id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
33fp3v | what's going on in my body when it suddenly decides to tell me i'm super hungry? | [
{
"answer": "Basicly, there's a part of your brain, called Hypothalamus, that observes the bloodsugar level in your blood. And when it gets low, it sends out signals to other parts of your brain to find food.\n\n\nThe other way around, it also notices when you eat something, and rewards you with a satisfactory ... | null |
9lv64p | Why is wireless charging so inefficient? | [
{
"answer": "Because we don't control the way the energy propagates from the source. It just does so according to the rigid laws of EM. \n\nThe simplest example of the phenomena is to take a flash light and shine it at a wall up close and notice how intense the illumination is. Then step back a few feet and wat... | null |
2n2djd | why do we elevate a sprained ankle? isn't blood good for it? why should we be draining it away from the injury (if that's the point)? | [
{
"answer": "Good question. Also makes me wonder about anti inflamatory medicine.. Isn't inflamation a part of the healing process?..",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Blood is good for it, but the amount of blood that causes the swelling isn't. Too much blood can put undue pressure on the injury... | null |
agn62d | Why did the Pope move to Avignon? | [
{
"answer": "‘Ubi papa, ibi roma (Rome is where the Pope is)’: This is a famous quote from the word of one of the Avignon Popes, Urban V (r. 1362-70). Nevertheless, this passage can actually imply several aspects of the Papacy during this period as well as its pre-history, not only the famous representation of ... | null |
5bvkcb | How did soldiers in WW1 stay so motivated? | [
{
"answer": "* [What was the motivation for the continuation of the bloody back and forth fighting of WW1 on the Western Front? Why couldn't they just stay in the trenches and just defend rather than attack again and again?] (_URL_6_)\n* [How did soldiers, generals, politicians, etc. cope with the carnage of th... | null |
29xk3g | is there an evolutionary reason people think "the good old days" were better? | [
{
"answer": "there are hundreds of studies in this area. as a whole it comes down to one thing, change. change is not received well by humans because change takes us out of our comfort zones. this can give the feeling of uncertainly and ultimately causes a primal response. a good thing to look at in the 'change... | null |
ez23y3 | how did banks greatly contribute/ cause to the great recession in the 2000’s? | [
{
"answer": "They made a lot of very bad lending decisions. They gave people money in exchange for pieces of paper saying they will get paid back. The people they gave money to a lot of times weren’t going to be able to pay it back, but the banks still gave them the money. Then, they sold all of their pieces of... | null |
17sxce | What were the major problems which held back the development of
the French economy in the late 1700s?
| [
{
"answer": "It's important to note geographical bad luck meant it lacked the plentiful and easily accessible coal, iron,etc that allowed Britain to industrialise. It then entered the Eden Treaty with Britain which lowered import duties on British manufactured goods and as a result was swamped with cheap Britis... | null |
cm4cqp | why do some diseases kill so quickly? wouldn’t it be more advantageous to be super slow and stealthy so you can get the biggest bang for your buck out of your host? | [
{
"answer": "The majority of those diseases - often called plagues - are not natural to humans. They're diseases that have jumped the species gap from some other species to humans.\n\nWhat's the equivalent of a cold to an animal may be far more lethal to the biology of a human. As such they didn't evolve for hu... | null |
f16jan | how does a long exposure picture (10 plus hours) of other galaxies work when the earth in constantly spinning? | [
{
"answer": "Normally the telescope/camera is attached to a motorised tracking device/\"tripod\" which ensures the object being photographed remains in the centre of the image.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are two common ways of doing this.\n\nThe traditional way is to slowly move the ... | null |
4w5unk | Why does Zinc only rust on the outer layer while iron rust all the way through? | [
{
"answer": "The product of the corrosion (zinc oxide) forms a protective layer preventing further oxidation of the zinc, whereas the iron oxides which are a result of iron rusting are fragile and flaky and don't form a protective layer.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Zinc corrosion is tightly... | null |
8ohvee | why is it that butterflies don't need to learn how to fly ? | [
{
"answer": "They are little pre-programmed organic machines. Just as spiders don’t have to learn how to weave a web, and crickets don’t have to learn to chirp. \n\nLower level insects are reacting to stimuli and running their software loops (with an ultimate goal / focus on successful reproduction). ",
"pr... | null |
1mzywl | What would the uniform of a British officer in the North American frontier have looked like between 1750-say 1800? | [
{
