id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1xzib1 | how do scientists/anthropologists explain the seemingly quick ascent of the human species? | [
{
"answer": "[Punctuated Equilibrium, my man. Evolution of species or ideas shouldn't be be viewed as a gradual and constant change but as a series of leaps and bounds interspersed with periods of stability.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Am I the only one who thinks that in the gran... | null |
3ow34m | Is it possible to tack into the solar wind the same way we can sail into the wind on earth? | [
{
"answer": "If you mean sailing in the opposite direction as the wind (i.e. to the Sun) then yes, it is possible, though not in the same way nor for the same reasons. Orbital dynamics are crazy and amazing :)\n\nYou can use [radiation pressure](_URL_0_) with a solar sail or the solar wind with an [electric sai... | null |
2u1fvs | why do boobs in classical artworks look so different from those sported by today's models? [nsfw] | [
{
"answer": "The models have all had surgery, or are naturally big-breasted. \n\nIn antiquity, it was considered more attractive to have smaller breasts, so the artists chose smaller-breasted women.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm sure there are models with similar breasts that attract less... | null |
3jqs5y | why was the race to the moon more important than the race to the first man in space? | [
{
"answer": "They know him in Russia. \n\nBecause the Soviets sent a man into space first, the achievement was downplayed in the West, and then the Moon Race was really hyped up to compensate. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " \"It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when... | null |
1z2qtn | how was the bureau of census measuring population before sampling? | [
{
"answer": "The census counts every person, or at least tries to, every ten years.\n\nHe is talking about people using the data collected - some of them insisted on using everything which, before modern computers could be a monumental task.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance"... | null |
dh60c4 | how is airport security regulated and kept consistent around the world | [
{
"answer": "No, it’s highly inconsistent from country to country.\n\nUS is the worst for sure, I hate travelling there. Its the only place they make us remove your shoes.\n\nAtm im in Nepal, and they only pass your luggage in a scanner, barely look at it, everyone pass the metal detector, everyones beeping and... | null |
6eawqj | What happens to the parts of the brain which control amputated body parts? | [
{
"answer": "Op, the brain will began to adapt new brain cells to communicate with it, whatever is near in the somatosensory cotrex, that means if you cut off a finger the section of brain that used to respond to that will begin strengthening it's connections to still firing neighboring cells.",
"provenance... | null |
3rf3qu | what is the benefit of a water-cooled pc? | [
{
"answer": "Generally superior cooling due to both heat absorption of liquid and a lack of stale warm air in the case. \n\nAlso quieter ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Water cooling is more efficient, which allows the CPU and GPU to run at a higher frequency without overheating. Depending on ... | null |
1r7qm7 | why group mentality is so powerful | [
{
"answer": "Human nature to belong and conform to social groups, empathy, and natural fear of exclusion.\n\nIt's kind of instinctual, that's why the weak minded are susceptible to group mentality. Case in point: Reddit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"... | null |
49av6o | Are protons in nuclei wiggled by electrons "flying" around them? | [
{
"answer": "This is better answered by answering each sub-question.\n\n > Are protons in nuclei wiggled by electrons \"flying\" around them?\n\nYes, in the system both motions contribute to the actual state. But, the nucleus is very much heavier than the electron, so it's the electron that does most of the mov... | null |
3q4huh | how is the milk of a cow so beneficial to humans? | [
{
"answer": "Because it contains fats, proteins, and sugars, making it a very energy-packed beverage. Now granted, if you're lactose intolerant than you don't make the necessary enzyme to make use of the sugars, lactose, and that can lead to a fair bit of intestinal distress so...there is a downside for some pe... | null |
cl55sk | Was the Indo-Aryan migration truth or fiction? | [
{
"answer": "The Indo-Aryan migration is absolutely true, insofar as Indo-Aryan - a branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, which itself is a branch of the Indo-European family, which originated somewhere in the Pontic Steppe (around modern Ukraine, Crimea, and southern Russia) - is not indigenous to India.... | null |
1p4cai | If photons are smaller than atoms, why don't they pass through solid matter? | [
{
"answer": "The closest thing to \"size\" for a photon is its wavelength. Different types of light have different wavelengths: x-rays have really short wavelengths, while radio waves have really long wavelengths. Visible light is somewhere in the middle.\n\nIf the wavelength is small compared to whatever we're... | null |
