id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
5gh40n | How much CO2 does the internet produce now? | [
{
"answer": "As the internet is the result of the interconnection of billions of devices, each operating independently, in many different environments, each parameterised in its own way, a good portion of them being mobile and under variable workloads, I doubt it's in any way feasible to find an accurate result... | null |
1bf19e | Why is coffee turbid when cooled down but clear when freshly made? | [
{
"answer": "What is coffee, exactly? A Solution? Suspension? \n\nTurns out, hot black coffee is a solution, meaning that the coffee itself is dissolved in the hot water.\n\nPerhaps you remember that solubility increases with heat (generally speaking). So when the water is hot, it will take in all the coffee it... | null |
r3j8e | Is it possible to get high from second-hand cannabis smoke? | [
{
"answer": "This is actually one of the things we studied in forensic toxicology - the case of [Ross Rebagliati](_URL_0_), a Canadian snowboarder whose Olympic gold medal was in jeopardy after testing positive for marijuana. His defense was that he did not partake in smoking, but was in the vicinity as others ... | null |
7uz507 | just how much less nutritious is food that has been frozen such as frozen fruits/meals | [
{
"answer": "Calories should stay exactly the same. Mineral content will also be exactly the same. Some vitamins can be changed by various environmental factors including temperature. Vitamin C, for example, is degraded by exposure to oxygen. Freezing can actually help protect against oxidizing since liquid wat... | null |
20mf6y | why do people and animals get comfortable? what is comfort? | [
{
"answer": "Comfort is a lack of hardship, danger or stress. From an evolutionary point of view, avoiding dangerous situations is obviously beneficial to survival, so an animal that experienced negative emotions (discomfort) during these situations is going to try & avoid being in them. Feeling happy in a s... | null |
55h3s9 | what is so special about go pro type cameras that can't be done with just any video camera. | [
{
"answer": "GoPro's are small, compact, rugged, and designed to mount on a fast moving object without flying off and getting destroyed. They also have good quality video and lots of storage capacity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "GoPro cameras are designed to be small and fit into protective... | null |
2a3raz | Are there better job opportunities for historians depending on which history they study? Which fields have more demand? | [
{
"answer": "I can't grab a link right now, but the American Historical Association publishes a report once in a while evaluating the field. Their last was in 2013 and it showed that you do have slightly better odds with an Asian History focus, but if I remember correctly you still have less than a 50% of find... | null |
2yr2xr | why do some pills come in bottles, and some in blister packs? | [
{
"answer": "Prescriptions that are dispensed in the US have to meet child safety standards. If you're buying it OTC it isn't being dispensed and thus doesn't have to meet the standards.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One surprising reason for blister packs: suicide prevention.\n\nFor example... | null |
w4tjs | Everest is currently the highest mountain on Earth (elevation above sea level). But mountain chains are growing/eroding all the time -- so when in the distant future Everest become second tallest, and what mountain will surpass it? | [
{
"answer": "Everest, and the Himalayan range is still growing, and will likely do so for many millions of years due to the Indian Sub-Continent pushing into Asia. This collision also created the Karakoram range (of K-2 fame), among others. \n\nWhich particular peak among the area will be the tallest in the fut... | null |
79pj93 | Do dogs have an awareness of seasonal weather change? | [
{
"answer": "Why would you think that they might not. They live long enough to experience many seasons. Their breeding cycle is tied to the seasons, they can feel both hot and cold, they know what snow is (whether they like it or not), et. al. \n\nNot to mention that the modern domesticated dog will certainly s... | null |
2eguit | what is the philosophy behind a ddos attack on gaming servers? | [
{
"answer": "It's a cry for attention, similar to what a baby does when they poop their diapers.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I owned a lot of Minecraft servers over the past couple years, many of them with hundreds of players online at a time. \n\nMost of the players who threatened/attempte... | null |
16boo4 | Is there a limit to the number of immunity genes bacteria can carry? | [
{
"answer": "Now theoretically, there must be a physical limit to the quantity of DNA that can be present in a typically sized bacterial cell (or any cell, for that matter). However, realistically it's probably never ever going to occur, due to the huge, vast quantities of DNA that can fit in one cell. The ameb... | null |
evlrcl | what has the large hadron collider discovered exactly? | [
{
