id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
33ns50 | i hang around my friend who is sick for one day and i get sick, but my dog who lives with me all the time doesn't get sick from me... why is that? | [
{
"answer": "The germs that get humans sick, don't necessarily make other animals sick. That's why malaria doesn't kill mosquitos, and the avian flu was so scary. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "353069",
"title": "Gastric dilata... | null |
26itaj | the eu election results. can't really find a broken down explanation online. | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_ for an overall result.\n\nEurosceptics were the first party in important nations such as UK or France, but they overall get around a fifth of the seats in the European Parliament.\n\nTraditional, eurosupporter parties such as EEP or S & D still have over the 50% of the seats together.",
... | null |
1huqtq | How strong/muscular were ancient warriors? Did they know enough about muscle growth to be the same build as many athletes/bodybuilders now? When did humans start becoming adept at bodybuilding? | [
{
"answer": "In general, the population today is much larger than they were during ancient or medieval times. Better access to food, especially rich in protein and fat has allowed the human population (at least in the western world) to become much taller.\n\nThat said, the population back then were much more ac... | null |
mdkwx | If the heart is a muscle that needs blood to function how does it and whose blood does it pump at first? | [
{
"answer": "The interesting thing about flow to the heart is that blood basically flows to the heart only when it's not contracting. During contractions, the pressure peaks and the body gets its blood flow, but the contraction of the muscles pushes blood back out of the arteries. In diastole, when the muscle r... | null |
ec5532 | I just read in a wikipedia page on Roman food that rations of wheat were distributed by the Roman state to as many as 200,000 individuals per month (1st century). What other kind of welfare programs did Rome have in place? | [
{
"answer": "[The Roman grain distributions were not, and should not be thought of, \"welfare\" in any really recognizable sense. Nor was the Augustan roll of 200,000 really particularly impressive, even compared to earlier grain distributions](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Speaking ... | null |
2hag7d | why can certain electrical items turn on for a split second when they're not plugged in? | [
{
"answer": "I've never been able to see an item turn on when not plugged in, but certain ones I've seen remain on momentarily after being unplugged. \r\r\rEither way, the answer is the same, capacitors. Capacitors are devices that store small amount of electrical energy. They are kinda like really fast chargin... | null |
ajrv2c | what is a bond and where does that money paid go to? | [
{
"answer": "A bond is a promise to pay someone money at a future date. Governments and business will issue bonds to raise money. Investors give money to the government or business and get the bond in exchange. When the bond matures the government or business will give whoever holds the bond the money that they... | null |
1hdyiu | Is there a limit on the mass of a spaceship built in space? (Due to gravity, etc.?) | [
{
"answer": "I can't think of anything that would cause a limitation to building a ship. Adding more mass to a spaceship wouldn't cause the ship to become too heavy to crash into earth. The reason for this is because things in orbit aren't suspended there. They're constantly falling, so a larger ship would fall... | null |
szztz | If our stomachs churn/mix our food, why don't we feel it moving around? | [
{
"answer": "The stomach isn't innervated with sensory neurons so no feeling, same reason why you don't typically feel any other internal organ doing its job",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5600636",
"title": "Vagovagal reflex",
... | null |
6mstr8 | if someone receives a full organ transplant will the organ be eventually replaced by the host's cells or will it remain as the the donor's cells for the rest of the host's life. | [
{
"answer": "It will always be the donor's cells. It can be possible to wean off of antirejection drugs as your body gets used to the new organ, but if your whole liver is replaced by a donor liver, you do not have any of your own liver cells to replicate and replace the donor cells. ",
"provenance": null
... | null |
3zsbf0 | what is the process for getting a job with mi5/mi6/secret service? | [
{
"answer": "For the US Secret Service, candidates must be U.S. citizens and must submit to urinalysis screening for illegal drug use prior to appointment. All Secret Service positions require a Top Secret security clearance. All applicants must undergo a full, Secret Service-specific, Top Secret clearance proc... | null |
3hfq33 | AskScience AMA Series: I am pfisico and I build instruments to study the cosmic microwave background radiation. Ask Me Anything! | [
{
