id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
yn4r3 | Which historical text, from any point in time, that we are aware of but not in possession of would be of greatest value to mankind if it were to be suddenly found? | [
{
"answer": "The recipe for Greek fire would be pretty cool.\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The [Q document](_URL_0_) (a hypothesized early record of Jesus's teachings used as a source by the gospel writers) would be of enormous religious and cultural significance if an extant copy ev... | null |
65839o | If acoustic energy is converted to heat when a material absorbs sound, is it possible for an audio source to produce enough acoustic energy to ignite something? | [
{
"answer": "It IS possible, though as you said yourself highly\nimprobable. Sound is simply the vibration of particles in the air (hence why there's no sound in space) and that vibration hits and object and can vibrate it or induce heat, which is why you can break glass with a sound (not the only reason, mind ... | null |
2w0bla | What was the input of the Polish people in the second WW? How did they contribute. | [
{
"answer": "Here's a brief answer:\n\nBefore the war Polish agents passed to the British an Enigma machine, which enables the British to be aware of how it worked even if its possession did not solve the problem of how to break German codes.\n\nPolish units and individuals escaped to the West in 1940. Many pi... | null |
4mzbwd | How strong is the link between benzodiazepines and dementia/Alzheimer's? What about marijuana? | [
{
"answer": "Tried looking up a few studies for you. A retrospective study in France found that in those with dementia, there was a higher rate of exposure to psychotropic and anti-psychotic drugs, with anti-psychotic exposure having the highest association with dementia. Hypnotics/anxiolytics such as benzodiaz... | null |
jxjle | What would you see from inside the event horizon of a singularity? | [
{
"answer": "RobotRollCall has the answers you seek.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Something like this [A Journey into a Black Hole\n](_URL_0_)\t",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "RobotRollCall has the answers you seek.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
btfh0t | what is the difference nutritionally between artificial and natural sugars, like why are the sugars from my apple any better for me than the sugars from my apple lollipop if it’s all still sugar? | [
{
"answer": "There is no difference between 'artificial' and 'natural' sugars, they are the same. \n\nThe important difference is that when you eat a lollipop it might contain more sugar than the apple does and you certainly wouldn't eat ten apples but you could easily eat ten lollipops (in a relatively short p... | null |
1qzjrl | What is the smallest particle our skin can feel? | [
{
"answer": "On the fingertip, you can sense the orthogonal displacement of your skin with a detection threshold of roughly 25 microns at 0.5 Hz (a 2 second smooth displacement). At 60 Hz for a half second that threshold is under 10 microns, and it drops to 1-2 microns at 250-300 Hz. \n \nFor movement paral... | null |
fzta9q | why does long division work? | [
{
"answer": "Think of it a bit like you first learned division, sharing something out, but what you are sharing has a number if different size parts. You put aside the small stuff and share out as many of the big ones as you can. You take the left over big bits and break them into smaller pieces and add in the ... | null |
3568vx | What are the exact criteria with which historians can consider a past event to be a historical fact? | [
{
"answer": "Let me start by proposing that history is not a mere pile of facts that we prove or disprove one by one and add to the pile. There are many things that may or may not have happened, but we can still learn lots from them. \n\nA great example of this is in the book by Alfred Fabian Young, *The Shoema... | null |
6c9s7u | why does the healed skin on my wounds have the same patterns, wrinkles and creases as before? | [
{
"answer": "Because the skin there is constantly being crushed and stretched, resulting in it becoming wrinkled. If it was pure scar tissue it would rip when you tensed your tendons. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Look at your hand, now move the inside of the base of your thumb towards your ... | null |
27xsco | Are hydrogen and oxygen molecules constantly forming new liquid water, or has all the water that can exist on earth already been formed? | [
{
"answer": "Water is continually being created and destroyed by a number of natural processes. Probably the two fastest are the HOx cycle in the atmosphere:\n\nO3 + photon ( < 300 nm wavelength) = > O2 + O(1D)\nO(1D) + H2O = > 2OH\nOH + organic compd. = > H2O + products\n\nand photosynthesis:\n\nxCO2 + xH2... | null |
lnifv | If the moon is spinning, why do we always see the same face? | [
{
"answer": "It's due to a process called [tidal locking](_URL_0_). The same thing has happened in the Sun/Mercury system, ~~and if let go long enough, I believe it would happen with the Sun/Earth system as well.~~ *Edit: Actually, after thinking for a moment, I don't think that's true, but I'll leave it for so... | null |
