id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
2ykhlw | how did the anime-craze start and evolve in america? | [
{
"answer": "I believe it started in the 70s with the import of the cartoons Battle of the Planets (G Force!) and Star Blazers. Followed by Robotech and Akira in the 80s. Then with the proliferation of the internet in the 90s, more anime became readily accessible and evolved from their.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
3py7n4 | In The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, a character mislabels a union army because of dust on their uniform making him believe they are confederates. Did this ever happen in real life? | [
{
"answer": "Misidentification wasn't uncommon, especially during the early days of the war when many units had different-colored uniforms. Notably, during the First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861), one of the turning points came when the 33rd Virginia (Confederate) regiment was mistaken for a Union unit. They w... | null |
8wsdfk | why does eating a lot of rich food cause a headache ? | [
{
"answer": "It could easily be the ingestion of large amounts of salt and/or sugar (which are often heavily used in rich foods) causing dehydration. It could also be elevated levels of insulin being released into the body as the food is processed, or your body rejecting an ingredient in some way. Lots of intol... | null |
983llt | How were WWI era reparation payments handled during the post-WWII separation of Germany? | [
{
"answer": "Fortunately for post-war Germany they didn't have to pay any reparations from the First World War as the payment had ceased in 1932. Reparations had always been a thorny political issue in Germany, even from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. In the Treaty itself, Germany was not given a defi... | null |
auclkz | bone density after elongated periods of time in space. | [
{
"answer": "Gravity constantly pulls on your body and your bones have to be strong enough to hold your weight, so your body streghthens them to withstand that weight. In space, you have no weight, so your body redirects your resources elsewhere. Your bones don't need to be dense, because of that, so the body... | null |
csoq5y | would a person on earth notice the andromeda galaxy merging with it? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, if Andromeda merged with Earth it would get crowded.\n\nIf Andromeda were to merge with the Milky Way, no, as long as you stayed away from news, internet and large telescopes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2589714",
... | null |
1z6r68 | why do some large retail chains (e.g. blockbusters, border's books, circuit city) grow and expand successfully til they are in every city but then go out of business suddenly without instead just scaling back down as needed? | [
{
"answer": "So the rapid expansion happens because, during those times, those retail chains are filling a market demand.\n\nThe demand is high, business is good, the business expands.\n\nAt some point, the demand begins to fall. Bad business decisions that previously weren't noticed are now being noticed. Poor... | null |
5nhilu | What slang did German soldiers use to describe soldiers from various nations during WWII? | [
{
"answer": "/u/LBo87 gave a good answer in an [old thread](_URL_0_).\n\nThere is /u/Astrogator's [answer](_URL_1_) as well, which adds one more term. See the last bullet point.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20036823",
"title":... | null |
8pknm5 | how does a phone battery hold a charge? what is flowing from the charging cord, where does it go into, and how is the phone able to use that charge? | [
{
"answer": "Phone batteries use an chemical reaction something like \nLi - > Li+ + e- \nMg+ + e- - > Mg \n\nThis means the the electron travels from the lithium electrode to the magnesium electrode creating electron flow and therefore energy. \n\nIn all chemical reactions u can push/reverse the reaction by a... | null |
3m987j | deli meat vs packages sliced meat | [
{
"answer": "Yes. Freshly sliced meat that you get at the grocery store is, well, fresh. Prepackaged meat has to go to through the middle man, who slices and packages it before it's sent to the store. Getting the meat sliced at the deli means it skips the middle man and gets to you, more fresh than the prepacka... | null |
7l7j29 | what was it about the catholic church that allowed it to become the most prominent religion in the world ? | [
{
"answer": "Quite simply, the Catholic Church happened to gain a foothold in the most powerful countries in the world. Spain, Portugal, France, etc. Those countries then spread their faith through their conquests. This of course came from the apostles of Christ spreading the gospel throughout Europe starting i... | null |
7dkbju | What about Amsterdam has made it such a popular refuge for radical, creative thinkers, and how did they contribute to the Dutch golden age of the late 16th and 17th century? | [
{
"answer": "During that time The Netherlands was fighting a war of independence, the 80 year war. While it basically stared as a revolt against the Spanish because of infringements of privileges like protection against unreasonable taxes etc.. It soon became also a religious based war between Protestants (Net... | null |
