id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
6ftfpa | why can any guitar company copy designs of a strat, tele, les paul, etc. and it not be copyright infringement? | [
{
"answer": "There have been court cases over this very issue, and the conclusion that the judges came to is that these body shapes are so common that they are considered to be generic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There were a bunch of Japanese guitars in the 1970s that were called [lawsuit... | null |
7pp9q0 | how do car alarms work? | [
{
"answer": "Yo ho ho! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained:\n\n1. [ELI5: why don't car alarms go off all the time like they did in the 90's? ](_URL_0_) ^(_8 comments_)\n1. [How do tow trucks tow unattended cars without the car alarm going off? ](_URL_6_) ^(_20 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: How do... | null |
2oix2z | What happens when a solvent evaporates? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. When solvent evaporates, you'll have a higher concentration of solute. When the concentration is higher than the saturation concentration, the solute will begin to precipitate out.\n\nThis is one way of [recrystallizing](_URL_0_) a desired product in chemistry labs. It's also a way of obtainin... | null |
6j5nwn | why do newsboys in movies etc. say "extra" when calling out headlines? | [
{
"answer": "Back when newspapers were a major source of information about the world, there were generally two printings a day. You'd get the morning paper and the evening paper. \nBut if something of great importance happened between printings, the paper would rush out an issue with the breaking news. This wa... | null |
3cami1 | why do economists say that the euro was 'a bad idea' since its launch in 2002? | [
{
"answer": "The difference between North and.... Err, between South Europe and the rest of EU is too large. Basically Euro do not allow the southern neighbors to compete with the rest.\n\n Usually this competing would happen by devaluing the currency on hard times, and as such making the wage lower (and also m... | null |
1jbgms | how exactly do whole grain foods such as rice, pastas, and breads give greater health benefits? | [
{
"answer": " From my reading,not helpful at all,as grains are still broken down into sugar,plus the wheat of today is very different of the wheat of yesteryear. These videos can explain very well what I'm talking about.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provena... | null |
avhfbq | how come when you have an ear infection or a sinus infection it affects other parts of your head? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the area just under the skin on your face is hollow sinus cavities. Obviously there are bones and nerves and other things that go through there, but the majority of the area of your face is just a covering for your mouth, nose, or sinuses. Your ears are connected to the nasal cavity by yo... | null |
21nrvp | How did Gödel, in his incompleteness theorems, prove a statement that applied to all formal systems, using a formal system? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think I could come close to doing justice to the question, but an excellent, approachable read on the subject can be found in Douglas Hofstadter's *I Am A Strange Loop*. He explains step by step the process and (more relevant to your question) why it is generally applicable in mathematics.... | null |
2gldzl | why is there zero calorie soda but little/no zero calorie candy? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_ \n\nI highly recommend you read the reviews before purchasing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "61230",
"title": "Candy",
"section": "Section::::Nutrition.:Meal replacements.\n",
"start_paragr... | null |
2p1yhn | If i^4 is equal to 1. Is the fourth root of 1, i or is it 1? | [
{
"answer": "When dealing with complex roots, you're going to get such results all the time. The fourth roots of unity are 1, -1, i, and -i.\n\nEven if you're just looking for real roots, this result should make it easier for you to understand. \n\n1^4 = 1\n\n(-1)^4 = 1\n\n1 =/= -1\n\nIs the fourth root of 1, 1... | null |
rxeto | Why is a negative base to a fractional square root a nonreal number? | [
{
"answer": "x^2.1 is the 10th root of x^21 which is imaginary for negative values of x.\n\nEdit: 2.1 is 21/10 not 21/20, oops.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "x^2.1 = x^21/10, or the 10th root of x^21. Radical functions don't evaluate for real arguments less than zero, so because negative valu... | null |
c00q5l | why are there no rip off car models as there is with so many other products in the world? | [
{
"answer": "There are, they might not rip off the entire car, but components; door latch assemblies, window motors, smaller pieces like that get ripped off all the time and designs get copied.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8818730",
... | null |
5aky7e | why are green apples called granny smith apples? | [
{
"answer": "Granny smith are a type of apple. It's a brand name as well, like Given Delicious or Pink Lady. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Granny Smith is just the name of the apple variety. There are hundreds if not thousands of varieties. \n\nI was at a cider museum in Hereford, England th... | null |