bsk15c | How would soft drinks (Carbonated) behave in space? | [
{
"answer": "Here is a link to a video of alka seltzer in water in the space station. It looks like it behaves similarly to Earth just the bubbles don't float to the top and pop so they just sort of mix together and are held together by the surface tension of the water.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
8n5ktp | why is it ok to pray to statues and pictures of jesus if there’s a commandment against graven images? | [
{
"answer": "The commandment is to have no other God's not no pictures, in Catholicism. Islam forbids images because they worry about exactly what has happened in the Catholic Church before where the symbols and pictures became more....up front important for lack of a better way of putting it. Can't say it's a ... | null |
fm2cl5 | How are scientists getting estimates of 40-80% of populations that will contract the Coronavirus? | [
{
"answer": "one factor is that, once people are infected, they become (im simplifying) either dead or immune.\n\nthis means that, once this number goes over a certain critical percentage of the population, the disease cant really spread much further because you dont encounter other suceptible individuals that ... | null |
2zf21k | If the universe is constantly expanding, how will it ever be possible to have the same temperature at every single point in space? | [
{
"answer": "First, there are two relevant laws of thermodynamics for your question:\n\nThe zeroth law of thermodynamics says that if object A is in thermal equilibrium with object B, and B is in thermal equilibrium object C, then A is in thermal equilibrium with C.\n\nThe second law of thermodynamics says that... | null |
2itr3y | Are there any instances of modern wars being won from a production disadvantage? | [
{
"answer": "There's a few minor and debatable examples here and there; when Uganda invaded Tanzania in 1979, the Ugandans had an edge in terms of overall materiel, but were eventually ousted from Tanzanian territory after a counter-attack. The war was a short one, and the Tanzanians had great political allies ... | null |
2blis4 | what's the difference between a terrorist, a rebel and a separatist? | [
{
"answer": "The terms aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Point of view.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A terrorist is someone who intentionally does acts of violence in order to instill fear or 'terror' in people to affect change or to carr... | null |
15i19c | Whatever happened to the Magi? | [
{
"answer": "They are known by different names now. 'Magi' during the classical Greek period came to mean generally anyone skilled at astrology and so it was not specific to Zoroastrianism or a priesthood (think of the three wise men i.e 'magi' of the bible - the word there just means 'wise king' (wise because ... | null |
r4kyk | why does the internet hate skrillex so, so much? | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak for the internet, but I can provide a logical explanation. I think we can both agree that not many people like dubstep. Skrillex is the face of neo-dubstep. When people despise something, they look at its most popular representation and hate him/her. \n\nBasically, skrillex represents... | null |
4l8li3 | Why don't waves through water travel at the speed of sound in water? | [
{
"answer": "There's different kinds of waves. The waves that travel across the top of the water are much slower than the compression waves travelling through the water. This is because water is very difficult to compress, but it's not that hard to make the water a bit higher in some areas.",
"provenance": ... | null |
4i3jtf | How accurate is the show The Tudors? | [
{
"answer": "I just finished watching it recently, so I looked into it. However, as I'm not expert on Tudor England, I'm just going to talk about a few specific things that I'm confident of.\n\nThe first, is the order of events and specifically their time. Sometimes the show changes the order of unrelated event... | null |
223gwh | How can we hope to detect faint intelligent signals from exoplanets when we aren't even able to detect the light from those planets? | [
{
"answer": "Well... the problem with seeing an exoplanet is that the star is so bright you can't get a long enough exposure to see the planet's light. (like trying to see a speck of dust near a spotlight) There are some neat strategies to work around this, like a giant shadow-casting shield that you'd space in... | null |
ls1p2 | When you ingest salt NaCl what does the body do with the chlorine after the sodium is absorbed? | [
{
"answer": "[NIH Glossary - Chloride](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "\"In the upper part of the small intestine, chloride ion absorption is rapid nd occurs mainly by diffusion (i.e., absorption of sodium ions through the epithelium creates electronegativity in the chyme and electropo... | null |
36q63b | Can any given 2D shape be expressed as a single (probably incredibly complex) equation, or do many shapes require a piecewise graph? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. I used to waste so much time in high school typing long formulas into my TI-83 to get it to graph shapes I drew out ahead of time on graph paper. With enough time on your hands, you can use its parametric grapher to graph out your signature.\n\nI used the [Nyquist-Shannon sampling formula](_UR... | null |