"answer": "British regulars wore uniforms that were similar to the ones worn by General Thomas Gague's troops when the assaulted Bunker Hill. During the French and Indian wars, General Braddock and General Forbes both commanded entire regiments of British troops that w... | null |
3qd7y9 | how should i interpret the new finding "processed meat has been linked to an 18% increased risk for colon cancer"? | [
{
"answer": "According to BBC, it's the latter: \n \n > In the UK, around **six out of every 100** people get bowel cancer at some point in their lives. \nIf they were all had an extra 50g of bacon a day for the rest of their lives then **the risk would increase by 18% to around seven in 100** people gettin... | null |
3apm8u | why spanking your children is becoming less accepted by society. | [
{
"answer": "It's illegal to beat anyone, why would it be legal to beat your child?\n\nAlso it's a bad tool to actually instruct your child with. Think about it like this, 2 children join their parents for a birthday party. Both kids misbehave, so the parents of kid A spanks him, but parents of kid B explains t... | null |
1ye2as | How were teen pop idols such as Elvis Presley or The Beatles perceived among male teens? | [
{
"answer": "Apparently the French boys loved the Beatles even more than the girls did. \n\n > Ringo recalled, “These boys chased us all over Paris. Before, we'd been more used to girls. The audience was a roar instead of a scream; it was a bit like when we played Stowe boys' school.” \n\n[George wasn't very en... | null |
28lc2r | Pre-settlement North America for dummies. | [
{
"answer": "If you're interested in the Amerindians (natives of both North and South America, sans Inuits and a few others) rather than strictly North America, then I'd recommend Charles C. Mann's \"1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus\".\n\nIt's popular history and a tertiary source, but unli... | null |
m8k9u | game engines | [
{
"answer": "A game engine is nothing more than a bunch of code/software that handles the \"hard\" parts of making a game work so that the developers can focus on creating gameplay and content.\n\nSome things that a game engine may do:\n\n* Read and write graphics files (3D models, textures, sprites, etc.) and ... | null |
3pzxht | Why did Iberian colonization typically involve interbreeding with/integrating the natives, while British colonization typically involved displacing natives? | [
{
"answer": "While someone else with deeper knowledge on this issue comes, I can answer one of your questions:\n\n > Was there less stigma on having children with the native people in Spanish colonies?\n\nWe have to distinguish between *actual* marriages between Spaniards and natives and other forms of producin... | null |
9dcy4u | Why doesn't atoms nuclei collapse? | [
{
"answer": " > The question I'm asking is, if the strong nuclear force is that much stronger than the electromagnetic force at the distances of a atom nucleus, why does it have a radius?\n\nIt's the same thing as will the atom. Nucleons occupy discrete orbitals within the nucleus.",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
6dx3u8 | the restoring internet freedom act | [
{
"answer": "Restoring Internet Freedom Act. This bill nullifies the rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 26, 2015, relating to the reclassification of broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
78rk06 | Can satellites be in geostationary orbit at places other than the equator? Assuming it was feasible, could you have a space elevator hovering above NYC? | [
{
"answer": "Geostationary orbits can only occur along the equator. Any orbit occurs on a two dimensional plane that passes through the center of mass for the object it is orbiting. For a satellite orbiting earth anywhere north or south of the equator the position directly below the satellite would have to mo... | null |
2z1gyy | how do ocean creatures survive such great depths, 2500m plus while even our steel submarines are completely crushed? | [
{
"answer": "they are at that pressure through and through, while a sub is keeping an artificial pressure.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because organic creatures (including humans) are mostly made of water, and water can't compress.\n\nSubmarines have a pressure hull which encloses an air-fi... | null |
7op5xk | why do different items usually have the same shipping price even if they're completely different in size, weight, shape, etc? | [
{
"answer": "Amazon takes a loss leader position when it comes to shipping. In basic terms, they take the hit on shipping in order to sell you and I more stuff.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One reason is that the shipping company has price ranges to simplify billing.\n\nA small box that weig... | null |
5epdoo | Why doesn't Raoult's Law depend on the chemical nature of solute? | [
{
"answer": "I think the issue here is it is not actually a \"Law\", it only holds in the case of weak interactions. [Real solutions can deviate from these laws.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Raoult's law is an approximation assuming an ideal solution and a non-volatile solute. Thi... | null |