kuu8h | I've a Ni-MH recharger. Does it matter if I constantly recharge certain batteries even though they're already full? | [
{
"answer": "NiMH chemistry is much more forgiving to overcharging than other types of battery chemistry, but it's really not good for the cell. Get some extra cells, and only charge ones that have been (mostly) used.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Edit: I just reread your question, and what I... | null |
6c4jbn | what will keep certain isps from providing "neutral internet" and completely destroying their competitors who don't? | [
{
"answer": "To start an ISP you need to invest in a lot of infrastructure. Most ISPs is therefore limited to a small geographical area. And if there are two providers who need the infrastructure to every house then the service will be twice as expensive for everyone. Just imagine if there were two main water l... | null |
dmcqkn | Didn't the Zimmerman telegram serve its purpose? | [
{
"answer": "No, the main aim of the Zimmerman telegram wasn't to bring the US into WW1. It was intended as insurance against the likelihood that the US would join WW1 anyway over Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.\n\nThis is the full text of the Zimmerman telegram, sent from the German for... | null |
ncow6 | When photographing a light, why do streaks show up in regular angular positions around the light? | [
{
"answer": "That's the shape of the camera's aperture, and the effect is called [bokeh](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "That's the shape of the camera's aperture, and the effect is called [bokeh](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
69ar7x | When the Sun's red giant phase ends it'll lose roughly 50% of its mass to space, does this excess surface hydrogen have enough mass to create a red dwarf? | [
{
"answer": "Red dwarfs are main sequence stars just like the Sun, except they only contain about 8-50% as much mass. As a consequence, the fusion in their cores proceeds slower, their surface temps are cooler, and their life spans are much longer. \n\nDuring its Red Giant phase, the Sun will gradually lose m... | null |
8g9pwr | what is a constituent country and how does it differ from units like state or provinces? | [
{
"answer": "Functionally they are almost identical to US State or Canadian Province. They do not have their own militaries, do not have their own passports, do not have their own treaties and trade agreements, but they do have some of their own laws and self governance. \n\nPuerto Rico is a territory. They are... | null |
67pg43 | How important have aircraft carriers been to winning superpower-on-superpower warfare? | [
{
"answer": "So limiting this to the 20 year rule, and thus 1997 first off with only brief references to events and trends past it. We can actually though talk a good deal about Soviet carrier efforts, which obviously play a huge part in how Russian and PLAN Naval Aviation evolved. \n\nSimply put, from their or... | null |
7g920y | Did the Russians really train their troops with broomsticks instead of guns during WW1? | [
{
"answer": "In 1941 the British troops retreating from Greece to Crete were forced to leave their heavy artillery behind. In an attempt to prevent the Germans from making use of those guns, the British artillerymen took the gun sights with them to Crete. When the Germans invaded Crete those artillerymen were l... | null |
6ulkdm | How long ago did the modern chicken lose its ability to fly? | [
{
"answer": "Technically, modern domesticated chickens can still fly. Sort of. Not well. But... for short distances and not terribly gracefully^1. They are not flightless.\n\nHowever, their poor flying abilities are the result of domestication, and selective breeding by farmers and the commercial poultry indust... | null |
1c5cxf | what are city states and how do they operate? | [
{
"answer": "Are you asking how the mechanics of city states works in the context of Civ 5? Or are you asking what city states in real life are? Two really different questions.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A City State is a city that has claimed it's own sovereignty - it's not part of any ... | null |
18anbm | Was it common for non-Abrahamic religions to have a "bible" of sorts? | [
{
"answer": "There are actually several. The thing is, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all emphasize a \"closed canon\". Buddhism, for example, has a canon (though its often more of a library than a single book). But then again, Jews don't have a single book (\"Torah is only understandable with Talmud\") and I... | null |
6ryxtr | Does the recipient of a heart transplant inherit the resting heart rate of the donor? | [
{
"answer": "Only sort of. After a transplant, the heart is generally not connected to the nerves that regulate rate. But cardiac muscle is not like skeletal muscle, in that the nerves do not directly initiate contraction, they just speed it up or slow it down. The heart itself has autorhythmicity. Not conn... | null |
2i0lgr | what would be the effect, both positive and negative, if nobody on the planet had kids for 2 years. | [
