id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
60qtkl | How can we be sure that planets light years away will still be there when we get there? | [
{
"answer": "You cant. But the odds are pretty good for a planet to last a billion years or sk. We can tell what stage the star is at in its lifecycle. But yeah...especially if it's taking you thousands of years to get there the planet may have been destroyed or chucked out of its orbit (especially in a binary ... | null |
3gswu7 | what/ who are gypsies? | [
{
"answer": "The Romani (also spelled Romany; /ˈroʊməni/, /ˈrɒ-/), or Roma, are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas, who originate from the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent.[28][29] The Romani are widely known among English-speaking people by the exonym... | null |
7cakmt | death by hanging | [
{
"answer": "It depends if they do it properly. Hanging is supposed to snap your neck, severing your spinal cord,and killing you fairly quickly.\n\nOften (especially when done by amateurs), if it isn't done right (drop isn't big enough, knot isn't done right, whatever), and the neck isn't snapped, they'll suffo... | null |
qp1t6 | What is the driving force of the solar cycle? Does it significantly affect total solar output? | [
{
"answer": "The Sun is a giant rotating ball of plasma. Plasma is very electrically conductive so the currents in the Sun naturally give rise to strong magnetic fields. This \"solar dynamo\" is a complex phenomenon because the Sun's poles and equator rotate at different speeds, causing the magnetic field to ev... | null |
4dykuz | how do some websites keep you from navagating back? | [
{
"answer": "Usually, this is done by sending people to a page, which immediately redirects to another page. So, if you click back on the second page, it just sends you back to the first page which immediately redirects you again.\n\nUsually, if you click back fast enough, you can get past it and eventually ma... | null |
ac9cib | I've heard a lot that pre-modern soldiers generally did not aim to kill, or would purposefully miss their target so-as to not kill. Was this also a problem when melee weapons and archery was the dominant means of warfare? | [
{
"answer": "To clarify, are you asking about similar phenomena in historical periods (such as men refusing to charge/engage the enemy, routing, etc.) Or are you asking specifically about intentionally missing an attack in combat?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You may be interested in a [prev... | null |
70wkcu | Why was Gustav III of Sweden so determined to aid Louis XVI during the French Revolution? | [
{
"answer": "Multiple reasons. First Gustav III was a king who believed in the idea of 'Enlightened Absolutism'. He'd instituted absolute monarchy (one of two quite short periods of that in Swedish history) in a coup d'etat, inspired strongly by Louis's absolutism, and Gustav in his coup strongly curtailed the ... | null |
3qhex6 | Is the term "Cultural Marxism" actually historically related to a fascist reaction against Critical Theory? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, that would be the idea that the term \"Cultural Marxism\" comes from the 1920s German concept of Cultural Bolshevism (Kulturbolschewismus - _URL_6_) - which along with \"Jewish Bolshevism\" (originating in pre-war Poland as \"Żydokomuna\" _URL_2_) was claimed to be the secretive and hidden att... | null |
96qt31 | High heels were primarily worn by men for the first 700 years after they were invented, changing to being primarily worn by women in the 17th century. What triggered this change? Was there a time when both genders commonly wore them? | [
{
"answer": "I've actually got a past answer that deals with this question: [How did heels became a purely feminine thing, after it was first used on shoes in the 16th century by noble or rich men?](_URL_0_) (For more on the Great Masculine Renunciation I mention in it, try [here](_URL_1_).) It's on the short s... | null |
2y4fpw | What was the draw weight of a historical Yumi (Japanese bow)? | [
{
"answer": "You would do far better to search on military forums, as there are no historical records of an actual number to it. There is no direct data that is reliable enough to draw a conclusion, unlike Chinese, Turkish and Middle Eastern, and European bows that still survive or were measured with quantitati... | null |
1aozn1 | How much land does it take to support one human being? | [
{
"answer": "This is a fairly old study from 1994, but it gives a ballpark figure of 1.2 acres per capita to sustain a typical American diet.\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nNaturally you can expect a great deal of variance based on the fertility of the land you grow on, the amount you consume, the actual rainfall you... | null |
463az4 | Louis XIV and absolute monarchy | [
{
"answer": "The standard Europe 101 argument (and I just gave a lecture on it last week) is:\n\n- by building a state bureaucracy of non-noble, paid staff (instead of offices that would be handed to aristocrats) \n\n- by having loyal administrators, *Intendants*, travel to distant areas and keep an eye on thin... | null |
1stizb | Can stars spit out elements we've yet to discover? | [
{