"answer": "First off : sorry for my approximate English, I am not native. \n\nSo I'll try to make this as 5years old friendly as possible. You probably know that everything around you is made of matter, which is made of atoms. Basically little lego bricks that together form your Millenium falcon. \n\nOne of t... | null |
2qtf5b | how come it's always night on moon and you can see the space as it is? | [
{
"answer": "The colour of the sky is caused by sunlight light bouncing around within the atmosphere. At night, on earth, there's no sunlight so it appears black.\n\nOn the moon there's no atmosphere, so whether or not there's any sunlight, it still appears black.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
1tid9j | Oil and natural gas come from decomposing ancient life. But how did these substances get so far beneath the surface of the Earth? | [
{
"answer": "They get buried. Sediments get deposited on top of them, from processes such as sand dunes, rivers, volcanic eruptions, ocean deposits, and such.\n\nOnce you pile a bunch of sediments over a landscape, the landscape sinks from the weight, which often allows for more sediments to be piled on top. Ne... | null |
8g9uxs | Do fingerprints change as you age? For instance if your fingerprinted at 5 years old will it have any similarity to your fingerprints at 20? | [
{
"answer": "The pattern won't change. You can get a scar that would show up on newer prints that wouldn't show up on older prints. It shouldn't affect identification of a print.\n\nYou can still ID the prints by matching loops, whirls, and arches.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prov... | null |
3d7nhh | why is it safe to put some chemicals like hydrogen peroxide on open wounds, but not to ingest them? | [
{
"answer": "It's not just about getting into your blood, it also has to do with the way it's broken down in your body, and what it comes in contact with along the way. That said, most things that would be poisonous to rub on a wound are also poisonous to ingest.\n\nHydrogen peroxide at the concentrations you'... | null |
5ogozs | how is seo used to generate high website traffic? | [
{
"answer": "Basically makes your website show up better in search engines. Let's say you search for Socks on Google, the websites with better SEO are going to be showing higher up over websites with worst SEO",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "SEO is a complex topic, so bare with me.\n\n* Who is ... | null |
1c2m65 | what is i and how does i^2 = -1? | [
{
"answer": " > How can anything be the square root of -1?\n\nExactly. *i* is a mathematical representation of this concept. This is all just logical mathematics. *i* is for imaginary, and we are imagining some type of value that can be the square root of a negative integer.\n\nSo we say that the square root of... | null |
tm013 | What is the latest advancement/update that has been made on a 'Unified Field Theory' in physics? ie. The 'Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything'? | [
{
"answer": "It didn't really pan out; there are certain irreconcilable differences between it and the standard model that it tries to extend. Ultimately this theory made very little noise in the high energy physics community but a disproportionately large noise among science journalists, who jumped on the stor... | null |
2zsvdf | why do girls generally find it harder to achieve an orgasm despite having way more nerve ending than men in their privates? | [
{
"answer": "Female orgasms aren't necessary for reproduction. The man has to ejaculate sperm through an orgasm. The women doesn't have to ejaculate anything.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It is hard to say exactly. They are still doing research into this. What we can say though, that when ... | null |
f0zitw | how can millionaire/billionaires have more influence on a presidential candidate than other donors that donate the same amount, if the maximum contribution is $2,800? | [
{
"answer": "There are limits, but they can contribute to multiple different groups (candidates, PACs, parties) with different limits. And they can host fundraisers which can generate large amount of donations. Or use their corporations to also donate.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because th... | null |
5f0pz1 | what is a tupperware party? is it just women comparing their food containers? is it an euphemism for something nsfw? | [
{
"answer": " > Is it just women comparing their food containers?\n\nNo, it's people *buying* food containers. [In-home demonstrations](_URL_0_) are the main avenue for selling Tupperware-brand containers in most countries.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Is there a reason why you didn't just ... | null |
40zozr | when moving something back and forth quickly, why can the object be seen in every position at once? | [
{
"answer": "Your eyes refresh at a pretty constant rate and when your brain processes each image it keeps some of the information from the previous image or images that it saw. So if something is moving fast enough then your brain will retain some information of where it was before, creating the illusion that ... | null |
2rut9h | Accuracy of 'Romance of The Three Kingdoms' | [
{
