id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
2iiom3 | What sort of evidence is there of the interactions early modern humans had with other species of archaic humans that were alive at the same time? | [
{
"answer": "There are a few anthropologists in this sub who might take a run at this post, but fyi, the question would do better in /r/AskAnthropology. In fact, there have been many posts in that sub asking related questions",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
7vjgk0 | the finances of power grids | [
{
"answer": "there is one grid that all plants give their power to. you sign a contract with a plant to pay them depending on how much you use, regardless of whose power you actually end up using. meanwhile the plants sign contracts with each other (or with the owner of the grid) to compare how much they produc... | null |
3bcwvc | Does dyslexia only effect your reading skills, or does it effects other aspects of your life as well? | [
{
"answer": "I have only minor problems so I’m probably not the best person to answer this.\n\nFirstly, dyslexia is not well understood or defined. So there is a broad spectrum of cognitive disabilities that make it difficult to read, write and understand written text, but it is caused by a multitude of differe... | null |
16xb8m | Does it make a difference if I turn my clothes inside out before I wish them? | [
{
"answer": "Side note - Stop using auto-correct if you're not going to at least proof read what it's typing for you",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1543585",
"title": "Longyi",
"section": "Section::::Versatility and conv... | null |
hn2d2 | Follow up on my previous question "Does light orbit black holes?": Is it possible that light from a star is warped around a source of gravity such that it appears as two points of light in the sky? | [
{
"answer": "When a bright object is behind a heavy object (like a black hole) relative to our line of site, it's called an Einstein Ring and [it looks awesome](_URL_0_).\n\nIt's also possible for the same object to appear [multiple times](_URL_1_) depending on the geometry.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
d11a5g | Are/were there any ancient tombs that resemble ones depicted in the Indiana Jones series? | [
{
"answer": "It seems this question is asked fairly regularly in some form or another. A search of r/AskHistorians gives [quite a selection.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "758704",
"title": "Indiana Jones and the Emper... | null |
1b5zqj | cyprus banking crisis | [
{
"answer": "- _URL_9_\n- _URL_4_\n- _URL_7_\n- _URL_6_\n- _URL_3_\n- _URL_5_\n- _URL_8_\n- _URL_2_\n- _URL_0_\n- _URL_1_\n\n--- \n\nMy post from the first link:\n\nCyprus has a large banking industry that functions largely as a tax haven for foreigners (read: \"legitimate businessmen\" in Russia). Cypriot bank... | null |
1x8spg | How many revisions of the bible did it take to get to the current, most widely accepted English version? | [
{
"answer": "The answer: not many, and not much.\n\nVarious sects have their own bible preferences, of course, but the the best translation from an academic point of view is currently the NRSV. This edition was created from the Greek and/or Hebrew text, and we have copies of (almost?) all of these at least from... | null |
212fll | How many ants are there in the world? I've heard for every human on Earth there comes more then a million ants | [
{
"answer": "Holldobler and Willson (The Ants, 1990) estimate 10 000 trillion individuals. So that's probably closer to 1.4 million per person.\n\nBut ants are a large and diverse group with about 14 000 species. They also have a communal ecology wherein most individuals don't reproduce and cannot survive wit... | null |
aklogb | If the goal was to win WWII, why on earth would the American military segregate white and black soldiers? | [
{
"answer": "By the start of WWII, the U.S. Army had been segregated since the Civil War, nearly 75 yeard ago. The Army had fought and won the Civil War, the Plains Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and WWI as a segregated force. From the Army's point of view, segregationist policies ... | null |
488tfi | what makes "the cloud" different from just a regular server? why is there a new term for something that was already done before? | [
{
"answer": "The \"cloud\" is mostly just a buzzword to refer to a concept that is a little more abstract than just \"server\".\n\nInstead of your data being stored on one particular server (e.g. that you own or rent), your data is being passed off to a third-party company (i.e. \"the cloud\") that handles the ... | null |
k0dvx | explain contemporary indian politics like i'm 5 | [
{
"answer": "I'm commenting because I'm 5 and also want to know (when someone answers). ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm commenting because I'm 5 and also want to know (when someone answers). ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikiped... | null |
4epacf | Could a dinosaur regrow a severed tail like some lizards? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\nprobably not",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Neither birds nor crocodiles can regenerate lost body parts, and being the closest living relatives to dinosaurs (in birds case they are direct descendants) it's likely that dinosaurs couldn't regenerate body parts either.",
