id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
fiq51 | Why does my skin look different under different lighting conditions? | [
{
"answer": "Different kinds of lights are composed of different wavelengths of light. That is some lights have more red others more blue etc. When these reflect off your skin which reflects different colors differently you get different colors. It has nothing to do with x-rays. ",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
cg0tvi | if the polar ice caps were developed during the last ice age, why is it so bad that they are melting now? isn’t that more of a return to where we were rather than an anomaly? | [
{
"answer": "I believe that the issue is that since the last Ice Age there have been a number of cities created right along the coast. Prior to that we don’t really have as far as I know anything archaeological evidence of cities on the coast. As the ice packs melt the water level rise which will drown most of ... | null |
darqv0 | With the massive influx of gold miners immigrating to California during its gold rush, was there enough food and water grown locally for them? Was food sent in? The miners obviously weren’t growing their own food. | [
{
"answer": "Water was usually not a problem - the California Gold Country has plenty of streams and rivers. During the drier times, miners had to wait for enough flow to \"wash dirt\" - the method used to expose gold, but there was always enough to drink.\n\nMiners spent a lot of time hunting. I co-edited the ... | null |
7529i2 | How have the eyes of animals that need clear vision in and out of water evolved to cope with the varying refractive indices? | [
{
"answer": "Anableps fish just have eyes that are half-and-half divided, with the top half working well out of water and the bottom working well in. It's _weird_. \n\nSeal pupils contract in the bright light of the surface, and their eyes focus better in air. In dim light (like they experience underwater) t... | null |
n1ucn | why, when most people orgasm, they instinctively want to vocalize their excitement/expressions? | [
{
"answer": "No scientific answer here, but I can only assume it is like any other \"unexpected\" rush of emotions or feeling. When you step on a nail, you shriek. When you burn your hand, you shriek. Just like anonoman925 said, it is probably an involuntary reaction to too much stimulus.\n\nTL;DR: Too much sti... | null |
gsa3i | What would happen if a MAGLEV train lost power? | [
{
"answer": "They have wheels.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "7120592",
"title": "Lathen train collision",
"section": "Section::::The accident.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 8,
"start_character": 0,
"... | null |
5aatfz | how would the space agencies respond if they detect an incoming asteroid large enough to cause damages? | [
{
"answer": "The space agencies would report it to the public. They are in no position to keep anything like that a secret and in no position to do anything about it. The only thing they can do is warn people the best they can in the hopes that people might get to safety. The only thing anyone might be able to ... | null |
414ogf | how are news outlets and online articles able to be so misleading and sometimes downright wrong with their stories? | [
{
"answer": "Back up a bit and imagine a government body who's job is to decide what is and isn't true, and to censor or fine news agencies that it believes are wrong. \n\nA) It would be incredibly unconstitutional, as freedom of the press is a critical right that we all have.\n\nB) Consider the possibility of... | null |
dzh7f9 | why do injuries tend to hurt more in winter than in summer? | [
{
"answer": "One reason is that when your immune system is compromised, your body amplifies pain signals to trick you into staying in bed. It's one reason why you're achy and weak when sick. Since your immune system tends to be weaker in the winter when your body is expending a lot of energy to stay warm. Thi... | null |
299b58 | How can moons get "captured" by planetary bodies without having done a "retrograde burn"? | [
{
"answer": "The reason that KSP requires retrograde burns to have a captured orbit is because KSP does not accurately simulate multi-body gravity. When you orbit Kerbin, you only experience Kerbin's gravity. However, when orbiting Earth, a decent chunk of the gravity you experience is the Moon's, with a little... | null |
1sjqgz | How did the Merchant Republics in Italy arise in isolation while the rest of Europe seems steeped in Feudalism? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure the question as it's posed will yield a satisfactory answer. Feudalism and a republic aren't mutually exclusive, as the former isn't a type of government. Besides, the republics present in Italy weren't the kinds of republics we think of today. They were essentially city-states domi... | null |
3alku1 | what causes that characteristic "grandma scent?" | [
{
"answer": "technically it's described as:\n\n* floral\n* aldehydic (a sub category of floral, think soapy and citrusy)\n* musky\n* powdery\n\nTo ELI5, it's typically Chanel No 5 with a slight baby powder note.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia... | null |
