id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
289cnr | please explain the isis iraq situation. | [
{
"answer": "Ohh man its complicated..\nSo ISIS is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They have been active mainly in Syria fighting against Bashir Al Asad, but have been pushed back there (out of Alepo and denser urban areas) by more moderate rebels (who the US ostensibly supports). Recently they cashed in o... | null |
cy9mj8 | How do people determine the tilt of a planet of direction is relative in space? | [
{
"answer": "We define the ecliptic as the plane that contains the Earths orbit around the sun. We define the tilt of a planet as the angle between the normal direction of the ecliptic and the axis of rotation of the planet.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
5vtzcv | [Book Request] I don't see any books for the Reconquista on the book recommendation list | [
{
"answer": "Point of clarification. What are you looking for when you say \"a general history of *the Reconquista*?\" Although the underlying crusade ideology is there for the Christians, and as time wore on Muslims definitely realized their al-Andalus (by then comprised of many little kingdoms) was losing gro... | null |
16n24x | Why did CPUs stopped at around ~3-4GHz? | [
{
"answer": "See:\n\n_URL_0_ \n_URL_1_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The heat leaked increases at a rate faster than the clock speed. This increase becomes pretty ridiculous so that the cooling systems needed are not affordable to the average person and the complications of putting in enoug... | null |
1ekmbg | What festivals did the romans celebrate (pre-christianity)? | [
{
"answer": "The Romans celebrated plenty of festivals, and I'll highlight a couple of the more important ones for you.\n\n* **Lupercalia:** This is possibly the most famous Roman festival, along with Saturnalia. It was celebrated during February (13-15) and it was a celebration of the health and fertility of ... | null |
6t9jw7 | why is if more harmful to the human body to be exposed to freezing water than it is to be exposed to air of a similar temperature? | [
{
"answer": "The heat capacity of water is much greater than air meaning it can absorb heat from the body much faster. This is basically the idea behind how you can reach into a newly opened oven without harm but dunking your hand into a casserole which was baking in there would hurt you.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
50l1qn | How and when were tanks, semiautomatic weapons and planes started being deployed in warfare? | [
{
"answer": "The Second Industrial Revolution happened.\n\nGenerally considered to have started in 1870, the Second Industrial Revolution saw the development of a wide range of technologies, manufacturing techniques and chemicals that made many of the weapons and technologies of the First World War possible.\n\... | null |
1z74po | what is modern art and what determines the price? | [
{
"answer": "Whatever the artist feels he is owed is weighed against public appraisal. It’s supply and demand, but on a very intimate scale, that determines the price. That is to say, the worth of the piece is the highest value a person wishes to pay. If the artist accepts, then that will be the price at which ... | null |
5znnau | why is depression such a pervasive theme throughout reddit? | [
{
"answer": "Because a lot of people suffer from depression and better to make a joke of it than wallow in it. I think Reddit has almost helped me with my depression because I don't take it as seriously anymore.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Reddit is a fairly liberal place that likes to focu... | null |
3aj076 | why are rabbits associated with sexual things like playboy? | [
{
"answer": "Rabbits have a reputation of breeding prolifically, which leads to their reputation of having sex very often.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "26573",
"title": "Rabbit",
"section": "Section::::In art, literatu... | null |
eaee56 | difference between memory and ssd | [
{
"answer": "Memory typically refers to RAM (random access memory) where as SSD (solid state drive) refers to storage.\n\nEasiest way to know the difference is think of RAM as a work table and SSD or other storage device like a hard drive as storage cabinets. \n\nIf you want to work on a project, you can only u... | null |
ablkcw | how does mass hysteria work and how can it manifest physical symptoms? | [
{
"answer": "It's pretty much a huge case of fomo with the placebo effect. You see a bunch of people doing something and your mind thinks that the might be something triggering it that effects you so you begin to physically manifest something like an uncontrollable urge to dance or some kind of sickness",
"... | null |
3fiu2i | why does hard cheese which has been maturing for years have a sell-by date of only a few weeks? | [
{
"answer": "It's been cut.\n\nAs long as the outside of the cheese is entirely the outside of the cheese (the rind), the cheese will have a substantial shelf life. As soon as you cut it, opening up the more moist interior to oxidation, mold, and bacteria, it has a shelf life. That being said, some cheese (like... | null |
5k1mjr | why is video ram (like gddr5) so much faster than regular ram (like ddr3 or ddr4)? | [