{
"answer": "There might be some kind of baby boom afterwards, like after ww2. Which would then create an elderly population 60 years later, who depend on healthcare and other social services a lot more than the rest of the population. \n\nThe school system would be weird. Teachers and anyone working at schools... | null |
7ghka4 | how does red dot sights work? | [
{
"answer": "The dot in a red or green dot sight is not actually a coloured point that's hovering in a fix spot in the air like an iron sight does.\n\nInstead, the red dot you see is a reflection of a little red lamp that falls onto a spherical mirror which filters out only the red (or green) spectrum. This mir... | null |
1hfetf | What kind of tasks would fill the day of someone running a medieval castle for his lord? | [
{
"answer": "Are you referring to somebody such as, say, a steward? Somebody who would manage the daily affairs of the estate while the lord was away?\n\nI'm going to base this on the holdings of a knight such a sub fief beneath a baron. A lord with one castle/stronghouse, and some moderate to small land holdin... | null |
1wf2ph | stem cell life science research | [
{
"answer": "I'd love to answer your question if you could be more specific as to what it is you're asking.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "539902",
"title": "National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases"... | null |
770qka | What happened to the House of Kalākaua or the Hawaiian royal family after their overthrow? Were there ever pretenders to that throne or anyone who tried to stir up political trouble afterwards? | [
{
"answer": "Queen Liliʻuokalani continued to resist the overthrow with political, PR and judiciary actions for many years. \nThe royalist rebellion of 1895 had participants from the Hawaiian Royal Family, most notably Prince Kuhio. \nAs an interesting side note, Kuhio defeated the leader of the rebellion, W... | null |
3n6ayo | Did the Romans ever used pikes? | [
{
"answer": "Pike phalanxes were not standard infantry, but were adopted numerous times, often when fighting cavalry-heavy armies from the east.\n\nIn preparation for his Parthian campaign Caracalla ordered 16,000 men to be trained in Macedonian drill and fight in a phalanx. Severus Alexander also had elements ... | null |
210mvt | what exactly does shifting my car into d3 do? | [
{
"answer": "The 3 refers to Transmission Gear 3 of the car. On a manual, which you probably remember from your childhood, you'd shift from 1 to 2... to 3........ to 4 when getting up to highway speeds. Now it's done automatically, but you have the option of limiting your car to gear 3, 2 or even 1.\n\nLower ge... | null |
3tt5fj | can sports at an early age effect testosterone levels and how does this effect the physical appearance of someone who didn't play sports at all? | [
{
"answer": "If you're naturally athletic, you will more than likely take up sports early. \n\nIt is mainly genetics that determine your build. \n\nYour body shape is pretty much set from day one, although with hard work and discipline, most people can still improve themselves. ",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
1wzpdj | What happens when we overdose? | [
{
"answer": "Heroin overdose is similar to any opiate overdose. Opiates depress the central nervous system causing a relaxed, \"euphoric\" sensation. After the initial rush, breathing becomes more shallow, decreasing oxygen to the brain and rest of the body. Without oxygen, the brain will start shutting down sy... | null |
500dl0 | In the Ku Klux Klan's heyday, did people see it more as a social club with networking opportunities, or truly as an organization that defending white American interests? | [
{
"answer": "I can't answer your question, but the Klan had several waves. can you be more specific for those that can? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you're referring to the Second Klan (1915-1930's), it was certainly both. William Joseph Simmons *Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan* was... | null |
3355n1 | why some of websites is not available in some countries? | [
{
"answer": "It has nothing to do with the websites, but rather, the service that the website provides. Netflix can't just take people movies and make them available for everybody to watch, that's illegal copyright infringement. They need to purchase the rights to distribute them, and most distribution agreemen... | null |
5cmkly | Was it because of a change in technology or a change in tactics, that machine guns no longer need to change barrels or be watercooled? | [
{
"answer": "All general purpose machine guns (GPMGs) that I am aware of retain the interchangeable barrel function - a GPMG being a roughly 7.62mm belt-fed platoon- or company-level machine gun capable of laying down large volumes of fire. The M240 and MG3, the most common GPMGs in the western world, certainly... | null |
25fyl0 | Are quarks shaped differently or are they all spheres? | [
{
"answer": "At the quantum level that quarks exist on shape stops really being a thing. In diagrams they are commonly represented as spheres, though in truth they have no shape, and cannot in fact exist unless part of another particle.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As far as we know, they ar... | null |