viqrb | If races can have common physical characteristics, why can't they have common psychological ones? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not too knowledgeable on this subject. But, I can say that Asians don't have a natural tendency to be good at math. The school systems in many eastern Asian countries are very rigorous. They attend school 6 days of the week and then they go to a more intense learning program after the regular s... | null |
24odfp | What is the origin/development of food allergies in western societies? | [
{
"answer": "with the growth and success of western medicine, public hygiene and quality standards of food production, we created an environment of next to no exposure to parasitic pathogens like worms and protozoa. This sounds good at first, but what also happens is that the part of the immune system that is f... | null |
ju596 | Do Black Holes go anywhere? | [
{
"answer": "no. They don't. Eventually the particles that make you up contribute to a scattering process and many eons later will be released back into the universe in the form of Hawking radiation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "no. They don't. Eventually the particles that make you up contr... | null |
9tg1v3 | What’s the science behind a stuffed nose? What is its purpose and how does it occur? | [
{
"answer": "Pre med student!\n\nExternal membranes and skin are the first line of defense in mammals. When your body senses some irritant around the nose or believes that you are sick, correctly or incorrectly, it will signal your nasal membrane to secrete mucus to prevent more pathogens from entering the body... | null |
1xj6hr | how come the treasure hunters, odyssey, are being forced to give back the $500m treasure that they found and pulled from the ocean floor? | [
{
"answer": "Lawyer here! This case presents a great opportunity to look at abandonment and salvage law.\n\nThe bottom line is that Spain - which owned the ship and cargo in question - never abandoned its ownership interest. In order for a person to abandon property, that person must exhibit some sort of *inte... | null |
1lp1u5 | why is the english version of a wikipedia article always much longer and more detailed than in any other language? | [
{
"answer": "Always. The Spanish version is sometimes a stub of the English one.\nEnglish speakers are always majority, and the wiki grows really fast.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most other languages simply don't have as many contributors. The German Wiki is actually very good and very act... | null |
4wtmbv | Are any ancient roads or bridges still in use today? | [
{
"answer": "Sure. [The King's Highway](_URL_0_) in Jordan immediately jumps to mind.\n\n > Was there continued development on these roads even after their empires fell?\n\nI'm less familiar with whether or not the development would have been \"continuous\" per se (i.e. whether or not the road ever fell into p... | null |
avcpyq | how do swear words become swear words in the first place? | [
{
"answer": "Swear words are just words that are considered bad to use. People often quote the bible which say that you should not use Gods name in vain which is a source of a lot of swear words related to deities. Similarly it is bad to call upon the devil or call someone bad names. There are new swear words a... | null |
b52z3f | How do we have fossils older than the Cretaceous at current rates of tectonic plate subduction? | [
{
"answer": "Good question. I am guessing the answer has to do with things not occurring uniformly across the globe. There will be more subduction in some areas and less/none in others. By applying uniform average rates you are not taking into account that these processes dont occur uniformly at equal spatial d... | null |
d8ewj9 | ceramic glazes | [
{
"answer": "A ceramic glaze is a essentially a powdered glass-forming substance that liquefies at high temperatures, forming a smooth glass layer that is bonded with the ceramic itself. There are many different types of glazes that utilize different chemicals to produce different colors and effects. A flux is ... | null |
o0sr0 | What do meteorologists actually do these days? Don't computer models do all the predicting? | [
{
"answer": "Who do you think makes, improves, and interprets those models?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Meteorologists get a bad rap because many people don't realize that there are a dozen TYPES of them out there! Other than the [four types pointed out in this NASA definition](_URL_0_), th... | null |
38ffib | why can't we just throw all of our trash into an oceanic trench? wouldn't it be recycled back into the earth? | [
{
"answer": "Over the course of millions of years, yes.\n\nIn the meantime it would cost a ton of money in shipping and would disrupt the ecosystem. Landfills are cheaper and safer, although far from perfect. \n\nPlus, a lot of garbage floats.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Trash is all sort... | null |
2rlerl | how did the punctuation marks get their shapes? | [
{