5kbm2n | Did the concept of mutually assured destruction prevent the Cold War from going hot? | [
{
"answer": "We really can't know the answer to complex hypotheticals like that. Smaller \"What ifs\" can sometimes be productive. But \"what if the strategic situation of the world was totally different?\" isn't something that historians can readily answer.\n\nWhat they can do is point out that, 1) the Cold Wa... | null |
12iqdn | How does pollution from mostly unregulated countries like China affect the rest of the world? | [
{
"answer": "Long-range transport of air pollutants, including metals and pops, and is well-documented with ongoing research. While your last question seems mostly policy related, a large proportion of, but not all, nations decreasing use/production/emission of toxic chemicals does have significant effects in ... | null |
ckjlo7 | Do I weigh less at midday than at midnight? | [
{
"answer": "A point of clarification: Mass is how much matter makes something up, so it won't change mass.\n\nThe position of the sun will change your weight, but only very, very slightly. It's only a very small fraction of the influence from the earth, so all other things being equal, there should be a very s... | null |
5ec1tu | why does standing on a train tire me out? | [
{
"answer": "It's the same thing as being in a car for an extended period of time.\n\nWhile you aren't really making a lot of *big* movements, you are making a *very very large amount* of *tiny* movements. Every second you're adjusting, balancing, making sure things are going smoothly, watching all of the peopl... | null |
22cjj1 | When a star collapses into a black hole, does the density of the singularity continue to increase forever? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't really make sense to consider the density of the singularity. You can consider the mean density of the entire black hole within the event horizon, which actually decreases as the black hole gets bigger. If you treat the center as a singularity, it has infinite density, like an electron h... | null |
xk1p5 | LEDs vs Normal Bulbs - Environmental Impact Outweighs Benefits? | [
{
"answer": "I work with LEDs all the time. If you live in the US, the \"Prius Conundrum\" could be applied to any imported product.\n\nAs far as [luminous efficacy](_URL_5_), the LED lights that you can buy *right now* at Home Depot etc are about the same as compact fluorescent lighting (CFL). What's inside a ... | null |
k74ie | Is their a chemical or other additive(like what I do not know, perhaps one that reacts with water) that could make paint dry faster? | [
{
"answer": "Many of the paints in use now take advantage of chemical driers or other systems to accelerate 'drying.'\n\nFirstly, not all paints are water-based. In the case of oil-based paints, 'drying' is actually not related to the evaporation of water, but instead to the slow chemical reaction of the oil to... | null |
1ms1sy | When did the Byzantines stop wearing togas and other classical Greco-Roman garments? | [
{
"answer": "They probably rarely wore togae in the first place. Togae were notoriously uncomfortable to wear, let alone in the stifling heat of the Eastern Roman Empire. Martial refers to work done during the day wearing the toga as 'toga work' (_opera togata_) and 'never ending' being such a pain. They would ... | null |
1ulku9 | Was it commonplace for Royals of old to be highly learned and respected in Academia? | [
{
"answer": "It was generally not common. Certainly there were some monarchs who did have some scholarly abilities. Queen Elizabeth I translated Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy.\n\nBut the amount of training in languages and literature necessary to be a truly accomplished scholar was tough for a monarch to... | null |
14pyjg | why is gold so expensive? | [
{
"answer": "[It is not used only for jewelry](_URL_0_), but what does it matter if it was? There is a limited amount of gold on earth. If there are a lot of people who want that gold, the price will go up. Lets say you only have ten pieces of gold, but there are a hundred people who want a piece. If you want t... | null |
fwgbt2 | how do options and shorts work for investments? | [
{
"answer": "For shorts, its better to think about what you're expecting to happen when you do it than how its actually executed in the market (which is more complicated, but ultimately unimportant to you, the trader).\n\nWhen you buy a stock, the *only* reason to buy it is that in the future you expect it to b... | null |
3e5z2m | Why is tungsten at room temperature so brittle? Since super cooled metals are more brittle, is this the same phenomenon but just at a much lower temperature because tungstens melting point is so high? Or is it something entirely different? | [
{
"answer": "Basic answer is that tungsten is Body Centered Cubic (BCC) and therefore will go through a ductile to brittle transformation at certain temperatures. DBTT (Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature) of tungsten is quite high, around 400K. Room temperature, or 273K, is way below this transition te... | null |
