id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
79w7et | what does aspirin do that helps prevent heart attacks, stroke and now cancer? | [
{
"answer": "One observation is that some cancers are linked to inflammation. Aspirin may reduce certain kinds of inflammation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Chronic inflammation promotes cell proliferation, which increases the chances of DNA damage. Aspirin is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-in... | null |
z10wu | Is it possible for a planet to have no night time? | [
{
"answer": "One way I can think of for a planet to not experience any nighttime is for it to be located at [L1](_URL_0_) between two stars. However, either forming the planet at L1, or forming it elsewhere and then somehow moving it to L1 would be unphysical. Also, (assuming you got a planet there) it would be... | null |
abxxi7 | Would we be able to sequence DNA that's been fossilized, or preserved in amber? Or is it too degraded to even see? | [
{
"answer": "DNA degrades pretty fast, as geologic time scales go. New(ish) techniques have allowed sequencing of DNA from relatively young fossils, but the oldest DNA to have been sequenced so far is that of a horse from about 700,000 years ago, and that only worked because the horse had been preserved in perm... | null |
9sucfi | does the brain stem ever learn anything new? | [
{
"answer": "Hmm good question. The short answer is not really. At the most basic level, the brain stem is a way for the nerves of the body (PNS) to communicate with the brain and a way to regulate autonomic functions without active thought (imagine how much of a pain in the ass it would be to have to think abo... | null |
1rrmrp | why is gasoline always priced to .009? | [
{
"answer": " > The extra \"tenths\" is a very old tradition that's never gone away. In 1935, a Reno Nevada newspaper wrote about \"selling third grade gasoline at eight and nine-tenths cents a gallon.\" \n\n > In those times, a penny had considerable value. To raise the price of gasoline from 8 to 9 cents woul... | null |
ad7hxr | Is there a genetic link between cleft palate and torus palatinus? | [
{
"answer": "The soft and hard palate are both formed during foetal development (vs embryonic). There is a high likelihood that there is a minor genetic defect since both abnormalities to the palate, with similar point in gestation, have manifested themselves in siblings. Here is an excellent website explaining... | null |
vrug0 | Are matter and antimatter symmetrical. | [
{
"answer": "Now that is an interesting question. As you've phrased it, the answer is yes: our universe would work the same if it were made of antimatter, and the physical laws we would discover would be the same.\n\nHowever, there are a couple of laws that, although their general forms would be the same, would... | null |
30op10 | If Germany and Japan were not allowed to have armies and were defended by the US after World War 2, why wasn't Italy in the same situation? | [
{
"answer": "There were limitations placed upon both the size, deployment, and structures of the Italian military in the [1947 Peace Treaty- Warning PDF](_URL_1_). Part IV of the Treaty demanded that Italy defortify its frontiers with France and Yugoslavia and deploy no weapons that could reach into these areas... | null |
5irpdx | how can devices such as google home and amazon echo understand your voice while loud music is playing in the background? | [
{
"answer": "Background music adds complications to all signal processing, including for Google Home and Amazon Echo. Both of these devices have an always on functionality, meaning they are always listening. They are always listening for a distinct and very specific signal to be played (ie. your voice saying 'O... | null |
e4ycmw | what happens to a body when mixed with molten steel? | [
{
"answer": "Molten steel is at least 1370 degrees celcius. Crematoriums operate at a maximum of 980 degrees celcius.\n\nThe body is basically cremated. Burnt into ash.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The high temperature will burn a body to ash, and the processes used to produce and recycle st... | null |
ahp96s | why do artists and painters in movies always hold out their pen and focus on it? | [
{
"answer": "They're using the pen/brush handle/thumb as a reference for judging the size of an object, keeping it at arms length every time gives you a constant good-enough-for-art measurement.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "people in movies or “actors” don’t usually know much about art and a... | null |
fgh6lg | what causes veins in the arms and hands to bulge sometimes, in addition to a feeling of "fullness" or pressure without physical activity? | [
{
"answer": "One of the main functions of veins is to serve as a reservoir for extra blood. If you had just enough oxygenated blood in your arteries for when you are at rest, then you would have a big problem as soon as you were active. So, your veins are like balloons that can expand when needed to hold extra ... | null |
16a0bw | How were wounded soldiers treated during battle in formation-heavy armies (Roman legion, phalanx, Napoleonic line infantry, etc)? | [
{