... | null |
3zeygu | how do scientist figure out when man-made things will decompose, like how do they know styrofoam takes 1000 years? | [
{
"answer": "Actually, we don't. Plastic bags have only been around for about 50 years, so there's no firsthand evidence of their decomposition rate. To make long-term estimates of this sort, scientists often use respirometry tests. The experimenters place a solid waste sample—like a newspaper, banana peel, or ... | null |
12mzu2 | Would it be possible to make a bio-luminescent tattoo? | [
{
"answer": "I couldn't find anything that had already been done the way you're looking for (UV tattoos have already been mentioned and I think you're looking for something that glows under any amount of light). So, I went about trying to figure out how this could be accomplished. The idea of bio-luminescent or... | null |
qudif | How fast do newly formed stars move away from the nebula where they were born? | [
{
"answer": "Stars form from molecular gas clouds, which tend to be large. As more stars form in the cloud, the radiation pressure disperses the gas leaving what we see as an [open cluster](_URL_0_).\n\nWhile the stars form close together, gravitational perturbations make the stars disperse and the open cluste... | null |
3pmwue | why won't a pair of aaa batteries neutralize their charges when you touch one positive end to the other's negative end? | [
{
"answer": "Batteries contain chemicals that will react when given a path for electrons to flow from the positive end to the negative end. Touching the positive end of one battery to the negative end of the next doesn't complete a circuit and allow electrons to flow, therefore nothing happens.",
"provenanc... | null |
wq8z7 | How many WWII draftees were working in the CCC before they were drafted? | [
{
"answer": "The Civilian Conservation Corps was far and away the largest of the make-work projects during the New Deal. It was operated by the US Army, since they were the only government organization in 1933 that had the ability to handle such a large number of men... | null |
2o5vv4 | why can news stations not delay the broadcast by a few seconds incase something goes wrong? | [
{
"answer": "They can and do. However, the process still has some dependency on human attention and reaction time. [Here](_URL_0_) is a relevant article. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Th person holding the delay control on that Fox Broadcast probably felt safe with the presenters so was drin... | null |
m8ool | What effect might hallucinogens have on a comatose patient? Could it bring them out of the coma? | [
{
"answer": "Hmm, interesting idea. I have heard of Zolpidem (Ambien) being used recently for comatose patients [link](_URL_0_), which is kind of ironic since it's a sleep aid (and also a hallucinogen at clinical doses)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most definitely if we look at the word 'co... | null |
1iklfm | when is it the proper time to use the characters ; , : - in writing? examples would be helpful too! | [
{
"answer": "I've used _URL_2_ many times and found it easy to understand.\n\nHere are their entries (with examples) on [semicolon](_URL_1_), [comma](http://_URL_2_/punctuation/commas.asp) and [colon](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Colon (:) is used when making a list or explanation... | null |
9qcogy | If hitler was arrested what crimes would he be charged for? | [
{
"answer": "*Borrowing from a previous answer I have written, with some minor addendum*\n\nSo obviously, we can't *know* what would happen, but as has been noted by several mods, we can say what was discussed in the event that Hitler was captured. In the tome \"*What If?*\", Roger Spiller's chapter, \"The Führ... | null |
wx3e2 | Why was there such a backlash against disco? | [
{
"answer": "I think that the backlash against disco came from a number of different factors at different times. This is because disco was not one homogeneous music and culture. The original disco came out of soul and funk. This party scene music was embraced by a gay subculture which obviously was hated upon b... | null |
u8muf | why do people think that blacking out their eyes in pictures protects their identity? | [
{
"answer": "Eyes presumably show the most emotion / personality etc of any body part, so we're most likely to remember those, if we see them again.\n\nAlso, who blacks out their own eyes..? It's usually done by others to protect the identity of someone.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Good que... | null |
6h59tu | What's happening to the human body when it faints for 3 or 4 seconds, then regains consciousness for 3 or 4 seconds, then faints back again and so on? An example is on amusement park rides. | [
{
"answer": "The short answer: Your brain loses oxygen for whatever reason, you pass out, you drop to the floor so gravity works less, the vessels relax etc, and more blood flows to the brain, which thus regains consciousness.\n\nThe long explaination (this is gonna be pretty complicated)\n\nThere are a lot of ... | null |