{
"answer": "I know that the VRAM (video RAM) is only faster because it can be without losing stability. \n\nThere are also less compatibility issues, because it serves only one purpose, and doesn't have to juggle tasks. \n\nI hope someone else can expand on this, but that's what I know for sure. ",
"proven... | null |
3gg2um | in david attenborough documentaries, how do they get the camera inside each respective insect/animals home? | [
{
"answer": "If you have the DVD/Blu-Ray sets, watch the behind-the-scenes extras. \n\nThese nature photographers spend months and months working to catch the perfect moment (really makes the viewer marvel and appreciate their contributions to public knowledge).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": ... | null |
bb91tg | What is the price difference between geothermal energy and fossil fuel energy? | [
{
"answer": "It really *really* depends on where you're trying to get geothermal energy from. In Iceland, which has tons of volcanic activity and gets all its electricity from geothermal, electricity prices are about half the cost in other Nordic countries.\n\nHowever, in almost every other part of the world, ... | null |
2erc0r | Help identifying a Japanese battle flag from WWII | [
{
"answer": "I can't answer your question directly, but you might try x-posting this /r/japan",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I can't read all of it--the vertical text on the sides is quite difficult and I will leave it to somebody else. But the text on the top 国報身 献、is a wartime slogan that me... | null |
7rbul5 | how come the military is "always recruiting" and are all countries like this? | [
{
"answer": "People are always leaving and moving up even when an army downsizes. Ergo there are always needs for replacements at the bottom. \n\nNow you may not get to be a helicopter pilot. There is always need in the infantry",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There is a high turnaroun... | null |
85vkyj | how do people doing gymnastics always land on their feet? | [
{
"answer": "They spend years failing to land on their feet. Its an enormous amount of practice, and even then they aren't always perfect.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "47319",
"title": "Vault (gymnastics)",
"section": ... | null |
1xeh0s | i'm an adult. why do i always dream about school? | [
{
"answer": "Because your school years were the most formative years of your life.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You can think of it as a very, very mild form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).\n\nBasically, you dream of it because you went through it. If someone does go broke and live... | null |
177ivh | Would it be inaccurate to say that in general, the common people of modern first world countries eat better than medieval European royalty? | [
{
"answer": "In terms of quality and variety, I would assume you are right. Although, they had vats of wine, honey, and all sorts of cheeses and wild game, I imagine the quality was not great. \n\nIt's also interesting how the gap between leaders and citizens has been closed / widened since then. \n\nThis White... | null |
5met1x | how can someone who lost all movement from below the neck breath without aid? | [
{
"answer": "In some cases they absolutely cannot, and must use a machine such as an \"iron lung\" or respirator.\n\nIn other cases, although their voluntary nerves aren't working, the other nerves that run automatic systems are still in good shape.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"pro... | null |
22w62d | why do adolescent girls seem to be more obsessed with boy pop stars (think justin bieber, boy bands, the beatles, etc.) than adolescent boys are obsessed with female pop stars? | [
{
"answer": "Pop stars maybe. Trust me, as an adolescent, I was obsessed with anything with breasts. I had Heather Locklear and Bo Derek posters all over my room. Pop is a lot more mainstream and the musicians (if you can call them that) get a lot more publicity today than in past times, thus they are more v... | null |
a1zdfk | Does Crossing-Over in Meiosis result in new genes? | [
{
"answer": "It's not clear from your question whether you mean new alleles (\"versions\" of genes) or whole new genetic loci (sections of the chromosome), but the answer is yes in both cases!\n\n[Crossing-over](_URL_0_) happens anywhere along the chromosome, both within and between genes. For this reason, afte... | null |
92yods | How many mass extinctions were there, and how do we know? | [
{
"answer": "You can look at the fossil record and see periods of great diversity, many fossils , followed by periods of few fossils and little diversity with many of these species never reappearing , then anslow growth in diversity over millions of years you can infer extinction events took place.",
"prove... | null |
59mytl | why arent any saudi royals on the top billionaire lists? are they not filthy rich from oil? | [
{
"answer": "Those guys are also not particularly transparent. Since Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, the country's budget and state investment funds are also the royal family's own wallet, whereas \"conventional\" billionaires own far more easily detectable corporate assets.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