"answer": ". comes from ancient greece, there used to be 3 different kinds which sat at varying height, the higher the dot the longer the pause. \n\n! is the latin work Io (joy) with the o smushed under the I.\n\n? derives from the same dots as the period, only it had a squiggle to show that you should raise ... | null |
125el3 | Did people really used to talk in such a formal way in the past? Historical novels make it seem like abbreviating words is a new thing... | [
{
"answer": "It's pretty much just an affectation of the genre (side note: as a writer of historical fiction, I've run up against this frequently, as I refuse to follow it). People of all time periods used various levels of language depending on the situation and, yes, those levels of language did include slang... | null |
de9tvx | why do so many flies end up stuck in the blinds and die there? | [
{
"answer": "Because they walk up.\n\nMost people have their blinds angled so that walking up across the blinds takes the fly (through the gaps) to the side where the window is.\n\nTo get out, the fly would have to walk downwards (and upside down) on the blinds, and they don't like to do that, so they kinda get... | null |
2t7jsp | how does apple get away with selling iphones in europe when the eu rule that all mobile phones must use a micro usb connection? | [
{
"answer": "by making it an adapter that has a micro usb connection ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "According to [this news article](_URL_0_), that rule could come into force \"as early as 2017\"....",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "At the minute, its a guideline that the EU i... | null |
6i37bs | how are brain surgeons able to remove 30% of somebody's brain, and have them function normally? | [
{
"answer": "Every lobe in the brain is symmetrical and can be divided into two parts along the medial line. Each side of a lobe contain copies of one another, so if half of somebody's brain is surgically removed, they will be able to function normally over time. The process of converting all brain functions to... | null |
6rvx1e | What about elements cause some to be solid at room temperature while others are gaseous or liquid? What are the differences on an atomic level? | [
{
"answer": "for atoms and molecules, boiling points/melting points are by and large determined by what are known as noncovalent interactions, which are basically how two different particles of the same molecule/atom interact with each other. \natomic radius determines a lot about noncovalent forces in individu... | null |
2s0jkt | the oil industry and it's subparts | [
{
"answer": "Drilling - exactly what you think. Like sucking out the milk from a bowl of cereal through a straw, then processing it further.\n\nShale - it's kind of like traditional mining, except what you're removing is a rock that's rich in oil, which, again, has to be processed.\n\nFracking - hydraulic fract... | null |
3i007y | why is sparkling water so popular in europe, but not in north america | [
{
"answer": "As far as I know sparkly water is only normal in Germany. Everywhere else in europe if you ask for water you get a normal, non sparkly water.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Is this true for Germany? I'm so pumped for going to Germany now",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
1uhe4b | what's actually happening when my eyes get "stuck" for a few seconds, staring at nothing in particular? | [
{
"answer": "I dont know if you watch Doctor Who. But if you do, it's the silence. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Absent Mindedness seemingly consists of lapses of concentration or \"zoning out\". This can result in lapses of short or long term memory, depending on when the person in question... | null |
aosqww | an article on _url_0_ states that 96% of space is undiscovered, but how can you give a percentage of something that you can't quantify the full size of? | [
{
"answer": "You are right, it is a ridiculous thing to say. It is also important to remember two things about people who write these (and any) articles. \n\n1) Their job is to write articles and those articles are products to be consumed. The more readers, the more profitable the site is. This means investing ... | null |
4yt11a | how do we know the visible universe is 4% and not more or less? | [
{
"answer": "The visible universe and the observable universe are two different things. The thing that is 4% is the collective mass of things in the observable universe comprised of ordinary (visible) matter. The other 96% is dark matter and dark energy, which are invisible but whose presence can be roughly det... | null |
7x6ctx | watching the olympics and the shirts for the olympic athlete from russia team literally say "olympic athlete from russia". why is this in english and not russian or korean? | [
{
"answer": "English is the world's most popular second language. At an international event, you want people from lots of countries to understand your message.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "55980489",
"title": "Doping in Russia... | null |
3zzise | how is new origami created? do they grab paper and just start folding and see what happens, or is there a mathematical/formulaic approach? | [
{