b9cdfr | what would happen if you took laxatives for an entire week? | [
{
"answer": "I assume hemorrhoids at the very least. \n\nThis is a form of bulimia. And the long term effects are more concerning then the week your on them. At some point (not sure if it’s after one week or more prolonged used) you’ll start to have loose bowels because your body hasn’t been needing to work on ... | null |
3nd8kh | if we can't see atoms how did ibm make a movie with them? | [
{
"answer": "Those are Carbon Monoxide molecules. \n\nFor that note, electron microscopes can operate pretty much on an atomic scale. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "27036",
"title": "Stop motion",
"section": "Section::... | null |
chmd6d | were little old people always little or do they shrink as they age? | [
{
"answer": "Most people do shrink as they get older and their bodies degenerate.\n\nThe very little old people you're thinking of were short to begin with and shrivel up more.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "905957",
"title": "H... | null |
65tbjt | Why do some places show a long-term decline in sea level and others a rise? | [
{
"answer": "Measuring sea level is actually tricky business and we're not really *that* good at it currently.\n\nAdditionally, there's global sea level and local sea level. Global sea level is mostly affected (at least on human time scales) by the volume and temperature of the ocean (which is mostly affected b... | null |
87cvi4 | How do we measure gas levels of an exoplanet's atmosphere? | [
{
"answer": "Molecules have characteristic absorption lines in the electromagnetic spectrum. The width of these absorption lines depends on the optical thickness of the gas. Meaning, with more gas in our line of sight we will have a stronger (wider) absorption band. \nIn order to measure the atmosphere of a pl... | null |
2wt17g | Education in post war Germany? | [
{
"answer": " > How valued were their qualifications?\n\nIn West Germany the folks behind the racial science of the nazi regime [kept teaching their subjects](_URL_0_) using their skills to, for example, measure the skulls of the Canary Islanders. The continuity of West German elites would be a major issue both... | null |
ygvyn | Can house flies, fruit flies, or other insects see the microscopic organisms or bacteria on stuff that we can't see? | [
{
"answer": "I don't believe they can. Their eyes, [compound eyes](_URL_1_), are not intended to see high detail images because their largest threats are larger than they are (ie, a cow's tail or your hand trying to swat them). Instead, they are intended to see fast movements over a large angular resolution, th... | null |
r384j | why do some people enjoy massages but it causes pain for others? | [
{
"answer": "There is a huge difference between massages just for the feeling of someone rubbing your back with some more force in it and massages for relaxing muscles. I have a rather high pain tolerance, but if my muscles are really tense, having them massaged hurts *a lot*. I can't give you a good explanatio... | null |
8p8ln3 | When was the highest % of the global population enslaved and did ancient societies with more slaves have an economic advantage over their rivals? | [
{
"answer": "Follow-up: Did areas with high percentages of slaves have poor freemen angry over economic woes? It seems like there would be a shortage of paying jobs when the wealthy could simply buy slaves to fill almost every role from farmhands to pedagogues.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nu... | null |
fvtxzk | why is it easy to pick up a child that weighs 40 to 50 kilograms but very difficult to pick up a 40 to 50 kilogram weight? | [
{
"answer": "The weight of the child is spread out over a large area compared to the relatively small area of the weight, making the child appear easier because it uses more muscles.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "On top of what others have said, there’s usually a bigger incentive not to drop ... | null |
nfyfp | If an Amnesia victim has lost their memories for a significant amount of time and recovers their memories, will they regain their original personality or keep the amnesia personality? | [
{
"answer": "What we observe as personality is the product of variance in regions of the brain- this study, for example, shows the correlation between neuroticism and amygdala variance- _URL_0_ . An individual's personality is quite stable over the long run- see here _URL_1_ and here _URL_2_ . \nAmnesia, speci... | null |
42vwtc | can alcohol turn you into a different person? | [
{
"answer": "In my experience, alcohol just loosens inhibitions. So people who \"get mean\" when they drink are just mean people who usually keep it together. Just like I get really sentimental when I drink; I'm a sentimental guy, it's just normally under the surface.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
58gmu0 | Like Google Maps...but for History | [
{
