id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
6snjgy | how do headphones create sound by connecting a metal post into a metal housing and sending information through a wire into speakers? | [
{
"answer": "They don't send \"information\", they send an analog electrical signal. That signal is run through a coil to produce a magnetic field. A small permanent magnet reacts to the field, moving a small speaker cone back and forth to produce sound waves that your ear can detect.",
"provenance": null... | null |
5qlea5 | why do so many people equate abortion with murder when an unwanted baby is often subject to a lifetime of pain and depression due to their parent's inability to care for the child? | [
{
"answer": "Because apparently a life full of suffering and pain that likely ends tragically, is better than not being alive at all.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "354076",
"title": "Maternal death",
"section": "Section... | null |
9av5ku | if dust in houses is mostly caused by dead human skin cells then why are old abandoned houses always so dusty? | [
{
"answer": "There's no-one there to clean them. Dust, which comes from many sources of which dead skin cells are only one, builds up over time. Most people do at least a little cleaning of their homes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You've been misinformed. Dust is not made up of mainly human... | null |
xp6sy | I wonder what historians think of Niall Ferguson. | [
{
"answer": "I can only speak about his work on empire - which most historians dismiss as too one-sided and just bad. To put it bluntly, he gives a very distorted view of the British Empire, implying that, on the whole, it was an example of a \"benevolent\" imperial power who brought progress and modernity to... | null |
12zccz | why can't i become the president of the united states (i was born in canada)? | [
{
"answer": "Its the rules\n\n**US Constitution, Article II, Section 1**\n\nNo person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall no... | null |
xtlnz | what does curiosity do besides taking pictures of mars? | [
{
"answer": "It's got a chemical sniffer, a laser, and a drill. All for looking for chemistry of one form or another that might indicate prior life, or the possibility of future life. And when it meets Spirit and Opportunity they can join to become MegaRover™!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "... | null |
3maaew | When did a majority of Texans begin speaking English instead of Spanish? | [
{
"answer": "Stephen Austin founded his colony in 1821. At that time, there were fewer than 8,000 Spanish-speaking *tejanos* and perhaps 15,000 Native Americans in Texas. These numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Many of the Native Americans in Texas were nomadic and lived in Texas for only part of th... | null |
1x6b0u | What source(s) (primary if possie) could be used as evidence for a paper on the Nazi regieme's efforts to conceal the Holocaust from the public eye? | [
{
"answer": "Nazi-Germany did not try to conceal the holocaust in the east at all. Public mass shootings were common practice. Please read Mark Mazower's Dark Continent for background. \nThey did try to conceal the holocaust in the west however. Primary evidence could be the administrations of the different Jew... | null |
34hu1p | What is the role of a neutral wire in an A/C? Does the return current in an A/C pass through the live or the neutral wire? | [
{
"answer": "It's the same as the role of neutral wire in DC: in order for the current to move, it has to have a conductor to move through.\n\nIn a closed circuit, there is no difference between the live and the neutral wire; the only real difference is that if the circuit is open, touching one will electrocute... | null |
9f2v7g | how does glass work to help plants grow? | [
{
"answer": "What do you mean?\n\nLike greenhouses? They let in light and trap heat, allowing plants to grow in colder climates than they could otherwise.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Greenhouse design and construction is a fairly detailed science on its own. It varies based on your altitude... | null |
22qlvb | why do red and blonde hair tend to run in the same families if there both recessive genes? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not entirely sure of the allele frequencies of red/blonde hair but I'll continue regardless. By allele frequency I mean the number of people in the population who carry the particular gene variant/allele e.g. blonde/red hair\n\nThey must be at sufficiently high frequency that homozygotes (peopl... | null |
1nkyiq | how does turning on a lightbulb use more electricity than keeping it running? | [
{
"answer": "There must be an initial surge of energy to get the filament to the proper temperature to produce the light. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It all depends on how long you would be leaving it on for as opposed to possibly simply walking out and walking back in. MythBusters took th... | null |
3bw7rl | What led to the development of marine infantry units? | [
{