"answer": "I used to do origami when I was younger. At first you just follow books and learn the basics and eventually after years of practice and folding other patterns and models you begin to see where some things come from. For example many birds are going to have similar bases and starting folds. From the... | null |
89uoie | What is in the “smog” that swallows up Los Angeles and surrounding cities? | [
{
"answer": "It's usually a mix of vehicle exhaust products and water vapor that chemically react to create said smog. Fuels/engines that burn dirty (lots of particulates both burnt and unburnt, sulfur, nOX compounds, etc) obviously provide more material for the production of smog.\n\nWhat makes it stick to the... | null |
9iwh5j | On the ISS do they have to adjust for flatulence because of the closed loop environment? | [
{
"answer": "No, there are multiple, different types of filters responsible for removing components of the air.\n\nCarbon Dioxide, being the main culprit, is absorbed on a zeolite and dumped overboard (by reheating).\n\nOther minor impurities (such as methane and thiols from your butt) are captured in Carbon fi... | null |
28uey5 | what makes a person a good singer? | [
{
"answer": "It really is 99% work and practice. The first step is developing an ear for music. Listen to and sing along w/ your favorite artists. Surround yourself w/ music.\n\nA good teacher does wonders. There are plenty of You Tube videos, but since everyone's voice is different, this is an area where perso... | null |
1k98nb | In the Middle Ages, most of Western and Northern Europe appeared to use patronymics (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, Leif Ericson, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Harold Godwinson, Maurice FitzGerald). These patronymics eventually became frozen into regular surnames. When and why did this happen? | [
{
"answer": "In the Scandinavian countries the partial abolishment of patronymics was mostly to do with rising populations in and around the early 1900's. There are only so many patronymics available before things just get confusing. This is also why patronymics are still in use in Iceland, because the populati... | null |
6fgoyb | why do so many asian nationality adjectives end in "ese" (i.e. chinese, japanese, vietnamese, etc.) where so many other nationality adjectives end in "ish" or "an" (i.e. scottish, american, german, egyptian, italian, etc.)? i know there are exceptions, but in general, this seems to be a thing. | [
{
"answer": "Note however: Indian, Indonesian, Malay, Korean, Thai, Singaporean... I don't think there's any relation between the \"ese\" ending and Asia.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "We get our language/nationality names from European explorers who first made contact and had to call them so... | null |
1yzpct | the legality of pranks. | [
{
"answer": "The law varies somewhat but in most states it is not legal to make a prank call. Nevada is an exception, so that's where shows like 'Crank Yankers' operated from. But, even they had to get permission from the targets before they could air the phone call.\n\nYou can usually videotape people in pub... | null |
79n59i | Some people in Hong Kong seem to have very fond memories of its colonial past. How much rights did non-British Hong Konger have in the colonial period? How did these rights evolve over time, and why did the British give or revoke these rights? | [
{
"answer": "This is an excellent question which deserves a nuanced answer. British colonial policy towards HK, as you rightly pointed out, varied in relation to local and cold war politics. I will attempt to answer this question based on four stages of colonial policy, which was chiefly used by legal scholar B... | null |
668qfk | why do people tend to fall backwards and bend over when laughing? | [
{
"answer": "Idk about falling backwards. But bending over when laughing, I believe, is because laughing makes your abdominal muscles contract.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "520482",
"title": "Will Hay",
"section": "Sec... | null |
1q5i3y | How much can we learn or know about an unknown creature from just DNA? | [
{
"answer": "If it were an unknown Earth species, we would eventually be able to determine its most closely-related currently living species or groups of species. Usually when this is done, there is already a pretty good idea of relatedness, so here, considerably more effort would be required. Then we can say \... | null |
5lq4x7 | why is it when you quickly touch a hot object and remove your hand it takes a little while for you to feel the burn? | [
{
"answer": "This is a really fun one! Your spinal cord has its own reflexive system, almost acting like a second brain. When something of 'grave' danger occurs to you, such as putting your hand on a hot stove, cells are dying extremely quickly and your brain is a slow shit compared to your reflexes.\n\nSo, the... | null |
1dciry | What were some of Benjamin Franklins ideas/inventions that were considered radical during the time he was alive but are now acceptable today? | [
{
"answer": "Not one of his ideas per say - but he was one of the only contemorary suppporters of the [Wave of Light Theory](_URL_0_) - Basically that colors were made up of diffrent wave lenghts of like (like you would see broken down by a prism or rainbow) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nul... | null |