3rp0op | why does it matter that young people don't vote? | [
{
"answer": "Broadly speaking, young people not voting shows there is a lack of engagement. This can mean they don't feel like anything will change, or can change. \n \nThis matters because for democracy to function properly (i.e. have checks and balances, a knowledgable electorate etc.) people actually have to... | null |
1u8b3h | I am a Roman equite from the age of Augustus examining Rome during the reign of Constantine. What has changed most noticeably? Is the new Rome even recognizable to me? | [
{
"answer": "^I'm ^not ^sure ^what ^you ^mean ^by ^\"examining ^Rome\". ^If ^you ^mean ^something ^like ^walking ^through ^the ^city ^of ^Rome, ^this ^would ^be ^my ^answer:\n\n & nbsp;\n\nRome has changed massively between the reign of Augustus (27 BCE - 14) and that of Constantine (306-337). Most major monume... | null |
5jh8s8 | why does eating human flesh lead to "the shakes"? | [
{
"answer": "They probably adapted the real disease [kuru](_URL_0_). It's a prion disease, similar to Mad Cow disease. A prion is a protein that is folded up wrong. Besides not doing its normal job right, the prion makes other proteins become misfolded. The accumulation of these prions causes brain damage. In p... | null |
5eqqbv | what actually are the trigometric fuctions? | [
{
"answer": "EE student bored at a huge family Thanksgiving meal, I'll give this a shot.\n\nThe sine function takes an angle, traditionally labeled 'theta', as its input, and spits out the corresponding ratio between the opposite and hypotenuse sides of a triangle. Specifically, using [this image](_URL_2_) as a... | null |
an27d5 | Why doesn't the US-Canada border follow the St. Lawrence River all the way to the Atlantic? | [
{
"answer": "A very brief answer can come from looking at patterns of European colonialism. The Mississippi river, the St. Lawrence, the Columbia, the Fraser, all these are rivers that when they reach the ocean they come out in the middle of a political unit rather than as a boundary. This is largely because wh... | null |
1kb7u2 | What type of weapons would have been available to medieval peasants? | [
{
"answer": "A peasant levy was not often called upon but there does exists various folk wrestling and stick fighting traditions that may vary from region to region. \n\nPaulus Hector Mair collected fighting treatises of everything he could get his hands on in the 16th century and includes a number of 'exoctic'... | null |
3qxdfv | At what point did European settlers outnumber Native Americans in what would become the modern United States? | [
{
"answer": "I think Thornton's [American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492] (_URL_5_) would probably be a good resource for answering your question (it's at my work office atm, so I'm reluctant to give a more definitive answer to your question lest I answer it incorrectly.)\n\nClea... | null |
fed03x | why does the body consume carbohydrates first and then fats when exercising? | [
{
"answer": "The actual answer is a bit more complicated than that. What cells actually use for fuel is ATP, which is an energetic protein that we make using carbohydrates, fats, and other things as a fuel source.\n\nATP is mostly produced by mitochondria, organelles inside cells, and muscle cells have a lot of... | null |
6bg90k | What is actually happening when I hear my timber framed house 'crack'? | [
{
"answer": "It would be better described as creaking rather than cracking. When a door creaks, the hinges aren't cracking, there's just resistance that builds up until friction can no longer stop the hinge from moving. The same applies to the beams in your house as some parts of the wood heat & expand faster... | null |
alby6r | why can't a country in a trade surplus be sustained in that position indefinitely? | [
{
"answer": "It can.\n\nImagine you have a job at a convenience store where they give you a 50% discount on baseball cards. You don’t care for them much, but your friend does. He regularly buys them from you for 90% of list. You never buy anything from him.\n\nYour friend has a trade deficit with you. The trad... | null |
9w6uex | This Week's Theme: Immigrants and Emigrants | [
{
"answer": "**Current:** Immigrants and Emigrants\n\n**On Deck:** Trauma\n\n**In the Hole:** The Balkans\n\nRemember to ask theme-related questions in [a new thread!](_URL_1_)! If your submission doesn't get automatically flaired, [send us a modmail](_URL_0_) with a link!",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
61dbl4 | - why is citizen kane considered to be the pinnacle of movie making? | [
{
"answer": "It's really more popular with people in the movie industry. It doesn't normally top the list of general audiences.\nIt's partly revered because it's kind of a film making clinic. So many techniques used in the various aspects of cinema are used, and used very very well.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
80nw7e | what is the difference between federal debt and u.s. treasury securities? | [
{
"answer": "The debt is issued through the use of US Treasury securities. The government sells a bond, and the money collected from the bond buyer increases the debt until the bond is paid back.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "469008",