83fk38 | why is it that you hear about so many new amazing materials / inventions but you rarely see them being used or sold? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of the time these inventions or new “breakthroughs” are sensationalized before they ever even get adequate testing. It’s not uncommon for articles to report on something and make it sound like it’s amazing when in reality scientists/organizations haven’t even tested the stuff enough to defini... | null |
4jeq8x | why does stroking (many times) my disposable razor over denim/jeans make it sharpen again? | [
{
"answer": "There are three possibilities:\n\n1) The effect is purely psychological.\n\n2) Rubbing it on your jeans is cleaning out little bits of hair, skin and soap that were clogging it.\n\n3) You are stropping it. \n\nIf a blade (either a razor or a knife) is made of good steel, then it will actually retai... | null |
4y177b | why does a pitch that is slightly flat sound better than one that is slightly sharp? | [
{
"answer": "I think that may be your opinion because flat sounds way worse to me than sharp. Can't say for sure though ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3707743",
"title": "Intonation (music)",
"section": "Section::::Inte... | null |
774lu6 | why is titanium flammable? | [
{
"answer": "The oxidation of titanium gives off heat. When the titanium heats up, this reaction proceeds faster and faster. This produces a fire, one that is quite difficult to stop. \n\nAs for why shavings and powder are flammable. It's the same reason why leaves are more flammable than a log. The oxidation r... | null |
65c5p2 | why do hackers want to use linux os even though it's easier to use windows or mac os? | [
{
"answer": "Once they get through the learning curve it is easier to use linux. Besides, linux is free. The other two will cost eventually. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Linux is generally far more customisable and it's far easier to change things, test out ideas, etc. Also you're less like... | null |
a4km42 | How did some ancient sites survive as tourist sites? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly because they were given another use. \n\nFor example, the pantheon in Rome was made into a Christian church and the Parthenon in Athens had various uses over the centuries, including as ammunition storage by the Ottoman Empire, which led to part of it exploding. \n\nThe Colloseum is an inter... | null |
1bd47b | What was the largest migration in human history? | [
{
"answer": "In terms of sheer numbers per year, Stalin's post-ww2 forced deportations and migrations of various eastern european populations have to be close to the top. Exact numbers are debated, but millions of people got shuttled around eastern europe in a few years time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
1um1eq | Are quarks really the smallest "form" of matter, or is that just the assumption since we can't effectively see what could be inside of them? | [
{
"answer": "Quarks are almost certainly indivisible, and here's why.\n\nThe uncertainty principle states that the product of the uncertainty in an objects position and in that objects momentum must be larger than a certain value. This has nothing to do with measurement, but rather with a fundamental property ... | null |
1xpn0i | Diphenhydramine(Benadryl) is most known as an allergy pill, but it's also a cough suppressant, anti-vomiting/nausea, sedative, local anesthetic, anti-OCD, etc. How does this work? | [
{
"answer": "Just because a drug can be used to treat a condition doesn't mean that it does it well, nor does it mean that the adverse effects of the drug outweigh the benefit it may or may not produce. Broad, non-specific drugs tend to have a wide range of effects - intended or not. Sometimes a \"side effect\"... | null |
25i0mc | Can things spin in space with force coming from just one point? | [
{
"answer": "You're both right and both wrong. The resulting motion will be composed of a translation *and* a rotation. How much of each depends on the details. If you're comfortable with conservation of linear and angular momentum, you can approach it as a collision between some impactor and the end of the ... | null |
1syra3 | Were wild cats selectively bred by humans to give us our current day house cat? | [
{
"answer": "I suspect that dogs and cats were rather similar in their early domestication in that _neither_ was directly selectively bred by humans. It's thought that the wolf ancestors of dogs started following human groups around to basically scavenge kills and eat garbage. The friendliest, most human tole... | null |
aagchp | Will the hydrophobic wooden ball sink? | [
{
"answer": "It will sink if it's denser than water, it will float otherwise, just as if it didn't have a hydrophobic coating. The buoyancy force on the ball depends on the amount of water displaced by the ball, and if that's higher than the gravitational force on the ball, it'll float. But the amount of water ... | null |
jh5rh | If all movement is relative, is there a cosmic constant zero angular velocity? | [
{
"answer": "(Not a physicist) Because one thing is inertial motion, and another thing is *accelerated* motion. Inertial motion is completely reative to the frame of reference. Acceleration is *not* relative in the same way.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Velocity is relative, and there is no ... | null |