"answer": "What technology would be required to succeed where BICEP2 didn't?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you were a betting scientist, what value of r would you put your money on?\n\nWho is your favorite CMB scientist, and why is it John Carlstrom?",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
1686tw | Can you heat a metal until it turns into a gas? If so, does this ever happen or is it just a theoretical state? | [
{
"answer": "All elements can be vaporized with sufficient energy.\n\nFor most metals this is over 1000 degrees Celsius, but it is possible and for most metals has been done in labs.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Absolutely; mercury vapor lights, some metal plateing processes use vaporizing t... | null |
9yqi39 | does anything significant happen to our bodies when we are shocked with low-level electricity? | [
{
"answer": "We get shocked. We are mostly composed of water, which conducts electricity, and being exposed to electricity will jolt your whole body. That's why we react so quickly if we've ever been shocked. \n\nIt'll probably depend on voltage but it can be anything from muscle pain(including abnormal heart r... | null |
vly14 | Am I causing myself any harm by heating my food in a plastic container? | [
{
"answer": "What type of plastic container are you using? Some have known negative side effects. You can find out by examining the bottom for a recycling number. [This isn't a very reputable site, but it should help a bit](_URL_0_). I hope this extricates your situation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
12z94r | Historically, what has been the most successful form of government for an empire? | [
{
"answer": "This is hard to answer because most empires changed government over time. The Roman Republic lasted centuries, and the Empire lasted over a millennia if you count Byzantium. The Holy Roman Empire did too, but how it was run changed over time. It's impossible to find an unchanged system for any leng... | null |
8jgp99 | During the American Civil War, was Washington D.C. actually the "most fortified city on earth"? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up question, what would these fortifications look like? How large was DC's Garrison?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1504594",
"title": "Washington County, D.C.",
"section": "Section::::History.\n",
... | null |
6qqaoj | Does climate change effect the occurrence of different cloud types? | [
{
"answer": "The effect that global warming has on clouds is actually a very difficult scientific question! To answer your questions directly though; 1) it would be difficult for a person to notice changes in cloud cover or cloud types without some systematic study - mostly because any significant changes will ... | null |
22882h | portuguese drug laws | [
{
"answer": "Well, I'm portuguese. My only experience is with marijuana so I will only talk about it. Marijuana isn't legal, but it isn't really criminalized, I mean, you can have with you up to 5g, if you have more, you'll be charged with Possession of drugs, but less than that it's generally fine.\n\nAbout sm... | null |
1ri2nr | what is the science behind being a good socialiser? what makes a 'good conversation'? | [
{
"answer": "The gift of bullshit is an important one. That's number one. Second, it does help to be educated across the board, but if this fails, fall back on number one. Don't talk about yourself either. Not everything has to relate back to you. Those people are the worst.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
341m5j | in print, especially transcribed interviews, what is the reason for the brackets? "jane said [tom] never had a bad thing to say about anyone." | [
{
"answer": "The brackets are usually replacing a pronoun, a nick-name or first or last name only when context isn't present to make it clear who they're referring to.\n\nIt would say something like \"Jane said he never had a bad thing to say about anyone\", which is confusing if they haven't specified that it'... | null |
3i45xm | Why does 2-stroke engine exhaust smell different from 4-stroke? | [
{
"answer": "Primarily because in a 2-stroke engine there's no dedicated lubrication system, so you have to mix oil directly into the gas. The combustion of that oil means you end up creating a lot of smoke compared to pure gas, which burns cleaner.\n\nAdditionally a car is going to have a lot more bells-and-wh... | null |
4rdb3k | how a sql index works? | [
{
"answer": "Imagine I've got a pile of Lego, and I'm looking for a piece. Without an index is like looking at every piece individually until I find the one I'm looking for. \nIf I made a note of every piece of Lego was when I took it out of the box, when I wanted to find a piece, I could look up this list of... | null |
3iu1fx | why are islamic extremist groups predominantly sunni muslims rather than shia? | [
{
"answer": "Sunni Muslims make up about 85-90% of all muslim groups, however there are a pretty large percentage of Shia Muslim extremists, because of the Shiite population in Iran, Iraq and other areas in politically unstable regions (Sunni's are also in this area, but are more concentrated to Eastern Asian a... | null |
193zez | what does it mean when the potus says that china is illegally manipulating it's currency. | [
{