"answer": "Note that the Romance of the Three Kingdom is different from simply Three Kingdoms. Luo's portrayal of the time period and accuracy of important events are right on the spot - it's other aspects of the novel that deserves the attention.\n\nEasily the first thing you would spot is the author's bias ... | null |
ar8pg1 | why does liquid cough medicine work better than the pill form with the same ingredients? once they start doing their thing shouldn't they, well, do the same thing? | [
{
"answer": "Speed is one aspect, when you swallow pills you're waiting for your stomach to break them down then for them to be absorbed and start working. \n\nLiquids are able to be absorbed faster and also they will coat the throat on the way down.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Cough medica... | null |
94x89c | if water is a incompressible fluid why does pressure increase when going under water? wouldn’t the pressure stay the same since the density of the water doesn’t change? | [
{
"answer": "Maybe not an answer, but as you go deeper, the weight of the water above you is exerting the increased pressure. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "First of all, water *is* compressible. Just not very easily. For most purposes, we can think of it as being incompressible. So let'... | null |
e8gu1k | . where is vegetable oil made of? i think it’s made from vegetables because of the name. but what vegetable? | [
{
"answer": "Seeds like canola, sunflower, peanut, sesame, even corn and coconut . When plants store oils it's typically in the seeds, which is supposed to be fuel for the growing seedling. \n\nIf you take peanuts and crush them you can separate the oil pretty easily.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
ahk7zz | why did early color tv programming look so artificial like the color was added in later? | [
{
"answer": "Film ages, and with age, fades. I see it when I look at old still pictures of family from those days.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I believe that program was originally taped in monochrome, so the color must have been added for this documentary.",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
4ef695 | how touch lamps work. | [
{
"answer": "Have you ever touched the wire leading to an amplifier and heard the speaker make a loud buzz? That is because you pick up lots of electric noise from around you, and when you touch the plug, that noise is amplified and sent to the speakers.\n\nTouch lamps do the same thing! They have an input conn... | null |
9szfwq | Was it legal for a husband in medieval England to kill his wife and/or children? What social consequences, if any, would a man face for committing such an act? | [
{
"answer": "Cold-blooded murder was always illegal and carried with it legal punishment, from the earliest surviving medieval law code we have through the entirety of the medieval era. A person would be acquitted if the murder was found to be done in self-defence. One could also be found innocent on grounds of... | null |
ez63f | Water that doesn't affect your thirst | [
{
"answer": "That's exactly what the IV fluid is. If there is not enough salt, the water will go into your red blood cells via osmosis and cause them to swell, and eventually explode. If there is too much salt, the fluid will absorb all the water from your red blood cells and cause you to be more dehydrated. Th... | null |
fydrs | Do hot ( > 36.6) drinking water provide calories to organism? | [
{
"answer": "If you drink water at a temperature approximate to your body's then you will not have to spend energy in thermal regulation to compensate for the drop you would have when drinking cooler water, but it's almost negligible. That's about it. In nutritional terms, water is void of any calories.\n\nDisr... | null |
buvxjo | why are 144hz monitors more popular than 120hz? | [
{
"answer": "Good marketing. 144hz monitors introduce a hiccup when playing 30 and 60 FPS locked video or games if you don't modify the monitor settings every time. 120 is divisible by both, making it a smoother and more versatile experience with fewer adjustments. If all you do is play CSGO at minimum graphics... | null |
4fvhe1 | How did New Horizons get to Pluto? | [
{
"answer": "It had a gravity assist at Jupiter; see [this](_URL_0_).\n\nYou can see the trajectory [here](_URL_1_).\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "28343916",
"title": "Exploration of Pluto",
"section": "Section::::\"N... | null |
ak9709 | It's 1925 and money is no object for me, I want to travel between America and Europe what are my options? | [
{
"answer": "You're pretty much limited to traveling by ship. Daring individuals have starting making transatlantic flights, but you're still three years away from the first east-west non-stop transatlantic crossing, and also three years away from the first regular transatlantic travel by commercial airships, w... | null |
kqxoe | why does my girlfriend's clit become super-sensitive after she has an orgasm? | [
{
"answer": "This was unjustly downvoted. Maybe you should try /r/askscience?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Why is a five year old asking this?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Have you ever noticed how hyper sensitive your penis gets after orgasm? Same thing. ",
"provena... | null |