"answer": "The website [GeoCron](_URL_1_) is a good place to start. You can skip to any year and it will show you roughly what the world looked like. It is not entirely accurate at some points, like sometimes the author just places a circle and the name of the civilization where he may not have much informati... | null |
1xws9k | modulo | [
{
"answer": "Modulo returns the remainder of integer division, rather than trying to fiind a decimal answer.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mod is basically the remainder of a division problem.\n\n50mod7 is 1 because 50/7 = 7 with a remainder of 1. 7*7 = 49. 49 + 1 = 50. 50mod7 = 1.\n\n39mod5 ... | null |
1ywegq | Why have no new phyla developed since the Cambrian Explosion? | [
{
"answer": "This is because of the way that phyla (and other taxonomic groups) are defined. Phyla are essentially arbitrarily-defined groups, and there is no particular amount of structural or genetic divergence that causes us to classify a particular group as a phylum. However, like other taxonomic groups, sc... | null |
458msk | Before French and Latin, has there been any other lingua franca? | [
{
"answer": "Greek! The Romans themselves were Grekophiles, and most well-educated Romans would be expected to know Greek. Greek was the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean (and was also widely spoken in many western mediteranean settlements like Massalia and Emporion) and continued to be the primary lan... | null |
1dxk2g | Why does it spread germs/illnesses to leave a bathroom with hands unwashed, yet oral-genital contact is not regarded as a surefire way to get the same illnesses? | [
{
"answer": "Washing your hands after using the bathroom is not just about the germs gathered during the time using the bathroom. Ingraining that habit into people while they are at a sink with water gets them to clean away other germs they may have picked up without having to make a special trip to wash. \n\nH... | null |
9w9iot | how can i invest and grow my money without knowing how to invest? | [
{
"answer": "The market overall is down right now, so it makes sense that you lost some money. The three main things you need to know: Investment gains are slow; it wouldn't be a surprise for it to take a year or so before you make $10 on $500. The safest way to invest is to diversity; buying shares of an index... | null |
73qc72 | what is the difference between the various semi-automatic gun mechanisms? | [
{
"answer": "The most simple form is straight blowback\nStraight blowback works by having an unlocked bolt behind the round in the chamber. when the gun is fired the gas pressure exerts a force on the bolt and it is forced away from the chamber. As it moves rearwards the empty case is pulled out. When the bolt... | null |
4cwroj | sound. yes i get that is a wave but how is a wave able to encode so much variety (voice, instruments, sound effects)? | [
{
"answer": "If it were a single wave, it would not convey so much. But sounds like you describe are a series of waves, spread out over time and interpreted by an excellent computer -- your brain. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Frequency. The rate and fluctuation of which your' auditory corte... | null |
mpd38 | Is this any intuitive way to think about normal distribution function ? | [
{
"answer": "The gaussian distribution is e^-x^2. It is the heart to the shape that is called the normal distribution. The pis, the sigmas, the various other values are just adjustments. \n\nThe constant term in front of the exponential is just a multiplier to make the area under the curve equivalent to 1 (so t... | null |
53uhvi | How different were the peoples of northern Spain culturally, linguistically etc from people in southern Spain during the rule of the Umayyads? | [
{
"answer": "So what you're talking about here is a really long period. I happen to have a decent source that discusses this topic at length in some parts, but I might wander a bit here and there.\n\nSo to the beginning. If we look at the early days of conquests in the 8th century, even then the actual conqueri... | null |
58z8bx | This Week's Theme: The 14th Century, AD | [
{
"answer": "\n**Current**: 14th Century AD\n\n**On Deck:** Resistance and Conformity\n\n**In the Hole**: Propaganda",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "*I send a pestilence, a plague*\n\n*Into your house, into your bed*\n\n*Into your streams, into your streets*\n\n*Into your drink, into your bread... | null |
22ve03 | Do the descendants of the major Japanese clans (Tokugawa, Oda, etc) still have influence or command respect? Are their any clans that still 'exist', so to speak? | [
{
"answer": "According to popular belief, The Meiji Restoration was an effective wipe out of samurai nobility. Instead, the surviving samurai heads (that is, the heads of all the major clans excluding the Hojo, Takeda and Chosokabe) accepted the new order of the emperor. The 15th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunat... | null |
svvxi | Ionized water | [
{
"answer": "Could you be more specific? In general, anyone claiming to make \"ionized\" water is running a scam, but depending on what device they're selling, it may produce any of a number of things.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "82... | null |