"answer": "There are a few parts of this, so I'll try to break it down:\n\nHow is the Chinese government manipulating its own currency? Very basically, China is buying up United States debt. China, like most large countries, prints their own money, then uses it to buy US government debt, which then raises the... | null |
15unr6 | Is there information on the distribution of stars by metallicity? | [
{
"answer": "Overall disclaimer: The metallicity of any given star is a complex mess, especially when you start talking about stars cooler than our Sun (which represent the bulk of stars). It's really tough to measure the overall metallicity of a given star, even with high resolution spectroscopy, and it's dou... | null |
25ytax | if 0.1 amps can be lethal to a human, then why don't i die when touching the contacts of a phone battery, which is 3.8 v and 1500-3200 ma? | [
{
"answer": "0.1 A *in the right place* can be lethal -- and that place is directly across the heart. \n\nIf you just touch phone battery contacts, for one, resistance is too high for that amount of volts to establish current, and two, even if it were high enough, the path would not go across your heart.",
... | null |
uv11d | How much gas could the world economy save daily by capturing the pump spillage after fueling up? | [
{
"answer": "There was something on Gizmodo about this the other day: _URL_0_\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "43135573",
"title": "Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act",
"section": "Section::::Background.\n",
... | null |
zj0ox | How ubiquitous are infectious germs on household surfaces? | [
{
"answer": "I wouldn't call any surface in a home sterile. Go ahead and take swabs of any surface and grow them, you will find growth. Even the dust from our skin contains germs, and that flies everywhere. Wind carries spores, and the air isn't pure since even a virtually airtight home still has it's doors ope... | null |
33clc4 | Why didn't China save Pakistan from India in 1971? | [
{
"answer": "India had built up its forces on the Indo-Chinese border after the 1962 war. This being the height of the Sino-Soviet split also aggravated the concerns there. Following the Border Conflict in 1969, the Soviets had built up their troops along the Chinese border and there would certainly be concer... | null |
d3ysgt | why are brass knuckles called knuckle dusters? | [
{
"answer": "Duster comes from the type of coat, and I suspect that it refers to a covering for your knuckles. \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "599009",
"title": "Brass knuckles",
"section": "",
"start_... | null |
2zab42 | Was Atahualpa immune to smallpox? | [
{
"answer": "Could you elaborate a bit? Are you asking if he contracted smallpox prior to Cajamarca?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "23431",
"title": "History of Peru",
"section": "Section::::European Colonization of Peru... | null |
nleig | How can anything ever reach any event horizon ? | [
{
"answer": "According to an external observer, yes, that's completely correct. According to the poor bloke falling into the black hole, there's nothing special about the event horizon, just a continuation of the same old impending sense of utter doom.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Actually, ... | null |
57bl5c | why can't the us (or any country in general) alleviate their external debt by collecting their external credit? | [
{
"answer": "Do you mean collecting on the debts they're owed by other countries?\n\nFor the same reason nobody wants to take the US to task for all the money it owes.\n\nDebt has a weird place at the macro-level of international economies, it's not like when I have debt where I want to pay it off as soon as po... | null |
v9e6s | At what level does the circulatory system of each indivdual start to differ? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the major named arteries follow the same course, but there's a great deal of variation. There isn't some set point at which they occur (it's not like you can say '3 branches off the aorta, things start to diverge'), but generally smaller vessels and areas with a lot of anastamoses tend to ... | null |
11csxc | How did medieval Russia interact with its nomadic Asian neighbors prior to the Mongol invasion? | [
{
"answer": "I have a great deal of information on the subject, but I'm a little busy looking for information on another subject right now. Reply to me and I'll get back to you after I've gotten some work done on my paper.\n\nHere's the real quick and dirty of it: Russian principalities interacted with steppe n... | null |
toxur | Is it possible that psychedelics like psilocybin increase the spectrum of colors that we can see? | [
{
"answer": "It really doesn't physically change how many colors we can see or how we hear. Your visual receptors have a specific range of wavelengths that they can detect, same with your ears. Taking a psychedelic won't change this fact. Psychedelics change your brain chemistry in certain ways that can make yo... | null |
2xt3cj | is there a link between diet soda consumption (i.e. aspartame) and cancer? if not, why does the general public continue to think there is. | [
{