35lkn7 | Was Caesar upset about Ptolemy XIII killing Pompey? | [
{
"answer": "Plutarch's Life of Julius Caesar notes:\n\n\"Arriving at Alexandria just after Pompey's death, he turned away in horror from Theodotus as he presented the head of Pompey, but he accepted Pompey's seal-ring, and shed tears over it.\"\n\nRemember that Caesar was big on granting clemency to his defeat... | null |
298q5u | Evolution of Battle Tactics: How did battles change from the Napoleonic Wars to World War II? | [
{
"answer": "Kind of a broad question, seems difficult to answer in an reasonable length of space, even for this subreddit. Maybe focus your question on the changes between two wars that were close chronologically, like the American Civil War and the Crimean War.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
46qp9j | Why doesn't the immune system of genetic chiemras attack their body? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know the answer but if I have to make an educated guess I would have to say that it has to do with Thymic education. If there is genetic chimerism we can assume that the genetically different cells are dispersed throughout the body and that it can be encountered in the Thymic cortex and med... | null |
5u32gg | what makes gordon ramsay such an incredible chef? wouldn't the skill level of top level culinary artists not vary a lot? | [
{
"answer": "He's an incredible restauranteur, which is a bit different. He understands the entire business.\n\nCreating top quality food is not actually super difficult. He doesn't do any wacky trendy stuff; just honest high-quality ingredients, fresh food, and good execution. He's particularly good are runnin... | null |
ozk5c | I just read that the space station is not high enough to have escaped the bulk of earth's gravitational pull, and still experiences a full 90% of it. If this is the case, why do they experience weightlessness? | [
{
"answer": "When you're sitting on the floor, the thing you feel isn't Earth's gravity pulling on you. You feel the floor pushing you back up against Earth's gravity so that you don't accelerate.\n\nThe 'weightlessness' you experience in orbit or free-fall is because there's nothing 'pushing' you. If you were ... | null |
1c2vet | Has any animal evolved in a way to adapt to the modern human? | [
{
"answer": "The [Peppered moth](_URL_0_) adapted to pollution during the Industrial Revolution.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes many.\n\nMost popular are the adaptions of mimicry to changing environments due to industrial pollution.\n\nA few species who have been hunted for hown or tusk tr... | null |
99stlu | What was the relationship like between the Spanish and their Tlaxcala alllies? | [
{
"answer": "You may be interested in [my earlier answer on a similar topic](_URL_0_): \n\n - [In the second part](_URL_0_dwj7dmf/) I look at Tlaxcala's \"special status\", so you can also go straight to this - this focuses more on colonial times and Tlaxcala's rewards for siding with the Spanish\n\n - [Th... | null |
8uu6gl | if the scotus decided to uphold roe vs. wade back in 1992, how could it be overturned now? can scotus just decide to "change its mind"? | [
{
"answer": "So, they aren't overturning a previous decision, they are simply taking a different stance with regards to a new case that touches on the same subject but which has slightly different implications to it.\n\nFor instance, say in 1990 the Supreme Court ruled to ban all candy. Stores stop selling all ... | null |
5f3nx3 | if you touch something so hot that it vaporizes your finger would you feel the pain? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, because something that hot will be heating your arm hot enough to burn you. It doesn't matter if you can get the signal from your finger or not if the rest of your arm and body is on fire.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You wouldn't feel the pain on the part you vaporized, ju... | null |
6r8l5m | is scoliosis genetic? or is it something you can get from say sitting in a crooked chair every day while growing up? | [
{
"answer": "Scoliosis is a genetic condition. Sitting in a chair that's crooked can give you back aches and spasms, but it cannot give you scoliosis.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "47670171",
"title": "Muscle imbalance",
... | null |
4q59ex | What are examples of Prophecies that were very influencial in their time, or culture? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). 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 |
tcaxw | Are birth controls pills relate to disease in women? | [
{
"answer": "It's a blog post with not much to back it up. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Since no one has given what appears to be an adequate respond to your question, let me answer your question from my perspective as a public health researcher/biostatistician.\n\nYes, birth control pills... | null |
a50lv7 | What happened to King George's copy of the Declaration of Independence? | [
{
"answer": "[This](_URL_0_) previous answer by /u/mydearestangelica might answer your question.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2244549",
"title": "Royal Archives",
"section": "Section::::Collections.:Georgian Papers.\n"... | null |