x2ylk | why do i get these rashes on my throat after i've shaved? | [
{
"answer": "it's just razor burn, and it's common. There's a facial hair softener you can buy that may work. are you using shaving cream? It's quite important",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A few years back I switched to a brush+lather shave and never looked back. Canned shave gel is total ga... | null |
3a7zto | what is tickling? why do we have places like on our sides and armpits that makes us laugh out of panic when there is no real danger? | [
{
"answer": "I am not 100% certain why this is the case... But to my knowledge it's due to the \"surprise factor of the person touching you. Think about it this way. When someone is tickling your mind is thinking \"they're touching me, but where\". I believe this unpredictability of the situation causes you to... | null |
3vll58 | Why does some music just sound... Old? Is it recording quality, or were instruments constructed differently? | [
{
"answer": "Can you shoot some examples of what recorded music you're thinking of? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "39915658",
"title": "Vintage musical equipment",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 1,
... | null |
4k5u38 | why is nuclear fusion considered the "holy grail" of nuclear power compared to fission? | [
{
"answer": "Fusion is controllable and sustainable. If your fusion reactor is getting too hot, shut off the fuel source. If your nuclear reactor is going critical and the safeties have failed, pray. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > but I fail to understand why fusion is safer\n\nBecause it ... | null |
bcq96k | why are white americans not called european americans? similar to asian americans and african americans. | [
{
"answer": "We should not use any of these segregating terms. \n\nWe should simply use the term Americans instead.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because some other white people got mad about us calling black people black. So they made up a new term, even though not all black people are Afric... | null |
5wpa9x | why were trains invented so much earlier than cars? it seems like trains would be harder to manufacture and create. | [
{
"answer": "Imagine a car running a steam engine, burning coal in a furnace, using the heat to heat up water, pump that water, and turn the wheels. Also storage for coal to be able to go hundreds of miles.\n\nThis is easier to go in a 200 tonne stab of metal than a tiny box with people inside. \n\nAlso no ne... | null |
anr40s | what's the difference between cs (computer science), cis (computer information science, and it (information technology? | [
{
"answer": "Oversimplified, but here we go.\n\n* **Computer Science** - the science of creating computer programs. Algorithms and data structures. Almost entirely focused on writing code.\n\n* **Computer Information Science** - How to use computers to organize and make use of data. A little higher level than C... | null |
6dhsz8 | Historical Fencing in the US of A | [
{
"answer": "Matthew J. O'Rourke, a captain of volunteers on the Union side during the Civil War, published a treatise on the use of the saber in 1872, which was adopted as the Army's standard. You can get a free ebook of the manual here: _URL_0_\nThe first half of the the book is \"the Manual,\" regulations fo... | null |
fhvfuu | In high and late medieval Europe, German & Yiddish-speaking Jews had very high rates of literacy. However, was this isolated to Hebrew literature or could most Jewish people also read the Latin alphabet? | [
{
"answer": "Gotz Aly (Why the Germans, why the Jews) explained that having extremely limited opportunities, European Jews invested heavily in and prioritized education. Whether their own religious education or secular education. As a result, they often had a mastery or at least understanding of multiple langua... | null |
ni22i | what does the death of kim jong-il mean for north korea/the rest of the world? | [
{
"answer": "Functionally nothing as power had already been transferred and his death was expected. It's mostly important in relation to the cult of personality that existed in NK and how they will respond. I seriously doubt anything is going to change though.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "No... | null |
3egrm9 | what the suds in dish soap do and how they work. | [
{
"answer": "Dish soap is made out of special molecules are both polar (slight charge) and non-polar. This property allows them to form a microscopic \"bubble\" called a [micelle](_URL_0_) around non-polar molecules (such as fat and oils) which can then be dissolved in water. The reason it is so hard to get thi... | null |
2byil2 | Atlatls VS bows in the Americas | [
{
"answer": "[This post](_URL_0_) has it that bows and arrows emerged between 3-4 thousand years ago, probably independently, in a number of locations in North America. To my knowledge, atlatls were widely spread throughout North America both before and after bows were in use.\n",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
l2hdz | What is the limiting factor in human eyesight? | [
{