"answer": "Currently, for transuranium elements the heavier atomic weight is, the less is half-life. So, by simple extrapolation, heavier nuclei shouldn't really exist. Now, it has been theorized that there is an [\"island of stability\"](_URL_0_), where extremely heavy nuclei suddenly become stable. We are c... | null |
3d228a | how does photos taken on iphone geotag without service? | [
{
"answer": "It simply uses the phone's built in GPS (which only requires a view of the sky) and puts the phone's current location into the metadata of the picture.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Geotagging works based on GPS, which is a system of satellites independent from cellphone service.... | null |
59lezl | why is a flat tax regressive? | [
{
"answer": "For things such as sales taxes, there are minimum requirements that all people in developed countries must buy (food, electricity, etc.). As such, a greater proportion of the poor's income in spent (on things) than the wealthy's (for whom much more money is saved) causing a greater percentage of th... | null |
ydyxj | Regarding the media treatment of President Kennedy's affairs in the 60's. Is this really accurate? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of it was that the press really, really liked Kennedy. You don't smear people you like. No president since has been anywhere near as popular with the press, not even Obama, though he has come closest. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In the old days, the media could not be... | null |
5mpi1g | To what extent was the spread of Islam bloodless? | [
{
"answer": "You're absolutely right that the expansion of territory under the control of Muslims happened very quickly and through military conquest! However, scholars differentiate between *Arabization* and *Islamicization* (or Islamization) of conquered territories. It generally happens that conquest precede... | null |
5erpls | can you get in trouble for streaming movies online for free? | [
{
"answer": "Any authority is much, much more likely to go after the host of the stream rather than an individual user who watches it. Legal? No, it's not. Going to get you into trouble? Unlikely. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1688805... | null |
2etgn5 | How does a radio not pick up old signals? | [
{
"answer": "Old radio signals from space? Radio telescopes *do* pick up radio waves from long ago because it takes so long for the wave to travel through space.\n\nOld radio signals from Earth? They are absorbed and destroyed soon after they are created. For instance, a radio broadcast tower sends out waves. T... | null |
f60htm | what does „star collapses under its own gravity” really mean when star dies? | [
{
"answer": "The gravity of the star constantly pulls all of the mass toward the center. While the mass of the star is a plasma, a lot of that mass and energy pushes particles apart and forces the star to expand. The star expanding and the gravity pulling eventually reach a relative equilibrium that keeps the s... | null |
96oprs | How much radiation would you be exposed to holding weapons-grade plutonium in your hand? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on how much of it you’re holding, and whether or not criticality is reached. The “common” isotopes of plutonium are radioactive to alpha decay, but Pu always comes cladded in other metals, which the alpha particles can’t penetrate. Some fraction of the time, it will undergo spontaneous f... | null |
h0jim | Breathing fumes of dry ice, bad for you? | [
{
"answer": "A little bit of it, not that bad. But I once made the mistake of accidentally inhaling some really concentrated fumes, while bent over double trying to get some of the last chunks of the stuff out of a usually closed container. **River** of blood out my nose in under a second. Do not try at home.",... | null |
68pcys | is the sugar in chocolate the same as the sugar in fruit? | [
{
"answer": "No, they are different sugars. \n\nThe (added) sugar in chocolate is typically sucrose, the sugar in fruit is fructose. \n\nHowever In practice, they both become glucose in the body, so a comparable amount of sucrose is 'the same' as that amount of fructose. \n\nRemember, you're not just eating a t... | null |
1nngc5 | how is it that the leaders in the house can hold back a vote (regarding the us budget)? | [
{
"answer": "For one, spending bills have to originate in the House. Also, the House Rules Committee recently amended the rules to only allow the majority leader, Eric Cantor, to put bills before the House. This rule is temporary, but it is the reason why moderate Republicans have not allied with Democrats to p... | null |
1owhsa | is saudi arabia's rejection of its security council seat anything other than symbolic? | [
{
"answer": "I am not sure what would qualify this to you as a big deal. It is in protest of the veto members blocking Saudi's attempts to sanction Bashar Al-Asad. The security council seats are highly coveted as it signifies prestige and international influence for a country.\n\nThat region of the world will... | null |
21xdig | how is maintaining a high credit card balance bad for your credit score, even though you constantly pay off 10x the monthly payment at a time? | [
{
"answer": "if you \"constantly pay off 10x the monthly payment at a time\" then you won't have a high balance for very long so this doesn't really make sense.\n\nHaving $1k isn't really an issue for most people, but if you have $10k limit on your card and you're constantly running up against that limit the yo... | null |