9k86gd | What kind of swimming techniques would people in the 17th and 18th century use? | [
{
"answer": "European and Euro-American sources from the 16th-19th centuries, which here include travel accounts and treatises on how to swim, unanimously agree on several points: (a) they swim badly (b) the people of basically every other culture they encounter swim better (c) there is apparently no reason for... | null |
2i84ud | Does light experience time when traveling in a material? | [
{
"answer": "Light doesn't *experience* anything. I don't mean that in a pedantic sense of it's not conscious. I mean that an observational frame *at c* makes no sense at all. \n\nHowever, when you have a material, that material has an electromagnetic field *already* between all the various charged particles (e... | null |
zj2wx | How true the factoid you frequently hear that the atoms in your body are entirely replaced (albeit gradually) about every 5 ~ 7 years. | [
{
"answer": "It's not really atoms, but cells as a whole. Cells can grow old and die off (called \"senescence\") and are replaced by new cells. So over a period of time (5-7 years as you say) you could say that all the cells currently existing in your body will have died off and been replaced by new ones. ",
... | null |
7r2jnt | Why is the waste produced in a thorium fuel cycle need storage for only 300 years instead of thousands of years for uranium fuel cycle, even though U233 from Th232 had mostly similar fission products as U235? | [
{
"answer": "This argument is mainly about transuranic isotopes. These are waste products which through neutron capture become heavier. They do not fission at all. To go from U238 to P239 all you need is one capture. To go from U233 to P239, you need a series of captures and there will be plenty of opportunity ... | null |
6amj48 | Why was Bill Clinton's approval rating so low in the first few months of his presidency? | [
{
"answer": "As you said, at this point of his presidency a few months in, in early May of 1993, Clinton was at a 45% approval rating. Clinton's lowest approval rating then actually slipped to 37% - a low-point mark I believe he reached in early June of 1993.\n\nThe reasons for these low ratings early on were l... | null |
foh605 | Why don't mosquitoes die of malaria? | [
{
"answer": "It would be detrimental for the plasmodium parasite to kill off the mosquitoes. It requires them for its reproduction.\n\nSo, the answer to your question would be that the parasite has evolved to avoid harming the mosquitoes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Malaria is a red blood c... | null |
25l5ka | why is food (and other things) preserved when it is frozen? | [
{
"answer": "What makes food go bad is bacteria. Bacteria cant live in the cold very easily and even if they do they slow way way down. Thus freezing prevents the bacteria from spoiling the food and the food stays good for longer.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{... | null |
2yh4p6 | Questions regarding Moses & Pharoah and the timeline | [
{
"answer": "Check out our [FAQ](_URL_0_). Lots of threads there already.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "9102160",
"title": "Midrash Petirat Aharon",
"section": "Section::::Themes in the midrash.\n",
"start_para... | null |
y595a | realism, modernism and postmodernism in literature. | [
{
"answer": "All three are defined by an underlying philosophy (sort of, nowhere near as coherent as that sounds, really), a set of writers associated with them (and how they influence each other), a set of typical themes, a set of typical techniques, and a time period in which they were prevalent.\n\nSo it's n... | null |
8wdq47 | How are each of the lobes in the brain differentiated on a biological level? | [
{
"answer": "How are they differentiated? Well it's not simple. It's kinda like trying to decide where certain neighbourhoods in city begin and end. There are some areas that we are certain about, others where it gets a bit blurry. Let me explain.\n\nTo start with, the different areas of the brain were decided ... | null |
e06i3b | percentage of rain meaning | [
{
"answer": "Ugh, it's kind of a mess. \n\nSo, a 20% chance of rain can mean there's a 20% chance that you will get rained on at some point that day. \n\nBut sometimes it can be used to mean things like 20% of the day will be raining. \n\nOr that 20% of the land within an area will be rained on. This is the ... | null |
f5s93b | what exactly happens to a dissolved/bankrupt company's debts? | [
{
"answer": "In a sometimes lengthy court process, those the company owed money to can fight to recover some of the debt from whatever assets the company has left. Any debt that remains unpaid after that will remain forever unpaid and written off",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As a former ... | null |
2ysbbm | a new pacific island has just formed from a volcano. presuming it's in international waters, who 'owns' it? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is whomever claims and can successfully defend it. \n\nNo one inherently \"owns\" any piece of property, so whomever wanted it would have to defend their claim either legally (get it recognized by other nations) and/or militarily (repel all invaders). Usually, the island will be pa... | null |