"answer": "From what I understand from previous posts and various books I have read, a soldier wounded in a Napoleonic line company would be pulled away from the line initially by sergeants or corporals and then taken back to the surgeon by drummer boys and military band member. Usually a soldier was pulled ... | null |
5v3vi6 | what has the mri scan done to help us understand the role of the brain? | [
{
"answer": "It helped us map out which areas of the brain are activated under different situations, using contextual or sensory testing, such as exposing a person to visual, auditive, olfactory, etc... inputs, and watching which 'compartment' of the brain showed increased activity.\nResearchers also draw concl... | null |
4f2bla | What films, if any, most accurately portray a pre-WWI battle, especially hand-to-hand fighting? | [
{
"answer": "Everyone would do well in remembering that we require **in-depth** comments in this subreddit. Just throwing out a title of a movie and a short sentence or two is not enough. Explain what *why* it's accurate (sources please!), show examples and walk us through it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
a1nxkj | how exactly does more money translate to winning court cases more often? is it purchasing smarter lawers or just manpower to go through documents? | [
{
"answer": "More manpower to go through documents and do legal research\n\n\nMore talented/experienced trial attorney's\n\n\nMore money to hire experts at trial\n\n\nMore money to file appeals, continuances and delay tactics",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If I know I'm going to lose, I settl... | null |
ammeek | how can a password not containing numbers or special characters be considered weak? | [
{
"answer": "Unless you're using a randomly generated chain of letters, most password cracking software have functions built in to use the most commonly used words in passwords.\n\nIf you set a limit to the length of the password (say 20 characters), you go from very predictable, and easily brute-forcible using... | null |
3hb0pv | How was the Soviet invasion of Poland justified in the Soviet public? | [
{
"answer": "Just 20 years earlier, the 'corpse of Poland' was supposed to be the road to global revolution. The defeat of the Soviet army at Warsaw in 1920 was a major setback to international socialism. Also the territories Poland took in that war, while historically a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonweal... | null |
f3j1i8 | how do broken bones knit when they aren’t completely immobile? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of things actually heal better this way. For example, in hip fractures, the fixation depends on the bones being slightly mobile (look up a dynamic hip screw) as this reinforces repairs along areas of stress, making the overall repaired bone stronger. \n\nInitially a haematoma will form around... | null |
7cddyl | why do bass sounds seem to travel better through walls, when high pitched sounds usually carry better over distance? | [
{
"answer": "There are two effects at work.\n\nThe first is the physics of it. Any material will attenuate different frequencies at differing levels. For most solid materials, low frequencies will be slightly attenuated and high frequencies massively attenuated. Through free space, both attenuate over distan... | null |
18wjvm | Are shades of grey actually colors that we just cannot see that part of the spectrum for? | [
{
"answer": "Shades of gray is a matter of intensity, not wavelength.\n \nWhite light (which is when our Red, green, blue receptors are equally stimulated), can appear anywhere from black to any shade of grey, based on how much light you are receiving.\n\nWhile the minds can be very complex, seeing multiple col... | null |
32qy6j | How common/effective was guerrilla warfare in WWII? | [
{
"answer": "TL;DR: Very common, and in MANY cases, EXTREMELY effective!\n\nThere were resistance movements in Greece, Yugoslavia, France, China, Indochina, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the occupied territories in the Soviet Union, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Albania, the Philippines, Indonesia; those are the ones that ... | null |
1lbs5g | Does fasting make people more famine resistant? | [
{
"answer": "This Radiolab segment discusses the improvement of your resistance from disease if your father or grandfather is in a fasted state when they develop sperm. \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I attended a presentation through university that was looking at famine conditions... | null |
wls51 | What precisely was a "fashionable regiment?" | [
{
"answer": "The fashionable part was more for officers than the actual soldiers. Finding a good regiment or unit usually had to do with the location of their deployment, the favor of the commanding officer with the higher ups, the amount of action they saw, and sometimes where they had been mustered or who was... | null |
1cfqsm | how does someone who knows absolutely nothing about cars go about choosing a secondhand car? | [
{
"answer": "Because you're looking at potentially putting a lot of money into something that's going to need to be reliable for you, I would seriously recommend finding a friend who does know about cars, and take them with you.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Give each of the following traits ... | null |