28g1r4 | How did the sections of US states become known as "counties" even though they have never been ruled by counts? | [
{
"answer": "Point of order: The British counties have never been ruled by counts (or viscounts): it stems from the Normans, who simply took over the Saxon shires (that's why it's all \"Hampshire\", \"Cheshire\", \"Renfrewshire\" etc.), but brought their Norman French with them (counts actually being a thing on... | null |
abqck8 | Modern day concrete still doesn’t compare to the concrete made by the Romans. How was the recipe lost? | [
{
"answer": "I don't mean to discourage further discussion, but this topic emerges quite often. You might want to read the response by /u/TectonicWafer in [this discussion](_URL_0_). For some additional insight, you may also read the short discussion about 'losing knowledge' [here](_URL_1_).",
"provenance":... | null |
4m2qqb | the difference between a particulate, gas, and vapor | [
{
"answer": "Particulate is just very small pieces of solid material. Vapor is a substance diffused in the air which would normally be solid or liquid; think of water vapor. A gas is... a gas.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Particulates are debris in the air from solid objects\n\nVapors come f... | null |
261vpa | Do male and female human genitalia exhibit a similar degree of variation in length and width? | [
{
"answer": "There definitely is substantial variation in the size of the female reproductive tract, but I am not aware of any studies that actually try to compare the variability to that for penises.\n\nIt would be a challenging study because the vagina both opens up and lengthens quite substantially during ar... | null |
4hq8ek | is the united states currently at war? | [
{
"answer": "No. To be at war, Congress has to basically say \"we declare war against _____\". They have not said that, therefore, we are not at war. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1. Technically, no, but we are dropping bombs on multiple continents. \n\n2. They're not very specific go... | null |
35qwno | Do 2 atoms of the same element (I.e hydrogen) always weigh the same? Why or why not? | [
{
"answer": "No, two atoms of the same element will not always have the same mass. Two atoms of the same element can have a different number of neutrons in their nuclei. Since neutrons have a significant mass compared to electrons, this can lead to an important difference in mass between the various isotopes of... | null |
25i2mi | Did the Nazis view blonde-haired and blue-eyed Slavs and Jews as any better than the others? | [
{
"answer": "The blond-hairs / blue eyes thing is actually a gross simplification of the racial policies of Nazi Germany. They were mainly obsessed with blood purity and Japanese were seen as vastly superior to the slavs despite not having blond hairs. \n\nA good example of this obsession for blood purity was R... | null |
1hw7ky | what are the benefits of methadone/a methadone clinic? | [
{
"answer": "It's an opiate like heroin so users wont withdraw and it's little less extreme. You can think of it like shorts with cigarettes, good for tapering off if you're trying to quit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2503904",
... | null |
epiwej | How did RBMK reactors come to be and how were they different from other models used in the western world? | [
{
"answer": "Briefly, the RMBK was a very unusual reactor design, optimized for the demands of the Soviet bureaucracy and production needs. The basic requirements that the RMBK was trying to satisfy were:\n\n* the design had to be a relatively cheap way of producing gobs of electrical energy\n\n* the reactor wa... | null |
1e9r1q | How long does it take for a particle to loop around LHC? How much does it change for the particle due to time dilation? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\n > When running at full design power of 7 TeV per beam, once or twice a day, as the protons are accelerated from 450 GeV to 7 TeV, the field of the superconducting dipole magnets will be increased from 0.54 to 8.3 teslas (T). The protons will each have an energy of 7 TeV, giving a total... | null |
vhzgj | if sea level has been rising then how come it is not evident from the beach yet? | [
{
"answer": "From 1993 to 2009 the sea level has risen 3.3mm/yr - that's not very much and would be almost impossible to notice. [Source](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The sea has risen by about 15cm due to the 0.8^o C rise in global temperatures so far; this is not enough to notice ... | null |
1el04p | Why do we feel comfortable in some positions and not others? | [
{
"answer": "It has a certain degree to do with blood flow. This also explains why we roll around in bed at night- in some positions, blood may be restricted to some areas due to pressure on the blood vessels, so we roll to another position to redistribute the bloodflow.\n\nHow comfortable you are in a position... | null |
2869tg | food stamp fraud | [
{