84enec | Is it true US, French and British forces fought in the Russian civil war? | [
{
"answer": "Please check out my earlier answer on this topic. There is always more to be said though, so feel free to ask if there's anything it does not cover. But in general I will mention that they did not send troops to send the Tsar (who had long since been toppled), but to restore an Eastern Front agains... | null |
9lbvpy | why does one full rotation equal 360°? | [
{
"answer": "The metric system recommends using radians and not degrees. The math always works much better in radians. You can seamlessly switch back and forth between exponential, power-series and trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, etc) when you use radians.\n\nWhy degrees ended up being 360 is a histori... | null |
ah1vn1 | mood swings due to hormones (like contraception or pms) | [
{
"answer": "Hormones produced by the ovaries act as powerful neurotransmitters. When the amount you have in the body changes, it can affect your mood because it affects your brain.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ".\n\nhormones are signaling things, ant they effect almost the whole body includi... | null |
5kains | Why does hair loss always begin from the top region of the head? | [
{
"answer": "I answered a very similar question a few days ago:\n_URL_0_\n\nIt has to do with varying levels of DHT sensitivity in different follicles of the scalp. Also, some men begin with the balding starting at the temples, which is how receding hairlines begin.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
21bypx | In the Middle Ages, where there any roguish adventurer-types like movies and games? | [
{
"answer": "The idea of these types of heroes certainly existed by the 1600s, since Don Quixote was written (in 1605) to mock the chivalric novels that were popular at that time. In a way, Odysseus is also the same type of character, albeit travelling on a ship with a crew not alone on a horse. This doesn't an... | null |
smk6y | why small smudges/scratches wreak havoc on audio cd's, but don't seem to affect data and game cd's. | [
{
"answer": "As a follow-up question, why can a CD that's stratched to shit and unable to play on any CD player be imported at perfect quality onto my PC / console?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "part of it is audio cd can detect, but not correct, read errors. data cd employs redundancy and c... | null |
4pfvdo | Has the increased workforce participation of women reduced wages? | [
{
"answer": "It certainly doesn't appear that way. [Here](_URL_1_) is the real median personal income, which has been rising since the 1980s, as has [the humber of dual income householda] (_URL_4_) and the % of [the workforce made up of women](_URL_3_). Furthermore, [mens wages do not appear to drop when wome... | null |
38m2l7 | Why does the label on my MSG say it has 0% protein? | [
{
"answer": "Nutrition labels are mandated by law. Like when you buy a bottled water, the nutrition label tells you that it has 0% everything. The deinition of what's protein and what's not is determined by the FDA (in America). \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance":... | null |
3ibn42 | When a material is cut or broken, where exactly is the separation happening? | [
{
"answer": "Depends on material:\n\n\nWhen you break ice, you break the Van der waals bonds between molecules.\n\n\nWhen you break a metal, the metal is all atoms bound by metalic bonds so you break metal to metal bonds.\n\n\nIn some ceramics, the ceramic can be thought of one big molecule, and you are breakin... | null |
365u14 | Is the influence of the Roman Empire overstated in Western culture when compared to other ancient civilizations like the Chinese or the Persians? | [
{
"answer": "Influence on what, exactly? It's hard deny its influence on European civilization, if anything because of thr sheer amount later people intentionally identifiyng with the Greco-Roman tradition. Any influence on a larger scale is terribly hard to quantify or compare.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
ix2m6 | My bottle of bleach claims to kill 99.9% of all household germs. | [
{
"answer": "It's probably a marketing thing. If they said \"Kills 100% of all household germs\" and someone ran tests and found just one germ cell alive, the bleach manufacturer could be sued into oblivion. \n\nThe '99.9%' gives them an 'out'.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "What kind of bleac... | null |
9t0bpx | how does one navigate buying an engagement ring with so many industry pitfalls? | [
{
"answer": "I found a jeweler that was referred to me that wasn’t a national brand. They spent time teaching me about diamonds and how they’re graded and what you can expect for the price you’re paying. \n\nI ended up buying a loose diamond from them after they let me look at a bunch of stones, and then they p... | null |
13m617 | Why do we care so much about the facial structures of our mates? | [
{