3izrx1 | the difference between homo sapiens and homo sapiens sapiens? | [
{
"answer": " Homo Sapiens is what species we are. Homo Sapiens Sapiens is a subspecies - it's used to mean \"anatomically modern Homo sapiens\", ie people who's bodies look like ours. \n\nThe subspecies H. Sapiens Sapiens, ie us, differentiates us from H. Sapiens Idaltu, arguably our direct ancestor. \n\nNote... | null |
1fn5ru | Franco-Prussian War, any experts around? | [
{
"answer": "/r/Genealogy might be useful for you?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "885795",
"title": "Modern history",
"section": "Section::::Late modern period.:European dominance and the 19th century.:French governments... | null |
2dbnmu | given the gigantic size of its military, why can't the us impose its will on every country? | [
{
"answer": "While we could do that to every country individually. We would piss off the world more then we already do. And we cant face the entire world.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Having a large military force is not enough, while most countries could not hope to beat the US in a straigh... | null |
5bxzny | if the average human hearing is 20hz to 20khz, why do they sell headphones with higher ranges, like 30khz? | [
{
"answer": "To get better results at 20KHz. The rules on this subreddit are forcing me to elaborate, but this is the simplest answer. Speakers with a 'response' from 20Hz to 20kHz cannot have a nice linear response (same output power for same input level, which is what you want for accurate reproduction of sou... | null |
a4tjzt | why are other video hosting sites not as used/popular as youtube? | [
{
"answer": "Here is a [video](_URL_0_) that goes into the problems start up video sharing websites run into. Their audiences end up being the very same people that drive everyone else away. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Popular among whom? In Japan, _URL_1_ is far more popular. For some *sp... | null |
9q3jkq | How do lakes deep underground maintain an ecosystem with no energy input from the Sun? | [
{
"answer": "Underground aquifers could support primitive microbial life-forms if they were adapted to living off the minerals, and hydrogen seeping into the water from the surrounding rock. They may also adapt similarly to deep sea life that lives off of/near hydrothermal vents if they're present in the underg... | null |
2sci7l | Why is it in the overwhelming majority of societies in history, that gender roles remain consistent? | [
{
"answer": "hi! it might be worth x-posting this question to /r/AskAnthropology or /r/AskSocialScience",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "23480361",
"title": "Unpaid work",
"section": "Section::::Unpaid domestic labor.:Gend... | null |
36mfa2 | what is the 'school smell'? | [
{
"answer": "I always thought I noticed it more when I came back from brakes, when they had time to buff the floors. I thought it was the cheep floor wax schools use.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Different schools will smell differently. You are talking about buildings and rooms filled with ... | null |
4hzqz8 | how are people with split personality disorder diagnosed? | [
{
"answer": "Dissociative Identity Disorder is extremely rare. People are diagnosed by a qualified professional in the same way that any psychiatric illness is diagnosed. They must demonstrate that they meet the diagnostic criteria outlined in the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disord... | null |
1det8m | Why were the U.S. Army so ill-trained and ill-equipped when they entered WWI? | [
{
"answer": "Another reason was that President Wilson refused to prepare the US Army for war (I believe he even refused to send observers to Europe). This was one of Teddy Roosevelt and the Republicans' main criticisms of Wilson at the time. While Wilson eventually agreed to an expansion of the navy (over a per... | null |
5lw6v3 | Did early humans have any predators? | [
{
"answer": "Many. Remember that it wasn't until fairly recently in the timeframe of modern human evolution that most large megafauna died off (well, was wiped out by humans anyway), so for most of that time humans coexisted with a panoply of large predators that did indeed prey on them.\n\nBig cats including n... | null |
1nq58k | The personal life of women (circa 1050) | [
{
"answer": "It would be useful to specify a location as well. Since you said \"medieval,\" I'm assuming you're looking for European answers, right?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "14457458",
"title": "Women in medicine",
... | null |
3na2lf | why is the highest tax bracket only about $450,000? why not have higher tax brackets at incomes of $1 million, $5 million, $10 million, etc.? | [
{
"answer": "If you have that much money, it's easy to [minimize your effective tax rate](_URL_1_) (charities, retirement plans, investments, etc). The top tax bracket was as high as 94% in [1944](_URL_0_). As for why it's not very high now, look at the series of laws in that table. Rich people are able to l... | null |
3bq551 | why can't dopamine be manufactured? | [