bb4c25 | During the California gold rush, was selling shovels really a better way to make money than searching for gold? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is we really don't know. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nOutside of word of mouth and the strikes that were notable enough to make news, we don't have a good idea of how much gold was really found as the lack of law enforcement and the hardships in filing a claim meant that miners were tight lip... | null |
2rgyd9 | what would actually happen if someone paid off people's student loans via hacking? | [
{
"answer": "because they're not hacking, they're doing a denial of service attack.\n\nThey dont get inside and get to find out information and change things.\n\nThey're just attempting to make so many connections at once the server can't handle it.\n\nIt's the difference between infiltrating a building like a ... | null |
bdt3m8 | Just watched lindybeiges video about fire arrows, I have a small question | [
{
"answer": "I actually wrote a little bit about fire arrows just a few days ago [here](_URL_0_). Like literally every historian I maintain that fire arrows are not meant for battlefield use. They are, as stated the, absolute last resort for a besieging force to set something on fire if you have nothing else av... | null |
1o7unj | How does communicating through radio waves in space between 2 bodies moving at constant relative velocity away from each other stil influence the perception of paradoxical slowness of time of the other under special relativity? | [
{
"answer": " > parties moving relatively to each other agrees to send out a signal in radio wave to the other person at 12.00 a.m.\n\nThere is your problem right there... if they have synchronized clocks, then they started in the same reference frame, and it is only through acceleration that one's clock would... | null |
4t1c7r | Was a blade poisoning a thing ? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nThis older thread was the closest I could find that might partially answer your question and mostly focuses on whether poison arrows - not blades - were a thing, the consensus seeming to be that they were. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm going to try and give an a... | null |
7b3pkx | Did ancient Romans have some kinf of pockets in their clothes? If not, how did they carry small things around? | [
{
"answer": "Not as such.\n\nThe garments of the Romans were generally loose fitting and simply sewn, both of which don’t work well with the concept of pockets as we know them. However, the looseness of the garments also meant that it was relatively effective to simply use the folds of these garments to carry s... | null |
1tomzj | how do they make amputations in movies look real? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on what movie you're talking about. In more recent movies, yes, you can digitally remove a limb from an actor. Typically you would shoot a scene without the actor, then the scene WITH the actor in the same set-up. They wear green tape over the limb and the limb is removed digitally, leav... | null |
2uwj7k | why do two nuts on a bolt lock and stop spinning? why don't they just act as one longer nut? | [
{
"answer": "pushing them up and down doesn't do anything you have to turn them, by turning one on top of another you actually just push down on the other.\n\nIt's friction, that's the fundamentals of how they work and why even single ones don't just fall off when you tighten them.\n\nIf you think about it, wha... | null |
3b0rsp | What caused the Middle/Far East to use bowing as a greeting while the Western world chose the handshake? | [
{
"answer": "Could you give example of the Middle East using bowing as a greeting? I am familiar with the far east using bowing but I haven't experienced anyone from the Middle East doing the same.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "604026... | null |
6kjup0 | During beta decay, when a neutrino and a beta ray are created, where does it's mass come from? | [
{
"answer": "The binding energy of the daughter nucleus is larger than the binding energy of the parent. The extra energy is released as the masses and kinetic energies of the particles in the final state.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": ... | null |
1y6w4a | please explain radiation and exposure to me. i can't grasp the concept of it not being a gas/object/liquid etc. | [
{
"answer": "Actually, in this context radiation is the emission of particles, alpha, beta, etc. What that means to you is that some of these really little pieces of atoms \"radiate\" (escape from) from a source, strike your cells, and damage them like miniature canonballs.\n\nThings that small can be described... | null |
5jug95 | why the nose of the concorde and the tupolev tu-144 angle downwards. | [
{
"answer": "Nothing complex here. It folds down for takeoff and landing to give the pilots a clearer view of the ground. Then it comes up into streamlined position for normal flight.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "31102",
"titl... | null |
p6hzq | Is there any link between how young you grow grey hair and how old you live? | [
{