28jkbl | Do large impacts cause nuclear reactions? | [
{
"answer": "I'm going to go ahead and say that I think it's not possible. \n\nThe Chicxulub impactor (the one that we think killed the dinosaurs) was 10 km across, and going 20 km/s. A little Googling tells me people have done lots of simulations of [what this might look like,](_URL_0_) and seem to believe tha... | null |
8worvt | how is it possible that a washing machine can spin so quickly (1200 rpm)? that's 20 spins in a second..? | [
{
"answer": "What are you asking? Washing machines have motors in them, the motor spins and it turns the tub. Motors and gears allow things to spin quickly, a computer's fan can be spinning at over 2000 rpm. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > ELI5: How is it possible that a washing machine can... | null |
cpldb9 | zero day exploits and what makes them so rare? | [
{
"answer": "A zero day is just an exploit that isn't public or out there on the market yet. Basically its a known exploit, its not patched, and its gonna work as you expect. It's a \"new\" exploit. \"Zero\" as in zero days out in the public for it to be seen and fixed.\n\nThese are rare because first of all, ... | null |
1nf3pt | How far back would modern human sperm cells be compatible with our ancestors' egg cells? (or vice-versa) | [
{
"answer": "Short answer, there is no possible way we could get an accurate date or species for this type of question with the information we have at hand. It is very unlikely we will be able to answer this question in the future, given that 1. Fossils are very rare and limited 2. Artifacts and fossils which i... | null |
2slhsu | at what point does a fertilized egg or an embryo gain consciousness or awareness that its alive? | [
{
"answer": "If you're talking about self-awareness, then around the age of two assuming you follow the mirror test as a valid test of self-awareness. Basically, you show the child a mirror. If they think it's another child, it's not self-aware. If it recognizes the image in the mirror as themself, they are sel... | null |
6o3g18 | Are any cultures known that did not use fire at the time of first contact? | [
{
"answer": "There's a group of people currently living on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean. They have no contact with outside people and are hostile to any outsider approaching. They are known as the Sentinelese: _URL_0_\n\nIt is thought that they don't know how to create fire, but they do preserve ... | null |
13it1z | If a varying electric field produces magnetism, can a varying gravitational field produce an analogous field? | [
{
"answer": "There is nothing exactly like a magnetic field, but there are analogies between the two. For example, a rotating massive object causes an effect called frame dragging, where spacetime is in effect dragged around the rotating object. In the extreme example, near rotating black holes, there is a regi... | null |
8xd2l3 | Has a nation ever existed that did not occupy physical land? | [
{
"answer": "The term for what you're describing is a stateless nation; the term coming from Jacques Lereuz's book about Scotland. Though it was originally about the Scottish, the term was quickly adopted by people with far less of a state. \n\nGroups frequently identified with the term, such as your own, inclu... | null |
6plctn | How much does ocean water temperature change at the shoreline? | [
{
"answer": "Short answer: Yes. Wind direction plays an important role in shifting water temperatures. \n\nCalm winds or winds blowing towards shore will generally keep water temperatures warmer as surface water is heated by the air and sun and pushed towards the beach. \n\nWinds blowing off shore (out to sea) ... | null |
5xlu37 | Did tattoos exist in medieval Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Side questions: What kind of ink did they use during this period, or before? Also, was there any known medical risks (infections, etc.) associated with getting tattoos during this period?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5338... | null |
ao0yqh | how is earth's gravity strong enough to keep the moon in orbit but not strong enough to pull the iss or satellites back to the ground? | [
{
"answer": "The ISS is travelling at just the right speed and is falling towards the earth but the earth , as the ISS travels forward, curves away under the ISS , this curvature matches exactly the free fall distance that the ISS falls during any period and therefore ISS maintains the same distance from the ... | null |
6dbw3n | After the Blitz, what happened to people who's homes were bombed or destroyed? Did they rebuild them? Was there a government housing scheme? Etc. | [
{
"answer": "There's a thread from a few months back that may be of interest: [I am a resident of central London during the Blitz. Am I most likely to own my own home or rent? What happens to me when my home is destroyed by a bomb? Where do I go? Who helps me find a new place to live?] (_URL_0_)\n\nReposting my... | null |
4fhgcw | How were the Maltese actually threated under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller? | [
{
"answer": "As you know, Malta was ruled by the Knights of St. John for a very long time, specifically and fully up until 1798, and had been so since the 16th Century. As a religious and military order, the government system of feudalism followed all the way up until they were liberated by Napoleon. While I do... | null |