... | null |
2n6l6c | why does semen lose its white color after 5 min? | [
{
"answer": "Ok, so: semen contains very little actual spermatozoa and a lot of other components, one of which are alkaloids produced by prostate to - basically - neutralize the acidity in a vagina, so that the spermatozoa survive long enough to reach the egg.\n\nThe alkaline stuff oxidises when it contacts the... | null |
15a2d7 | sinuses | [
{
"answer": "More importantly... why can't my girlfriend taste anything anymore?? Some kind of sinus infection that's lasted weeks ;_;",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Sinuses are hollow cavities in the skull to lighten the bone structure. They are lined with mucous tissue, and can be subjected... | null |
4txahf | if you start off completely awake and energized but then start dozing off during a boring class or a study session, what exactly is happening physiologically to cause this ? | [
{
"answer": "Your brain notices that there's nothing of interest going on at the moment, and tries to shut down to conserve energy. Your studying might be important to you in a higher-function way, but at a core animal level, it's not food, sex, stimulation, or entertainment, and so you're just wasting energy a... | null |
btlpao | if supermarkets have a defined science/art as to where products are located, why are they all different? | [
{
"answer": "Numerous factors- \n\n1 Store size. Different stores are different sizes, and shapes depending on the area they are situated and the availble space/ planned market.. What works for one floor plan doesn't neccesarily work for another.\n\n2 customers. Customers in different areas like different thing... | null |
3js7nv | why do people with loads of money still attempt to earn more money? if you have millions in the bank isn't that more than enough? | [
{
"answer": "Generally I would say that people who are millionaires tend to have a high performance drive. They desire to always perform better. This is what made them wealthy in the first place, and this is what makes them desire ever more wealth. You can always do better.\n\nFurthermore, once you reach the le... | null |
5j4rkk | What is the longest "unbroken" chain of royal or dynastic succession in known history? | [
{
"answer": "Japan has the oldest continuous, hereditary monarchy in the world -- and would, I believe, even qualify as oldest if we included non-hereditary or interrupted-hereditary successions. The Japanese royal family is still in the Yamato Dynasty, which took over the Japanese throne (according to legend) ... | null |
25wbl2 | Why is it that humans can be sustained on some leafy plants (spinach, lettuce, kale, etc) but not others (ferns, tree & and flower leaves, etc)? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on what that source has to offer. Most leafy plants commonly eaten are considered \"greens\" like Kale, Spinach, Arugula, etc., and are eaten for the vitamin and mineral content. \"Greens\" are an essentially non-caloric or low calorie, nutrient dense source of minerals that would be dif... | null |
e2fvdf | how to barcode scanners instantly detect what an item is, despite the barcode being at any angle and often on a crinkled surface, completeley changing the look of the code from the scanner's perspective? | [
{
"answer": "The lasers that read the barcode hit it from many angles and scan it very quickly. Also barcodes have something like a checksum, where it's easy to recognize if the data that was read is garbage and needs to be read again. That's why when using hand scanners, like at the grocery store, sometimes it... | null |
5f6ywg | Is there a historical reason why the US military says klick instead of kilometre? | [
{
"answer": "It's not official, it is military slang, and is used purely because it is easier to say.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "488745",
"title": "Gook",
"section": "Section::::Etymology.\n",
"start_paragrap... | null |
3jzq5e | why do most websites have character limits for passwords while at the same time they force you to have an upper/lowercase letter, and a number to make your password more secure. wouldn't removing the character limit and allowing much longer passwords make them more secure than 16 characters? | [
{
"answer": "Convention.\n\n\nThere is no technical strength to doing so. Users who will use insecure passwords without the restrictions will use insecure passwords with the restrictions, and cracking these cases isn't all that much more demanding. Meanwhile, increasing password length does substantially increa... | null |
a00rpw | Whats the difference between Centrifugal and Centripetal force? | [
{
"answer": "The centripetal force points toward the axis of rotation, and the centrifugal force points away from the axis of rotation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Its often taught in PHY 101 courses that the centripetal force is \"real\" while the centrifugal force isn't. In a purely iner... | null |
4ggeu9 | what's actually happening when someone overeats on a regular basis and their stomach "expands"? what about in reverse when their stomach gets "smaller"? | [
{