6ku5kh | why do blue laws still exist? | [
{
"answer": "Many people are still religious and support such laws, so they remain. It is legal to make a religiously motivated law, just not to establish mandatory religion.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because people are used to them and no one is chomping at the bit to get them repealed. ... | null |
24a05o | the symptoms of a common cold | [
{
"answer": "A common cold has not much to do with actual temperature. It is an infection, mostly by viruses. There are dozens if not more viruses known that can lead to the symptoms commonly associated with a cold. \n\nNow, how does a virus infect us? Normally your skin is pretty tight and prevents any pathoge... | null |
1vhdjb | nasdaq, dow jones, etc. | [
{
"answer": "They are stock indexes. Basically they are each used as a measure of a certain \"basket\" of stocks. There are thousands of different indexes used to track different market sectors. The Dow, Nasdaq and S & P 500 are the three most well know in US ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
67441p | Were soldiers traumatized or "shell-shocked" after the Napoleonic Wars or other earlier wars? How were returning soldiers treated by the public? Were they treated for their condition? | [
{
"answer": "Diagnosing mental illness retrospectively is a minefield. With respect to soldiers in history and their relationship with PTSD, I would refer you to the FAQ or past threads like [this](_URL_0_).\n\nPaging /u/Iphikrates to comply with the rules on linking past threads. ",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
486wpd | What were the relationships of the various intelligence services of the Eastern Bloc with the KGB/Moscow? | [
{
"answer": "There wasn't a formal hierarchy, but the KGB loomed large over all of the Warsaw Pact intelligence services, and its primacy was undisputed. Soviet intelligence personnel had a hand in creating all of the Eastern Bloc secret services, and KGB liaison officers were a constant and powerful presence i... | null |
l0lvo | How does genetic testing work (in order to test for genetic diseases)? | [
{
"answer": "A person with a genetic disease has a particular gene that differs from the normal, unaffected population. When a genetic disease is identified that can be tested for, the discoverers known what and where the gene is and what makes it different from the normal population. That difference is calle... | null |
pl6ft | What varieties of memory are there and how do they work? | [
{
"answer": "Very detailed question, but i'll take a stab at it. I majored in Neuroscience and am now a first year medical student so I know a fair bit about this but I'm no expert.\n\n1. The cerebellum helps to coordinate movement and accounts for one type of memory. This structure has an extraordinarily repet... | null |
vq5pt | Why does bird poo look how it does? | [
{
"answer": "Birds actually urinate and defecate at the same time - their urine is viscous and highly concentrated (I believe it has a lot of ammonia in it, which is the characteristic smell). The white liquid/paste is the concentrated urine and the black pellets are the feces. Hope this enlightens you!\n\nClas... | null |
6djzci | Is there a way to determine the radius of a black hole, or would anything of the sort be a guess? | [
{
"answer": "The radius of the event horizon can be calculated from analyzing the orbits of nearby stars or planets. From the way it interacts gravitationally with its surroundings you can find mass, and thus the radius of its event horizon. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Due to the extreme w... | null |
1vt35y | if everyone on earth infected with a common cold got better at this exact second, would anyone else get sick? if so how would it be transmitted considering there aren't any carriers of the virus? | [
{
"answer": "Viruses can survive for limited times on various surfaces which would allow reinfection.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "92693",
"title": "Common cold",
"section": "Section::::Epidemiology.\n",
"start... | null |
76k3ab | Why does a log burn longer than the same amount of wood chopped up? | [
{
"answer": "If you cut a cylindrical log in two, you increase the surface area significantly. This means more of the log can burn at once, and so it is consumed faster.\n\nThis is not the only effect. If you put logs in close proximity, part of the radiant heat given off by one can be caught by the other, and ... | null |
2nh2my | where does white zit pus eventually go if you don't pop the zit? | [
{
"answer": "It is consumed and carried away by amoeba-like leukocytes in your body called *macrophages*. Here's a video of macrophages doing their thing: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "How long does it take to disapper? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Okay I actua... | null |
4gp84t | In general, how accurate do you find the CaspianReport's 'History of Islam' series? | [
{