"answer": "Vendors (grocery stores, etc) receive reimbursement from the government for accepting food stamps as payment for (approved) food items. Things that cannot be purchased with them include non-food items, hot pre-prepared foods, as well as cigarettes and alcohol. \n\n\n\nWhat she was doing was allowin... | null |
9o64w8 | why does your neck get tense when you’re stressed and how does a massage fix it? | [
{
"answer": "When you are stressed, you experience fight-or-flight, even if the stressor is emotional/psychological in nature. When this response occurs, it causes you to produce more adrenaline. Adrenaline causes muscle tension (muscle tension being a sign of stress). If you massage a muscle, you can cause ... | null |
4knpgb | Knowledge of coats of arms in medieval Europe | [
{
"answer": "Yes, a noble was supposed to know the coat of arms of at least the important lords, at least in his own army (because it's rather easy to deduce who's an enemy when you know who's your friend).\n\nThe most notable example for this (or rather for it's absence, from which a presumed knowledge for nob... | null |
7nj53r | Do any animals live at the extreme poles and how do they survive? | [
{
"answer": " > A lone polar bear, tracks of an Arctic fox, unidentified sea creatures, and several birds have been observed at the North Pole over the years.\n\n[Source](_URL_0_) - you still have the ocean as food source.\n\nAt the South Pole: Technically humans live there, and a few animals live on them. But... | null |
6a77wt | how do tolls work? do you really get in trouble for running one? | [
{
"answer": "You mean on a road? A machine will take a photo of your license plate if you go through without paying. Some offer an option to pay the toll afterward, by Web or by mail. (Some don't have that option.) You may get a fine/ticket in the mail if you don't pay.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
3qbb9v | What are the best sources to understand Gaius Marius's reforms in Rome? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry it took me a while, hope this is helpful. The bibliography from my old Marian Reforms paper follows. Especially useful were Gabba, Kildahl, Smith. If you want my full paper (with page numbers for references) let me know, I'll find a place to put up the pdf or you can PM me with an email ad... | null |
1kqquy | how did humans in asia evolve to have narrower eyes, why did africans skin stay black while arabic and european peoples became lighter? | [
{
"answer": "If you live in the tropics, dark skin is a helpful adaptation, because it protects your skin from sunlight (fewer sun burns and cancers).\n\nIf you live in the northern latitudes where there is significantly less sun certain times of the year, light skin is a helpful adaptation, because it allows m... | null |
8y6s37 | Wehrmacht Clean Hands in the West? | [
{
"answer": "As for Rommel specifically: more can be written on this, but you might want to read [\"Rommel's legacy\"](_URL_0_) by /u/commiespaceinvader.\n\nEDIT: As for the source of the Wehrmacht Clean Hands myth, I suggest the reply to [\"Did the Rommel Myth and Clean Wehrmacht myth (and others) pushed after... | null |
n0lrw | Could we just inject dopamine and other molecules that cause feelings of well-being into our bodies and stay happy for the rest of our lives? | [
{
"answer": "There is no safe or effective happiness treatment. Short term happy pills (e.g. cocaine, which causes elevation in levels of dopamine right in the areas that cause you to feel happy) don't work for long. \n \n > If we could, every other human activity would be pointless, as we only do such thin... | null |
920ix6 | *How* do left/right handed molecules form and how are they different? | [
{
"answer": "Your left hand is structurally distinct from your right hand. In other words, there's no orientation, rotation or any translation that will turn your right hand into your left hand. What this means is there's absolutely no way to put your left hand in a right handed glove and vice-versa (have a go)... | null |
55466s | what causes things to sound differently such as a breaking glass sound vs typing on a keyboard? | [
{
"answer": "Sound is air vibrating. The air vibrates because it's being bumped into by a surface that's vibrating. Those surfaces have different characteristic amplitude and frequencies due to their materials, construction and size. So a large, flappy piece of paper is going to make very different vibrations t... | null |
9x4gw6 | How was King Alfred able to beat the Vikings? | [
{
"answer": "Honestly whole books and theses have been written on this.\n\nI've written a little about it [here](_URL_0_).\n\nFor reading I would recommend Hill *et al*, *The Defence of Wessex*; Baker and Brookes, *Beyond the Burghal Hidage*; Reynolds *et al*, *Landscapes of Defence*; Stenton, *Anglo-Saxon Engl... | null |
2fipq4 | What is human skin actually made up of? Is it technically a human organ? | [
{
"answer": "An organ is a collection of tissues that perform a specific function. The skin is an organ that provides protection from the outside world to our viscerals. \n\n\n\nThere are three layers to the skin: the outermost **epidermis**, the **dermis**, and the underlying **hypodermis**. The epidermis ... | null |