"answer": "It's not just a figure of speech. Your stomach can physically expand/stretch. [Competitive eaters expand their stomachs for competition using water](_URL_0_). It really is like a balloon in a way. The size of the actual organ doesn't change, but it's elasticity and response to food can.\n\nThe ... | null |
40bvjq | rental car insurance. | [
{
"answer": "When on vacation I had a mid-sized cheap car reserved for me. They tried to get me to get a much more fancy and expensive car. My insurance alone would not have covered the full value of the vehicle. I stuck with the cheapo.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I called my insurance c... | null |
rkymk | If Alpha Centauri had a solar system like ours, how big would the outer planet's orbit appear in the sky if visible with the naked eye? | [
{
"answer": "If the planetary system was completely face on and if we assume that it's an Earth like planet orbiting at 1 AU, then it would appear approximately 4x10^-4 degrees wide. That's about 0.012 arc minutes, and a quick wiki check says that the best a human eye could do is around 1 arc minute. So no wa... | null |
2vud2t | Can you name some important historical travelogues? | [
{
"answer": "Forgive me, I am not certain what you mean by 'undercover regions'. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's travel writings on Turkey and other countries are used as primary sources. Her relish in appealing to her audiences means her writing isn't always reliable as verbatim records of events, but is insight... | null |
31fl5x | During WW2, were there any significant acts of sabotage executed by the Axis powers on U.S. soil? | [
{
"answer": "The case of Ex Parte Quirin is of note here, if only to show how inept German sabotage was for the time. A handful of covert German operatives deposited by submarine on the American eastern coast landed in uniform, to comply with the laws of war, buried their uniform, to get around the laws of war,... | null |
19pzvd | [mod post] coming soon...on rules and mods. | [
{
"answer": "Can we make sure the rules do more to encourage searching for answers first? Especially around big news events, the old classics of '3d printing' and 'schrodingers cat' come up constantly too. A giant red bar that flashes up when you mouse over submit like on askscience or TIL might help.",
"pr... | null |
1x9xaq | How accurate are the assumptions made by the blog medievalpoc concerning nonwhite peoples in medieval Europe? | [
{
"answer": "What are the assumptions concerning non-white people in medieval Europe? Please outline the specific assumptions you feel are being made by the blog.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So, for the record there was [this conversation last week](_URL_0_) which examines some underlying a... | null |
5475ir | When did Americans start using French words and phrases, and why are they so prevalent? | [
{
"answer": "Although English is a Germanic language, approximately 30% of English vocabulary comes from French in one form or another. This is largely caused by an event called the Norman Conquest, in which a group of people called Normans, who inhabited Northern France and had a degree of Scandinavian ancestr... | null |
1k4ltg | Could we use magnetism as opposed to rocketry to launch objects/people/spaceships into orbit? | [
{
"answer": "People talk about doing something like this: \n\nThe mass driver, which is similar to some designs for high-speed trains.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIn most cases it's not practical to launch from Earth's surface to orbit with one of these, since you have to launch at high speed through the atmosphere, ... | null |
2hgrt0 | why are there so many contradictory ideas about what humans should be eating, but other animals are very straightforward in knowing what to eat? | [
{
"answer": "The eternal battle of scientific evidence vs. \"common sense\" dieting vs. weight loss vs. ethical diets",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "We have the technology to make whatever we want and the resources to get whatever we want. We have a lot more choices than an animal does. It als... | null |
7z0rzd | In the 1920s, what did people feel nostalgia towards? | [
{
"answer": "This is not to prevent anyone from writing you a full, new answer, but you may be interested in these two answers of mine:\n\n[Why are people today fascinated with the Victorian era?](_URL_0_)\n\n[Dang kids! Or: Why does each generation have such an exaggerated view of fashion in previous ones?](_U... | null |
bvj7a1 | The USA had a large percentage of German immigrants in the early 20th century. What was life like for them during WWI and WWII? Did many serve the Allies or did any go back to the “Fatherland”? Also why did the US sell to the British and not the Germans before they entered both wars? | [
{
"answer": "One of the first things you need to think about is why the Germans came over to the US. The vast majority of immigrants came after the failed Democratic revolutions in the 1890s, so they wanted to live in Republican state. That being said while these Germans hated the Kaiser they didn't want war be... | null |
1ashx2 | Does brushing your tongue harm your taste buds? | [
{