"answer": "To make it clearer, I think what the OP is trying to say is that facial features don't seem to provide any obvious evolutionary advantages, unlike the rest of our body. So we're selecting for an arbitrary set facial features for no apparent reason.\n\nEdit: So apparently I'm both ugly and ignorant,... | null |
5ql46v | how exactly do the different settings on dryers (i.e. "permanent press") affect clothes? | [
{
"answer": "The heat output is anything from very hot air (whites) to completely unheated air (air dry). Certain fabrics will shrink with too much heat, and colors will fade. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Lower heat and slower tumble. At least on my dryer. I use it on most clothes with exce... | null |
a7lrpq | why is thermal clothing warm? | [
{
"answer": "People are walking, talking heat generators. Normally, this heat gets lost into the air and spread out across the Earth. Thermal clothing is designed to trap pockets of air so when you heat it up, rather than blowing away to be replaced by cooler air, it stays next to you, keeping your heat close."... | null |
gf3xu | Can someone help me understand the relationship between mathematical models and not yet observed things / events? | [
{
"answer": "To some degree, mathematical models can predict things in the real world. When Dirac theorized the positron, for instance, he did so almost completely on the basis that some cool equations he came up with predicted it would exist. There was no physical evidence for the positron itself, but there wa... | null |
6j13j5 | how long can someone be "knocked out" or put in a medically induced coma? and are there dangers of doing this ling term? | [
{
"answer": "Medically-induced coma is used for two things: prolonged seizures that do not respond to anything else, and head trauma which is causing pressure within the skull to rise to the point where the brain may be forced down out of the skull. In the former case, it's been shown you can keep somebody indu... | null |
3b11ad | how do we decipher ancient writings of civilizations that no longer exist? | [
{
"answer": "Cross referencing languages that look similar, and or of same geographic area. There is more to it, but it's the tip of the ice berg. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are generally two ways to begin to work on this:\n\n1. Find a text in the mysterious language which is paired... | null |
4dglaj | Were things as good during the Reagan era as modern-day Republicans say they were? | [
{
"answer": "Hard to evaluate this question as stated, but if you're asking, \"Why do Republicans like Reagan\", here's an answer I gave a while back: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "871552",
"title": "Presidency of Ronal... | null |
rqkd7 | What is the largest stable molecule known? What molecule has the largest number of unique elements contained within it? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know about the second part of your question, but as for the first, synthetic polymer chains have no theoretical limit on length, and as such are described in terms of the repeating monomer, though technically the polymer may be a single huge molecule.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
6kiaay | how have phone operating systems, today managed to reduce the time required to uninstall an app within a second, irrespective of its size(android os) | [
{
"answer": "I can't destroy a building you're using in a second, but I can lock the main door in a second. The result will be the same for you, you can't use the building anymore. I'll then take my time to actually destroy it properly. \n\nYour phone doesn't completely delete all the stuff in a second. It is j... | null |
baqzer | every now and then when you inhale deeply there is that extra room to breathe in really deep that feels great. what is the biological mechanism behind this? | [
{
"answer": "A deep breath increases oxygen to the brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which promotes calmness.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > What is the biological mechanism behind this?\n\nWhich part, taking a big breathe, feeling like you have extra \"room\", or it ... | null |
6n6vnv | how is it not considered false advertising for a company to make commercial that says an offer is only good for a limited or certain amount of time, then play it for years? | [
{
"answer": "In the fine print they probably reserve the right to alter, extend, cancel any promotions at any time without any obligation to inform customers.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "What is \"a limited time\"? Is it 20 seconds? 20 minutes? 20 hours? 20 days? 20 years? 20 decades? 20 ce... | null |
1ghwc4 | why animals can breed with their own family without genetic problems but humans cant | [
{
"answer": "Animals can not be bred with their own families without causing occasional problems.\n\nThis is one of the reasons why most pure-bred dogs have a [shorter life-expectancy](_URL_0_) than mixed breed or mongrels. (There are other reasons for this too, though.)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"a... | null |
1z6z3o | What would the leaders of the American Revolution have expected to happen should the revolution have failed? | [
{