"answer": "There are biased, non-peer-reviewed studies that make this link, but there's no real evidence of any link. Unfortunately some people like to latch on to any study that promotes FUD without considering any of the facts.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There have been a few studies t... | null |
aznht4 | what determines the strength of someones vocal chords, e.g. how loud they are? | [
{
"answer": "Loudness comes much more from breathing than from your vocal chords. The more air you can push past them, the louder you can be. \n\nVocal coaches will tell you to practice breathing from the diaphragm which isn't as easy or natural as it may seem. There are tons of videos on YouTube demonstrating ... | null |
ejx48c | why does japan have such a high conviction rate? | [
{
"answer": "Fewer rules against how evidence is gathered, so the discovery and investigation parts of the system are faster with fewer pieces of damning evidence thrown out due to \"procedural\" or \"paperwork\" errors.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They also juke their stats. looks like you... | null |
3487ht | why do some people get annoyed when you say america instead of the united states? | [
{
"answer": "Depends on what you mean by 'most people.' It's that attitude that annoys people. I don't have a problem with it myself, and am used to saying it, but that's because I'm from the U.S. Someone from outside the U.S. but who is also from 'the Americas' might take offense that we are claiming everythin... | null |
sl3c8 | What would happen to a single photon in a perfect vacuum? | [
{
"answer": "A photon in a perfect vacuum will travel in a perfectly strait line until it hits something. If you put a photographic plate in the way, you would see one dot of light surrounded by darkness.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "... | null |
3u9tn5 | Can 3 objects orbit each other? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, it's not super rare. The most common configuration is that two of them are much closer together than the third one, and they orbit each other while the third one orbits both of them (Alpha Centauri may be like this).\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provena... | null |
2l9s7o | How does heat transfer within a solid differ from heat transfer between a solid and air (convection)? | [
{
"answer": "In equilibrium, everything will reach the same temperature. If we assume that the room as a whole is a closed system, the answer is as easy as calculating the total heat capacity and the total heat. \n\nLet's make the problem even easier: We have a small room of 10 m^3 in volume. In this room, we h... | null |
1dimmd | why are languages all so different... but body language is so similar everywhere? eye-rolls, shrugs, clapping, skeptical eyebrow raises etc.. | [
{
"answer": "Body language is *not* similar everywhere. In fact, some gestures mean exactly the opposite of what you expect in other cultures. [Here's a page](_URL_0_) that talks about the topic.\n\nAnd [another](_URL_1_) short page with some of the confusing gestures from around the world. \n",
"provenance... | null |
6rnryu | How do the antibodies in a blood donors blood behave in the blood recipients body? | [
{
"answer": "They work just fine; this is basis of [immunoglobulin therapy](_URL_0_). However, they don't work very long; half-life of various immunoglobulins is only a few days.\n\nWhat blocks the significant response from the recipient's immune system is that the recipient has to be immunosuppressed to receiv... | null |
bnfnst | why does a muscle become stiff when cold and limber when hot? | [
{
"answer": "When cold, blood vessels contract so they are further from the skin's surface, losing less heat. This constriction means blood does not flow through the veins as much, limiting blood flow to muscles. \n\nWhen hot, blood vessels expand so they are closer to the skin's surface to release heat. Wider ... | null |
3ba9hp | How do extended-reach oil wells change direction underground? | [
{
"answer": "Not my field of specialty but since no one has chimed in yet I'll give it a go:\n\n[Directional Drilling](_URL_1_) can be done by controlling the orientation of the drill-bit at the bottom of the hole. I think usually it is accomplished by [hydraulic actuators](_URL_0_) located on the sides of the ... | null |
brr1re | how do radio signals (4g, wifi etc.) manage to retain their information after passing through trees, buildings and other obstacles? and how are they not mixed up, intertwined? | [
{
"answer": "Radio wavelengths are quite large (0,1m-meters) and get less attenuated compared to say, optical wavelengths. But there is reduction of the radio waves, as it will be absorbed along the way. But as long as the signal is intact (in phase), it can communicate. And the needed error correction algorith... | null |
1fhrpg | how do skin grafts work? | [
{
"answer": "\" how does that help the area you took it from.\"\n\nIt doesn't hurt it because you only take a small amount. It's more like gary has two apples, and both of your apples explode, so now you're going to starve. Gary gives you one apple so you won't starve, and now only has one apple. \n\nBUT NEITHE... | null |