"answer": "This is a bit of a throughout history question, so it would be best to narrow it down. In broad strokes though there are advantages in having troops who are specialized in certain aspects of warfare, ready to deploy abroad, and under control of your branch of service. \n\nFor a lot of history in ma... | null |
1sgk3v | What tactics did viking raid victims come up with to counter the invasions? | [
{
"answer": "In the Kingdom Wessex under Alfred the Great, the Burghal system was implemented in response to the Viking raids from Danelaw and overseas. The Burghal system in Wessex founded by Alfred in the 9th century, shown in the *Burghal Hidage* document, has 33 fortified towns, known as Burhs, in which loc... | null |
1mw4ch | If water conservation is so vital to mammals, why do we pee? Why not transfer toxins into stool and recycle the water? Are there any animals that have evolved to do this? | [
{
"answer": "Safely excreting waste tends to be a balancing act between water and energy. Land animals in non-desert climates tend to urinate in the sense you are familiar with. However, animals in climates in which water is very precious or those which can't carry a lot of water due to weight (birds) use a d... | null |
uorc1 | Why do dogs walk in a circle before they lay down? | [
{
"answer": "There are a couple of theories ranging from circling behaviour intended to pad down grass to be more comfortable, to circling in order to judge wind direction and lay nose facing the breeze. There's little conclusive agreement on the true reason however.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
574jsf | In US Presidential election history, has there been cases where the losing candidate completely refused to recognize the results of the election? | [
{
"answer": "Hi there, I'm going to approve this question because it asks about the historical record, but for potential respondents: Please remember that our subreddit rules explicitly forbid both [discussion of current events](_URL_1_) as well as [political discussion/soapboxing](_URL_0_).",
"provenance":... | null |
bwz9km | how did columbus communicated with the aztecs if they didn’t speak their language and vise versa? | [
{
"answer": "Columbus didn't communicate with the Aztecs. He never met them. \n\nHernan Cortes was the man responsible for destroying the Aztec empire. \n\nWhen Cortes first landed in the Yucatan he met Geronimo de Aguilar, a Spanish Franciscan priest who had survived a shipwreck followed by a period in captivi... | null |
ttkq4 | Are new planets and stars currently being formed? | [
{
"answer": "There are new planets and stars being formed all the time. And old ones being destroyed. We cannot directly or even indirectly observe most of this due to the distance between our solar system and these other systems and galaxies, but it is happening. In fact everything we are composed of, all of o... | null |
b9x26m | how integrals can calculate areas? | [
{
"answer": "There is a 2d area underneath the curve of a function, or in between functions. There are also 3D volumes under and between curves, the x, y, and imaginary z axis. \n\nNow, when you want to find these curves you have to use a tool, which is the integral function. \n\nIntegrals can approximate area ... | null |
9cbbms | Seeking for the translation of what Diogene said to Alexander the Great. | [
{
"answer": "If I understand you right, you're asking for the Greek text? That's in Plutarch's Life of Alexander, 14.3. It looks like this:\n > ‘μικρὸν’ εἶπεν, ‘ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μετάστηθι’\n\nεἶπεν is \"he said.\" So actual quote would be ‘μικρὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μετάστηθι’\n\nWriting Greek on an American keyboard... | null |
e1gesn | Is there number to acceleration of Universe expansion? | [
{
"answer": "The expansion rate has units of inverse time (for practical reasons it is given as km/(s\\*Megaparsec) but that is a length in numerator and denominator). How the expansion changes over time has units of inverse time squared: 1/s^(2).\n\nIt can be calculated with the second [Friedmann equation](_UR... | null |
3u9lci | how does the same model of device get software updates at different times during a rollout? | [
{
"answer": "Every device had a unique serial number. The device sends its serial number to the update server which uses it to decide whether the device gets an update. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "50606558",
"title": "Rollin... | null |
3oc4ms | do "not for individual sale" warnings on products have any legal binding? | [
{
"answer": "The point of the label is that required legal statements (like nutrition and ingredients) aren't on the individually wrapped servings but rather on the box they came in. These warnings protect the manufacturer from charges that they made items without the required labeling.",
"provenance": null... | null |
449bxo | why couldn't martin shkreli call the committee of congressmen imbeciles right at the hearing ? can he invoke his 5th amendment and still them to go take a hike? | [
{
"answer": "Just like contempt of court, you can be fined or jailed for contempt of congress.\n\nYou have to respect the proceedings even if you do not respect the people.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "57487479",