{
"answer": "While we can create dopamine, there's no way to enjoy the dopamine without injecting it into our brain. It's much simpler to just take another drug that causes dopamine production.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They basically do manufacture dopamine. In fact, a popular drug treat... | null |
3g3k06 | what is a dna schedule and how does it prove when human life begins? | [
{
"answer": "It's not a term that exists. Huckabee made it up. \n\nThe question of when human life begins will always be a philosophical one. Science can't \"prove\" anything here. A new, genetically distinct organism is created at fertilization. So you could argue \"life\" begins there. But at that stage sever... | null |
1qh8wn | why was/is there such an incredible fear of communism? | [
{
"answer": "Because all of the historical attempts has worsened the condition of the country, e.g\n\n[Mao's reign in China](_URL_0_)\n\n[Soviet Union](_URL_1_)\n\nI agree that idealistically the world would have communism, but from what we can see in history it just can't work.\n",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
umxc6 | How do you regulate calcium if you don't have a thyroid? | [
{
"answer": "Calcitonin is actually not that important in normal calcium homeostasis - it's primarily regulated by parathyroid hormone. The parathyroid glands receive feedback from both vitamin D and serum calcium levels to modulate secretion of PTH, which increases vitamin D conversion to its active form in t... | null |
2y50t2 | when i close my eyes and blow my nose, i feel an air bubble in the inner corner of my eye. why? | [
{
"answer": "Your tear duct (nasolacrimal duct) is connected to your sinuses.\n\nThere's a flap that's supposed to keep the two separate, but in some people, it doesn't quite seal.\n\nYou're trying to blow air through your nose, but because of the pressure, some of the air leaks through your tear duct.\n\nIf yo... | null |
75gzoc | what happens to caterpillars who haven't stored the usual amount of calories when they try to turn into butterflies? | [
{
"answer": "Edit: This is an incorrect answer to the original question and could be misleading. This is an example of what could happen if the caterpillar cocoons early due to disease or infection NOT say climate or environmental pressure. \n\nThey generally don't survive once they are out. The body will usual... | null |
qbbd9 | Question about shuffling a new deck of cards. | [
{
"answer": "And as a fun point of fact, the order of the cards you get in a well shuffled deck of standard paying cards has never been seen before, ever. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you perfectly shuffle(cut a deck in half perfectly, and then shuffle exactly one card at a time) the dec... | null |
20nta7 | What is the consensus of the theory that Marcus Brutus is the illegitimate son of Julius Caesar? | [
{
"answer": "Very unlikely is the consensus since Caeser is only around 15 years older then Brutus which would have made him very young to be fathering children. Caesars affair with Servilla most likely started around 77bce after the death of her first husband.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nu... | null |
33o9h8 | how can steam charge for mods? haven't mod communities been permitted by developers because they don't profit off the content? | [
{
"answer": "Some mods are free, other mods are payware. Mod communities aren't automatically given blanket permission by developers to give away free mods. It depends on the developer, the titles and the modder. They can charge for mods if they want. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So as a m... | null |
jldfz | the appeal and glamor of ivy league schools | [
{
"answer": "Perceived prestige, top-notch professors and networking.\n\nMany schools outside of the Ivy League offer all three, some for much cheaper.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's not what you know, it's who you know.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hello, I went to an... | null |
27mnzg | If Arab and Middle Eastern countries did not recognize or support the state of Isreal, why did they allow much of their Jewish populations to emirgrate there from the late 40's to early 70's? | [
{
"answer": "It's important to contemplate what else was happening during this time. A lot of the countries involved were fighting against old colonial powers and remnants of imperialism, we have the Suez crisis in Egypt, intensifying Cold War in the region, tensions between Soviet aligned forces, US-leanings a... | null |
1fl538 | Are the relativistic time differences between clocks on the Earth and the clocks in GPS satellites, due to the reduced gravity 12,500 miles up or the speed at which the satellites travel or both? | [
{
"answer": "Both, but the gravitational effect is stronger.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The velocity causes the clocks to fall behind by 7 microseconds per day. The lower gravity causes them to go faster by 45 microseconds per day. Net result is that they go about 38 microseconds per day f... | null |
6x97rj | William III of England (or Holland, take your pick) was installed by a foreign power. How did this happen and what were the consequences? | [