"answer": "To sum up several responses, there are several limiting factors, several of them intertwined:\n\n1. How much information hits your retina: the limit cause by the circular aperture of your eye and the imperfections in the lens.\n\n2. How much information that hits your retina actually gets converted... | null |
2vw6t9 | is it true that the 1960's-1970's middle east was super civilized and progressive, and if so, what the hell happened? | [
{
"answer": "Other contributing factors were the series of wars between Israel and essentially the rest of middle east in the 60s, the OPEC embargo, Foreign intervention, the rise of extremism, among other shifts in both Middle Eastern and international politics. There are still some last vestiges of stability... | null |
1eejcg | What are some good books about US Armored Forces in WWII | [
{
"answer": "More generally Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldier are two great books if you want more of a narrative than a by-the-numbers historical account. Do realize that with books by Steven Ambrose you would do well to research what may or may not have been plagiarized. The core message is still solid eve... | null |
14y0p2 | I'm interested in the history of the addition of Hawaii to the United States. What was the reasoning behind it? Did the people accept it with open arms? | [
{
"answer": "Hawaii was a major importer of sugar to the United States in the mid and late 19th century. However, after the McKinley Tariff (1890), which raised taxes on imports significantly, the sugar growers realized that they could bypass the costly tariff by becoming annexed into the US. They staged a rebe... | null |
zmla7 | why do (most) countries have a tomb of the unknown soldier? | [
{
"answer": "It's mainly just a respect thing. War leaves a lot of dead bodies that no one can identify. I think the British or the French started the tradition around WW1.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Quite some time. A famous example from antiquity is the [monument at Thermopylae](_URL_0_)... | null |
2q4otu | the perceived animosity of the nypd towards bill de blasio. | [
{
"answer": "The mayor has repeatedly come across as being in support of those who are angry with the police, even in instances where that anger is not justified. The mayor isn't seen as being on the side of his police force.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
3j649h | Where does the energy go when particle-antiparticle pairs spontaneously appear and annihilate? | [
{
"answer": "The energy doesn't go anywhere, because there was zero energy to begin with and zero energy after.\n\nThe particle-antiparticle pairs you're referring to are called *virtual particles*. They aren't real particles, and they don't actually exist. They're mathematical tools that are used in calculatio... | null |
1xq3rl | How many molecules wide are the sharpest blades? | [
{
"answer": "Obisidian blades can be mere molecules thick, the preferred tool of optometrists. I'm not sure if its the SHARPEST but it is practically impossible to not cut yourself on one\n\nSource: History of art professor, the first hand experience.\n[and wikipedia as source](_URL_0_)\n\nEdit: as others point... | null |
273t89 | how is it possible to have a hole in your heart, and not die of internal bleeding? | [
{
"answer": "Its not an expression, it is literally referring to a hole somewhere in the heart that there isn't supposed to be. Now bear in mind this doesn't mean there's a hole straight through the heart, or that the hole leads to the exterior of the heart. What it usually entails is that there is a defect in ... | null |
ovo3v | Is there a scientific reason that the hexagon is 'nature's shape'? | [
{
"answer": "Good intention, bad wording. Hexagon is not natures shape. Nature has no shape as nature encompasses many amorphous blobs rather than shapes. HOWEVER!!! In organic chemistry there is are two molecules that are extraordinarily common in nature and they are cyclohexane and benzene, both of which are ... | null |
1ssojv | how do airlines know the exact departure and arrival times for flights months out in advance? | [
{
"answer": "Plane routes don't change often. The same flight goes from NYC to LA everyday and comes back everyday. To do the same thing tomorrow. Pretty much only time schedules change is when some airline starts a new route. Or shuts down a route",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They bui... | null |
4ypn1f | why are all of our fingers different lengths? | [
{
"answer": "Having all fingers the same length would decrease dexterity and grip strength. When we were brachiating from the treetops this would have been a great disadvantage. The thumb in particular is very strong. The neural output equates to all other fingers combined and its ability to oppose helps with... | null |
ezbl6h | During the decolonization of Africa, was there any serious discussion/suggestions for the redrawing of colonial borders? (3rd try) | [
{
"answer": "I touched on this answer in [this thread](_URL_3_), and I discussed the [OAU charter and Cairo Declaration here](_URL_2_). [This thread](_URL_4_) focuses mainly on the formation and adjustment of borders in french Africa, but I do touch on origins of anti-colonial nationalism in the WW2 era.\n\nTho... | null |