1sxoss | can someone explain to me the pros and cons of capitalism? | [
{
"answer": "As far as economic history goes, there simply isn't a better set of institutions than capitalism to generate technological growth.\n\nCons: inequality - though this can be abated with a welfare state.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Capitalism: An economic system under which capita... | null |
wm6zb | What is the final form of energy? | [
{
"answer": "Heat (thermal energy) would be the closest to the answer you are looking for.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "9649",
"title": "Energy",
"section": "Section::::Scientific use.:Biology.\n",
"... | null |
1t1wve | how does apple own the beatles? | [
{
"answer": "Apple Inc, the computer/device company, is different from Apple Records/Apple Corps Ltd, which is the record label created by the Beatles. Apple Inc doesn't own the rights to the Beatles music.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[The Beatles sold the rights to their catalog of music ... | null |
5vle6l | if in the vacuum of space there are no exterior forces acing on a spacecraft, why can't we continuously speed up the craft to light speed with constant thrust? | [
{
"answer": "It takes more and more energy to constantly accelerate a spacecraft. This means that as you approach C the amount of energy that you need to go faster approaches infinity. Sadly humans do not have access to infinite energy so we can never actually reach C.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
250f92 | Hebrew language revival | [
{
"answer": "It was about the national identity, not religious reasons. More religious segments of Judaism were historically (and often still are) skeptical of Zionism in general, of which the Hebrew revival was a part.\n\nFirst, some linguistic background. Hebrew went extinct by the 2nd century. But it rema... | null |
1fdnkv | What was the source of gunpowder for the colonial militias during the American Revolution? | [
{
"answer": "I don't have much analysis that can add to their own words. From the Journals of the Continental Congress, Saturday, June 10, 1775:\n > Resolved: That it be, and is hereby earnestly recommended to the several Colonies of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and the interior towns of Massachuset... | null |
ctl2kg | when cops and dea agents perform undercover drugs busts where do they obtain said drugs? | [
{
"answer": "I think most of the time they act as the buyers, not the sellers. They are trying to work their way UP the ladder, not down, so they want the dealers, not the end users. \n\nSo they just make multiple buys from a small dealer, then bust him, and try to flip him to be a double agent in exchange... | null |
4qy10k | what happens to clothing that isn't sold? | [
{
"answer": "What you're asking about is the retail chain. For most products, it works like this:\n\nManufacturer makes a product, and markets it to retailers, who place orders in various quantities. They ship the orders, and the retailers sell it in line with their contract with the manufacturer. Using your... | null |
7lc8hh | how is a single injection of a drug able to provide months of therapy? | [
{
"answer": "Esterification of an injectable steroid basically accomplishes one thing, it slows the release of the parent steroid from the site of injection. \nThis happens because the ester will notably lower the water solubility of the steroid, and increase its lipid (fat) solubility. This will cause the drug... | null |
13hp7g | How does amputation early in life affect growth of the amputated limb? | [
{
"answer": "Typically amputated limbs do not grow.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "27162986",
"title": "Arterial embolism",
"section": "Section::::Treatment.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 69,
"start_character... | null |
2johqv | Were legendary swords actually a thing? | [
{
"answer": "Heya guys, just popping in here to issue a quick reminder as to the [standards we uphold in this subreddit.](_URL_0_) Not a single one of the answers so far has measured up to those standards, including posts along the lines of:\n\n* \"I don't know a great deal about this but as there are no other ... | null |
4dcac6 | how quartz crystal resonators work? | [
{
"answer": "They rely on a piezo crystal. These crystals have the useful property that they generate a voltage if you squeeze them, and expand or contract if you apply a voltage. They are commonly used in lighters (squeezing them generates a high voltage, which causes a spark), speakers and ultra sound transdu... | null |
7dy4xi | What are the best examples of forgiveness and philanthropy and self-sacrifice from history? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, we don't allow [\"example seeking\" questions](_URL_1_). It's not that your question was bad; it's that these kinds of questions tend to produce threads that are collections of disjointed, partial, inadequate responses. If you have a question about a specific historical event, period, or per... | null |