"answer": "I think it's a stretch, without a firm source, to say the revolutionaries would have definitely been hanged for treason if the war went poorly. If the land-owning, formerly-respected members of the revolution sued for peace, there could have been a possibility of some manner of pardon, depending on... | null |
4yqdev | why does it seem that mercury(ii) thiocyanate is creating new mass when heated, therefore defying the law of conservation of mass? | [
{
"answer": "Well, it's not creating new mass, because that would indeed break the laws of physics.\n\nThe fire causes the releases of gasses, which cause the entire thing to blow up like a sort of foam. The resulting material is very light.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's not creating new... | null |
33ybmi | how can population keep growing, and poverty declining, in a world that has limited resources? | [
{
"answer": "We keep getting better at using/gathering those limited resources... and \"limited\" in this sense is still a really large number.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "29400312",
"title": "Biocapacity",
"section":... | null |
3zezar | how does service in a (posh, i suppose) restaurant work - from the maitre d' taking orders, to what happens in the kitchen. | [
{
"answer": "In any proper restaurant, you will have 2 major teams: Front of House, and Back of House. Both of these teams report up to the Owner and his team. Let's look at Front of House. In the front, you will have the Maitre d' running the show. He is responsible for the general operations of the resta... | null |
34xstz | why do you get a closer shave when you go over the same area multiple times? | [
{
"answer": "because the first pass takes some hair, and some of the top layer of dead skin. so the second pass is closer to the root of the hair.\n\npro tip: exfoliate before you shave. then do one pass. less razor bumps, healthier skin, closer shave.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
1dj0sa | What were some true triumphs in Hitler's military control, and what were some undeniable examples of his incompetency? | [
{
"answer": "Triumph: Hitler attacked Poland, and then the following spring France, at a time when most of his generals felt that Germany was far from ready to fight. (They wanted to wait until 1945.) In both cases they achieved near-total success in a breathtakingly short time.\n\nFailure: Hitler felt that bec... | null |
2vcij5 | how did you distinguish friendly and enemy knights during the war of the roses when knights did wear plate armor? | [
{
"answer": "The first example you show is a modern painting by Graham Turner. The second is a manuscript illumination, probably painted by someone who never saw the battle depicted. So I would caution against concluding that, because of these depictions knights did not wear anything to identify thselves. I ... | null |
1j945t | Does it help to read works in their original languages? | [
{
"answer": "Yes and no.\n\nBasically it depends on your Latin. Reading and translating stuff ancient languages is both a science and an art. There is more to Latin than 'Latin': [there are several different sorts](_URL_0_). Hence why there are so many translations of different Latin sources. If you read someth... | null |
an0d70 | why does black ink often appear a metallic purple/orange colour? | [
{
"answer": "Because black is all of the colors. It has purple and orange in it. So depending how the light hits it depends what shines ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "659960",
"title": "Iron gall ink",
"section": "Secti... | null |
f5bpf6 | Does the quality of gold impact its conductivity? | [
{
"answer": "Well, yeah, but I would guess not to an extent that is meaningful in a DnD setting. But that depends on your story.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The main conductors of electricity in metals are free electrons. Impurities serve as additional scattering sources for electrons, redu... | null |
7pnjle | How did scientists practice chemistry before the mass production of chemicals? | [
{
"answer": "If you don't get an answer here, you can try /r/askhistorians, /r/historyofscience, or /r/philosophyofscience",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well for starters you have to forget about molar concentrations, since they didn't know about molecules in the 18th century, let alone Avoga... | null |
r5mnl | Is there a particular reason as to why Tutankhamen's tomb wasn't discovered before 1922? | [
{
"answer": "Multiple reasons, as far as I can tell. I don't think it had much to do with his father (by which you mean Akhenaten, I imagine), despite the stigma that we assume came with his progenitor's name. After the glamor and chaos of Akhenaten's rule, and compared to the pharaohs of the past, Tutankhame... | null |
1yjvpd | Did pop culture exist in the post-Roman period? | [
{
"answer": "When you write \"post-Roman,\" do you mean the early middle ages? \nA lot of the art and culture that has been preserved from that period is sacred, partly because the institutions recording everything were affiliated with the church. You can't really separate religious life from everyday life in t... | null |
3zdtde | Why does hand sanitizer kill the bacteria and viruses on my hands, but not the living skin cells directly adjacent? | [
{