"title": "Tim... | null |
4su7xl | why does a knife need to be moved to be sharp? if you touch a knife it's ok, but if you drag your finger down the edge it hurts. | [
{
"answer": "Knives are still sharp straight-on and can cut that way. However, at a microscopic level, even straight-edged knives have tiny teeth. So when you move the edge against the item to be cut, you are actually running a tiny ultra-sharp saw across it.\n\n[Micro photo of a razor's edge can be seen here.]... | null |
1facnp | If one of an entangled pair of particles is entangled again, what happens to the entangled values in the system? | [
{
"answer": "Three electrons can be maximally entangled as \n\nuuu + ddd\n\nuuu + ddu + dud + udd\n\nuuu + udd + duu + ddd\n\nThese are all [GHZ](_URL_0_) states. They're triply entangled, so there are no 'individual states'. Any single measurement of any electron has a 50/50 chance of being up or down. Some me... | null |
eo7a0t | as alcohol sterilizes stuff, when we drink booze it kills the good bacteria inside us? | [
{
"answer": "Alcohol is absorbed in your small intestines and subsequently processed and broken down enzymatically by your liver long before it reaches your colon. The colon aka large intestines is where your gut bacteria live predominantly",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Rubbing alcohol is lik... | null |
1ph2rw | Does capillary action take salt water with it? Why or why not? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, the water drawn up by capillary action would take the soluble salt with it, but you are right that the slightly larger mass of the sodium and chloride ions, compared to water, will make them \"climb\" slower, and therefore less high.\n\nThis is the basis of some types of molecular separation m... | null |
2x9dnc | how is it possible for something moving the speed of light to experience no time. | [
{
"answer": "The concept at play here is called Special Relativity; it's one of Einstein's greatest achievements.\n\nThe ELI5 is that time slows down for *all* moving objects. You don't notice this on a day to day basis because you're moving *really* slowly; you need to be moving at a nontrivial fraction of th... | null |
hah51 | Do new scientific discoveries have the same relative significance over time? | [
{
"answer": "It would be *incredibly* less significant to us than Newton's laws of gravity or the invention of the wheel.\r\n\r\nWhat many people don't realize is that we've basically mapped out all the physics that will ever be relevant to humans. There are still holes on the edges of our theories, but filling... | null |
3sv8u1 | the metal thing they press on fighters faces between rounds. | [
{
"answer": "I believe it's cold like ice to decrease the swelling. Probably made of steel so it can be sterilized between fights.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's an eye iron. It's a piece of steel that can be super-cooled to reduce swelling on a fighter's face, so they can continue to see... | null |
6yjzd1 | what's the deal with all those scammy looking "we buy houses" signs i see at so many intersections? | [
{
"answer": "They buy houses. Why do you think them scammy?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Opportunists. Lowball offers. If seller is motivated they get an easy and profitable flip.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They are looking for people in danger of foreclosure. It cost... | null |
3vbo9y | why do skilled nfl athletes still commit penalties? | [
{
"answer": "Sometimes it is on accident and sometimes it is not. If I go to grab someone and they move at the last second, I may not grab them where I was trying to. Everything is happening so fast, and other times they just want to grab the face mask. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Facemas... | null |
3a810t | how bulletproof are dinosaurs? | [
{
"answer": "Dinosaurs don't have magic anti-bullet properties, and bullets aren't magical things that do abstract \"damage\" like in movies and video games. Bullets punch holes in things. That's it. Large animals have more blood to lose, more muscle to draw on in emergencies, and more flesh to pierce before ir... | null |
jg52o | Is there any evidence that over the counter vitamin D supplements enhance mood? | [
{
"answer": "In the unlikely chance that reduced sun exposure causes a severe Vitamin D deficiency, [you can experience depression](_URL_0_). However, taking supplements to prevent depression isn't quite established.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In the unlikely chance that reduced sun exposu... | null |
4u32z6 | rules about reasonable suspicion vs. probable cause/just cause | [
{
"answer": "Cop here:\n\nReasonable Suspicion:\n\nAn officer reasonably belives a crime *may have* occurred.\n\nFor example: An officer is patrolling an area where car break-ins have been a problem. He sees a man in a hoodie (even though it's warm outside) looking into a car window.\n\nHe has reasonable susp... | null |
2eh8cc | what role does a director actually play in creating a movie and what are the signs of a poorly directed movie? | [