{
"answer": "Tiny correction: William III was stadholder of the Netherlands, not *just* Holland, and he installed *himself* with a bit of help from Parliament. Two years ago [Scott Sowerby held an AMA](_URL_0_) on England in the seventeenth century, including a lot of questions on the nature of the event you're... | null |
1m1q58 | e: keynesian economics | [
{
"answer": "This is a relatively complicated concept, and your inquiry is rather open-ended, but I'll do by ELI5 best:\n\nKeynesian economics is a theory of economics conceived (at least, among others) by John Maynard Keynes in 1936, in the book *The General Theory of Eployment, Interest and Money.* To a larg... | null |
fjty4g | How were 15h century halberdiers typically equipped? | [
{
"answer": "Fellow 15th century reenactor here, here's my main advice: have a more specified goal.\n\nThe 15th century is a large time period with lots of changes. Not only that, but the definition of \"Halberdier\" will change depending on where you are. A halberd could be the traditional image of halberds we... | null |
4p048u | if i hold a green light and i go into a dark i would see everything in that room not only green things(i.e things that reflect green color)? | [
{
"answer": "Things that normally absorb green light will show up as darker, but you could still see them because of the shadows they will cast, and they will be next to things that absorb a different amount of green light.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The walls of the room are probably whit... | null |
5ruhfr | What is a chance of a number to be prime? | [
{
"answer": "If you randomly pick a number between 1 and N, then the chances for it to be prime are approximately 1/log(N). This is the [Prime Number Theorem](_URL_0_), one of the most important results in Number Theory and is kinda like a Riemann Hypothesis-Lite.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
3fpiow | after wwi and wwii, why doesn't america hate germany? | [
{
"answer": "After WWII, Germany was completely destroyed and remade as the Allies saw fit, it was almost a completely different country than pre-war Germany. Plus, Germany was an essential ally during the Cold War, which made it easier to forgive them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well, to ... | null |
1o1ots | how is it possible that animals can fit so much complexity into such tiny brains? | [
{
"answer": "Because nature creates bajillions of them, each of them a little different from the other, and lets them run wild. The survivors get to breed. With our technology we don't tend to create bajillions of experiments running in parallel. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If they could... | null |
4hvrrp | Did the Romans Commemorate their dead in yearly ceremonies? | [
{
"answer": "Keep in mind you're asking about a time period of 1-2,000 years.\n\nThe closest I can give you resides in the triumphal arches erected to celebrate victories. Whereas it's not a remembrance of the dead as we think about it, it is a remembrance to the victorious wars the Romans engaged in.\n\nOthe... | null |
1cxl90 | Has there been a case of a soldier in WW2 being killed by ordnance from WW1? | [
{
"answer": "I have not heard a case of a soldier on land being killed by ordnance from WW1, but I have heard of cases in which sailors have died on ships that hit naval mines laid during WW1. \n\nI have a link saved somewhere since I used the source on a recent term paper. I'll find it and post it when I retur... | null |
66foch | how do banks make profit from "free" products? | [
{
"answer": "they make money using your money to loan out to others. \n\nyou deposit $1000. the bank isn't just sitting on it. they're using that $800-900 of that money pooled with other people's checking account money to make loans for people's mortgages, personal loans, business loans. etc",
"proven... | null |
4k7b12 | why do we have different lotions and creams for out face and body? isn't it the exact same skin? (for example when you have a dry skin) | [
{
"answer": "No. Some skin is thicker. The soles of your feet for example are much thicker than your eyelids. That's one difference at least.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Look at body lotion and a face moisturiser - body lotion is pretty thick and, depending on the cream, scented. The lotion... | null |
1huu96 | What were the training regimes for heavy cavalry in the Napoleonic era? | [
{
"answer": " > Cuirassiers are of greater use than all other cavalry. This arm...needs to be well instructed. It is in the heavy cavalry that the science of the mounted man should be carried to the highest degree.\n\n-Napoleon\n\n\"Heavy Cavalry\" probably denotes multiple types and styles of units during th... | null |
b9ldod | how does the male body (idk if females experience this too) reach post nut clarity? | [
{
"answer": "I don't have the answer. It's neurochemical stuff.\n\nBut way to go asking the question like you're five! That shows commitment to the sub.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1482236",
"title": "Leftvent",
"sec... | null |
6hfeb6 | what is "starvation mode", in terms of dieting? | [
{