1qtry9 | why does the freight elevator in a building require a union employee to operate? (nyc) | [
{
"answer": " > Is it a safety thing?\n\nNo, it is a union thing. There was a time before unions when companies could offer whatever jobs they wanted, and workers were free to take them or leave them. A big problem was that companies would offer dangerous jobs with low pay, and yet workers would still take the... | null |
14gbax | gravitational pull in relation to the ocean's tide... | [
{
"answer": "[I wrote this a few days back](_URL_0_), let me know if anything needs clarifying.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "41044068",
"title": "Long period tide",
"section": "Section::::Formation mechanism.\n",
... | null |
pjbp7 | What is the net metabolic benefit of the caffeine in a cup of coffee? | [
{
"answer": "EDIT: Caffeine Only\n\n\"Measurements of energy expenditure (EE) in a room respirometer indicate that repeated caffeine administration (100 mg) at 2-h intervals over a 12-h day period increased the EE of both subject groups by 8-11% (p less than 0.01) during that period but had no influence on the ... | null |
3nya76 | Suppose you visited Ireland in 1415, what would the farmland that would later be used for potatoes, have been used for at that time before they were brought back from the Americas? | [
{
"answer": "You'll expect a sizable arable farming component, based on wheat, barley, some oats, probably still rye in areas with monastic influence. Rye was big in the Early Christian Period and associated with monasteries. Some peas and perhaps other crops as well. However, Ireland's farming economy has alwa... | null |
4pp2va | why does playing music on devices at full volume decreases the lifespan of the speakers? | [
{
"answer": "Why do fat people have knee problems? Because there's more force acting on the same object over time. \n\nThe same goes for speakers. When you play music louder, the suspension of the speaker cone is being driven with more force. Over time that wears it down faster than if it was played quietly. ",... | null |
17mw90 | During conditions of severe smog, etc, is the air quality indoors actually appreciably better? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on the building and the nature of the air quality crisis. Buildings have a turnover time of air, and you can lengthen that time by closing doors, windows, and vents. The air might get stuffy inside, but the smog won't mix much. If there is a few-hour smog event, that could reduce the ... | null |
a04qg9 | does sunlight coming through a windowpane onto skin provide any benefits at all? | [
{
"answer": "That warm feeling like a cat napping in the sun?..........",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It would depend on the type of glass — with just straight window glass with no coatings, yeah, there’d be some vitamin D benefit. With highly tinted or UV-coated glass, probably significantl... | null |
48juez | Is the Hubble sphere expanding or shrinking? | [
{
"answer": "The Hubble sphere is not the same as the observable universe. The Hubble sphere is the radius beyond which light *emitted now* will never reach us, whereas the observable universe is the radius from which light that *reaches us now* was emitted from. \n\nThe Hubble sphere does expand in an accelera... | null |
4a6pjf | Gilgamesh in Cuneiform | [
{
"answer": "What you are asking for is the two-volume [*The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic* by A. R. George](_URL_0_). This masterful work includes the editions of all of the known tablets of the Gilgamesh epic (except for [the most recenly discovered tablet](_URL_1_)), an English translation, and images of the cun... | null |
y9qfm | Does fiber simply speed up our digestive system, or do our bodies want to expel fiber quickly? | [
{
"answer": "Your body can't break down fiber, and it holds water as it moves through your bowels, making it easy to eliminate compared to denser or drier stuff. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Fiber acts as a bulking agent, and as mentioned by HonorAmongSteves, it carries water, creating a ra... | null |
2jtzs3 | If you could make a race car's tires, and the road it drives on, out of any materials know to man, what combo would perform the best? | [
{
"answer": "Well it depends what you mean by \"perform the best\".\n\nLet's start off at the most basic level. Wheels work because of friction. An ideal wheel is one that does not slip at the point of contact. Imagine a car on ice - it wouldn't be going anywhere. The higher the [coefficient of friction](_URL_1... | null |
1olp6w | When did local lords lose their political authority in England? | [
{
"answer": "I asked a related question (about when making knights became a royal monopoly rather than something any lord could do) about a month ago, and despite a very courteous effort by a mod, it wasn't really his field and I didn't get a satisfactory answer.\n\nHowever it prompted me to do a bit of resear... | null |
3jytm6 | color correction glasses | [
{
"answer": "[This question has just been asked and answered](_URL_0_?).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1788660",