"answer": "In actuality it may improve taste perception.\n\n_URL_1_\n\nHowever, it may be different for some tastes vs. others (e.g., NaCl vs. citric).\n\n[1](_URL_0_)\n\n[2](_URL_2_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Dentist here.\n\nTo answer your question about tongue brushing and potential ... | null |
2vgfo9 | if redbull lost a lawsuit over their "gives you wings" slogan, how do the current commercials still include the slogan without a small disclaimer included? | [
{
"answer": "Actually, that law suit (for $13.5 million) was not because of the tagline \"give you wings\" (which is clearly understood as humor).\n\nThe law suit was over the fact that Red Bull oversold the drink's ability to improve concentration and energy, specifically, it did not provide any scientific evi... | null |
2161cr | What gods were foreign and then adopted by the Greeks and Romans through trade/war/etc? | [
{
"answer": "A few of the most famous examples of Roman religious syncretism are the cults of Isis, Mithras, and Sulis.\n\nIsis was an Egyptian goddess of magic and mother of Horus, God of the Pharaoh. She was an incredibly important figure in the Egyptian pantheon so it's no small wonder that her cult thrived ... | null |
7vuiz1 | If the salt water in the ocean accumulated over time was there ever a point where it was all freshwater? | [
{
"answer": "Perhaps briefly (on a geological timescale), when the atmosphere cooled enough for the first rains to fall, the resultant bodies of water may have been pure enough to be considered freshwater with less than 500ppm of dissolved salts. There were almost surely multiple phases of the early Earth's su... | null |
5adr0l | why does adding salt to desserts make them seemingly sweeter? | [
{
"answer": "Salt changes the electrochemical reactions that happen in the chemoreceptors on your tongue (taste buds). The effect is different for different types of receptors; bitter receptors are inhibited, while sweet receptors have their sensitivity enhanced. Sweet becomes sweeter and bitter becomes less bi... | null |
rtxs2 | why did a law need to be passed telling federal employees that they couldn't participate in insider trading? | [
{
"answer": "This is how I understand it. Can someone please fill in the details or correct me on this?\n\nPart of the reason is because, technically, a lot of what they were doing wasn't \"insider\" trading. Typically, insider trading happens (e.g.) when you work for a company or are someway involved in a co... | null |
2ci7me | the future of computer storage: storage capacity vs compression abilities | [
{
"answer": "There is a mathematical limit to how much data can be compressed, and there's an entire field of math (called Information Theory) dedicated to studying it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So far, capacity has kept increasing rapidly. You used to buy the biggest drive you could affo... | null |
1939xi | Can a satellite maintain an orbit forever under ideal conditions? | [
{
"answer": "Purely from Newtonian gravity - i.e., the gravity you learn about in high school - there's no decay under ideal conditions. But we've known that picture of gravity is wrong for nearly a century. The more modern theory, Einstein's theory of general relativity, allows for gravitational radiation, and... | null |
40xh43 | Do satellites travel with the rotation of the earth or against and if they go both ways would two identical satellites going opposite directions at the same altitude have to travel at different speeds to maintain orbit? | [
{
"answer": "Most satellites are in prograde orbits, meaning that they orbit in the same direction that the earth rotates. This is because retrograde orbits, which orbit opposite the direction of the earth's rotation, require more fuel to launch. \nThink of it like this. If you're in a car going 5 mph and you w... | null |
fj8vo | Scientists: What is the coolest thing you've learned in your field? | [
{
"answer": "I suppose one of the cool things would be [retrotransposons](_URL_0_). from wiki \" Like DNA transposable elements (class II transposons), retrotransposons can induce mutations by inserting near or within genes. \"",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I can make a big list actually, of... | null |
2n2dzk | why is vibrato singing considered good? | [
{
"answer": "It's a very difficult skill to learn well, and much much harder than holding a steady pitch, at least to do it with smooth even control. Having said that it's an aesthetic choice, people do it because they like it, and because it's a bit showy to use a difficult to achieve skill in a prominent way.... | null |
bf5epa | Was every desert once a body of water? | [
{
"answer": "It's hard to say definitively whether or not every desert was once under a body of water, but desertification of once arable land is possible with poor land management, such as what happened with Africa after the Romans cut down all the trees. Sand is kind of always there, it's the vegetation and b... | null |
1txwua | What happens to gut flora if a person is dying of starvation or dehydration? | [
{
"answer": "Depending on where in the gut you're looking at, it may change. During starvation, your stomach acid may become more concentrated, and stronger - thus a small amount of bacteria in the proximal duodenum (small bowel coming right off the stomach) may be killed. This would be very minimal, since ther... | null |