{
"answer": "The director is the head honcho of the movie set. What ever you see on the screen is because of what the direct wants you to see.\n\nThe director has the power the take the saddest script and redirect it to be the happiest thing you've seen.\n\n\nThe director is the conductor on the emotional train... | null |
adgdc8 | What sources are there to suggest that Nero blamed the fire in Rome in 64 CE on Christians? Do we know how he became aware of the movement? Would these suggestions be the earliest independent recognition of Christians as a distinct group in the historical record? | [
{
"answer": "The only source that mentions Nero's blaming of the Christians is Tacitus ([Annals 15.44](_URL_2_)):\n\n > Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. ... | null |
3y4ilm | why do so many great mma fighters have multiple losses on their record compared to boxers? | [
{
"answer": "There's more ways to lose in mma. Boxing is more technical and skill makes a bigger difference than blind luck. Also, politics. Most boxers with only a few losses compared to wins have some very questionable decisions in their favor",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Part of it is the... | null |
3l6371 | How come soldiers in Mesoamerica and Japan didn't make widespread use of larger shields like in Eurasia? | [
{
"answer": "Define large.\n\nIn Mesoamerica, different shield designs were used at various points in time. Ross Hassig talks about changes in Mesoamerican shield design in his book *War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica*. \n\nThe Central Mexican city of Teotihuacan, which fell some 500 years before the Aztec ... | null |
1q3khx | why, as an adult, i take the same amount of cough syrup or other medicines as a 12 year old when i am heavier and more physically mature? | [
{
"answer": "The dosage is just what they know is safe but still effective generally. If you feel like the recommended dosage is insufficient you can go above. Of course if something goes wrong you can't sue the company because you went against recommendations, and you didn't hear it from me that it should be s... | null |
1aq961 | Did WW2 had any cultural impact on arts or music in Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Huge, post modernism was in part a reaction to the world wars and the changes they brought. \n\nIn Europe the grief was palpable, imagine if 20% of your population died. It made many artists think that any attempt at meaning or beauty was hopeless and futile in the face of such horror. \n\nIt was r... | null |
21vj3f | When and why did golf become the default "upper-class hangout/dealmaking" activity? What filled that role before? | [
{
"answer": "In ancient Persia, there was quite an exciting sport that we've been able to reconstruct from artistic depictions, and also the preserved fragments from the ancient Persian *On the art of entertaining officials*, an important handbook for satraps and other royal officials. Whenever a group of royal... | null |
204kws | When Canada changed its flag, what did they do with all the old ones? | [
{
"answer": "There's never been any legislation covering flag disposal in Canada. The rules of Flag Etiquette are laid out in a [publication by the Department of Canadian Heritage](_URL_0_) and the rule for disposal is pretty vague. It just says that old flags \"should be destroyed in a dignified way.\" But of ... | null |
4g0vkh | if gravity is actually the earth accelerating upwards and the earth is spherical, how can it accelerate upwards in all its surface? | [
{
"answer": "Did you get the bit where it mentioned frames of reference? Because that's what this is all about.\n\nNow, ignore the planet. Ignore all the big stuff around here. Ignore me, ignore you. We're going to talk about two tennis balls in deep space. They're just there, in space - they're not sitting on ... | null |
dwmt46 | what the hell did people think sports concussions were before? | [
{
"answer": "Well the expression for a concussion was usually something like \"he got his bell rung\" to explain the immediate symptoms of concussion. CTE is different that a concussion though. It is caused by many concussions over time, slowly building, as we understand it now, but is often seen later in life.... | null |
afayf9 | the brain is very important, and very complex and exists in a confined space; given that why is it that tumors in the brain are able to get so large before being noticed? | [
{
"answer": "The common symptoms of brain tumors are just that, common. Headaches, nausea, dizziness, and so on can be caused by a lot of other things and the symptoms themselves can come and go. It's usually once more serious symptoms appear or a pattern of symptoms is recognized that a patient undergo MRI.",... | null |
2bjpmg | Can anyone tell me about a specific American flag? | [
{
"answer": "hi! it might be worth x-posting this question to the flag aficionados in /r/Vexillology",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "11447",
"title": "Flag of the United States",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id... | null |
11oyyv | openoffice vs. libreoffice (vs. microsoft office) | [
{