4szktg | how does the 100 year old light bulb work? | [
{
"answer": "I believe you're talking about the firehouse lightbulb that is 100 years old.\n\nThe answer is a combination of several things- the bulb has been fairly gently used, the power that it running it is lower than standard, the bulb itself is of a sturdier design than its modern replacements would be, a... | null |
fktct0 | Why aren't you still contagious after you recover from a viral infection? | [
{
"answer": "It is absolutely not true that viruses remain in your body forever. There are a small subset of viruses that do that, but the vast, vast majority of viruses are completely eliminated from your body by the immune system.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
2fq2fb | Are there any magnets available commercially that will adhere to aluminum? | [
{
"answer": "Magnetic effects generally arise from the interactions of unpaired electrons. Typically, magnetic materials (such as iron) are ferromagnets, which means that the the unpaired electrons the d-orbitals can spin-align under certain conditions. Aluminum only has s and p orbitals, and therefore no d ele... | null |
e7jnch | how does a fast charging plug charge faster when the socket has the same output when there's a regular plug? | [
{
"answer": "The \"fast charge\" socket **does not** have the same output.\n\nThe voltage is the same, but the current available at that voltage is higher. This must be taken into account when choosing cables and connectors.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
1br8vb | Generating electricity and rotating magnets | [
{
"answer": "You could, but it wouldn't be beneficial. Any energy being used to cause rotation of the smaller magnets is not going in to generating electricity. You could be better off using your super magnet to generate electricity directly. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenanc... | null |
53m6oc | In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Satan is sometimes read as the protagonist. While Milton obviously didn't intend this, did any of his contemporaries believe this? | [
{
"answer": "[Yes.](_URL_0_)\n\nAs the source describes, Milton was a republican in the historical sense. It was during his lifetime that Oliver Cromwell, still a divisive figure in English history, rose to power after overthrowing Charles I. Milton supported this. Charles I was deposed, but after returning and... | null |
3ap076 | after their extinction, why did dinosaur type creatures not evolve all over again? | [
{
"answer": "There are infinite forms for life to try. There is no trajectory of evolution except the historical lineage. Since the non-avian dinos were erased, there was no evolutionary history to build on. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Evolution creates species that do better in there curr... | null |
3bioer | I know of absolute zero at -273.15°C, but is there an absolute hot? | [
{
"answer": "We don't know if there's a maximum temperature.\n\nIn certain models -- string theory is one of them -- there is a maximum temperature called the *Hagedorn temperature*. This arises because the number of possible high energy states increases sufficiently fast that as you put more energy into the s... | null |
j3oo0 | programming and writing computer code (if it can be explained to a 5 year old) elim | [
{
"answer": "If you have a lot of time, I think a wonderful and engaging introduction is Harvard's [CS50](_URL_0_) course, and it leads you step-by-step through many of the questions you have. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "34550",
... | null |
8zaa51 | how can google get fined by eu for practically promoting their own products/brand(google search engine & android/google search engine on android devices) | [
{
"answer": "How can they? The EU can impose a fine and refuse to let them operate in the EU until it is paid.\n\nWhy would they? Because it can be considered a breach in monopoly laws. Microsoft was indicted on the grounds of monopolization for bundling internet explorer with their OS. \n\nI may be a bit out o... | null |
3yivi2 | What was US espionage like from the Revolutionary War period through the Civil War? What sort of information was targeted and how was it collected? | [
{
"answer": "In the intelligence community Nathan Hale is often called \"America's first spy\". He was captured by the British in 1776 and executed, famously stating \"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.\" \n\nHale's mission was to go behind the British lines and report on their movem... | null |
nnv0t | computer shellcode (shell code) | [
{
"answer": "If you're not a programmer, the only thing you can really do is make sure that you consistently update your software, especially when it says it's for security reasons.\n\nIf you are a programmer, you should be aware that one of the most common types of security vulnerability is a buffer overflow. ... | null |
66oskt | How does a king or queen end up with a epithet...such as Alfred the Great, Æthelred the Unready, Edward the Confessor, etc? | [