"answer": "Sanitizer kills in two ways: it draws out water and dehydrates things, and it disrupts macromolecules, leading them to precipitate/aggregate and become nonfunctional. Both of these effects contribute to make pathogens non-infectious.\n\nSkin is remarkably resilient and can tolerate both of these ef... | null |
a3aqnh | how do people make those picture mosaics where the image is made up of hundreds of smaller, different versions of the same subject? | [
{
"answer": "essentially you give a program a folder full of pictures (alot!) and it calculates the color value of each, if reduced to 1x1 pixel. then you give it a picture that you wanna make \"a mosaik\" this way and it runs through all its pixels, trying to find the closest fitting picture by color-value. Th... | null |
8rj6dw | why is the feeling of silverware hitting your teeth so uncomfortable? | [
{
"answer": "Soft material will absorb impact much better than hard material. Think about hitting that spoon on your shin and your calf - the shin will feel much weirder than your calf. As for WHY that sensation is so much more uncomfortable, I could only suppose it’s the way we evolved pain to avoid injuring o... | null |
3naywt | why do defendents on tv court shows defend their case so vigorously if they don't pay settlements out of pocket? | [
{
"answer": "Because people really want to be right, and want to be vindicated about being right on national television. That's why they went on the show on the first place. They don't like to be proven wrong.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One, it's an act. Two, they get the appearance money ... | null |
dlge1z | how can big game developers like rockstar or valve seal all the informations about their biggest titles - like gta 6 or half life 3 - despite having hundreds or even thousands employees around the globe? | [
{
"answer": "NDAs (non disclosure agreements), employee contracts and possibly legal action tend to keep employees right lipped",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "NDAs, yeah, but also the tried and true method of spies, terrorists and anyone working with Tom Holland. The guy working on the physics... | null |
tnex6 | what are 'mach' points of speed? | [
{
"answer": "Mach 1 is the speed of sound (340.29 m / s)\n\nMach 2 is twice the speed of sound (680.58 m / s)\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Every different material has a different speed that kinetic energy naturally wants to move through it. That speed is called Mach 1, and the \"Mach n... | null |
31lnza | why do people cough up dark tar when they quit smoking, but it doesn't happen as much when they are still smoking? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is that smoking suppresses the function of the lungs, thus hindering their ability to remove toxins. When you quit smoking, the body quickly starts on clearing things out and repairing itself.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are little hairs in your lungs tha... | null |
3bk5do | why is it that counting down is universally easy, but keeping rhythm is not? | [
{
"answer": "I'd say it's a practice thing. Also musical meter isn't always directly linked to our understanding of the passage of time. Where most people have a good idea of what a second feels like, not everyone can instantly grasp a what a beat is in a given tempo w/o a metronome.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
a3siky | When are the earliest examples of pornography from, and what were the main forms of consumption before mass media? | [
{
"answer": "I have answered this a [few](_URL_2_) [times](_URL_4_] [before](_URL_3_) and you might be interested [in my book](_URL_1_) but here was the most recent summary of this:\n\n\nI'm adapting this from some older answers. \n\n\nHere's the tricky thing about your question--do you mean 'porn' in the sense... | null |
1wdx7x | if buffets are cheaper than having a restaurant with a waiting staff, why aren't all restaurants buffets? | [
{
"answer": "It may be cheaper to operate, but that doesn't mean it will make more money or more profit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "People won't pay as much for a buffet so you'll probably not make as much profit. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A lot of people prefer sit... | null |
798v9m | what would happen if one of my eyes are covered for a long time? | [
{
"answer": "What do you mean by \"a long time\"? Is it half an hour? Half a month? Five years? Twenty years? \n\nIn like 15 minutes, your pupil would dilate(non-native English speaker, is this right? I am thinking expand), letting in more light. Therefore, if you plan on going somewhere dark, or you think it s... | null |
16jslo | What's "greener" and/or more energy efficient? Paper towels or Hand Dryers? | [
{
"answer": "There are many variables, but electric dryers are lower in cost to operate and, over a lifetime, can be better for the environment (how much depends on paper source, type of dryer, power source...). However, they may not be as hygienic as paper. \n\nAn efficient dryer (like a Dyson Airblade) with a... | null |
117ope | Everyone is talking about CO2 and global warming, but could increased water usage (Fossile water from irrigation) make temperature increase? | [