"title": "Anaglyph 3D",
"section": "Section::::Viewing.:Anachrome filters.\n",
"start_paragraph_id... | null |
1ubpbw | How accurate is the TV series "Rome" in depicting the daily life of both plebians and patricians? | [
{
"answer": "This has been discussed a few times before. Here are a couple answers I've found that might answer your questions.\n\n/u/Taiko offers their opinion on the accuracy of the show [here](_URL_0_). \n\nAnd /u/peripatos offers their take [here](_URL_1_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A... | null |
2a0fwg | when i have to "stop and think" to solve a problem, what is going no in my body as i stare at nothing? is this different from "stopping to think" to remember a fact? | [
{
"answer": "You are simply shutting down the other activities that your brain is usually forced to multi-task, in order to divert more of your brains attention to the task at hand. You have markedly diminished critical thinking skills when you are multi-tasking, so if you can just quiet down for a second and s... | null |
8qsj1y | Ancient Greek helmets on heads | [
{
"answer": "Hi, not discouraging direct answers here, but you may be interested in some earlier threads: \n\n* /u/Iphikrates in [Is it true that those helmets of the kind Pericles is shown wearing in the now famous bust never \"closed\"? If yes, why? Is it supposed to represent an owl or was it an intimation t... | null |
68gjyw | governing during american civil war | [
{
"answer": "Its super complicated. Some representatives of these states stayed as like a goverment in exile, some positions were left vacant, representaives who took direct part in seccesion were expelled. \n\nThis gives a general overview of the beginning of the war. \n_URL_0_\n\nThere was definitly more pro ... | null |
2ercc1 | how is it in tennis that players ranked in the hundreds and thousands are matched against players in the top 20? | [
{
"answer": "Traditionally, large single elimination tournaments are seeded, meaning that the 'more qualified' participants are given an easier set of opponents.\n\nObviously this sucks for the poorly seeded participants, but it also serves to encourage viewers to watch the tournament to the end. If you wanted ... | null |
2uv4ys | Why was Shakespeare not knighted? | [
{
"answer": "Most knights were either of low noble background, or knighted after making their fortunes. Most also had done governmental or military service to the crown; the modern practice of recognizing the arts with a knighthood simply didn't exist.\n\nFrancis Drake, for instance, was already a successful pr... | null |
4vyykx | Why is the earth so wet? | [
{
"answer": "1. It's not the most common molecule. It's only about 0.02% of earth's total mass [Source](_URL_0_). Water is common simply because Oxygen is the 3rd most common element after Hydrogen and Helium. It's more common than Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron because it's synthesized in a few different fu... | null |
e0w9s9 | why a person can feel groggy and fatigued after getting very little rest, but feel energized after work with no sleep in between (no caffeine/drugs involved) | [
{
"answer": "My first experience working was with 40 hour weeks which is a bit of a shock for a 17 year old and this used to and still happens to me. \n\nI reckon your threshold for energy just increases the more active you are. It kind of makes sense when you think about how you always feel much more tired whe... | null |
247zwr | Why are there so many variations of some names? For example: Edward, Edwin, Edmund, etc. | [
{
"answer": "In this case, this is due to the nature of ancient Germanic personal names. They were “dithematic,” *i.e.* composed of two meaningful elements (though there were “hypocoristic” names, of which only one element was commonly used; over the course of time, these monothematic names became normal names ... | null |
2e8hak | Why did Greek cuirasses and Roman-style plate armor disappear from Western Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up question: How did plate armor go from basic infantry armor in the form of Greek cuirasses and grieves to the most expensive and protective armor [like that used by Henry VIII](_URL_0_)?\n\nEdit: Added detail.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "By \"Roman plate\" I assume you... | null |
3q8pqs | how to government officials get away with proposing/enforcing laws with the argument "because of my religious belief." | [
{
"answer": "The 1st Amendment prohibits the US government from establishing a State religion that people must be a part of and it prohibits the government from hindering people from practicing their religion. \n\nFor those who are religious that religion is the foundation that their ethical and moral codes are... | null |
kv5sj | Can you experience time faster than it actually passes? | [
{
"answer": "What you're talking about does not require relativity or time dilation at all. It's merely the [Doppler effect](_URL_0_). If you walked toward a metronome playing at 100 bpm, you would hear the beats slightly faster than 100 bpm. \n\nThe effect is of order v/*c*, where v is your velocity relativ... | null |