"answer": "It's a largely debunked idea based on a few poorly designed studies decades ago.\n\nThe idea is that if your body is deprived of calories for too long, it will start hoarding what calories it does have, thus increasing stored fat.\n\nThe main reason most people advocate not eating too little has mo... | null |
fqssst | could my immune system hypothetically "run out of storage space" for new diseases and thus be unable to become immune to any new ones? | [
{
"answer": "No, your immune system forgets bacterias and viruses over time. That's why a vaccine will eventually not work anymore. But your body remember most bacterias and viruses for years. So no worries.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One of the ways your immune system \"remembers\": your... | null |
ezvzuz | New Orleans was a French possession for only about 45 years and had a very small population for most of that time. How did French influence manage to remain so strong there? | [
{
"answer": "I'm assuming that you mean the French influence is strong in New Orleans as compared to other territories of French Louisiana added to the United States in the Louisiana purchase? Obviously, the French influence in New Orleans pales in comparison to that in Quebec. So taking the question as why is... | null |
67bfo3 | WW2 Tanks - British/Soviet Commander Hatch machineguns? | [
{
"answer": "There were two official types of roof mounted AA machineguns for Soviet WWII era vehicles: the 7.62 mm DT in a P-40 mount and the 12.7 mm DShK.\n\nThe [P-40 mount](_URL_3_) was developed before the war, in 1937, with an improved version built in 1938. This mount was installed on a wide variety of v... | null |
8443vu | How did professions that used lots of paper, like bankers and lawyers, preserve the hundreds of pages of documents in the 19th Century? | [
{
"answer": "This has always been a problem and fire was a common enemy. You don't even have to go back as far as the 1800's. You can read about [The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center](_URL_0_) to get a basic idea of what kind of loss could occur and how they might go about reconstructing as much of ... | null |
1j7yb1 | Help me understand why my speed of light loophole is probably wrong. | [
{
"answer": " > If gravitational attraction leads to constant acceleration, why can't two objects with mass be placed far enough apart in a sufficiently empty universe to accelerate towards each other and eventually reach the speed of light.\n\nBecause the acceleration becomes less and less, the closer you get ... | null |
9zua7f | Did the dinosaur-apocalypse meteor's impact change the Earth's orbit or rotation? | [
{
"answer": "Slightly. Every collision results in the transfer of linear and angular momentum. But the mass of the impactor was so small in relation to the Earth that if it happened, it would be difficult, but not impossible, to measure the affect.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Back of the en... | null |
3n580y | Is one side of the brain emotional/creative while the other side is logical/factual? | [
{
"answer": "Things such as logical or creative can be complex behaviors and are not limited to a single area in the brain. There are some aspects of brain function that are lateralized (e.g., language on the left and visuospatial on the right), but even these are not only done on one side of the brain and are... | null |
6te4rg | What keeps food from ‘going down the wrong pipe’ and doesn’t when said event occurs? | [
{
"answer": "Swallowing is a pretty complex process that takes place in three different stages. Esophageal stage isn't as important to your question. The oral phase is important in food bolus preparation for pharyngeal transit. Without the phase, food going down the wrong tube is more likely but not a given. \n... | null |
4w10av | how old black and white photos, that pre-date colored photography, can accurately have color added into them. | [
{
"answer": "I don't do recolors, but to my knowledge when one is doing a recolor, he/she guesses approximately what the colors would be. There's no real science behind it. Hope that helps. If anyone has more knowledge, please chime in.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": ... | null |
1kiamy | what is penicillin? and how do we get it from mold to curing things? | [
{
"answer": "It's a chemical that forms in the namesake fungus. A scientist noticed by serendipity that a sample of the fungus prevented bacterial growths.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "28830965",
"title": "Penicillium chrysoge... | null |
7w5al1 | why are you not guaranteed a trial by a jury of your peers in the us? | [
{
"answer": "IANAL, but in some states, the right to a jury trial may not be guaranteed if the possible sentence is a very short imprisonment or just a small fine. The accused may be encouraged to waive their right, but generally the right to a trial by jury stands.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
3n86ci | Did 'Bloody' Mary Tudor deserve her title? | [
{
"answer": "I think it's fair to say she wasn't significantly worse than her contemporaries, even her lauded successor, Elizabeth I; it was a period where religion and politics were deeply intertwined, and warfare was constant across Europe. It's worth nothing that she killed fewer people over the course of h... | null |