a7ba86 | during the late 80s to mid 90s, every home computer came with their own operating system. now almost all home computers comes with just windows, why? | [
{
"answer": "When any sort of technology has multiple competing standards there is a tendency to converge on a single one. This is just the nature of the industry.\n\nImagine being a software developer in the late 80's. You would have to write your software 4 or 5 times to have a good coverage of the marketplac... | null |
evvb1b | how do construction workers put together a crane | [
{
"answer": "I assume you mean a tower crane. That is done piece by piece as with another mobile crane as helpt initially. You put it together with the horizontal beam relative close to the ground and then the crane can raise itself up and add another vertical segment.\n\nLook at [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) The self r... | null |
21pp9q | why is it so easy for a person to believe in a complex conspiracy such as the illuminati? | [
{
"answer": "It's easy for people to believe conspiracy theories because they are basically shortcuts to explain the world. Understanding the Federal Reserve is complicated, understanding how power is allocated and what motivates people in power is complicated. Accepting cancer rates are rising due to known c... | null |
3aw3i7 | what causes a drug addict's veins to deteriorate when i've been donating plasma for months with no deterioration? | [
{
"answer": "You're getting a needle from a phlebotomy nurse who knows what they're doing. You aren't randomly sticking yourself so that you can get high. Drug addicts have other concerns than giving themselves a safe injection.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Repeated use of the same vein, i... | null |
2rq9el | what happens to the Carbon-14 that decays inside of us? | [
{
"answer": "It pretty much does what you think it might. It changes into nitrogen which changes its chemical properties. Since Carbon typically makes 4 bonds while Nitrogen prefers 3 if the bonds aren't destroyed by the nuclear reaction itself (Since these reactions can often give off a fairly large amount o... | null |
45kzmy | why can't we simply restart the brain? | [
{
"answer": "Without energy to supply them, your brain cells begin to die. When they die, they collapse, leaking their goo out of them. This destroys the structure of the connections between them, meaning that the brain is then irreparably damaged.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Your brain s... | null |
8bpfb3 | In 1095, the First Crusade is called to aid Byzantium, a Christian power, against their Muslim enemy. In 1204, the Fourth Crusade conquers the capital of Byzantium. How on earth did this happen? | [
{
"answer": "While it is true that the relationship between the Catholic and Orthodox churches did decline this isn't them main reason for the 4th Crusade conquering Constantinople. The 4th Crusade wasn't called against the Byzantine Empire, infact the pope excommunicated the participants of the 4th Crusade bec... | null |
b4k22r | what is that yellow foil around space probes and what is its function? | [
{
"answer": "The gold and silver colored sheets you see are often a single layer of aluminized polyimide with the silver aluminum side facing in. The yellowish-gold color of the polyimide on the outside gives the satellite the appearance of being wrapped in gold.\n\nMulti-layer insulation is used on satellites ... | null |
2yd09n | If I filled up a water bottle underwater in the deep part of the ocean, and brought it back up again, would the bottle explode? | [
{
"answer": "**Short answer:** Probably not, but it depends on the quality of your plastic bottle.\n\n**Long answer:** Gasses and liquids behave a little differently when under pressure. The temperature or pressure of ideal gasses, for example, will have a dramatic response when compressed. \n\nWater is differe... | null |
1zskfm | Can you tell the age of someone by their DNA? | [
{
"answer": "To some extent, yes. In the S-phase of the cell cycle, when the cell is preparing to undergo mitosis, the chromosomes containing our DNA are duplicated by the DNA-polymerase enzyme.\n\nThe telomeres are strands of nucleotide bases at the end of the chromosomes where no genes are located. These are ... | null |
82ced7 | In video games and popular media, the Sengoku Period of Japan are often characterized as a period of conflict between Japanese clans which were small but were of equal economic or military strength with each other. Was this accurate? | [
{
"answer": "Well...it really depends on the specific clan, battle, and war. When we are talking about local strongman vs local strongman, it's probably not too far off to assume each side only had a few hundred, or at most a couple of thousand. However, things could be quite large and lopsided. For instance, t... | null |
1of441 | if humans have a night and day circadian clock, why have i (and others) been a night owl since birth? | [
{
"answer": "I'm right there with you. Our knowledge of sleep is still very limited (as well as pretty much anything that has to do with our brain), but there are a large range of classified sleep disorders. Insomnia, night terrors, narcolepsy, things you've probably heard before. [Here's a good Wikipedia artic... | null |
