations were usually reserved for places where others (mainly relatives and priests) could see them, in the accompanying chapels and temples.\n\nKhufu's pyramid complex is in very bad ... | null |
144zwk | what constitutes a radio station being hd quality, and how do they make it hd? | [
{
"answer": "'HD radio' is a branded implementation of the In-Band/On-Channel (IBOC) method of 'hybrid' broadcasting, wherein compact digital 'saddlebags' are placed at either end of the station's reserved 'mask' (the space it's allowed to use on the 'dial').\n\nIn many cases, there is only one HD channel, 'HD1... | null |
2mjymt | Are there any examples of successful opposition to Jim Crow in the segregated South before Brown v. Board? | [
{
"answer": "Good question. We often think that African American protest and the Civil Rights Movement began with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. This is usually the beginning marker because it was the first successful legal battle for de-segregation. However, do we define successful opposition to Jim Crow... | null |
2o7fzf | When/how did we begin to view the Earth as a planet in a solar system of multiple planets? In other words, at what point in time would you be able to ask "What planet are we on?" and people would begin to understand what you're talking about? [X-post to no stupid questions] | [
{
"answer": "hi! other responses are welcome (especially to represent various other cultures), but you can get started here\n\n* [When did humans become aware that they were on planet Earth, in a solar system, and part of the Universe?](_URL_0_)\n\nIt might also be worth x-posting to /r/AskScience (astronomy)",... | null |
3z1ksj | how can bill cosby's wife be compelled to testify against him? | [
{
"answer": "The legal protection your're thinking of is called \"spousal priviledge\". Here's the full wiki if you want to learn all about it. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe most relevant line to your question seems to be \"The privileges may also be suspended where both spouses are joint participants in a crime\". So ... | null |
118iwx | what kind of things would people have worn during beheadings in 17th Century France? | [
{
"answer": "Do you mean 18th century? Beheading by guillotine saw widespread use from 1790ish onward, not the 1600s. \n\nAssuming that you do, revolutionary fashion tended to involve plain, close-fitting shirts for men, somewhat influenced by the english landed gentry. Frenchmen would also wear a plain frock o... | null |
esxa1n | Why aren't analog computers more widely used? | [
{
"answer": "We don't use analogue computers because the cost and complexity to build such machines is extremely high, and their reliability is low for their cost.\n\nThe main problem with analogue computers is that in order to represent all of the possible values, you need multiple voltages across the circuits... | null |
2v03co | why does it get harder and harder to make friends and form meaningful relationships the older you get? | [
{
"answer": "Just one mans opinion here but.. I believe it has to do with shared experiences. When you are young the world is new and there is much to learn about it, you have friends and those friends get to experience all those things for the first time with you, strengthening your relationships. As you get o... | null |
9i7xe3 | what makes me... me? memories? consciousness? my body? and why? | [
{
"answer": "No one really knows the answer to this. I've alwyas considered someone's thoughts and their body make up who they are, but then again thoughts and your body can be manipulated and changed.\n\nIve always found it amazing that we are made up of different cells, like they're completely different livin... | null |
1gzqh2 | when do you stop worrying about heat from air friction, and start worrying about air compression. | [
{
"answer": "Engines that use supersonic air compression ([scramjets](_URL_0_)) for propulsion start working around mach 5.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3399064",
"title": "Total air temperature",
"section": "Section::... | null |
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