2mhthp | is this paper about roundup being dangerous legit? | [
{
"answer": " > Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.\n\nThat seems sketchy, just reading the abstract...",
"provenance"... | null |
4sl86p | Are all galaxies eventually going to become spiral galaxies? | [
{
"answer": "I believe I've seen somewhere that the oldest (maturest) galaxies are typically elliptical, and that spiral galaxies are theorized to eventually turn into those. When the Milky Way collides with Andromeda that's what we'll be. In fact they say most galaxies today are already elliptical. The spi... | null |
ev9uqf | how does isothermal clothing work? | [
{
"answer": "Actually I don't think it does. it's just a marketing gimmick. usually, it's a base layer that's made to trap some air between your skin and the clothing (for insulation). in the old days, it was just little dimples they have grander schemes now and haven't found they work any better, it just allow... | null |
cuabo0 | disney world is such a money maker, why are the cities surrounding it so poor with such a housing crisis? | [
{
"answer": "The thing I would say is that no one who goes to Disney world is really going to stay for a long time in that area. Two I don’t really think any of those theme parks really pay there employees all that much. And most of the area around is full of swamp places.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
21u5bi | Did radio have a reputation as being vapid or intellectually detrimental, the way TV does today? | [
{
"answer": "I've only come up on this tangentially, but as it turns out: Yes, in the early 20th century there was a lot of opposition to radio as a form. As early as 1923 we start seeing anti-radio editorials such as an op-ed on the Times (of London), by one Douglas Hacking (then MP). In it, he calls \"the wir... | null |
6ajvml | why do most bipedal robots always keep their knees bent a bit when standing? | [
{
"answer": "I've always been under the impression that it was due to balance. The robot could stand up, but once upright the weight of the bot would make it lose balance as the parts aren't distributed in a way that allows for the robot to stand completely upright.\n\nI eagerly await a more informed answer :D\... | null |
183qo2 | how does the body "know" to try and reattach itself to a severed limb? | [
{
"answer": "Uhm, it totally doesn't.\n\nI'm having difficulty understanding what you are asking, exactly. Like, let's say I am trying to fix my lawnmower when a neighbor kid herpderps over and turns the motor on. Off goes my left hand.\n\nMy left wrist is NOT sending signals to my brain saying \"Look! The hand... | null |
6f2foo | how does anxiety cause one to experience feeling unattached to one's body, or "derealization"? | [
{
"answer": "It's a coping mechanism; really short answer, dissociation/derealization is a defense mechanism to deal with stress or trauma. Not being there = not having to deal with the stressful situation. If you need me to expand on it I can. :o\n\nSource: I have severe dissociation and dissociative identity ... | null |
7e975d | why the value of so many western currencies is roughly equal? | [
{
"answer": "Many of these currencies are or were pegged to the USD after WWII. Since the United States had the vast majority of the world's gold (lend-lease was expensive, as it turns out), the agreement was that the USD would be backed by gold and the other currencies would be backed by the Dollar. (The [Bret... | null |
253b43 | How would schizophrenia manifest itself in someone who was deaf or raised isolated from language? Would the voices be manifested elsewhere in their sensory system? | [
{
"answer": "To add, schizophrenia does not equal hearing voices. Auditory hallucinations are a sign of psychosis, which can be schizophrenia or several other things. And someone with schizophrenia might have delusions, visual hallucinations, loose speech, paranoia, etc., and never have auditory hallucinations.... | null |
a0evuv | why does eating more frequently increase your appetite? | [
{
"answer": "Simple. You stomach is elastic. Eating a lot causes it to stretch and grow. Not eating a lot causes it to shrink. Your appetite always drives you to fill your stomach, whatever size it currently is, so if you eat a lot, it take more food to fill it since you are stretching it out (and I think it... | null |
125wd3 | How does blue and red shift of a star occur if light is constant? | [
{
"answer": "The wavelength and frequency both change, while the light maintains a constant speed.\n\nThe speed of a wave is equal to the length of a wave from peak to peak times the frequency, or how often a peak passes you as the wave travels by. Redshift corresponds to lower frequency and longer wavelength,... | null |
3wkgky | Why no aerial oxygen torpedoes for the Japanese? | [
{
"answer": "The Japanese did develop an experimental oxygen-propelled aerial torpedo, the Type 94 in the early 1930s in parallel with the oxygen-propelled Type 93 and Type 95. The Navy Technical Arsenal found that the Type 94 was too complicated and maintenance- intensive for an aerial weapon. The main advanta... | null |
9tt8me | do wifi signals face resistance when passing through walls? | [
{