4khyuz | How common were certain Roman names, and are there any reliable statistics on this? | [
{
"answer": "The traditional Roman male *tria nomina* were made up of three elements. The *tria nomina* was a symbol of Roman citizenship and quite often thought as the 'classic' form of Roman nomenclature, but in reality, it was actually used for a relatively short amount of time in Roman history and all sorts... | null |
3lkavd | Should the Atlantropa project (the partial drying of the Mediterranean sea) be realised, wouldn't the newly freed land be too salty for agriculture ? | [
{
"answer": "It's not easy but the Dutch have been doing it for a long time now.\n\nYoutube clip, 19 minutes: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nLong read about the Dutch desalination and reclamation of land: \n\n_URL_1_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "218... | null |
3hxy1g | why streaming porn on my tablet loads 10 times faster than any other video streaming domains. | [
{
"answer": "There are a LOT of people using SFW video streaming domains like Netflix and YouTube. Compared to the relatively small amount of data not-video content takes up, it's an absolutely massive amount of traffic. Porn sites get a lot of traffic too, but I'd be willing to wager that at least within the U... | null |
2mnn6f | Russian roulette - what is the origin? Has it actually been played? Are there testimonials from survivors? | [
{
"answer": "One of the first mentions of Russian Roulette in literature was in a 1840 novel by Russian poet Lermontov \"Hero of Our Time\" (Full ebook available on [Gutenberg Project](_URL_1_), scene is in the last chapter of the book).\n\nSince Lermontow was a Russian officer who served in Caucasus and at lea... | null |
kw0f3 | What is the best book to explain the evidence and the argument for climate change? | [
{
"answer": "There is a wealth of resources that deal with climate change.\n\nFor a brief summary, I think the [booklet published by the Australian Academy of Science](_URL_0_) does a fair job. There are probably many similar booklets out there.\n\nIf you want more details, the website [Skeptical Science](_URL_... | null |
6tembu | do birds pee? | [
{
"answer": "Their pee and their poop is the same thing. The white of bird poop contains the uric acid crystals that are dissolved in liquid in human pee. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Water is a pretty heavy material, so if birds were to have a bladder it would significantly affect weight d... | null |
sug2n | Any book recommendations on the history of contemporary music? | [
{
"answer": "First off, because you mention the 60's as your starting point for learning about the history of music, I am going to assume your focus lies in the British reinvention of rock and roll and the countless genres spawned by this event. This happens to be an area with which I am familiar. However, our... | null |
5ob6a6 | After WWII, what did the International Red Cross conclude, in it's investigations into the holocaust? | [
{
"answer": "Hi! As this question pertains to basic, underlying facts of the Holocaust, I hope you can appreciate that it can be a fraught subject to deal with. While we want people to get the answers they are looking for, we also remain very conscious that threads of this nature can attract the very wrong kind... | null |
anuzar | Are there the equivalent of speech impediments in sign language? | [
{
"answer": "I've worked with a lot of impaired students, and some of the students who sign have physical disabilities with their hands/arms, or cognitive disabilities that affect their motor skills. So yes, trying to understand their signing is a lot like trying to understand someone with a severe speech imped... | null |
20wwez | why do we have to move our eyes when remembering something? | [
{
"answer": "I actually just learned this. It's your brain trying to access the information. If it is something you saw, your eyes move up and point towards the pre frontal cortex which houses your rational thought and reasoning. When you look left or right, you are attempting to remember something you heard. D... | null |
7vrtsd | How strong is the electric current in Earth's core that produces Earth's magnetic field? | [
{
"answer": "[Here](_URL_0_) is a discussion on this topic, the first comment used the formula for a current loop and came up with a value of around 10^8 amps. The comments note that this uses the field strength at the surface when it should be at the core, so more like 10^11 amps. \n\nI’m not really sure how v... | null |
yv3a9 | A foolish question on my part, but it's bothering me (Relating to stellar evolution). | [
{
"answer": "All other things being equal, more mass would mean longer lifetime, but all other things are not equal. The luminosity of a star increases much faster than its mass; it typically goes something like (mass)^3.5 (the exponent varies somewhat depending on the mass of the star), and so the increased r... | null |
3mtw8x | what is it about video games that turns some lazy people into completionists? | [
{
"answer": "They are psychologically designed to do exactly that- to be as playable and fun as possible, for as long as possible, using sophisticated psychological techniques,",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm not sure who you mean by \"lazy people\" in the title, but let's assume you mean s... | null |