"answer": "I haven't used OpenOffice since the split, nor MS Office since before then, so I can't comment on the differences between them today. But I can give a little background on the split itself. \n \nOpenOffice used to be run by Sun. [In 2009 Oracle bought Sun](_URL_0_) and maintenance of OpenOffice... | null |
enpxss | - when you dent your car and the auto body shop uses filler to fill the dent, what are they using? | [
{
"answer": "Polyester resin/putty, sometimes mixed with fiberglass for extra strength. Bondo is a fairly common brand, and other brands are often referred to as \"bondo\" as a result.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "308765",
"ti... | null |
716qta | is it pitch black in space or is there enough ambient light to see something held in front of you? | [
{
"answer": "Somewhere on the Internet NASA has a page describing how much light there is and what you can see. If I were there I would be sure I had a flashlight. Maybe I would sprinkle powder and shine the light on the powder to get a diffuse illumination. Or I could shine the light on a nearby surface to use... | null |
9s31si | how do cinema projectors have such high quality compared to personal home projectors? | [
{
"answer": "They got a light source (think: a bulb) that is consuming so much energy it's crazy compared to the tiny box you got in your own living room.\n\nAnd bulbs always create excess heat that needs to be cooled away with active cooling. i.e, fans. Fans are noisy.\n\nBut no-one in the cinema cares, becaus... | null |
2alzkt | why do chiggers and/or mosquitos seem to bite around a person's joints (e.g. ankle) | [
{
"answer": "In short, evolution or The Fall, depending on your religious flavor or lack thereof.\n\nThe most prominent reason is the fact that the blood vessels are very close to the surface of the skin over these areas. Mosquitos have the capacity to sense heat as well as (some speculate) the capacity to sen... | null |
3c7poz | How exactly was Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy? | [
{
"answer": "While a perfectly fine question, more of our Civil War experts are sticking around in [this AMA thread today, so I would suggest you repost it here!](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4800105",
"title": "Milit... | null |
1ef2hf | What factors contribute to resting metabolic rate? | [
{
"answer": "First question; not my area\n\n\nSecond question, relating to the first:\n[Not much](_URL_0_)\n\n\n > One study noted that one standard deviation of variance for resting metabolic rate (how many calories are burnt by living) was 5-8%; meaning 1 standard deviation of the population (68%) was within ... | null |
kptcj | how is facebook exploiting me? | [
{
"answer": "Basically anything you submit to Facebook becomes their property; Pictures, personal information, everything.\n\nPeople complain about privacy and then go and spill every single detail of their life to Facebook, thus Facebook is \"exploiting\" idiots.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
52ocer | where does the sound from the car's blinker actually come from? | [
{
"answer": "It's a relay with a reed switch. Makes noise when activated. They're usually under the dash on the driver's side.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It comes from a relay switch that is turning off and on. The relay is a small electro-mechanical switch that uses a small voltage, to ... | null |
ub719 | Why are there distinct lines between the states of matter, instead of just a gradual scale of change? | [
{
"answer": "So, addressing a few misconceptions:\n\nIt really isn't a terribly meaningful statement to describe a single molecule as having a temperature. That said, I assume your idea here is that the entire material is in the same \"condition\" (pressure, temperature, etc).\n\nNext, while it is still \"just ... | null |
1lwpv4 | How and when were all the clocks (time) around the world synced? | [
{
"answer": "As the UK became a maritime nation, boats kept one [chronometer](_URL_0_) on-board so they knew how far away they were from the Greenwich meridian (which is considered to have longitude zero degrees). The chronometer wasn't treated as the actual time, because that was calculated by solar time, depe... | null |
2q71q4 | Can anyone name an example of a country that fared poorly as a result of having a really open immigration policy? | [
{
"answer": "Our [subreddit rules](_URL_0_) don't allow \"throughout history\" questions, so I'm afraid I've had to remove your post. We've found that questions like this end up attracting low effort trivia rather than the in-depth responses people like to see here. If you're interested, I'd encourage you to po... | null |
1osc17 | paralysis, specifically if you are paralyzed below the waist, is your genitalia also paralyzed? can a man never have an erection for the rest of his life? | [
{
"answer": "Most people who are paralyzed from the waist down do not lose the ability to have and enjoy sex.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It depends.\n\nSome people are (effectively) paralyzed because of a muscle issue. So, the nerve connection between brain and muscle is still there, but t... | null |