"answer": "yes it does, the signal cant go throught too many walls, it get weaker everytime and if you got heavy duty old walls (like 1m thick) it doesnt go throught at all\nthe medium absorb more energy than the air and the signal is gone",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you think of the W... | null |
4bh2ir | how exactly does a power strip work? | [
{
"answer": "The outlets in a power strip are wired up in parallel. As you plug more items in the load does increase. Most power strips have a circuit breaker on them that will trip if you exceed the load, if not your outlet should have a circuit breaker as well. It is entirely possible to overload a power ... | null |
dnz1ac | how are our intestines able to sort between gas, liquids and poo? | [
{
"answer": "Liquid is extracted by the large intestine. Essentially the large intestine has chemical pumps that take advantage of osmosis to force water out of the intestines and into the body. Salt is pumped into the liquid between the cells and this causes osmosis to push water into that liquid and from th... | null |
239hzn | how does a surveying work? | [
{
"answer": "Basically it is a measuring device to measure angles and distances, and elevation.\n\nSo a building is designed on a computer model of the site. You need a way to take that electronic information and place it on the real ground so the guys actually building the building know where to build the buil... | null |
261ubq | Will swirling my coffee in it's cup cool it down faster, slower, or have no impact? | [
{
"answer": "faster, the coffee is in contact with more of the cups surface area, plus more evaporated cooling, and mixing the hottest coffee at the top with the coolest from the bottom. If you're using a metal spoon, it'll absorb some heat too.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The coffee shoul... | null |
4e6gc1 | why does it take some people longer than others to be alert upon waking? as in, why does it take some people longer to really "wake up"? | [
{
"answer": "Great question, I would actually like an in-depth science explanation though. I very recently switched from being a snoozer to just getting up when the alarm goes off. So I'm getting up at the exact same time every morning. It's so much easier to get up now after about a month and I'm more alert th... | null |
5x7fk4 | the artistic value of rothko's orange, red, yellow painting | [
{
"answer": "Like everything else, something is worth what another person is willing to pay for it. A sub that focuses on art work might be a better place.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "35835938",
"title": "Orange, Red, Yellow"... | null |
1sdwtf | What is the current historiographical opinion regarding Henri Pirenne's: Muhammad and Charlemagne. | [
{
"answer": "\"Without Mohammed Charlemagne would have been impossible\"\nFamous words. But does the evidence support it?\n\nI've actually just read a fascinating work that deals with some of Pirenne's concepts in depth. Have you heard of Power and Plenty? The author states that Pirenne's thesis, while attracti... | null |
1kcopa | what is "dutch disease"? | [
{
"answer": "The Dutch can breathe easy, because, contrary to popular belief, Dutch disease is not a flesh-eating disease in the Netherlands.\n\nIt's an economic term used to describe an indirect relationship between the usage of natural resources and agriculture. Exploitation of natural resources increases, ag... | null |
3hdt04 | what is canon? | [
{
"answer": "The term was largely used when referring to the Bible. The many authors whose writings appear in the Bible wrote many other things as well. The pieces deemed \"The Bible\" were democratically selected by high ranking clergy. These are referred to as \"Canon\", while the many other writings of bi... | null |
2vhcl5 | why obama is criticized for going golfing? | [
{
"answer": "It's part of the partisan bickering that comes with a two party system. If the President is a member of your party and takes a break, he's been working really hard and deserves it. If he's a member of the opposition, he's a lazy bum. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Thats what ev... | null |
2q9nj3 | how can windmills compare to nuclear powerplants, where the generators spin with thousands of rounds per minute? | [
{
"answer": "Windmills produce less power, that's why you build more of them",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Simple. With a gearbox.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nYou hook up the slower spinning big gear connected to the wind facing turbine and a smaller gear to a generator and presto. The generator spins fast... | null |
4ilgbo | how does "trading futures" work? i've been told it's a good and cheap way to play the stock market, but everything i've read on it confuses me even more. | [
{
"answer": "Futures are contracts. You agree to buy or sell a certain amount of something (stocks, commodities, whatever) on a date in the future at a price you agree to now. You are betting the movement in price between now and the contract date is favorable to you. If you are selling, you are betting the pri... | null |
34hta2 | how does the brita filter detector work? | [
{