"answer": " > The thing is, Islam emerged in literate times. Historians were writing journals. Scholars were writing diaries and letters. Jurists were writing bureaucratic articles. So from the 7th century onward there was a rich record of documents, and that's why we know so many historical details.\n\n\nNo... | null |
240sbj | How did the American Forces learn to defeat the Japanese during the Guadalcanal Campaign in WWII? | [
{
"answer": "In the air, the Cactus Air Force was tying out new tactics to combat the agile Japanese Zero. \"Cactus Air Force\" is a nickname for the pilots of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal--codenamed Cactus. These pilots used a mix of aircraft, most notably the Grumman F4F Wildcats (there were some P-39's a... | null |
5mirkg | why do most current-gen games on consoles require you to wait until it's fully installed, while last-gen games could be played immediately? | [
{
"answer": " At a guess I would say that new games are bigger then a disc can hold, my battlefield 1 digital game was 43 GB (rip my data cap :( ). Im willing to bet that if everything has to be read off the discs the load screens would be all over the place and, with all the massive open worlds lately, that w... | null |
o3pcr | Why is it easier to remember a phrase or image than a single word? | [
{
"answer": "The use of mnemonics such at those you describe are likely to work at a number of different levels. Firstly, when thinking about memory and learning, it is important to emphasise the role of attention. That is, when you *personally* create a mnemonic, you are assigning more attention to it which ma... | null |
1poeic | the three scripts of the japanese language and their usage. | [
{
"answer": "Hiragana ひらがな is like the standard Japanese alphabet.\n\nKatakana カタカナ is used for words of foreign origin.\n\nKanji 漢字 is that impossible to read shit that was imported from China. \n\nNow, why don't they just get rid of Kanji, since they are such a pain in the ass? They had this debate after WW2,... | null |
1v66b5 | what are computer glitches and why do they occur? | [
{
"answer": "In really simple terms, it's when you do something the program has no idea how to respond to. In a perfect program this would never happen, but no program is perfect. So for example if you glitch through the wall in a game, the game doesn't really know that you shouldn't be able to do that because ... | null |
60lvxi | how do companies calculate and quantify the value of a new sponsorship? | [
{
"answer": "Essentially, they guess. It's an educated guess based on past experiences, but a guess none the less. \n\nThey know the size of their current market, and what portion of that they own. They make an educated guess on how much incremental revenue they will gain from being sponsored by whomever and... | null |
49z5pr | how does googles new ai work? | [
{
"answer": "It is called machine learning and is quite complex.\n\nWhat it boils down to is that you break a problem into discreet parts, or steps.\n\nYou show the machine all the different steps it can do. Then you tell the machine what the desired \"win\" condition is.\n\nIt goes and compares all the differe... | null |
5uwh5j | how would people, before television or radio decide who to vote for? | [
{
"answer": "Newspapers were the major way information was spread before radio. Political candidates also did a lot more public speaking. They did \"whistle-stop tours\" where they basically road trains and stopped in every town and gave a speech. Local politicians would also speak in favor of their party in mo... | null |
14lg1b | Why exactly does spinning rapidly throw off our equilibrium. | [
{
"answer": "This is not my area of expertise. But just in case you don't get a more detailed answer. \n\nI'm faily certain what you are looking for is the [Vestibular System](_URL_0_) of the inner ear. It contains a fluid which moves with your head/body and helps your brain understand/maintain your balance. Wh... | null |
69p0rb | what makes an everyday expense/activity tax deductable? | [
{
"answer": "My dad's an accountant. Short answer is, you have to have a business or at least individual income to deduct business expenses. If you're an employee somewhere that doesn't count. \n\nIf you don't file schedule C there are not many deductions you can take like what you're taking about. If you do, b... | null |
1fajba | Natural sleeping position without a pillow | [
{
"answer": "This is kind of an impossible question to answer from an archaeological perspective. Anything early humans/hominids would have used as a pillow would have been made from perishable materials that do not survive in archaeological contexts. Anything from furs to piles of leaves could have been used b... | null |
d6lf38 | Why was the Revolutionary War over after the battle of Yorktown? I never understood why the rest of the British forces didn't keep fighting, especially if they still had significant forces based in New York City, and if Cornwallis wasn't even the commander of British forces in the states. | [
{
"answer": "Cornwallis had one of the armies in the South with Alexander Stewart commanding another in South Carolina around Charleston. The lack of a foothold in the states and resilience of the American army helped push the British surrender and evacuation. British forces held New York City, Charleston, Geor... | null |