1sujc0 | if a planet or meteor the size of pluto collided with earth what would it be like for the people on the opposite side of earth? what would they see or feel? | [
{
"answer": "We would all be dead",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "to simply put it, have you ever seen one of those newtonian toys where the metal ball hits one side and the other side flies out? well, imagine the same thing, except, earth being made of chunks of rocks and mud and squishy magma... | null |
26wu8q | washington dc | [
{
"answer": "Well... for one the whole point of the thing is that *it isn't a state or a part of a state*.\n\nIts a neutral ground. Beholden to no state so that the Federal Government (representing all 50 states) can conduct its business.\n\nSo the reason no state (basically Virginia and Maryland) is trying to... | null |
3t58zf | when the internet goes down in my neighbourhood, what normally happened? how is it fixed? | [
{
"answer": "You probably have a router or a switch that lets you connect several computers at once to your single internet connection. Simply put, your ISP has larger, more powerful routers and switches that Connect the neighbourhood to a larger part of the internet.\n\nsomething with these probably failed. it... | null |
6j9v7t | why is the law to own a pistol 21, while to own a long gun is 18? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know the exact specifics, but pistols are more dangerous than long guns like hunting rifles because they're easier to hide and carry. Long guns also have non-combative uses (like, well, hunting) whereas pistols really don't, thus you can make the argument that an 18 year old should be able ... | null |
biydmg | How far do slugs travel? | [
{
"answer": "Based on a quick google search, a slug can travel .013 meters per second, and typically lives for 18 months. At this rate if it slept 1/3rd of it's life (based on snail numbers, didn't see anything in 5 seconds of searching around for slugs), it would travel a maximum total of 254 miles in it's li... | null |
441njm | one of the primary enemies of nazis were communists. so why did stalin ever make a pact with hitler in the first place? | [
{
"answer": "The pact wasn't an alliance. It was a non-aggression pact, so that each would keep out of the other's business.\n\nIt didn't work.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because at the point that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-aggression pact was made, neither party could afford to be dragged... | null |
353bjq | how to buy stocks(from a company)? | [
{
"answer": "You can buy stocks from any brokerage, some of the bigger national ones are Charles Schwab, etrade, Scottrade, Morgan Stanley, and even many of the major retail banks. \n\nI think at your current knowledge level, you should consider buying index mutual funds, instead of trying to day-trade stocks, ... | null |
opizb | Is this a meteorite? (Here are pictures and surface x-ray results) | [
{
"answer": "The high ferrite composition and the mix of some heavier elements(though in fewer percentages) would lead one to believe it might be a meteorite. The resource places are going to do the exact same thing you did. They're gonna use probably a higher end x-ray spectrograph and get more accurate result... | null |
584jmg | what is that bright halo around light that we always see? | [
{
"answer": "You have two components in your eyes that actually \"see\". They are called \"Rods\" and \"Cones\". \"Rods\" are spread throughout your retina while \"Cones\" are almost exclusively found in your Fovea (the middle of your visible range where there is a dense cluster of cones). The perception of the... | null |
1se8uh | el15: how many fps does the human eye see? | [
{
"answer": "It's not a piece of digital equipment so there's no \"frame rate\" of the human eye. Each light receptor is on its own activate-recharge-activate cycle.\n\nYou'll usually notice the choppiness in frame rates that dip below 30 or framerates that vary significantly.\n\nThe resolution of the game and... | null |
2cqc3x | Why doesn't all the hydrogen in the sun undergo fusion simultaneously? | [
{
"answer": "When two hydrogen nuclei (protons) managed to slam together hard enough to fuse, they form a \"diproton\" (effectively a Helium-2 nucleus). This is a hideously unstable particle, and the vast majority of them simply immediately decay back into two protons, to no net effect. The tiny fraction that... | null |
2fp3sw | why do fat/obese/overweight people generally have a lot of strength even if they do not work out? | [
{
"answer": "They gotta carry their fat ass everywhere they go ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Imagine you're carrying around a backpack with 100 pounds of weight. Imagine climbing 2 flights of stairs, or walking 1/2 a mile. Just to maintain a day to day existence, you're going to have to be ... | null |
3li2ev | if a 5 year old were to fall into a coma and wake up 20 years later, how would they act? | [
{
"answer": "Probably like a two year old.\n\nYou don't spend 15 years in a coma and come back without some severe mental deficits.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5721",
"title": "Coma",