1th202 | Why does a silencer reduce the bullets velocity? | [
{
"answer": "Most modern silencers, more correctly known as \"suppressors,\" in fact do *not* affect a bullet's velocity in any significant way. Early suppressors contained a rubber gasket (called a wipe if memory serves) that would briefly be in contact with the bullet, and the idea is that the resulting frict... | null |
4ih2yj | what is it that can make similar guns from different brands sound different when firing the same cartridge? | [
{
"answer": "Barrel length affects the amount of propellant that is burned. Shorter barrel means louder blast. \n\nMuzzle brakes/compensators/flash hiders on ends of barrels affects how the burned propellant is directed, which can change how the shot sounds. \n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
ysgqp | why is iran having nuclear capabilities such a big concern when the u.s. and plenty of other countries already do? | [
{
"answer": "Essentially, it's problematic because nuclear powers are harder to bully, and a Nuclear Iran would make it harder for the established powers to continue containing Iran's influence.\n\nPlus, there's the \"they just might be crazy enough to do it\" concern. If the situation in Iran gets bad enough ... | null |
12hyar | Because of the time it takes for the light of distant stars to reach us, how different would the sky have looked hundreds of years in the past? | [
{
"answer": "There are very few stars that will change on such short time scales. One example is Eta Carinae. It used to be one of the brightest stars in the sky, but \"burped\" a hundred years ago or so, and is now obscured by its own dust cloud. \n\nAlso, the time that light takes to reach us plays no part wh... | null |
2frz5n | Japan and USSR during 1938-1939. Were the USSR's armies actually superior to those of Japan? In what ways? | [
{
"answer": "The Red Army was superior to the Kwantung Army in three main ways, all of which feed into each other. They had a superior doctrine, were superior technologically, and were superior numerically. The last two were both dictated by, and enabled the first.\n\nThe Red Army in the region, under Georgy Zh... | null |
ujv2c | Many questions about recent /r/science posts about our universe being inside a black hole. | [
{
"answer": "1) Not very. It's mostly just that one guy working on it. It's a cool story, so they picked up on it.\n\n2) The arrow of time markers shouldn't be viewed as something causative: time doesn't advance because of entropy increasing or the universe expanding. Rather, they're ways to figure out which wa... | null |
8e88c4 | why technology "freezes" | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't unless your in the arctic. Sometimes things lock up, due to software conflicts. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you want an in depth answer, you're gonna need a lot more than literally 3 words.\n\nSoftware freezing up is almost always due to some resource being hogge... | null |
92pdgo | how did apex predators that existed millions of years ago go extinct? (i.e terror birds, megalodon, levyatan) | [
{
"answer": "It's hard to pinpoint the exact causes ~~of~~ for most prehistoric animals and plants, beyond trying to extrapolate data from the scarce info we have. We can look at extinction events nowadays for clues though. Overfeeding and loss of habitat from environmental changes are the two biggest causes.",... | null |
3kego7 | In America during World War II, what would happen if a man was drafted, and it turns out he wouldn't have made a good soldier? | [
{
"answer": "In a draft, it's not like you get handed a uniform. It means you report for selection. People are turned down for all sorts of reasons, even in a draft. Poor vision, diabetes, epilepsy, heart problems, hearing problems, mental illness, being too short, or not strong enough to keep up. There are wri... | null |
25j643 | Are the steroids that cause people to gain weight in medication the same as the steroids people use to build muscle? | [
{
"answer": "The term steroid refers to molecules that have a similar 4 ring, 17 carbon base skeleton. Additions to this skeleton are what make each steroid different, but still belong to the same family.\n\nSo the type of \"weight gaining\" steroid that most people are on would be something like prednisone. Th... | null |
5wcdr7 | Do we have any idea how gender egalitarian Teryan early pre-Christian pagan England was? And how much the introduction of Christianity change to that? | [
{
"answer": "When you say \"early pre-Christian pagan England\", are you referring to:\npre-Roman pagan southern Britain (ie BC);\nthe early Roman period in southern Britain (pre-Christian pagan, so maybe the 2nd century AD); \nor the early Anglo-Saxon period prior to Christianisation (so about 500-600AD)?\n\n(... | null |
30etou | why do people choose to live in high crime areas (e.g. compton, ca and south side, chicago) | [
{
"answer": "High crime and low rent/property value go hand in hand. People live there because they can't afford to live anywhere else.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because living there is cheap and that's all they can afford. I've never \"chosen\" to live anywhere, I live where I can afford... | null |