3hz1z6 | why aren't car windshields covered with hydrophobic coatings in 2015? | [
{
"answer": "There was a great demo of the technology on [TED talks](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It does t eliminate the need for anything already being used so it only provides a minimal benifit.\n\nAll the coatings I've seen would also likely wear off quickly and leave you with j... | null |
33f3n4 | Did the Wright Brothers benefit monetarily from their invention of the airplane? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, they did gain monetary benefit from their invention. The most obvious source is the Wright Company, founded on the 22 November 1909 by the Wright Brothers and with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit. Initially Wilbur and Orville received $100,000 and a third of the shar... | null |
149jqw | Why do galaxies have such childlike names? | [
{
"answer": "Whimsy is not the property of children.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There is actually no naming system for galaxies. [Only fifteen of them have names](_URL_1_), and those were derived from their visual appearance, their discoverer or [popularizer](_URL_0_), or the constellation... | null |
21k1mm | Is there anyone who can trace their family tree back to a Roman family? | [
{
"answer": "No we can't. \n\nTracing one's family tree, genealogy, needs records to track relations between individual ( X's father, Y's husband, Z's brother,...Etc ). These records are various, the most common and necessary being birth, marriage, death records but others can be available such as wills, milita... | null |
1qclo1 | intelligent design | [
{
"answer": "Intelligent Design was created to try and get around the US Supreme Court ban on the teaching of Creationism as science in publicly funded schools. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There is no such thing as \"darwinism\". The fact that the scientific method produces valid theories... | null |
1l2072 | why do negative prescription glasses require a prescription from a docter and cost hundreds of dollars where positive lens glasses can be bought for $3 with no prescription. | [
{
"answer": "This isn't exactly true. What you have to look at is what the \"negative\" and \"positive\" mean. However, there is a distinction between that and prescription glasses versus non-prescription. \n\nThe negative and positive reflect what your eyes need--negative is for people who are near-sighted (ca... | null |
4hcini | Why don't Forests and Jungles take over the Savannas and Praries? | [
{
"answer": "The answer varies depending on the location, because there can be many factors at play such as soil profile, amount of traffic received - for example the area surrounding a popular water hole in a place like Zimbabwe or Tanzania might be so heavily trafficked by large animals that even grass strugg... | null |
1qjt19 | Did Diogenes the Cynic and Alexander the Great die on the same day? | [
{
"answer": "In fact that's pretty much the only story of his death that Diogenes Laertius *doesn't* report -- that story actually comes from Plutarch. [Diogenes Laertius reports three alternate death stories as follows (6.76-7):](_URL_0_)\n\n > Diogenes is said to have been nearly ninety years old when he die... | null |
4ez6g7 | why do we say 'decimate' when referring to total destruction, when the roman punishment of decimation only reduced the punished group by 10% | [
{
"answer": "The Romans killed 10% in order to completely break the group/unit. You don't need to kill everyone to break the will of group, that would be pretty silly if they were useful to you. Basically, the idea is that by killing 10% of the group you break 100% of the group to your will, which is total.",... | null |
423v1v | why is pencil graphite referred to as lead instead of graphite? | [
{
"answer": "Before chemistry was really a thing, everyone thought that graphite was a type of lead, probably because it's so soft.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There's an important kind of lead ore called galena that looks a lot like graphite, and miners knew all about the lead ore- which o... | null |
1qknqo | why are roads always wet in movies? | [
{
"answer": "Pretty sure it's called a wet down. It's used to reflect light to make the scene more visible. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's called a wetdown, and they do it on purpose.\n\nWet roads are reflective and look more appealing, especially during night scenes. They also become da... | null |
2i4dsi | Portuguese Man O' Wars are a collection of organisms that function as one entity. How do they come together to begin with? | [
{
"answer": "These guys are really cool! They are part of the class Hydrozoa which is part of the phylum Cnidaria which includes jellyfish and corals etc. All of these types of animals have some sort of life cycle that cycles between two forms. The medusae which are what your traditional jellyfish is and a poly... | null |
rt8a7 | Health wise are you better off drinking a low cal sugar free Gatorade or a diet soda no caffeine? | [
{