6623yk | theresa may's announcement of the snap election | [
{
"answer": "May's Blue party think they're currently doing a lot better than Jeremy's Red party. Because the Blue party are in charge of the tree house just now, they've decided to hold the next election earlier than they need to, which is called a 'snap' election.\n\nAll the members of the tree house get to v... | null |
185jiv | How serious was the Madagascar plan? | [
{
"answer": "Transcript from the Eichmann trial.\n\nThe plan took its final shape during the War. Eichmann admitted that it had been devised and passed on by his Section after consultations and discussions with other authorities. Under this plan all the local inhabitants of Madagascar, about four million person... | null |
js20b | how military units get their numbers? like where does 25th id come from? wheres 24th id? | [
{
"answer": "this is probably better off in /askreddit than eli5",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I always wondered why we only hear about the 82ond and 101st Airborne-the 83rd must be pissed!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's largely random. In WWII we had the first, second,... | null |
40sqo7 | why should one's beliefs impede another's rights, especially if the other doesn't subscribe to their belief system? | [
{
"answer": "Christians believe being around gay people or being forced to serve them food in their restaurant is the same as \"being forced to accept homosexuality\". In Christianity, homosexuality is a sin punishable by death, no different from murder. \n\nAlso, they believe gay marriage or gay rights are s... | null |
9bjjzh | plato's theory of forms and aristotle's criticism to it | [
{
"answer": "Basically there's a place where there's a perfect form of everything that exists. Like a perfect chair or perfect cat or perfect pencil. According to him when we are born we are born with the knowledge of all these perfect forms but we forget as we get older so we live in an imperfect version of th... | null |
6a8tyt | why are videogame consoles and other electronics arranged in rectangular prisms rather than cubes? | [
{
"answer": "They're based around circuit boards which tend to be flat and not square. Making a cube would either result in a *giant* cube, forcing you to make your circuit board really tiny or splitting the electronics into multiple square boards & adding some sort of interconnect between them, none of whic... | null |
1p5u2v | Serious: Is the increase in detection and diagnosis of all Cancers in any way related to the increased levels of radioactive materials in circulation globally? | [
{
"answer": "In short: no. Only a [small fraction of cancers](_URL_0_) is attributable to radiation.\n\nThere are several reasons that cancer is more prevalent (or appears more prevalent) in recent years.\n\n1) Age is the #1 risk factor for cancer. In other words, the older you are, the more likely you are to... | null |
3vlqtr | why do veins swell when you constrict your blood flow? | [
{
"answer": "Blood flows out from your heart along arteries, and back to the heart along veins. Blood pressure is very high in the arteries, and low in the veins - it's the drop in pressure that carries it through your circulatory system.\n\nSo, grab your arm above the elbow, and what's happening? You're constr... | null |
76qkf8 | what is border adjustment and how will it let trump force mexico to pay for the wall? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not an expert. But as I understood it, the border adjustment simply means import/export toll (I don't know the English word; I mean the fee you or a company has to pay to be allowed to transport goods to another country) is changed. Less import taxes for US Companies, and more export taxes for ... | null |
1ug1cd | Why isn't matter evenly distributed across the universe? | [
{
"answer": "It is, just not on small scales. The basic structure of the universe on large scales is galactic superclusters, to clusters, to galaxies, to stars. At supercluster level, the universe is very evenly distributed.\n\n[this](_URL_0_) link gave a good description of how the local distributions came abo... | null |
akmwea | When And Why Did Children's Books Emerge? | [
{
"answer": "I did an overview of pretty much the entire history of children's literature in [this answer about the rise of YA lit](_URL_0_), though I skirt around spending a lot of time doing in-depth discussion surrounding the beginnings of children's literature. If you're not satisfied with that answer and w... | null |
2drcgc | the rick perry indictment | [
{
"answer": "Lehmberg is an elected district attorney. As such, she cannot be fired directly by Governor Perry. Lehmberg was charged with a DWI back in 2013, did some jail time, and successfully defended her position in a civil suit. Governor Perry does not want Lehmberg to remain in office, so he threatened... | null |
677ouo | how do shows like last week tonight identify clips for a clip montage? | [
{
"answer": "Studios have library / archive services that will sell you clips to use. For example, [NBCUniversal Archives] (_URL_0_) has clips from their news shows.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "11517785",