"answer": "I am unaware of any link between canities and life span. The development of gray hair has the technical name canities. It is actually not the development of gray hair, but rather the growth of hair lacking any color pigment. These hairs appear white and when intermixed with pigmented hair gives ... | null |
3g8sfh | how do tv episodes, albums and scripts get leaked, and why does it seem to happen so often? | [
{
"answer": "Writer, publisher, .... Will send them to himself via email. Or friends and family. And from there someone will leak it.\n\nOr grabs a USB stick. Leaves it at caffee. Noasy waiter who knows a studio is nearby grabs it..\n\nOr as a part of marketing. Some speculate the Iphone[whatever number] wasn't... | null |
3m2xhx | Is it possible to create a water molecule by combining 1 hydrogen atom and 2 oxygen atoms through fusion? | [
{
"answer": "If I'm understanding your question correctly, the answer is \"no\" because water is defined by its formula of H2O. HOO would be an entirely different, unstable molecule. \n\nIf you're using the term fusion in the nuclear reaction sense, then I don't understand what you're getting at. I suppose ... | null |
59krov | is heisenberg uncertainty principle just a theory at the moment or have we observed it? | [
{
"answer": "Your understanding of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle might not be the issue here. \"Theory\" in scientific terminology refers to a model that works until disproven. \"Theory\" in common English refers to an idea or a thought process.\n\nSo the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a model that ... | null |
jhtic | collective bargaining | [
{
"answer": "collective bargaining is the process of a group of employees negotiating employment benefits (pay, health care, vacation/sick time, etc.) as a single group as opposed to each employee negotiating with the employer at the time of hire. \n\nthe only way this is possible is with the creation of a uni... | null |
nvdf0 | - why doesn't corn break down when you poop, and if it doesn't break down what sort of nutritional value am i getting? | [
{
"answer": "You have to chew it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Only the skin of the kernel can't be digested. The inside of the kernel can actually be digested and has nutritional value. This is why you are advised to chew: if you don't chew, your digestive track is unable to get to the go... | null |
6ahalu | how can a geothermal system heat my house when it's 10 below zero and the system is 55 degrees? | [
{
"answer": "They do have a supplemental heat source: the earth. Even if it's 10 below zero outside, it's not going to be nearly so cold at the depth the geothermal pump runs to. When you get deep enough, the ground is more or less the average annual temperature, moving only a little bit due to the seasons.\n\n... | null |
2795ny | what's the difference between a laser cutter and a plasma cutter? | [
{
"answer": "Laser cutters use lasers, plasma cutters use plasma. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "16066056",
"title": "Digital modeling and fabrication",
"section": "Section::::Machines for fabrication.:Laser cutter.\n",... | null |
61odoo | how do microphones/speakers not echo the sound of a crowd | [
{
"answer": "To an extent, they do. However, most microphones are more sensitive in the direction that they're pointed.\n\nThere are no microphones that are only pick up sound from one very specific direction - if someone makes a noise from behind the mic, it'll get picked up to some degree, the question is how... | null |
2vm7m6 | why do texts only allow 160 bytes per message? | [
{
"answer": "SMS was an add-on to the cell networks that existed at the time. 160 characters was all they could fit in given the technical limitations of the networks; and honestly, that was kind of a feat, then.\n\nToday, it persists for backward compatibility; if you need more than that, send an email.",
... | null |
1ijdmw | What were the reasons that people of your time period and region believed one contracted various illnesses and diseases? | [
{
"answer": "Before the HIV virus was discovered there were many theories about what could be causing AIDS. Some of these theories continued to circulate after the discovery of the virus, and a few hardcore AIDS denialists still believe in alternate theories. \nDuring the very early years of the epidemic there... | null |
4zq6mb | when can police get accurate speed readings on a moving vehicle? | [
{
"answer": "When they have radar on and it is within a certain degree of head/tail-on. I think it's within 15 degrees, but can't remember the exact number. The further off it is, the less accurate. And when the radar is properly calibrated, which should be done a minimum of twice per shift.\n\nWhen the are fol... | null |
5rzhrx | At what point did Salt become so devalued, and why? | [
{
"answer": "All 4 of these r/AskHistorians posts will answer your question. Hope the mods will consider this an adequate response (I'm not from around here:)!\n\n[Why was salt so scarce and valuable when it is in the ocean everywhere?](_URL_2_) (16 days ago, from /u/bucko9765)\n\n[I'm given to understand that ... | null |
1wnoti | if roman numerals are written in order from greatest to least in quantity, such as xii (unless when subtracting like xiv), why is super bowl 48 labeled as xlviii instead of lxviii? | [