18yvyf | What did Lucifer, as a Roman God, represented for the people of Rome? | [
{
"answer": "Lucifer was not a Roman god.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "27694",
"title": "Satan",
"section": "Section::::Allegations of worship.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 82,
"start_character": 0,
... | null |
t9evf | Plate Tectonics on Venus | [
{
"answer": "Interesting explanation here: _URL_0_\n\nEssentially, it doesn't have Earth like plate tectonics because it's too hot. It's a definitions issue, not a process one.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "256567",
"title": "... | null |
82bf59 | why do anesthetic needles hurt so much when numbing a nerve? | [
{
"answer": "Because they fairly directly poke the nerve (or very close to it) before injecting. Poking a nerve directly tends to hurt.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The way I had it explained by my doctor is that local anaesthetic doesn't actually \"numb\" your nerves. Instead it *over-stimu... | null |
9ofw28 | why do addicts of hard drugs tend to lose many of their teeth? | [
{
"answer": "Drug addicts don't typically have the best hygiene. Depending on the drug of choice, they may have no appetite and end up malnourished. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Addicts can tend to have bad hygiene practices and ingest things that aren't good for their teeth. ",
"proven... | null |
278eq5 | Why are bike wheels so big? | [
{
"answer": "It is partly because mechanically it offers the opportunity of higher road speeds on a pedal bike without having to pedal furiously or without the need of excessive gearing.\nAlso, larger wheels traditionally were used before bike had suspension to try to smooth out the uneven roads that bikes were... | null |
1pxg6c | why do public women's toilets have lids if they're never going to be lifted up? | [
{
"answer": "Standard parts for efficient manufacturing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Do you mean seats? You'd have to lift up a lid to use the toilet, regardless of sex. Seats keep people from falling into the toilet while sitting down, which women have to do 100% of the time they use the t... | null |
2o2xiq | what is isis trying to accomplish with the beheading incidents and how do they release the videos? | [
{
"answer": "ISIS believes that they can punish the US for conducting air strikes against itself, by executing American citizens who are so unfortunate as to fall into their hands, and that when America sees that it has been punished for its crimes, it will feel suitably remorseful and will then refrain from it... | null |
bs0vv2 | how do frogs, toads and other amphibians know how and where to find new bodies of water? | [
{
"answer": "Amphibians explore and migrate during cool moist weather. They can cover a lot of distance that way, especially if they can find damp places to take shelter in between stages of their journey.\n\nMost animals (including us) are also perfectly capable of smelling water from a good distance. Wind blo... | null |
55n7k7 | How easy was to get new identity and "vanish" at the end of WW2? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up: If there were people that did this and were caught, what would the punishment be? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Follow up: How plausible would it have been for an American to do this, during the Korean War, a la Don Draper from Mad Men?",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
1yqhi6 | how effective medical marijuana is. is it actually useful compared to other meds? or is it just used to get people to see the good side to marijuana | [
{
"answer": "To be clear I'm not bashing marijuana or those who use it in any way. I'm just curious if medical marijuana is actually effective compared to other meds or if it's more a propaganda related ordeal to stop people from falsely accusing marijuana as some 'terrible drug'. \n\nFeedback from people who h... | null |
79x9le | To what extent can parents' DNA be reverse-engineered from their child's DNA? | [
{
"answer": "research engineer here:\n\nA haplotype (haploid genotype) is a group of genes in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent.\n\nAs the human genome consists of two homologous sets of chromosomes, understanding the true genetic makeup of an individual requires delineation of the ma... | null |
74hz97 | If you shine a white light through a blue filter, does it actually change the wavelength of the color? | [
{
"answer": "Filters do exactly what their name implies: they filter certain wavelengths of light. In general, light can do one of three things when interacting with a surface. First, it can be absorbed. This is what happens when you see things that are black in color, especially things like [Vantablack](_URL_0... | null |
3ysjjh | Do certain activities increase/decrease brain activity during sleep? | [
{