68jhd3 | what causes airplane turbulence in a completely clear sky? | [
{
"answer": "Turbulence is caused when different currents of air mix, causing pressure differences in the air and thus affecting flight through it. This doesn't always form clouds or other detectable formation, called clear air turbulence.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": ... | null |
5dbh8t | why do some people (like myself) have big booming voices and have difficulty speaking at an inside voice, but some people have really soft voices and struggle to speak up? | [
{
"answer": "Genetics. I think this question is similar to the question 'why am I blonde and my sibling is brunette?' Or 'why am I taller than my siblings?'. It's all in the genes. That being said, you can teach yourself to speak softly/loudly. It takes practice like everything else but it can be done.",
"p... | null |
37ffmd | -why were fifa execs arrested, and what did the usa have to do with it? | [
{
"answer": "We don't know yet.\n\nEven FIFA don't know yet. They've issued a press statement saying they are \"seeking clarification\".\n\nWe also don't know who's been arrested - only one of the six men has been named, and he's a FIFA official from the Cayman Islands.\n\nThe FBI are due to give a press confer... | null |
67zlb5 | how hard is it to quit smoking? | [
{
"answer": "Because it contains a drug and drug addiction is very hard to overcome. Even with willpower it's hard to overcome. Same with any addiction. I've never smoked so never been addicted to nicotine. But I have been addicted to medicine. I won't say \"drugs\" because of what that appears. I never abused ... | null |
1383od | What are some other theories of gravity? | [
{
"answer": "There are plenty. It's very easy to construct a new theory of gravity - just put in some new ingredients and decide how those ingredients behave, and how they interact with the gravitational field. The real question isn't whether you can do it, it's a) whether you can make it fit with observations,... | null |
2hg5nn | how/why does 'ghost pepper' cause vomiting, rectal bleeding, sweating? | [
{
"answer": "I'm assuming the chemicals in the pepper cause a great deal of irritation to human tissues.\n\nRegular hot peppers cause similar irritation, but not to the same degree. At a certain point hot peppers are no longer foodstuffs and are just health hazards.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
axa4j2 | Where do stereotypical "redneck" names like Bubba, Skeeter, or Cletus come from? | [
{
"answer": "LIke many Colloquial things, the etemology of these names is tough to trace because their use is rarely documented very well. \n\nThe etemology of the word bubba has [reportedly](_URL_3_) traced to the german word \"Bube.\" (meaning boy), or a similar sounding Gullah Word [BuhBuh](_URL_0_) mean... | null |
2nwrku | How accurate, topographically speaking, was the Chernobyl level in CoD 4? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know about topography, but the way the game is styled is fairly accurate. Pripyat has been abandoned since the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, so everything has been left for mother nature to control. But the ferris wheel is actually real and is still in Pripyat and some of the more famou... | null |
156fn8 | If you had a properly sized lens completely free of any imperfection, could you build a magnifying glass that could see atoms? | [
{
"answer": "No, because the wavelength of (visible) light is longer than the distances between atoms, so they cannot be distinguished are the therefore non-resolvable. 1000x magnification is about as far as light can go, which allows you to see bacteria, but not viruses.\n\nElectron microscopes are instead us... | null |
ad1ydr | why do all space launch pictures make the space ship look like it’s going in a full circle? | [
{
"answer": "The rocket doesn't go straight up to exit the atmosphere, it has to curve to conserve energy and reach the desired altitude. So the trail from the rocket explosion is really curved, because its trajectory was curved.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When you jump, the Earth *does* m... | null |
2pa91r | why have many pathogens evolved to be deadly if this constrains their ability to spread? | [
{
"answer": " > if this constrains their ability to spread?\n\nIt really depends on the disease. For example, let's look at cholera. When it infects you, it spreads by draining your body of water through your intestines, and all that water contains more cholera bacteria. In areas without much infrastructure, th... | null |
2lzhre | why does a person's body stop the force of a grenade when the force is strong enough to break through walls? | [
{
"answer": "The person who is laying on the gernade catches all the srapnel (metal bits that used to be gernade). Without srapnel flying around the gernade has a highly reduced effective area. \n\nTo your point about walls; depending on the structure a wall is sometimes softer than a human. If you're talking c... | null |
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