{
"answer": "A couple ways.\n\n1. They give it to themselves. *Every* Joseon Korean King styled himself \"the Great\"\n\n2. Others give it to them. Kings in Europe took their epithets personally and knew what they were in many cases. They all wanted a name like \"the Bold\", \"the Good\", \"the Brave\", or \"th... | null |
1bnxah | Why do English translations of WWII German always leave the words "Reich" and "Führer" in German? | [
{
"answer": "These words have entered the consciousness of English-speakers (and speakers of other languages) as having a specific connection to a certain object. There are dozens of German leaders, there is only one Fuhrer. This is the same with, say, Czar or Chief.\n\nSimilarly, sometimes words get extra mean... | null |
4smarr | how far ahead we are in achieving unified field theory ? | [
{
"answer": "Not very far unfortunately. Without going into the details (which I'd be crap at explaining anyway), string theory seems to be the most promising avenue. However, there seem to be virtually an infinite number of configurations of the math that leads to a consistent universe which makes it practic... | null |
1m77h4 | Were there ground public transportation options before the advent of the automobile and the locomotive? | [
{
"answer": "One of the best known ground public transport options was stage coaches, so-called because they regularly changed horses with each stretch between changes being called a \"stage\". In Australia the best known and remembered of these is \"Cobb & Co\" although there were many other companies runn... | null |
1sod3n | how do generic brands work and why are they cheaper than their name brand cournterparts? | [
{
"answer": "My roommate used to work at Kraft foods. He said when they were making the \"Brand Name\" product, everything was added to the mix. About mid day they would change to the \"Store Brand\" product, and either remove an ingredient, or use lower quality ingredients, and just change the label.",
"... | null |
3t2p0i | what is a runny nose supposed to accomplish? it seems so counterproductive | [
{
"answer": "Your \"internal snot chutes\" empty into the stomach. The snot, along with anything that happens to get stuck in it, gets destroyed by stomach acid. So sniffing it back in, and then down into your throat, is the entire point.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance":... | null |
4d134m | how can we know the size of the observable universe of we only just escaped the solar system? | [
{
"answer": "We can look at galaxies outside ours, and see how far away they are (using various techniques like standard candles, a particular kind of star with known brightness) and how fast they are moving (using techniques like redshift). When we do this, we find that (almost) everything is moving away from ... | null |
1mhpx8 | why in germany or the netherlands the youth unemployment rate is under 9% while in countries such as greece, spain and portugal the same rate ranges from a 40% to 60%? | [
{
"answer": "Overall unemployment in Germany and the Netherlands is significantly lower, so without a lot of unemployed, experienced workers around, businesses have no real choice. They would either have to get into a bidding war with other businesses over older, already trained workers, or hire young people an... | null |
2nsiiw | Why is the way in which colonial powers took over North America viewed today as "stealing", when similar scenarios are often seen as "occupying" or "invading" and then largely forgotten? | [
{
"answer": "Can you give some examples, please? That would help.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "50190219",
"title": "Border imperialism",
"section": "Section::::Settler colonialism.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 17,... | null |
fgy10d | why is it harder to find veins for injection on someone who's feeling nervous about it ? | [
{
"answer": "Nervousness causes high blood pressure. One of the causes of high blood pressure is constriction of the blood vessels thus making them smaller and hard to find. Add in the fact that not everyone has the same body make-up, I.e. some people may just have naturally smaller/less flexible veins or the... | null |
2t5gal | how come when i dream something relevant happens in real world? | [
{
"answer": "You dream many things per night and some of them are relevant. Or maybe they are not all that relevant, but can be interpreted in a strange way to make sense to you. Like in your example, it could have been your brother, your father, anyone calling, anyone on the TV etc. you just want it to fit, so... | null |
j2pol | explain me stocks (what i should look for, what types are there). | [
{
"answer": "Honestly, this is your best shot at learning about [stocks](_URL_2_)\n\n\nThere is no easy answer to any of the things you asked.\n\nStop spending money as if it grows on trees. \n\nalso here are some important links that you might want to take a look at\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_1_\n",
"pr... | null |