"answer": "One of the main functions of sleep and dreaming is to consolidate (new) memories and reorganise the brain's neural architecture accordingly. Because of this, dream experience seems to have a strong relation with what you have experienced and encoded in waking life.\n \nIt is not entirely clear if ... | null |
31y38c | how do you enter a gas giant? | [
{
"answer": " > but is there a uniform boundary or is it just Space and then the planet kinda just \"starts\"?\n\nAtmospheres tail off roughly exponentially as you go up in height. Earth's does too - there's no sharp \"you're suddenly in space\" line for Earth, either.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
688f4v | what does the f/stop in a camera do? | [
{
"answer": "It determines the size of the aperture which then, along with the shutter speed determines how much light reaches the film or sensor. A larger number means a smaller aperture, which means less light, but also a wider depth of field (how much of the image is in focus)",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
6ue285 | Is there such a thing as space coordinates? | [
{
"answer": "There aren't any absolute coordinates in the universe. However, you can broadcast our location relative other parts of the universe. For example, if you wanted to send a message within our [local group](_URL_1_), such as communicating our location to a civilization in the Andromeda galaxy, you coul... | null |
1blxym | What is the probability of a couple having identical non-twins? | [
{
"answer": "Here's [my answer](_URL_0_) to this question from about a month ago. The figures I give are for the probability of being unrelated (or rather of being substantially less related than the expectation), but the calculation is symmetric, so those probabilities are the same for the other half of the di... | null |
39jqe6 | why do people stand along roads holding signs to promote sales of some stores? (e.g. furniture stores, stores going out of business, etc.,.) is there a law against posting signs? | [
{
"answer": "Generally yes it is illegal in many towns to post signs and flyers because no one ever removes the signs later and they usually become trash in the streets, but that is not why they do it. They do it because people like you notice them. How many signs and posters do you stop to read that are posted... | null |
jt9c9 | how / why water goes "bad" when you leave it out but is fine in bottles? | [
{
"answer": "Actually, water in plastic bottles CAN and does go bad (look at the expiration date!)\n\nExposed water will have dust settle in it, it will have smells and other floating stuff fall in to it, etc. Bacteria might get in it and start to multiply.\n\nBottled water will stay fresher longer, but since p... | null |
1zmv28 | why does a doughnut get nice and fluffy after 20 seconds in the microwave but hard after 40 seconds? | [
{
"answer": "Microwaves act by making water molecules bounce around faster (increasing its kinetics) \n\n\nThe energy from this movement is released through the form of heat and it is dispersed evenly through the body of what you are heating.\n\n\nIf you overdo it you just completely dry out the object of the... | null |
17em7e | why do i have horrendous farts after a night of drinking? | [
{
"answer": "You have bugs in your stomach that like to eat carbohydrates. When they eat they produce gas. Alcohol contains carbs. The diarrhea is probably a side effect of not eating as well as you should while drinking.\n\nIf this happens every time you drink, you should see a doctor. ",
"provenance": nul... | null |
6vet8s | how are digital devices functional in an mri room? how do they operate the mri in that strong magnetic field? | [
{
"answer": "For the most part, magnetic fields are not as bad to electronics as people would lead you to believe. Specifically, magnetism isn't an important thing in the operation of electronics, and it doesn't somehow stop them from working. Really traditional hard drives are the only thing in a modern comput... | null |
1clprr | Stem Cells for Rejuvenation | [
{
"answer": "Cells from your body (eg your skin) can be manipulated and turned into [induced pluripotent stem cells](_URL_1_). These cells are, in theory, stem cells that can become any other type of cell in your body. Under the proper conditions, they can be induced to become neurons, blood cells, or any oth... | null |
3h6us4 | when an app crashes and i send a report, what exactly does that do, and how is it used? | [
{
"answer": "It tells the developer that the app has crashed, first of all.\n\nBut it can also tell the developer what you were doing, what screen you were viewing, what data you were using, what route you took to get to that screen, and so on.\n\nAll of this can help fix the bug. Obviously the developer needs ... | null |
ycgf8 | Why do trash cans smell even after they've been washed? | [
{
"answer": "I can only speak in generalities -- but I think it's pretty reasonable that those smell molecules have simply diffused into the plastic. At the molecular level, the plastic will be quite porous.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id"... | null |
a8avg2 | why does closing a credit card account hurt your credit? | [
{