"section": "Section::::Prognosis.... | null |
3yj8rp | Who actually wrote the Magna Carta? | [
{
"answer": "I think that the first problem would be which Magna Carta--I'm assuming you mean the 1215 one. I just went to see an exhibit at the Alberta Legislature with the Magna Carta from 1300. There was also one in 1297 and the first one 1215. Many replicas were made. If no one knows here, perhaps you could... | null |
dbwfww | Magnitude or depth, which is more important to strength of an earthquake? | [
{
"answer": "In terms of perceived strength at a location (i.e. the [intensity of an earthquake](_URL_1_)), both the depth and magnitude will matter, as will horizontal distance from the epicenter (this together with depth will determine how far seismic waves have had to travel to reach your location and genera... | null |
1cjfsp | Baltic and North Seas meet but don't mix because of the differing density. Is a difference in density sufficient to cause immiscibility? | [
{
"answer": "They may have a boundary like that but diffusion happens between the two bodies. It is not correct to think they wall each other off. Keep in mind that this is a surface picture only.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Are you sure that's in Europe? It seems strikingly similar to the ... | null |
3g2734 | how does pi contain every word or combination of words? | [
{
"answer": "This is a common misconception.\n\nPi is an irrational number. Irrational numbers are numbers that can't be expressed as a quotient of two whole numbers. One minor property of irrational numbers is that when you try to write them as decimal fractions, you get an infinite and non-repeating sequence ... | null |
d64nck | how can someone with a peanut allergy develop a semi-immunity to peanuts? | [
{
"answer": "Immunotherapy has been applied to many allergies, yes. \n\nThere's two general competing mechanisms that drive allergy. \n\nThe first is what you could call the \"pro atopic\" side. This is the allergic response, and in these types of allergies it is mediated by a class of antibody called IgE. To s... | null |
ayvtqq | why after staring for too long into a light source (i.e. the traffic light), that pattern gets burned onto our sight? | [
{
"answer": "Simple answer: overstimulated Rods and cones in your eyes ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Im no expert but I think this is because the cones/rods which sense light in our eyes \"adapt\" when exposed to light and become less activated so when you look away it takes some time to ada... | null |
174ibv | Recycling of International Space Station? | [
{
"answer": "To move anything from Earth orbit to Lunar orbit, you need about three times its mass as propellant. To do that for the entire space station, that would mean about 1,350,000 kg of propellant. To get all that to low Earth orbit, would mean about 11 Saturn V launches, or double that for Falcon Heavy.... | null |
8czmky | how are the red blood cells separated from your blood during platelet donation? | [
{
"answer": "If you want to separate something like blood that's made of water and different types of cells, you put it in a *centrifuge*, which is a machine that simply spins a hollow drum with test tubes in it ***really, really*** fast. As you spin the drum, the red stuff is forced to the bottom of the tube s... | null |
4hwvmp | why are things cheaper in the countryside? | [
{
"answer": "That's not necessarily true. Plenty of things are more expensive in the countryside because there's a lack of infrastructure. High-speed internet, for example.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "MUCH cheaper land. Other things may be less expensive (like fruit and meat if you're in a... | null |
1zmtlx | Accessible Viking Primary Sources | [
{
"answer": "There are several possibilities; many translated sources are available [here](_URL_0_). Unfortunately, it does not include famous hagiographic reports (such as the Frankish *Life of St. Philibert*), which often make for the most vivid descriptions (more vivid, at least, than the dry annalistic styl... | null |
6vk1f6 | can the shape of earbuds damage your ears/hearing. | [
{
"answer": "It could if you decide to jam something that does not fit into your ear. Imagine a ten centimeter diameter hole in piece of paper, now imagine trying to fit a 20cm diameter rod through that same hole, it's going to rip the hole if forced through. TLDR: one size does not fit all and its up to the... | null |
2792js | Why do our mouths fill with saliva right before we vomit? | [
{
"answer": "Saliva protects the teeth from the stomach acid.\n\n[Here's a study](_URL_0_) that compared bulimics with teeth erosion to bulimics without. The no-erosion group had different saliva.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To protect your teeth from stomach acid, which essentially turns y... | null |
1ern70 | why do i still need the disk for ps3 games after it's 'installed'? | [
{
"answer": "Because it's not the entire game being installed. \n\nSome games have a pre-install to store information on your PS3 so loading times in-game will be kept to a minimum. If they were installing the entire game to your PS3's hard drive then you would run out of space after the first game.",