3k8zxw | how did people used to find their penpal, back in the day? | [
{
"answer": "I found some in the back of a magazine called Stickers, for sticker collectors, back in the 80's. It was in the classified section where people could advertise that they wanted pen pals to write to them about the hobby.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There were penpal sections in... | null |
2pj3xi | why do police always show up to places with their sirens on? | [
{
"answer": "If police are doing something sneaky, like a sting, then they won't use a siren.\n\nBut the siren gets them through traffic, instructs the public to clear away, and can intimidate criminals (or potential criminals) to dissuade any further crimes. You might think twice about shooting a hostage if y... | null |
4332ig | why does "populism" have a negative connotation within democratic societies? | [
{
"answer": "Wiki has this definition:\n\n > Populism is a doctrine that appeals to the interests and conceptions (such as hopes and fears) of the general population, especially when contrasting any new collective consciousness push against the prevailing status quo interests of any predominant political sector... | null |
74z0xe | why do wifi routers need to be power cycled periodically? are there any that don't? | [
{
"answer": "Routers do NOT need to be reset periodically. If you set it up correctly and installed its firmware then you shouldn’t even be touching it for months or years. If you have an older modem then it could possibly be set on DoD and you’ll need to figure out how to make it a permanent connection. ",
... | null |
3eofx6 | why do towels have a band without fuzz on each end? | [
{
"answer": "It is there so the towel does not fall apart over time. There are two reasons for using this stitch over the regular \"fold-and-stitch\" version:\n\n* the fabric is very thick so it would give a very fat fold at the end which does not look appealing\n* the frothing does not make it very easy to han... | null |
1ntaga | If we know all the naturally occurring elements and how they combine, is there a finite number of compounds? Do we know them all? Have we synthesized all or most of them?? | [
{
"answer": "It's quite likely we know all naturally occurring elements, as all the ones heavier than those we know are naturally occurring are quite short-lived, and AFAIK it's not believed any more stable elements exist (even if an 'island of stability' may exist higher up, but then they mean _relative_ stabi... | null |
d0edar | Why do positron-electron pair not annihilate each other? | [
{
"answer": "To answer the question in the title: electrons and positrons do annihilate eachother.\n\nTo address the [different] question in the body of the post: the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the universe is an unsolved problem. Perhaps there are processes that violate lepton number or baryon number (key ... | null |
5fiqj4 | what are pilots checking during pre/post flight? | [
{
"answer": "Im not a pilot, but as a truck driver i would assume you would check a lot of the same things as i do on my rig. Check your fluid levels, belts, guages, lights, and for leaks. I bet they check their wings and tail like i check my tires and steering. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
fw2yke | why does yawning temporarily make a headache go away? | [
{
"answer": "Headaches are mostly caused by misfiring nerves in your brain (migraines) or \"heartbeat\"/pressure headaches in the nerves/vessels/muscle that surround your brain.\n\nYawning causes a few things to happen in your body: it increases oxygen in your blood stream, increases blood flow around your jaw ... | null |
35wuj4 | Is there a name for the feeling you get when you see something that makes you cringe? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_ This is more about sounds like scratching, scraping etc., but it does cover where the reaction comes from",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[Might not be what you're looking for exactly, but this site has a plethora of definitions that haven't been captured by words by an off... | null |
6du8cw | How did Gen James Longstreet go from Lee's right-hand man to pro-Reconstruction Republican? | [
{
"answer": "In a word, Longstreet was a realist. He accepted that the South has lost, and was looking for the best way for her to bounce back. But while he wasn't alone in the former officer corps in his caution \"to accept the terms that are now offered by the conquerors\" following the implementation of Reco... | null |
ryol9 | hasidic judaism (or jewish mysticism) | [
{
"answer": "Alright, first of all, not all Chasidim (-im generally means plural people in Hebrew) are mystics, nor are all mystics Chasidim. But you will usually find more Chasidic Kabbalah scholars than you will Reform. (Anecdotal evidence: I knew a Chabadnik who started Reform and eventually became Chabad.)\... | null |
3duro7 | How do sun rays affect clouds and their changes? | [
{