"answer": "Having less credit cards is easier to manage, but people looking at your credit score don’t care how you do when things are easy, they want to see that you can have multiple lines of credit and balance them wisely. Also, closing a credit card could be saying “I’m in over my head” and they don’t wa... | null |
3mzyr6 | why aren't there bigger pushes to abandon the political party system? | [
{
"answer": "Because it would be impossible. What are you going to do, ban people from working together?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Originally there were no parties. Like- minded individuals formed parties organically.\n\nIf they got rid of the current parties the only thing that would hap... | null |
49a9ti | where does energy go in a short-circuited battery? | [
{
"answer": "It all turns into heat. Short out a battery, and it'll heat up and get warm, hot, or even on fire.\n\nAll batteries have internal resistance. That is to say, the inside of the battery isn't superconducting. So even if you had a superconducting wire shorting the battery, it would still get hot.",... | null |
742pry | why does falling down hurt more/ longer when you get older | [
{
"answer": "* your body is frailer and takes more damage\n* you are less able to react and control how you fall, meaning you are more likely to fall hard\n* any injury you suffer from the fall will heal more slowly",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As you get older, you get taller. As you get ta... | null |
61jsas | why are salmon from the pacific prone to parasites while salmon from the atlantic safe to eat raw? | [
{
"answer": "I don't believe this is actually a thing? Atlantic Salmon also frequently have warnings put out about parasite risks. [The NHS publishes warnings in the UK](_URL_0_) about it. \n\nNow you can get sushi-grade fish, of course, but that's fish that has been flash frozen to kill any potential parasites... | null |
1k3395 | how can a spinning top stay upright while it's rotating? | [
{
"answer": "When something spins, it has inertia just like an automobile and just like an automobile, it is very easy to move it in certain directions in respect to the direction of the movement and difficult in other directions. The trick is that with a top, the inertia isn't all in one direction, it is in al... | null |
5nx04a | does my breastmilk have healthier properties if i eat healthier food? | [
{
"answer": "Regarding healthy and unhealthy fats:\ngenerally speaking: the membranes of your cells always feflect the stuff you eat. Of course the body has its own fattyacid metabolism and can contribute here. but regarding the fats the general rule applies: you are what you eat.\nOn the other hand: the milk y... | null |
1w4mn7 | is it possible to have a mind like sherlock holmes? | [
{
"answer": "That doesn't really happen in the BBC series so much. Deductive reasoning is a real thing. I'm sure you're not seriously asking if you can slow down time with your mind though.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1337774",
... | null |
2kwo7h | Did any groups still cling to the Roman deities after the fall of Rome? | [
{
"answer": "The Roman Empire was of course not entirely Christian by the end of the fifth century, but it was pretty close. Pagans were never wiped out, but pretty much all our sources for this period and later were written by Christians, so we can't be entirely sure if they are accurate in their accounts of s... | null |
95jj8g | How did the ancient Romans think of what we today call race? | [
{
"answer": "Some previous answers to this question while we wait for any further answers: \n\nfrom /u/cleopatra_philopater -\n_URL_3_\n\nAnd another from cleopatra_philopater with further links to the origins of race perception -_URL_0_\n\nFrom /u/medieval_pants - \n_URL_2_\n\nAnd some consolidated links from ... | null |
1108nf | Can someone explain the dark trail in front of a plane in the sky? | [
{
"answer": "It's the contrail creating a shadow in the low haze.\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "153050",
"title": "The Odyssey of Flight 33",
"section": "Section::::Plot.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 4,
... | null |
27wwvs | When an atom emits a photon, is it one blob of energy shot out like a bullet? Or is it a radiating wavefront coming from any one side of the atom? Or does the wave carry in a full sphere around the atom? Does the nucleus cause an eclipse? | [
{
"answer": "The photon at atomic scales can be thought of like a blob of energy, representing an excitation in the [discrete nature of the electromagnetic field](_URL_0_). It's only at larger scales that light appears to behave like a classical wavefront.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
4qnfeo | Why were siege engines not used more often in ancient times? | [
{
"answer": "Siege engines were expensive in terms of expertise to design, materials to gather for construction and (for some types) ammunition, time to build, and men to operate. They were also difficult to move and ranges were limited. [This interview with Peter Vemming](_URL_1_) discusses his work recreating... | null |
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