8drzz7 | Why is Rhode Island a state? | [
{
"answer": "The United States isn’t a country divided into states; it’s a country formed when states joined together. So your question is a bit like asking why Luxembourg wasn’t simply slotted in with Germany or Belgium. Who would do the lumping together?\n\nRoger Williams and others who had been banished fr... | null |
1hg1g8 | Basques in North American prior to Columbus? | [
{
"answer": "It's possible but there is little evidence. Some argue that John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497 and lured the Basques there, while other believe Basques were there well before that time. What we do know is that by 1534 ,when Jacques Cartier claimed the land and named it Canada, hundred of Ba... | null |
4fqrfv | why mustangs don't need anyone to maintain their hooves, but domesticated horses do? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not a horse expert, but I assume that people make domesticated horses walk where and when a wild one wouldn't.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Their hooves get worn down because they're almost constantly moving. Even when ridden all the time, domestic horses don't travel enough... | null |
7tq2cf | Is there a case in nature in which a species A can breed with species B, which can breed with a species C, but A and C can't breed with each other? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, what you describe exists, they are called [Ring species](_URL_0_). All populations involved in such a ring may be considered the same species since gene flow can still occur between the most distant populations, through the intermediaries. However if the populations in the middle were to be wi... | null |
79hm0x | c3, c4, and cam pathways. what is the difference between them, and in what type of plant are they used? | [
{
"answer": "C3 converts CO2 into a 3-carbon acid. Most plants use this mechanism, but it works best in wetter areas with moderate temperatures. As temperatures go up, growth is stunted because it becomes less efficient. C4 converts carbon into a 4-carbon acid, and this works in warmer weather with less water. ... | null |
9pqzkw | It is the year 900 in the kingdom of Wessex. What’s for dinner? | [
{
"answer": "Who's eating? The average peasant, a petty noble, or the King himself?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So, my answer is actually from Mercia, since it's based on archaeological evidence from the *burh* at Stafford built by Æthelflæd in 914, but cross-border culinary differences in ... | null |
2pidww | Was the Southern Defensive War really that crucial to the South's early wins? | [
{
"answer": "I disagree entirely. While the Confederacy won an early initial victory at Manassas/Bull Run, the overall picture for the South for much of late 1861 and 1862 (the period in which the South stood on the strategic defensive) was incredibly gloomy. Let's run through the list of disasters briefly. Nov... | null |
1qzxbs | food tax, why in a restaurant but not a store? | [
{
"answer": "Likely because buying food at a store is basically a necessity of life, especially if you can't afford to eat out every meal.\n\nEating at a restaurant is basically a privilege, not a necessity, so it makes more sense to tax that, than to tax basic food. \n\nUp here in Canada, our national tax (GS... | null |
21gxec | Why do atoms "want" to form covalent bonds? | [
{
"answer": "When someone tells you atoms or molecules \"want\" to do something it is almost always code for \"would be in a lower energy state\" if they did that. Saying that two atoms want to form a covalent bond just means that the state in which the two atoms are bonded is lower in energy than the one in wh... | null |
xcn2h | Ignoring the difficulty of capturing a comet or adjusting its orbit: If we could arrange for a comet to strike Mars, what would the effect be? Could we terraform Mars by hitting it with a cubic mile of water? | [
{
"answer": "I posted earlier from my phone, but couldn't find a source. So I deleted it and reposted.\n\nBasically, you don't need to use a comet. You *can*, but it's probably not the only way to do so.\n\nAccording to Michio Kaku's book [Physics of the Future](_URL_0_), you could drop a few nuclear devices ... | null |
a6hsgr | why do men get a weird feeling in their penis when they see an injury or cut | [
{
"answer": "Ummm no we don't? You should go see a doctor.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4218003",
"title": "Groin attack",
"section": "Section::::Effects.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 13,
"start_character"... | null |
1kl9op | How did the Seven Years War begin? | [
{
"answer": "In 1740, a new king came to power in Prussia, Frederick the Great. His predecessor built a large, well-organized army, and Frederick immediately used it to defeat Austria in the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740-1748. By doing so, Prussia became a great power in Europe, attracting the suspic... | null |
2d9s3j | let's say, everything in the universe (not the atoms!!) get's 10 times bigger. would it effect anything? | [
{