5tjo00 | how were length/liquid measurements kept the same everywhere? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer was, they didn't. Standards varied heavily from region to region. Keep in mind, back then, travel/trade was *a lot* harder, so the effects were much less noticeable.\n\nIn some cases, once things were more developed, they would have a standard- then they'd copy that standard and sh... | null |
11dniw | Why can't you tame a Zebra? | [
{
"answer": "\"Taming\" isn't all-or-nothing. There's a range of behaviors that includes whether the animal attacks humans, runs away from humans, tolerates being touched, tolerates various medical examinations and procedures, responds to commands, actively seeks human company, and so on.\n\nThe zebras at the S... | null |
1kj2fe | Is the earths ozone layer capable of changing position? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. The ozone holes are generally around the poles and move around over time. There are some lovely maps here showing changes over time _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well, the ozone layer is ubiquitous through the stratosphere. In fact, the predominant sources of ozone... | null |
272e3x | how does paypal make money/stay in business? | [
{
"answer": "If you sell something on Paypal, you have to pay a certain percentage of the transaction to Paypal.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you are a merchant selling something through them they take a 2.9% + $0.30 cut of your profit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It ... | null |
2hjs2e | Three questions about the Napoleonic army. | [
{
"answer": "During a campaign, an officer was generally allowed a small Wagon to carry personal effects and anything necessary for his work in the field. This would range from a tent and necessary notes to liquor and personal reading. Naturally the higher the rank the more you'd be able to have bit the more yo... | null |
37vtaa | What people does the Assyrians descend from? | [
{
"answer": "This is a somewhat controversial topic within the Syriac christian community. Basically there are two main schools of thought: those who identify as Assyrians and descendants from the ancient Assyrians and those who identify as Arameans and their descendants. I will let someone with the 'Assyrian' ... | null |
3p0myn | you know how you can tense up certain muscles in your foot or leg and pretty immediately give yourself a cramp? why do your muscles have those 'pressure points' or non-random cramp areas, and why is it so easy to bring about a cramp in them? | [
{
"answer": "I tried to read up on this, and also asked my doctor about it, and it seems to not be totally known, in part because there can be a lot of different reasons depending on the person and circumstances.\n\nI think these are usually technically muscle spasms rather than cramps, although they're similar... | null |
2oqb4i | how can the hubble space telescope keep its lens pointed in the same spot to take long exposure shots when it's orbiting the earth every 97 minutes? | [
{
"answer": "It does not take a continuous exposure but rather multiple exposures that are then stitched together.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Don't forget that while the Hubble is moving around the Earth, Earth is moving around the Sun. And Sol is moving around the Galaxy. And the Milky ... | null |
8w9efx | what do fireworks event companies do the rest of the year? how do they stay profitable? | [
{
"answer": "Sporting events mostly. A lot of minor league baseball teams have displays at the end of weekend games. Same with other sports as well. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8336474",
"title": "Fireworks Entertainment",
... | null |
212jnf | Why didn't land animals evolve to dinosaur size again after their extinction? | [
{
"answer": "Until the end of the last ice age (10-12,000 years ago ish), there were a lot of really, really large mammals. Things like mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, glyptodons, titanotheres, short-faced bears, multiple species of giant bison... They weren't as large as the largest dinosaurs but the... | null |
emhktu | what is computer science? | [
{
"answer": "When computers were first built and people came to realize how powerful they were, they needed people to figure out how to make them work and how to make them better. The original designers tended to be mathematicians, physicists, engineers, etc. but no one field could really do it all. Computer sc... | null |
2sexww | What defines the maximum and minimum wavelength of electromagnetic radiation? | [
{
"answer": "There is no maximum or minimum wavelength, any wavelength can be transformed into another one with the right choice of reference frame. A possible exception to this is if quantum gravity breaks Lorentz symmetry, and then there will be some minimum Planck-scale wavelength.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
1ciok3 | when i wake up at 3 am to pee, why does keeping my eyes closed for my trip to the bathroom seem to help me get back to sleep faster? | [
{