"answer": "Well, sun is the energy source in the formation of clouds. Actually, sun is the main energy source of all atmospheric movements. But I assume that wasn't your question (if it was, let me know.)\n\nOnce the clouds are formed, sun rays don't affect them **directly** because clouds are poor absorbers ... | null |
89jpfh | Do wolves panic during thunderstorms the way domesticated dogs sometimes do? | [
{
"answer": "Dogs panicking during thunderstorms only primarily happens because they aren’t conditioned to the sound before formative development in the brain stops. Dog trainers can suggest playing different sounds—cars honking, trains, thunderstorms, alarms, etc.—while puppies are young so they get used to th... | null |
4dauhr | why is the ph of water important for plants but not animals? | [
{
"answer": "My tomato plants that I'm growing hydroponically (i.e. in water) grow within a pH range of about 5.5-7.0\n\nMy fish grow in a range of about 6.5 - 7.0.\n\nSo I think pH of water is important for both plants and animals, and probably even more important for animals? But it probably depends a lot on ... | null |
3r7grd | why do tomato based foods stain tupperware? | [
{
"answer": "Tomatoes contain a compound called lycopene that reflects light strongly in the red portion of the visible spectrum. The lycopene binds to the plastic in the container causing it to take on a reddish tint. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You can prevent a great deal of the stainin... | null |
10h7zb | dust | [
{
"answer": "Dust is made of a collection of things: dead skin, dust mites, dust mite feces, pollen, smoke, soil, hair, and other materials. Dust particles are very small and light so they get blown around easily in the air. They spread out to fill a room top-to-bottom like a [cloud in a bottle](_URL_0_) but fo... | null |
3ho54r | Before the arrival of the Magyars, who lived in Hungary? | [
{
"answer": "The Iazyges were a nomadic Sarmatian tribe located in around where Romania, Ukraine, and Hungary meet today. They were a constant thorn in the side of the Roman Empire from the 1st Century BCE. They constantly resisted assimiliation and were among the last of the Dacian peoples to be quelled. In th... | null |
frxto | Does the total volume of precipitation in the sky vary? If so, by how much? | [
{
"answer": "Unsure what you are asking. Are you asking if the amount of water vapor varies? If so, it clearly does because humidity varies widely over the Earth.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3467933",
"title": "Mont Blanc mas... | null |
30eh70 | Before photo ID's how did people prove their identity? How would you get a check cashed? | [
{
"answer": "More of a legal history perspective, but contracts historically were based on trust. Basically you could cash a check because you said you were the person on the account. You would only need to prove your identity if there was something wrong with the transaction (someone else claimed it, the check... | null |
219vbr | Why is Australia so hot even though it is so far south of the equator? | [
{
"answer": "Australia isn't that far south - depending on whether you're talking Darwin or Tasmania, you're roughly looking at the same latitudes as northern hemisphere locales such as Syria, Iraq, Spain and Mexico - all fairly warm in their own right.\n\nAustralia's also affected by a strong warm-water curren... | null |
2r8mu5 | why is murder always the most severely punishable crime? | [
{
"answer": "It's simply the most permanent way to harm someone. I do agree that there are other ways to harm people that should result in harsher sentences. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because once your dead, that's the end of the road. To be taken from a life, no matter how miserable it ... | null |
4ub0s3 | airplane formations | [
{
"answer": "Different formations serve different purposes. Some just look good for display, and some are designed to maximize the aircraft's effectiveness in combat. \n\nEspecially in the pre-missile-and-radar days it was important for combat aircraft to fly in mutually supporting formations. Bombers flew in t... | null |
1j8cwm | Are there any well written/ researched historical books specifically about the America atomic dread and how it influenced culture and art? | [
{
"answer": "Hmm, if you're specifically interested in American art the catalog for the exhibition Under the Big Black Sun should have some material on the topic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Indeed, there are!\n\nMy favorite, for its breath and scope, is Spencer Weart's _Nuclear Fear: A His... | null |
3ds72j | How did Jefferson Davis get out of treason charges? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is there are a variety of reasons. This actually goes into law a little bit so I will be in uncharted territory.\n\nSo Davis was indicted for treason. But when he went before the judge his team argued that due to the 14th Amendment he was already punished for insurrection against t... | null |
8m527b | why does light only penetrate 1000 meters of the ocean and not the entire ocean? | [
{