2d05a8 | how can some parts of the universe be so far that light hasn't reached them, since nothing can travel faster than light? | [
{
"answer": "Because space can expand faster than the speed of light, matter cannot however.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "251399",
"title": "Observable universe",
"section": "Section::::The universe versus the observab... | null |
4ossb5 | The United States Second Amendment starts with "A well-regulated militia...". What was intended by the phrase "well-regulated" if the right extends to gun owners who are not part of an organised group? | [
{
"answer": "Looks like I am a little late to the party, however, I just answered a very similar question a few days ago, so [I will copy and paste it here:](_URL_3_)\n\nSpecific question I answered: \"Why would Thomas Jefferson write in, and founding fathers put their signatures on, the 2nd amendment after Sha... | null |
5l4bv8 | how do biologists and doctors know what chemical to use in order to make something happen in the body? | [
{
"answer": "The collective body of herbalists, doctors, chemists, and witch doctors from the past two to three thousand years have been documenting findings and studying effects of substances on the human body. \n\nLets work out an easy example. In our tribe of neanderthals, everyone knows if you eat the red... | null |
23gk2q | Is it possible or even part of the theory of evolution that a population produces multiple beneficial mutations at once? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know about the mathematical possibilities of it -- I'm a biologist, most of us don't know from math -- but there's nothing stopping two beneficial mutations from arising at once. Why would there be? It hardly seems beneficial to a population to one-at-a-time evolutionary adaptations. \n\nAs... | null |
2yj9zl | what is the difference between gaming fps, where it's normally around 60, and slow-motion fps in videos, where it says 1000 fps. | [
{
"answer": "Its all about the speed the film is played back. If you film something at 1000 fps but playing it back at say 30 fps, the same video clip takes 30 odd seconds to play back.\n\nWith fps in games the playback rate is fixed.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The 1000 FPS in the video is... | null |
5ic0o4 | Has David Irving contributed anything positive to Holocaust academia? Or have his contributions worked to purposefully obfuscate real Holocaust research? Additionally, are there any other examples of well-known "researchers" to watch out for? | [
{
"answer": "Personally i have a lack of knowledge on the work by David Irving. What i can talk about is other Holocaust research and academia. Due to battery life, this will have to be a tad limited, sorry for this.\n\nYou ask for \"well-known\" researchers, then i will give you three.\n\n* Raul Hilberg \n* Ch... | null |
tmoe2 | Does the "will to live" among the very ill create biochemical changes in the body that helps keep them alive? | [
{
"answer": "There are a number of articles and research papers indicating that a positive mental attitude towards an illness such as cancer can have a profound effect on the rate of recovery. The reasons for this are not particularly well known. It's potentially an extension or application of the placebo effec... | null |
xvb6j | If you traveled back in time wouldn't you being there mean that more mass has entered the universe than was originally there? | [
{
"answer": "So you're asking \"if you violate the laws of physics, wouldn't that mean you've violated the laws of physics?\"\n\nYes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you treat time as another reference point similar to other positional coordinates say x,y,z,t the then all you need is a suffi... | null |
1fj4yj | - why don't we clean up satellite debris? | [
{
"answer": "High cost, low benefit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Launching rockets is expensive, and with the relatively tiny budget that space agencies have it's not worth it to focus on space debris instead of actually doing something useful.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer"... | null |
2jy0qr | why does food that should be warm seem to taste worse when cold? also why does it seem cold when left out for too long, when it should only be room temperature? | [
{
"answer": "When it's warm, it has more flavor. Some liquids evaporate and give off that aroma, some liquids better coat your tongue.\n\nFood left out *is* cold, compared to the temperature it's served at and the temperature of your body. Food is usually heated above 100 degrees F. You body is in the 90s. Room... | null |
5smz92 | Info on English Lancegays seems to be impossible to find on, are there any sources that I can be pointed towards as to how these were used? Any treatise or manuals as to how they'd be used in combat? | [
{
"answer": " > [...] there is no identified archaeological evidence: nothing that can show us exactly how long or heavy a lancegay was, what the diameter of the shaft was, what shape of head it had, or whether it had heads at both ends, as is sometimes claimed. There is also no detailed description of a lance... | null |
849aqi | why blood turns brown after it dries? | [
{