sygm3 | If we could cause nuclear fusion on Earth (in a reactor, of course), could we use the products for fission? | [
{
"answer": "The elements that are generally considered fissile materials are only formed during supernovae. Any fusion we perform on earth or that occurs in main sequence stars will not produce fissile materials. \nBesides, fusion should be able to provide more than enough energy alone.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
16eksw | Why do we have organisms on Earth that can survive in the vacuum of space? | [
{
"answer": "Why not? It is a side effect of having a form to survive harsh conditions on Earth, such as drought.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2005044",
"title": "Negative Zone",
"section": "Section::::Unique features.... | null |
1g02oa | Did the Greeks and Romans read the "classics" | [
{
"answer": " > Did the Greeks and Romans read the \"classics\"?\n\nAbsolutely. I'm much more familiar with the Romans than the Greeks, so I can only speak as to them - though I can't think of any reason that the Greeks would be different - but today's great Latin literature was definitely important back then ... | null |
1n6ude | Are there any ancient civilizations that did not build stairs? | [
{
"answer": "The wheel is something that would need to be invented in order to be used, wheras stairs and steps can form naturally, so this question would be incredibly hard to answer whilst sticking to the AskHistorians top answer guidelines. The wheel was an invention. Somebody wanted to find a way to reduce ... | null |
16ibxm | Why didn't the destroyed cities of Europe change their city layouts after World War II? | [
{
"answer": "well, London did after 1666, but mainly because they were **Mostly** destroyed, people still knew where their houses used to be, what land they used to own and how everything used to look, they wanted that back so just rebuilt on the existing land and made it how it was before. ",
"provenance":... | null |
kkcwz | f-stop and aperture | [
{
"answer": "Aperture is one of the things that determines how much light reaches the sensor on your camera. \n\nThink of it as a hole in a box. Inside the box is a kid drawing with crayons. (Don't worry, he's being fed.) The bigger the hole (the larger the aperture), the more light that gets in, the more the ... | null |
87zam9 | how does soap help remove body odor im comparison to plain water? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of the stuff that makes us dirty and smelly is accumulated on our body because of oil. Oil traps in dirt and odors. And if you know anything about oil, you should know that it doesn't mix or dissolve in water. So while rubbing with just water might get rid of some surface oils, we use soap... | null |
2c88fb | How do we know this is really 2014? | [
{
"answer": "The most definite way is by old astronomical records. We know down to the minute when all the eclipses, periodic comets, etc of history took place, so if there was an eclipse on a certain day of the reign of the emperor Claudius, we know what year that was. Thus we know that there are some years we... | null |
2co4cb | How and when was it discovered the Mayans hadn't used wheels? Are their other questionable decisions that Mayans were 'blind' to? | [
{
"answer": "The wheeled vehicle is not as intuitive an invention as most people seem to think. In fact, as /u/Daeres explains in [this submission](_URL_0_), it was only ever invented twice and possibly even only once, in the entire history of mankind. The reason the wheeled vehicle did not reach the Americas b... | null |
n426h | how (in north america) social conservative values became aligned with economic conservatism | [
{
"answer": "Very briefly: those who benefit from a significant portion of voters to believe in economic conservatism (and hence vote ostensibly against their own economic interests) realised that a significant portion of voters already share social conservative values, and through effective marketing (what som... | null |
3hw6b9 | how do they make sure that low level employees at the white house (custodians, chefs, etc) aren't going to try to kill the president? | [
{
"answer": "The same way that determine that the high level employees won't do it -- very, very thorough background checks.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Background checks, more background checks, and then even more background checks.\n\nMost of the time, they're not going to be anywhere nea... | null |
1340op | Does a colony of penguins stand s chance in the north pole? What about a polar bear in antacrtica? | [
{
"answer": "Penguins were once introduced into the Arctic to fill the space left by the now extinct 'Great Auk'.\n\nThey were released with tags attached. One just disappeared and another was shot by a native who believed it was a 'demon'. A few were killed and eaten.\n\nWill try to find source..",
"proven... | null |
aznj3r | How are primers made for PCR chosen? | [
{