"answer": "Roughly speaking, every metre of water will reduce the light by a fraction. Let's say that after 10m half the light is gone. After 20m, only a quarter would be left. After 100m, only a thousandth of the light would be getting through. (Number pulled out of my thin air.) In practice, presence of cre... | null |
15hykv | If you have an addiction, and suddenly get amnesia, will you know what you crave, even if you can't remember it consciously? | [
{
"answer": "Amnesia, to my knowledge, only affects conscious memory, so you will still have the cravings but you most likely will not remember what you are craving.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "40618504",
"title": "Memory era... | null |
2arj2i | doing x in your life decreases/increases your risk of getting y cancer by z%. how do they determine the percent risk? | [
{
"answer": "They look at a sample of the population, made up of varying groups within that sample, and they look at their habits and the outcomes.\n\nIf they notice that some men are not getting cancer while others are, or some men are being hospitalized for similar reasons while others aren't, they then look ... | null |
151lkv | baby boomers and the animosity towards them | [
{
"answer": "Copy-Pasta of my comment from [this thread](_URL_0_).\n\n > When the US had crushing debt after WWII, the top marginal tax rate was raised to over 90%(!!!). Our debt was far worse than today and the WWII generation was not willing to pass that debt on to their children. This WWII debt was paid off ... | null |
2meeum | Do bent space-time and gravitons both cause objects in space to attract one another? | [
{
"answer": "They are different descriptions of the same thing. Changes in the gravitational field propagate as gravitational radiation, and quanta of gravitational radiation are called gravitons. The classical limit of a spin-2 massless (graviton) quantum field theory is general relativity.",
"provenance":... | null |
3z1kmw | what is the purpose of the black paint under the eyes? | [
{
"answer": "It reduces glare (reflection off your upper cheekbones) from the sun/lights and makes it so that you do not have to squint as much. Besides being used in many sports, it is also used by hunters and military/ warring peoples. As for historical context, it's been done for a very long time because it'... | null |
5d0chz | Why can an inner ear infection cause temporary taste loss? | [
{
"answer": "Oh so this is SUPER cool. Sorry, probably not for you, but I'm a huge dork.\n\nThere's a nerve called the chorda tympani which passes through the middle ear, and I'm making an assumption here that you actually had a middle ear infection, as they are far more common. It is one of three nerves that c... | null |
2514oc | Is an insect that lives for 1 hour much faster evolving than humans who reproduce every 657 000 hours? (30 years) | [
{
"answer": "My brain is foggy, but there were many studies that get done on fruit flies for mutations because of their quick life span and how many offspring each can create.\n\nEDIT: Here is an example that goes into more details than I could ever remember: _URL_0_\n\nTo quote the article for the lazy:\n\n\... | null |
d42crs | how are people able to salvage data that has been deleted? | [
{
"answer": "Data isn't actually deleted when you hit \"delete\". When you hit \"delete\", you're telling the Operating System that it is OK to overwrite the area the data is taking up. If you delete something by mistake, and you don't write anything to the disk, the data is still there, and you can recover the... | null |
cydkv5 | After WW2, Hirohito was allowed to remain as a symbolic head, Why? | [
{
"answer": "/u/restricteddata previously answered [Why was Emperor Hirohito allowed to keep the throne after Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII?](_URL_1_)\n\n/u/vinco_et_praevaleo previously answered [How did Emperor Hirohito escape trial and death following the Second World War?](_URL_0_)\n\nEDIT: fixed ... | null |
d70rvp | why do some batteries puff up? | [
{
"answer": "A swollen battery is the result of progressive degradation of the chemicals that generate power. The reaction that pushes electrons through the circuit can't work the way they were designed to, and part of that failure involves *outgassing,* or the creation of gases and vapors where they're not int... | null |
vnd2t | Is there a certain configuration for a wifi router's antennas to give better reception? | [
{
"answer": "You want to set up antennas perpendicular to the direction of motion of the signal. So, if you're in the room next door, you would want the antenna to be vertical. If your router was in the basement and you wanted signal directly above it on the roof, you would want the antenna to be perfectly ho... | null |
1mwg90 | How does sound pass though objects, but light (mostly) cant? | [
{
"answer": "Sound waves are a series of uncompressed and compressed molecules. When you slam your book on your table, the molecules of the book pushes the table surface molecules down, which gets them pretty close to the next set of molecules. The first group then retracts since they don't want to be so close ... | null |
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