"title": "Destinat... | null |
urtt3 | How did early films get copied and mass-produced? | [
{
"answer": "While I can't give a good answer, I can say what I would do if I had their technology. \n\nI would take an unexposed reel and match it up with the film's reel. Laying the two strips over one another, shine a light through the original and then through the new film. The original film will filter ... | null |
4gtwg5 | how does a thermal explosion cause a human to get knocked back, as often seen in action movies? | [
{
"answer": "Movies aren't always representative of real life. Action movies even less so.\n\nOf course, it's possible for an explosion to knock people back. Because of the rapidity with which explosion take place, they almost always create a shock wave. The problem with being knocked back with the shockwave fr... | null |
4fa173 | how broadcasters get such good sound of professional athletes while they are on the field. | [
{
"answer": "The use [parabolic microphones](_URL_0_). They put a directional microphone at the focal point of a big bowl, and it makes it ultrasensitive towards sounds from a particular spot. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One way is with those microphones that have parabolic dishes directin... | null |
atj1nz | How does density affect the speed of seismic waves through the Earth? | [
{
"answer": "Waves travel more slowly through denser material. A lot of people have this misconception because, for example, sound travels faster in water than air, and faster in steel than water. But actually the increasing density is impeding the speed of sound. It's the increased stiffness (elastic modulus) ... | null |
7m9vps | Historians, what was Christmas like during the American Revolution? | [
{
"answer": "Christmas night 1776 General Washington crossed the Delaware river to mount a surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries in Trenton New Jersey. Not the heart warming story you were looking for but a Christmas story none the less.\nEdit:\n The following year Washington's Army was at winter quarters in V... | null |
1ql95u | What was the result of the location of pangea, and the resulting difference in earth's centermass? | [
{
"answer": "Firstly, Pangea was only the [most recent](_URL_0_) of at least 6 supercontinents that have existed in Earth's history. It formed about 300 million years ago, and started breaking up about 175 million years ago.\n\nSecondly, as far as mass of the planet is concerned, the vast, vast majority is cont... | null |
2oj5d4 | Does fungus build up a resistance to treatment like bacteria does? | [
{
"answer": "What kind of anti-fungal treatment do you mean? Fungi can certainly evolve resistance to [agricultural fungicides](_URL_3_) but it sounds like you're more interested in [antifungal medication](_URL_4_) to which fungi have also evolved resistance: [1](_URL_2_) [2](_URL_0_) [3](_URL_1_). It seems as ... | null |
7qvas1 | What is more expensive - mail or plate armour? | [
{
"answer": "At least in the Burgundian accounts, the mail armour is cheaper (in general) as the plate armour, but some very high grade mail armour could be a lot more expansive than low quality plates armour. For exemple, a full plate armour could cost between 37£ 3 s and 76£ 10s, a mail shirt, between 5£ 13s ... | null |
32rvfn | How long does it take for a cell to travel through your body? | [
{
"answer": "[This page](_URL_2_) says that in a 120-day span, it will travel the body about 75,000 times. That gives you a bit over [2 minutes](_URL_0_). However, it will flow at different rates depending on the type of blood vessel it is in (see [here](_URL_3_)) and probably spends some time moving through yo... | null |
4bxznb | How are multiple sounds transmitted through gases simultaneously? | [
{
"answer": "One way of thinking of it is that you only hear *one* sound, which is the sum of all the individual sounds. If you look at a sound waveform, it's a single line travelling up and down as air pressure changes. A steady tone has a very simple wave (a sine wave). In fact any sound can be considered to ... | null |
u4cq7 | What is happening on the cellular level when you rub lotion into your skin, and why is it good for you? | [
{
"answer": "Searched a bit and found a placebo study that details some of the results of applying lotion - _URL_0_. Hope this helps!\n\n > The epidermis was thicker and papillary dermal changes included increased thickness, increased acid mucopolysaccharides, improved quality of elastic fibers, and increased d... | null |
1j72c7 | why is it so hard to find alcohol that doesn't taste...like alcohol? you'd think someone would make a killing off of 40% koolaid-flavoured alcohol. | [
{
"answer": "You can add whatever flavorings you want, but it still has alcohol in it.\n\nThat being said, properly aged alcohols mellow out in flavor. Top shelf, 30-year-old whisky tastes nothing like a $20 bottle from Walmart. If you're really looking for something light, I would personally recommend trying... | null |
33a5ua | does true randomness exist in the universe? if i replayed the universe exactly the same from the start, would it be exactly the same? | [