"answer": "random primers are generally used for sequencing unknown DNA. You take a solution containing completely random oligos and they will bind to and amplify everything. Then once you assemble the sequence you can design specific primers for your region of interest.\n\nAlternatively, since we have alread... | null |
3h7u8i | what will happen to mickey mouse when he becomes public domain in 2023? | [
{
"answer": "He won't become public domain. In 2022 they'll extend how long copyright lasts after the creator's death, just like the last two times.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is an ongoing open question in intellectual property law. A lot of people seem to think Disney (and other co... | null |
3dua2g | why do we accept that all the world's diverse species have a common ancestor while human beings are considered to be too complex for having only one paternal and maternal ancestors? | [
{
"answer": "\"ancestor\" in the first sentence refers to a species, \"ancestor\" in the 2nd sentence refers to an individual. Also human ancestry has nothing to do with complexity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm not sure I fully understand your question. I think you're getting the two use... | null |
688buq | what is sdk?what is api? | [
{
"answer": "SDK stands for Software Development Kit.Which means a platform where you can develop a software within a software/workspace.\nand API is Application program interface which is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API specifies how software components should... | null |
6ox6dl | why can humans not digest fiber? | [
{
"answer": "We lack the enzyme (chemical) needed to break down cellulose. Our body doesn't produce it.\n\n1. [ELI5:Why does the body not fully digest things like corn and tomato rinds? ](_URL_2_)\n1. [ELI5: Why doesn't the human body digest corn? ](_URL_1_)\n1. [ELI5:What is fiber and what do our bodies do wit... | null |
1idxx8 | why couldn't t-rex have been both predatory and scavenging? | [
{
"answer": "Language like this is usually used for disambiguation. It *can* lead to confusion in the process, but mostly it's to try and *avoid* it. \n\nThere's often some overlap between behaviour. In fact, *most* carnivores will scavenge when given the chance. There just wasn't much hard evidence of this sp... | null |
2m4h57 | Inspired by Interstellar: What happens to the rotation of a large planet orbiting a black hole? | [
{
"answer": "The reason for the time dilation that happens isn't directly due to the black hole itself, it is more to do with how fast the planet needs to orbit the black hole to maintain a stable orbit. If the planet is moving too slow it would just get sucked into the black hole. So for a stable orbit near a... | null |
9xhods | When splitting water molecules by electrolysis, how would sperate the hydrogen and oxygen? | [
{
"answer": "What?\n\nIf I’m interpreting your question right, the two gasses will collect at the positive and negative poles in the circuit. Putting a test tube or some other container in the water over each pole will collect the gases as they bubble up. \n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nul... | null |
2u6yk2 | Why is it that every copy of the Bible that I've ever seen has two columns on each page? | [
{
"answer": "While I'd prefer to wait for a much more qualified person than I am to chime in, I believe it all started with the first Gutenberg Bibles, which had indeed forty-two lines of text over two columns; these, in turn, reflected the way prayer books were written before the adoption of the printing press... | null |
40m4yd | Were the mentally ill revered and allowed to roam freely throughout the middle ages? | [
{
"answer": "I think you need to define what you mean by \"mentally ill\" more clearly. It is a very broad label. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well you probably don't consider Syria to be western Europe, but I happen to have a source that suggests this was the case in medieval Muslim Syria.... | null |
1l382e | Gluon are reponsible for the mass of a proton but the higg boson are the responsible for the mass of a gluon? | [
{
"answer": "Gluons are massless.\n\nProtons and neutrons get a percent or so of their mass from the Higgs effect (which gives a small mass to the up and down quarks), and the rest of their mass from the strong force fields (primarily) that bind those quarks together (and the strong force field is made of gluon... | null |
2afnnr | Does a star always have to be at the center of a solar system? | [
{
"answer": "It's a misconception that stars are in the center of a stellar system. \n\nIn such systems, all objects are orbiting around a common center of mass, the so called barycenter. Is the system a planetary system like ours, the barycenter is inside or close to the mother star, not because \"it has to be... | null |
3bpdx7 | Before there was Rock 'n' Roll, what music did the rebellious teens of a decade such as the 1930's (and the surrounding years) listen to? | [
{
"answer": "There was a time when Jazz was not fancy, there was a time when it was considered a corrupting influence. It was linked to crime, drugs, insanity, promiscuity... \n\nCheck [this article](_URL_0_) published in Ladies Home Journal, August 1921.\n\nRacism was obviously a component in the prejudice ag... | null |