{
"answer": "XL would be 40. LX would be 60. It's exactly the subtractive principle you mentioned. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "X(-10) L(+50) V(+5) I(+1) I(+1) I(+1)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They're *not* written in order from greatest to least.\n \nHowever, *if* a ... | null |
445g3l | It is often said that middle age era male English skeletons are deformed due to excessive archery practice, are examples of such deformities found in warrior cultures as well? (Mongols, Huns, Spartans, etc) | [
{
"answer": "To be clear before we start, \"deformed\" isn't exactly how I'd describe *os acromiale*, which is the condition you're describing. Very briefly, what happened to longbowmen (and current competitive archers, etc) was that the growing point (growth plate) on the scapula does not fuse with the bone it... | null |
4biggz | what and where is "privilege"? | [
{
"answer": "How often are you followed around by sales clerks in a store, because they think you might steal things? As a white girl myself, I never had - but the first time I went shopping in those same stores with a black friend, I could tell that she was being followed around, regarded as untrustworthy... | null |
2l0cw4 | From an evolutionist standpoint, if warmth is necessary for survival, why did humans evolve without fur? | [
{
"answer": "We lived in warm places and didn't need fur to live. Losing it made us cool down better when exercising, enabling us to endurance-hunt other animals who cannot exert themselves as much continuously over a long time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because staying cool can be more ... | null |
8ryp1v | Is energy always conserved? Are there exceptions ? | [
{
"answer": "You might find this blog post interesting:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nOutside of cosmology, energy is conserved in isolated systems. Within cosmology, one runs into an issue of concepts and semantics. Let's say, because of dark energy and a non-zero cosmological constant, \"conventional\" energy is definitel... | null |
3j8s2j | Is there any g-force felt by those in a space station? | [
{
"answer": " > Is there any g-force felt by those in a space station?\n\nNot much, that's why it's called micro-gravity.\n\nYou should be asking:\n\n > Is there any gravitational force in a space station?\n\nYes.\n\nThe acceleration due to Earth's gravity at the ISS is [92%](_URL_0_) as strong as that on the... | null |
1j8q28 | How efficient is human power? | [
{
"answer": "A 68 kg (150 lb) person walking at 4 km/h (2.5 mph) requires approximately 210 kilocalories (880 kJ) of food energy per hour, or 4.55 km/MJ. One 1 US gallon (~3.7854 liter) of gasoline contains about 114,000 BTU (120 MJ) of energy, so this converts to roughly 360 miles per US gallon (0.65 l/100 km)... | null |
3hu8x6 | Why were medieval cities in England smaller than ancient Mesopotamian cities? | [
{
"answer": "Apples and oranges, my friend. \n\nIf you look back to [Roman London in the 2nd century, the population was about 60,000](_URL_0_). After the fall of the Roman empire, London continued to function as an Anglo-Saxon city but it didn't have the benefit of a major empire controlling and trading from i... | null |
2iz5v9 | How long have humans been using knots? | [
{
"answer": "The knots are definitely prehistoric, the oldest fish net is over 9000 years old. The net was practically modern – instead of nylon, it was made of willow bark – so the earliest knots are probably quite a bit older. Chimpanzees are known to make knots in wild, so a good guess is that humans have be... | null |
275p6d | what would happen if our solar system simply moved to another location? | [
{
"answer": "If it remained as far away from the nearest stars, gamma-ray sources, etc. as our current one, there would probably be no detectable difference.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well, the entire solar system is moving at a fairly rapid clip through the galaxy; 7 km/sec, actually. So... | null |
a30sy4 | In Ancient Rome how difficult was it communicating with new tribes/kingdoms that spoke different languages? Would it take weeks, months or years to be able to understand each other enough to conduct trade, form alliances or negotiate peace? | [
{
"answer": "I can only speak for the Roman Empire - and fortunately (since I answered a similar question last week) I can copy and paste an earlier reply:\n\nIn the eastern provinces, where knowledge of Greek was widespread, Roman generals and their staffs (who, as members of the elite, were usually conversant... | null |
5q20wg | Why were so many willing to fight for and defend the institution of slavery, even when they owned no slaves? | [
{
"answer": "So when speaking about Southern society in the Antebellum period, what is important to understand is that the South was *not* simply a society in which people owned slaves, but rather it was a *slave society*. I hope that the difference is appreciable, but to make it clear, what I mean to say is th... | null |
uhoju | What can you tell us about the formation of national identities? | [
{