"answer": "If you were 10 times bigger you would weigh 1,000 times more, so you and most everything else would be crushed under its own weight.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Interesting question. I feel like the biggest issue would be the change in gravity. If the radius of the Earth went u... | null |
1brczo | [Chemistry] Are there reactions that aren't endothermic or exothermic? | [
{
"answer": "The H-O bond that is broken turns H2O into a OH-.\n\nThe H-O bond that is formed (in autoionization) turns H2O into H3O+.\n\nThe bond-breaking and bond-forming reactions are nonequivalent, as the products side (hydronium and hydroxide) and reactants side (water) are nonequivalent.\n\ndeltaG is defi... | null |
vgcti | Where are we on fusion power? How clean would it be? How long can we see fusion power in grid? | [
{
"answer": "We cannot sustain fusion without enormous energy usage. We cannot produce any energy from fusion yet.\n\nIt will probably be a long time before it's used for commercial power production.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "NIF has yet to reach ignition. That is to gain more power from ... | null |
bxys1w | Why did Republicans become so conservative so suddenly in the 1920s? | [
{
"answer": "/u/Samuel_Gompers has your number. He previously answered:\n\n* [Can someone address a brief history of Democrats vs Republicans, specifically the change in Dems from the early 1900s being against civil rights to a more progressive party in the 50/60s leading much social change in the U.S.](_URL_0_... | null |
6c439w | why does ctrl+alt+del'ing into task manager sometimes unfreeze frozen applications in windows? | [
{
"answer": "Most likely it doesn't. Unless freeze is somehow fixed by changing window focus, pressing ctrl+alt+del doesn't affect the program in anyway.\n\nProbably application just wasn't completely frozen or suck in forever loop. Windows shows application being frozen if it doesn't handle events in certain t... | null |
25wn7c | What factors determine how fast a CPU runs? | [
{
"answer": "My expertise lies in embedded systems, not desktop cores, but one big factor for embedded systems is the underlying architecture and instruction set. The instruction set is the most basic list of functions that a computer can operate. These are things like moving a value from position a to b, or mu... | null |
1txr05 | At what point is a system considered random as opposed to just too complex to predict? Is there any difference? | [
{
"answer": "in science, we use 'random' to describe effects that aren't determined by the parameters of the models used to describe whatever phenomenon we're looking at. often you have an idea that you *could* parameterize those effects, but it's not worth the trouble because they're very small and average to ... | null |
blw1ns | What happens when you superimpose two coherent, out-of-phase beams of light? | [
{
"answer": "This is basically a [Michelson interferometer](_URL_0_). The semi-transparent mirror is semi-transparent in both directions. Destructive interference on the path to the right will mean that no energy goes that way: instead, there will be a beam with constructive interference going *downward* from... | null |
6xvter | If someone were to die today because of an accident involving an unexploded WW2 bomb, would they be added to the list of WW2 casualties? | [
{
"answer": "I am not a historian and I've never posted here before. Please let me know if I've done anything wrong mods. \n\nLet's start with who is considered a causality. That alone doesn't have an easy answer and is considered a controversial subject. Groups like the US Military, UNICEF, and [WHO](_URL_4_) ... | null |
cn27gr | the passage of time | [
{
"answer": "I think you think antimatter is something other than it is.\n\nAntimatter is exactly the same as regular matter, but with opposite charge. If our entire universe was switched from matter to antimatter, everything would be *exactly* the same when observed.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
2ctbmr | do good quality tires improve gas mileage? | [
{
"answer": "proper tire inflation will have more of an impact than tire \"quality\"....\n\nbut you shouldnt buy quality tires for the MPG.....you should buy quality tires because that is the only thing responsible for stopping your 2 ton death trap.....\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
233x4d | how come when i have to pee, i can sometimes postpone it for a pretty long time, and sometimes my bladder can't even hold it in for a couple of minutes. | [
{
"answer": "How come after I drink a bunch and of beer and jack off or bang.. Usually the former, I can pee like every 5 mins and it's uncomfortable.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It will vary with how much food and drink you've had. Think of your bladder like a balloon. It will expand as ... | null |
27i88a | if being attractive is an important aspect of sexual attraction, why hasn't natural selection turned us all into super models? | [
{
"answer": "Fashion and what is attractive changes with time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because not everyone is attracted to the same thing.\n\nSource: check out the \"most watched\" categories on porn sites. Half of the shit will probably disgust you, but other people find it amazing.",... | null |