"prov... | null |
54ampq | if a "double-yolk" egg was fertilized, would it, hypothetically, hatch 2 chiclets? what about a triple-yolk? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on if there was a bird embryo on each yolk. The babby chicken is the little white (or red) goopy wisp thing you see on the yolk. The yolk is just the chick's food supply.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "455653",
... | null |
3gn8p5 | can dogs understand other dogs when they bark? | [
{
"answer": "Dogs don't bark in a language like how you speak English. Languages are an invention which must be taught to our children and requires constant care and revision to be mutually intelligible. Dog barks are extremely simple vocalizations. Though it is probable that dogs have a better idea of why ano... | null |
2fyy27 | what was the purpose of the holocaust? why did hitler want to kill millions of people, and how did he select the ethnic/minority groups? | [
{
"answer": "He saw the \"Aryan\" race as superior, which was essentially Caucasian and strictly not Jewish. He wanted to wipe out all \"undesirables\". This didn't entail Jews alone. He sought to wipe out Roma and Sinti people, homosexuals, political enemies such as communists, and only wanted chosen individua... | null |
3cr3vj | Why can a rocket fly straight up without wings and doesn't tip over? | [
{
"answer": "Large commercial rockets are actively steered. Either the engines are 'gimbaled' (the angle is adjusted) constantly, or small sideways-pointed rockets are fired as needed, to push the rocket where the computer is programmed to send it.\n\nSmaller rockets without adjustable engines or controls norma... | null |
8ozons | Were the German bunkers on Omaha beach much further from the shire than popularly dramatised in thr film Saving Private Ryan? | [
{
"answer": "One of the historical 'inaccuracies' about Saving Private Ryan is that the film does shorten the beach considerably. Omaha Beach has a very shallow slope and the distance between the low tide and high tide marks can be as much as 400-500m. The landings were timed to start at low tide in order that ... | null |
213q4l | how does an automated check-out tell the difference between the different notes (eg: £5, £10, £20) and different coins? how does it tell these from regular paper (notes) or items of a similar shape/weight (coins)? | [
{
"answer": "Notes have different sizes and color(atleast euros, not sure about other currencies) probably also special markings. \nCoins are weighted, their size and shape is checked and they are tested for their electric properties.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nNotes are scanne... | null |
1qr2xm | Has any other ancient civilization/Empire other than from India come up with the Philosophy of Nonviolence? | [
{
"answer": "Well, sort of. In Java we have this guy, [Surontiko Samin](_URL_0_), who in early 1900s created non-violent traditionalist movement that was against Dutch colonialism and \"fought\" by refusing to pay tax and refusing to acknowledge the Dutch East Indies government, especially Dutch forest laws, wh... | null |
2n4w62 | Why is the ethnic majority of China referred to as "Han Chinese"? | [
{
"answer": "You're right in thinking that the Han was a dynasty of China. It lasted from 206BCE to 220CE, and was an incredibly important dynasty in Chinese history in terms of scientific, cultural and political developments. Think of it as the Classical Chinese period.\n\nThe reason that we talk about 'Han Ch... | null |
suj3b | Hi Reddit! How fast can the effects of gravity be felt? I don't really know how to word this, check out the text for further description. | [
{
"answer": "In a vacuum, it's the same as the speed of light. We wouldn't spin off into space until we saw the sun go out.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Gravitational waves would travel at the speed of light, so we'd move normally for about eight minutes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
16saun | Does covering your mouth when you sneeze/cough actually help prevent the spread of disease? | [
{
"answer": "Yes it does; [while not the best scientific source, a good visual representation](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes. The majority of bacteria and virus' which cause infection cannot live on the sleeve of your shirt. They desiccate if they do not find suitable conditions(... | null |
bc6iso | Why did we have to send a probe to Pluto to get a photo of it? | [
{
"answer": "The photo of the black hole is not a \"photo\" in the sense you are thinking. It is a visualization of very high-frequency radio waves. While these are still electromagnetic waves just like visible light, they are way outside of our visible range. This is necessary to \"penetrate\" through all of t... | null |
bxjnj8 | how do programs like ccleaner clean the windows registry? | [
{
"answer": "Registry cleaners are pretty much useless these days, as Windows is pretty good about keeping the registry clean itself. Regardless, cleaning the registry doesn't really result in much of a performance impact.\n\nOne of the big things that registry cleaning does is remove entries that refer to file... | null |