"answer": "I believe it’s because it becomes oxidized. Blood has iron, and when it dries oxidation is complete, so it makes it look “rusty”. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When the liquid from the blood is seeped into the bandaid, the only thing left outside are the dead red blood cells. Th... | null |
1mixh6 | What would Gettysburg battlefield have looked like in the 1950s? (story behind question inside) | [
{
"answer": "The Gettysburg National Military Park was established and gained it's initial protection status in 1863, about a hundred years before you father visited. The park received federal protection in 1893, was designated a National Park in 1895, and added to the National Register of Historic Preservation... | null |
jce0p | how does someone bet that a country's credit rating will fall and make money? | [
{
"answer": "It's like betting on any futures.\n\nThe better the credit rating, the better the value is of a piece of paper that says someone owes you money. If you expect the credit rating to go up, you would buy more, if you expect it to go down, you would sell what you have.\n\nThe complicated part happens w... | null |
2edxgk | why is no mouth cpr what everyone is told to do now? | [
{
"answer": "More important for an untrained person to focus on compressions rather than breaths. You can live longer without breathing, than you can with your heart not beating.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One big danger with mouth to mouth is the victim vomiting into your mouth. They do s... | null |
3aiub7 | why don't newly pressed vinyl records use the whole side? | [
{
"answer": "I can tell you that some recording lathes (the machine that cuts the master disc that the record stampers are made from) are adjustable...to make the tracks closer together. This is done to increase the amount of music on the side. However, some lathes are better than others, and some engineers ... | null |
tme6i | Does the US meet traditional definitions of an empire? | [
{
"answer": "I would say that most historians would characterize the US as an empire. Quite simply, I really can't see why the most powerful nation in the world who has military bases throughout the globe and routinely wages war on other countries could *not* be considered an empire.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
6967yg | Why was there such a regression in technology from the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans to the Middle Ages? | [
{
"answer": "Hiya, not discouraging any new answers coming in, but I think you might find the [part of our FAQ about the so called \"Dark Ages\"](_URL_0_) helpful and interesting. Scroll down a tiny bit when you open the link:)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
5qu3b5 | what is it about apples that makes us have so much variety compared to other fruits? | [
{
"answer": "In many cases there are in fact many different kinds of a fruits or vegetable. We just either dont sell them or they got breeded out for what was considered better looking or tasting. For example there are multiple types of bananas, oranges, ( berries in general actually), etc. Theres also variety ... | null |
azogum | In medieval times, was it common for average citizens to go about their daily lives with weapons? | [
{
"answer": "The answer to this somewhat depends on your meaning of 'armed'. For example, early medieval English fashion called for the carrying of a *Seax*, a long, single-bladed knife that was worn horizontally hanging from a belt on the waist, roughly the size of large kitchen knife. The Saxons derive their ... | null |
5sawal | how / when did scotus judges become so partisan to predict a decision on the basis of party appointment rather than on the merits of each case? | [
{
"answer": "They really aren't that partisan. The majority of cases are decided between 9-0 and 7-2. You hear about the 5-4 decisions because they are the most controversial, or it's an incredibly gray area of law, where the court has to set a precedent where none existed prior. All Federal Judges are lifetime... | null |
32w56j | why do dogs care about babies? | [
{
"answer": "Domestic dogs view themselves as part of a human pack, the family. Since babies are part of the pack too, and the pack's alpha members (us) like them they must be worth keeping (dog logic).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To a large degree it's also an instinctual reaction. Human b... | null |
12th4n | Is dairy really that crucial to our diet? | [
{
"answer": "As long as your getting the necessary amount of vitamins, I don't think it matters what form they come in. There are civilizations all over the planet that don't consume diary and they're doing fine.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As others have said, dairy is absolutely not neces... | null |
4zl735 | why does norway have some of the world's highest gas prices despite being the 15th largest oil producer (1.9m bbl/day) | [
{
"answer": "It's mainly because they tax it ALOT. This is to make an negative incentive to drive as much because of the negative effects of traffic, the impact it has on local environment (bad air) and the global environment. This is also a huge way for the government to earn a lot of taxes which go to buildin... | null |