4hdbhv | Is it possible to 'write' in Cuneiform? | [
{
"answer": "Keep in mind that cuneiform, as a script, is not identified with any single language or language family, but was rather adapted via Sumerian origins to write a collection of Mesopotamian languages, some of which belong to extinct families and none of which are related to Sumerian itself. Which is t... | null |
66ajc0 | how come headphones/earphones can sometimes break in such a way that when you listen to audio, the background noise is audible but all the voices are completely mute? | [
{
"answer": "If you look on most headphone plugs, there are rings. Some have 2, if they have a microphone there will be 3 or more. Inside the headphone jack, there are corresponding metal nipples, one transmits sound from the left and right, etc. When one of those rings or nipples gets damaged you get unpredict... | null |
4c7ui8 | Did the Roman Empire have its own Urban Legends, and if so what were they? | [
{
"answer": "The term \"urban legend\" was created to describe modern, traditional stories to be believed. Legends have always fallen into several groups, but the genre hangs together as stories that are generally intended to be believed. Not all of the stories are traditional (even if they employ traditional b... | null |
47uj27 | Can an object become a black hole by moving fast enough? | [
{
"answer": "No. The easiest way to see why the answer is no is to remember the laws of physics have to work the same in every inertial frame of reference (per special relativity). If the object won't act as a black whole in its stationary frame of reference, the same must be true for any other frame of referen... | null |
4e7oe6 | How do languages develop unnecessary complications? Why don't they evolve out of the language? | [
{
"answer": "Having agreement features - such as verbs agreeing with their arguments, genders on nouns (and their respective adjectives, determiners, etc) are all redundancy features. Think of them like a safety net. Language is not some perfect system, nor is the world we live in perfect for communication (due... | null |
25pd6s | What side of the road did traffic drive on in allied occupied France in WWII? | [
{
"answer": "They drove on the right, as did the French.\n\nOf course, when a small area was under the total control of the British, practices may have varied—and a convoy of right-hand-drive vehicles proceeding across a bridge might find it easier to judge clearances if they drove on the left.",
"provenanc... | null |
65e3tl | how much of my hunger is based on my regular eating schedule and how much on my body actually needing food? | [
{
"answer": "Quite a lot is psychological. I feel hungry if I don't eat at lunchtime when I'm at work, when I usually eat a proper meal. I don't at the same time at weekends when I usually skip food until the evening. So feelings of hunger must be tied in to outside clues as to whether the body expects food.... | null |
16gx8j | If the human population were reduced to one man and one woman, which types of incest would give the race the best chance to survive? | [
{
"answer": "On average, you share as much DNA with your siblings as you do with either of your parents. Not sure it would make an difference at all. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This question was asked in a slightly different form in the past two weeks. The question comes down to populatio... | null |
11frp8 | autoimmunity | [
{
"answer": "Your immune systems attacks your own cells because they think they are foreign. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1175839",
"title": "Lichen sclerosus",
"section": "Section::::Pathophysiology.:Autoimmunity.\n"... | null |
1si0v8 | The Western Way of War: How true is the assertion that the Greeks preferred pitched phalanx battle and despised cavalry, missile troops, and most of all, archers? | [
{
"answer": "In respect to cavalry and missile troops, it isn't true.\n\nCavalry had been used to cover the flanks of armies on the battlefield but due to terrain, cavalry wasn't heavily used until Philip II. As for missile troops, slingers and peltasts are commonly used after the Persian Wars to skirmish and s... | null |
35llio | What was Nazi Germany's attitude to the former German Royal Family? | [
{
"answer": "Hitler and the Nazis took a very dim view of the German monarchy and were quite hostile to monarchist sentiment and supporters. That being said, he did allow the younger generation of nobles to serve as officers, seeing that they were more open to national socialism than their predecessors and seei... | null |
2zfj9i | when someone has their identity stolen, why is their responsibility to fix it and not those of the banks/organizations who allowed the thief to do so? | [
{
"answer": "quick tip, when i trash anything that contains my info, and i dont have a shredder, i just put like 5 liters of water in to the bag, if you want to steal my info, better be prepared to deal with bunch of wet ripped paper in a bag.\n\ngood luck.\n\nif it dries before you get to it, all the better.",... | null |
ef1dac | why do fingernails turn translucently clear and become more flexible when wet? | [