57t84w | I've just read a very short article about Old French Sign Language. What we do know of deaf life, culture and community in 18th century Paris? How was deafness depicted in general in France in this period? | [
{
"answer": "Do you have a link to the article?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1561553",
"title": "History of sign language",
"section": "Section::::Development of sign language.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 15,
... | null |
osvsc | Someone told me it was "too cold to snow". How? | [
{
"answer": "The amount of moisture in the air is dependent upon its temperature, below a certain point there is too little moisture for precipitation.\n\nThere are various large stretches of the Antarctic that qualify as deserts because they have so little precipitation due to this principle. But -2 is certain... | null |
a1nb17 | what keeps movies unreleased? what stops any movie studio employee from just downloading a movie that hasn’t come out and leaking it to the internet? | [
{
"answer": "Because theft and distribution are crimes. People aren't keen on having their lives ruined to show off some movie.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As mentioned most people don't want to throw away their careers and personal finances to give away a free movie. But beyond that it sim... | null |
52ggy1 | how is it that the mars curiosity rover is able to go years without fuel/recharging and how are we able to send such a strong signal? | [
{
"answer": "Curiosity, the MSL rover that was successfully landed in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012, uses one MMRTG to supply heat and electricity for its components and science instruments. Reliable power from the MMRTG will allow it to operate for several years.\nIn February 20, 2015, a NASA official reported... | null |
k90r2 | We all hear about species being extinct. But how often does a new species "evolve" into a new one? | [
{
"answer": "[This article](_URL_0_) (PDF) seems to put it at about 3 new species per year but it is very debatable. Speciation may occur in burst and there are many other factors. Hopefully someone else can dig up more information.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[This article](_URL_0_) (PDF) ... | null |
2wzmof | why do i get sleepy when i get nervous? | [
{
"answer": "You might have some kind of chemical imbalance, disease, or infection. You should get that checked out. There isn't really an ELI5 answer to this.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4080078",
"title": "Worry",
"... | null |
2lcgbz | how come chinese words in english are spelled funky? | [
{
"answer": "Zhou is not pronounced like Joe. Chinese words are generally spelled according to their pinyin (phonetic system) which has correlates English letters to pronunciation. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5751",
"title... | null |
cii5jc | During the California gold rush why didn't the American government at the time leave it for other immigrants | [
{
"answer": "The gold of the California gold fields - as it was understood in 1849 and the early 1850s - was an extensive resource, meaning that it was broadly distributed in small amounts. It took tens of thousands of people to process hundreds of thousands of tons of dirt to find the gold they were seeking, a... | null |
ddo4cp | Were there any European explorers prior to 1700 who attempted to cross the pacific ocean from Asia? | [
{
"answer": "If you are asking if Europeans had been crossing the Pacific before 1741, the answer is a ***clear yes***. Magellan's expedition in 1519-1522 was the first to cross the Pacific in from east to west direction, going from Magellan's straits to Phillipines. And it was followed up by many more till 174... | null |
2i7ijq | How important was the Act of Union (1707) to the growth of the already existing English empire? Would England itself have had a comparable empire in size to the British Empire had it not formed the Kingdom of Great Britain with Scotland? | [
{
"answer": "This question would be better suited to /r/HistoricalWhatIf ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "15850660",
"title": "History of the formation of the United Kingdom",
"section": "Section::::Formation of the Union... | null |
dd8eqf | what can someone do if they have your ip address? can they see all your internet activity and places you've posted? can they identify who you are? | [
{
"answer": "If they *only* had your actual IP address, they could DDOS you and potentially locate you within a rough geographic area. But that's about it.\n\nIf they had your IP but also purchased or collected date from cookies and such, they could learn a lot more.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
24ou8d | why does 'latin' mean hispanic? | [
{
"answer": "Likewise, Hispanic means you're from Hispania, or Spain. It doesn't really make sense to call someone from say, Venezula an Hispanic, even if they speak Spanish. That's like saying someone from Minnesota is English.\n\nRegardless, Hispanic is still used that way.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
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