"answer": "Its just a timer, programmed with the average lifespan of a filter that is reset when you put a new filter in, nothing magical. Make sure you reset every time you change filters or it gets confusing!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "it counts the number of times you tip the pitcher.... | null |
1zvicm | how bi-planes are able to time/shoot their guns without the bullets hitting the propellers. | [
{
"answer": "In the very earliest aircraft, they wouldn't shoot at all. Aircraft were used for reconnaissance, not for fighting, and pilots of aircraft on opposing sides would wave at each other as they flew past each other.\n\nThen, people started to figure out that, if they had guns, they could shoot down the... | null |
21fvk8 | Are there any accounts of interviews with people who participated in lynchings 20, 30, or 40 years later? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, contemporary interviews exist documenting the perspectives of those who participated, witnessed, in rare cases even those that survived lynchings. Interviews taking place some decades later are more difficult to find, but can be found in a few cases. \n\nA powerful example comes from the [lync... | null |
85xose | why is it unhealthy/more difficult for hunger’s sake to eat a 2000 calorie breakfast instead of lighter meals throughout the day? | [
{
"answer": "Your body doesn't need 2000 calories all at once. If you eat a single 2000 calorie meal, then your body will use however many calories it needs at that moment, and then store the rest as fat to be used later. However, when you need calories a few hours later, it won't immediately dip into your fa... | null |
73sivg | Would it be possible to create helium-4 by introducing helium-3 to a neutron rich environment? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, but this wouldn’t be a very good way of doing it. Most helium in nature is helium-4. So you’d have to gather helium, enrich it with helium-3, and then use the helium-3 to breed helium-4. Unless you have a source of helium which is already enriched in ^(3)He, and want to convert it to ^(4)He fo... | null |
7pisr5 | why is it scary when kids sing or laugh or say nursery rhymes in horror movies/games? | [
{
"answer": "I'm speaking with no actual knowledge on the matter, but I would guess that it's mostly context. There is almost always extremely creepy sounding atmospheric music and/or visuals accompanying the children's voices. I think it's partially just the tone of the scene, and partially the juxtaposition o... | null |
2u25ly | Can electrons from a particular atom be anywhere in the universe but statisticaly nearly always in a definite zone near the core or there is places those electrons can't be? | [
{
"answer": "Electrons can not exist within nodes. The number and shape of nodes is dependent on the orbital angular momentum. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You do have orbitals that can get very far from the nucleus, but for large distances away from the atom you would need to use relativis... | null |
xbbw1 | Is squinting actually bad for your eyesight? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know if it's bad for your eyesight or just a sign of bad eyes. Squinting will improve peoples vision slightly if they have bad eyesight which is why you might see people do that if they lost their glasses. Because of this reason it might have also made people think it was the cause of them ... | null |
7fwyj9 | Operation Barbarossa caused massive Soviet casualities/incredible success for the Germans yet failed in capturing Moscow or force a surrender, was there a glaring tactical error that prevented this? | [
{
"answer": "Logistics.\n\nThe campaign didn't start \"late\": the early summer months in Russia see significant rainfall, resulting in the so-called *rasputitsa*, literally \"time without roads\". Barbarossa's launch was timed so the ground could dry and the roads become usable again. In 1941 only 40,000 miles... | null |
ehg5rv | How much of an impact did the Civil War have on what is considered the Wild West? | [
{
"answer": "You're gonna have a hard time getting any kind of a comprehensive answer to this question, as it's just too broad of a topic. It would be like asking, \"what kind of an impact did World War II have on America in the second half of the 20th century?\" The question itself is so open-ended and complex... | null |
161gcn | I have a very specific question about the death of our star and supernovae (s?). Please look inside for details. | [
{
"answer": "Without having many details at hand, and I'm sure someone can explain the fusion process better that I, Supernova are after all fusion has expired and caused by the mass of the red giant collapsing in on itself. this compression effectively blows the star apart (core-bounce) which is what a Type I... | null |
3okbjl | How common was circumcision among the Pre-Islamic Arabs? We can safely assume that Christian tribes, namely the Banu Hanifa and the Banu Taghlib , would have abhorred the practice, but what about the rest? What about the Quraysh? | [
{
"answer": "Tangential question, why would assume those Christian tribes would abhor it?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hello everyone, \n\nIn this thread, there have already been a large number of incorrect, speculative, or otherwise disallowed comments, and as such, they were removed by the... | null |