"answer": "Your brain has this thing called a circadian rhythm. What it's designed to do is make you sleepy at night time and wakeful during the day. Unfortunately, your body doesn't have a clock inside of it so it has to rely on cues outside of you to know when it's night and when it's day. One of the cues y... | null |
chkj73 | When a hot surface (a grill) is radiating hot air, why is there distortion in the air above it? | [
{
"answer": "The angle at which air refracts light changes based on density. There is a temperature and density gradient between the hot grill and relatively cool surrounding air.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "55695",
"title": ... | null |
2lzuhp | Is there any evidence that essential oils actually do anything other than smell good? | [
{
"answer": "Essential oil simple means that is possess a smell similar to the plant it is derived from. It isn't based on anything medical related. Now that doesn't mean that they arn't good for you, it just means that it is a large category that isn't related to anything medical. Its sort of like asking if th... | null |
1ilapa | how do they move sculptures that are to big for trucks? | [
{
"answer": " > Edit: ah dicks, forgot ELI5\n\nHa. It's ok. It's still evident this is a legit ELI5 question.\n\nI really wish there were a better answer, but they pretty much just [close down all the roads](_URL_0_). It's super inconvenient (which is why they try to do it late at night).\n\nLA has something o... | null |
1ds2eg | Does "alcoholism" or "alcoholic" have a scientific definition, or is it a more subjective term? | [
{
"answer": "The DSM-IV-TR has definitions for alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence - [link](_URL_0_).\n\nIt's important to note that (a) The DSM V is due very shortly and (b) There are many researchers who feel that the DSM does not use the best model. \n\nIn regards to your question, it's worth noting that th... | null |
3jqxct | how can an aircrafts engine work at such high altitudes where humans struggle to breathe due to lack of oxygen? | [
{
"answer": "The aircraft require less power at high altitude because of less air resistance but very few aircraft can operate at very high levels due to the lack of air.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The plane does indeed need a *lot* of oxygen from the air. The front of the engine has *comp... | null |
12y9hz | What are the heat related consequences of urination? | [
{
"answer": "When urine leaves your body it is body temperature. Your body either heats, or is heated, by the cold or hot food and liquids you eat. Urinating itself does not change your body temperature as you are evacuating this temperature stabilized liquid.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nul... | null |
43zrok | why does the western world (say usa and western europe) get involved in armed local conflicts all over the world even if it doesn't have to? | [
{
"answer": "Poland is western Europe now, hurrey ! :D\n\nfor serious - geopolitics - you cover your interests, secure more allies, resourcers or markets, sometimes it aligns with higher goals like human rights.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Humanitarian missions, formal appeals for foreign m... | null |
2bk49m | What portion of the world's current gold supply was part of Atahualpa's ransom? | [
{
"answer": "Let's assume that Hernando Pizarro was telling the truth about the size of the ransom and that all the promised ransom was received. Here is the description from Hernando Pizarro \n\n > for that he could give them ten thousand plates, and that he could fill the room in which he was up to a white... | null |
3gisma | Why was the practice of presenting men, who refused to enlist in the army, a white feather supported by early feminist organizations? | [
{
"answer": "The so-called 'Order of the White Feather' was created in Britain in 1914 by a former admiral, and essentially involved handing out 'white feathers' to anyone, specifically men, not seen as supporting the war effort, ie not enlisting. Some British women's organizations handed out feathers, an act t... | null |
525hgl | In the Byzantine Empire, what type of names did people have? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up, when did the Byzantines stop using Latin and changed to more Greek names?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "That depends on the time period and location. Up until around the sixth century, you can see a lot of emperors having Latinate names, like Flavius Sabbatius Iustini... | null |
3pvk0y | To what extent did the Soviet-Polish war cause Poland to be successfully invaded in 1939? | [
{
"answer": "The Polish army was strong for a country of its economical development - it was well trained and equipped with modern arms. However, they were unable to stand up to the full power of a grand power such as Germany, and even less the power of two grand powers (Germany and the Soviet Union).\n\nThe So... | null |
97l9hr | why is perpetual energy from gravity impossible? | [
{
"answer": "Gravity pulls things down. You can exploit this for energy, but only once.\n\nOnce the object has exhausted its \"gravitational potential\" (i.e. hit the ground) you can't extract any more without first picking it up again.\n\nWe do extract energy from falling water in hydroelectric dams, but agai... | null |
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