2353nx | Is anyone creating Atoms? Or is this even possible? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the elements on the periodic table above uranium are synthetically created.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "While building atoms one proton or neutron at a time is certainly possible, it is very inefficient. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prove... | null |
x059y | Is there any rational explanation for these noises? | [
{
"answer": "Are they heard in any rural areas? It sounds like traffic noise echoing off of buildings.\n\n(It would be easy enough to drop in a sound to a film to further conspiracy theories, btw.)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In addition to the explanation offered, other possibilities inclu... | null |
10a263 | Bio: X-inactivation and x-linked disorders? | [
{
"answer": "We evolved to handle two sets of every gene...except when it comes to the sex chromosomes. Having too much of certain proteins wreaks havoc during development (e.g. trisomy 21, having an extra chromosome 21 causes Down Syndrome), with most trisomies being fatal.\n\nX-inactivation serves the purpos... | null |
8mjhse | if we can have physician assisted suicides, why are there sometimes major malfunctions when administering the 'death penalty'? | [
{
"answer": "Physician assistant suicide is often phenobarbital, something people would OD on back in the day. One single drug, gently knocks you out and kills you without any dramatic stuff. It basically amps up the brain receptor that says \"chill out neuron\" so your whole brain chills out, till it knocks ... | null |
364ze9 | what's the purpose of the num lock key on a full sized keyboard? | [
{
"answer": "The first IBM PC keyboard had 83 keys. The numeric keypad doubled as the cursor control keys, and you used Num Lock to toggle between the two.\n\nA few years later, IBM introduced what is now the familiar 101 key layout, with dedicated cursor control keys. Even though the Num Lock key was no long... | null |
95bu6z | how is it so hard for many people to even try to read or pronounce foreign names? | [
{
"answer": "This is a strange question. We more or less use the same alphabet, but the letters and combinations are pronounced differently in every language. \n\nIf you think its easy, try these Irish words and names:\n\nConchubhur\n\nDé Domhnaigh\n\nMilseáin\n\nCaoilte\n\nró the",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
85p1bb | if water is not compressible, why does a pressure exists if pipe has limited volume of water ? | [
{
"answer": "Water is compressible; everything is. Water pressure is typically generated by having the storage tank at some height above the pipes. The static pressure in the pipes is proportional to the height.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Water is compressible and the pipe is expandable.... | null |
1w7hd6 | Were there any examples of Fascist states before 1930's Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Fascism at the best of times is a vague description. As a Marxist, I see fascism as being a reaction to a crisis of state brought on by a crisis of capitalism, as such, to argue that fascist states existed before capitalism wouldn't make sense. The goal of a fascist state then is to try and maint... | null |
3m79f9 | where did the misconception that radioactive waste glows green come from? | [
{
"answer": "An early use of radioactive material was luminescent applications. You've seen glow in the dark watches as an example. These commonly involved a phosphor that glowed green via interaction with the radioactive substance. \n\nThis also led to [radium girls](_URL_0_) as an early terrifying example of ... | null |
308cdo | Clarification of the disputed status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region | [
{
"answer": "International norms. Since roughly WWII, it's been very rare for international organizations like the UN or NATO to recognize territorial changes adjudicated through conquest. Look at North Cyprus, or Western Sahara--they've been under the control of Turkey and Morocco, respectively, for decades ... | null |
1dx9jy | Were their any non-medieval jousts, for example in Japan or Ancient Rome? | [
{
"answer": "OP, I was waiting for 3rd or 4th level comments to mention this, but since there aren't any responses... \n\nI actually saw a jousting tournament at a marina in southern France (Nice?) but rather than two knights on horseback, it was two teams of two in small boats: one standing on the prow with a ... | null |
1o8noi | Has anyone come across any papers on attempts to elucidate how telomerase becomes upregulated in cancerous cells? | [
{
"answer": "Try this one:\n\nWnt/β-catenin signaling regulates telomerase in stem cells and cancer cells.\nHoffmeyer K, Raggioli A, Rudloff S, Anton R, Hierholzer A, Del Valle I, Hein K, Vogt R, Kemler R.\n\nStem cells use Wnt signaling through receptors (Lgr5 for instance) which modulates ß-catenin activity. ... | null |
1nluhl | why do certain franchising companies limit intentionally limit their geographic distribution? (i.e. why is there no steak n shake or in n out in the northeast?) | [
{
"answer": "Part of bring a.franchise is maintaining uniformity of goods. You can't have an In N Out unless you get their meat, bread, etc. The parent company doesn't want to deal with shipping food across the country or setting up regional distribution.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In and ... | null |