"answer": "Gatorade. The electrolytes are good for you and the acidity of soda is not good for your teeth or the rest of your digestive system for that matter. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "7491",
"title": "Cola",
"s... | null |
6chz3c | why does drinking water solve so much? | [
{
"answer": "Don't think of drinking water as solving problems, think of not drinking enough being a very big problem. Water is essential for almost every bodily function and without it the entire body is worse off",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is only a partial answer, but I hope it get... | null |
3nqx52 | Why are second derivatives written in the format d2(f(x))/dx2? | [
{
"answer": "Really it should be d^2 / (dx)^2, but the parentheses are dropped. This just comes from\n\n(d/dx) (d/dx) ... (d/dx) = (d/dx)^n = d^n / (dx)^n = d^n / dx^n. \n\nIt's just convention",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > It makes more sense (to me) to say d2f(x)/dx instead.\n\nThis w... | null |
40dbv4 | why doesn't google chrome allow unity player anymore? | [
{
"answer": "The unity player uses a mechanism of integrating with chrome that chrome were no longer willing to support. The 'NPAPI' (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface) was how a lot of different browser plugins integrated with both Firefox and Chrome such as Flash (not in Chrome's case which bu... | null |
3i42go | can cigarette companies just remove toxins and carcinogens from their cigarettes to make them still addictive but not as dangerous? why or why not? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the carcinogens are just byproducts of burning of the dried tobacco leaf. Inhaling smoke is unhealthy, no matter the source.\n\nSome of the carcinogens come from chemicals added to enhance flavor, control the burning and so forth. But removing them would surely help only a little, yet make ... | null |
akkfjx | why sleeping in the morning and waking up at night is bad for health ? | [
{
"answer": "The body has something called a circadian rhythm which is correlated to the cycle of night and daylight. This circadian rhythm affects which hormones are released in our body; this is called hormonal homeostasis. Certain hormones are released at different times and the concentrations of such hormon... | null |
1n6l9h | How did individuals fund their Hajj? | [
{
"answer": "I can't give any direct information on this topic, however I do want to point out that the stipulations for making the Hajj state that it should be carried out by Muslims who are able-bodied enough to make the journey and wealthy enough to be able to afford it.\n\nBasically, if you *can* afford the... | null |
1fga01 | why do drums sound in key with every song? | [
{
"answer": "They don't really have a definite pitch. The sounds they produce are too complex and consist of too many pitches for us to be able to pick out a pitch. That's why they sound okay in any key.\n\nThis applies to things like snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, etc. Things like timpani have definite p... | null |
fckma | Skeletal musculature - is it possible to cure/lessen scoliosis through exercise? | [
{
"answer": "I have scoliosis. I've tried a few things (hanging upside down, just hanging with weights on my feet and ankles, etc), but they didn't work that well for me. What has worked is relieving stress from the muscles in my back and I've done it by finding a way to \"crack\" it in such a way that muscles ... | null |
3r4wew | my right in the us when pulled over by a cop seemingly out of nowhere | [
{
"answer": "Your right to do what? To leave? No, you can't leave, a cop can briefly detain you for committing an infraction or upon reasonable suspicion of a crime. If that reasonable suspicion elevates to probable cause, a cop can order you out of the car and conduct a brief search. If a cop has a reasonable ... | null |
2pkk9g | how does a drug "hang around" in my body for weeks after i have last consumed it? why if it is in my body am i no longer affected by it? | [
{
"answer": "Well, the drug itself might not. Most chemicals are eliminated from your body through several steps. Alcohol, for example, gets metabolized into a close relative of cyanide (ED: relative of formaldehyde, my mistake), which is one of the reasons it's so awful for you. It's possible a drug test detec... | null |
n0aea | Is the lack of hair on our bodies for the purpose of keeping us warm a way we physically adapted to our technology i.e. clothes? | [
{
"answer": "While the theory presented in this video is not necessarily the most widely-accepted, it is certainly the most compelling case for human ancestry I have encountered. It touches on things like bipedalism, hair, and speech capabilities - all from the standpoint we evolved dwelling on / in rivers.\n\n... | null |
fbupa7 | is there any correlation between quick reflexes and fast twitch muscle fibers? | [
{
"answer": "Nope, reflex is your brain responding. \nfast twitch muscles is what your brain uses to move to respond.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Short answer: no, there isn’t.\n\nLong answer: they have nothing to do with each other. Reflexes are by definition responses to a stimulus perfo... | null |
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