{
"answer": "Water vapor is a huge greenhouse gas. \n\nWe are more worried about the ocean warming and evaporating more than we are worried about some irrigation operations. \n\nThe ocean has a vastly greater surface area and is much more capable of altering atmospheric moisture content and already is. \n ",
... | null |
kylc3 | why gifs can't have sound. | [
{
"answer": "Gif, jpg, png, mov, avi, mp4 and any other extension you see like that are really just a set of standards. A standard pretty much says, \"act and look this way when this happens, but when this happens do this\"\n\ngif has a standard that doesn't include sound.\n\nFor some more information about the... | null |
6e3tk9 | Do x-rays occur in nature? | [
{
"answer": "Absolutely, although when they're of cosmic origin they tend to be called \"Gamma\" radiation. The sun produces x-rays, and Uranium produces it through Compton scattering. More energetic and massively driven events like supernovae can create *vast* outpourings of light in this frequency, as can the... | null |
bh8v5b | why do car keys (the one with buttons) only unlock your car and none others? not even the same model? | [
{
"answer": "Small computers that are connected to eachother, they’re called immobilizers and they have specific codes to be in sync with a specific computer in a car",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Both the car and the key has a chip in it.\n\nthese chips are unique and has been coded to only ... | null |
22faar | why are planes round tubes instead of flattened ovals shaped? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not an engineer, but structurally cylinders are incredibly strong. An \"flattened tube\" would probably collapse much more easily from all the stresses involved in flight.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "863698",
... | null |
68di7v | if a person had enough money to design and build a functional space ship, capable of traveling and landing and whatnot, would it be legal? would the government be able to do anything? | [
{
"answer": "The government would most likely not be able to stop you as people have personal planes, helicopters ect. But they would probably try to buy it from you.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well there let's consider these two options.\n\nFirst let's consider that you are just a rich mu... | null |
ayj6k7 | How did people light candles before the invention of matches/lighters? | [
{
"answer": "Starting from a \"there's no fire nearby\" state would require breaking out a tinderbox and flint and steel. You would strike sparks from the flint and steel into material that would be highly susceptible to catching fire. This might be something super low tech such as ordinary tinder like wood sha... | null |
25mjy0 | the california energy crisis of 2000 and the enron scandal | [
{
"answer": "As for the energy crisis, basically Enron would cut off the power supply so that the cost of electricity would skyrocket, and then turn it back on in order to make more money. Enron in general, that was mostly down to a type of accounting they used that let them declare potential earnings, so that... | null |
pu1xa | How do groups of photons form electromagnetic waves? | [
{
"answer": "You are mixing two concepts. Photons have both wave-like and particle-like properties. It is not the case that adding up the particle-properties (the quantized packets) yields the wave-like behavior. \n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
3fxw8t | Has an American President, after serving his term, ever served on a jury? | [
{
"answer": " > In fact, no modern court has had a sitting president on a jury. Ronald Reagan came the closest when he was summoned in the 1980s by Santa Barbara County, Calif. He was granted a deferment until he was out of office.\n\n[Source 1](_URL_3_)\n\n[Source 2 - Former POTUS G.W. Bush's duty](_URL_0_)\n\... | null |
4wpp63 | Border between East Germany and Czechoslovak Socialist Republic during Cold War | [
{
"answer": "There was no special permission required for Czechoslovaks during the Communist era to travel to other Eastern Bloc countries, including the GDR. This does not mean, however, that one could just waltz across the border, which was certainly patrolled, although not barbed-wired to the extent that the... | null |
friep3 | Did the SS take measures to reduce the spread of infection to themselves during the Holocaust? | [
{
"answer": "The camps were designed to run with a minimum of SS personnel and not so much personal contact.\n\nKapos were frequently employed to keep order and handle a lot of the day to day business of the camp, including punishments and physical abuse. Kapos were prisoners themselves but they earned special... | null |
89snwm | can anyone launch a satellite? or are there laws claiming space territory? | [
{
"answer": "Per the [Outer Space Treaty](_URL_0_) of 1967, governments cannot stake a claim to territory in space—so yes, space is indeed borderless. However, to get to outer space, Spacex's rockets first have to pass through the airspace directly above the US, which the Federal Aviation Administration *does* ... | null |
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