110wx9 | What were the economic causes of the Hundred Years War. And are there any parallels today? | [
{
"answer": "Man I really wish I could give you a clear and direct answer but it has been a while since I spent any time on the 100 Years' War. \n\nI'll try to sketch out some of the basic economic aspects of the war but a real late Medieval or Early Modern person can probably go further and do better.\n\nFirs... | null |
malzz | the problem with hipsters | [
{
"answer": "Hipsters invented hipster hate as a way to make themselves appear more underground and oppressed. It is my belief that the majority of hipster hate posts are originated by hipsters....",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hipsters invented hipster hate as a way to make themselves appear... | null |
3so6cx | when we call or write our representatives in congress, what incentive do they have to listen to us instead of just doing what they wanted to do in the first place? | [
{
"answer": "Because you voted them in and will choose whether or not they get re-elected in the next election. If your representative doesn't represent you very well, you're much less likely to vote for them next time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In theory, they will not get reelected (or... | null |
26ngkg | What exactly is asthma? Like what is it, how does it form, and how severe can it get | [
{
"answer": "Asthma is, essentially, a chronic inflammatory disease. After, being exposed to an allergen, your body sensitizes itself to that pathogen, so that in the future it garners a large immune response. In the early phase, you have cells that release a substance called histamine, this causes bronchocons... | null |
1cg7es | I just read that major works by Cicero, Aristotle, etc. are missing. How often do these things get found? Any hope of excavating a library? ... | [
{
"answer": "Absolutely there is - hope of excavating a library, that is - and new works continue to be discovered, not on a timetable, but regularly. The Greeks and Romans generally used papyrus scrolls to record works of literature, and, in most places where the Greeks and Romans lived, papyrus and linen don... | null |
tfzik | What happens if an electron met the nucleus of an atom? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nIt has nothing to do with temperature. Electrons are already in the lowest energy state they can occupy relative to the nucleus.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "516756",
"title": "Internal conversion",
... | null |
832yja | What was the medical process like when an organ displayed symptoms (e,g gall or kidney stones, liver disease, stomach ulcers) back in the Medieval times? | [
{
"answer": "One of our most interesting sources for medieval medicine is *Bald's Leechbook*, an Anglo-Saxon medical textbook of sorts, likely dating from the late ninth century and potentially a result of Alfred the Great's literary and educational reforms. The book itself is the only surviving copy, and was w... | null |
1lxe9n | if you want to heat an oven or stove to 175 degrees, does turning it way up to 400 degrees make it get to 175 faster? | [
{
"answer": "For an electric oven, no. The temperature control is a thermostat, not an accelerator. If the oven is below the set point, the element is on; otherwise it's off. It will take the same amount of time regardless of the setting.\n\nFor a stove, it depends. A gas stove uses valves to control how much g... | null |
4dnlw4 | How are scientists sure that the theory of a singularity at the centre of a black hole, is correct? | [
{
"answer": "GR black holes have singularities. Most physicists expect that if we had a theory of quantum gravity these would disappear, but they are fairly [unavoidable](_URL_0_) in GR",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > how are scientists so sure that black holes have a singularity where all o... | null |
2b3crn | eli 5 if there is so much junk and satellites orbiting earth, how come we never see any of it in the background of pictures taken from space? | [
{
"answer": "Because there *isn't* that much.\n\nYes there is a lot of it, but the amount of space is *huge*. You're talking about a density like one Volkswagen Beetle in the state of Texas.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "10615708",
... | null |
eal2wg | What's past the cosmological horizon? | [
{
"answer": "By definition, no; the observable universe encompasses all that we can have any information about. But there's no particular reason to imagine it would be much different from the local area--it's just impossible to confirm.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The definition of the cosm... | null |
31frfy | why couldn't data be transmitted back to us beyond the event horizon of a black hole, i understand gravity prevents light from escaping, but how, and would it be a similar scenario for data? | [
{
"answer": "Well, first off, the data would be travelling as some frequency of light, like radio. So, consider them one and the same.\n\nThe way it prevents light from escaping is that gravity actually bends space. Light travels along space, and when [space gets curved](_URL_0_), the light has a longer journey... | null |
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