237fcn | When were governments first expected to create jobs? | [
{
"answer": "I'll take your more specific question. \n\nThe sources I've read about the creation of parks in cities (specifically Central Park, which I'll look through my house to find) shows that during the 19th Century there was some municipally centered demands to create jobs, but this was not to create jobs... | null |
17nxme | When and how did child marriage start to be seen as inappropriate in the Western culture? | [
{
"answer": "Child marriage was never really \"appropriate\" in Western culture; it barely happened. According to parish records, the average age for marriage was between 17 and 25 across much of Europe in the middle ages. The average age for women was 20 to 26 in Elizabethan England, and many writers of the ti... | null |
5heph7 | why do artists upload their full album to their youtube channel for free? | [
{
"answer": "From an economic standpoint, there is a theory that this will actually increase album sales. It is based on the idea that psychologically, you want to do something for someone who gives you something. So, naturally, the thing to do in this situation is to buy the album, even if you can listen to i... | null |
1xpf6z | What happened to the armies immediately after a battle in Medieval Europe? | [
{
"answer": "This is a vague question and has many different points that can and should be considered. But in all, I will do my best to provide an answer to a general battle during the early Medieval period. First and foremost, open battles happened quite infrequently. I mean, very rarely did to opposing for... | null |
jxyrd | Why does the sun change the color of my hair? Picture in comment | [
{
"answer": "Did you dye it brown? When you lighten hair with a bleach, it does damage it and makes it more vulnerable to harsh chemicals (shampoos) radiation (the sun), wind and any other stress. Also if you dyed it brown, the dye would likely fade off revealing the bleached hair underneath.\n\nMost dark hair ... | null |
1scnrk | How long did slaves in America retain their specific tribal identities/religions/languages? | [
{
"answer": "Many of the customs survived. If you go by John Thornton's Africans and the Making of the Atlantic World, many of the Slaves, though coming from different kingdoms had many language and religious similarities. So when new Africans arrived in the United States there was little trouble in recreatin... | null |
2rkyd0 | how is there a slow lane and a fast lane on the highway if the speed limit never changes? | [
{
"answer": "Some people drive faster than others. Passing on the driver's side is usually safer, which usually means passing on the left.\n\nAll the people merging in and out tend to slow down the outside lanes a bit, too.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In many states, traffic laws are in pla... | null |
3m720q | how can a solution to a problem suddenly pop up? | [
{
"answer": "Subconscious mind solves it for you with all of the acquired knowledge and experience. This won't happen if you've no knowledge. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "954571",
"title": "Speedcubing",
"section": "S... | null |
26hyzz | If a king was presumed dead and an heir took the throne, what happens when the old king returns? | [
{
"answer": "Are you thinking of a specific case or are wondering if this has ever happened?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A slightly different scene. The Ottoman emperor Murad II abdicated his throne in favour of his son Mehmed II (aged 12). Murad wanted to pursue the beauty of the life, poe... | null |
1dzlpd | Does muscle repair faster when asleep, rather than lying completely motionless? | [
{
"answer": "Sleep involves increased secretion of growth hormone, which does stimulate increased protein synthesis in skeletal muscle.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "18597893",
"title": "Sleep deprivation",
"... | null |
47d3z8 | Were Gun Control Laws in the USA originally motivated by racism/Jim Crow? | [
{
"answer": "The bottom line is, yes, there was definitely a racist root to much of it. One of the concerns of the Supreme Court in the infamous Dredd Scott case was that if blacks were citizens, then it would give, horror of horrors, \"to persons of the negro race ... the full liberty of speech ...; to hold pu... | null |
2eg9cw | What is the correllation between the name of chinese currency yuan and the dynasty? | [
{
"answer": "They use the same character, 元. That's it. It's a common character, meaning \"round\" or \"round coin\".\n\nTo elaborate, the Yuan dynasty was a period of Mongol rule over China, from c. 1260 (de facto, 1271 officially) to 1368 (1380 if you count the Northern Yuan dynasty when the Mongols retreated... | null |
6xbxzb | Why are trees in the Sahara flat and wide? | [
{
"answer": "More sunlight is a good thing for the tree, as long as it can get enough water. Other trees don't spread out so much because the competition makes it a wasted effort, but in the Savannah the chance of two trees thriving right next to each other is lower. It's easier for a single tree to reach deep ... | null |
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