{
"answer": "We don't know, is the simple answer. Our best current guess appears to be \"yes, it does\", but there are theories that get around it at the cost of losing common assumptions.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Does true randomness exist in the universe?-Yes. At a quantum level random... | null |
21e713 | How did tribes like the Seminole in the Everglades deal with alligators? | [
{
"answer": "To start out with, by the time the Seminoles started settling Florida, they already had guns. So lets turn the clock back a bit more. For thousands of years, alligators were on the menu for people living in Florida. They weren't really a common meal, of course, but their bones do show in trash midd... | null |
eit86m | how are wild plants domesticated? | [
{
"answer": "It's a very very long process, where farmers basically just breed plants with traits they like, in an effort to make those traits more prevalent over time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Same as animals essentially. We find a plant with desirable qualities and then use selective b... | null |
1nqm4f | why does my heart rate drop when i exhale? | [
{
"answer": "It's called sinus arrhythmia, and it's perfectly normal and benign, especially in young people. I have it too.\n \nI'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I believe it's because the expansion of your lungs as you inhale puts pressure on a nerve that controls heart rate.",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
3lx9ao | the difference between unlawful and illegal. | [
{
"answer": "They're pretty much interchangeable. You might define \"illegal\" as \"forbidden by the law\" and \"unlawful\" as \"not permitted by the law\", but they boil down to the same thing. \"Illegal\" also tends to be used more for criminal law, while a civil wrong is more likely to be described as unlawf... | null |
2rmss0 | lasers and mirrors | [
{
"answer": "If a mirror reflects 90% if light that means it absorbs 10% of the light. If 10% of a laser is enough to burn a thing then the mirror burns. There is no 100% reflective mirrors. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20545",
... | null |
ba1c5l | why do home thermostats have a "heat/ cool" switch? why can't you simply set a range and have it automatically determine whether to use the ac or the heater? | [
{
"answer": "There are actually thermostats that have an 'auto' mode that does switch from heat to cool and vice versa. Typically, only higher end thermostats have this, though. This is because it takes more advanced temperature sensors to allow an 'auto' function to work. \n\nSay it's summer and you have the ... | null |
2qc1jz | why are data caps for mobile phones still so small? | [
{
"answer": "Phone companies are greedy so they set data limits low to either a) make you use less of their product than you normally would or b) pay more for using your natural level of usage.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "For those using t-mobile and are paying at least 3gb data monthly, u ... | null |
4xe0lq | Does the wobble of our sun caused by Jupiter's gravity effect the weather on Earth? | [
{
"answer": "Jupiter's gravity does affect the climate on Earth but it's over many thousands of years. The variations in Earth's axial tilt, orbital obliquity, etc caused by Jupiter are called the Milankovich cycles and are associated with ice ages. As for the 12 year orbit of the Sun/Jupiter system...the 11 ye... | null |
1dutm8 | How different is breast milk to formula in terms of the baby's health? | [
{
"answer": "Please remember that this is /r/askscience. While it may be tempting to share your own experiences as a parent, this forum is for a discussion of science. **Please refrain from sharing your own experiences or speculation/guesses.** \n\nThere is a lot of research on this topic, so please make sure ... | null |
c562rv | Rhodesia & NIBMAR | [
{
"answer": "The policy of 'No Independence Before Majority Rule' came out of the September 1966 meeting of the Commonwealth of Nations. At that meeting, Commonwealth members from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa (minus Southern Rhodesia) caucused together and proposed that the Commonwealth position should be No ... | null |
5hxnnh | Is analytic continuation of the Riemann-Zeta function more than just a reflection over a vertical line? | [
{
"answer": "It's almost a reflection about the line Re(s)=1/2 (the critical line), but not exactly. If it were a reflection, then if s were a point to the left of this line, its value there would be equal to the value of the point exactly opposite on the right side of the line, and this point is 1-s. That is, ... | null |
3ojtxw | what do underwriters for insurance companies do? | [
{
"answer": "Underwriters are the people actually taking on responsibility for the insurance claim; the people who will actually pay. \n\nIn a lot of cases this is the same company, but if for instance you use an insurance **broker**, that's where things would be different, because they would search around for ... | null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.