"answer": "[Imagined Communities](_URL_0_), you can start there.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well, there are two significant events that develop, one for the idea of the modern state system, and another for national identity.\n\nFor the modern state system, you want to look at the [Treaty... | null |
2uaz8g | what is epistemology and ontology? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think this can be answered easily, and I'm still confused after hours of consideration. The definition also depends on in what context you're using these terms.\n\nThis is what I've distilled the two into (please correct me if I'm wrong!):\n\nOntology is what we consider as knowledge or wha... | null |
2ainyc | why is it, when i hear a song i havn't heard in years, i can feel like i'm in the same mood and state of mind from when last i heard it. | [
{
"answer": "I know exactly what you are talking about. And one reason that this might happen is due to classical conditioning. Have you heard of Pavlov and his dogs? A biologist, I believe, discovered that his [dogs salivated whenever he rung a bell](_URL_1_). Pavlov would ring a bell, wait for a bit, and then... | null |
3ar0x6 | when a fly comes into my house, is it happy to be there or would it rather be outside in its "natural" environment? | [
{
"answer": "Insects are attracted to light. The fly doesn't doesn't know it's inside your house because it doesn't have the concept of indoors/outdoors. Just light. If you closed all your windows, turned off the lights, and left the door open, the fly will happily let itself out. And put away your food.",
... | null |
51dyqx | how do bus stop buttons work? | [
{
"answer": "Could it be that you had a button that never actually worked because they forgot to wire it up? :)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "While those are historically wired, there is nothing that says they have to be. The wires run around the whole bus and are a real pain to find a fault ... | null |
3i540k | The extent of the roman empires trading influence. | [
{
"answer": "We do know that Roman coins and Indian goods have been found in South India and Rome respectively.\n\nIndian traders used to trade till Egypt directly and Roman traders would take over from there and this process worked in the reverse.\n\nIndian export guilds actively traded in Indian luxuries AND ... | null |
yttiv | why was samsung sued by apple for ui patent infringements when they use a google ui? | [
{
"answer": "They heavily modify the UI. They use googles underlying operating system, but install touch wiz on top of it, which changes many of the behaviors. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As /u/SecureThruObscure pointed out, Samsung heavily mods the UI.\n\nLet's take [this image](_URL_1_) ... | null |
c4jwau | You hear often that is space you lose muscle mass because of atrophy from the 0 gravity. Is it actually possible to GAIN mass with enough exercise or is it always a losing battle? | [
{
"answer": "I mean, you can work out and gain mass, but the statement about muscle is taking into account that you follow the same routine as in earth and were stabilized on not gainong/losing muscle. \n\nWhat it means is that since you don't make work against gravity to walk, move things, etc. Doing the same ... | null |
3qkjxn | what are some civilizations that rose to a peak and than to a downfall? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_1_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or p... | null |
1klwho | How prominent were gangs and outlaws in the wild west? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not really a historian or qualified to answer this question on my own; however, I would point to Pierre Berton's book *Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush* as an excellent read. The Klondike gold rush is later and far removed from what we typically think of as the wild west. Nevertheless, a lot ... | null |
50p6uf | how does modern dsl achieve the speeds it does with using regular telephone wire/rj-11? | [
{
"answer": "I work for ATT as a technician, and I may not be able to give you a super technical explanation, but I'll try. \n\nTypical Cable companies use Coax to carry signal down the line. Coax cords have a string of copper on the center which is generally wrapped in a weave of metals with a rubber shell. Th... | null |
1vi1gn | If I were to adopt a child from 5,000 y/a and raise them in modern day America, would they grow up to be a "normal" person? | [
{
"answer": "The [modern human](_URL_0_) is thought to of come about ~50,000 years ago. So any significant time before that (say 100,000 years) and you have an entirely different species. So 5,000 years ago they were just as intellectually equipped as we are today. But bring that back 50,000 years and it's ques... | null |
84zs0p | [chemistry] Do electrons ever switch places within the same atom? | [
{
"answer": "Electrons don't come with labels, fundamentally. You can't distinguish \"this\" electron from \"that\" one, they're all identical. Whenever you have a system of multiple identical particles, the wavefunction for the system must include all possible combinations of each electron being at each positi... | null |
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