ej1pqc | Are animals attracted to each other’s faces the way humans are? | [
{
"answer": "Depends, i would assume some focus on colors, others on the rear-end etc... They haave specific evolutionary traits they look for.\n\nNot all humans look at faces either, or find different types of faces attractive",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Oh sure, lots of species have been ... | null |
15p9ji | If the earth's core cooled and solidified, would the planet get appreciably smaller? And if so, by how much? | [
{
"answer": "Related side question: How would the crust behave if the core and mantle solidified and shrunk? I imagine it would crack to try and lay evenly n the mantle but what exactly would happen?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Couldn't tell you exactly, but here's some estimates that are b... | null |
j4jkn | can someone explain elasticity of demand and how it relates to the price of crude oil and other commodities? | [
{
"answer": "I'll do my best, though I have a somewhat ameturish knowledgebase myself. Explaining it **like you're five**.\n\nLets say that you own a store. You want to have customers, so you set nice and low prices. It works and people come and buy your stuff. This is great but you need to make some money. \n\... | null |
2hcwnb | White reflects, black absorbs. White radiates little, black radiates a lot. What do transparent materials typically do? | [
{
"answer": "Transparent materials let most of the light pass through. Also, many \"transparent\" objects are opaque to other wavelengths of light. Something that lets visible light through might for instance block radio waves or vice versa. \n\nAlso, white *reflects* visible light through diffuse scattering. ... | null |
9v9rgx | Do other mammals (or animals in general) "lose their voice" like we do? | [
{
"answer": "**Disclaimer**: I wrote more than I meant to. If you don't want to read it all, the most important parts are the first and last paragraphs.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nYes.... and no. The sounds made by all animals with lungs are made through vibrations in the larynx a.k.a. \"voice box\". In short, we (and ot... | null |
43ftr1 | why did chairman mao kill so many people including teachers? what could he have been trying to accomplish? | [
{
"answer": "There are two moments in which post-war China suffered mass loss of life.\n\n1)\tThe Great Leap Forward (GLF)\n2)\tThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR)\n\nYour question presupposes that Mao personally killed people in the GLF and GPCR, or at least that their death was his intention. Any... | null |
lkjce | Why are red and blue wavelengths of light most useful to photosynthesis? | [
{
"answer": "Look [here](_URL_0_) Notice how on the left side of the total absorption graph everything is absorbed? If you are a plant, you don't want to be absorbing things in that region... so violet is less efficient than things to the right of it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Look [her... | null |
5x1j5f | why can we still smell cigarette smoke i walk through when not breathing in? | [
{
"answer": "The chemicals from cigarette smoke gets trapped in material (most likely fabric of some sort) and diffuses which is why you smell it. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you're not inhaling, you smell almost nothing. Air needs to impact your olfactory nerves to register. So if you ... | null |
4i7s71 | how do journalists find people? | [
{
"answer": "Many people can be found through a phone book or a simple google search. Or you can call the company where you heard they work, or the school where you heard they study. Also, you can ask their current and former friends.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A lot of work.\n\nIn the ear... | null |
2rtf7o | How thin (nanometer, atoms, etc..) can the human see, looking directly? | [
{
"answer": "The visual resolution of the human eye is about 1 arc minute.\n\nAt a viewing distance of 20″, that translates to about 170 dpi (or pixels-per-inch / PPI), which equals a dot pitch of around 0.14 mm. LCD monitors today have a dot pitch of .18mm to .24mm.\n\nEach persons vision is slightly differen... | null |
17t2j4 | if gps satellites lose time due to the lesser effect of gravity, why can't we just adjust the clock speed to make up the difference? | [
{
"answer": "We *also* have GPS satellites adjust their clock speed themselves. But there are a lot of variables, so it would take a lot of processing power to compute the adjustments exactly; it's much more efficient to just make them kinda accurate and resync regularly.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
3duv58 | What do historians think of Foucault's "Discipline and Punish"? | [
{
"answer": "I'll start by re-posting here several segments I've previously posted on punishment and Foucault.\n\n > His influence is hard to *overstate* ... he's frequently accused (and rightfully so) for his very selective historical sources, and for not doing sufficient archival work, but in general he rema... | null |
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