{
"answer": "Nails are made of the same stuff as your hair, and rhino horns: a protein called keratin. Keratin can come in lots of sizes and shapes. In your nails, it is like stacks of thin scales one on top of the other (you've probably seen nails that are damaged can flake and peel). The whiteness of your nai... | null |
1ef2ik | What specific part of cigarettes are cancerous? | [
{
"answer": "There are a lot of carcinogens in cigarettes, with ~60 out of the 2000 - 4000 chemicals being known human carcinogens. The most common known carcinogens in cigarettes are:\n\n- Tar\n- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g. naphthalene, benzopyrene)\n- Nicotine (this hasn't be confirmed, however the... | null |
3ox28h | why is the letter "w" sometimes pronounced like the letter "v" and vice versa, the letter "v" is pronounced like the letter "w" in some non-english languages? | [
{
"answer": "Not all languages have the same grammatical constructs as English. Latin didn't have all the letters of modern day english, it was missing the J and W, and had the I and V in their place. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The letter V was originally used in Latin to represent the so... | null |
2q1fec | If the speed of light changes when it travels through different mediums, does this mean light accelerates when it enter and leaves a medium? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is no, the process of refraction is actually tricky to explain properly, but I will do my best! If we consider the classical picture of light, we have an electromagnetic (EM) wave which consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. As this wave enters a medium (such as gl... | null |
dv2gjz | How did debtors’ prison work? | [
{
"answer": "The assumption by the creditors, in having a debtor put into a prison, was that the debtor's friends and family would step forward and pay the debts, that the debtor would somehow find the money somewhere...and that, unless the debtor wasn't put in jail, they would never step forward and do that.... | null |
44irjv | is it even possible to make a perfect circle? | [
{
"answer": "You can't actually make any perfect figure of any given dimension.\n\nAt some point of the infinitely small, you'll get smaller than the size of atoms and the way we consider things like boundaries and continuity of a line cease to make sense. They only make sense when looking at them from above, w... | null |
1g9q0s | How important was the Carolingian Renaissance? | [
{
"answer": "Renaissance is perhaps not the best word to describe that period because our modern connotation of the word involves a general flaring of interest in cultural matters. The Carolingian Renaissance depended wholly upon the \"interest and and driving force of one man, the ruler\" or the Carolingian em... | null |
1jh2vw | ; why does the usa have so many federal crime agencies? | [
{
"answer": "The two major US political parties are BOTH a mix of authoritarian and borderline paranoid anti-authoritarian. Sometimes the same person can have both sentiments in their head at the same time.\n\nThis means that a Republican sees a problem (\"dope pushers corrupting our children!\") and want a fed... | null |
1pbxsm | tom bombadil in lotr | [
{
"answer": "Tolkien on Tom Bombadil: \"Even in a mythological Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally).\"\n\nAnd additionally, Tolkien explained that Tom's existence demonstrates that there are entities in the world for whom the war is largely irrelevant or unimp... | null |
uyic7 | What was the first life form that ever came into existence? | [
{
"answer": "a self replicating chain of complex chemistry might be the first bit of \"life\".. life history from that deep in time is a bit hazy and we only have educated guesses. \n\nAfter that we expect self replicating cells and later more complex multi-cellular sorts of life. \n\nQuoting star trek and more... | null |
1kw79s | why is car insurance complusary and not optional like other insurances? | [
{
"answer": "Because by driving a vehicle you're potentially putting other people at risk. If I don't have homeowner's insurance and my house burns down, that sucks for me and my family, but nobody else is really harmed if I can't afford to buy a new house.\n\nBut if I drive my car into a sidewalk full of pedes... | null |
1g64rh | Was Joseph Smith a convicted con-man? | [
{
"answer": "Disorderly conduct is a really broad charge in NY, even today, where it's defined as \n\n > A person is guilty of disorderly conduct when, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof:\n\n > 1. He engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous ... | null |
605o1w | how do viruses like hiv transmit through fluids like blood, breast milk, semen, and vaginal secretions? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure what you are asking. The viruses are within those secretions, moving there as they do through any sort of tissue. By their presence they are transmitted to whatever encounters those substances.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"w... | null |
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